noon
By making great detours we went around every field , consuming much time , it is true , but we had plenty of time . We avoided every habitation , and chose the thickest of the woods and the deepest of the hollows , and so conducted our advance that , remarkable as it may seem , from the time we left our outposts at Old Church until we came in sight of the enemy near Hanover Court-House , we did not see a human being , though the distance traversed must have been fully twelve miles . Of course , I knew that it was very likely that we ourselves had been seen by more than one frightened inhabitant , but it was my care to keep at such a distance from every dwelling house that no one there could tell whether we were friend or enemy . At noon we took our ease in a hollow in the midst of a thicket . While we were resting we heard far to our rear a distant sound that resembled the discharge of artillery . We learned afterward that the sound came from Mechanicsville , occupied this day by the advance of McClellan 's right . About two o'clock we again set out .