Etowah Bridge, Sunday, Oct. 16. Another Sunday. Spent very busy in putting up quarters which are put in one line. Wedge tents raised on a wall fifteen inches high lengthened out to twelve feet. By night we had them completed mostly. I am very tired.
Etowah Bridge, Monday, Oct. 17. Volunteered to go out with Sergeant Dziewanowski and twenty men, eight of them armed with muskets issued by the ordnance sergeant for the occasion, to the rolling mills for brick, stone, etc. Teams returned immediately, but the mounted men rode over the country till late in the evening. I stayed and took a home-like dinner with Grandma Williams for fifty cents.
Etowah Bridge, Tuesday, Oct. 18. Three teams and six men gone a-foraging with two days' rations. They go up into Cherokee County. Our horses have nothing, only what is foraged for them and grazing once a day, but the grass is getting dry. McCook's Cavalry that have laid here for several weeks, broke camp this morning and marched northward. Worked this forenoon. In the afternoon wrote to my old comrade E. W. E., but there is no prospect of it reaching him soon. Weather beautiful.
Etowah Bridge, Wednesday, Oct. 19. Day passed very quietly. Our quarters are all done except chimneys. Principal work done was playing chess and eating walnuts, which is the only game I indulge in at present. We have wild rumors that Hood has split his army, two corps retreating. One going north. Sherman following both, but nothing definite. Kilpatrick's wagon-train and convalescents reached here to-day. His headquarters are at Stilesboro, fifteen miles west. Took a pleasant walk to town with Griff after retreat. Enjoyed myself well. But there is an aching void in my heart, which cannot be filled without news from home.
1864 Camp Rumors