being noticed, and then bade us good bye, saying
that he would like to accompany us north if he could. We started on,
feeling much encouraged, expecting to get beyond the picket at Tunnel Hill
before daylight. But it soon commenced raining fearfully, and the walking
was slippery, which made it intensely painful to my poor inflamed limbs,
and chafed the skin off my stockingless feet, as they slipped up and down
in legless boots.

I stood it as long as I could, but at twelve o'clock I was obliged to give
up, and drenched to the skin, we lay down under a pine tree beside the
road, and covering ourselves with a wet blanket, with my overcoat for a
bed, and the rain beating in our faces, we slept the sound refreshing
sleep of tired soldiers. We awoke just before daylight, wet, cold and
stiff, and started on towards Walhalla, which was about a mile ahead. I
thought the one street that passed through that little hamlet, was the
longest I ever saw. It was daylight when we entered the town, and the
early risers were stirring, but they were all negroes. We walked rapidly,
but it seemed as though we would never get through the village and gain
the woods beyond. And finally seeing some covered wagons just at the
further edge of the town, with the owners cooking their breakfast, we
concluded to make a flank movement to the right, as though we were going
to work in the woods. We gained the woods in safety, and crossing the
road, went in a considerable distance, and sat down on a fallen tree, ate
our breakfast and rested for about an hour.

As it was still raining and very cloudy, we concluded to go on, and try
and flank the picket post at Tunnel Hill before night, thinking they would
not be as watchful during the day. We kept in sight of the road, and
hearing some mounted men coming, we hid until they passed. We could
plainly hear them talking, and concluded that it was the relief, going up
to change the guard. Going on, we kept the road in sight, until we came to
a plantation, which we thought best to go around, keeping in the edge of
the woods that skirted it. It was a long detour, and when we tried to come
out on the road again, we could not find it. There was a path in the
woods, leading up quite a steep looking hill. It seemed to be well
traveled, and thinking we could go over this hill and probably come out on
the road, we followed this path in a circuitous way for nearly a mile,
when we came to the top of a ridge, that seemed a