eds. Hungarian grass and millet
was the most of it. Division commissary issued out plenty of fresh meat
for the boys and there was not much shooting. This evening thirty
barrels of whiskey was found buried by the 48th Indiana close to camp,
so there were several drunken men in camp.

Camp on Richland Creek, Tenn., Friday, Nov. 6. Got up at 3 A. M. Moved
out at 5 A. M. A clear cold morning, the roads very muddy. We soon
struck a range of hills which we rode over. They were of solid rock
broken off in ledges, very hard to travel with artillery, especially
with the wheel horses. For six miles it was a continual stony bed, very
steep hills and rocky declivities. Eight miles on we struck the
Nashville and Decatur R. R. at Prospect. Followed it north for two miles
through a very fertile valley well laden with corn. I got a handkerchief
full of Irish potatoes from under a farm house, satisfied the negro for
them, the master not at home. The track was in good running condition,
built of "T" rails bolted together at the ends and the filling is of
crushed stone. Turned east, leaving the R. R. to our left. Climbed a
very high hill or mountain, a mile long, stopped an hour for dinner on
the top. The wheel was locked for over a hundred yards going down, over
the roughest road man ever travelled. Struck Richland Creek at the
bottom, a stream as large as Big Black Muddy, unlike all other streams
of this country. Followed it up stream for two miles, a fine stone wall
built along the other side of the road, three feet at the bottom, two
feet on top, and five feet high, of quarried limestone, inside of which
was a beautiful cornfield. I got a feed for my team out of it. Forded
the creek below Tom Brown's Mill. The regiment halted, stacked arms,
took off shoes, stockings and pants, then waded in it. It was a rare
sight, several hundred men walking through at once, bare legged, their
unmentionables thrown over shoulder and musket high in the air. The
water was waist deep and quite cold. To any but soldiers it would be a
serious necessity. They took it very as a lark, each one vieing with the
other to make the more noise by the way of singing, hooting, plunging,
etc. Came into camp on the bank of the creek in a pretty grove half an
hour of sundown. 2nd Brigade here ahead of us. Y---- tied to the gun all
day with two feet of rope, for mutinous conduct and offering violence to
officer.

[Sidenote: 1863 A Rich Country]

Near Fayettevill