1862. Monday, May 12.

CHAPTER IV.

Hor day. Uniform coats were packed' and sent to Boston, except in those instances where they were thrown away. Once again our knapsacks had grown fat with camp life, and had to be trained down. The gossip of the camp said the orders were "On to Richmond." In spite of the explicit directions of yesterday, there was a good deal of confusion in camp, due to packing and sending superfluous baggage home.

We got away at last and marched to Elk Run, six miles, where we bivouacked. During the night General McDowell came through the picket line from Fredericksburg. He should have been cautioned, when approaching a picket line in the middle of the night, to respond to the guard's challenge with more promptness, and not wait until he heard the clicking of the sentinel's gun before he answered, particularly when he came from the outside, as he did on this particular night. On being ordered to halt by a picket-guard, one should obey mighty quick and answer the challenge without delay, otherwise he might be gathered to his fathers. The salvation of the camp often depends upon the wakefulness and quickness of the picket-guard. On this moonlight night, General McDowell, with a large retinue, halted quick enough, but his delay in giving the countersign might have cost the life of himself or one of his attendants. A general ought to know better.

About six o'clock we took up the line of march towThursday, ard Falmouth, halting late in the afternoon, after May 13. tramping eighteen miles. The heat, which was above one hundred degrees, with a bright sun and not a breath of wind, was so intense that both men and horses dropped to the ground overcome by it. On no march, before or after, were the men so terribly affected as on this occasion. For more than a dozen

1862.

miles, the road on either side was ornamented by the prostrate bodies of men who were unable to keep along. More than fifty cases of sunstroke in the brigade were reported, while only seventy-five of our regiment reached camp at the end of the march. After dark the balance of the regiment straggled into camp, so that by roll-call in the morning nearly all were present. One of the reasons given for making the march so long was the difficulty of finding water suitable and in sufficient quantities to supply the brigade. We were in no condition for marching, after more than a month of comparative idleness in a swamp where the physical condition of the men had become more or less affected by our malarial surroundings.

At 7 A.M., in rain and mud, we resumed our march Wednesday, through Falmouth, halting near General McDowell's May 14. headquarters, about eight miles from our starting point. Here we waited two hours in the rain before the regimental wagons arrived. In the meantime we settled the responsibility of yesterday's work by placing the blame on McDowell, notwithstanding the question of water was said to be the real cause of our lengthened march.

We had an evidence, to-day, of the Government's thoughtfulness, that came quite unexpectedly. As there was "balm in Gilead," so there appeared to be in Falmouth. Rations of whiskey had occasionally been issued to the guard on outpost duty in the morning after a hard night of exposure. The night the regiment bivouacked at Berryville, it will be remembered, was a very stormy night. When the outpost guard returned to camp in the morning, the boys were wet through to the skin and in a very unhappy condition. It was thought a ration of whiskey might restore them to their usual happy frame of mind, so the sergeant was urged by the guard to make application to General Abercrombie, and he thereupon repaired to the general's tent. After hearing the request, the general walked to the door of his tent, looked at the sky, which had become clear, and with emphatic 'gruffness replied, "We never issue whiskey in pleasant weather!" whereupon the sergeant hastily retreated.

The occasions when a ration of whiskey was issued to a brigade

1862.

were very rare. General Ord was convinced, however, that on this particular day the condition of his men would be improved by it, and we were thereupon ordered to fall in line for that purpose. A large majority of the boys believed that nothing ought to interfere with putting down rum, but insisted that it should go, like all communications to or from the Government, "through the proper channel.” There were some among us, however, who, while apparently possessing the same belief, "down with rum,” differed very radically as to the manner of putting it down, as one of their number on receiving his ration, immediately turned it on to the ground; a proceeding that excited a howl of indignation, not at the waste of the material, but at so gross an act of insubordination in disobeying the order of his superior officers, who expected him to drink it.

We found the whiskey was highly impregnated with quinine, but as some of the boys remarked, "the whiskey was there." It is wonderful how this terrible enemy of mankind is able to warın so effectually the cockles of the heart, and make the dreariest weather seem as soft and mellow as a summer's day. We commended

General Ord very highly for this evidence of his intelligence. Rained hard all day. The rain was unnecessary, except to deepen the mud, which it admirably succeeded in doing.

Thursday,
May 15.

Occasionally the safety-valve of some soldier, wading through it, would give way and the name of that ancient goddess, "Helen Damnation," would be heard, expressed in the same emphatic tones that has accompanied her name for hundreds of years.

Friday,
May 16.

The following order was received:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK,

GENERAL ORDER, No. 13.

OPPOSITE FREDERICKSBURG, VA., May 16, 1862.

A division to be composed of Brigadier-Generals Ricketts' and Hartsuff's brigades of infantry and Brigadier-General Bayard's cavalry brigade is hereby formed, to be commanded by Major-General Ord, who will immediately proceed to organ ize the same.

By command of Major-General McDowell.