ostly apparition
approach, breaks into song:
"Meet me by moonlight alone,
And there I will tell you a tale."
Lieutenant Orr, commissary of subsistence, coming up at this time,
remarks to DuBarry that he "is surprised to see him take it so coolly,"
whereupon the latter, notwithstanding the chilliness of the atmosphere,
and the extreme thinness of his dress, expresses himself with very
considerable warmth. Patterson, a clerk, and as likely to be the
offender as any one, now joins the party, and affirms, with great
earnestness, that "this practical joke business must end, or somebody
will get hurt."
4. Saw Major-General McCook, wife, and staff riding out this morning.
General Rosecrans was out this afternoon, but I did not see him. At this
hour the signal corps is communicating from the dome of the court-house
with the forces at Triune, sixteen miles away, and with the troops at
Readyville and other points. In daylight this is done by flags, at night
by torches.
5. There are many fine residences in Murfreesboro and vicinity; but the
trees and shrubbery, which contributed in a great degree to their beauty
and comfort, have been cut or trampled down and destroyed. Many frame
houses, and very good ones, too, have been torn down, and the lumber and
timber used in the construction of hospitals.
There is a fearful stench in many places near here, arising from
decaying horses and mules, which have not been properly buried, or
probably not buried at all. The camps, as a rule, are well policed and
kept clean; but the country for miles around is strewn with dead
animals, and the warm weather is beginning to tell on them.
6. It is said that the Third Regiment, with others, is to leave
to-morrow on an expedition which may keep it away for months. No
official notice of the matter has been given me, and I trust the report
may be unfounded. I should be sorry indeed to be separated from the
regiment. I have been with it now two years, and to lose it would be
like losing the greater number of my army friends and acquaintances.
7. The incident of the day, to me at least, is the departure of the
Third. It left on the two P. M. train for Nashville. I do not think I
have been properly treated. They should at least have consulted me
before detaching my old regiment. I am informed that Colonel Streight,
who is in command of the expedition, was permitted to select the
regiments, and the matter has been conduct
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