roads. Company A was deployed as skirmishers in front and B to the extreme right near the Rapidan. On Tuesday, May 5th, H and three other companies were taken still further to the right where they formed an abatis, threw up earthworks and lay on their arms at night. The position of the regiment was dangerous, but honorable. A terrible thunder storm came up which lasted thirty-six hours, saturating the men's clothes and greatly swelling the rivulets and streams.

When the withdrawal of the army began, the Twenty-fourth Michigan seemed to have been forgotten while out on its picket duty. That night, General Paul of the Regular Army came upon the regiment and calling Colonel Morrow out of his "dog tent," informed him that he was the last man except the Twenty-fourth Michigan on the field; that the rest had all gone over the river! The pickets were called in and at 3 o'clock on the morning of May 6th, while the men were leaning against trees, trying thus to keep the rain off and get some sleep, the regiment quietly marched back to where the army had been, but to their astonishment, no troops could be seen, and the men then first knew that it was a retreat.

For miles they traveled through the brush until they came in sight of our troops crossing the pontoons at the United States Ford on the double-quick. During the darkness, five companies got separated from the regiment in the woods and were supposed to be captured, but they finally came up all right, and all joined the rest. of the Iron Brigade near the river. In the haste at the pontoons, there was danger of a panic and the Iron Brigade was ordered back to the woods once more to build fires and make coffee, thus leaving the rest of the army to believe that there was no danger of an attack. At 9 o'clock the regiment re-crossed the river, being the last troops to leave the inglorious field of Chancellorsville.

All day the regiment marched, considerably despondent. The rain came down incessantly. After descending precipices, wading creeks and through mud knee deep for fifteen miles, it bivouacked at night, three miles from Stoneman's Station, wet, hungry and so fatigued that in ten minutes the men fell asleep in some pine woods, each one where he happened to be.

COMMENTS-COMPLIMENTS.

In these engagements, including the crossing below Fredericksburg, the battle of the Sixth Corps at Marye's Height and at Salem Heights, Lee reported an aggregate loss of 10,281 while the aggregate

Union loss was 16,030. And thus another inglorious chapter was added to the history of the Union arms. We have neither space nor heart to dilate upon the want of Generalship that allowed 70,000 Confederates to outmaneuver and rout 120,000 Union men. There was not an hour from the beginning of this movement to its close, when victory was not within the grasp of the Union commander, but sad to say, it was frittered away completely by an inexcusable imbecility. Oh, for a leader for the Army for the Potomac !

On May 9th, General Wadsworth, in general orders, commended the recent gallantry of the Iron Brigade, as follows:

The General commanding deems it proper to express his thanks to Colonel Morrow, (Twenty-fourth Michigan), and Colonel Bragg, (Sixth Wisconsin), and the gallant men under their command, for the heroic manner in which they crossed the Rappahannock and seized the heights on the opposite shore, on the 29th of April, and to the whole of the Brigade for the promptness with which they followed, on this daring enterprise.

Commenting on which the Detroit Tribune said:

We had faith in the Twenty-fourth before they left us; but now, what Detroiter does not feel his bosom heave with pride as he reads the history of their heroism and the acknowledgment of their services from the Commanding General. Those who have known General Wadsworth, will describe him as a man of great deliberation and very few words, from whom a line of praise is more valuable than volumes from others.

CHAPTER VIII.

FROM CHANCELLORSVILLE TO

GETTYSBURG,

E

ARLY

CAMP WAY-THE FITZHUGH ESTATE.

on the morning of May 7, the wearied men continued their march through Falmouth to within a mileand a half of White Oak church, and encamped on a rising knoll in an old orchard on the Fitzhugh estate, near the crossing of that name. It was a most beautiful spot, well supplied with wood and water, and by far the pleasantest camping ground of the regiment yet. It was named "Camp Way," after our Chaplain.

The ten days of marching and fighting and retreating had made camp life, with its routine, welcome. Company streets were laid out, graded and ornamented with evergreens from the groves, forming fine walks and arbors. And here the men gathered about the camp-fires and related hair-breadth escapes from lips eloquent with patriotic inspiration. The regiment had added new laurels to its history. Its worn and tattered flag was first across at Port Royal and at Fitzhugh. Crossing, and will be borne in the van while a shred of it remains.

This Fitzhugh estate once belonged to the Washington family, and was the scene of the youthful George's experiment with his hatchet upon the cherry tree, which historical incident gave the old house, the orchard, and broad inter-vale for more than a mile from the wood-crowned bluff of the Rappahannock, an additional interest. The buildings were now untenanted and dilapidated, and the once magnificent garden in ruins. It was near the crossing where Washington, when a young man, is related to have thrown a stone. across the Rappahannock, a feat, like his inability to tell a lie, considered sufficiently marvelous for historical record of the great man; but when several members of the Twenty-fourth Michigan easily performed the same feat, they believed that the youthful. George's ability to tell the truth and perform this stone throwing act was not at all remarkable.

CHUCK-OR-LUCK-FRIENDLY PICKETS, ETC.

On Sunday, May 10, the Chaplains of the Iron Brigade were endeavoring to re-establish religious services, but they met with a counter-attraction, as the following facetious request of Colonel Robinson of the Seventh Wisconsin to the Assistant Adjutant of the Iron Brigade will show:

Sir-There is a large crowd of soldiers in the grove below, engaged in the interesting game called "Chuck-or-Luck." My chaplain is running his church on the other side of me, but "Chuck-or-Luck" has the largest crowd. I think this unfair, as the church runs only once a week, but the game goes on daily. I suggest that one or the other of the parties be dispersed.

This game which had such a fascination among the soldiers, was a diminutive system of gambling, the elements of which too often are found in methods adopted by churches and Sunday schools for raising money by raffles and chance. This game was played with dice or small blocks in imitation. Sometimes it was played on a board; often on a rubber blanket or the hard ground. Six sections were spaced off, each numbered in order. Two soldiers would play the game, one representing the "banker" and the other the venturer. The latter would choose one or two of the numbers and place

a piece of money on each, which were covered by the "banker" with an equal amount. If the dice thrown gave the number or numbers chosen, then the player won and the "banker" lost. If the dice failed to turn up the numbers chosen, then the "banker" took all the money. The chances were about five to one in favor of the latter. Soon after pay-day this game had a great run, and many a poor fellow's two month's pay was gone in this manner.

This game was sometimes called the "sweat board," but there were other games by night in some tents of officers of the army where decks of "sweat boards" were used for much larger amounts at stake. Early in its service, Colonel Morrow issued stringent orders against the practice of gaming for money within the regiment.

On May 13th, our ambulances crossed the river for the wounded left behind in the recent battle. The enemy was full of exultation and confidence. That night the Twenty-fourth was sent out on picket for forty-eight hours, along the Rappahannock. The enemy's pickets were very friendly and conversation was continually had with them. It was a frequent occurrence to see the opposing pickets swim to the middle of the stream and exchange coffee and tobacco. They had only rye coffee and no sugar, while eggs were $3.50 a dozen in their currency. The enemy seemed to be very active across the river all day on the 14th, and that night the men were aroused twice from their slumbers, amid a terrible thunder shower.

Returning from picket duty at noon of the 15th, they were regaled in the afternoon with speeches from Senators Chandler of Michigan and Wade of Ohio, who were on the committee on the Conduct of the War, and were doubtless looking up the causes of our recent disaster.

For two weeks after its return from the bloody field the Twenty-fourth enjoyed the repose of its pleasant camp amid green fields, fine groves and stately oak forests. An abandoned yoke of oxen were brought into camp and used to haul the fuel and water for the Twenty-fourth. They were general favorites, as they saved the men some hard lugging of those necessary articles. A few weeks later, when the army started North, they were killed for beef.

The rest for the Twenty-fourth was of brief duration. Soon after midnight on Thursday, the 21st, it was roused up and ordered to march at daylight, with three days' cooked rations. To and fro the men hurried, filling canteens and haversacks, wondering, and asking each other, "What's up now?"