We remained in bivouac all day. The transports did not
return today as expected. The recruits of the Eleventh Iowa were formed into a
battalion and drilled twice a day, by Captain Kelly of Company D. We had our
first dress parade this evening, since returning from furlough, and the
regiment looked well in their new uniforms, but it was very awkward in the
manual of arms because of the new recruits. An order was read on dress parade
making some promotions of noncommissioned officers in Companies A and H, since
they went in as veterans. Paducah is a nice town and contained about seven
thousand inhabitants just before the rebellion broke out.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 185
