[292]
When encamped on the banks of the Rapidan, and on the Rappahannock, often we could hear snatches of songs from the encampment or pickets of the Federal soldiers on the opposite side of the river, and our men, satisfied that there was no danger from the hands of the enemy, would sing from our side, and more than once the sweet tones of ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ were sung by the opposing men, and echoed and re-echoed from bank to bank. This rare, unequalled song of John Howard Payne always recalled the tenderest recollections, and sweetest memories, and banished every evil thought.
