Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-04-18
Interesting Accounts Taken
From Diary of the Late
&. M. Slayfon
Tuesday, March z, 1865.

Tuesday, March Z, 1900.
We made our bed last night on a
wagon load of ammunition and slept
well; however we were sleepy and
hated to get UP this morning. Re-
veille sounded at four o'clock and we
crawled out, ate our breakfast and
were ready for the march at day
light, but as our division was ahead
yesterday, we were obliged to wait
for the third division and its train
to pass, therefore, it was eight p. m.
before we got started on the road.
We marched steadily today, stop
ping for an hour at dinner time, be-
tween one and two o'clock, and went
into camp in the pine woods between
shutdown and dark, having marched
seventeen miles today. We were
following up the coast-line and were
not more than four miles from the
sound. The country was the same
desolate, level, barren waste, cover
ed with pitch-pine, nearly every tree
having been tapped for turpentlne..
We passed only one house in the last
twelve miles of march. / could not
imagine where the men came from
who gathered the turpentine. The
soil is a clear, white sand, probably
all having been the bed of the sea in
ages past. Our men fired the forest
all along today, and the pitch-pine
trees burning filled the air with
clouds of black smoke.
Wednesday, March 8, 1865.
Reveille sounded at four o'clock
this morning and we arose, cooked
our breakfast, loaded up, and as our
division went ahead this morning, we
were on the road at sunrise. The
country still continued level with an
occasional house 1--WE had passed but
six houses today, which, with their
cleared garden spots, afforded some
relief from the interminable pine for
est. We stopped an hour for dinner
a little after noon and made some
coffee. At $3.50 p. m, we came to
creek, but could not cross it until a
bridge had been built. A company
of Engineer Mechanics worked on
the structure, wading into the the
water as carelessly as though it had
been midsummer. / was glad that
did not belong to the engineers just
then. Our advance badly wounded
and captured four rebel soldiers to-
day, who were on picket duty. 1t
rained hard while we were waiting
for the bridge to be completed, and
some at night. The troops were
camped in an old field by the road
which was covered with tall, dry
grass, and they had great sport by
Smelling each other by pulling up the
tufts of grass and throwing them at
each other. We crossed the creek in
safety about shutdown, marched a
couple of miles and went into camp
in a little field sometime after dark,
hax cd nh swfn xxxs1nc 10
day. We ate supper and prepared
fast. 1t was raining when we went
to bed.
Thursday, March 8, 1916.
II l ever hated to get up in my life
is was this morning for reveille
sounded at four o'clock, and as / had
others to cook for, so got up, resolv-
ing to make up for lost time some
Sunday morning when / got home
again. The other boys were up and
cooking something to eat, and before
it was light we were on the road,
taking the advance again. The coun-
try changed for the better today and
was more thickly settled. In the af-
ternoon we passed some large planta-
tions. We stopped rear a creek half
an hour for dinner. About two
o'clock we turned off from the New
bern road, having marched fifty-nine
miles, and took the road to Kingston,
which was some twenty-nine miles
in a northwesterly direction from the
forks. We found considerable for
age today, both for man and beast,
and went after it as usual. Found
large quantities of pork and corn