West describes a forced march to the Blackwater River undertaken by four companies of the 130th New York, 3-4 October 1862; declines to condemn Stilson for her newfound abolitionism: "You may be an Abolitionist but you are ma petite Abolitioniste . . . . You may be an apostate, political or otherwise, but in your apostacy you write letters, long ones and good ones, to me and your thoughts are kindred with mine, though their flowers and petals may have a different hue and shape." In reply to her query, describes for Stilson the bugle or drum calls sounded in camp.