unny south, who never dreamed
that eyes other than those of their adored would scan their contents;
but in time of war things are "mighty onsartin," to which love
letters constitute no exception.

Nearly all the inhabitants had left the place on our approach,
leaving behind their household furniture and goods. About all the
residences of the so called chivalry were left in charge of one or
more colored servants of the family, and in some instances these
houses were protected from plunder through a guard placed over them
by order of our commanding officer, while many of the homes of the
poorer classes were broken into and plundered of articles of all
kinds. For the first three hours of our occupation of the place, this
state of affairs existed. The men, not being restrained of their
liberty, roamed wherever they saw fit, and everybody, officers as
well as men, appeared anxious to gobble up everything within their
reach, (the term "stealing" in connection with it appeared to have
become obsolete, there, articles looted being viewed in the light of
spoils of war.) While some hunted for relics, others were in pursuit
of something to eat, and others, still, would appropriate to
themselves anything they could lift, or that "was not nailed down,"
whether it would be of any use to them or not, and I actually saw one
man with more plunder than could be loaded into an ordinary express
wagon. One man of our company who had looted a large linen table
covering was so afraid that some one would steal it from him, that he
made a square package of it and secreted it inside his blouse, which
act of his, whether meritorious or otherwise, doubtless was the means
of saving a life at Bull Run the next Sunday, when Allen Caswell was
wounded in the stomach, the force of the shot being broken by the
aforesaid table covering.

Soon after noon matters got quieted down a little. The entire army
was at or near Fairfax; guards were posted on all the roads, and an
order was issued that any man caught looting or committing any
depredation should be committed to Alexandria jail for six months.
But I am of the opinion that if the guards had seen one-half the
stealing, or heard the dying squeals of those orphan pigs as they
were being slain for supper that night, Alexandria's jail would have
been a full house, and the fighting force of the army materially
reduced. All the companies of the regiment had one or more men that
excelled others not only in