Our headquarters boat, the Forest Queen, was not very comfortable, nor well provided, but General Sherman submitted cheerfully, on the grounds of duty, and thought Conway a fine fellow.

I was only able to concede that he was a good steamboat captain....
"Our camp appointments were Spartan in the extreme, and in their simplicity would have met the demands of any demagogue in the land.
The nights were cold and damp, and General Sherman uncomfortably active in his preparations, so that the assistant adjutant-general had no very luxurious post just then.

We were surrounded with sloughs.

The ground was wet, and the water, although in winter, was very unwholesome.

Many of our men, to this day, have reminders of the Yazoo in ague, fevers, and diseases of the bowels.