Robert M. Magill—Personal Reminiscences of a Confederate Soldier Boy.

Friday, 27th.—About 8 A. M., we were on train and started for Columbus, Ga. We had set Opelika as the place we would leave the train for home. There was no secret about it. It was the general talk, and at least half said they were coming. We talked to our officers, and some of them would have come had they not been officers. Reuben Harris had a new pair of shoes. The lieutenant in command said, “Reub, you are going home, where you can get more shoes; please give me these; I need them.” And he did and bade him good-bye. Train stalled about mile below Opelika, and as we were considering whether we had best not get off then, some of Company H came by, and that decided us; so we got off. Just then the train moved off, and we counted noses and had twenty-four— eight of Company F, eleven of Company H, one of Company E and four of 56th Georgia. We took the direction as best we could, and marched seven miles, and laid down and rested without any fires.