The Scout Mission

So instead of hiding out as he should have done, he concluded to take me as a sort of vidette and go on foot to our cross roads post office, Lewis' Store, about two miles towards the enemy and see what we could learn about them to act on for ourselves and perhaps to report to the nearest Confederate force. There was no such force that we knew of nearer than 30 miles, tho it turned out Hampton's cavalry corps was just across the North Anna river from us, keeping even with Sheridan with a full complement of scouts on his trail all the way, our brother Zack among them. We struck out for the Store early before breakfast and soon met Mrs. Hart's old "Sam" ("Uncle Sam" Broadus, as we called him), who had spent the night with friends at Mr. Carson's place a mile or more beyond Lewis' Store. His testimony was most positive of whole fields full of "Yankees" down at Dr. DeJarnette's and marauding parties scattering around to other farms "robbing and cutting up" and "doing dem cullud wimmen jes as dey choose, Sir." But he could not say which way they were going that morning. This was not enough for Alf, so we went on towards the Store, where one cross road led to Spottsylvania Court House 18 miles and to Fredericksburg 30. The other crossed the North Anna river into Louisa Co. 7 or 8 miles to Fredericks Hall on the Virginia Central R.R. halfway between Richmond and Charlottesville.