mplaining now, but men
dropping out with frightful rapidity. All those who were not pure "grit"
had given in previously, and from this time every man kept up till he fell
from sheer exhaustion. On every side you would see men flush, breathe
hard, stagger to the side of the road and drop almost senseless; but still
the column went on.

At one time the entire left wing of the Thirty-seventh, on arriving at the
crest of a hill, rebelled, and halted where they stood. It would have been
well if the whole brigade had followed their example; but as the
Twenty-second pressed on, regimental pride was aroused, an officer
snatched up the colors and rushed forward, cheering on his men; and
closing up as best they could, every man, able to walk, rallied himself
once more, and pushed forward. Colonel Roome, of the Thirty-seventh, gave
out early, exhausted by illness and the fatigues of the previous day, but
followed his regiment in a wagon; and many other officers were compelled
to imitate his example. But as there were neither ambulances nor wagons,
nothing in truth for the transportation of the sick but what could be
picked up on the road, the great majority of the disabled not only here
but throughout our subsequent march, had to be left where they gave out.

We finally halted a mile from Carlisle, and formed into line of battle to
repel an attack from the rebels, then found to be in the vicinity. But in
place of the two regiments, that started eleven hundred strong, only about
three hundred men could be mustered on halting, and even these were almost
completely exhausted; while the remainder of the brigade were stretched in
groups along the roadside, striving to collect their scattered forces
sufficiently to enable them to overtake the column, and _seven men_ in the
Twenty-second reported by the surgeon as ruptured, afforded an additional
proof, if one were necessary, of the severity of the march.

The mere distance marched was not so great, as necessarily to have
produced such a result, the same troops subsequently marched much farther
without a tithe of the suffering, but it was a great mistake to compel
militia, exhausted by previous labor and privation, to undergo such an
ordeal without food or rest, and its effect on the morale and discipline
of the troops can readily be conceived by any one.

At last the march was finished, and we were at Carlisle, but so were the
rebels. For awhile there was mounting in hot haste, riders