sound from the hooting of the owls, growling of wild hogs, to the
snarl of the wild-cat and cry of the opossum. It was also a strange
sight to see the limbs festooned from tree to tree. Some of them were
gigantic. The trees were covered with moss or vines that encircled
them. Strange as it may seem, we gathered this moss for bedding. I
wonder it didn't kill the whole lot of us, but I think the country
agreed with me, for I could sleep right on the ground under the
magnolia trees with nothing but a log for a pillow, while some of our
sentry kept watch.

[_January 28, 1913. It is with great sorrow that I sit down to
resume this narrative of my army life, for since my last writing I
have lost a dear son by death. He died on the morning of January
7th, after a long and painful illness of seventeen weeks, and was
laid to rest in Grove Hill cemetery on the afternoon of January
9th. Strange that this affliction should come on the fiftieth
anniversary of my hardships in the Civil War, but I thought that I
couldn't proceed until I had made mention of this sad trial._]

And now I must resume my story as best I can. For some weeks we had
been very busy doing picket and guard duty, and acquiring the use of
fire-arms. Everything seemed peaceful and quiet, but it was fearfully
cold. It was very singular weather. Following every rain-storm it
cleared intensely cold for several days; then it became very hot again;
next we had another storm to subdue the intense heat. I don't think
these sudden changes agreed with the men for we had a large number on
the sick list. Our ranks were very much reduced by sickness. Some of
the companies dwindled down to about half their original number. The
result was we had to work very hard; every day we had to have a large
number for picket and guard duty. It was a comical sight to see the men
going out on picket. First we had our overcoats and fixings, then our
cartridge box and belt, then in a sling a good sized blanket and a
rubber blanket, then the haversack with a day's rations and lastly the
coffee cup and canteen. The boys got up some fine dishes, although we
hardly knew how to name some of them, but they were fine. I managed to
get hold of some fish and made a delicious fry. Soaked it over night
with some hard tack and the next morning threw the pieces into a frying
pan (that our company had confiscated) along with a little salt pork;
to this I added a little conce