Great scarcity of
food. Our battery went on a reconnoisance with General Burns' brigade. Only the
pieces were taken along, with eight horses to each. We are in plain sight of
Yorktown. See the rebel flag floating from the parapet. They fire very
frequently at our troops. After running suddenly against some of the enemy's
batteries, we returned to our former camp, "Winfield Scott."
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 37
