We were assigned to guard a wagon train loaded with provisions and ammunition. We guarded for three days in a row and for a day and a half we had nothing to eat, so one morning before we started out we saw a drove of cattle in a distant field; we found out afterwards that were our own and they belonged to the train we were guarding. Six of us decided we were hungry and we would each get a steer. I got one but did not have time to kill it; the rest each got one but they left theirs go when they found a cart at an old lime kiln. They hitched one of he horses in it and threw all their blankets, guns, slings, and knapsacks on it and started off. I followed very slow with the steer. Soon, they were way ahead of me and the roads and fields were rough and I was so tired I could have tumbled by the road. For a long while I had lost track of the regiment and so in the evening when I caught up with them they killed the steer but I was so tired I fell asleep before they had the beef cooked. But they divided some out for me and so they next morning I had beef and coffee for breakfast. That night we drew our regular rations and they disappeared in a hurry. That night we camped, or rather slept, between North and South river; we laid in a grass field and we had stored our blankets and tents away and there was a heavy dew and when we came to in the morning we were all soaking wet.

That evening we arrived at Cold Harbor; then it all began. There had been fighting there two days before and the dead and wounded still lay on the field. We charged the rebel works next morning. We were successful in the middle, but the right and left ends were repulsed and we could not get back, so we lay among the dead of the day before. Our batteries protected us as good as they could and we fell back that night and so did the rebs. Some of the dead were bloated so bad that the buttons tore off their coats. All of us that had blankets took them to cover the dead next day and shoveled a little dirt over them and that is all the burial they got. It was horrible for a human to behold and what we tell, human ears cannot understand.

We ran out of rations again and I offered a dollar for four hardtacks; the man gave me the tacks but would not take my dollar. It was so surprising how generous the people were; they would give of anything they had.

Next morning, I went out to where some men had drawn rations and picked up the crumbs of crackers that fell when the men cleaned out their haversacks. I got about a pint of crumbs, dirt and all, but the boys were very glad for them. I also found three pocketbooks; the contents of one was nothing, one had three postage stamps, two pennies, and a silver three cent piece. The other had three photo pictures and I wished I could return them to their owners or to the right families. J.G. Shaffer was lost here but turned up all right the next day. We were kept very busy fighting here second and third day of June at Bethesda Church; there was a graveyard here and we were lucky we did not end up in it. A little on from here we fought around a grain mill but in a little while the mill disappeared to its foundations. The next place was White Oak Bottom and we built a large breastworks here; that its, we cut down trees, piled them on top of each other from three to five feet high for miles in each direction. Then we piled earth against it. We layed here about eight days. While laying here I went out to forage; you might call it stealing. I got to a plantation and everything had been carried off except the grindstone. Since there was nothing usable but the grindstone I took it along and it came in handy for the fellows to use when they built breastworks. When we left there it was too heavy and we left it. The next place we stopped was Charles City Crossroads. We marched all night to get there and then I and some others were delegated for picket duty and were taken out in the woods from camp and kept for two days without any eats. During that time, the men marched to Harrison's Landing and crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge. Then one of the boys I was with got a small pig somewhere. We killed it, gutted it, and quartered it in four pieces as well as we could with bristles and all. We did not have time to cook it so we stuck out bayonets thru it and marched toward the river in double quick time, that is, a dog trot. My load got too heavy and soon I dropped it by the wayside. Some of the others who were stronger than I carried it until they had to abandon it on account of the blowflies following them. We all failed to have fresh pork for dinner or anything else. When we got near the river, about a mile away, we could see the army on the other side of the river, some cooking and some bathing. We soon expected to get something to eat and be able to wash in the river, but how easy it is for one to be fooled and we surely were. Before we got to the river they had taken the pontoon bridges up and the army had all left but the rearguard and we had no eats. They finally took us across with a small steamboat and we started off on a fast march and a little before evening we caught up with our command. The boys then gave us something to eat, but it was too late to revive me much that night. We had no water but use of a stagnant pool that they had driven cattle through before. We went by way of Prince Cariet House. About eight o'clock I played out and told my messmates that I was done for and had to lay down. J. Hoover and my brother said they would stay by me. I told them to go on as I did not know what would become of me and it was not worth the risk for them to stay. Finally, Hoover said he would go; but my brother would not and he stayed with me. We went into a woods not far away and were surprised to find hundreds of others who had played out and had the same idea I had. Well, I had a good night's rest and it revived me so early in the morning we started to follow the regiment. We got to a little brook and stopped to cook some coffee and then some of our men came to get some water for the same purpose. I asked them where the regiment was. It laid several hundred yards from where we were, so they had stopped about a half-mile from where I played out and we rejoined them there. Several hours after that it was fall in ranks and forward march. Soon the bullets began to whistle death songs all around us and we lost a good many; saw and heard some of my comrades for the last time, poor mortals. Soon we got on a little hill and got orders to charge down and take a deep cut of railroad. We started and took the cut but while going down, some of us had to go thru where some buildings were burned down. There was still plenty of fire and hot ashes and I got some fire in my shoes. My one foot was burned considerable but I did not dare to stop to take the fire out as they were feeding us plenty of grape and canister all around. We took the cut; it was about twenty feet deep, and the boys went down pell-mell and quite a number got hurt by the fellow's bayonet behind him. I stopped on top of the bank till they were straightened out and then I started out; just as I left the place, a shell struck and exploded everything to tinder. Had I stayed a minute longer, a few grease spots would have [been] all that remained of me. My guarding Angel must have been protecting me all thru or I wouldn't be here now. Next, we charged to the creek and we lost a few more men, but the high banks protected us till dark and then we got all mixed with another regiment on the brow of the hill. We really lost almost all the officers and men in our company. Brother Frankie and J. Hoover and several others were all that was left. When daylight came we began to charge uphill but were stopped and started to dig in with our tin plates. If the boys ever tried to dig a hole for a little protection, they did there. We were relieved by other troops later in the morning and we were sent to the rear to get something to eat and rest up. We laid back three to six miles for a day or two and then were reorganized and the sent back to the same place, only in the meantime they had built breastworks out of timber and clay. Then we got orders to build bum proofs. They are a hole dug in the ground from three to four feet deep and then covered with logs and railroad iron. We were in luck to have the railroad we took from the Rebs close by. WE wanted a good one so we put about three feet of earth on top. They were intended for protection during artillery duels. Some of our men undermined a Reb works on a hill but they did not tell us when it would go off and we were eating breakfast in our hole about sunrise when the explosion went off and, I tell you, it fairly lifted you right off the ground. We had a good victory and had a big fuss about it, but I could not call killing a victory. After a few days, we were sent to the rear again for rest. I tell you now that was when we began to build mud forts in our rear and front. We worked with a pick and shovel ten hours out of every twenty-four, five hours in daytime and five hours at night. But the shells were so bad in the day that we worked mostly at night. Then we heard of the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road where they trampled and captured a good many of our men. We were run in to stem the tide and we followed the Rebs up through a dry swamp full of long grass and briars and other underbrush; finally our company got lost and we were away from each other and could not find our way out anymore. So all we could do was to lay down and keep quiet. The General thought we were all captured. We lay in the mud and grass all the rest of the night, but the Johnnies did not know it or they would have had all of us. Their artillery kept pounding with sixty-fives all night but their aim was too high. The next morning our army advanced and found us in there and, I tell you, I was a happy boy when they found transportation to the rear for us. In a few days we were in the thick of the fighting again at Yellow House and Weldon Railroad. From here we journeyed for miles and they had to wagon train our provisions and ammunition into us. We laid here for quite awhile - at least long enough to make us restless. So they decided to give us infantry drill, but as we had enlisted for cavalry, we refused to drill, at least nine of us did. It worked very well for four days and then we got s new Lieutenant and then it ended. The next morning the drill sergeant told the nine of us to turn in our rifles and cartridge box and belt and he gave each of us an axe. He took us into a small woods and told us to cut down a sapling and we thought we were going to build a cook shanty. But I smelled mice and I cut down the smallest one I could find and the Lord only knows it was more than heavy enough for the purpose intended. There was one sapling heavier than all the rest and I said, "You had better make two out of it," but the smallest fellow of all of us wanted to show how strong he was and said, "No, I'll carry it." He wanted to show his strength and he had all the opportunity he wanted when he got to camp. Then, since I had such a small sapling, the sergeant told me to get my gun again and I was to take charge and march these fellows back and forth in the company streets carrying their logs. In about an hour the sergeant came along and asked if we were ready to fall in and drill that afternoon. You bet your boots we were and in good faith, too. And then he dismissed us and we went and got our dinner and our mail.