ed to
leave their muddy beds to give place to the cup of the thirsty soldier.
The Eighty-sixth Regiment in after times was wont to look back on this
campaign--its first lesson in soldiering--with more commiseration and
regret than any period of its subsequent career. It consumed
thirty-eight days of the severest toils and privations, than which no
other has surpassed, making a distance of over three hundred miles in
pursuit of an exultant and defiant enemy.

The regiment now remained in Edgefield from the 7th of November until
the 23rd, when it was marched to Mill Creek and took up encampment at a
place known as Camp Sheridan. At this camp, on the 4th of December, at
12 o'clock M., the regiment having just returned from drill, was
ordered to fall in and advance upon a force of the enemy's cavalry
which was maneuvering in the vicinity of the camp.

Company A and B were immediately thrown out as skirmishers; the
remainder of the regiment kept back in reserve. The rebels were soon
dispersed, and the regiment returned at night on the double-quick. On
the 9th of December the command was marched to Nashville, taking up
camp there, and put on duty about the city. About this time was led a
sad and disagreeable life, even more so than at any other time. The
boys were new in their profession and entirely ignorant as to what
conveniences a soldier might have even under circumstances so trying,
and in consequence, were compelled to render themselves most unhappy.
Some twenty odd men would live in the same tent, cook from a camp
kettle swung in the middle of it, make their beds on the damp ground,
frequently without even straw or boards under them. Snow fell, and the
cold, keen winds of winter whistled without, while the poor soldiers
lay cold and damp within.

Many were taken ill and died from this exposure; more died and were
discharged during this winter than in all our previous and after term
of service. The hospitals were yet without proper organization, the
sick in them improperly cared for, for war was as yet a new thing,
poorly understood and carried on. The Icelander, in his frigid and icy
home of the far north, in his primeval ignorance, could not have lived
in greater exposure than did the soldiers at this time. The regiment
was called upon to do a great deal of duty, such as picketing about the
city--a business that is anything but pleasant where there are a number
of generals and other fancy officers to be looked aft