search for water, I fell behind the column as it marched slowly along.
As I moved again to the front, I passed scores of men who had fallen
from utter exhaustion. Many were delirious, and begged piteously for
water in ever so small a quantity. Several died from excessive heat,
and others were for a long time unfit for duty. Reaching the spring
which gave its name to the locality, I was fortunate in finding only
the advance of the command. With considerable effort I succeeded
in obtaining a pint cupful of water, and thus allayed my immediate
thirst.

According to the custom in that region, the spring was covered with a
frame building, about eight feet square. There are very few cellars
in that part of the country, and the spring-house, as it is called,
is used for preserving milk and other articles that require a low
temperature. As the main portion of the column came up, the crowd
around the spring-house became so dense that those once inside could
not get out. The building was lifted and thrown away from the spring,
but this only served to increase the confusion. Officers found it
impossible to maintain discipline. When the men caught sight of the
crowd at the spring, the lines were instantly broken. At the spring,
officers and men were mingled without regard to rank, all struggling
for the same object. A few of the former, who had been fortunate in
commencing the day with full canteens, attempted to bring order out
of chaos, but found the effort useless. No command was heeded. The
officers of the two regiments of "regulars" had justly boasted of the
superior discipline of their men. On this occasion the superiority was
not apparent. Volunteers and regulars were equally subject to thirst,
and made equal endeavor to quench it.

Twenty yards below the spring was a shallow pool, where cattle and