y had an order read that we were about to meet the enemy,
and that every man must do his duty. And here is a General of Division,
in command of nine thousand men, as drunk as a fool."

"Let Pigey alone on the whiskey question, Captain," interrupted the
Corporal, who had in the meantime been refreshing his inner man by a
pull at his canteen. "He's a regular trump--yes," slapping his canteen
as he spoke, "a full hand of trumps any time on that topic. Like other
men, he drinks to drown his grief at our poor prospect of a fight."

"A fine condition he is in to lead men into a fight;--but not much worse
than at Fredericksburg," slowly observed the Preacher Lieutenant, who,
as one of the crowd, had been a listener to the story of the Captain.
"Drunkenness has cursed our army too much. But we cannot consistently be
silent in sight of conduct like this on the part of Commanders. The
interests of our men"----

"Have a care, Lieutenant," quietly observed the Adjutant, "how you talk.
'The interests of the men' have placed our Colonels under guard in the
Sibley."

"Not bolts, nor bars a prison make," resumed the Preacher more
spiritedly, "and I would sooner have a quiet conscience in confinement,
than the reproach of disgraceful conduct and command a Division."

* * * * *

Corduroying the entire route had not been proposed, when the army
commenced its movement; but it became apparent to all that progress was
only tolerable with it, and without it, impossible. On the day after the
above conversation, the army commenced to retrace its steps. Some days,
however, intervened before the smoke ascended from their old huts, and
the men in lazy circles about the camp fires rehashed their
recollections of the "mud march."

Like our repulse at Fredericksburg, it was, as far as our
Commander-in-Chief was concerned, a misfortune and not a fault. A change
in command was evident, however, and the substitution of the
whole-hearted, dashing Hooker for the equally earnest but more steady
Burnside, that took place in the latter part of January, occasioned no
surprise in the army. The new Commander went much farther, than old
attachments had probably permitted his predecessor in going, in removing
McClellanism. Grand Divisions were abolished; rigid inquiries into the
comforts and conveniences of the men were frequent, and senseless
reviews less frequent. Bakeries were established in every Brigade, and
fresh bread