"the
colonel" confessed himself beaten at his great trick; and in compliment
drank tumbler after tumbler. As we walked over to our tent in the early
mist before dawn, he said:

"Egad! there's mischief brewing--mischief, sir! The seat of war's to be
removed to Virginia and the capital to Richmond!"

I stopped and looked at the colonel. Was it the punch?

"That's what the council this evening meant?"

"Just so. Bragg remains, but part of his garrison goes to Beauregard,
in Virginia. Trains to Montgomery will be jammed now, so we'd better be
off. And, egad, sir! I'm to get ready for the field. Yes, sir, for the
field!"

Next morning the information that had filtered to me through the
colonel's punch was announced in orders, and enthusiastic cheers
greeted the news that some of the troops were to go to a field
promising active service and speedily at that.

The routine of camp life had already begun to pall upon the better
class of men, and all were equally anxious to go where they could prove
more clearly how ready they were to do their _devoir_.

Some Alabamians, two Georgia regiments, the _Chasseurs-a-pied_, the
"Tigers" and the Zouaves were to go to Virginia; and through the
courtesy of the officers of the latter corps, we got seats to
Montgomery in their car; two days later.

Meantime, all was hum and bustle through the whole camp, and as the
limited rolling stock on the still unfinished railroad could only
accommodate a regiment at a time, they left at all hours of the day, or
night, that the trains arrived. Constantly at midnight the dull tramp
of marching men and the slow tap of the drum, passing our quarters,
roused us from sleep; and whatever the hour, the departing troops were
escorted to the station by crowds of half-envious comrades, who "were
left out in the cold." And as the trains started--box cars, flats and
tenders all crowded, inside and out--yell after yell went up in
stentorian chorus, echoing through the still woods, in place of

"That sweet old word, good-bye!"

One gray dawn, six hundred Zouaves filed out of the pines and got
aboard our train. They were a splendid set of animals; medium sized,
sunburnt, muscular and wiry as Arabs; and a long, swingy gait told of
drill and endurance. But the faces were dull and brutish, generally;
and some of them would vie, for cunning villainy, with the features of
the prettiest Turcos that Algeria could produce.

The uniform was very picturesque