Thursday, 12. — A most disagreeable rainy day. Mud and roads horrible. Marched from Blacksburg to Salt Pond Mountain. My brigade had charge of the train. I acted as wagonmaster; a long train to keep up. Rode all day in mud and rain back and forth. Met “Mudwall” Jackson and fifteen hundred [men]—a poor force that lit out rapidly from near Newport. Got to camp — no tents—[at] midnight. Mud; slept on wet ground without blankets. A horrible day, one of the worst of all my experience. Fifteen miles.
