him "_Jacob_." This disrespectful
allusion to his calling ruffled the temper of the hospital attendant,
and, growing profane, he insisted that he was as good as _Smith_,
and better, and at once challenged "the bloviating mule scrubber
to get down off his perch and stand up before him like a man."
"Jake" was unmoved by this counter-assault, and towards morning,
with a strong voice and little melody, sang:( 7)

"Ho, gif glass uf goodt lauger du me,
Du mine fader, mine modter, mine vife;
Der day's vork vas done, undt we'll see
Vot bleasures der vos in dis life.

"Undt ve sit us aroundt mit der table,
Undt ve speak of der oldt, oldt time,
Ven ve lif un dot house mit der gable,
Un der vine-cladt banks of der Rhine," etc.

While at camp at Elk Water my wife and three months' old son, Joseph
Warren, Jr., Hon. William White (brother-in-law) and his wife
Rachel, and their son, Charles R. White (then twelve years old),
visited me for a brief experience in camp with the army. They
remained until the morning of September 12th. On the 11th Judge
White accompanied me to Reynolds' headquarters, at Cheat Mountain
Pass, and while there he was, by the General, invited to visit the
camp on Cheat Mountain summit. It was suggested that in doing so
I should, with the Judge, join Lieutenant Wm. E. Merrill, of the
engineers, at Camp Elk Water the following morning, go by the main
road to the summit, thence down the mountain path _via_ the Rosecrans
house to camp. This suggestion we were inclined to adopt, but on
regaining camp I ascertained that the enemy had been seen nearer
our camp than usual, and decided it was safest for the visiting party
to depart for home. They accordingly bade us good-by on the next
morning and proceeded _via_ Huttonville, Beverly, Laurel Hill,
Philippi, Webster, and Grafton, safely to their homes at Springfield,
Ohio.

Lieutenant Merrill, with a small escort, departed as arranged, and
soon, on the main road, ran into a Confederate force (Anderson's);
he and his party were captured and carried with the retreating
Confederates to Valley Mountain camp, thence to Richmond, where
they remained for a considerable time in Libby Prison. Thus
narrowly, Judge White ( 8) and myself escaped the fate of Lieutenant
Merrill.

Having disposed of some of the incidents of camp life and spoken
of family and friends, I return to the situation, as stated, of
the opposing forces of Reynolds and Lee.