about Cashtown. Some of the men were a little uneasy, and Ford said that he came down to fight, but did not expect to be sent off with a few hundred men alone to fight thousands of rebels. My own opinion was that rumor had greatly exaggerated the number, and probably a few small bodies of cavalry, such as had previously come into the State, were scouting around, and if we could only get near enough to them, we would easily scatter or capture the whole party. The only difficulty which presented itself, was the readiness with which, being on horseback, they could elude us infantry. Therefore, feeling very unconcerned myself, I took delight in playing upon the fears of some of the others, and was sure to tell Ford all the wonderful stories which I heard. Some one brought into camp a copy of the Harrisburg Telegraph, and among other items, we were much amused to find that “General Couch had thrown a large body of troops in the neighborhood of Gettysburg to outflank the rebels.”
About the middle of the afternoon, a strong wind arose, and then there was every appearance of rain. The men commenced to erect their shelter tents, and Rennard and I, after watching how the operation was performed, put up our own upon the outskirts of the wood. The modus operandi is very simple, and I will here describe it as well as I can. The tent is formed of two pieces of thick muslin about 4½ feet long and three wide, each of which is supplied with a rope, and they are arranged so as to button together. When they are thus buttoned, there is a rope at each end of the tent, and if two trees can be found the proper distance apart, nothing remains to be done but tie the ropes tightly around them at a suitable height, and secure the four corners of the tent with wooden pins. Then by digging a small gutter to drain off the water,
