up, and never strike another blow for the Confederacy as a soldier. I was scarcely able to contain myself for rage, not at the defeat, but at the inexcusable blunder that caused it; and was worked up to such a pitch, that I felt willing to die, as if there was nothing now worth living for. The Fort Donelson disaster, which I had hoped would be retrieved, had now been followed by another even more terrible; and the success of the Confederate cause was more remote, and more uncertain, than ever. It made me gnash my teeth with impotent fury to think of these things, and to have all my high hopes so suddenly dashed to the ground, just when the prospects for their realization seemed so bright.
A Valuable Prize.
About five o'clock I found my boy near the hospital. He had my horse, and another fine animal that he had picked up. In reply to my query, Bob said that he had found him in the woods without a rider. He was branded "U. S," and had an officer's saddle on; and as he seemed, from outside appearances, to be superior to my own steed, I concluded to take possession of him. Mounting him, I tried him over a fence, and a large log, which he cleared like an antelope; so deeming him a prize worth securing, I turned over my own horse to Bob, and started him off on the road to Corinth. The boy, however, mistook the road, and went plump into the Federal camp at Purdy, thus depriving me of his valuable services.
As for me, I remained in the woods all night, the roads being perfectly blocked up with the retreating army, trying to shield myself as best I could from the furious storm of rain and hail that came on, as if to add to the miseries which the wretched soldiers of the Confederacy were compelled to endure on their weary march back to Corinth. Although I had escaped from the two days' fighting unhurt, I was so utterly worn out and wretched, that I really did not care a great deal what became of me, and was almost as willing to be taken prisoner by the Federals as to return to Corinth, with a view of again undertaking to exert myself in what was now beginning to appear the hopeless cause of Southern independence. I managed, however, after the worst of the storm was over, to find a tolerably dry place, where, completely used up by the fatigues I had undergone, I fell into a sound sleep.
