Garnett himself handled his rear-guard with skill, and at Carrick's Ford a lively encounter was had.

A mile or two further, at another ford and when the skirmishing was very slight, he was killed while withdrawing his skirmishers from behind a pile of driftwood which he had used as a barricade.

One of his cannon had become stalled in the ford, and with about forty wagons fell into Morris's hands.

The direct pursuit was here discontinued, but McClellan had sent a dispatch to General Hill at Grafton, to collect the garrisons along the railroad and block the way of the Confederates where they must pass around the northern spurs of the mountains.

[Footnote: Reports of Morris and Benham, Official Records, vol.ii.pp.