May 6th. Glorious morning, roads hard again, and every vestige of Virginia mud has disappeared. Reveille at daylight, and after breakfast tents were struck, and the march back to Yorktown commenced. The country between Williamsburg and Yorktown is picturesque and interesting. There are many quaint and curious old colonial houses, dating back to revolutionary times, mostly deserted, and all in a dilapitated condition. In fact, wherever we have been so far, the general appearance of things is in sad contrast to those at home. Virginia, or what we have seen of it, seems to be a hundred years behind the age, poor, badly cultivated, and thinly populated. Arrived at Yorktown at four P.M. and bivouacked in close column of division near to the shore. As soon as the tents were pitched and guards established, leave was given to all off duty to go in swimming. Of course, every one went and enjoyed themselves immensely, it being the first swim the men have had since their enlistment. The shore is formed of beautiful white sand and shelves out so gradually that one can walk out for three or four hundred yards without getting into deep water. It was a lively scene, as we saw it from the high bank, nearly ten thousand men, splashing and swimming in the sea at one time. After dinner, when the men were all in camp, we made up a party of officers and enjoyed a swim ourselves.
