Diary of Rutherford B. Hayes.

November 17, Sunday. — I was sent in command of one hundred men of Twenty-third and one hundred of Twenty-sixth six miles towards Raleigh to Blake’s to watch a road on which it was thought Colonel Jenkins’ Rebel cavalry might pass with prisoners and plunder from Guyandotte. We bivouacked on the snow in fence corners — ice half inch thick — and passed the night not uncomfortably at all. A party of Rebels from Floyd’s army met us here with a flag of truce. Had a good little chat with several of them. They did not seem at all averse to friendly approaches. It seemed absurd to be fighting such civil and friendly fellows. I thought they were not so full of fight as our men — acted sick of it. One youngster, a lieutenant in Phillips’ Legion, T. H. Kennon of Milledgeville, Georgia, wanted to buy back his little sorrel mare which we had captured — a pleasant fellow. They were after Croghan’s body.