Having a day's leave granted me I saddled my horse and wended my way
towards the devastated fields of old Hanover; passed through Mechanicsville and
viewed with sorrowing eye the destruction caused by the late bloody battles.
Houses, churches, and buildings of every description torn to pieces by
artillery, and every vestige of grain trodden under foot by the tramp of
soldiery. A wealthy old farmer by the name of Hogan made me a present of a ten
dollar note to be invested in a new pair of pants: and I was not too proud to
take it.
SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I
Saw of It, p. 125
