Introductory Note.
The following narrative of the operations of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War was written by the late Brigadier-General R. L. T. Beale, their old commander, in 1865. It was found among his papers at his death, on April 17, 1893, written upon the consecutive pages of a thin blank-book. It has been carefully copied, and arranged in chapters with headings to indicate their contents. As full and accurate a roster of the regiment as it has been possible to obtain has been added. It has been possible to secure only a very imperfect list of the casualties. If this record of the regiment had been commensurate with the admiration and affection in which the author held its officers and men, it would have been far more extended than it is. Comparatively few of the veterans whose names appear on these pages now survive. The narrative will, however, interest their children, and, perhaps, many others who cherish the record of Southern devotion and valor, as displayed by the daring horsemen who wielded the sabre and followed the plumes of Stuart, Hampton, and the Lees.
