John has moved forward and mentions the recent battle of Carrion Crow Bayou. He says that their brigade had 1000.46 fit for duty before the battle but they came out with little over 400. He says that the battle was fierce and he thought that the end had arrived. John goes on to say that he wasn't ready to give himself up to the rebels and that someone up there was looking after him. He names some of the men injured or killed.

John has bought a pair of boots and two bottles of 'biters', both costing four dollars. He says that he had to buy lots of things to purify the blood after drinking dirty water for so long. He says that his health is superb at the moment.