Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/419

 Glimpses of Army Life in 1864. 419

assuming and most modest officers that I have ever seen. He is worth a million of the stay-at-home somebodies.

The Yankee salute seems to have been in honor of Hood's defeat by Thomas, instead of the fall of Savannah, although we of the army are daily expecting to hear of the latter disaster also. We were not prepared for Hood's defeat.

Lieutenant Meade and myself are living in two nicely-pitched tents, which are joined together and open into each other, The back tent is used as a sleeping apartment, and the front one, which has a nice brick chimney to it, is our sitting room. When we get the floors and doors completed we will be very comfortably fixed. Our cham- ber is furnished with a plank floor, a bedstead and blankets, two trunks and a clothes pole (suspended from the ridge pole), which serves as an excellent ventillating wardrobe. In the front tent may be seen an old camp-table, a few chairs, an old bent tin candle-stick, an inkstand and pens, tobacco and pipes, and sometimes a great deal of smoke. We intend having sawdust walks connecting the various tents and the kitchen, and I have some idea of surrounding our quarters with a wattled cedar fence to keep off the winds. Our stables were commenced to-day. *

[XVII.] NEAR PETERSBURG, December 22, 1864.

I was not at all sorry when I learned that we had to turn back on our recent march without a fight. I was far from anxious to get into an engagement, as the probability is that all my severely wounded would have died on account of the exposure. I was fearful I would be made sick, but I am all right, and enjoy my hard camp fare very much. We are living harder now than we have been doing since I have been in the army. Last night was a terribly cold one.

[XVIII.] NEAR PETERSBURG, December 31 1 1864.

Tell the kind donors, with thanks, that the box reached us in very good time, as the soldiers have been living on short rations for the past few days; for three days they had no meat issued to them at all. My brigade has kind friends at home, and Christmas boxes have been pouring in. Sometimes they have to lay a day or two at