About noon, they forded the Potomac and entered Williamsport in a hard, driving rain. There the men stacked arms and built fires to dry their clothing, but there was little or nothing to eat.To warm his men, General Hood kindly ordered that each man be issued a gill (a quarter of a pint) of some captured whiskey. The non-drinkers shared their rations with their less temperate comrades, and, according to Texan John Stevens,
...inside of half an hour there was more drunk men in Williamsport than I think I ever saw in my life. ...some laughed, some cried, some hooped and yelled, some cussed and swore, others ripped and tore and called for gore. It kept the sober boys busy to keep the drunk ones from killing each other. Soon some fell by the wayside, helpless, and were dumped into wagons and ambulances, and hauled the balance of the day.
Just at this place the state of Maryland is only seven miles wide. On we move, and about 5 p.m. we reach the Pennsylvania line....We march a mile or two into Pennsylvania and stopped for the night near the city of Greencastle....Hood's division on that day performed a feat never performed by any troops during the war. We ate breakfast in Virginia, dinner in the state of Maryland, supper in the state of Pennsylvania and slept in the state of intoxication--four states in 24 hours....
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