berries, &c., and I consumed great quantities of them. I found they did me much good, cured me of the diarrhoea, and I soon began to get fat. We had them almost daily at our meals for desert, and in this way used the sugar that I brought from Chambersburg. Rolly was detailed to guard a man's house from depredators, and was very well pleased with the situation, as they cooked his rations nicely for him and added to them beside. Mike cut my hair for me close to the head in military style. Numbers of the men scattered abroad in all directions to “forage,” and though some of them were brought in once in a while by the cavalry to the guard house and strict orders were issued against it, I concluded it was the right way to get along and see the country. We were drilled regularly by the Lieutenant Colonel, who had such an odd tone of voice that no one could understand his orders, sometimes he would shout “shoulder arms, order arms, support arms,” entirely contrary to the manual, and would be obeyed by some reluctantly by others not at all. On one occasion he cursed the Adjutant up and down for a mistake evidently made by himself, upon a review of the brigade by Colonel Jennings.
(Saturday, July 18th.) After drill. Doc. Nyce and I started on a foraging expedition. For two or three miles we kept pretty closely along the pike, which had been terribly broken up by the heavy baggage trains and artillery. As a proof of how little it was then used, at different places we saw quantities of corn growing several inches high right in the middle of it. We found in that distance three or four wagons and caissons whose spokes had been cut and wheels destroyed after they had given way on the retreat. Shells, rebel clothing, haversacks, &c., were scattered about plentifully. We visited two or three of their camps and at one of them in a wood, Nyce
