both sore backs,
were both unfed, except on grass, and mine was deficient of a shoe. They
nevertheless travelled well, and we reached a hamlet called Woodville,
fifteen miles distant, at 9.30. We had great difficulty in procuring
shelter; but at length we overcame the inhospitality of a native, who
gave us a feed of corn for our horses, and a blanket on the floor for
ourselves.

* * * * *

_21st June_ (Sunday).--We got the horse shod with some delay, and after
refreshing the animals with corn and ourselves with bacon, we effected a
start at 8.15 A.M. We experienced considerable difficulty in carrying my
small saddlebags and knapsack, on account of the state of our horses'
backs. Mine was not very bad, but that of Norris was in a horrid state.
We had not travelled more than a few miles when the latter animal cast a
shoe, which took us an hour to replace at a village called Sperryville.
The country is really magnificent, but as it has supported two large
armies for two years, it is now completely cleaned out. It is almost
uncultivated, and no animals are grazing where there used to be
hundreds. All fences have been destroyed, and numberless farms burnt,
the chimneys alone left standing. It is difficult to depict and
impossible to exaggerate the sufferings which this part of Virginia has
undergone. But the ravages of war have not been able to destroy the
beauties of nature--the verdure is charming, the trees magnificent, the
country undulating, and the Blue Ridge mountains form the background.

Being Sunday, we met about thirty negroes going to church, wonderfully
smartly dressed, some (both male and female) riding on horseback, and
others in waggons; but Mr Norris informs me that two years ago we should
have numbered them by hundreds. We soon began to catch up the sick and
broken-down men of the army, but not in great numbers; most of them were
well shod, though I saw two without shoes.

After crossing a gap in the Blue Ridge range, we reached Front Royal at
5 P.M., and we were now in the well-known Shenandoah Valley--the scene
of Jackson's celebrated campaigns. Front Royal is a pretty little place,
and was the theatre of one of the earliest fights in the war, which was
commenced by a Maryland regiment of Confederates, who, as Mr Norris
observed, "jumped on to" a Federal regiment from the same State, and
"whipped it badly." Since that time the village has changed hands
continually, and