The day was very warm. We took down our tents & packed, “waiting for the wagon” when about 9 o’clock the wagon master came, and told us he had orders from Quarter master Hall not to haul any more over the road until it was repaired, and that he would furnish transportation to the river, and on the other side of the river. If my tents hadn’t been down I wouldn’t have budged - we asked "what then - is there a boat”, well his instructions didn’t go any further. Some peoples was mad, and an indefinite amount of hard swearing done. We expected this from Hall, but yet we couldn’t restrain our indignation. Our Quartermaster starts off with the wagon-master to see about a boat. Directly the teams came, & we of course thought there was a boat - loaded up - Beaver went with the teams - I started with the company by the road. It must be 5 miles - we crossed the Trent by the Bridge, part of which we knocked down when we went through the draw with the Vidette, and up the left Bank of the Trent. Within a mile or perhaps less, a deep creek joins the Trent, then runs along it up, with perhaps 500 yards of land between, covered with grass like Timothy, then makes a bend like a horseshoe & comes back again – across the neck it is but a few hundred yards, but the peninsula contains several hundred acres – on the peninsula is our camp: covered with grass & shaded with pines - the banks covered with luxuriant foliage of pines and trees & flowers
[drawing of camp on river]The stately cypress, made venerable by the gray-beards of Spanish moss – The creek is very deep. Oh it is a lovely place. But we waited long and wearily. The others have their tents pitched, and our prospect seemed to be to roost on the trees or spread on the grass. Just at dusk and we saw a big flat come floating up. Polled with long poles – we had a great time unloading – everybody cross – sharpers looking out for boards - men quarreling over their piles – for boards are considered the luxuries of the camp. The tents were hastily pitched in the dark, & we all took a good sleep.