Good-bye to the 128th--Down the river to New Orleans--Looking for General Grant--Finding General Grant--Joined the Corps de Afrique--Franklin's expedition to Texas--The return trip--Pilot Town, La.--Easy times. CHAPTER XI--BRASHEAR CITY, LA. 184 Mustered into the service again--Waiting for orders--Up the Bayou Teche--Stealing a horse--Meeting the owner--At Mouton's Plantation--The return across the prairie--A sham battle--One kind of southern hospitality--Another kind of southern hospitality--Camp life at Brashear City. CHAPTER XII--THE LOUISIANA STEAM COTTON PRESS 230 In winter quarters--Dull times--The fortune-tellers--An old man's blessing--A pleasant surprise--Leave of absence--On board the steamer Creole--Seasick--Losing Henry Holmes--Wholesale visiting--Finding Henry Holmes. CHAPTER XIII--ON BOARD THE MCCLELLAN 272 The start for Dixie--The McClellan is not the Creole--A tough crowd--Man overboard--Martial law proclaimed--Arrest of the rioters--Storm at sea--Stop at Key West--In New Orleans again. CHAPTER XIV--THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN 286 Camping on The Laurel Hill--At Port Hudson again--Meeting the 128th--Up the Red River to Alexandria--Two trips to Grand Ecore--The river falling--The dam at Alexandria--The burning of Alexandria. CHAPTER XV--THE RED RIVER RETREAT 322 Guarding the pontoon train--Sleeping on feathers--Killing the goose--Forced marching--The fight at Yellow Bayou--Crossing the Atchafalaya--Another forced march--A raw beef supper--Footsore and weary. CHAPTER XVI--CAMP AT MORGANZIA, LA. 332 On picket with the western men--Smallpox appears--A pay-day misunderstanding--Building Fort Morgan--Fourth of July dinner--General Order 88--The army moving away. CHAPTER XVII--OUR LAST CAMP IN THE SOUTH 346 Leaving Morganzia--In camp near New Orleans--Good-bye, Dixie--Homeward bound. CHAPTER I The Recruiting Camp First steps as a Soldier--The five-day furlough. _August 19, 1862._ HUDSON CAMP GROUNDS. I have enlisted! Joined the Army of Uncle Sam for three years, or the war, whichever may end first. Thirteen dollars per month, board, clothes and traveling expenses thrown in. That's on the part of my Uncle. For my part, I am to do, I hardly know what, but in a general way understand I am to kill or capture such part of the Rebel Army as comes in my way. I wonder what sort of a soldier I will make; to be honest about it, I don't feel much of that eagerness for the fray I am hearing so much of about me.