The march resumed this morning. Soon the soldiers of the 13th Army Corps passed over the battle ground of Champion Hills where many of the regiments suffered heavy casualties just seven weeks earlier. They saw evidence of the May 16th battle from a perspective they could not see during the conflict.
While the 130th Illinois Infantry was not heavily involved in the Champion Hills battle, they surely felt the solemn mood of today's march. All around was evidence of the fierce conflict. Every tree, log and bush was scarred and torn up by the battle.
Many of the soldiers in the other regiments had friends and companions whose graves they searched fior to pay their last respects. All was quiet. The graves were arranged along the summit of the hill.
The battlefield was soaked with the blood of both armies. The Confederates lost nearly 6,000 in killed, wounded and missing. The Union loss was 429 killed, 1,842 wounded and 189 missing.
Tonight the regiments in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Army Corps formed lines of battle, expecting an engagement in the morning, as the enemy was only a short distance in front of them. The line occupied by the Seventy-Seventh, was in a cornfield. The corn was in good roasting condition, and it was not long before the soldiers were enjoying their meal.
They then cut the corn stalks off at the roots and laid the stalks lengthwise in the furrows. It made a comfortable bed until the skies let loose with a downpour in the middle of the night. The boys of the 77th awoke to find the high water-mark about half-way up their sides. They pulled their bed and bedding out of the furrow and laid them on the corn row ridges where they tried to sleep for the rest of the night.
