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[505] abundance of cartridges and limited rations which was in the same proportion as Falstaff's sack to his bread. Down the road, past Orange Courthouse, from there to the Rapidan, where we camped. Thence to the Rappahannock river, where we remained two days, watching the enemy on the opposite side. Our rations now gave out, and how to live without eating became the problem that each soldier had to solve to suit himself. A long week of marching and countermarching ensued, in which we subsisted on green corn and apples; then a forced march of twenty-eight miles to Thoroughfare Gap, on the hottest day I ever remembered, with the dull booming of the cannon on the other side of the ridge to quicken our wearied footsteps. The next day, the 30th of August, we fought the battle of Manassas, and lost a fourth of our brigade. The history of that glorious day I will skip. We got each a Yankee haversack and a full square meal, and I saw scores of soldiers, nearly famished, eating while they fought, indeed, it used to be a saying of our foes, that a rebel soldier would charge through hell to capture a Yankee haversack. The night after the battle we drank a gallon of real coffee per man, and filled up on salt pork, boiled beef and canned vegetables, and groups of soldiers sat by the camp fires, and boiled, stewed, and fried, and ate off and on all night. Hunger is a fearful thing, and we forgot for a time many a loved comrade who was shot in the battle.
Richmond, VA. 1882.
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