On the morning of the 26th we were ordered to move. All camp equipage and baggage, as well as those who were not fit for active duty, were to be moved into Nashville.
The storm was about to burst.
CHAPTER XI.
SKIRMISHING PREVIOUS TO THE BATTLE OF STONE RIVER.
At an early hour on the morning of Friday, December 26th, the shrill call of the bugle ringing out on the frosty air, announced that we were about to move.
Soon great activity prevailed in camp, and all were in high spirits at the prospect of an advance; and it was evident to each and every one of us, that unless the rebels should retreat from Murfreesboro, a battle must soon occur.
Nothing so arouses a soldier’s spirit as the prospect of a battle—though, in the same anxiously looked for battle, his life may be sacrificed. For human life, at best, but hangs on a thread which even a little blow may snap asunder. But if man dies thus, his life is nobly given on the altar of his country, and that is worth the life of any man.
“Who dies in vain
Upon his country’s war-fields, and within
The shadow of her altars?”
War follows rebellion, and death follows war. Some must die—both the just and the unjust; but in the end, right will ever conquer. And now to our movements.