a country boy in the ranks, following up a habit, however, not by
any means confined to the country, of giving the embodiment of evil the
credit of all unpleasant surroundings, remarked that "the Devil's
apron-strings must have broke loose here." That night march was a weary
addition to the toil of the day. A short cut to the summit, which
existed, but a mile in length, and which the Commander of the Force to
which the Brigade formed part, could readily have ascertained upon
inquiry, would have saved a great amount of grumbling, many hard oaths,
for Uncle Toby's army that "swore so terribly in Flanders," could not
outdo in that respect our Grand Army of the Potomac,--and no trifling
amount of shoe-leather for Uncle Sam. The night was terribly cold, and
the wind in gusts swept over the mountain-top with violence sufficient
to put the toil-worn man, unsteady under his knapsack, through the
facings in short order. Amid stunted pines and sturdy undergrowth, the
Regiments in line formed stacks, and the men, debarred fire from the
exposed situation, provided what shelter they could, and endeavored to
compose themselves for the night. Vain endeavor. So closely was that
summit shaved by the pitiless blasts, that a blanket could only be kept
over the body by rolling in it, and lying face downwards, holding the
ends by the hands, with the forehead resting on the knapsack for a
pillow. Some in that way, by occasionally drumming their toes against
the rocks managed to pass the night; many others sought warmth or
amusement in groups, and others gazed silently on the camp-fires of the
enemy, an irregular reflex of those seen on the side they had left--here
glimmering faintly at a picket station, and there at a larger
encampment, glowing first in a circle of blaze, then of illumined smoke,
that in its upward course gradually darkened into the blackness of
night. To men of contemplative habits, and many such there were, though
clad in blouses, the scene was strongly suggestive. Our states emblemed
in the lights of the valleys and the mountain ridge as the much talked
of "impassable barrier." But faith in the success of a cause Heaven
founded, saw gaps that we could control in that mountain ridge which
would ultimately prove avenues of success.

"Captain, where did you make the raise?" inquired a young Lieutenant, on
the following day,--one of a group enjoying a blazing fire, for the ban
had been removed at early dawn--of a ruddy-faced,