roads were measurably passable, but,
as I have heretofore explained, most of the troops had to march directly
across the fields, and here it proved absolutely impossible to move the
wagon-trains and artillery any distance. This was the main reason why
the movement had to be abandoned. I saw many wagons down over their
hubs, stalled in the mire. And the guns and caissons of a battery of
artillery were stalled near our camp, and had to be abandoned for the
time. The horses were saved from miring with great difficulty. A few
days later the guns and caissons were hauled out with ropes.

There were dead mules and mired and broken wagons all along the route of
the marching troops. The number of animals that perished in this futile
march must have run up into thousands, killed by exposure over pulling
or miring. It should be understood that when the army moves, and the
mule trains of ammunition and rations are ordered to move, they must go
as long as it is physically possible, mule or no mule. The lives of a
thousand mules, more or less, is nothing compared with the necessity of
having ammunition and rations at the proper place at the required time.
I saw one mule team stalled in one of these sloughs. The heavy wagon was
down so that the box was in the mud and the four mules were wallowing in
a death struggle to get out. Harness was cut and they were freed, all to
no purpose. Their struggles had made the slough like a stiff pudding,
which was apparently bottomless; the more they struggled the deeper they
got. Finally a chain was hooked about the neck of one of the leaders and
fastened to another wagon and the mule hauled out, but with a broken
neck. The experiment was repeated in a modified way with the other
leader, now over back in the mire, but with no better results. The
others had ceased to struggle and were slowly sinking, and were
mercifully killed and allowed to bury themselves in the mire, which they
speedily did. It may be asked why more civilized methods were not
employed to extricate these valuable animals. Why fence rails or
timbers were not placed under them as is usual? The answer is, there was
not a fence rail nor anything of that nature probably within ten miles.
Everything of this kind had long ago been used for fire-wood for the
soldiers' cooking. And as for timbers there probably was not a stick
nearer than Aquia Creek, more than ten miles away. Again it may be
wondered why the chain was not passed around t