to right centre. On the 14th, the Orderly with a volunteer squad beautified the Company street, planting out little pines, etc.

On the 20th day of May, '63, Wm. A. Ruffner was discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability. And on the 21st K suffered the loss of Corporal W. L. Pry. The accidental wound had been followed by the amputation of the hand, and from some cause or other, it was deemed necessary to make another amputation. This time the whole arm. But the shock and loss of blood were too much. At 2:30 p.m. he died. Arrangements were made to embalm the body and ship it to Cross Creek, Pa., for interment. Serg't B. F. Powelson was given a three days' pass to accompany the remains as far as Washington, D.C. D. McC. Pry was promoted Corporal to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his uncle.

George Morrow, in the hospital at Washington, D.C., was reported as discharged on May 23rd, '63, on surgeon's certificate of disability. But a few days afterward there came the sad news of his death in the hospital. Thus seven of our number had already succumbed to death through sickness, and one from a wound.

To relieve the severities of soldier life friends at home had sent many extras in food and delicacies to the members of the Company and Regiment in camp.

The recollections of the closing days of May and the early days of June, too, to us are very vivid: the rigid drilling, the rumors of movements, and of Lee's army heading northward, the breaking up of camp streets with accumulated beans, rice, etc., that the same might not fall in the enemy's hands. And now we number ourselves for campaign and conflict.

On our roll are now but 79 names. Exclusive of those on detached or special duty and the sick, only about 55 or 56 were ready for the line.

When on June 14th the army started north, Co. K bore up bravely in marching through dust and heat, and now and then wading streams. How vivid our recollections of that awful dust—when in evening coming down to the valley of the Occoquan and before wading it, it rested on our knapsacks (according to Serg't Shindle's measurement) a quarter of an inch deep! Blistered feet! The waters of the Occoquan soothed them. Nor do we forget that big spring near Fairfax Station, like the water from the rock smitten by Moses, a source of delight to thousands for several days. The boys, too, of K shared in the sights and soldier enjoyments at Centerville. Here on the 19th or 20th of June our Company positions were again changed in the Regiment. Now from C on the right stand C, F, G, D, K, I, B, H, E, A. K now is the color Company, the third position of honor, and this it held ever afterward.

While on duty a few days at Gainsville the boys of K improved their opportunities in securing some change in diet, and the First Sergeant tried his hand in trading coffee and sugar for some extras for the larder; and were Lieut. Cook and Smith Graham living they could testify to his success. The Sergeant's repeated efforts as well as successes in this, they say, were due to that fine looking "gal," Evelyn Harrison Marsteller, at the Marsteller Mansion.

From this on in all our movements we were kept in constant readiness for action, as the army was held between Washington City and the enemy, ever alert, picketing and skirmishing, marching regardless of rain or swollen streams, through sections devastated by the armies, over battlefields with their terrible sights. And boys of K, can you forget the night at Gum Tree Springs, when after that hard day's marching and watching, you bivouacked, and how it rained all night? Nevertheless it was a good sound sleep from ten or eleven till four in the morning, on a bed of two flat rails, (the "Orderly" was lucky to get such) one end on a stone or broken piece of rail and the other on a bank, the water streaming beneath, each one for himself, wrapped with his scant remnant of hard-tack and coffee, gun and ammunition, in a gum blanket or piece of tent, and the cap drawn down over the face. Never were sleep and rest sweeter! And the early hours found us pressing on towards the Potomac, over swollen streams. How timely those good rail fences on the heights, overlooking the river at Edward's Ferry. And how readily every one in K obeyed the order to take only the top rail, until the Company had its share of blazing fires to dry and warm us! Then that never-to-be-forgotten night when we crossed on the pontoon bridges. K's turn came after hours of waiting, and at 2 o'clock in the morning we found ourselves in "My Maryland." All were practically asleep on march or halt. Oh, those plagued stops or halts through all that weary night! Yes, you remember your Orderly Sergeant's mishap—how, in one of those miserable stops, he fell asleep, having dropped down by a bush on the roadside, a half mile or so from the river—no sooner down than asleep, and did not wake up by the usual call of comrades; and so two hours passed in that innocent sleep, and he got completely lost from the Regiment, and remained so (as everything was moving onward) till evening of second day, June 28th. Fortunately he found James Arthurs, of K, who drove the Regimental wagon. Not knowing anything better, he stayed by the stuff till Arthurs received orders to take much needed rations to the Regiment, which was found in bivouac, just south of Frederick City across the Monocacy. And the lost was found, and the "Orderly" was welcomed with profound rejoicings, no one knowing what had become of him, the last any one could remember aught of him was while crossing on the pontoons. And does any one with K on June 29th forget that march of 35 miles by the 2nd Corps to hill just northeast of Uniontown, Md.? We trow not. How we enjoyed the rest and the foraging (from fresh pastures) on the 30th, and Gen. Hancock's order of congratulation and thanks. Here Cummins and others from the hospitals joined us. And vivid, too, is each one's remembrance of the march of 30 miles we made on afternoon and night of July 1st, our Brigade being rear guard.

Of the 79 now on K's roll as we take our position on the battle line on the morning of July 2nd, 22 are absent—in hospital or absent sick—Silas Cooke, George Ralston, Peter Andrews, D. J. Butterfoss, J. W. Day, Jos. C. Frazier, George Hanlin, J. W. Nickeson, Wm. Stollar and Marshall Wright. On detached or detailed duty—John F. Gardner, James Arthurs, M. Daugherty, J. H. Fordyce, Ben McCullough, J. L. Noah, Ezra Conaway, Enoch Mounts, J. K. McCurdy, Robert McClurg, Nat. Seese and Jas. Worstell.

Each one participating in the fighting at Gettysburg is able to tell his story of that wonderful conflict. It was fought for the most part on open ground and much could be seen. But the average soldier's vision was confined largely to his immediate surroundings. Yet individual testimony goes far ofttimes to settle matters over which there arise differences in opinion. Co. K stayed well together until the hasty retreat, and its path seems clearly defined. So distinct were the impressions thereof on the memory of the writer that, on a visit to the battlefield in 1898, the only time I ever visited it, 35 years after the conflict, I could start in where we marched in and follow our route from start to finish. Could stand where we stood in line as we emerged from the strip of timber, and where Col. Roberts fell and our right wing suffered so heavily, and could see afresh our changed position to meet existing conditions. Since called to this work, I have resurrected from the old trunk the almost daily writings I kept during my term of service—the most of which I was able to save amid the vicissitudes of marches and battles. They strengthen and verify my recollections. And I will here submit an extract from my "Journal Notes," taken at the time, which gives my impressions of, and a glance at my experiences in that terrible vortex of battle in which we were on the evening of July 2, 1863.

"Gen. Hancock now sends his 1st Division to the relief of Sickles. It moves in with rapidity in fine order. The battle rages terribly. We pass