Chamberlain notes that the 1st Minnesota had worse casualties than his own group. He reflects that during a fight your own experience always seems the worst, but to remember that others often have it worse. Chamberlain is able to objectively look at himself, notice his own flaws and pettiness, and make changes.
Chamberlain and his men are confronted with the smells of coffee, cooking chicken, and rotting dead horses. Ordinarily, the last one would kill a person's interest in the first two. But war has a way of bringing things down to raw basics. After so many hours of no food, no water, and so much exhaustion, Chamberlain and his men search for food despite the smell of dead horses.
The word dreamyly has shown up repeatedly throughout the book. It is a reference to Chamberlain's wife and her misspelling of that word in her letters. He thinks of the word time and again, and it is his connection to her in the middle of horror and chaos.
Chamberlain notes General Gibbon at headquarters and remembers the man has brothers serving on the other side. He wonders how many are out there today facing them. He reflects on using his own brother to fill a hole in the line — a correct command move — but "Some things a man cannot be asked to do. Killing of brothers." He realizes the whole war is about killing brothers, and he decides that will not happen in his family. Tom has to go, but Chamberlain will tell him at the right time.
