"I destroyed all my notes and journal—from the time I arrived in Flat Rock [North Carolina]—during a raid upon Richmond in 1863.* Afterward—I tried to fill up the gap from memory."
*While the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, was fought to the north, detachments of U.S. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry rode within several miles of Richmond on May 3-4, 1863, in an effort to cut communication lines.
