February 4th. The great hall grows rapidly and is going to be a fine affair. The notables throughout the land have generally accepted invitations. A special train will be run from Washington, and all army circles are on the very tip toe of expectation. At our headquarters the tents are decorated with evergreens, sabres, swords, pistols, etc.; we have remade the beds with the softest of cedars and put everything in order for the reception of our guests, who will soon come along. Our plan is to give up our quarters to the ladies and take shelter in the great hall ourselves after the festivities of the evening are over. We have portable bunks made for this purpose and our men will put them up after the floors are deserted. There will be two girls in each tent, except that Alvord’s is to be devoted to his sister alone. Major Hancock, Captain Martin, and the general each will have their wives with them, and Mrs. Curtin will have a whole tent to herself and maid.
All interest centering in the army, of course, it is immensely popular, and the ladies write most enthusiastically of the coming visit; every woman in the land has taken intense interest in the army, which, necessarily, has been to nearly all of them only a shadow; now they are to see the reality.
