ll ammunition.
Strings of men passing buckets. We were double quicked under the fiery
breath of the burning machine by Alby Sweet, and set to work on the
double-decker water engine. We were playing on the arsenal not five
rods distant, the heat so great that the water was dried before it ran
off. Had the wind wavered a little, nothing could have saved it, and
with all probability most of us would have been hurled into eternity.
But luckily we were saved, notwithstanding the shells were still
exploding over us. No one was hurt.

And now I come to another sorrowful page in my diary. When the imminent
danger was over and the flames somewhat checked, some officers, prompted
by the devil or some other demon, ordered whiskey barrels rolled out,
and the heads knocked in around the engines. And oh, what a change. The
strong arms of men working in sober earnestness were stopped by the
deadly fires of poisonous drugs termed whiskey, the air rent with yells
and oaths, fit only for pandemonium. This to me was heartsickening, and
as soon as we could evade the guards, Milt. Hungerford and myself came
to camp.

About 5 P. M. the others came, but oh, what a sight. Eight or ten raving
maniacs. They were not habitual drunkards, many of them heretofore
strictly temperate, but under the excitement and heat lost their
discretion. Ah! what pain it would have given the loving mother to see
her son, her pride, the youth of the family, staggering through our camp
in this condition or filled with madness. What chagrin to the loving
maiden to see her idol as I did to-night. What agony in the heart of the
wife it would awaken to see the husband of her bosom and the father of
her children, who but a few months ago only left home with the vow of
fidelity to principle and home upon his lips, reeling along or being
carried an insensible lump to his bed. Oh, ye Christian churches and
temperance lodges, how have thy members disgraced thee to-day. Really,
my faith in human nature becomes somewhat shaken by such scenes.

Late in the evening another explosion took place among the ruins. A
fragment struck John Stewart in the head. Our Battery kept away.

Chattanooga, Saturday, June 10. A cloudy sultry day. In vain did we
await the coming of a cool refreshing shower which would settle the dust
and make us all feel younger; "nary" a drop fell. Drew forage. On duty
loading hay in the afternoon. Camp policed, etc. The exciting scenes of
yesterday have fur