American Experience

GAYLE ROSS

No one could have predicted that one of the hardest winters in memory would strike that year. When they reached the Mississippi River, the river was frozen. There were three different detachments trapped between the Mississippi and another river frozen behind them. And there they sat for weeks in deep, deep snow and ice. As long as they were moving maybe it wasn't so bad. But when you actually had to wait for the ice and sit there and maybe you're sleeping on snow but you're probably sleeping on melted mud and you're sick, your baby's sick, your grandmother's sick and there's nothing you can do about it.