my blouse ditto. After marching all
night in the rain, my trowsers only came down as far as my knees; they
shrank two feet in twelve hours. Many of the men threw away their shoddy
uniforms after wearing them one day, as they were totally unfit for use.
They tore as easily as so much paper, and were no protection whatever
from the weather. Somebody, I don't pretend to say who, made a good
thing when he furnished them to the government. No doubt they were
supplied by some _loyal_ and _respectable_ citizen, who would not
knowingly cheat his country out of a penny! We have reaped a bountiful
harvest of such patriots during the past year. May the Lord love them!

At eleven o'clock on the night of the 2d of June we started for
Phillippi. It commenced raining about seven o'clock in the evening, and
we were all wet to the skin. The night was very dark, and the road,
though they called it a 'pike,' was one of the worst imaginable; it
wound 'round and round,'--

'It turned in and turned out,
Leaving beholders still in doubt
Whether the wretched muddy track
Were going South or coming back,'--

and seemed to run in every direction but the right one. It was a road
such as can be found only in Virginia. The mud was almost up to the hubs
of the wagon-wheels; the horses pulled, the drivers laid on the lash and
a string of oaths at the same time; the wind blew, and the rain came
down in torrents. More than once on that awful march did we lend a
helping hand to get the horses out of some 'slough of Despond.' Over the
mountains and through the woods we went, at the rate of about two miles
an hour. Many gave out and lay down by the wayside; and when at last
morning dawned, a more pitiable set of beings never were seen upon
earth. The men looked haggard and wan, the horses could hardly stand,
and we were in anything but a good condition for invading an enemy's
country.

At daylight we were within two miles of Phillippi. Col. (now General)
Lander was with the advance, and had discovered that the enemy were
ready for a retreat. Their baggage was loaded, and if we did not make
the last two miles at 'double-quick,' he was fearful we would be too
late to accomplish the object of the expedition. So the order was given,
'Double-quick!' and jaded horses and almost lifeless men rushed forward,
buoyed up with the prospect of having a brush with the rascals who had
given us so much trouble.

We had gone about a mile and a half, when, a