Chapter I.--A Declaration, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9 Chapter II.--First Shots, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 18 Chapter III.--A Race, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 28 Chapter IV.--Disgrace, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38 Chapter V.--The Lint-Scraping and Bandage-making Union, - - - 52 Chapter VI.--The Awakening, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 62 Chapter VII.--Pomp and Circumstance of Glorious War, - - - - 71 Chapter VIII.--The Tedium of Camp, - - - - - - - - - - - - - 85 Chapter IX.--On the March, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 92 Chapter X.--The Mountaineer's Revenge, - - - - - - - - - - - 112 Chapter XI.--Through the Mountain and the Night, - - - - - - 126 Chapter XII.--Aunt Debby Brill, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 141 Chapter XIII.--An Apple Jack Raid, - - - - - - - - - - - - - 160 Chapter XIV.--In the Hospital, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 175 Chapter XV.--Making Acquaintance with Duty, - - - - - - - - - 184 Chapter XVI.--The Ambuscade, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 204 Chapter XVII.--Alspaugh on a Bed of Pain, - - - - - - - - - - 230 Chapter XVIII.--Secret Service, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 252 Chapter XIX.--The Battle of Stone River, - - - - - - - - - - 279 Chapter I. A Declaration. “O, what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the Earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays.” --Lowell. Of all human teachers they were the grandest who gave us the New Testament, and made it a textbook for Man in every age. Transcendent benefactors of the race, they opened in it a never-failing well-spring of the sweet waters of Consolation and Hope, which have flowed over, fertilized, and made blossom as a rose the twenty-century wide desert of the ills of human existence. But they were not poets, as most of the authors of the Old Testament were. They were too much in earnest in their great work of carrying the glad evangel of Redemption to all the earth--they so burned with eagerness to pour their joyful tidings into every ear, that they recked little of the FORM in which the saving intelligence was conveyed. Had they been poets would they have conceived Heaven as a place with foundations of jasper, sapphires and emeralds, gates of pearl, and streets of burnished gold that shone like glass? Never. That showed them to be practical men, of a Semitic cast of mind, who addressed hearers that agreed with them in regarding gold and precious stones as the finest things of which the heart could dream. Had they been such lovers of God's handiwork in Nature as the Greek religious teachers--who were also poets--they would have painted us a Heaven vaulted by the breath of opening flowers, and made musical by the sweet songs of birds in the first rapture of finding their young mates. In other words they would have given us a picture of earth on a perfect June day.