This meant that each man had, left, one blanket, one small haversack, one change of underclothes, a canteen, cup and plate, of tin, a knife and fork, and the clothes in which he stood. When ready to march, the blanket, rolled lengthwise, the ends brought together and strapped, hung from left shoulder across under right arm, the haversack,--furnished with towel, soap, comb, knife and fork in various pockets, a change of underclothes in one main division, and whatever rations we happened to have, in the other,--hung on the left hip; the canteen, cup and plate, tied together, hung on the right; toothbrush, "at will," stuck in two button holes of jacket, or in haversack; tobacco bag hung to a breast button, pipe in pocket. In this rig,--into which a fellow could get in just two minutes from a state of rest,--the Confederate Soldier considered himself all right, and ready for anything; in this he marched, and in this he fought. Like the terrapin--"all he had he carried on his back"--this _all_ weighed about seven or eight pounds. The extra baggage gone, all of us knew that the end of our stay here was very near, and we were all ready to pick up and go; we were on the eve of battle and everybody was on the "qui vive" for decisive orders. They quickly came! ="Marse Robert" Calls to Arms= On the next day but one, the 4th, about 10 o'clock, another courier galloped into camp, and, in a few moments, everybody having seen him, all the men had swarmed up to the Captain's tent to hear the first news. Captain McCarthy came toward us and said, very quietly, "Boys, get ready! we leave here in two hours." Then the courier told us that "Grant was crossing below us in the wilderness. That everything we had was pushing down to meet him; and that Longstreet, lately back from Tennessee, was at Gordonsville." The news telling was here interrupted by Crouch sounding the familiar bugle call--"Boots and saddles," which, to artillery ears, said, "Harness up, hitch up and prepare to move at a moment's warning." The fellows instantly scattered, every man to his quarters, and for a few minutes nothing could be seen but the getting down and rolling up of "flys" from over the log pens they had covered, rolling up blankets, getting together of each man's traps where he could put his hands on them. The drivers took their teams up on the hill to bring down the guns from their positions. All was quickly ready, and then we waited for orders to move. It was with a feeling of sadness we thought of leaving this spot! It had been our home for several months; it was painful to see it dismantled, and to think that the place, every part of which had some pleasant association with it, would be left silent and lonely, and that we should see it no more.