he actual movement of the army commenced. No one, unless
himself an old campaigner, can appreciate the feelings of the soldier at
the breaking up of camp. Anxious for a change of scenery as he may be,
the eye will linger upon each familiar spot, the quarters, the parade
ground, and rocky bluff and wooded knoll, until memory's impress bears
the lasting distinctness of a lifetime. Those leaving could not banish
from their minds, even if disposed, the thought that, although but a
temporary sojourn for them, it had proved to be the last resting-place
of many of their comrades. The hospital, more dreaded than the field,
had contributed its share to the mounds that dotted the hills from the
strife of Antietam.

"There is not an atom of this earth
But once was living man--"

was a day dream, doubtless, of the poetic boy of eighteen; but how
suggestive it becomes, when we consider how many thousands and hundreds
of thousands of mounds rising upon every hill in the border States,
attest devotion to the cause of the Union, or treason, in this foulest
of Rebellions.

The route lay, after passing the village of Sharpsburg, through a narrow
valley, lying cosily between the spurs of two ridges that appeared to
terminate at the Ferry. On either hand the evidences of the occupation
of the country by a large army were abundant. Fences torn down, ground
trampled, and fields destitute of herbage. The road bordering the canal,
along which is built the straggling village of Sandy Hook, was crowded
with the long wagon trains of the different Corps. A soldier could as
readily distinguish the Staff from the Regimental wagons, as the Staff
themselves from Regimental officers. The slick, well fed appearance of
the horses or mules of Staff teams, usually six in number, owing to
abundance of forage and half _loaded_ wagons, were in striking contrast
with the four half fed, hide-bound beasts usually attached to the
overloaded Regimental wagons. Order after order for the reduction of
baggage, that would reduce field officers to a small valise apiece,
while many line officers would be compelled to march without a change of
clothing, did not appear to lessen the length of Staff trains. That the
transportation was unnecessarily extensive, cannot be doubted. That the
heaviest reduction could have been made with Head-quarter trains, is
equally true.

"Grey coats one day and blue coats the next," said an old woman clad in
homespun