were anxiously gazing about them, looking
around for any green spot where the
brilliant verdure might indicate moisture, and
many times they would break for some
dell, trusting to find even a stagnant pool,
but only to be disappointed with a few
threads of oily liquid oozing greasily from
the soil. My canteen was empty, and I
had been unsuccessful in my efforts to
procure a supply on the road, and to prevent
my tongue from growing into a hardened
mass, I had adopted the trappers' plan of
placing a bullet in my mouth, and rolling
it from side to side. I also recollect, whilst
moving along in a half-sullen way, I came
up with an ambulance, belonging to a
brigade surgeon whom I knew, and, with
hopeless inquiry, I asked if he had any
water. "Not a drop," was the reply, and
then sinking his voice to a whisper, he
added, "I can give you some whisky, but
I should advise you not to take it." However,
it looked wet as it was poured from
the bottle; so I accepted a half-filled
pannikin, and swallowed it at a gulp, and
immediately afterwards I had to clasp my
throat with my hand, for it seemed to me
as if I had been drinking liquid fire.
Unable to endure the torture of this whisky
brand, I galloped off towards a plantation
which I saw on a hill some distance from
the line of march, disregarding the
remonstrances of some staff-officers, who
prophesied that I should be cut off by the Yankee
cavalry who were scouting in every direction
on our flanks, and who, it was said,
might at any moment make a dash at our
trains. However, I reached the homestead,
and finding some young ladies on the verandah
watching the dusty track of the army
passing below, I, without greeting of any
kind, handed them my canteen, and begged
them, in a thick voice, to fill it from their
well. There were only women in this house,
the owner and his brother being away with a
Mississippi regiment which formed part of
the garrison at Vicksburg. I was assailed
by these anxious creatures with numerous
questions: "What is the meaning of the
army moving back? We heard it was to
cross Big Black and attack the Federals in
the rear — why haven't you done so? Has
anything happened?" Then I had to tell
them that Vicksburg had surrendered on
the fourth of July, and that we were making
every effort to reach Jackson before we
were cut off from, our base. Then they
began to wail, and told me that, for a long
time, they had received no news of their
relatives, and could not tell whether they
were dead or living, but the certainty of
their being in any case prisoners, affected
them greatly. They filled my canteen, and
allowed my horse to drink as well as
myself, and telling me their water supply was
short, and begging that I would not send
others to diminish the quantity, they waved
a sorrowful adieu.

While making my way through the
staggering men to General Evans's brigade, I
almost rode over the officer of a Kentucky
regiment, who reeled under my horse's
hoofs, causing me to pull up sharply. I
asked him if he was dizzy from the effect
of the heat, as many men had already fallen
out of the ranks from sunstroke, but his
only reply was motioning with his finger
to his mouth, and a parched click of the
tongue as he tried to say "water." Of
course it was impossible to withstand such
an appeal, so taking off my canteen I handed
it to him. He staggered into the trench by
the roadside, seated himself on the bank,
and with head thrown back, raised the
vessel higher and higher, until forced to
pause for breath. Whilst he was drinking
he was surrounded by the men of his
company, all, like Dives in his torments,
begging for one drop to cool their tongues. I
need not say that by the time my canteen
was returned to me, it did not contain
enough to have quenched a fly's thirst.

I had been through the Sicilian
campaigns, but of all the heat I had ever
experienced there had been nothing equal to
the grilling of that day. My hands, already
blistered, especially the one that held my
bridle, were now puffed up like raised
piecrust, my nose had cast its skin, and was
almost cicatrised with its roasting; in fact
I was in that condition of cooking which
is termed in America, "rare."

Early in the afternoon it became evident
that the men could not hold out much
longer, and it was determined that the
force should bivouac in the shelter of some
woods, near which were situate two large
stock-ponds. As far as I was concerned, I
felt extremely grateful for this merciful
consideration of the general commanding,
for I was in that state that it didn't matter
much to me whether I was seized by the
Federals, or seized with brain fever; all I
wanted was to dismount and cast myself
in the shade of some tree. As the brigades
came in and took up their camping-ground,
the men tumbled, panting and listless,
amongst the tall grass, under the canopy
of the heavy foliage.The two stock-ponds
were apportioned, one for the watering of