ed hour after hour for our train, but in vain. Wrote letters
home beside the railroad track, on the ends of the sills. Various
reports from the army were in circulation, respecting the result of
the battle, and the movements of the enemy, subsequently found to be
unreliable. After dinner had a battalion drill, and when all
expectation of the train had been given up, between 3 and 4 o'clock it
suddenly appeared. Cheers greeted its arrival. It consisted, like the
one in which we had come down, of house cars adapted for the present
purpose, and we boarded it just in time to escape a shower which began
falling at this moment. Were off, at length, and after a short halt at
Greencastle, where I laid in some provisions, arrived about 6 o'clock
at Hagerstown, which we found occupied by a considerable militia force
that had been pushed forward within the past two days. Were surprised
to find the companies of Captains Hunter and Eisenhower, from Reading,
already there, as they had started from home after we had. Were
informed by them that they had left Harrisburg on Tuesday night, and
arrived at Hagerstown on Wednesday morning. They had been attached to
the 11th Regiment, to the command of which Charles A. Knoderer, a
talented civil engineer of Reading, who went as a private of Captain
Eisenhower's company, had been promoted. The regiment was encamped a
short distance below town on the Williamsport pike. Heard more
definite intelligence of the result of the great battle fought
yesterday, which is claimed as a decided Union victory. Were informed
of the death of Captain William H. Andrews, of the 128th Regiment, who
fell in the battle, and also of its commander, Colonel Croasdale.
Captain Andrews's body had already arrived in Hagerstown. Several
other members of Reading companies had been killed.

Our company was separated from the regiment and marched in the dusk of
the evening into a narrow lane not far from the railroad depot, where
we were told we were to pass the night. The ground was wet from the
rain which had fallen, and a slight drizzle continuing, a most gloomy
and uncomfortable aspect was imparted to the surroundings. The
prospect for rest was extremely unpromising. There was nothing to lie
upon except our gum blankets, and no better shelter than what could be
improvised by stretching the tents--with which we were now temporarily
provided--from the top of a fence to the ground. There appeared to be
some confusion as to