I went out early this morning with the foraging party of our
division, in search of feed for the horses and mules. We came to a rich
plantation about four miles out, with corncribs well filled, and in a short
time we had the wagons loaded. Some of us had been put to loading the wagons
while others went to get the chickens and other things. After the boys had
caught and loaded all the chickens and upset fully a hundred beehives, they
called out, “The rebels are coming!” We had just finished loading the wagons,
but that call was enough to frighten the teamsters, and they put the whip to the
mules, starting off on a dead run. The road ran through a heavy timber, but it
was wide and perfectly level, and they galloped the teams the whole way back to
our bivouac. It was every fellow for himself, and I never ran faster in my
life. A commissioner from Cornell College1 was in camp today for the
purpose of raising money to educate the orphan children of soldiers and
sailors. Our company raised $229.00.
_______________
1 College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 261
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