We had orders to start Wednesday morning for Boston, to embark on a transport for New Berne, North Carolina. A very few men were let off once more, but only for a few hours. Worse than none at all, but eagerly sought for by all. Notwithstanding the strict orders relative to extras in our barracks all had many things to send home, and the express companies had plenty to do till the very last. Tuesday night came finally, and after about eight weeks' camp life, which had been novel to most of us, we were to start early in the morning for something new to the whole. We made a late evening, having a gay and noisy time, excepting a few of us, who were on guard; we had the excitement without the means of allaying or counteracting it, but paced our beats thinking of all the trouble and tribulation which might be in store for us.
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. 11
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