"
They came in a few days to the great camp on the Tennessee. Spring
was now breaking through the crust of winter. Touches of green were
appearing on the forests and in the fields. Now and then the wonderful
pungent odor of the wilderness came to them and life seemed to have
taken on new zest. They were but boys in years, and the terrible scenes
of Donelson could not linger with them long.
They found Colonel Newcomb and the little detachment of Pennsylvanians
with Grant, and Colonel Winchester, resuming command of his regiment,
camped by their side, delighted to be with old friends again. Colonel
Winchester had lost a portion of his regiment, but there were excuses.
It had happened in a country well known to the enemy and but little
known to him, and he had been attacked in overwhelming force by the
rough-riding Forrest, who was long to be a terror to the Union
divisions. But he had achieved the task on which he had been sent,
and he was thanked by his commander.
Dick, as he went on many errands or walked about in the course of his
leisure hours with his friends, watched with interest the growth of a
great army. There were more men here upon the banks of the Tennessee
than he had seen at Bull Run. They were gathered full forty thousand
strong, and General Buell's army also, he learned, had been put under
command of General Grant and was advancing from Nashville to join him.
Dick also observed with extreme interest the ground upon which they were
encamped and the country surrounding it.
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