"So long as an armed traitor shall be found in rebellion against the Government, I shall continue my career as a soldier. I can not leave the field until this rebellion is crushed. "The spirits of my fallen comrades are hovering about me, and beckoning me on to avenge their sufferings and our insulted flag; and their moldering bodies would turn over in disgust in the graves that inclose them, were I to leave the laurels that we have so gallantly won to the uncertainty of strange hands. Come, then, to the rescue! "Your fathers and mothers, your wives and sweethearts, and all your loved ones at home, will cheer you on in the noble cause. Their thanksgivings and prayers are already encircling the throne of God in your behalf; and when you return to your homes, their kind hands will place garlands of flowers upon your heads as crowns of glory that you have won. Cast your eyes upon the sacred emblem of our country--to the flag which you have followed to the field of blood, and around which you have rallied in the din of battle, and beneath which your brave comrades have fallen, and remember the glorious victories that you have won, and that a nation's gratitude is yours. "March bravely on, as you have already done, winning victory after victory, and but a few months more will elapse till you have planted the stars and stripes in every nook and corner of the rebellious states. "Then will peace, happiness and prosperity shed their effulgent rays over all the land, and you will return to your homes, enshrouded with glory, to meet the warm embrace of friends, _knowing_ that you have a country, and that a _free_ country." CHAPTER XXVI. Frightened by a dead Colonel--Burns Confederate corn in face of the enemy--Gets into a tight place--A frightened Major--Captures information--A headstrong Captain gobbled up--Captures a rebel Provost-marshal General--Encounter with General Ross' cavalry--A strange adventure--Races with a rebel Colonel--A hard-hearted woman. The next service that I performed was in the month of February, 1864. It was in that month that General Sherman made what is known as the "Meridian raid." I accompanied the expedition. The second day out from Vicksburg, General McPherson sent me to watch the movements of Wirt Adams, who was hovering about our right flank with a battalion of cavalry. I found a movement in progress to attack the ordnance and supply train, which I reported in time to prevent; it was handsomely effected by the 11th Illinois Cavalry. At night the army halted at Baker's Creek.