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| The charge and repulse at Fort Hill. |
Our dreams were broken this morning at daylight by the bugle
call, and in a very few minutes the whole command was up and ready to
march-their beds around the owners' necks. Our woolen blankets are rolled up as
tight as possible, having a rubber one outside, which, when the two ends are
tied, are swung around our necks. If there has been a rain to wet the blankets,
and no time to dry them, they make a heavy load on the march; so no time is
lost in drying blankets whenever the opportunity is offered. If it is raining
when we retire, and brush can be cut to lay the blankets on, we get a number
one spring bed, and when the weather is pleasant a good bed can be made by
laying down two rails the width of the blanket apart, and filling the space
with grass, or straw from any adjacent stack, on which the blankets may be
spread. There is a sort of tall grass growing in this country which makes a
soft bed, and is quite worth the pulling. Everything possible is done by the
soldier to secure a good night's sleep. I have seen straw stacks torn to
pieces, sheds pulled down, and fences melt away in the twinkling of an eye,
about camp time. A certain officer has ordered his men to take only the top
rail, which order was obeyed to the letter, yet every rail disappeared—the
bottom rail finally becoming the top one. I have seen half a regiment bearing
rails, boards and straw toward camp before even the end of the day's march was
reached. They will have good beds and fires.
SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 69-71
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