prepared, at all times, to assist them in whatever
way lies in my power.

"I again thank you personally, and beg to
subscribe myself, Your sincere friend,

"W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General."

Colonel Van Vleck, Seventy-eight Illinois, was kind enough in his report
to say:

"In behalf of the entire regiment I tender to the general commanding the
brigade, my sincere thanks for his uniform kindness, and for his
solicitude for the men during all their hardships and suffering, as well
as for his undaunted courage, self-possession, and military skill in
time of danger."

26. Moved to McAffee's Springs, six miles from Chattanooga, and two
miles from the battle-field of Chickamauga. My quarters are in the State
of Tennessee, those of my troops in Georgia. The line between the states
is about forty yards from where I sit. On our way hither, we saw many
things to remind us of the Confederate army--villages of log huts,
chimneys, old clothing, and miles of rifle pits.

27. Just a moment ago I asked Wilson the day of the week, and he
astonished me by saying it was Sunday. It is the first time I ever
passed a Sabbath, from daylight to dark, without knowing it.

Wilson lies on his cot to-night a disappointed man. His application for
a leave was disapproved.

I am quartered in a log hut; a blanket over the doorway excludes the
damp air and the cold blasts. The immense chinks, or rather lack of
immense chinks, in various parts of the edifice, leave abundance of room
for the admission of light. There are no windows, but this is fortunate,
for if there were, they, like the door, would need covering, and
blankets are scarce. The fire-place, however, is grand, and would be
creditable to a castle.

The forest in which we are encamped, was, in former times, a rendezvous
for the blacklegs, thieves, murderers, and outlaws, generally of two
States, Tennessee and Georgia. An old inhabitant informs me he has seen
hundreds of these persecuted and proscribed gentry encamped about this
spring. When an officer of Tennessee came with a writ to arrest them,
they would step a few yards into the State of Georgia and laugh at him.
So, when Georgia sought to lay its official clutches on an offending
Georgian, the latter would walk over into Tennessee and argue the case
across the line. It was a very convenient spot for law-breakers. To
reach across this imaginary line, and draw a man