Monday, June 11th.1
Since the 2nd we have lain in the rifle-pits with the infantry, sweltering in the sun in the day time and doing quite our share of picket duty at night. The dust, fine as ashes, is at least four inches deep in the trails and covered ways used by the troops, and at midday it is no uncommon thing to see the thermometer mark 110 degrees in what little shade there is. There has been no rain for weeks, and heat is killing more men than the “Johnnies” are. I have met Harry Hopkins, son of Rev. Dr. Hopkins, President of Williams College, who was on the front line with the regiment of the Excelsior Brigade of which he is Chaplain. He was a senior in college when I was a freshman. When the Sixth Corps went to Washington to defend that city, our Second Corps became the left of the line, and Grant seems to be now building field forts all along the line.
Not having felt at all well for some time, I determined to-day to act on the advice of the surgeon and go to hospital for a few days.
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This diary entry is for July 11th, not June. It follows the entry for July 2d. In the next entry, dated July 13, the author states that he had been in the field hospital since the 11th. – Mike Goad, October 19, 2013.
