sionally in camp a number of them
would club together and hire some "camp follower" or some other soldier
to do it. Officers of sufficient rank to have a servant, of course,
readily solved the question. Those of us of lesser rank could generally
hire it done, except on the march. Then we had to be our own laundrymen.
Having, as in the above instance, no change of clothing at hand, the
washing followed a bath, and consisted in standing in the running water
and rubbing as much of the dirt out of the underwear as could be done
without soap, for that could not be had for love or money; then hanging
them on the limb of a tree and sitting in the sun, as comfortable as
possible, whilst wind and sun did the drying. A "snap-shot" of such a
scene would no doubt be interesting. But "snap-shots" unfortunately were
not then in vogue, and so a picture of high art must perish. We could
not be over particular about having our clothes dry. The finishing
touches were added as we wore them back to camp.

My diary notes that there were nine hundred and ninety-eight rebel dead
gathered and buried from in front of the lines of our division. This
line was about a quarter of a mile long, and this was mostly our work
(our division), although Richardson's division had occupied part of this
ground before us, but had been so quickly broken that they had not made
much impression upon the enemy. Our division had engaged them
continuously and under a terrific fire from eight o'clock A.M. until
12.30 P.M. It may be asked why during that length of time and under such
a fire all were not annihilated. The answer is, that inaccuracy and
unsteadiness in firing on both sides greatly reduce its effectiveness,
and taking all possible advantage of shelter by lying prone upon the
ground also prevents losses; but the above number of rebel dead, it
should be remembered, represents, probably, not more than twenty to
twenty-five per cent. of their casualties in that area of their lines;
the balance were wounded and were removed. So that with nine hundred and
ninety-eight dead it can be safely estimated that their losses exceeded
four thousand killed and wounded in that area. This would indicate what
was undoubtedly true, that we were in the very heart of that great
battle.

[Illustration: FIELD HOSPITAL]

Here I wish to say that some chroniclers of battles have undertaken to
measure the effectiveness and bravery of the different regiments,
batteries, etc., by th