Camp Near Washington, Va.,
July 18, 1862.
We are experiencing a long, severe rain storm, which is
attended with the usual discomforts in camp. With the men, it is particularly
hard, as they have now lost their comfortable Sibley tents and have only small
shelter tents in their places, which afford them very little protection.
Wednesday, just at dinner, we received orders to march at once. We were off in
an hour's time on the back track towards Gaines' Cross Roads. We went only a
distance of five or six miles, crossing Hedgeman's River; the rain poured most
of the time in torrents; it cleared off at sunset and we had a beautiful
rainbow. We were on the road the next morning by five o'clock. The day was
terribly hot and sultry, but at noon the rain began again and fell by
pitchers-full for several hours. We marched fourteen or fifteen miles to
Washington, a small village on the Luray road. The fields by the roadside were
as usual filled with blackberries, and, as we had frequent rests, every man had
a share of the fruit.
The cause of our retrograde movement was this: General
Pope's adjutant general sent an order to General Banks to take up a strong
position with his corps near Warrenton; instead of writing Warrenton, he should
have written Washington, so we had thirty-five miles' extra marching for
nothing: one man's mistake causing several thousand to swear and wear out
shoe-leather. We are encamped in line of battle, the batteries all in position;
our line extends along a high ridge for a little over a mile. We are near the
centre, supporting Cathran's battery. Our camp is on the side of the hill and
commands a beautiful and very extensive view; the mountains are on every side,
some close by, others blue and misty in the distance. Right below us on the
level is the little village, quite a pretty one, almost hidden by trees. The
whole country half way up to the top of the mountain, is covered by either
wheat or fine woods, so that there are no bare, unpleasant looking spots.
Before camping, there was directly behind our line a field of fifteen or twenty
acres full of wheat stacks; an hour afterwards the field was there, but every
stack was gone and every man in the division had a comfortable bed. Mr. Secesh
was saved the trouble of threshing his grain at the expense of a good many
barrels of flour.
I suppose that you have heard that Captain Underwood has
been commissioned Major in the Thirty-third Massachusetts. If this is so, there
is speedy promotion ahead for a certain first lieutenant. Don't address me yet
as Captain of Company I; it might be embarrassing before I get my commission.
SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 72-3
No comments:
Post a Comment