up the
ground around us. There was a universal cry from the boys that I should
lie down also; but I continued to walk up and down the line, watching
the approaching enemy, and replied to their entreaties, "No; it is my
time to stand guard now, and I will not lie down."

Meeting Captain Loomis yesterday, he said: "Do you know you captured a
regiment at Chaplin Hills?" "I do not." "Yes, you captured the Third.
You have not a man now who wouldn't die for you."

I have been too much occupied of late to record even the most
interesting and important events. I should like to preserve the names of
the private soldiers who behaved like heroes in the battle; but I have
only time to mention the fact that our colors changed hands seven times
during the engagement. Six of our color bearers were either killed or
wounded, and as the sixth man was falling, a soldier of Company C, named
David C. Walker, a boyish fellow, whose cheeks were ruddy as a girl's,
and who had lost his hat in the fight, sprang forward, caught the
falling flag, then stepping out in front of the regiment, waved it
triumphantly, and carried it to the end of the battle.

On the next morning I made him color bearer, and undertook to thank him
for his gallantry, but my eyes filled and voice choked, and I was unable
to articulate a word. He understood me, doubtless.

If it had not been for McCook's foolish haste, it is more than probable
that Bragg would have been most thoroughly whipped and utterly routed.
As it was, two or three divisions had to contend for half a day with one
of the largest and best disciplined of the Confederate armies, and that,
too, when our troops in force were lying but a few miles in the rear,
ready and eager to be led into the engagement. The whole affair is a
mystery to me. McCook is, doubtless, to blame for being hasty; but may
not Buell be censurable for being slow? And may it not be true that this
butchery of men has resulted from the petty jealousies existing between
the commanders of different army corps and divisions?

19. Encamped in a broken, hilly field, five miles south of Crab Orchard.
From Perryville to this place, there has been each day occasional
cannonading; but this morning I have heard no guns. The Cumberland
mountains are in sight. We are pushing forward as fast probably as it is
possible for a great army to move. Buell is here superintending the
movement.

24. In the woods near Lebanon, and still without tents. Br