July 25 — This morning we started for our camp at Harrisonburg. At New Market Captain Chew generously granted me a leave of absence to remain at home for a few days. Home, friends, and haunts of childhood are as dear as ever, but cannot be fully enjoyed with entire satisfaction as long as a desolating war cloud hangs over the sunny South and mars and obscures the sweet light of independent freedom.
Most of my former friends and associates of my youth are away on the tented field, which makes me feel rather lonely and dissatisfied, although reveling in the abundance of extra rations and environed by the comforts of home.
