Note 64 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The following extract from a private letter of an artillery officer, describing the state of the roads, will give some notion of the danger of this ride:—
"Mynpooree, December 29th.
"Since the 20th of October, no letters have passed this road. The 'Kossids,' whose trade it is to carry letters through an enemy's country, would not and could not do it, and no wonder. At one place we saw a poor brute who had gone from us with a letter to the Chief, and had been caught by the rebels. He was hanging by the heels, had his nose cut off, had been made a target of, and roasted alive.
"Pleasant fellows, these rebels, and worthy of all consideration."