The bivouac and the battlefield, or, Campaign sketches in Virginia and Maryland

Front matter

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Wove.

THE

Chapter III. Fredericksburg

Our new Quarters. — Welcome of the Contrabands. — Want of Welcome of the Neighbors. — A Staff Breakfast. — Sudden transition from Hauteur to Decency. — The Streets. — Zion. — A Reconnoissance in Force. — Talk with a Union Lady. — The Episcopal Church. — A bitter Disappointment 26

Chapter IV. Camp Opposite Fredericksburg

Ordered to Falmouth.— Quarters at Wallace House.— How the Army is organized. — The Titles and Duties of the Staff. — Camps and Camp Customs. — Droll Ideas as to Confiscation. — Orders to be "ready to move at a Moment's notice" 34

CHAPTER V. Phillips's house head-quarters

Change of Base. — Capture of Major Lacy. — My Friend the military Governor. — The Contrabands, and their Capacity to take care of themselves. — The Quarter-master's Affirmation. — Contraband Wor-

VI CONTENTS.

ship. — An exciting Dny. — The Black Scout of the Rappahannock. — The 14th Brooklyn and their Confederate Money. — Too much cosseting of Treason. — A crestfallen rebel Female. — General Pope assumes Command. — Quarter-master's Certificate to Rebels.— Fourth of July. — Courts-martial. — Punishments in the Army. — Burnside arrives. — Life in a Tent Page 41

Chapter VI. From Fredericksburg To Cedar Mountain

Orders to March. — Formation of a Column. — Farewell to Fredericksburg.— First Bivouac. — Troops on a March. — Straggling. — A Soldier's Rations. — A disagreeable Race. — Fording the Rapidan. — "Poor white Trash." — Troops in Camp. — Midnight March. — Battle Speech of a fighting Colonel. — Yankee Crusaders. — Bivouac near Culpepper 5G

Chapter VII. Camp Near Cedar Mountain

Head-quarters al fresco. — Visit to the Wounded. — Rebel Prisoners. — The Heroes of the late Battle. — Review by General Pope. — Visit to the Battle-field. — Riding vs. Walking. — A Night-scene in Camp. — Cedar Mountain 60

Chapter VIII. From Cedar Mountain To The Rappahannock

Tedious March. — Pillage by the Troops. — Sleep in the Mud. — Rappahannock Station. — Breakfast in the Saddle. — Exciting Cavalry Charge 80

Chapter IX. Artillery Duel At Rappahannock Station

The Enemy open the Ball. — "Lie down." — Sleep under a Wagon. — Dead Braves on the Battle-field. — Supporting Artillery. — Courage and Cowardice. — A frightened Prisoner. — A Rebel Line cut down by Shot. — A Disappointment. — A Ride under Fire. — Exciting Charge by a Rebel Regiment 88

Chapter X. From Rappahannock To Warrenton

Wagons and Wagon-trains. — Army Transportation. — Delays. — Head-quarters in a Mud-puddle. — Entry into Warrenton. — Great De-

CONTENTS. Vii

mand for Supplies. — Warren Green Hotel. — The perambulating Commissary. — Quiet Sunday Afternoon Page 99

Chapter XI. Artillery Duel At Warrenton Springs

Expected Battle. — Only an Artillery Duel. — Experiences among our Batteries. — Visit to the fashionable Springs. — Once more en route. — Company Q 108

Chapter XII. Battle Of Gainesville

March toward Centreville. — Sudden Rebel Salute. — Infantry Storm the Battery. — Our Clergyman Captain. — Magnificent Battle-scene. — Yankee Presence of Mind. — Frightful Loss. — Union Cheers of Victory. — A Ride among the Wounded. — Roadside Council of War. — Rebel Prisoners. — Manassas Junction 114

Chapter XIII. Second Battle Of Bull Run

Re-enforcements. — Battle-field of Bull Run. — Double-quick against the Enemy. — A Rebel Trap. — The flanking Fire. — A terrible Death-angle. — A Retreat. — A Union Officer rallying the Second Mississippi. — A sad Night. — Second Day. — Our thinned Ranks. — Meeting of the Union Generals. — The famous Dispatch of Victory. — Every Body happy. — Ride to Centreville. — Bitter Disappointment.—Our Army in Retreat 123

Chapter XIV. Centreville To Upton's Hill

An Army in the Blues. — March toward Fairfax Court-house. — Bivouac in Line of Battle. — A new Regiment. — An immense Wagon-train with Variations. — A March under Difficulties. — Battle of Chantilly. — A wet Bivouac. — Life in a Shanty. — March to Upton's Hill HI

Chapter XV. Inside The Defenses Of Washington

Four Days of Quiet. — The Army of Virginia not guilty of Neglect of Duty. — The old Army of the Potomac. — Ordered to March. — Part of a Night in Washington 148

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Chapter XVI. "washington To Frederick City

A remarkable Breakfast. — Sunday Streets. — Pleasant Reception. — Camp ten Miles out. — Trip to Washington. — Cheerful Mess-table.— On the March. — Camp near Lisbon. — Rebel Wounded. — The warlike South. — Southern Endurance. — Southern Chivalry. — A better Acquaintance with the North. — Our Volunteers. — Loyalty.— A great Dinner Page 153

Chapter XVII. Battle Of South Mountain

Enthusiastic Reception. — "I don't want any Bear." — Feelings on going into Battle. — The Heights of South Mountain. — The Skirmishers.— A beautiful View. — The Rush into Battle. — "Steady, Boys, steady !" — At the Fence. — The leaden Storm. — A desperate Charge. — "Three Cheers for Victory." — One more Rebel Rally. — Ricketts's Division. — Desperate Fight on our Left. — An anxious Hour. — Asleep among the Dead. — What becomes of the Bullets ? — An awful Sensation 165

Chapter XVIII. From South Mountain To Antietam

The Morning after the Battle. — A Virginia Conscript. — The Rebel Dead. — My young Lieutenant. — The Burial of our Braves. — A hospitable Staff. — Orders to Pursue. — A rejoicing Column. — "My Maryland." — The wayside Inn. — Rebel Prisoners. — Rebel Demoralization.— The Union Lady's Tale. — Nine Rebels captured by one Orderly. — The Rebel Flag of Truce. — Meeting of the Generals. — A pleasant Glen. — Tempest in a Teapot. — Chickens and Accompaniments.— A Night at Boonesborough. — Head-quarters under a Tree. — Sumner's Head-quarters 170

Chapter XIX. Battle Of Antietam

Return to Division. — Non est Inventus. —The Roar of Battle.— M'Clellan's Head-quarters.— Glance at Battle-field.— A Hunt for the Division. — A ghastly Procession. — A hot Place of Meeting. — The Key Point of the Right Wing.— Incidents of the Battle.— A Day of Waiting.— An annihilated Company.— The Fighting on

CONTENTS. ix

our Left. — Rumors. — Terrific Artillery Contest. — Close Shooting. — A thrilling Experience. — A Night on the Battle-field. — The Absurdity of War. — What does it decide? — Forced upon the North Page 194

Chapter XX. The Antietam Battle-field

An early Breakfast. — Waiting for Orders to Advance. — A Day of Disappointment. — The Escape of the Enemy. — Army Letters. — A quiet Hour among the Wagons. — A Ride over the Battle-field. — Appearance of the Dead. — A pleasing Picture. — The little Church. — Rebel Officer. — The "Slaughter Pen." — Fence -rail Barricades. — A Law of Death. — The Burial of the Dead. — An Army of Visitors 211

Chapter XXI. Camp Near Sharpsburg

Our Division Staff. — The Condition of the Troops. — Need of Reading Matter.— A Suggestion. — The Evening Camp-fire. — The Quarter-master's Story. — Difference between Bribery and Corruption. — The Army Correspondent. — A Blagk Sheep. — Pleasant Rides. — Shephardstown in Excitement. — A mangled Grove. — In Memoriam. — How a Yankee Sutler outgeneraled a Quarter-master... 222

Chapter XXII. The Hospitals And The Sanitary Commission

Nature hiding away the Traces of Battle. — Sharpsburg. — Life in a Cellar during the Bombardment. — The Army of the Wounded. — Visits to the Rebel Hospitals. — Little Histories. — Rebel Officers. — Our own Braves. — The Republican Legion of Honor. — Care of the Wounded. — The Sanitary Commission. — General Rosecrans's Testimony 236

Chapter XXIII. Antietam And Harper's Ferry

Interior Tent-life. — The unhappy Candidate for Military Examination.— A Ride to Harper's Ferry. — John Brown. — View from the Heights. — The liberal Marylander. — Slight Change of Base. — Charge of Hooker's Brigade. — " Spiflicating." — "Present Arms." — An Hour among the Dunkers 248

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X CONTENTS.

Chapter XXIV. Farewell To Maryland

Bakcrsvillc— Pitching Tents by Night.— A March through the Mud. — "D — o— n — 't Shoot." — Army Songs. — A Horse Trader. — A Night at Crampton's Pass. — March through Berlin.— A Welcome to Virginia Page 26 L

Chapter XXV. Once More Into Virginia

All Hail ! Virginia.— A Community of Friends.— The Flight of the Contrabands. — Berryman and Charles. — Driving out the Rebels from the Gaps in the Blue Ridge.— Our old Brigade.— A Ride back to Berlin. — A Night with Rufus Choate. — The Major's Adventures.— Sibley Stoves. — A false Alarm. — Cold Reception at Warrenton. — A few Crumbs of Sleep 269

Chapter XXVI. Warrenton To Falmouth

Burnside in Command. — A Roving Commission.- .^A. Village of Fire. — Picturesque Night Scene. — A pleasant Evening. — Camp at Fayetteville. — A tedious March.- — A good Supper. — Conversation with a Negro Worshiper. — A whining Do-little. — Stragglers. — Slough of Despond. — Camp near Railroad. — The Pontoon Trains. —On the Move 278

Chapter XXVII. The Passage Of The Rappahannock

Laying Pontoons of Left Grand Division. — Desperate Work. — Final Success. — Not so Fortunate up River. — Bombardment of Fredericksburg.— John's Disaster. — A Look at the unfinished Bridge. —The White Handkerchief.— A Call for Volunteers.— The Passage in Boats. — The Bridge completed. — Decorations of Honor. — The Street-fighting. — A Visit to Fredericksburg. — Our Army not a pillaging Army. — Effect of Bombardment. — Approach to Rebel Sharpshooters - 291

Chapter XXVIII. The Battle Of Fredericksburg

The Battle Arena. — An Hour of Anxiety. — The Advance. — The Rebel Storm. — Another Advance. — That terrible Stone Wall. —

CONTENTS. XI

Retreat to the Ravine. — Sturgis's Division on the Left. — The Gallantry of our Volunteers. — The Battle on the Left. — A Ride to the Front. — The extreme Left. — The Whitworth Gun. — Roadside Head-quarters. — A novel Game of Cards. — The Recrossing of the River. — The Bringing off of the Pickets Page 30±

Chapter XXIX. A Campaign In The Mud

Another Blast from the Whitworth Gun. — Huts of Troops. — Change in Commander. — Twice Six makes Twelve. — Corduroy. — A March through the Mud. — Head-quarters in a Puddle. — A flying Bedchamber. — An aquatic Excursion. — A doleful Ride. — Serenade.— Return of the Wanderers 32 1

Chapter XXX. Winter -quarters

Days of Waiting. — Future Glory of the Army of the Potomac. — Volunteers. — Defective Discipline. — Field Officers. — Waste of Ammunition. — Ratio of Casualties in Battle. — Demoralization. — Concluding Words 329

THE BIVOUAC

AND

THE BATTLE-FIELD.

Chapter I. Introductory

w

AE is fight," declares the pithy though imperfect English translation of a well-known German work on the art of war. " War is a series of blunders, wherein he who makes the fewest is sure to conquer," said a staff-comrade to me after one of our reverses. "War is waiting," has sometimes seemed a military maxim followed and cherished by those high in command. It is, indeed, a conglomerate, made up, we may say, somewhat as follows :

Waiting four parts ;

Blundering three parts ;

Marching and fighting . . three parts. Our campaign sketches must therefore partake of all these ingredients. Attempting no profound discussion of strategy or military policy, they seek only to portray interior views of tent life, common homely experiences, the every-day personal incidents of camp and battle-field, with such explanations and details as may instruct the uninitiated as to the ordinary camp life of the American volunteer.

A few battle-pictures must, of course, find place in our sketch-book, but they will aim at no general delineation, being necessarily limited and partial, seeking to be accurate, however, as far as they go. Indeed, no absolutely veritable description of the varied movements over an extensive battle-field can ever be expected ; ten artistic word-painters will surely give us ten very different pictures, agreeing in generals, but dissimilar in details. Let a man consult the field officers of even a single regiment as to its operations in a single fight, and from the incongruities in their several statements he will be able to judge of the difficulty in painting on canvas or with the pen a true battle-picture. Of course, every narrator makes himself the central pivotal point around which the whole battlescenery revolves, and this not egotistically, but naturally and necessarily. And just in proportion to the fidelity with which he gives us the facts as' seen from his personal stand-point, drawing neither from his imagination nor the official reports, shall we have a small but veritable bit of actual history.

Leaving, then, all general descriptions of battle-scenes to the able and well-trained corps of army correspondents, and to the historian who shall be able hereafter to collate and compare the testimony, subjecting it to the dry light of an impartial criticism, I seek to record simply my own personal experiences and observations. A genre picture, not a grand historic tableau, is thus attempted, something after the style of Hogarth's every-day sketches, with no pretensions to the bolder, more comprehensive delineations of the historic school ; and, though it is probably true that, during the heat of a campaign, the reader of a

INTRODUCTORY. 15

daily newspaper is informed as to the general design and operations before most of those actually engaged, still a staff officer has some advantages in this regard, while, as to matters of detail, he alone can speak familiarly who is an actual participant. Moreover, the every-day experiences of one brigade or one division run so nearly parallel with those of every other brigade or division in the whole army, that our sketch must contain many features common to all — will, at all events, serve as one of the scraps of narrative from which history shall gradually be evolved.

Such a sketch will, of course, have its dark shades of sadness mingled with the bright colorings of joy, its defeats as well as its victories, its dispiriting retreats as well as its jubilant advances, its awful visions of the battle-field strewn with the unburied dead as well as its cheerful evenings around the camp-fire. A campaign is, in fact, an epitome of ordinary life minus the refining, elevating, and Christianizing influence of our women and little children ; of ordinary life unnaturally excited and exaggerated, with its usual experiences so overstrained, and following upon each other in such rapid succession as to carry us sometimes in a single day through the whole gamut of sensations, and give to a week the significance of months. So it happens that, in looking over my little diary, I have not yet been able to realize that the scenes herein described were all compressed within so brief a period. Years, long years they seem to me to have occupied ; and, if time be measured not so much by the mere pulsations of the bodily machine as by our inner sensations and experiences, years they certainly were.

16 THE BIVOUAC AND TIIE BATTLE-FIELD.

CHAPTEE II.

OFF FOR THE WARS.

M'DOWELL is marshaling his cohorts at Fredericksburg, being ordered to aid the peninsular approaches of M'Clellan by moving upon Kichmond, and to-day, May 22d, 18G2, our brigade, having been detached from the army defending Washington, is off to join him. Never was summons more welcome. Tired of serving the country under the shadow of the Capitol, with all the glow of untried enthusiasm and all the ignorance of novices in war, our staff had really begun to fear lest the fighting would all be over before we could draw our maiden swords. Hope paints few brighter visions than those which on this day of embarkation made us happy ; and now, as we gallop down to the wharf, every cheek burns with pleasant anticipation. As I gaze through the vista of our actual experiences at that hour of hope and anticipated victory, this day seems to me like a dream.

To get our horses safely on board the steamer is no easy task, for wharf and deck are lumbered up with all the paraphernalia of a campaign, and squads of heavily -knapsacked men are still hurrying on board, all jubilant and some quite intoxicated with patriotism and poor whisky. Among our troops all ages are represented ; here a beardless boy, his brow yet warm with the parental blessing, and next him, perhaps, a gray -haired man, for whom a comfortable home and a warm chimney-corner seem far more fitting than the long march and bivouac of the campaign. But these are the days when the popular enthusiasm is still at high tide, submerging town and country, city and hamlet, and inciting young and old, sick and poor, to rally around the old flag. If there is any homesickness beneath these blue uniforms, it can not long resist the influx of the general enthusiasm : it is soon fused and lost in the general hopefulness and joy. " On to Eichmond I" is the watchword. You may read it in every eye about you.

As we stand a while on the upper deck, cast your eye at the stalwart private near us, that you may know how a soldier looks in full war rig. The square knapsack on his back is crowned with a great roll of blankets, and contains his entire wardrobe — a change of clothes, a few toilet articles, probably a little Bible, and certainly a keepsake or two from the loved ones at home ; his cartridge-box, strapped beneath, holds only a few rounds of ball cartridge : as no battle is impending, his shoulders are festooned with his shelter-tent, an oblong piece of thick cotton cloth compressed into a roll ; his haversack is stuffed with three days' marching rations ; his water canteen dangles at the other side, while his musket is stacked with the rest in the centre of the deck. Thus he carries his food, and drink, and clothing, and canvas house, and weapon with him ; may be said, indeed, to be quite independent of society. Musket and all, his equipment weighs sixty pounds, and with it he can safely march from fifteen to twenty miles per day.

But the sergeants have picked up the last straggler and marched him on board, the last horse is disposed of, and wc are finally off. Taking in tow several transports crowded with men, horses, and government stores, gradually we gather way, cheer after cheer rings out from the crowded wharf, responded to lustily by our upper deck, the band strikes up " Dixie," and so we say farewell to Washington, and glide slowly down the river. In less than thirty days we expect to be in Richmond, and fighting is as yet a myth we can not fully realize; we are simply embarked on a military pleasure excursion. The day is very charming, and the beautiful Potomac seems disposed to tender us a most hearty and pleasant welcome.

Within the cabin, sacred to the general and his staff, a quieter yet not less hopeful mood prevails. Our general, a man of many battles, who fired the first Union gun from Fort Sumter, and whose name and fame have already become historic, smiled a little at our untried enthusiasm. Near him sits our staff " major," the vade mecum of the party, a thorough martinet, and able to instruct us on any point, from the minutest question of drill to the latest decision on the " Army Kegulations ;" and our adjutant general, who considers the putting down this rebellion a part of his religion ; and our two aids, one of whom has since finished his last earthly campaign. We shall know and love them all better by-and-by, when we have walked with them through the dark lanes of death, brave, manly fellows as they are, every one of whom has left a home well worth fighting for, and anxious hearts which shall hereafter throb at every telegraphic whisper of battle. Ah ! it is the mothers and wives, the sisters and lovers who are the worst sufferers in this war. To man, the glow and excitement of action, the fascinations of campaign adventure, the reserve force of hope and courage which comes to inspire and elevate him in the hour of actual peril, the stern joy which thrills him when he remembers the holy cause to which he devotes himself. To woman, the hope deferred—the waiting, waiting for news after every battle— the fearful pictures of her own excited imagination— the doubt, suspense, and agony of anticipation when the air is full of rumor, and every newspaper has its long black list of death.

Our little village of vessels is now passing Alexandria, every foot of whose streets was so familiar to my boyhood, and not long after we glide past Mount Vernon, and the men crowd the rigging to catch their first look at the tomb of Washington. For one, Lfeel no touch of self-reproach as I gaze upon this Mecca of American patriotism. Only in defense of his principles— only to keep Mount Vernon under the old flag — only to save the Union he so much loved, are we come to tread with arms in our hands the soil of his native Virginia. The bones of the patriot soldier would rest all too uneasily upon the bloody borderland of two rival peoples: — the spirit of the whole-souled philanthropist could not repose in peace under the star-bereft banner of a confederacy having for its corner-stone that system of slavery he so much deprecated and regretted. Crusaders are we/ rather, crusaders of the 19th century, come not to invade, but to rescue his sepulchre, and pledged to retain it forever under the aegis of that nationality for whose establishment he fought, sacrificed, and prayed.

And now the night comes quietly down upon us ; our tired boys spread their blankets in every part of the crowded vessels, and, with, their knapsacks for pillows, are soon asleep. Already they have learned the first rule for a campaign — never to lose an opportunity to eat or to sleep, so as to be ever ready for any emergency. The regimental field officers join us in an impromptu supper in the cabin; the general wraps himself in his cloak upon a settee. Some of us, however, too full of busy thought and anticipation, mount to the upper deck to keep pleasant watch with the stars.

It was nearly midnight when we reached Aquia Creek and prepared to disembark. Here was confusion worse confounded. The unfinished pier swarmed with soldiers and contrabands working by the light of lanterns, discharging government transports of all sorts of stores, from a horseshoe to a locomotive, and it took at least an hour to get our men and wagons ashore. We then followed a lantern up the half-built wharf, where our orderlies found ample stable-room for the horses out in the open air. The troops marched off to a hill-side near by, stacked arms, posted sentinels, spread their India-rubber blankets, and bivouacked comfortably under the stars.

The hospitable colonel commanding the post relinquished to the general his camp-bed, while three or four of us, stretched on the floor, or curled up in boxes all too short for even the shortest of us, attempted sleep in the little bedroom. It was on this occasion that I first contracted a prejudice against having a bedfellow in boots and spurs — a prejudice which, even to this day, I have been unable wholly to conquer.

Our captain adjutant rolled himself in his blankets on a pile of bricks outside, a couch hard, but lofty ;

our junior aid crept under a tent-fly ; soon all were asleep, though, my own rest was broken and unsatisfactory. After-experience taught us that, on a pleasant night, you can have no better sleeping-place than six feet by two of green turf. As it was, I fancy few were sorry to quit their downy couch when the sun first greeted us next morning. An "intelligent contraband" brought us a good supply of water ; other toilet necessaries were in our saddle-bags ; and, while the general enjoyed a private cup of coffee with the colonel, we sallied forth in search of breakfast.

Aquia may be called the Phoenix- town of America, springing up every now and then, to be burned down again whenever our army changes its base, so that it is hardly to be wondered at that Delmonico had not yet established himself. Indeed, the little collection of rough-board shanties and tents, thrown up in a day, crowded with soldiers, and clamorous with the usual bustle of the quarter-master's department, offered so few gastronomic advantages that we were just about to despair, when a current of blue uniforms, every man with a handful of pie and cheese, indicated a sutler's tent. Entering by the rear, we were soon sitting round a barrel-head table, feasting on coffee, cakes, and cheese with infinite gusto and merriment.

Our sumptuous repast ended, we walked down the pier, where we met the President and Secretary of War, who had just arrived, and soon after entered a state railway carriage, consisting of a rough freight car with a bench and two stools, beautifully decorated for this occasion with a small American flag. I had seen the President rising in a private box to acknowledge his enthusiastic reception at the Academy of

Music, but was glad to get a nearer view of our highly-respected chief magistrate. How it would have made the nerves of some German duke, with sixteen quarterings, and a domain of a few miles square, tingle with disdain, this state car, which bore on to Falmouth the ruler of twenty millions ! Vive la Democratie /

Aquia Creek is the Potomac terminus of the railroad running to Kichmond via Fredericksburg, and this morning we were to take the latter city on our way to the rebel capital. A staff officer was sent with orders to the troops to march at once, while the general and staff rode on without awaiting the tardy movement of the column. A pleasant ride it was on that lovely morning, through a picturesque, well-wooded, scantily-settled country — a silent, sleepy region, but little vexed with Yankee enterprise or modern agricultural improvements, its roads — romantic forest-paths instead of wide, well-worn prosaic turnpikes — arched with foliage and vocal with the music of birds. Every one was in his happiest mood, glad that our projected trip to Eichmond commenced under such pleasant auspices.

A gallop of a dozen miles or more, passing very few habitations or cultivated fields, fording two considerable creeks and several " runs," brought us among the canvas cities, long avenues of wagons, and parks of artillery of our army. White-walled villages crowned the hill-sides, with their streets thronged with soldiers ; here were acres of horses, cannon, army-wagons ; regiments were drawn up on every hand for drill ; the road was crowded with mounted officers, orderlies hurrying with their dispatches, and squadrons of cavalry going to or returning from the outer pickets. On our right we passed Shields's Division, and gazed with, special interest at these veterans of six months' service, who had actually smelt powder and been in battle. Standing around their camp-fires making coffee, cleansing their weapons and accoutrements, or fitting up their shelter- tents with walls of cedar boughs, they seemed to us unfledged tyros warriors worthy of our special homage.

Stopping occasionally at the head-quarter tents of some general officer, we reached at last the Lacy mansion, a lovely residence on the banks of the Kappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg, then occupied by General M'Dowell as his head-quarters. Its green lawn was sprinkled all over with the tents of his staff; its out-buildings were appropriated as offices ; sentries paced up and down its once quiet walks ; its main approaches were full of horses gay with staff- trappings, and held by mounted orderlies; while the front entrance and hall were crowded with generals and the officers of their respective staffs.

The President and Secretary of War were also here, and the commanding general had assembled all his brigadiers to meet them. It was to me very interesting to see these leaders, some of whom were already famous, as they gathered in groups in the hall and grounds. Every face was full of hopeful anticipation ; the President dispensed every where his dry hits of good logical common sense, wrapped up in the humorous coating of anecdote or illustration, and not a suspicion of the impending disappointment intruded itself; nor had I then a conception how much of envy and professional jealousy found lodgment beneath some of these uniforms. Artists, authors, and clergymen have perhaps been considered most liable to this weakness of jealousy, but, in this regard, professional soldiers may, as a class, be deemed their rivals ; and I have sometimes really felt that this jealousy has had more to do with our past reverses than is generally imagined.

But, on this occasion, no shadow of this sort darkened the horizon of our expectations ; every thing was tinged with the roseate hue of patriotic hope. "We were certainly going to Eichmond, and these soldierly-looking men about me were just the men to lead us on. I liked M'Dowell's looks ; he seemed to me strong, self-contained, ready for responsibility, and able to sustain it, I had yet to learn how much his too frequent forgetfulness of the courtesy due even to a common soldier was to impair his usefulness and injure his popularity.

Here also was Bayard, looking really worthy of his name, young, enthusiastic, full of fire and energy. Near this spot he won his general's star, and yonder, over the river, only a mile or two away, he is hereafter to rise with it into immortality.

Imagine our chagrin when our general, having finished his interview, came out into the hall to inform us that our brigade, being the last arrival, was to be left behind to guard Fredericksburg. This was disappointment number one ; we soon stopped numbering such experiences, for they are the every-day occurrences of a campaign. Whenever you get your tent fixed with unusual comfort, be sure you will march on the morrow ; if you are halted for a day, make up your mind for a week's stay, and the probabilities are that you will not be disappointed.

So we mounted and followed the general down the steep road leading to the river and across the pontoon bridge into Fredericksburg, a quiet, pretty town, well entitled to the epithet said to have been given to it by the Prince of Wales — "the only finished town in America." Not commerce or manufactures, but good wholesome comfort had evidently reigned here supreme. Of course it was very different now. The constant rumble of heavy army wagons disturbed the sleepy streets ; patrols of cavalry and infantry went their rounds ; sentries stood guard at the street corners ; soldiers invaded the shops and sidewalks ; army sutlers flaunted the stars and stripes from the store windows : and in the old bank we found the head-quarters of the military governor.