militiaman to the fact that the date was 1812. "So it is," said
the old captain; "I did not notice the date. But, d--n me, sir, the
paper just come. Go on with the drill, boys." This story was told to
illustrate the fact that the people of many counties in Tennessee were
behind the times.

It would take too much time to refer, even briefly, to all the stories
related, and I will allude simply to a LONDON GHOST STORY, which Captain
Halpin, an Irishman, of the Fifteenth Kentucky, undertook to tell. The
gallant Captain was in the last stages of inebriety, and laid the scene
of his London ghost story in Ireland. Steadying himself in his seat with
both hands, and with a tongue rather too thick to articulate clearly, he
introduced us to his ancestors for twenty generations back. It was a
famous old Irish family, and among the collateral branches were the
O'Tooles, O'Rourkes, and O'Flahertys. They had in them the blood of the
Irish kings, and accomplished marvelous feats in the wars of those
times. And so we staggered with the Captain from Dublin to Belfast, and
thence made sorties into all the provinces on chase of the London ghost,
until finally our leader wound up with a yawn and went to sleep. The
party, disappointed at this sudden and unsatisfactory termination of the
London ghost story, took a mug of beer all around, and then one
gentleman, drunker probably than the others, or possibly unwilling,
after all the time spent, to allow the ghost to escape, punched the
Captain in the ribs and shouted: "Captain--Captain Halpin, you said it
was a London ghost story; maybe you'll find the ghost in London, for
I'll be d--d if it's in Ireland!" The Captain was too far gone to profit
by the suggestion.

30. This evening General Rosecrans, on his way to Winchester, stopped
for a few minutes at the station. He shook hands with me, and asked how
I liked the water at the foot of the mountains, and about the health of
my troops. I told him the water was good, and that the boys were
encamped on high ground and healthy. "Yes," he replied, "and we'll take
higher ground in a few days."

On the march to Tullahoma I had my brigade stretched along a ridge to
guard against an attack from the direction of Wartrace. General
Rosecrans passed through my lines, and was making some inquiries, when I
stepped out: "Hello," said he, "here is the young General himself.
You've got a good ridge. Who lives in that house? Find a place for
Negley on your ri