We arrived at Geneva at 1 o'clock and got on board three steamboats. Started down Seneca lake and arrived at the head of the lake at 6. We then took the cars at 8:30 for Elmira which is about 20 miles from the lake. We got there about 10. We left the cars and started for the barracks which was about two miles from the depot. Arrived at the barracks at 11:00 and spread our blankets and went to sleep. We stayed in Elmira until the next day. At 2 in the afternoon we started for Washington. We had to ride in cattle cars. They were cleaned out, seats put in with hemlock boards down the middle and sides. They were boarded up about 3 feet high on the sides leaving the rest open. At night we pulled up the middle seat and laid ourselves crosswise of the car and went to sleep but it was rather rough sleeping. We found ourselves in the middle of Pennsylvania when we woke up. The train was very slow besides having to wait on the side of the road for other trains to pass. Our train was not running on regular time. We had to stop at most every side cut and let a train pass. It was awful slow business. We waited at one place over 2 hours for a train. We did not get to Baltimore until 1 o'clock Thursday night. We got out of the cars and marched through the city about 2 miles to Washington Depot. We got a good breakfast or supper which ever you wish to call it because it was at 3 o'clock in the morning. The meals are furnished to every regiment that comes through by the union men of Baltimore. After we ate we got into some more cattle cars and stayed in them until 8 o'clock Friday. They say that they could not furnish any better cars because there were so many solders going on this road that it took every car they could furnish. We left Baltimore at 8 o'clock and arrived at Washington at 12 o'clock. We went to a big shed, stacked our guns, threw off our knapsacks and went to dinner. Our meal consisted of a slice of bread, a piece of salt pork and some coffee in a swill pail. We had no plate, knife or fork so we took our fingers to it. At about 5 pm we started for Virginia. We marched through the city, across the long bridge and passed up on Washington Heights near Fort Albany about 3 miles up the river. We got here after dark and marched out off the road a little to the top of a small knoll, stacked our guns, put on our overcoats and blankets. We put our knapsacks under our heads and went to sleep. We slept till morning. We didn't have any thing over us but our blankets.