els captured the piece. The shuddering imagination
refuses to contemplate the consequences had that swivel been touched
off. Major Webber might have had some trouble with this force, which was
being rapidly augmented, but for the promptness and vigor of his attack.
He made favorable mention of Captain Cooper, of Company K, and
Lieutenant West, of Company I, for gallant and judicious conduct.

A short halt was made in Salem to feed men and horses, and during that
time several railroad bridges were burned. The Provost guard had great
difficulty in restraining the men from pillaging, and was unsuccessful
in some instances, Major Steele, of the Third Kentucky, had been
appointed Provost Marshal of the division, and was assisted by picked
officers and men from each of the brigades. Major Steele was a most
resolute, vigilant, energetic officer, and yet he found it impossible to
stop a practice which neither company nor regimental officers were able
to aid him in suppressing. This disposition for wholesale plunder
exceeded any thing that any of us had ever seen before. The men seemed
actuated by a desire to "pay off" in the "enemy's country" all scores
that the Federal army had chalked up in the South. The great cause for
apprehension, which our situation might have inspired, seemed only to
make them reckless. Calico was the staple article of appropriation--each
man (who could get one) tied a bolt of it to his saddle, only to throw
it away and get a fresh one at the first opportunity. They did not
pillage with any sort of method or reason--it seemed to be a mania,
senseless and purposeless. One man carried a bird-cage, with three
canaries in it, for two days. Another rode with a chafing-dish, which
looked like a small metallic coffin, on the pummel of his saddle, until
an officer forced him to throw it away. Although the weather was
intensely warm, another, still, slung seven pairs of skates around his
neck, and chuckled over his acquisition. I saw very few articles of real
value taken--they pillaged like boys robbing an orchard. I would not
have believed that such a passion could have been developed, so
ludicrously, among any body of civilized men. At Piketon, Ohio, some
days later, one man broke through the guard posted at a store, rushed in
(trembling with excitement and avarice), and filled his pockets with
horn buttons. They would (with few exceptions) throw away their plunder
after awhile, like children tired of their toy