d to go another
step; the brigade itself was lost, scattered for the last three miles,
wherever a turn or twist in the road had hid the guiding lamp; less than
two companies were on hand, and many of their number had been left in the
various mud "wallows" on the way; all were perfectly exhausted, so we
camped where we stood--such camping-ground ne'er before was seen by mortal
man--but it was Hobson's choice, that or none.

Imagine a swampy, water-soaked, spungy compound of moss and mud, where the
foot sank ankle-deep, covering a bank some twenty feet in width, which
extended from the dense woods to the muddy road; no fence, no house for
miles; every bit of wood and brush so soaked that one might as well have
tried to start a fire with paving stones; and you will have a very faint
idea of the cheerful place in which we lay down, tired, hungry, muddy, and
wet as water could make us, to enjoy (?) a little sleep. At about one
o'clock it commenced to rain--heavens, how it did rain! It takes
considerable to arouse men as tired and worn out as those that lay around
in that swamp; but one by one they got up with the melancholy confession
that "the rain was once more too many for them." By dint of patient
industry a fire had been made, whose ruddy blaze seemed to cheer up the
scene a little, and clustering around it the awakened sleepers sought a
little comfort; but it was all in vain. Another sheet of rain; and the
fire, a moment previous, blazing breast high, was a mass of water-soaked
embers, around which huddled, for the remainder of the night, as
disconsolate and miserable a set of bipeds as ever was seen. During the
whole night but one solitary laugh broke the gloomy silence. A poor
unfortunate corporal, who had been crouching all night on the end of a
log, wrapped up in a rubber blanket, falling asleep in the vain endeavor
to extract a little warmth from the embers of the extinguished fire, lost
his balance while nodding to and fro, and rolled backward, heels over
head, into the mud and water which composed the road; whence he emerged,
such a pale drab-colored and profane apparition, as would have drawn a
smile from the very Genius of Despair. In this general misery, rank was
forgotten; even our Brigadier shared our fortunes, and slept in the mud
like the lowest private. Arising before dawn--if that term can be used
where no one had laid down--we pushed forward; and a most tiresome
five-mile walk through the same horrible