1862 July 7 Canp near Flat Top Mountain, Va.

[from the diary of Charles Hay of the 23rd Ohio]


  Jumping Branch, Va., July 7th.
     Having thought a visit to Pack’s Ferry,
where four companies of the 23rd are stationed,
might be of advantage, I started this morning
in an ambulance, and reached this place
this evening, traveling today about twenty miles
over roads that might be better, and the
sun beating down unmercifully.  I am staying
with a Mr. Upton, an old Union citizen who
has resided here a number of years.  This
Jumping Branch is the same place that
witnessed such a grand ‘skedaddle’ of ‘secesh’
last February, at the approach of a
greatly inferior force of our men.  This
subject is mentioned on Page 31 of this book,
and I will not enter into a repetition.
     The residents here who occupy the houses
spared by our troops when the town was
burned, aver that not less than 600 of
those four to five Southerners fled from
here when a trifle over 200 of those
same despised Yankees made their appearance.
So much for boasting.

MSS 13925