PLISHED WITHOUT ACCIDENT, AND THE SECTION WENT INTO ACTION AND OPENED A VIGOROUS FIRE WITH SCHENKL PERCUSSION ON A COLUMN OF REBEL CAVALRY PUSHING RAPIDLY FROM THE RIGHT TOWARD THORNE'S HOUSE, ON MY LEFT AND FRONT. THE FIRING WAS RAPID AND EFFECTIVE, PRODUCING MUCH CONFUSION IN THE ENEMY'S COLUMN. PERCEIVING THIS, AND PURSUANT TO AN ORDER FROM COLONEL KILPATRICK, I LIMBERED TO THE FRONT, AND ADVANCED UPON THE MOVING COLUMN SOME 150 YARDS, AND AGAIN WENT INTO ACTION, EFFECTIVELY DELAYING AND DISCONCERTING THE ENEMY'S CONCENTRATION ON THEIR OWN CENTER, NEAR THE THORNE HOUSE. AGAIN, PURSUANT TO ORDERS FROM COLONEL KILPATRICK, I LIMBERED TO THE FRONT, AND SOUGHT A POSITION ON THE CREST OF THE HILL BEHIND WHICH THE ENEMY WAS RAPIDLY MASSING TO FORCE BACK THE ADVANCE OF COLONEL KILPATRICK UPON THE HOUSE. BEFORE REACHING THE CREST, HOWEVER, A HALT WAS ORDERED BY COLONEL KILPATRICK, AND SOON AFTER A RETREAT FROM THAT POSITION, WHICH WAS EXECUTED WITHOUT PANIC AND IN ADMIRABLE ORDER. THE ENEMY, PERCEIVING THE RETREAT, CHARGED FURIOUSLY UP THE HILL AND THROUGH THE SECTION 50 YARDS IN REAR OF THE PIECES, CHARGING DESPERATELY ON THE CAVALRY, SOME HUNDREDS OF YARDS IN THE ADVANCE OF THE PIECES IN RETREAT. THE CAPTURE OF THE SECTION SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN THOUGHT ACCOMPLISHED BY THE ENEMY, AND THE REBEL LINE WHEELED INTO COLUMN AND PUSHED RAPIDLY BY THE FLANKS, WITH THE INTENT TO TURN THE RIGHT OF THE FIRST BRIGADE, LEAVING, AS THEY SUPPOSED, A SUFFICIENT FORCE TO SECURE THE GUNS. AT THIS TIME WAS DISPLAYED THE HEROISM OF THE SECTION, AND VALOR OF WHICH ANY COMMAND AND COUNTRY MAY BE JUSTLY PROUD. IN REVERSING, ONE OF THE GUN LIMBERS WAS NEARLY CAPSIZED, ONE WHEEL BEING IN THE AIR AND THE AXLE NEARLY VERTICAL. PERCEIVING THIS, I ORDERED THE CANNONEERS TO DISMOUNT AND RESTORE TO ITS POSITION THE LIMBER. WE WERE SURROUNDED BY A SQUAD OF REBEL CAVALRY, FIRING WITH CARBINE AND PISTOL. THE ORDER WAS SCARCELY NEEDED, FOR THE CANNONEERS HAD SEEN THE PERIL OF THEIR GUN, AND, ANTICIPATING THE ORDER, HAD DISMOUNTED TO RESTORE IT, AND, WITH REVOLVERS IN HAND, THEY DEFENDED THE GUN AS IF DETERMINED TO SHARE ITS DESTINY AND MAKE ITS FATE THEIR OWN. THE BEARER OF A REBEL BATTLE-FLAG WAS SHOT BY PRIVATE [SYLVANUS] CURRANT, WHO WOULD HAVE RECOVERED IT BUT FOR THE GREAT DIFFICULTY OF APPROACHING THE COLORS WITH A LAME AND SKITTISH HORSE, UPON WHICH HE WAS AT THE TIME MOUNTED. THE FLAG WAS TAKEN BY THE FIRST MAINE CAVALRY. THE COLUMN OF REBEL CAVALRY WAS RAPIDLY MOVING TOWARD OUR RIGHT, OR RATHER LEFT, AS WE WERE IN RETREAT, AND THE SECTION MOVED IN THE SAME DIRECTION IN PARALLEL LINE IN COLUMN OF PIECES, STOPPING NOW AND THEN TO THROW A FEW SHELL IN THE COLUMN, AND AGAIN SEEKING SAFETY IN RETREAT, UNTIL WE REACHED THE WOODS, WHEN THE PURSUIT CEASED. NOT KNOWING THE WHEREABOUTS OR FATE OF THE REMAINING TWO SECTIONS OF THE BATTERY, I REPORTED TO GENERAL GREGG, WHO ORDERED A CONTINUANCE OF THE RETREAT UNTIL WE REACHED A LARGE OPEN FIELD, WHERE I WAS ORDERED TO REPORT TO COLONEL TAYLOR (THEN, BY THE WOUND OF COLONEL WYNDHAM, IN COMMAND OF THE SECOND BRIGADE), WITH WHOM I AGAIN RETURNED TO THE FRONT, CROSSING THE RAPPAHANNOCK ROAD AND PASSING TO THE RIGHT OF THE POSITION OCCUPIED IN THE MORNING; THEN, OBLIQUING TO THE LEFT AND REAR, I WENT INTO BATTERY AND ACTION ON A LINE OF CAVALRY AND ARTILLERY BEHIND A RIDGE WHICH MASKED THEM PARTIALLY FROM VIEW. MY AMMUNITION BECOMING EXHAUSTED, I WAS RELIEVED BY BATTERY M, SECOND U. S. ARTILLERY, AND RECROSSED THE RIVER AT RAPPAHANNOCK STATION. I THEN WENT INTO BATTERY NEAR A FORT, TO COMMAND THE ROAD LEADING TO THE FORD. SOME REBEL CAVALRY APPEARING, I OPENED FIRE, AND BY A FEW WELL-DIRECTED SHOTS, CAUSED THEM TO RETIRE INTO THE WOODS.