"Yes, and I know they're a-comin'; some of 'em is at the Junction now--comin' from Fredericksburg. I heerd Cap'n Simmons say so this mornin'."
"We'll have a big crowd then," said I.
"What regiment is your'n?"
"'Eventh," said I, without remorse cancelling the difference between the Eleventh Massachusetts and the Seventh North Carolina.
The man moved about the fire, attending to his cooking. The talk almost ceased. I pulled an envelope from my pocket and began tearing it into little bits, which I threw into the fire one by one, pretending mere abstraction.
The envelope had borne the address:--
CAPTAIN GEORGE B. JOHNSTON,
Co. G, 28th N.C. Reg't,
Branch's Brigade,
Hanover C.H., Va.
I took out another envelope. It was addressed to Lieut. E.G. Morrow, of the same company--Company G of the Twenty-eighth. A third bore the address:--
CAPTAIN S.N. STOWE, Co. B, 7th N.C. Reg't,
Gordonsville, Va.
More envelopes went into the fire. They bore the names of privates, corporals, and sergeants; some were of the Eighteenth, others of the Thirty-seventh North Carolina Volunteers. One envelope had no address. Another gave me the name of Col. James H. Lane, but no regiment.