the mountains, but they had not been able to complete the
conquest they were aiming at; and the possession of the
Mississippi—that coveted prize for both parties—was some
thing for which there was still to be done some hard fighting.
I judged that matters ought soon to be approaching a crisis somewhere, although exactly what definite aims the belligerents were driving at, if, indeed, they had any just then, I could not comprehend. I resolved, if a grand movement of any kind was coming off, that I must have a hand in it in some shape; but that if something of importance was not attempted before a great while I would return to Virginia, and see what fortune had in store for me there. I judged, however, that I would not have much difficulty in finding work to do in the west, if I went about looking for it in the right way; and I knew of no better locality in which to seek the information I needed before commencing operations in the field again than Jackson.
To Jackson, therefore, I went, with what haste I could, and arrived just in time to witness an occurrence for which I was sincerely sorry. This was the burning of the Bowman House by Breckenridge's men, who were infuriated at being told that the proprietor had permitted the Federals to occupy the hotel, and that he had entertained them at one third less than he had charged the Confederates who had claimed his hospitalities. The unfortunate man was in reality not to blame in the matter, for the Federals had occupied his house without his consent, and he had taken just what they chose to give him, thinking it better to pocket less than his dues than nothing; and fearing to make any complaint, either about their presence in the hotel, or the money they offered him, lest they should take it into their heads to play him some such trick as the Confederates subsequently did.
The Sufferings of Non-combatants.
This incident will serve to show the desperately unpleasant position of the non-combatants throughout this whole region at this and later periods of the war. They were literally between two fires; and no matter how peaceably disposed they might be, they could satisfy neither party, and were made to suffer by both. The proprietor of the "Bowman House was forced to witness a fine property destroyed before his eyes through the reckless and unthinking anger of men who never
