tillwell,
"Otter Creek, Illinois.

"I wrote you a short and hasty letter the fore part of this
week to let you know that I was all right, and giving you a
brief account of our late ups and downs, but I doubt if you
have received it. The cars have not been running since we came
back to Jackson from our march after Forrest. The talk in camp
is that the rebs have utterly destroyed the railroad north of
here clean to the Mississippi river, and that they have also
broken it in various places and damaged it badly south of here
between Bolivar and Grand Junction. I have no idea when this
letter will reach you, but will write it anyhow, and trust to
luck and Uncle Sam to get it through in course of time.

"We are now in camp on a muddy hillside in the outskirts of
Jackson. I think the spot where we are must have been a cavalry
camp last summer. Lots of corn cobs are scattered on the
ground, old scraps of harness leather, and such other truck as
accumulates where horses are kept standing around. When we left
Bolivar we were in considerable of a hurry, with no time to
primp or comb our hair, and neither did we bring our tents
along, so we are just living out of doors now, and "boarding at
Sprawl's." There is plenty of wood, though, to make fires, and
we have jayhawked enough planks and boards to lie on to keep us
out of the mud, so we just curl up at night in our blankets
with all our clothes on, and manage to get along fairly well.
Our worst trouble now is the lack of grub. The destruction of
the railroad has cut off our supplies, and there is no telling
just exactly how long it may be before it will be fixed and in
running order again, so they have been compelled, I suppose, to
cut down our rations. We get half rations of coffee, and
quarter rations of hardtack and bacon. What we call small
rations, such as Yankee beans, rice, and split peas, are played
out; at least, we don't get any. The hardtack is so precious
now that the orderly sergeant no longer knocks a box open and
lets every man help himself, but he stands right over the box
and counts the number of tacks he gives to every man. I never
thought I'd see the day when army hardtack would