tremely hilly and broken, but apparently fertile.
If the people of Western Virginia were united against us, it would be
almost impossible for our army to advance. In many places the creek on
one side, and the perpendicular banks on the other, leave a strip barely
wide enough for a wagon road.

Buckhannon, twenty miles in advance of us, is said to be in the hands of
the secession troops. To-morrow, or the day after, if they do not leave,
a battle will take place. Our men appear eager for the fray, and I pray
they may be as successful in the fight as they are anxious for one.

29. It is half-past eight o'clock, and we are still but eight miles from
Clarksburg. We were informed this morning that the secession troops had
left Buckhannon, and fallen back to their fortifications at Laurel Hill
and Rich mountain. It is said General McClellan will be here to-morrow,
and take command of the forces in person.

In enumerating the troops in this vicinity, I omitted to mention Colonel
Robert McCook's Dutch regiment, which is in camp two miles from us. The
Seventh Ohio Infantry is now at Clarksburg, and will, I think, move in
this direction to-morrow.

Provisions outside of camp are very scarce. I took breakfast with a
farmer this morning, and can say truly that I have eaten much better
meals in my life. We had coffee without sugar, short-cake without
butter, and a little salt pork, exceedingly fat. I asked him what the
charge was, and he said "Ninepence," which means one shilling. I
rejoiced his old soul by giving him two shillings.

The country people here have been grossly deceived by their political
leaders. They have been made to believe that Lincoln was elected for the
sole purpose of liberating the negro; that our army is marching into
Virginia to free their slaves, destroy their property, and murder their
families; that we, not they, have set the Constitution and laws at
defiance, and that in resisting us they are simply defending their homes
and fighting for their constitutional rights.

JULY, 1861.

2. Reached Buckhannon at 5 P. M., and encamped beside the Fourth Ohio,
in a meadow, one mile from town. The country through which we marched is
exceedingly hilly; or, perhaps, I might say mountainous. The scenery is
delightful. The road for miles is cut around great hills, and is just
wide enough for a wagon. A step to the left would send one tumbling a
hundred or two hundred feet below, and to the right the hills