afterwards
developed, by the escape of the main body of the rebel army across the
river, below Williamsport, under a fire from detachments of
McClellan's forces. After we had been kindly treated to a good lunch
by the farmer, the team was conducted off in the charge of the
lieutenant, while I took the nearest course to the farm-house first
visited, to bring back some men who had been left there. Finding that
they had already gone, I walked into Hagerstown, where I had some
difficulty in ascertaining the whereabouts of our regiment, the
marching orders having been executed during my absence. Took the
opportunity to reconnoitre through the town for the purpose of laying
in some provisions. The great frequency with which that occupation is
noted in this narrative need excite no undue wonder, since, as we were
nearly always eating, our private supplies were in a continually
deplenished state. Hagerstown is an antiquated looking place, and is,
at the present time, the seat of unusual activity, owing to its
proximity to the centre of military operations. The population was
said to be about equally divided in its political sympathies. It had
been held alternately by both sides, so that everybody had had in turn
an opportunity of "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." At the
present it was transformed, for the time being, into a vast hospital,
many of its public buildings being occupied for this purpose. Governor
Curtin was here looking after the welfare of the Pennsylvania troops.
By the Williamsport pike, a number of our wounded soldiers were still
being brought in from the battle-field, a distance of ten miles. The
sight of these sufferers was touching. Some were in ambulances, while
others lay in the bottoms of ordinary farm wagons, with little or no
shelter from the hot sun. Their wounds had been dressed, and the
heroic courage which they manifested was something inspiring to
witness. Many bodies of the dead had been sent in for transportation.
In a wheelwright shop to which my attention was attracted, I saw the
lifeless forms of two officers in uniform--a major and a
lieutenant--awaiting boxing. The faces were ghastly, and I turned from
them with a feeling of pain as I thought of the hearts that even now,
perhaps, were being torn with grief in the distant homes. These sights
were realities, not pictures, and gave me a more vivid idea of the
horrors of war than the most graphic pen descriptions I had ever read.
Alas! I th