New tents were given
us to-day. "A" tents they are called; I suppose because they are in
the shape of a letter A. They are like the roof of a house cut off at the
eaves, and one gable split open for us to enter, with strings sewed fast to one
side and buttonholes in the other so we can close them up tight. A detail from
each company has been clearing up the ground and laying out for an all winter
stay. The officers have moved back to the more level portion of the field,
which brings our lines of tents on much better ground than before. A long and
wide street has been laid out and is being graded off, on the west side of
which the officers' tents are ranged, the colonel's tent in the middle and a
little in the rear of the tents of the captains and lieutenants, which are
directly in front of their respective companies. On a line with Colonel Cowles'
tent are those of the lieutenant colonel (which by the way has no occupant yet,
he being off somewhere on detached service), the major, quartermaster,
adjutant, surgeon and chaplain. Back of these is a big tent called the
Hospital, which so far has not been of much use. Then in front of all these are
the companies' quarters, the ten company streets running off at right angles to
the broad street along which the company officers' tents are now being placed.
A wide space is left in front of Colonel Cowles' tent, and runs clear through
camp, nothing being on it but a flag-pole, which is to stand directly in front
of the colonel's tent and in line with the tents of the company officers. So
many hands make light work of any job, but I am only telling how it is to be,
for only the laying out is completed and the grading begun.
We that were not
detailed for the work were taken out to the great sandy plain toward what I am
told is Chesapeake Bay and given a lesson in battalion-drill.
The 135th N. Y. was
with us, and from the crowds of people who were there I suppose battalion drill
is something worth seeing. But it was anything but fun for us, and we came back
to camp hungry, tired, and with as much dust on us as would stick. We were glad
enough to crawl into our old shelter tents. It is well I wrote the most of the
day's doings before we went out, for it is hard work to put this little finish
to it. Good-night, diary.
SOURCE:
Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 37-8
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