The excitement which has held the entire army up to such a key of resistance for these many weeks as to enable it to cope with both visible and invisible foes, is slightly on the decline. The men are sure of their prey. Nobody doubts for a moment the result. No one expresses discontent or discouragement. Add to this the fact that an abnormal tension of brain and nerve must of necessity exhaust itself at length, and one almost wonders that the keen edge held so long.
Men obey orders now with a patient rather than exultant courage.
I could not but notice that the men in the rifle-pits and at work on the entrenchments wore a slightly jaded look, and were stimulated by their momentous and perilous labors barely enough to exercise the necessary caution for their own protection.