midnight
Somebody answered : `` Escort Squad of Rankin 's Lancers , 1st United States . Our regiment is in Detroit , Miss , and thank God we 're going back there . '' And they rode on toward Washington , singing their monotonous `` Do They Miss Me at Home '' song , till she lost them against the darkness of the distant woods , and dropped back to her bed of shawls and blankets once more . After midnight she slept , and it was only the noise the driver made pulling the canvas cover of the frame above her that awakened her , and she sat up , half frozen , in a fine fog that became a drizzle soon after the cover was up . `` The sunny South , '' observed the driver in disgust . `` Yesterday the thermometer stood at 105 in Washington , and now look at this here weather , lady . '' Day broke , bitter cold ; it was raining heavily ; but soon after sunrise the rain slackened , the fog grew thinner , and the air warmer .