-said he
already had too big a load. Enoch said nothing more, but stood silently
looking down at me a few seconds, then picked up my knapsack and threw
it into our wagon, which was close by, saying to King, as he did so,
"Haul that knapsack;"--and it was hauled. I shall never forget this
act of kindness on the part of Enoch. It would have been impossible for
me to have made the march carrying the knapsack. The day was hot, and
much of the road was over sandy land, and through long stretches of
black-jack barrens, that excluded every breath of a breeze. The men
suffered much on the march, and fell out by scores. When we stacked arms
at Bethel that evening, there were only four men of Co. D in line, just
enough to make one stack of guns,--but my gun was in the stack.

There was no earthly necessity for making this march in one day. We were
simply "changing stations;" the Confederate army of that region was down
in Mississippi, a hundred miles or so away, and there were no armed foes
in our vicinity excepting some skulking bands of guerrillas. Prior to
this our regiment had made no marches, except little short movements
during the siege of Corinth, none of which exceeded two or three miles.
And nearly all the men were weak and debilitated by reason of the
prevailing type of illness, and in no condition whatever to be cracked
through twenty miles or more on a hot day. We should have marched only
about ten miles the first day, with a halt of about ten minutes every
hour, to let the men rest a little, and get their wind. Had that course
been pursued, we would have reached our destination in good shape, with
the ranks full, and the men would have been benefited by the march. As
it was, it probably caused the death of some, and the permanent
disabling of more. The trouble at that time was the total want of
experience on the part of the most of our officers of all grades,
combined with an amazing lack of common sense by some of high authority.
I am not blaming any of our regimental officers for this foolish "forced
march,"--for it amounted to that,--the responsibility rested higher up.

Our stay at Bethel was brief and uneventful. However, I shall always
remember the place on account of a piece of news that came to me while
we were there, and which for a time nearly broke me all up. It will be
necessary to go back some years in order to explain it. I began
attending the old Stone school house at Otter creek when I was about
eig