30th. Wednesday. Up at 4 and on the road at 5. The most beautiful sunrise from the vast height. A grand view of mountains stretching away for miles in all directions. 2nd Ohio in advance. Reached Moorfield at 10 A. M. Remained till 2 P. M. Returned via northwestern grade. Camped 13 miles from M. on an old gentleman’s farm. I had quite a talk with him. He owned a farm, sterile and poor, of 200 acres in among the hills. He was 70 years of age. Moved there 34 years since when all was a wilderness. Had never owned a slave. Had cleaned up the farm, built a log house and made all the improvements with his own hands. It made him almost crazy to see all going to destruction in one night— all his fences, outbuildings, cattle, sheep and fowls. An only son at home, an invalid. Had always been true to the government. Only wished that God would now call him, that he might be with his many friends in the church yard—pointing to it near by—and this aspect of suffering and starvation be taken from him.
