d rice, and potatoes, and onions,
and peas, and flour by the hundreds of barrels, all now to be given to
the flames, while for months the Rebel soldiers had been stinted and
starved for the want of these same provisions. It was enough to make the
bravest and most patriotic soul that ever fired a gun in defense of any
cause on earth, think of rebelling against the authorities as they then
were. Every private soldier knew these stores were there, and for the
want of them we lost our cause.

Reader, I ask you who you think was to blame? Most of our army had
already passed through hungry and disheartened, and here were all these
stores that had to be destroyed. Before setting fire to the town,
every soldier in Maney's and Polk's brigades loaded himself down with
rations. It was a laughable looking rear guard of a routed and
retreating army. Every one of us had cut open the end of a corn sack,
emptied out the corn, and filled it with hard-tack, and, besides, every
one of us had a side of bacon hung to our bayonets on our guns. Our
canteens, and clothes, and faces, and hair were all gummed up with
molasses. Such is the picture of our rear guard. Now, reader, if you
were ever on the rear guard of a routed and retreating army, you know how
tedious it is. You don't move more than ten feet at furthest before you
have to halt, and then ten feet again a few minutes afterwards, and so
on all day long. You haven't time to sit down a moment before you are
ordered to move on again. And the Yankees dash up every now and then,
and fire a volley into your rear. Now that is the way we were marched
that livelong day, until nearly dark, and then the Yankees began to crowd
us. We can see their line forming, and know we have to fight.

THE BATTLE OF CAT CREEK

About dark a small body of cavalry dashed in ahead of us and captured and
carried off one piece of artillery and Colonel John F. House, General
Maney's assistant adjutant-general. We will have to form line of battle
and drive them back. Well, we quickly form line of battle, and the
Yankees are seen to emerge from the woods about two hundred yards from
us. We promptly shell off those sides of bacon and sacks of hard-tack
that we had worried and tugged with all day long. Bang, bang, siz, siz.
We are ordered to load and fire promptly and to hold our position.
Yonder they come, a whole division. Our regiment is the only regiment
in the action. They are crowding us; ou