. . The rest at Culpeper, as was remarked in my last letter, was of great service to the troops and animals of the army.  The men not only had time to rest their weary limbs and sore feet, but to wash and repair their tattered garments, and to receive partial supplies of new shoes and clothing.  More time is necessary to restore thirty or forty thousand horses employed in the service of the army to the condition in which they were when they started from Fredericksburg.  From the 1st of July until our return to Culpeper, their work was very heavy and the supply of forage scant.  The cavalry horses were on duty all the time,
and those in the artillery service, whose work is hardest of all, suffered no little.  There is but little opportunity to water or feed
the latter during a battle, whether it last for one day or for three days, as at Gettysburg.  When the army is in line of battle and in the immediate presence of the enemy they sometimes stand for a week, day and night, in the dew, the rain and the sunshine, with their heavy harness on, and with but little water or feed.  And on a march, the only time when the horses can be watered is early in the morning or when they stop at night, unless there be what is known as a noonday halt, which is long or short according to the exigencies of the service.  It is customary to march an hour, and then rest ten minutes, but it is impossible to find shade sufficient on the road for an entire corps or division, and hence the horses, and sometimes the men, have to stand and swelter in the hot sun during those brief intervals of rest.  If the drivers were to stop to let their horses drink when they cross a stream on a march, it would delay the rear of a single corps nearly a half of a day.  The simple stepping over a log laying across the road, will throw the rear of a column of infantry or cavalry farther behind than one who has never marched with an army would suppose.

    Horses suffer as much from want of shoes as men, especially on the turn pikes and rough, rocky roads in Virginia and north of the Potomac.  It is almost impossible for them to travel on such roads without shoes, and when they are forced to do so, as they frequently are, they suffer severely.  It is not easy to replace shoes on a march, though the army is provided with a number of farriers and portable forges and a supply of ready made shoes and nails.  I have found it necessary myself to rise at day break and tug away at the bellows of a village blacksmith shop for three weary hours, in order to have a shoe replaced which my horse lost the day before.

    Jomini lays down the following maxim:  "The two great problems of warfare are, perhaps, how to find a harness that will not hurt a horse's back, and shoes that can be used by the men without causing sore feet."  He adds the following advice:  "Horseman, give all thy care to the putting on of the bridle and saddle; always keep on hand four spare horse shoes, with as many nails as are necessary to fix them on and have more besides.  Foot soldiers, look for shoes that will fit you easy."

    Having in a previous letter spoken of shoes for the men, I need only add now that they should be made of the best leather to be had, and they should be roomy, have wide substantial bottoms, and fit snugly around the ankles.  Their clothing should also be roomy.  Close-fitting garments not only chafe the wearer on a march, but they soon wear out.  In regard to horses in the army, there is nothing from which they suffer more than harness and saddles that do not fit them.  They are frequently wounded in battle, and seldom have sufficient forage; the service required of them is the hardest to which they can be put, and the drivers are often unfeeling wretches who take but little thought of their condition.  But when to all these ills which horse-flesh is heir to, is added saddles and harness improperly constructed, and bare feet on flinty turnpikes, it will be perceived that the animals in the army have a hard time of it.  There are probably 20,000 horses here to-day which have sore backs and shoulders such as a man at home never saw.  In a majority of cases, neither the collars, nor the hames and saddletrees fit well.  The wood of the latter is not properly seasoned and will spread and let the whole weight of the rider down on the fleshless backbone of the horse, while the collars and harness are for the most part manufactured out of leather not properly cured, and soon cease to fit the animal that has to carry them.

    The horse is the noblest animal subjected to the domination of man.  He has rendered most valuable services in this war, and has to a considerable extent supplied the want of water and railway transportation.  I raise my voice then in behalf of these willing, noble creatures, and bespeak for them better treatment in the future.  The service in which they are employed is necessarily severe, and they have their camp diseases like the men; but their condition might be greatly improved by the exercise of a little forethought in regard to forage and shoes, in the manufacture of the harness, and in the preparation of the wood used in the hames and saddle trees.  It is not an unusual thing to see these hard workers standing on the roadside, too lame to proceed, or with backs and shoulders which render them unfit for further duty.  They gaze at you wistfully as you pass along, and seem to beg for assistance.  But they cannot travel, and are left behind to perish.  The charger whose glories are reflected from many a battle field, and the artillery horse which has stood faithfully to his place amidst bursting shells and hustling cannon balls, are wounded or worn down in the service, and left to share the same inglorious end.  What would you not give to have one of these disabled creatures at your home where you might nurse him and care for him, and restore him to health!  The parting between the rider and his charger is often painful and touching, and I have known the latter to remain behind with his faithful animal for many days, though environed with dangers, and all to save the friend who had borne him so often through the battle unscathed.  "Take my horse home to my wife, my mother, or my aged father," is the last request of the dying warrior.  P.W.A.