John D. Billings, The history of the Tenth Massachusetts battery of light artillery in the war of the rebellion

[417] pursuing the same route, and to it these evidences of the disintegration of that once proud and valiant army were strikingly interesting. So hot had been our pursuit that at Sailor's Creek (not Sheridan's battle of Sailor's Creek, for that ‘was fought beyond the stream, two miles away from Gen. Humphreys' troops,’¹) a short, sharp contest gave us thirteen flags, three guns, several hundred prisoners, over two hundred wagons with their contents, and about seventy ambulances. ‘The whole result of the day's work, to the corps, was 13 flags, 4 guns, 1,700 prisoners, and over 300 wagons.’² We camped near this place for the night and at 6.30 A. M. of the 7th moved down a long and quite steep hill to the creek, near whose banks stood the wagons already mentioned; and picketed near—they did not need this precaution—was a collection of the skinniest and boniest mules we ever set eyes upon; which, we believe, could not, in tandem, have pulled one wagon up the steep ascent opposite, much less the two hundred. The wagons, though now under guard, had been pretty thoroughly ‘inspected.’ The ground was strewn with clothing, good, bad, and indifferent, but mostly bad; tents, kettles, bacon, cornmeal, officers' desks, and official documents of most execrable paper, Near by was a bivouac-ground from which the poor Johnnies had been called while in the midst of preparations for a muchneeded meal. Baking-pans and kettles filled with half cooked dough were about every fire, and near at hand stood a few bags of meal. As our supply train was far to the rear, and our rations drawing low, we were not altogether unwilling to interchange corn cakes with hard-tack for a time. But we move on.