In the morning, Chamberlain wanders through camp, judging his men's readiness and generally lost in thought. He remembers dreaming of his wife, of her coming to him in her scarlet robe. "Away from her you loved her more. The only need was her." He recalls her misspelling of the word "dreamyly" in her letters.
While encamped, Chamberlain's men encounter some Southern prisoners as well as an escaped black slave. Tom Chamberlain talks with Southern prisoners and is confused to find out they aren't fighting for slavery.
The slave is wounded, shot by one of the local women in Gettysburg when he asked her for directions. Chamberlain and his men react to the black man with a mix of curiosity, strangeness, and revulsion, which is ironic given that they're fighting to free men like him. They fix him up and are surprised that he looks the same inside as a white man.
The slave cannot speak much English, but they determine he is thanking them and asking to go home, now that he is free. Since they don't know how to send him home, they bind him up, give him food, and leave him behind as they have been ordered to move out. They will see no action this morning, but are being held in reserve.
