to men who for a fortnight had been
feeding on hard crackers and salt pork, seemed delicious. The General
got his face poisoned while riding through the woods on the 2d instant,
and he now looks like an old bruiser.

McCook, whose corps lies near Winchester, called while we were at
Negley's; he looks, if possible, more like a blockhead than ever, and it
is astonishing to me that he should be permitted to retain command of a
corps for a single hour. He brought us cheering information, however.
The intelligence received from the East and South a few days ago has
been confirmed, and the success of our armies even greater than first
reports led us to believe.

10. We have a cow at brigade head-quarters. Blackberries are very
abundant. The sky has cleared, but the Cumberland mountains are this
morning covered by a thin veil of mist. Supply trains arrived last
night.

11. We hear nothing of the rebel army. Rosecrans, doubtless, knows its
whereabouts, but his subordinates do not. A few of the enemy may be
lingering in the vicinity of Stevenson and Bridgeport, but the main body
is, doubtless, beyond the Tennessee. The rebel sympathizers here
acknowledge that Bragg has been outgeneraled. Our cavalry started on the
9th instant for Huntsville, Athens, and Decatur, and I have no doubt
these places were re-occupied without opposition.

The rebel cavalry is said to be utterly worn out, and for this reason
has performed a very insignificant part in recent operations.

The fall of Vicksburg, defeat of Lee, and retreat of Bragg, will,
doubtless, render the adoption of an entirely new plan necessary. How
long it will take to perfect this, and get ready for a concerted
movement, I have no idea.

12. Our soldiers, I am told, have been entering the houses of private
citizens, taking whatever they saw fit, and committing many outrages. I
trust, however, they have not been doing so badly as the people would
have us believe. The latter are all disposed to grumble; and if a hungry
soldier squints wistfully at a chicken, some one is ready to complain
that the fowls are in danger, and that they are the property of a lone
woman, a widow, with nothing under the sun to eat but chickens. In nine
cases out of ten the husbands of these lone women are in the Confederate
army; but still they are women, and should be treated well.

14. The brigade baker has come up, and will have his oven in operation
this afternoon; so we shall have fresh bread a