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cavalry giving away at the instant, the batten- was left at the mercy of the enemy,
who dashed upon it; but there the brave men continued to stay, determined to
remain at.their post to the last, for all knew the vital importance of the position;

and as the enemy pressed on they were met with that never ceasing hail of canister,
until they reached the guns and rode over the men, and sabred and captured them
at their pieces. Stuart had witnessed it all whilst rallying his broken cavalry, when
seizing the colors of the First Virginia, he rode forward, exclaiming, " Charge,
Virginians, and save those brave Marylanders !" Alas ! it was his last command
on the field of battle, for at the instant he received a pistol shot, and was conveyed
mortally wounded from the field, when his men precipitately retreated.

Nevertheless, in the confusion and excitement of the moment, Lieutenant
McNulty, with some of the gallant fellows, actually drove two pieces off in triumph,
despite the efforts of the enemy to prevent them.

In this desperate battle at Yellow Tavern, the battery suffered the loss of
many men and horses, and two guns, and its brave commander was a prisoner in
the enemy's hands.

Many were the acts of individual heroism displayed whilst the battle lasted,
one of which I will narrate :

During the hottest of the fight Private John Hayden was struck by a piece of
shell, and dreadfully mangled, and would have bled to death in a few minutes had
not the surgeon of the battery, Dr. Wortham, carried him on his back into the
woods and stanched the hemorrhage. In a short time the enemy had possession of
the field, but carefully concealing himself and his charge until they had passed on,
he that night carried Hayden to a place of safety, where he eventually recovered.

With the two guns saved from the wreck of the battery, Lieutenant McNulty
crossed the Chickahominy, closely pursued, and took position on the right of the
road, commanding the bridge, where, by a vigorous fire, he checked the enemy's
advance and covered the retreat. McNulty then pushed on to Old Church and
joined the main body, which had been there reassembled.

On the 13th he was ordered to Hanover Junction, where he joined the army of
General Lee. with which he remained until after the battle of Cold Harbor, when he
was ordered to Early's command in the Valley of Virginia.

After a march of six days, the battery reached Waynesboro', where four days
after it joined Early, en route for the Lower Valley. Here the battery (now under
the command of Lieutenant W. B. Bean, who had been for some time absent)
was attached to General Bradley T. Johnson's Brigade of cavalry, which had the
advance.

On the morning of the 4th of July, Johnson approached Martinsburg, when
he was charged by about six hundred of the enemy's cavalry, which for a moment
created some confusion in his ranks; but a few well-directed discharges of spher-
ical-case from Bean caused them to beat a precipitate retreat.