s we started to church in Liberty one Sunday morning
I recalled the incident and mentioned it to my aunt's family, and was
informed that Ferguson was still alive, had been very recently married,
and that I would probably see him that morning at church. And, sure
enough, I was scarcely seated in church when he came limping in and took
a seat near me. I recognized him at once, but, fearing he had not
forgotten what he felt was cruel indifference in his desperate
situation, did not renew our acquaintance.

[Illustration: W. S. MCCLINTIC]

After parting with him on the battlefield and overtaking my gun, our
route for a time was through the enemy's dead and wounded of the battle
which took place two days before, who had been lying between the two
armies, exposed to the hot sun since that time. While taking a more
direct route, as the battery was winding around an ascent, my attention
was called to a Federal soldier of enormous size lying on the ground.
His head was almost as large as a half-bushel and his face a dark-blue
color. I supposed, as a matter of course, that he was dead, and
considered him a curiosity even as a dead man. But, while standing near
him, wondering at the size of the monster, he began to move, and turned
as if about to rise to his feet. Thinking he might succeed, I hurried on
and joined my gun.

Here we had a good opportunity of observing the marked and striking
difference between the Federals and Confederates who remained unburied
for twenty-four hours or more after being killed. While the Confederates
underwent no perceptible change in color or otherwise, the Federals, on
the contrary, became much swollen and discolored. This was, of course,
attributable to the difference in their food and drink. And while some
Confederates, no doubt for want of sufficient food, fell by the wayside
on the march, the great majority of them, owing to their simple fare,
could endure, and unquestionably did endure, more hardship than the
Federals who were overfed and accustomed to regular and full rations.

Our following in the pursuit was a mere form, as the enemy had been
driven by our infantry from all of their formidable positions, and
night, as usual in such cases, had put a stop to further pursuit. As we
countermarched, to find a suitable camping-ground, great care had to be
taken in the darkness to avoid driving over the enemy's wounded who lay
along the course of our route. I remember one of them especially, in