ant Captures.--Retreat
over Meadow Bridge.--Destructions.--Bushwhackers.--Happy Rencounter.
--Safe Arrival at Gloucester Point.--Public Prints.--Battle of
Chancellorsville.--Heroism and Defeat.--Stonewall Jackson Falls.
--Hooker Injured.--Retreat.--Orders.

April 1.--April-fool day always brings its trains of fun and broods of
annoyances, the boys being determined to make the most of it. The usual
plan is to induce a comrade to believe that either the colonel, his
captain, or lieutenant, wants to see him. This scheme is generally
successful; for the victim dare not refuse to report whenever called
for, and as he is unable to learn whether he is really wanted or
otherwise, he finds it necessary to call upon his superior to ask his
pleasure. Receiving the assurance that nothing is wanted of him, he sees
that he has been "sold," and returns to his comrades in the midst of
their hilarity at his expense. But he is generally determined to have
revenge, and to get the "laugh" on them before the day is spent.
Sometimes these jokes are carried rather too far for sport, and recoil
upon their perpetrators with unpleasant force.

But, then, this soldier-life of ours is so grave and solemn that our
buoyant natures seek relief in all such means as the above. The bow,
always bent to its utmost tension, would soon break or become useless;
it must be straightened to send the arrow. So our natures would break
were they not elastic, and were there no opportunities for reaction as
well as action. Then, too, there is a kind of monotony to our life in
winter-quarters, to which it is difficult to accustom ourselves. And he
who can suggest any thing laughable is a great benefactor to his
comrades; for then the monotony is broken, and we enjoy a little
sprinkling of variety, which is truly said to be "the spice of life." A
good joke, that runs through the command like a bubbling brook along the
flowering meadows, is worth more to us than a corps of nurses with
cart-loads of medicine.

On the second of April, from nine to eleven o'clock in the morning, we
had a mounted brigade-drill. Colonel Kilpatrick was in command. He
appeared well pleased, at the close, with the proficiency of his men,
and they are all enthusiastic over him. There seems to be a wonderful
unanimity of feeling in the brigade, all regarding Kilpatrick as the
right man in the right place.

_April 6._--To-day the Cavalry Corps, consisting of twenty-five
reg