Saturday, February 2, 2013

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Saturday, April 12, 1862

It is still raining every hour and the floors of our tents are very wet.1 Our camp has become very muddy, which, with constant rain and the braying of mules day and night, makes it a very gloomy time.
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1 We had not yet learned how to take care of our health, for in place of raising our tents from the ground and building our bunks about eighteen inches high, as we did in later camps, we just laid down our rubber ponchos on the bare ground, covered this with a blanket, then lay down with another blanket for a cover. Our bedding thus was often damp, and it is no wonder that so many of the boys became subject to fevers and rheumatism. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 44

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