the latter part of May, when our quarters were moved to the river
bank.

Now commenced a system of constant drill for all the troops, which
almost caused a mutiny. Daylight each morning found us in line of
battle, and the work was laborious. This was continued till the 4th of
July, when the battle of Helena occurred.

This battle is a matter of history, and with its details we have nothing
to do in this narrative. Suffice it to say that there is little question
in the minds of those who were there as to what saved the day for us. We
were, as was usual, in line of battle at daybreak when the attack was
made.

The command of our troops was transferred to General Steele soon after
the battle, and in September we were moved on the fall campaign to
Little Rock, which place was occupied without much trouble, and there we
remained for the winter.

Minor skirmishes and battles in which Company B was engaged have not
been noticed, as the object is to chronicle only the principal events
which led up to the prison life and efforts to escape.

In February we started on the slow march to join Banks at Shreveport,
and reached Camden about April 1.

CHAPTER II.

CAPTURED.

Three weeks later our brigade was ordered to escort an empty supply
train from Camden to Pine Bluff, and we started on April 22, 1864, about
1300 strong, the force consisting of the 43d Indiana, 36th Iowa, 77th
Ohio, one section of the 3d Missouri Battery, and a detachment of the
1st Indiana Cavalry under Major McCauly, the whole commanded by Gen. F.
M. Drake, now Governor of Iowa.

Crossing the Washita river, we camped for the night about three miles
out. The following two days were Saturday and Sunday, and we advanced
little by little, being frequently beset by the enemy, and having
constant skirmishing, until about 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, when we
reached Moro river bottom, and camped until the pioneer corps had
completed repairs on the road ahead.

This stream could scarcely be called a river, and yet, when high, it
flooded quite a district. At the time of our crossing it was hard to
tell where the real channel lay, the whole bottom being one vast marsh,
across which was an old corduroy road, or rather a broken line of logs,
some visible and some not. Water was to be seen only in spots, and
there was nothing which had even the appearance of a river, but when one
stepped off the apology for a road he soon found that the earth was
satu