midnight
As our exhausted men came straggling and staggering in , these hospitable Vermonters gave them their entire ration of bread and the hot coffee prepared for their own meal ; and when the ambulances brought in the men who had been sun-struck , these generous fellows turned their camp into a temporary hospital and themselves into nurses . `` I will now give you a glimpse of a different experience . Towards evening on the 19th a rain-storm began , and continued all night . No orders to halt came till after midnight . On we splashed , waded , and floundered along roads cut up by troops in advance until the mud in many places reached the depth of ten inches . It was intensely dark , and we could not see to pick our way . Splashed from head to foot , and wet through for hours , we had then one of the most dismal experiences I remember .