o and
returning from the front. We are sixteen miles from Nashville, on a road
running midway between Franklin and Murfreesboro. The enemy is supposed
to be in force at the latter place.

28. At four o'clock P. M. we were ordered to leave baggage and teams
behind, and march to Stewart's creek, a point twenty miles from
Nashville. Night had set in before the brigade got fairly under way. The
road runs through a barren, hilly, pine district, and was exceedingly
bad. At eleven o'clock at night we reached the place indicated, and lay
on the damp ground until morning.

29. At eight o'clock A. M. the artillery opened in our front; but after
perhaps two hours of irregular firing, it ceased altogether, and we were
led to the conclusion that but few rebels were in this vicinity, the
main body being at Murfreesboro, probably. Going to the front about ten
o'clock, I met General Hascall. He had had a little fight at Lavergne,
the Twenty-sixth Ohio losing twenty men, and his brigade thirty
altogether. He also had a skirmish at this place, in which he captured a
few prisoners. Saw General Thomas riding to the front. Rosecrans is
here, and most of the Army of the Cumberland either here or hereabouts.
McCook's corps had an inconsiderable engagement at Triune on Saturday.
Loss small on both sides.

Riding by a farm-house this afternoon, I caught a glimpse of Miss
Harris, of Lavergne, at the window, and stopped to talk with her a
minute. The young lady and her mother have experienced a great deal of
trouble recently. They were shelled out of Lavergne three times, two of
the shells passing through her mother's house. She claims to have been
shot at once by a soldier of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois,
the ball splintering the window-sill near her head. Her mother's house
has been converted into a hospital, and the clothes of the family taken
for bandages. She is, therefore, more rebellious now than ever. She is
getting her rights, poor girl!

30. A little after daylight the brigade moved, and proceeded to within
three miles of Murfreesboro, where we have been awaiting orders since
ten o'clock A. M.

The first boom of artillery was heard at ten o'clock. Since then there
has been almost a continuous roar. McCook's corps is in advance of us,
perhaps a mile and a half, and, with divisions from other corps, has
been gradually approaching the enemy all day, driving his skirmishers
from one point to another.

About four o'clock i