once-mighty Army of Tennessee practically ceased to exist, playing no appreciable role during the rest of the Civil War. Battery E went into garrison duty at Nashville, where their meat rations were reduced by the Army to "3/4 of a pound [per man] per day, also 3/4 ration of beans, coffee, sugar ... All the salt meat our detachment of 19 [men] drew for five days is 14 pounds and a little beef that no one but a soldier or a dog would think of eating ... This comprises our only food, except that now and then we draw onions, sour, heart, pickles, and potatoes in small quantities from [the] sanitary commission." One seven-by-eight foot wedge tent was provided for every three to four men in the battery; these were raised four feet off the ground on wooden platforms constructed by the troops, who then "embellished" them to suit the tastes of the occupants. Bunks and a fireplace were erected inside, and the floor covered with sawdust. The battery redeployed to Chattanooga on 21 February 1865, "after a 24-hour ride over the roughest RR in the U.S." Rice reports that the train derailed at some point during its journey, but since it was only moving at ten miles-per-hour nobody was hurt. Muster out The battery's initial enlistments expired December 19, 1864, but these veterans were not mustered out of service until December 24, 1864, at Louisville, Kentucky. New recruits were brought into replace those who had been discharged; these continued to serve until July 15, 1865, when they were discharged near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Total strength and casualties The battery lost 5 enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds and 25 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 30 fatalities. Anecdotes Camp followers Private James Bolton Rice, whose letters home to his wife provide a vivid description of life and action in Battery E from 1862 to 1865, gives a picture of the seedier side of life in a Federal army camp during mid-1862: Rice followed this statement up with his own assurance of loyalty to his wife, telling her that this sight "disgust[s] me more than anything I see in the Army." On the march In a letter dated January 22, 1863, Rice describes what it was like to be on the march, on half-rations in the Federal army: Needless to