Daylight came, however, on the memorable 20th of September, and no attack had been made.  The first thought, naturally, after apprehension of an early attack had gone, was to appease hunger and thirst.  But there was little in the haversacks, and nothing in the canteens.  Details of men were sent for water, and never returned.  The enemy had possession of the springs we had used the day before, and our details walked unconsciously into his hands.  There was not a drop of water on the whole field, and men and officers resigned themselves to the torments of thirst, a thousand times worse than the gnawings of hunger.  But with daylight we could at least get some idea of our position.  In front was a dense forest, in which nothing was to be seen except our own skirmishers a few yards in advance.  Just behind us was an oblong open field, three hundred yards wide and thrice as long.  On the other side of this field ran the Rossville road.  Beyond our division, to the left, was Johnson’s, and then Baird’s division, the latter forming the extreme left of the army, and extending off into the woods beyond the lower end of the open field.  To our right—­though this we could not see, the line being in a dense forest—­was the division of Reynolds; beyond him was Brannan, and then came Wood; and so on to the right of the army, in what further order we did not know.  It was evident that the line had been hastily formed:  the divisions had been placed just as they were picked up in the confusion of the night.  No corps was together in the line, but it was made up of a division from one corps, then a division from another, and then one from a third corps, and so on.  Thus it happened that the four divisions on the left of the line had with them no corps commander.

In the idle hour after daylight our brigade commander directed the construction of a barricade of rails and logs, a little more than knee-high, along the front of his command.  Some of the troops on the left and the right followed the example.  The supposition was that the game would be changed this day, and that we should stand for attack as the enemy had done the day before.  There was no little satisfaction in thinking that Bragg’s men would have a chance to walk up to a fire at least as murderous as we had faced when attacking them.  If the haversacks were empty and the canteens had gone for water never to return, the cartridge-boxes were full, and each man had about him an extra package or two of cartridges.

The morning wore slowly away, and on our part of the line everything was remarkably quiet.  There was some skirmishing toward the right between eight and nine o’clock, but evidently nothing serious.  The barricade was finished, and there was nothing to do but to lie behind it and wish for water as the day grew warmer and thirst became more intense.—­But what is that?