Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-01-24
Interesting Accounts Taken
From Diary of the Late
G. M. Slayfor
Monday, January %, 1866.

but this morning on waking up found
it showing hard, and our bed cover
ed with whittier spread than human
hands could make. AS soon as it be-
came light enough the boat started
on. There is a pipe near the stern
of the boat from which hot water
came from the boiler of the engine,
when the machinery is in motion,
which we used for making coffee and
other cooking purposes making it
very convenient, especially as cook
saw many splendid vineyards on the
steep sidehiils, mostly on the Ohio
shore. A little before noon we
reached the city of Cincinnati; and,
crowding in between other boats, we
managed to get near to the shore. 1t
is now a lively time for buying and
selling. The soldiers who have
money are spending it pretty freely,
as they can get things SO much chep-
err here than they could further
south, and all of us craved for some
thing different to eat. / bought a
pound of butter for so cents and
some bread; took a package of things
to the American Express office and
sent them home, freight SIPS. We
lay at the levee until two p. m, then
went across the river to coal up. The
snow is five inches deep, and it is
quite cold. We loaded, 1000 bushels
of coal, enough to last about three
days; then between seven and eight
o'clock orders came to cross over to
Cincinnati and remain until further
orders. We did soft but at nine
o'clock hauled out again, went up
the river to the upper end of the
.v.I fs..I A -
o'clock we were awakened by orders
to unload. Twas very cold and it
was pretty hard to get up, but we
obexed orders, and stood around an
hour, and were then told to go to
bed again.
Tuesday, January "a, 1865.
We were awakened this morning at
daybreak to unload. 1t was very cold,
but after drinking some coffee and
getting well to work, we felt quite
comfortable. We had to pack up and
carry off everything and carry it up
steep bank, which was covered by
snow and ice. The boys went at it
cheerfully, making all the fun they
could, to keep warm and keep up
their spirits. After taking the things
up the hill and piling them up we
took them to the railroad and then
again across onto the platform and
by noon we were all unloaded onto
the cars of the Baltimore & Ohio
railroad. Forty men were put in
each car, or rather, were ordered in,
but | guess there were but few cars
which had their full quota. The cars
were of the box variety with seats
around the sides. We got a big fiat
stone, put our stove on il and by cut
ting hole through the roof for the
pipe were enabled to have fire, thus
making it quite comfortable. We had
twenty-four in our car and at 2:30
orders came for us to get under way.
but as we stayed on the cars, we
were obliged to wait several times
for passing trains. At three o'clock
p. M, we passed Camp Dennison,
which with it's clean, nice yellow
barracks, which looked quite comfort
able, and as though soldering might
be a nice thing. But we thought
otherwise. In fifteen minutes more
we stopped at Loveland, and at 4:45
at Morrow. We were on the Little
Miami railroad instead of the Balti-
more & Ohio railroad. At night We
tore up the seats in one end of the
car, set them on the others, then got
part of a board fence at one of the
stops we made, and constructed a
second floor in one-half of the car,
so we could sleep in two tiers, above
and below. 1t was pretty rough but
we stood it until morning. We used
straw to sleep upon.
Wednesday, January 25, 1865.
We had rather a poor nights rest,
and this morning on getting up we
found ourselves at Columbus, Ohio,
at which place we had arrived at
midnight. Those who were awake
were Immediately treated to hot cof-
fee. 1t is very cold this morning,
and the cutters and sleighs as they
glided by reminded us of home. Soon
after daylight, the engine hitched to
our train whistled ALREADY" and pro-
ceeded to puff and jerk away at the
train, but was unable to make it go.
The engine continued its efforts for
quite a while, but at last they were
obliged to hitch another to the train
in order to pull it,. Finally at 1880