I left St.Louis, after a few days' rest, for the new scene of action.
Cairo lay in my route.

I found it greatly changed from the Cairo of the previous autumn.

Six months before, it had been the rendezvous of the forces watching the Lower Mississippi.

The basin in which the town stood, was a vast military encampment.

Officers of all rank thronged the hotels, and made themselves as comfortable as men could be in Cairo.