I started at once to meet him there and to give him his orders.

As I turned the first corner of a street after starting, I saw a column of cavalry passing the next street in front of me.

I turned and rode around the block the other way, so as to meet the head of the column.

I found there General Prentiss himself, with a large escort.
He had halted his troops at Jackson for the night, and had come on himself to Cape Girardeau, leaving orders for his command to follow him in the morning.

I gave the General his orders--which stopped him at Jackson--but he was very much aggrieved at being placed under another brigadier-general, particularly as he believed himself to be the senior.
He had been a brigadier, in command at Cairo, while I was mustering officer at Springfield without any rank.