Sunday, April 3, 2022

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Tuesday, July 28, 1863

This morning Colonel Hatch, with his cavalry brigade, arrives in Lexington. At eight o'clock A. M., the bugles are blown, and the commands move from Lexington, Colonel Hatch moving on the road towards Huntington, Colonel Rowett on the road by the way of Spring Creek, Companies H and A, under the command of Captain Ring, are detailed to guard the train, which is to follow Colonel Hatch's command. Companies and squads of soldiers are now scouring the country for horses and mules. The citizens plead their cases well, but war and the warriors are stern; they will not relent. Rowett and Hatch are now sweeping the country; innocence pleads for the avenging hand to be stayed; its tears fall at the warriors' feet, but the stern and legitimate work goes on. We know that

"The South has fallen from her former glory,

Bowed in slavery, crime and shame;

And that God from his storehouse is sending

This tempest of steel and flame."

The command goes into camp to-night near Huntington, on a large plantation, i. e. that part that is with Colonel Hatch. Mules and soldiers live high to-night.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 182-3

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