any drills to a
certain extent, but they were light and easy. Near the camp was a fine
blue-grass pasture field, containing in a scattered, irregular form
numerous large and magnificent hard maples, and the drilling was done
in this field. Capt. Warren was somewhat portly, and not fond of
strenuous exercise anyhow, so all the drilling Co. D had at Franklin
was conducted by myself. But I rather liked it. With the accession of
those 83rd Illinois men, the old company was about as big and strong as
it was at Camp Carrollton, and it looked fine. But, to tell the truth,
it is highly probable that we put in fully as much time lying on the
blue grass under the shade of those grand old maples as we did in
company evolutions.

Sometime during the course of the summer a middle aged widow lady named
House began conducting a sort of private boarding establishment at her
residence in the city, and Col. Nulton, Maj. Keeley, and several of the
line officers, including myself, took our meals at this place during
the remainder of our stay at Franklin. Among the boarders were two or
three gentlemen also of the name of House, and who were brothers-in-law
of our hostess. They had all served in Forrest's cavalry as
commissioned officers, and were courteous and elegant gentlemen. We
would all sit down together at the table of Mrs. House, with that lady
at the head, and talk and laugh, and joke with each other, as if we had
been comrades and friends all our lives. And yet, during the four years
just preceding, the Union and the Confederate soldiers thus mingled
together in friendship and amity had been doing their very best to kill
one another! But in our conversation we carefully avoided anything in
the nature of political discussion about the war, and in general each
side refrained from saying anything on that subject which might grate
on the feelings of the other.

On September 4th, 1865, the regiment left Franklin and went by rail to
Nashville for the purpose of being mustered out of the service. There
were some unavoidable delays connected with the business, and it was
not officially consummated until September 8th. In the forenoon of the
following day we left Nashville on the cars, on the Louisville and
Nashville railroad, for Springfield, Illinois, where we were to receive
our final payment and certificates of discharge.

Early on Sunday morning, September 10th, we crossed the Ohio river at
Louisville, Kentucky, on a ferry boat, to