CAMP NEAR
FREDERICKSBURG, VA., December 9, 1862.
I have not written for two days, having been occupied with
the march, as we had to change camp from our position near Acquia Creek Landing
to our present location, near the Rappahannock River. The day we moved camp
(yesterday) it was very cold, and the ground frozen hard, so that our teams
found no difficulty in coming the ten miles of distance. The day before
George's regiment moved over here, when Colonel Smith, commanding, took a wrong
road, so that they had to march some twenty miles and did not reach their camp
till late at night, and as their wagons did not arrive till the next morning,
they had to pass the night, a bitter cold one, in the woods, without supper or
blankets. However, they borrowed some axes and made big fires, and had, George
said, quite a jolly time. George dined with us to-day, and I was at his camp
yesterday. The more I see of the regiment, the better satisfied I am with
George's being in it. The officers, as a body, are very much superior to any
others (except the regulars), and there is a tone, altogether, which is very
marked and gratifying. The regiment has been detailed to do duty with
Franklin's grand division and separated from Bayard's command. This they do not
like, because it cuts them off in a measure from chances of distinction; but
this, I fancy, will be no great objection in your mind. I have seen friend
Harding's kind notice of my promotion in the Inquirer. I presume you
notified him of my telegram. I hope we have not counted our chickens before
incubation, but as yet nothing official has reached me.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 336
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