it rained hard, and by morning the roads
were in a fearful condition. On we ploughed
up to our knees in the stiffest kinds of
mud, and as if to make matters worse,
the constant stalling of the wagons occasioned
long halts & these of frequent occurrence, a cold
North wind blowing all the time through
& through our wet clothes, and dashing the
rain pitilessly down our backs. We made
8 miles in 12 hours, and then the rain having
ceased went into camp on a bleak hillside
where the piercing gusts of wind had full
sweep. We shivered ourselves to sleep,to and
woke in the morning to find it snowing
slightly, and the ground like a rock. We
had left the 14th Corps the day before, and
were now on a stern chase after the 20th,
which was about half a day ahead. The
last things that had passed over the road,
when it was in a liquid state, were wagons
& cattle, and, when I say that the water, that
the men brought up to prepare breakfast
with, froze before they could use it, you
may form some idea of what we had for
a footway. Toward noon the ice began to
thaw in my canteen, and the roads to
improve. Late in the afternoon we caught
up with the wagons crossing the Oconee,
and camped at dark a mile beyond it.