very bad," she said, "that is about all. We tried to minister to one poor fellow this morning. In giving him a bath we scraped quantities of maggots from under his arms and other parts of his body. They are very, very bad." "Sister," I persisted, "if they had some money would it be of any help to them?" "Yes, it would. They could not get with it what you would think they should, but they could get something and that would be a help to them." "Will you be going there again soon?" I asked. "Yes, we will go there every few days," she replied. "Could I ask you to take some money to one of my men?" "I would be pleased to do so," she said. "Is he a non-commissioned officer?" "Yes, a sergeant," I replied. "I will be here awhile longer," she said. "Write him a letter, tell him how much you send and what he is to do with it, put the money in the letter and seal it. On the envelope write his name in full, rank, company, regiment, brigade, corps, etc., your name, your lieutenant's name, your colonel's name and the commander of the brigade and corps—in fact write the envelope all over and I will try to find him." I did not ask any more questions, but thought her directions strange. I went and did as she told me to do and gave her the letter. A few days later I saw some sisters in the building, and going to them saw her to whom I had given my letter a few days before, and spoke to her. "Yes, captain," she said, "I was going to look you up. We just came from the race course. I feel quite sure I found your man and gave him your letter. While you did as I told you, wrote the envelope all over, you did not put too much on it." "How was that, sister?" I asked. "Well, when we got there inside the race course, they all came around us, hoping we would do something for them," she said. "I asked for Mr. Jones. Nearly all the men there were named Jones. I did not tell them any more, but began asking questions. A few less were George Jones, a few less George Washington Jones, a few less were sergeants and in Company 'E,' and in the Eighty-fifth New York, etc., until I got down to one man and am quite sure he was the right one." I thanked her and told her how greatly I was obliged to her, and said: "Sister, I certainly have no reason to doubt what you say, but cannot understand it." "How so?" she asked. "I know those men thoroughly," I said, "and know them not only to be good soldiers, but truly honest, truthful, upright, manly men." "That's all right, captain," she said, "but as I told you before, you have not suffered and passed through what they have. I believe that if you or I had been through with what they have we would not be one whit different from what they are and in my heart I cannot blame them." I said: "All right, sister, I am fully assured that you are a noble, genuine, upright Christian lady."

She found the right man. While the sergeant did not live to get to his home, his brother and some of the others did, and told me that he got the letter and the money and that it was a great help.

We remained in Charleston until the yellow fever was so bad that it was difficult to keep a guard to guard us, as they were on duty most of the time and were more exposed to the hot sunshine and yellow fever than we were. In the latter part of September we were moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to higher ground and supposed to be exempt from the fever. Arriving there in the afternoon we remained one night in the city near the station. The next day we were moved across the Saluda river and camped on an open field. The second day we were there we noticed the assembling of quite a force of colored men at a house not far away and we suspected that it might mean the building of a stockade around us. Some one said: "If we are going to try to get away from here it would be well to do so before we are fenced in." I said: "We have a large moon now, which makes it very light at night. This morning it set at about 2:30, tomorrow morning it will be an hour later, hence we must plan to get away tomorrow morning after the moon has gone down."

After talking it over, two of my friends, Captain Aldrich and Lieutenant Tewilliger, both of the Eighty-fifth, and myself, decided we would make an effort to escape. We each got a blanket and a little food and waited. In the afternoon one of my lieutenants said to me: "Are you going to make a break tonight?" "I am thinking of trying," I replied. "Don't you think you are taking a great risk?" he asked. "Yes," I replied, "but is it not a greater one to remain here?" "That may be true," he answered. I concluded that he thought so too, for later he made his escape but was recaptured.

We, of course, looked the ground over carefully. Three sides of our camp were clear fields, the other was near the woods, but at the edge of the woods was a high tree fence, which we could not get through without making a noise which would attract the attention of the guards. Near one corner was a vacant schoolhouse, which was used by the reserve guard. A little distance from this schoolhouse and near the guard line was quite a knoll. We decided that would do, that if we could get over the knoll we would be out of sight. In the latter part of the night we went in that direction and as near the guard line as we thought it prudent and sat down under a small tree. While there two other comrades, Captain Starr and Lieutenant Hastings, both from New York state, came along, looked us over and inquired what we were waiting for. They also sat down.

It was much cooler than at Charleston, so much so that the guards built fires on the guard line. The guards were changed at 3 o'clock. The man whose place was on the beat which we wished to cross did his duty faithfully. There had been a fire at one end of his beat, but it did not entice him. He was walking his beat steadily.

As the moon was nearing the horizon, one of the comrades said: "If you start when that man is near this end of the beat as you are crossing the guard line he will be at the other end of his beat, he will have turned around and will see you for there is a fire on both sides." We said: "Yes, but we think we will try it. We will go abreast so if he shoots he must fire through one before he hits the next." When the moon was well down and the guard neared our end of his beat, we started, going carefully. We were crossing his beat when he arrived at the other end, he did what he had not done before, he stopped with his back towards us, took his gun from his shoulder, stooped over and began to look after the fire. We thought then, as we did several other times, that we were favored by our Heavenly Father.

We went over the knoll and stopped to get our bearings. Soon I saw two men coming over the knoll, and said: "Boys, they are coming for us; we will not run." But as they got near us we saw that it was Captain Starr and Lieutenant Hastings. When they saw the guard stop with his back toward us they of course came, so we were five instead of three. We worked our way through to the woods, got a quiet place and stayed there through the day where we could hear the calls at the camp. That morning I cut a hickory walking stick, which I used on the trip, and have it yet.

It was fortunate for us that Lieutenant Hastings joined us. He had escaped once and had been captured by a posse with dogs, had changed his clothing and now wore a Confederate uniform, which we thought would permit him to pass for a Confederate. He was a bright young attorney and after the close of the war was attorney general for the state of New York.

After dark we started. We took a northwesterly course, being guided by the north star, and kept in the woods. About 10 o'clock we heard dogs, and said: "Hastings, what