In the Trenches 191 



been fired by the time we got there. That evening 

 there came up the worst storm we had had, and by 

 midnight my tent blew over. I had for the first 

 time in a fortnight undressed myself completely, 

 and I felt fully punished for my love of luxury when 

 I jumped out into the driving downpour of tropic 

 rain, and groped blindly in the darkness for my 

 clothes as they lay in the liquid mud. It was Kane's 

 night on guard, and I knew the wretched Woody 

 would be out along the line and taking care of the 

 pickets, no matter what the storm might be; and so 

 I basely made my way to the kitchen tent, where 

 good Holderman, the Cherokee, wrapped me in dry 

 blankets, and put me to sleep on a table which he 

 had just procured from an abandoned Spanish house. 



On the 1 7th the city formally surrendered and 

 our regiment, like the rest of the army, was dra,wn 

 up on the trenches. When the American flag was 

 hoisted the trumpets blared and the men cheered, 

 and we knew that the fighting part of our work was 

 over. 



Shortly after we took our new position the First 

 Illinois Volunteers came up on our right. The next 

 day, as a result of the storm and of further rain, the 

 rivers were up and the roads quagmires, so that 

 hardly any food reached the front. My regiment 

 was all right, as we had provided for just such an 

 emergency; but the Illinois new-comers had of 



