Flat Top Mountain, May 23, 1862. Friday. – Warm and dry; getting dusty!! Mr. French lies here wounded – his thigh bone shattered by a ball that passed clear through his leg. Dr. McCurdy thinks he will not survive more than three or four weeks. . . . Our regiment elected him chaplain a week or two ago to date from the day of battle, May 1, 1862. I hope the Governor will commission [him] promptly. . . .
The Commercial is reported as saying that people may “act as if they had heard some very good news” from General Halleck’s army.
It is dusty!! A cold wind blowing. The plan of going to Packs Ferry and crossing New River, uniting with Colonel Crook, and thence through Union to Christiansburg, is not yet fixed upon.