During these two
days the regiment has been busily engaged in moving its camp about four miles.
The new camp is to be called Camp Vanderwerken, from the name of a man owning a
large property in the immediate neighborhood.
Very shortly after
crossing Chain Bridge, our regiment was transferred from Gen. King's to Gen.
Smith's brigade, to which we remained attached till about the 28th of
September, when Gen. Smith was promoted to the command of a division, and we
transferred to a new brigade under command of Brigadier General Winfield Scott
Hancock, an officer of fine appearance, but with rather a narrow forehead, and from
what little I have seen of him, I should presume him to be at least excitable,
if not irritable. We have been between three and four months organized, and
have not yet lost a man by either disease or accident. So after all, the life
of a soldier, if his health is properly looked after, is not more exposed to
sickness than that of a civilian. I am fast coming to the conclusion that the
great mortality of camp life is owing much more to neglect of the proper means
within our reach of preserving health, than to any exposures to which the
soldier is peculiarly liable.
SOURCE: Alfred L.
Castleman, The Army of the Potomac. Behind the Scenes. A Diary of
Unwritten History; From the Organization of the Army, by General George B.
McClellan, to the close of the Campaign in Virginia about the First Day
January, 1863, p. 39-4
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