March 21, 1863

Today we hear the cannons roar all day long. A part of our picket guards were chased in, and the guards are very restless along the whole line.

The last three days there have been small skirmishes two miles from our camp by small groups of soldiers, mostly by one hundred, and sometimes up to two thousand men. Probably rear fighting will soon start, we have been ready all day and have been walking around with our bags ready to go, but no command yet, but now it is six o’clock in the evening and the roar of the cannons have stopped.

In the morning at seven o’clock the mail goes out.