I hate to see the flowers and
grass trodden down, but nature will restore them."
Some of the soldiers gathered wood from heaps nearby and fires were
kindled in the kitchen, and also on the hearths in the slave quarters.
Colonel Winchester had been truly called the father of his regiment.
He was invariably particular about its health and comfort, and, as he
always led it in person in battle, there was no finer body of men in the
Union service.
Now he meant for his men to have coffee, and warm food after this long
and trying ride and soon savory odors arose, although the cooking was not
begun until after dark, lest the smoke carry a signal to a lurking enemy.
The cavalrymen cut the thick grass which grew everywhere, and fed it to
their horses, eight hundred massive jaws munching in content. The beasts
stirred but little after their long ride and now and then one uttered a
satisfied groan.
The officers drank their coffee and ate their food on the eastern piazza,
which overlooked a sharp dip toward a creek three or four hundred yards
away. The night had rushed down suddenly after the fashion of the far
South, and from the creek they heard faintly the hoarse frogs calling.
Pages:
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34