, Iowa County. May they
live to see their children once more gathered in the old homestead.

Buntyn Station, Monday, Jan. 26. Rain, rain, rain. Turned cold towards
night. Health not very good on account of the damp. Ague and rheumatism.

Buntyn Station, Tuesday, Jan. 27. Cold this morning. Came out sunny.

Buntyn Station, Wednesday, Jan. 28. Cold and clear. Froze hard in the
night. Went down to the 59th Indiana where there was a gallery. Took my
likeness for $1.00. Carriages washed clean for painting.

Buntyn Station, Thursday, Jan. 29. Warm and pleasant. Stood guard.
Health good. No mail.

Buntyn Station, Friday, Jan. 30. 4th Brigade of this Division passed
toward Memphis. Harnessed up in the afternoon in order to see if the
harnesses were in marching order. Indication of rain.

Buntyn Station, Saturday, Jan. 31. Sunny in the A. M. but clouded over
and there came a heavy spring shower. Rained nearly all night. Health
good.

[Sidenote: 1863 Sunday in Camp]

Buntyn Station, Sunday, Feb. 1. It is Sunday, but hard to realize it.
The same routine is gone through as upon the other days, the cards
shuffled with equal liveliness, the game of ball with the same noise.
And I lay in my tent never realizing that this is the Sunday that I used
to spend at home with such stillness, when the horses stayed in the
stable unhitched, all work laid aside. Ah, well I remember the first
Sunday spent in the army, how I used to recoil as I heard the boisterous
oaths and reckless sport of the soldiers as they were returning to their
comrades on that clear Sunday morning from Columbus to Corinth. It was
just five months ago to-day, and am I really so much changed? Can it be
that I am so much more vicious and wicked than then, that I heed not the
Sabbath? God forbid. But what does company have to do? Almost
everything. I flatter myself that it is not so very wicked. It cannot
be.

In the evening I went to Griffith's "shebang" and listened to sacred
music. It sounded as of old. "I'm a Pilgrim", "There is a Happy Land"
etc. But a soldier is a soldier, and the "Dixie" and "Gay and Happy"
were promiscuously mixed. Weather warm and sunny. Heard that the 2nd
Wisconsin Cavalry were at Memphis.

Buntyn Station, Monday, Feb. 2. Cold, and toward the evening windy. S.
Beaver went down town in search of his brother wounded at Arkansas Post,
but returned without finding him. Gone up the river.

Buntyn Station, Tuesday, Feb. 3.