“Some excitement among the souldiers,” Second Lieutenant Robert A. Moore of the 17th Regiment wrote in his diary on Thursday, Aug. 20, “caused by the resumption of a system of furloughing in the army & the drawing therefore.

“[Two] are to go home for every 100 present. G.N. Ford was drawn to go from our company [the Confederate Guards].”

Ford is not listed in H. Grady Howell, Jr.’s muster of the brigade.

It was a clear and warm day, according to Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill, who added that they were having unusually cool nights for August.

“The Regiment went on picket this morning,” Hill continued. “General McLaws reviewed the Brigade this evening.”