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366 After a time we were called out and placed in passenger cars (how fine they were), where we sat for half an hour and then marched back to our old quarters in the fort, at which we arrived about twelve o'clock. Col. Williamson, who was on a visit to the company, from Pottstown, said they had received some unfavorable news in Harrisburg from the Army. I was immediately put on guard, and thus in the rain, I spent my Fourth of July.

When the news of the capture of Vicksburg, with the garrison and stores, was received, there was the greatest rejoicing among the men. Gen. Hall ordered all the troops in his command to be drawn up in the fort, and after making a speech to them detailing all the circumstances then known of that important success, a German battery stationed there fired a salute of thirty-three guns in honor of the victory. Some began to think that the “emergency” was very nearly over.

During the following week the three months militia arrived from all parts of the State in great numbers, and trains were running day and night conveying them down the Cumberland Valley. The people, who had never been thoroughly aroused until the State was invaded and the crisis upon them, then commenced to exert themselves in earnest, and a large force was organized and thrown into the field, though too late to be of very effective service. We, who had seen the rebels and been roughing it somewhat, felt ourselves to be of considerable consequence among the new comers, especially as many of them were of those who had previously refused to take the oath and returned home.

A great many farmers from the valley who were going back to their places, and citizens from Harrisburg and other towns, came daily to visit the fort through curiosity, and were a regular nuisance to us on guard. None were