October 4 — This morning we received orders to move down the Valley. We left camp early in the day and marched once more for the Valley turnpike; we passed through Fishersville and struck the Valley pike at Staunton. We are camped to-night two miles below Staunton, on the Valley pike.
General Sheridan is in command of the Yankee army in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and if he has the men that he had at Trevillian Station, there will be some tough work on the boards yet this fall, for his cavalry is made out of first-class fighting stuff. We fought them at Trevillian last June.
October 3 — We unloaded our guns from the cars this morning, then moved two miles down the river and camped in a section of country full of good and well cultivated farms, on the west side of the river.
October 2 — It took us all last night to unload our horses; we left our guns on the cars, for shipment farther west. This morning we left Ivy Depot and struck out for the Shenandoah Valley; we came by Meechum’s Station and crossed the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap. We are camped this evening near Waynesboro and on the east side of South River, one of the tributaries of the beautiful Shenandoah. Waynesboro is a pretty little town situated on the west side of the South River and in a good country of fine, productive land; it is about twelve miles east of Staunton.
October 1 — This morning we were ordered back to Charlottesville. We loaded our horses on the cars as quickly as possible, but the train was tired before we started and moved very slowly all day; it was after dark when we arrived at Charlottesville. We fooled around the depot in Charlottesville an hour or two waiting for something so inscrutable that a private can never fathom the what for, but at last we got orders to pet aboard the train once more, and we moved up to Ivy Depot, the first station above Charlottesville, where we are now unloading our horses. The mud here in the railroad yard is about six inches deep and well stirred up. It is now midnight and we are still unloading horses, which seems to be a slow and tedious business in dark and rainy weather. The night is as dark as pitch, and the rain is coming down steadily, as it has been doing all day, which renders horse shipping a glorious business, especially when they have to be unloaded at midnight.
The falling rain is putting the mud in first-class condition to run in a fellow’s shoes. I am wet, hungry, and sleepy, my shoes are full of mud inside and out, and I feel anything but comfortable. If the Yankees do not shoot me I will remember all the contents of this dreary night, many days hence.
September 30 — Rained hard all last night, but I slept in the dry, by stowing myself away among some tobacco hogsheads under an old warehouse. We remained in Lynchburg all day, ready for business and waiting for orders, but have not heard one word about Yankee raiders since we have been here. Our guns are still on the cars.
September 29 — Rained last night, which put some of us to soak. There is evidently an important inroad or raid threatened by the enemy at some point some where south of us, for this morning we were ordered to Lynchburg by rail. We left camp early this morning and marched to Charlottesville, where we put our guns, horses, and men all on a train, and moved to Lynchburg by steam, where we arrived this evening little after sunset. Moving by steam is quite an improvement on the ordinary marching business, both for man and horse.
Lynchburg is situated on the south side of the James River, about sixty miles southwest of Charlottesville, and about one hundred and ten miles — the way the bird flies — west of Richmond.
The city is located in a very hilly country, and some of the encroaching hills are bold enough to stick their feet under some of the streets and bend them skyward. Most of the country along the railroad between Charlottesville and Lynchburg is very hilly, rendered so by the spreading out eastward of the foothills of the Blue Ridge. The railroad winds among and around the hills and ridges in a serpentine manner, and is as full of curves as a snake track, with cut and fill following each other in a thousand places. At one place — I think it is in Nelson County — the road passes through a considerable stretch of beautiful level country and good land. We are camped to-night in Lynchburg, with our guns still on the cars.
September 28 — Renewed our march this morning and passed through Charlottesville. Camped this evening on the Scottsville road about two miles from Charlottesville.
September 27 — This morning we moved about seven miles in the direction of Charlottesville, and camped on the roadside.
September 26 — To-day we heard some artillery firing to the westward beyond the Blue Ridge, in the direction of Waynesboro. There is actual war on the wing not far away.
September 24 — There has been a battle fought recently somewhere in the lower Shenandoah Valley. General Kershaw’s division which was detained here for further orders started back toward the Shenandoah Valley this morning.
