Even from this the men would fill their cups and canteens, and drink with the utmost eagerness.

I saw a private soldier emerge from the crowd with a canteen full of this worse than ditch-water.

An officer tendered a five-dollar gold piece for the contents of the canteen, and found his offer indignantly refused.

To such a frenzy were men driven by thirst that they tore up handfuls of moist earth, and swallowed the few drops of water that could be pressed out.
In subsequent campaigns I witnessed many scenes of hunger and thirst, but none to equal those of that day at Dug Spring..