Diary of Private John J. Wyeth, October 28, 1862

We have been hard at work yesterday and to-day fixing up our camp, which is located about a quarter of a mile from town on the old racecourse. There are troops stationed in our neighborhood in every direction. Quite a village; but our time so far has been too much employed at home to do much visiting. We are in tents, nineteen men to a tent. We have been banking and boarding up, to prepare for bad weather, although our barracks are nearly done, and we hope to get into them soon. We are very much crowded in our tent, but have plenty of fresh air, of which we have had very little for a week, and are correspondingly thankful. Rumors are beginning to come; we have them to-night that we are going to into the Wilderness immediately. Our tent is comparatively vacant, as this afternoon five were taken out for night guard on a supply train.

SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 16