ABSTRACT
The division to which the Northshire volunteers belonged effected a junction with the Fifth Army Corps under General Sir George Fitzjames near Petersfield at six o’clock in the evening. There was a distribution of the unsavoury tinned meat and dry biscuits at which even the starving stomachs of the volunteers revolted. They washed the nauseous food down with cold water, grumbling all the time. The exhaustion caused by the long day’s march, the lack of properly prepared food, and the general discomfort had produced an indescribable irritation. Soon forty thousand men were scattered over the ground in groups and companies seething with irritation at the consequences of this universal lack of foresight and organisation and abusing the Government and commanding officers.
