ly went to work, and with some kind
assistance, which every brother-soldier is so ready to bestow, I put up
a new establishment which in every respect is superior to the old. Our
homes, it is true, are easily destroyed, but they are as easily
replaced.

_March 13._--Details from the regiment, with pack-mules, were sent out
to the Rappahannock, to carry rations and forage to our pickets. The
mule-train looks oddly enough, and yet through these muddy roads it
seems to be a necessity.

_March 14._--To-day I am doing regimental guard duty. The guard has been
not a little amused by the arrest of Kilpatrick's colored servants. It
was their misfortune to be discovered by Captain Southard, the officer
of the day, while engaged in a fierce contest, in which their heads were
used as the chief weapons of attack and defence. The blows they dealt
upon each other were most terrible, reminding one of the battering-rams
of old, used for demolishing the walls of forts or cities. Such ancient
modes of warfare, of course, could not be tolerated here, especially as
no order for battle had been promulgated from headquarters, and the
captain arrested the offenders and brought them to the guard-house,
where they were placed in my charge. I immediately ordered them out
under guard to police camp as a punishment for their bad conduct.

While thus engaged, Kilpatrick happened to see them, and, not wishing to
have his faithful servants subjected to such humiliating labor, issued
an order for their immediate release from durance vile, asserting that
he would be responsible for their fighting in the future, if at least
they did not put their heads together more than half a dozen times a
day.

The day following this laughable farce, in the afternoon, we experienced
one of the most terrific storms ever known in this part of the country.
The day had been quite pleasant until about two o'clock, when dark
clouds began to obscure the sky, and the wind shifted from the south to
the north-west. At four o'clock the elements were ready for battle, and
a fierce engagement commenced. Gleaming and forked lightnings cleft the
canopy, while booming thunder shook the trembling earth. The artillery
of Heaven had not long been opened before the musketry commenced, and
down poured a shower of hail, which came near demolishing our tents, and
brought suffering and sorrow upon all unsheltered heads. Mules brayed
horribly, vying with the hoarse, muttering thunder, ma