THE CIVIL WAR DIARY OF JOHN G. MORRISON 1861-1865

except whilst I was helping to build a bough shanty to keep
my things in and to sleep in occasionally. Turned in to it,
about to try how sleeping under a shelter would go.
Sunday, Oct. 6th. Arose this morning about 5, mighty stiff
and sore, whether from sleeping on a side hill or from lying
on straw, I don't know. No church today, for a wonder.
Thought it would serve my underclothes to wash them, as I
had on two weeks. Went down to a creek by the railroad.
Washed them clean and myself too. Felt considerable better
after it and as the day was warm I did not feel the lack of
them. My clothes did not dry enough to put them on. Read
some of the books which I took from the minister's house (The
lives of the Popes, by Professor Ranke, a Prussian, I
presume). He appears not to be as much of a bigot as the
generallity of the writers of ecclesiastical history are.
Turned [in] about 10 P.M. to another night's torture.
Monday, Oct. 7th. Arose this morning as sore and as stiff as
yesterday. It looked stormy and wild all around the sky.
Had breakfast. Then went on fatigue to Fort Wadsworth.
Commenced raining in the afternoon and the way it did come
down, mixed with lumps of ice 2 inches long and an inch
thick. It was the most severe storming of the kind I ever
seen, and I have seen some big ones, too. We covered our
shanty with our india rubber blankets, but it was no use.
It came through and we were thouroughly drenched in about 10
minutes, clothes and blankets soaked, the shanty like a hog
pen. It was a nice spectacle and a fine prospect for a
night's sleep. About
[33] 11 P.M., our ensign got some spirits for the men. It was a
great benefit to them. It was raining yet and every pospect
of it continuing all night. To sleep was of question.
Tuesday, Oct. 8th. Crept out of the shanty about 6 o'clock,
wet, cold, and miserable after the night. As I thought, it
rained steady all night, but there five of us lay and took
it. There was no use in leaving, for everybody else was as
badly off as ourselves and we had no place to retreat to. It
was about as hard a night as I ever put in. Boiled some
potatoes for breakfast and some coffee too and as the rain
shewed no signs of ceasing, some of my bed mates thought they
would look for she[l]ter somewhere else, which they did and
found a deserted house where we took up our quarters, and as
I brought some coffee and sugar along, we boiled some
potatoes and made some more coffee to which we invited some
other refugees, who were less fortunate than ourselves. Our
boarders in the house increased to the number of 30. We had
a pleasant home and good quarters. Returned to the regiment
and drew the rations for our own party. Went back to the
house and made our bed, and a commodious one it was too. We
17