I was in a detail of a hundred men, with my corporal's
squad, to go out on cattle guard. We had to herd about a thousand head of our
beef cattle. At noon we were called in and our regiment, together with the
Twentieth Illinois, was ordered to strap on our knapsacks, strike our tents and
drive the cattle out about five miles farther on. We left our camp at 2 o'clock
and at 3 reached Hardin's creek, in the direction of Huntsville, Alabama, where
we found better range for the cattle, which was the object. There is more
danger here of the rebel cavalry's making a raid and stampeding the herd, but
it is thought our force is sufficiently large to guard the cattle.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 187
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