On the morning of July 4, 1888, I took a train on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad at Washington, and went to the old town of Culpepper Court House, on my way to visit the battlefield of Cedar Mountain, or, as the Confederates call it, Slaughter's Mountain, because it is on the farm of the Rev. Philip Slaughter. From Culpepper we drove over the same hot and dusty road that some of you will remember marching over on that August day in 1862. We drove to the house of Colonel Throckmorton, an ex-Confederate soldier, who lives upon a portion of the battlefield, and by him were shown around and the places of interest pointed out. The battle was fought mainly on the farm of Mr. Crittenden, one of whose daughters married Colonel Throckmorton, and they have lived there since the war in a house built in the woods, just in rear of the Confederate troops we assaulted when in the old bushy field. One of the objects I had in going there was to get a correct idea of the topography of the field and see if the various accounts of the battle, as told by different participants, could be reconciled, and in that I succeeded. From my observations made that day and a study of the various reports and letters written by participants in the battle, of both armies, to Mr. H. A. Tripp of the 10th Maine Infantry, the following description of the battle is written and I believe it to be quite correct. It was not a great battle in the sense we commonly speak of great battles.l The numbers engaged were small compared to Antietam or Gettysburg, but for gallantry displayed and losses sustained during the short conflict, it has hardly a parallel in the annals of war. Those of you who were there on that August afternoon will always remember it, and those of you who were not there I hope to interest in this description of the battle: