from out-door life would restore them. He was as kind and
sympathetic in his way as the college president, and charged but a
trifle, to relieve me from the sense of taking charity. Dr.
Agnew's words proved correct; and the following autumn I entered
the class of '61, and spent a happy year. Some of my classmates
were very kind in reading aloud to me, while Dr. Hopkins's
instruction was invaluable. By the time I entered Auburn
Theological Seminary, my eyes were quite restored, and I was able
to go through the first year's course of study without difficulty.
In the summer of 1862 I could no longer resist the call for men in
the army. Learning that the Second New York (Harris's Light)
Cavalry was without a chaplain, I obtained the appointment to that
position. General Kilpatrick was then lieutenant-colonel, and in
command of the regiment. In December, 1862, I witnessed the bloody
and disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, and can never forget the
experiences of that useless tragedy. I was conscious of a
sensation which struck me as too profound to be merely awe. Early
in the morning we crossed the Rappahannock on a pontoon bridge and
marched up the hill to an open plain. The roar of the battle was
simply terrific, shading off from the sharp continuous thunder
immediately about us to dull, heavy mutterings far to the right
and left. A few hundred yards before us, where the ground began to
slope up to the fatal heights crowned with Confederate works and
ordnance, were long lines of Union batteries. From their iron
mouths puffs of smoke issued incessantly, followed by tremendous
reverberations. Back of these batteries the ground was covered
with men lying on their arms, that they might present a less
obvious target. Then a little further to the rear, on the level
ground above the bluff, stood our cavalry. Heavy guns on both
sides of the river were sending their great shrieking shells back