stomed to
careless and slovenly habits, and no amount of orders, or punishment,
can undo the mischief. Unfortunately, the armies of the South began
wrong this first winter, and the descent was easy; and they made the
new road upon which they had entered far harder than necessary, by
neglecting landmarks so plainly written that he who runs may read.
_Nostalgia_--that scourge of camps--appeared in stubborn and alarming
form; and no exertion of surgeon, or general, served to check or
decrease it. Men, collected from cities, accustomed to stated hours of
business and recreation, and whose minds were accustomed to some
exercise and excitement, naturally drooped in the monotony of a camp
knee in mire, where the only change from the camp-fire--with stew-pan
simmering on it and long yarns spinning around it--was heavy sleep in a
damp hut, or close tent, wrapped in a musty blanket and lulled by the
snoring of half a dozen comrades.

Hale, sturdy countrymen, accustomed to regular exercise and hard work,
with nothing to do all day but sun themselves and polish their
bayonets, naturally moped and pined for the homes that were missing
them so sorely. They, too, found the smoky blaze of the camp-fire but a
sorry substitute for the cheerful hearth, where memory pictured the
comely wife and the sturdy little ones. The hardy mountaineer, pent and
confined to a mud-bound acre, naturally molded and panted for the fresh
breezes and rough tramps of his far-away "roost."

The general morality of the camps was good, but praying is a sorry
substitute for dry homes and good food; and, though chaplains were
earnest and zealous, the men gradually found cards more exciting than
exhortations. They turned from the "wine of life" to the canteen of
"new dip" with a spiteful thirst. There were attempts by the higher
officers--which proved abortive--to discountenance gambling; and the
most stringent efforts of provost-marshals to prevent the introduction
of liquor to camp reduced the quantity somewhat, but brought down the
quality to the grade of a not very slow poison.

Being much in the numerous camps that winter, I was struck with the
universal slouch and depression in ranks where the custom had been
quick energy and cheerful faces. Through the whole army was that
enervating moldiness, lightened only by an occasional gleam from those
"crack companies" so much doubted in the beginning of the war.

It had been thought that the gay young men of citi