Major Wilder Dwight: January 25, 1862

Cantonment Hicks, Near Frederick, January 25, 1862.

At last we have symptoms of sunshine in our tedious and sullen sky; and at last, also, we have symptoms of breaking light on the horizon of the future. The rout of Zollicoffer (Phoebus, what a name!), of great results in itself, gets its best significance from the confidence it inspires in what may and must follow, if “alacrity” shall replace torpor, under the quickening guidance of our new War Secretary. I hear the best accounts of Mr. Stanton, and he certainly has the confidence of the country. Indeed, it begins to seem as if we were on our way out of the woods at last. I have had the greatest pleasure in a visit from ——. The Colonel went down to Washington on Monday, and brought back —— with him. I found him snug in one corner of the Colonel's fireplace on my return to camp in the afternoon. An evening full of talk, and gladdened by a great many home-memories, followed. Unluckily, we are in the midst of our rain and mud, so we could not show our prettiness; but I think he enjoyed seeing a little of the plain prose of soldiering, perhaps as much as its gayer phase. You have no idea of the depressing influence of mud, — deep, miry, insidious, hopeless mud. The Slough of Despond is no allegory. The soil of Maryland is very unpropitious, and we cannot find dry ground, at this season, for our camps. Another box from Mrs. Ticknor opportunely brightens this dull time. But it seems that, in this vicinity, we can hardly expect rapid motion just now.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 190