well, and George the third--might profit by their
example." At this time the place was very delapidated. As I remember
there was but one good looking house. The place had been well fortified
against our approach as we were going up in May.

Aug. 20th we reached Yorktown and went into camp on the same piece of
ground we had used about three months before. Those three months had
wrought great changes in our circumstances as a regiment and an army.
"We had met the enemy" and he was NOT ours. After stacking arms I
wandered around and in so doing came across a quantity of split peas,
which doubtless had been left by our army on the upward march. With
others I concluded to try a change of diet and prepare a banquet for
mastication that evening. I took enough of the peas to cook my quart cup
full, and patiently sat by the camp fire through the evening looking
after the cooking. It was quite late when they were boiled tender. I was
hungry from the waiting, they touched the spot in the way of relishing,
and, in a brief time the bottom of that old quart cup was bare. The
prevailing complaint with the men was diarrhoea, and I was one of the
prevalents, so to speak. This was not hygenic food for such a case, and,
without further words, I was not very well the remainder of the night.
The weather had been hot for that latitude. The next morning it was
like the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar--several times hotter than it had
been. I felt more like being petted by a nurse than to shoulder my traps
and tramp. I could hardly stand, but to go was a necessity. We made that
day a march of twenty miles, I think. Not being able to step out
squarely, but rather drag and shuffle along, I began to chafe badly,
which made the marching very painful. I kept up with the boys till
towards the close of day and about a mile from where camp was made, when
I grew dizzy. I saw all sorts of colors. I staggered out one side and
went down like a bundle of old clothes. I lay there in semi-consciousness,
until the rear guard came along, when I was accosted with the question,
"What are you here for?" I said I couldn't go another step. "Well, but
you must. Come, get up, or we'll prick you." I made the effort under
this pressure, and did work my way over that mile to where the regiment
had stacked arms. This was the first and only time I ever failed to be
present with the regiment when it stacked arms and I was with it.

On this occasion whiskey had been issued. The f