Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/133

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burnt out .ind many toes urn- trusted lietore daylight. We were up and stirring carl}', for our ha\ i-rsacks had been emptied the nijjit before, and our wagons, with tents and commissary stores and bed- ding, had all gone ahead to I User's cross-roads, where we had ex- pected to spend the night. Many of us will not forget the sad plight D| .mi ln.r-.r-, which daylight revealed. Our blacksmith, Hetterich, \\as said to have shed tears at the condition of some of the horses. They had fallen during the night march so often, and had been shoved by the carriages so, that many of them were badly scarred t and the blood had fro/en over their wounds. One poor horse had both knees cut, and icicles of blood extended from the wound to the ground. The blacksmith and every man who could help went to work with a will and roughened the shoes, and we then set out again on our march, and with comparatively little suffering reached our waiM m -camp in less than an hour. This was on the 8th of January. Here we found provisions in abundance, and went to cooking break- fast with great energy and appetite.

We remained here and at a camp two miles east of this place several days, and spent a good deal of time in relieving our personal discomfort, which had been increasing in the case of most of us ever since the morning we had left our camp near Winchester, on the ist instant, and which was due to the want of water, or to a repugnance to the use of it, cold as it was. Many of the men had not washed even their hands and faces. There were probably not more than one or two who had extended their washing further than this. Huge fires were built, and camp-kettles full of water were prepared, and though the thermometer still would have indicated a cold which was below the free/ing point, a thorough cleansing was begun. Some discoveries were made which make us shudder now. Those para- sites which the Confederate soldiers had dignified with the name of "grey-backs," had taken up lodgings and reared families where they had never before been. The more provident and prudent of us scalded the offensive intruders and saved their garments for future use, but some, imprudently yielding to disgust, threw garments and intruders into the fire, trusting to the supremacy of luck for another supply of flannels.

Here we stayed till the I3th, when we set out toward Romney. The first night we bivouacked without tents, and the weather be- coming wanner in the night, we waked next morning to see piles of snow which covered the men, and made the camp look like a bury- ing-ground.