han a muddy, smoky camp in a
piece of scrubby pines--better company than gloomy, hungry comrades and
inquisitive enemies, and something in the future more exciting, if not
more hopeful, than nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, nothing to do, and
nowhere to go. The disposition to start was apparent, and the
preparations were promptly begun.

To roll up the old blanket and oil-cloth, gather up the haversack,
canteen, axe, perhaps, and a few trifles, in time of peace of no value,
eat the fragments that remained, and light a pipe, was the work of a few
moments. This slight employment, coupled with pleasant anticipations of
the unknown, and therefore possibly enjoyable future, served to restore
somewhat the usual light-hearted manner of soldiers, and relieve the
final farewells of much of their sadness. There was even a smack of hope
and cheerfulness as the little groups sallied out into the world to
combat they scarcely knew what. As we cannot follow all these groups, we
will join ourselves to one and see them home.

Two "brothers-in-arms," whose objective point is Richmond, take the road
on foot. They have nothing to eat and no money. They are bound for their
home in a city, which, when they last heard from it, was in flames. What
they will see when they arrive there they cannot imagine; but the
instinctive love of home urges them. They walk on steadily and rapidly
and are not diverted by surroundings. It does not even occur to them
that their situation, surrounded on all sides by armed enemies and
walking a road crowded with them, is at all novel. They are suddenly
roused to a sense of their situation by a sharp "Halt! show your
parole!" They had struck the cordon of picket posts which surrounded the
surrendered army. It was the first exercise of authority by the Federal
army. A sergeant, accompanied by a couple of muskets, stepped into the
road, with a modest air examined the paroles and said quietly, "Pass
on."

The strictly military part of the operation being over, the social
commenced. As the two "survivors" moved on they were followed by
numerous remarks, such as "Hello! Johnny, I say! going home?" "Ain't you
glad!" They made no reply, these wayfarers, but they _thought_ some very
_emphatic remarks_.

From this point "On to Richmond!" was the grand thought. Steady work it
was. The road, strangely enough considering the proximity of two armies,
was quite lonesome, and not an incident of interest occurred during the