I told the messenger to inform Stuart that I was
then moving as rapidly as my men could move; but he soon
returned with another message informing me that the other was a
mistake, that the enemy had merely retired behind the ridge in
front to form a new flanking column, and cautioning me to be on
my guard. This last information proved to be correct. It was the
last effort of the enemy to extend his right beyond our left,
and was met by the formation of my regiments in his front....
The hill on which the enemy's troops were was Chinn's Hill, so
often referred to in the accounts of this battle, and the one
next year, on the same field.... An officer came to me in a
gallop, and entreated me not to fire on the troops in front, and
I was so much impressed by his earnest manner and confident
tone, that I halted my brigade on the side of the hill, and rode
to the top of it, when I discovered, about a hundred and fifty
yards to my right, a regiment bearing a flag which was drooping
around the staff in such a manner as not to be distinguishable
from the Confederate flag of that day. I thought that, if the
one that had been in front of me was a Virginia regiment, this
must also be a Confederate one; but one or two shots from
Beckham's guns on the left caused the regiment to face about,
when its flag unfurled, and I discovered it to be the United
States flag.
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