After some trouble
we managed to get to bed last night about eleven o'clock; but for a long time
after that the mules kept us awake; perhaps they were hungry also. The weather
was clear and not cold, so we got a little rest. At six o'clock this morning we
were ordered on, after a very light breakfast, excepting for a few who may have
foraged. There were a few chickens and a little applejack about our mess.
To-day has been the hardest of any day of the tramp, and there has been more
straggling. The company organization was in the line, but thinned out terribly.
We had no noon-rest; but at two o'clock we filed from the road to a field, came
to the front, and received a good scolding. Our regiment looked as if it had
been through two Bull Runs; only about 150 left, and the rest not
"accounted for." In fact there were very few left of those who should
do the accounting. The colonel stormed a little, but that did not bring up the
men; so, as he was probably as hungry, if not as tired, as we were, he let us
go to eating, which was a decided farce. Our haversacks were as flat as our
stomachs. We found a few grains of coffee and tobacco-crumbs in the bottom of
our bags, and succeeded in digging a few sweet potatoes, which we ate raw. We
were told they were very fullsome. We waited here two hours or so for the
stragglers, who finally came along. They had been having a fine time, plenty of
room to walk, and two hours more to do it in than we had; and, more than that,
they were in the majority, so nothing could be done but "Right shoulder
shift" and put the best foot forward. About sundown we saw, in crossing a
bridge, a wagon-load of hard-tack bottom side up in the creek. Some of the boys
sampled the bread, but it was not fit to eat. Shortly after a signboard indicated
fourteen miles to New Berne. That was encouraging! The walking was fearful, the
roads full of water, in some places waist deep, and covered with a skimming of
ice. At last we met a wagon loaded with bread, and after much talk with the
driver we got what we wanted. Next we met a man who said it was only twelve
miles to New Berne. They either have long miles or else some one made a
mistake; we seemingly had been walking two hours or more from the fourteenth
mile post, and now it was twelve miles. We came to the conclusion not to ask
any more questions, but "go it blind.”
We at last reached
the picket-post, seven miles out, and halted to rest and allow the artillery to
go through. Here Col. Lee told us we were at liberty to stay out and come into
camp Sunday; but most of "E" thought of the letters and the supper we
would probably get, and concluded to stand by the flag. After a rest we started
again, and at last began to close up and halt often, so we knew we were coming
to some place or other.
The writer has no
very distinct idea of those last seven miles, excepting that he was trying to
walk, smoke, and go to sleep at the same time, and could only succeed in
swearing rather faintly, and in a stupid sort of manner, at everything and
every one. It was dark and foggy, but finally we saw what appeared to be the
headlight of a locomotive a long way off. Then the fort loomed up, and we were
passing under an arch or bridge, and in a few minutes we reached
"E's" barrack, and our troubles were all forgotten. Now we were wide
awake; gave three hearty cheers for every one; had all the baked beans and
coffee we could stagger under; and then the captain's "Attention for
letters" brought us to our feet. Some had as many as a dozen. They had to
be read at once, and, notwithstanding our fatigue and the lateness of the hour,
read they were.
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. 29-30
