midnight
-LSB- 1 -RSB- -LSB- Footnote 1 : His words . -RSB- So , over the Hickory road , leading up the northern bank of the Appomattox , in the direction of Lynchburg -- amid the explosion of magazines , surging upward like volcanoes , the old army of Northern Virginia , reduced to fifteen thousand men , went forth , still defiant , into the night . Three hours afterward I was in Richmond . Sent with a message for General Ewell , I had taken the last train which left for the capital , and reached the city toward midnight . The first person whom I saw was Tom Herbert , who ran to meet me . His face was pale , but his resolute smile still lit up the brave face . `` Come and wait on me , my dear old friend , '' he said ; `` I am to be married to-night ! ''