At eight o'clock A.M., August 4th, orders were received to break camp and proceed to the landing. Never was an order obeyed with more joy and alacrity than this. The regiment was quickly on the march, and, though the day was hot and the road dusty, the march of seven miles was cheerfully borne, for we could not be sufficiently thankful to get away from Mississippi. Upon arriving near the landing, it was found that the boats had not arrived, but were taking in fuel at Vicksburg, and another night must be spent here. A worse, more uncomfortable night the regiment did not experience in Mississippi. As if to improve their last opportunity, swarms of gnats, of the most savage description, attacked the regiment, and few will ever forget that sleepless night. It was indeed a fitting close of the campaign.
The boat arrived in the night, and the forenoon of the 5th was employed in loading her with the baggage, horses, and guns, of Battery E, Second United States. At three o'clock P.M. the regiment marched aboard the fine steamer "Hiawatha," in company with the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, Twenty-seventh Michigan, and the regulars of Battery E, which crowded the boat most uncomfortably, though her accommodations were large. About four P.M. the boat cast off, and, steaming down the Yazoo, entered the Mississippi at sunset, and as her course was directed northward a worn but happy band of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts laid down to rest, thankful, after all their trials, to have been spared through that short but fatal campaign.
All night of the 5th the boat moved slowly North, being very heavily laden, and her crowded condition made it very tedious for all. Late in the afternoon of the 6th the boat passed Columbus, Ark., noteworthy as the place where the regiment received a "guerilla" salute, on its way down the river.
August 7th, all day we were moving slowly up river, and at sunset we stopped about twenty minutes at Helena, Ark., for provisions.
We arrived at Memphis on the forenoon of the 8th, and the men were landed on an island a short distance above the city, where they remained while the boat was thoroughly cleansed, and at five P.M., we reëmbarked, and were off again. August 9th was Sunday, and in the forenoon divine services were held by the chaplain of the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania. Private M. H. Fay, of Company G, died this day on board, and at night the boat stopped at New Madrid, Mo., while his body was buried ashore.
Monday, August 10th, at nine o'clock A.M., two months to a day from the time the regiment left Cairo, it arrived there and landed, glad enough to step once again on Northern soil. Late in the afternoon the regiment was transferred to cars of the Illinois Central Railroad, rode all night, all the next day, and late in the evening reached Vincennes. All along the road the troops were received with great enthusiasm. The well-known old Ninth Corps, fresh from its new triumphs, received the cordial greeting of a grateful people. This was most gratifying to the soldiers, and partially repaid them for their sufferings. Flowers were literally showered by fair ladies upon the bronzed veterans, collations were provided wherever the cars stopped, and the course of the regiment through Illinois was one continuous ovation.
At noon, August 12th, the regiment arrived at Cincinnati, and after a bountiful collation at the Fifth-street Market, provided by generous citizens, we crossed the river to Covington, Ky., and went into quarters in some barracks. The baggage was delayed, and many of the officers slept this night on as soft a board as they could find, with no covering, and did not suffer with the heat.
Major Goodell, having left for home "on leave" for twenty days, the regiment was now under command of Captain Barker, of Company A. For four days the regiment lay in camp at Covington, and had its first dress-parade for a period of three months. The adjutant's walk from the right to the centre was a very short one.
Every day the effect of the southern campaign was shown in the increasing number of the sick. Many were sent to hospitals, and the regiment rapidly decreased. Chills and fever were most prevalent, and a disease similar to scurvy broke out, and caused the death of several, whose flesh actually fell from their limbs before death relieved them from their sufferings. All complained of a feeling of exhaustion, and officers and men dragged themselves painfully and slowly about the camp.