Camp Hicks, Md., December 16, 1861.
I walked into
Frederick yesterday to do some business pertaining to the company and a little
for myself. It is rather a pretty city, about the size of Cambridge, with a
number of very nice churches and private residences. The streets are full of
officers and soldiers, and on the corner of every street, there is a sentinel
posted; occasionally a patrol goes through the thoroughfare to seize any
drunken soldiers or stop disturbances. However, their duties are light, as the
soldiers find it very much for their interest to keep sober and quiet when they
have passes. I was glad to get back to camp; if there is anything forlorn, it
is to walk about in a city where you know nobody and have nothing particular to
do. A camp becomes your whole world, bounded by a line of sentries, when you
live in it as much as we have lived in ours. My visit to the city was, I
believe, my fourth absence from camp since leaving Camp Andrew.
We had services
this morning; Mr. Quint conducted them, as usual. I think it is getting rather
cold weather for outdoor preaching, and shall not feel very badly for stormy
Sundays. The last fortnight has been remarkably pleasant, the weather generally
quite warm; the nights are cold. Imagine yourself going out before sunrise and
washing your face and hands, with the mercury standing in the thermometer at
twelve degrees, as it was here two or three days ago. Captain Tucker's
resignation has been accepted and Harry Russell is now assigned to the command
of Company H. George Bangs is now first on the list of first lieutenants and I
am second.
SOURCE: Charles
Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865,
p. 33-4
