Description

Starting on June 1 in the camp "at Meadow Bluffs" (probably Deitz Farm) Sackman brags that the rains and hail don't wet the "bunk" he and his "pardners" built, and Captain Newkirk asks them to build one like it for him. On the 6th a wagon train with provisions and clothing arrives. The cavalry rides to Blue Sulphur Springs on the 10th, where they have "a little fight" and take prisoners. On the 12th the cavalry goes out to retrieve cattle from Lewisburg but are attacked, and Sackman's company goes out as reinforcements but the Confederate forces have disappeared. "Seces" (secessionists) come to the camp to surrender and continue to do so. Men from each company go "foraging" and are successful on the 19th, and on the 20th another 35 Confederate soldiers surrender, with more on the 21st, when men from the 36th Infantry leave. On the 22nd the 44th (Sackman's regiment) goes on their Expedition to Salt Sulphur Springs. On their way to Union they meet Confederate troops, and Sackman describes the fray and its aftermath in the retreat of General Heth ("Heath") and the 44th's seizure of provisions at Union. The diary ends on the 25th with their return to camp.