16         
               A  letter from  Gay �
our friends, but did not accompany them,
the rain being tremendous, long streams of
water descending as from a shower-bath,
the earth a sea of soft mud.  So we let our
hosts depart and napped again till 7.  The
orderly then got us breakfast and we sat
or lay under canvas anticipating a heavy
fight ahead and listening to the rain.  By 11 the
day began to clear, when I wrote a letter
to Hannah and scored up diary which had
got in arrear, then went into the wood to
my mule and begged some hay for him �
saddling him, I mounted and with Hall
trudging by my side sought the Richmond
road and McClellan�s headquarters.
The roads in a horrible condition after
the rain of course, and poor Hall mise-
rable.  At the post office we found letters,
two for me, more for Hall.  One of mine
was from Gay, dated on the 19th and
suggesting that I should go to Fredericks-
burg to take the place of a correspondent
who had just left there, where I might
live under a roof and recruit a little.
As I felt better than when I had solicited
a release, and the date of the letter was
eight days back, I resolved to remain