on shot in front of us,
the smoke visible too, curling above the woods, and showing how near it
had been fired. A smothered 'Ah!' and 'Now you've got it, boys,' went
through the ranks. It was no humbug this time. The rebels were shelling
the woods as they advanced.

But it appeared we were not to receive them at that spot, for suddenly
we were ordered off again, and marched across lots, to the destruction
of many a bushel of wheat, clear into the intrenchments in front of
Harrisburg. There for the remainder of the day we waited in line. Other
regiments, we knew not what, were near us in different positions. The
signal flags were waving, and officers galloping by constantly, of whom
the quartermaster was hailed with shouts of 'Grub, grub.'

That night my company and two others went out on picket, taking position
near our camp of the day before. In the morning we advanced a little to
a lane--a cobbler's stall was converted into headquarters, and the half
of the company not on duty went foraging for dinner. Pigs and chickens
were captured, and cooking began in the kitchen of a deserted house
close by. Apple butter, too, the prevalent institution in Pennsylvania,
was found in plenty. So the two halves of the company relieved each
other in standing guard and picnicking. Meantime, however, the rebels,
from the woods just in front, were paying their respects with two-inch
shell, which shrieked and crashed through the branches, bursting over
us, around us, and many of them altogether too near to be pleasant.
Moreover, by one of those blunders which cannot always be avoided, some
of our own men, mistaking us, opened fire on our rear; but to this a
stop was speedily put by a flag of truce, improvised from a ramrod and a
white handkerchief. We were allowed to fire only three or four volleys
in return. This skirmishing tries courage, I believe, more than a
pitched battle. To lie on the ground for hours, two or three miles in
front of your main body, ten feet from the nearest man, and be fired at
without firing yourself or making any noise, is a different thing from
standing in your place amid the throng and all the noise, excitement,
and enthusiasm of a battle, earnestly occupied in firing as fast as you
can. In a battle all the circumstances combine to produce high
excitement and drive fear out of a man, leaving room only for that kind
of courage properly called fearlessness or _intrepidity_, belonging to
men like Governor Picken