Joseph Price recounts his regiment's route from Huntsville, Alabama, through Knoxville, Tennessee, to the banks of the Holston River at Strawberry Plains, 16 miles north of Knoxville, where his regiment has been camped for seven days. He relays several stories heard in the camp: "one is that Jeff Davis has abdicated and Lee is Dictator[.] another is that Lee is coming this way having abandoned Richmond to the Kangaroos[.] it is also reported that Sheridan is whipped but it is not official[.]" Joseph also notes his regiment's long record of combat. He expects his term of service will end in September, per an order from the War Department. After providing Abraham—who requested an infantry coat—with the old and new prices for an array of infantry clothes, Joseph writes that "wages have not raised a cent[.]" He had heard Congress would make an effort to raise the wages of soldiers, but "I believe that thus far it has been of no avail the Negro engrosses their whole attention they have not time to attend to Soldiers[.]"