"We arrived here yesterday. Found marching orders for this morning to go to Burksville with our brigade. The brigade left this morning, but I got permission to stay over to-day to shoe horses and more fully equip the regiment. The indications are that the cavalry division will go direct to Knoxville, after a few days' delay at Burksville."
From Ray's Cross Roads, I write on the 20th:—
"We reached here yesterday. How many days we will remain I do not know. We are anxious to move forward, wanting to get into East Tennessee as soon as possible. I drilled my regiment to-day, had a good dress parade, and made a very fine appearance. I think there is no regiment in the corps that will make a better show. It attracts very general attention. We are stopped here waiting for the supply trains to come up. If it were not for the stomachs of men and horses an army could accomplish wonders. Kiss little Edith for me and tell Alice her papa thinks of her very often and loves her very much."
A letter the next day from the same place says:—
"We leave at 11 A.M., camp to-night at Marrowbone, to-morrow at Burksville, thence to Albany and Jamestown, Tennessee. I am well and in good spirits. Do not be uneasy if you do not hear from me very soon again, as we shall probably draw in our couriers and close our line of communication to-morrow. The Twenty-third Army Corps has one cavalry division of three brigades, each brigade consisting of four regiments and one battery; also one independent brigade of cavalry. The second brigade is the one in which is our regiment, and is commanded by Brigadier-General Hobson. You see we have a very strong force of cavalry, with which we can overrun the whole of East Tennessee and a good part of North Carolina, if we can ever get through the gaps and over the mountains, and can manage to take along with us our supply of forage and rations.
"General Hobson is absent from the brigade sick. I am the senior colonel of the brigade, and in the absence of the general, I will be entitled to command. Before I arrived, Colonel Graham, Fifth Indiana, was commanding, and as I had even more than I could well attend to, and as General Hobson was expected soon, I did not ask for the command, and will not do so unless I learn that General Hobson will not be able to join us soon. My regiment is the largest (and I think the best) in the brigade, having eight hundred and fifty fighting men with us."
On August 28, I wrote:—
"We have been here in the vicinity of Jamestown for a few days. We are out of forage for our horses, and have to get green corn and what hay, straw, and oats we can find, feeding them also on wheat and rye. We are up on the top of the mountains, and the soil is very poor, the farms small, and there is little forage of any kind; consequently, if we stay here much longer we shall be driven to pretty close straits for our horses and possibly for rations for ourselves. We are already short and very little prospect of any soon, but as long as there is green corn the men will not starve. The route from Glasgow is very hilly and rugged, and we had great difficulty in getting our wagons over it. We are now up on the level of the mountains where it is not so hilly. All the country is very poor, and the only good features about it are that it is healthy, has good water, and a goodly number of Union people. I will take command of the brigade to-day, as General Hobson is still sick at home. When we are so straitened for forage and rations the responsibility is great and the task not a very desirable one."
My next letter dated September 2, gave an account of our occupation of Knoxville, the goal of our long march over the mountains:—
"Yesterday was the proudest day of my life. Sunday last Generals Burnside and Curtis came up and a juncture of the forces was formed at Montgomery. My brigade arrived at that place on Saturday in advance of all other. On Sunday afternoon General Burnside sent for me to report, and I received orders to move my brigade five miles to the front. This seemed to indicate that I would be permitted to keep the advance and we were all well pleased. But about daylight the First Cavalry Brigade marched past us and out to the front on the Kingston road, and we had no orders to move. At sunrise, the Third Cavalry Brigade (General Shackelford) passed by and out to the front toward the reported enemy on the Kingston road. I began to be impatient and somewhat disgusted. I waited for two hours more very anxiously, but no marching orders came.