o matter whether it had reached a favorable
position for a halt or not. It was no small undertaking to move an army
with such a train; yet there were many at home who thought the army
could move from one place to another with the greatest ease.

It is true that the enemy got along with smaller trains than ours, and
it is true that the rebel army on that account was more easily moved
than our own. It was one of the disadvantages of too liberal a
government that our movements for two years were weighed down with these
cumbersome trains; and even after so long an experience of their evil it
was with strong feelings of opposition that the reduction was acquiesced
in.

A captain or lieutenant of the line was allowed a small valise, in which
to carry his company books and his clothing; and a staff officer was but
little better off. Must this little be reduced? Surely the ammunition
and the commissary trains could suffer no diminution. The amount of
hospital supplies carried in the wagons was already limited; could it be
reduced? The people were clamoring to have wagons of the Sanitary and
Christian Commissions admitted to the hospital trains, to carry articles
which, although they were gratefully received by the soldiers, yet were
not absolutely necessary. The ambulance train was surely not too large,
and we could spare no artillery.

Yet the train was reduced. Small as was the valise of the line officers,
it must be still smaller; little as was the baggage of the staff
officer, it must be less; and inconveniently contracted as was the size
of the mess chests, they must be still further reduced.

Thus, through the day, we watched the hurrying trains as they swept by
with immense clatter and tumult; and the files of troops, guards to the
trains, pressing forward, amid the clouds of dust and the rattle and
noise of the wagons. As the sun sunk in the west, we gathered about a
green knoll, in the shade of a pine grove, and sung old familiar hymns;
then the chaplain made a prayer; thus was offered the evening sacrifice
for the Sabbath. Few who gathered--

"Where through the long drawn aisle or fretted vault,
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise,"

offered more heartfelt thanksgiving, or more earnest supplications for
future protection, than the band of veterans seated on that mossy bank,
while about them was the confusion of a great army, pressing to meet its
foe.

At length, at nine o'clock at night, we took t