[178] moved to Crook's left and remained in reserve.August 28: Marched at 1 A. M. and camped eleven and one-half miles from Charlestown, in position held on the 21st inst.
September 3: Marched to a position near Clifton and remained until Sept 19.
September 19: Broke camp at 3:30 A. M., crossed the Opequon Creek at 9 A. M.
To fill in the incidents of this period of apparently erratic movement, resort must be made to Colonel Beckwith's narrative. He writes, “While at Halltown, Colonel Olcott and quite a number of men, who had been away wounded and sick, returned to the regiment and increased its strength and appearance materially. On the 16th we started back down the valley, marched all night and passed through Winchester at 8 o'clock in the morning and got some pies and eggs with jewelry advertisements which the inhabitants mistook for greenbacks. On the 21st the enemy drove in our pickets and we were sent out on the skirmish line and skirmished all day. On the way out, when some distance, as we supposed, from the line, Captain Van Shaick commanding our (4th) company, and Bob Topping were wounded, the Captain seriously, and Bob slightly. Both were greatly surprised however, as none of us heard the shots fired that struck them. Going out in regimental front, we were deployed on the run in heavy skirmish order in front of a wood and advanced some distance to the middle of a field from which the wheat had recently been cut. In front of us were some farm buildings, stacks and rail fences along which the Rebs were posted, and they kept up a rapid fire as we advanced. We were finally told to lie down and hold the position. General Upton rode along the line and said to us, ‘I want you to show the army, that no Rebel line of battle ’”
