[5] A private in the Petersburgh volunteers draws the following picture of a soldier's life: It describes the march of his company at the time of Winchester's defeat. "On the second day of our march a courier arrived from Gen. Harrison, ordering the artillery to advance with all possible speed; this was rendered totally impossible by the snow which took place, it being a complete swamp nearly all the way. On the evening of the same day news arrived that Gen. Harrison had retreated to Portage river, 18 miles in the rear of the encampment at the Rapids. As many men as could be spared determined to proceed immediately to reinforce him. It is unnecessary to state that we were among the first who wished to advance. At 2 o'clock the next morning, our tents were struck, and in half an hour we were on the road. I will candidly confess, that on that day I regretted being a soldier. On that day we marched thirty miles under an incessant rain; and I am afraid you will doubt my veracity when I tell you, that in eight miles of the best of the road, it took us over the knees and often to the middle. The Black Swamp, 4 miles from Portage river and 4 miles in the extent would have been considered impassable by all but men determined to surmount every difficulty to accomplish the object of their march. In this swamp you lose sight of _terra firma_ altogether--the water was about six inches deep on the ice, which was very rotten, often breaking through to the depth of four or five feet. "The same night we encamped on very wet ground but the driest that could be found the rain still continuing. It was with difficulty we could raise fires; we had no tents, our clothes were wet, no axes, nothing to cook in, and very little to eat. A brigade of pack horses being near us, we procured from them some flour, killed a hog (there being plenty of _them_ along the road;) our bread was baked in the ashes and the pork we broiled on the coals--a sweeter meal I never partook of. When we went to sleep it was on two logs laid close to each other, to keep our bodies from the ground. Good God! what a pliant being is man in adversity. "The loftiest spirit that ever inhabited the human breast would have been tamed amid the difficulties that surrounded us."" On the 20th of April, Gen. Harrison returned to Fort Meigs and began to prepare for the approaching storm. Patrolling parties were frequently sent out to discover the movements of the enemy, who had been discovered on the margin of the lake.