"General Shackelford had a report of the advance on us of an army of
eighteen thousand and out of due precaution ordered us to fall back
eighteen miles, but this morning matters look as if we ran too soon
from an invisible enemy. It will not surprise me if we are ordered back
to our old camp at Jonesboro. It will suit me very well if we are,
for I may then have a chance to make my contemplated raid over the
mountains into North Carolina. I am anxious to get over there to see
the people. The trip would take us through the Blue Ridge."