Battery L, 1st Artillery Regiment (Light) - George Breck Columns: Chapter 24: Every Man Is The Architect Of His Own House” Winter Quarters Dec. 17, 1863 – March 16, 1864

The standoff at Mine Run, and subsequent retreat of Meade’s army back across the Rapidan, ended active campaigning for the year. The Army of the Potomac went into winter quarters along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, while Lee’s army remained on the south bank of the Rapidan near Orange Court House. Of course, as Battery L soon discovered, it was risky business setting up winter quarters; orders might come at any time to relocate, meaning all that work had gone for naught…

Camp near Kelly’s Ford, Va.
Dec. 17th, 1863
(Appeared Wednesday, Dec. 23, 1863)

A cold, drizzling rain is falling, at times increasing in volume and coming down in torrents. It is one of Virginia’s worst and most disagreeable days. Of course, among its unpleasant features is that of mud, which has commenced its reign in terrible earnest. You step outside your tent and you immediately encounter this formidable element which has so frequently baffled the brave and indomitable Army of the Potomac. The sacred soil receives your feet with the softness and pliability of a mortar bed. And yet, this is but a foretaste of what is in store for us during the coming days and weeks of our sojourn in this recreant State. We wish that the pleasant weather we have been so long enjoying, with now and then a day’s exception, might have been vouchsafed to us a little longer, long enough until the completion of the stables for our battery horses, which all members of the company have been busily and earnestly engaged working upon since Saturday last. The flooring is all laid, consisting of large split logs about twelve feet long, all brought from woods a quarter or half a mile distant. The stables are in the form of three sides of a square and are between three and four hundred feet in length. No small task, cutting, hewing, drawing and laying all this timber, and it will be a greater one before the work is done, as we purpose stockading the stables with the same kind of material of which the flooring consists. And then some style of a covering must be gotten up, a thatched roof it may be, if we can run across some old hay or straw stacks, which were once plenteous in this vicinity, but now, thanks to the soldiers, are few and far between. Other batteries besides our own are employed in building stables, and the numerous Quartermasters in the army have been ordered to construct places of shelter for the thousands of public animals, the property of Uncle Sam and branded with his initials, committed to their care.

The troops have already made themselves comfortable, and numberless log huts dot hill and plain, field and wood along the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, from the Rappahannock to the neighborhood of Culpepper. Like beavers, the soldiers have been at work since the late campaign preparing habitations wherein to dwell of the winter of 1863 and ’64. Day and night the sound of axes has rung upon the air, and large and dense woods have been cleared of their trees for miles around. Near Brandy Station, where the army, or most of it, gets its supplies, timber has become so scarce that it is rumored the army will have to move across the river and establish another depot where fuel is more plenty. The troops who have established their winter quarters after the expenditure of so much labor would become, perhaps, not a little “demoralized” if obliged now to leave them and establish new quarters. It would affect their zeal materially in the matter.

Our Battery has recently been called to mourn the loss of one of its number, who died on the 12th inst. in the field hospital of our brigade of typhoid fever. The deceased’s name was William Fraley, whose home was in Canona, Steuben Co., N.Y. He was one of our buglers, belonging to Battery E of our regiment, the organization of which was broken up some time ago, and its members – what few there were remaining – attached to Battery L. He was a bright little fellow, young, and small in stature, and we miss him from our midst very much. His death was sudden, the fever being of a rapid and malignant type. Poor boy. He was anticipating a furlough home this winter, but alas! he was summoned to that long home “whence no traveler returns.” This is the first death by disease which has occurred in our company for many months.

Charles DeMott, formerly 1st Sergeant of our battery, has been promoted to 2d Lieutenant and assigned for duty to Battery D, 1st N.Y. Artillery. The promotion is a just and worthy one. Lieut. DeMott has been in the service over two years, and most faithfully and patriotically has he performed the duties of a soldier, and earned the appointment which has just been conferred upon him. He has gone from us, attended with the best and heartiest wishes for his future success and welfare.

Second Lieut. Benj. F. Fuller, Battery A, has been ordered to report to Battery L for duty.

A letter just received by Capt. Reynolds, informs us that Major Reynolds has been appointed on the staff of Gen. Hooker and is Chief of Artillery, 11th and 12th corps. We congratulate our old commander on the honor he has received of so high and responsible a position and trust, and feel considerably gratified that it is represented by the first Captain of Battery L. We have tried him and can assure Gen. Hooker that he has hit upon the right man for the place. (1)

The judicious system adopted last winter of granting furloughs and leaves of absence has been resumed by Gen. Meade, and many soldiers and officers are improving it. Its effects will certainly be good, as Gen. Hooker found them to be. Soldiers desire nothing better than a sight and visit of home, and with old soldiers, thirty or sixty days furlough is the paramount inducement for re-enlisting. G.B.

Breck was absent on leave from Dec. 30 to January 13. Just before Breck departed, the battery received orders to vacate the winter quarters it had nearly completed near Kelly’s Ford – much to the chagrin of officers and men alike – and to move with the rest of I Corps to a new position near Culpepper. At first it appeared the battery would not have to build new winter quarters after all; on Dec. 26 the men moved into quarters that the 8th New York Cavalry had been similarly ordered to abandon. “But here was bad luck again,” one member of the battery wrote, “for the cavalry moved but a few miles, and as their houses were built of boards, they came back with their horses and carried off most of the lumber, so we were left out of doors again, and for the past two weeks we have been hard at work building houses … and stables for our horses.” (2)

Camp near Culpepper, Va.,
January 17th, 1864
(Appeared Friday, Jan. 22, 1864)

After an absence of fifteen days I return to camp and find the battery located where I left it, about half a mile from Culpepper and near the base of Pony Mountain. Just before my departure north the company, for the second time this winter, had begun to construct houses and stables, nothing daunted because of labor lost in the extensive preparations of winter quarters at Kelly’s Ford, which marching orders to the front obliged the sudden abandonment of. The second edition of stables is nearly completed, the roofing consisting of large fine slabs – of which the floor and stockade are also constructed – now being laid, and the men’s log houses, genuine castles of their kind, are, with few exceptions, all done and occupied. The air of comfort which some of these residences possess, with their fireplaces and mantlepieces, and cupboards and smoothly hewn floors, the walls artistically decorated with pictorial representations from Frank Leslie’s and Harper’s Weekly, compare favorably with domiciles of higher pretensions. (3) Every man is the architect of his own house, as he is also the builder of it. The land costs him nothing and the material for building ditto. About the only implements he requires are an axe, a shovel and a wooden trowel, and a pair of industrious hands to use them. Virginia soil, saturated with a little water, makes excellent mortar for filling up the cracks and crevices, and plastering the chimneys and walls, and the same sacred soil is to the occupant of the soldier exempt from all taxes, and the ruthless invasions of a merciless landlord. The only thing to disturb the soldier’s home and possessions are the inevitable marching orders and Mr. Johnny Reb. For the present, until the opening of the spring campaign, I do not think our company will be molested by either of the above. Our hostile friends across the Rapidan are, from all accounts, as comfortably settled for the winter as ourselves, and both parties doubtless are desirous of being “let alone” till the advent of milder weather and longer days. Then, as the Army and Navy Journal says, speaking of the approaching spring campaign, look out for a “war of the Titans that must shake the continent to its foundations.”

Leaving Rochester on Tuesday (Jan. 12) at 8:55 p.m., I found myself in Albany the next morning at seven o’clock, an hour too late to take the early train for New York via the Hudson Road. The Central Road, which seldom fails to make the proper time, failed on this occasion, and a delay at Albany for two and a half hours was the consequence. I have nothing particular to say against the capital of the Empire State, but to the subscriber it is not the most interesting city in the world, perhaps on account of past associations with the Albany Barracks, where Battery “L” was quartered for a week before taking the field. Our experiences at this place were terribly bitter. (4) The mess rooms were a fit spot for the congregation of swine, and the rations that were served up, oh dear! I believe the 54th regiment had a taste of the same last summer, and some of its members, I understand, were in consequence thereof effectually cured of soldiering. (5) But I am digressing from my travel southward. The Hudson road lost two hours running to New York and it was past 5 p.m. before we reached there. Leaving New York at half-past seven in the evening for Washington, via Philadelphia, or the Pennsylvania Central route, I arrived at W. at 9 a.m. the following morning, just in season to connect with the train running to Culpepper. We ought to have reached Washington at 6 o’clock. A great deal of fault is found with the Penn. Central road. The proper time is seldom made from New York to Baltimore, or vice versa, and these frequent delays have occasioned much grumbling by the citizens of New York and Washington, and there is a strenuous demand on the part of many for a new line of railway between the two cities. It is very likely that one will be built, though the policy of government undertaking its construction is a questionable one. If a second road is really needed let it be constructed by private enterprise and not at national expense.

The facilities for reaching the army of the Potomac now from Washington are very good. A passenger train of second class cars runs regularly from Washington to Culpepper, daily stopping at several points along the Orange and Alexandra railroad, where there are large encampments. Brandy Station being the principal one, that being the general depot for army supplies. The train leaves Washington at 9:40 a.m., and arrives at Culpepper about 3 ½ o’clock p.m. A number of civilians, including several ladies, were aboard the cars I came down in, on their way to the army. During my absence from camp, an order was issued allowing soldiers’ and officers’ friends and families to visit the army for a limited period. No doubt many at home will improve the opportunity afforded for making such a visit, and rest assured they will receive a soldier’s glad welcome and all the hospitality that camp life proffers. We bid our friends come and see us, promising the latchstring shall be out, and to acquaint them, to the best of our ability, with all the beauties and pleasures of a soldier’s life in winter quarters.

Quite an abundance of snow fell here during the prevalence of the late storm at the North, but the beautiful weather of the last two days has dissipated it all.

The health of the Battery is very good, and but little sickness prevails anywhere in the army. The troops appear to be in the best of spirits.

Re-enlisting has been going on very vigorously. Twenty-five have re-enlisted in our own company and been mustered in anew for three years, receiving about $160 from Government to start with. There is much disappointment, however, felt by these re-enlisted men at not receiving their thirty-five days’ furloughs, as was promised on their re-enlisting. Only 600 enlisted men are allowed away from a corps at a time, but that number is not absent from the 1st corps on furlough, and there seems to be culpability in the matter of our men not getting their furloughs, resting at corps headquarters. It will probably be made right very shortly, but the delay in granting the furloughs as promised must naturally produce disappointment and dissatisfaction. Faith with the soldier should surely be kept under all circumstances, if it is a possible thing. The many conflicting and retracting orders about re-enlisting have discouraged many in the field from reoffering their services to the Government. G.B.

Winter quarters, Battery L, near Culpepper, Va.
January 25, 1864
(Appeared Saturday, Jan. 30, 1864)

On a bright and sunny day of last week, the air as soft and mild as in the month of May, I made a visit in company with Capt. Reynolds and Lieut. Anderson to Cedar Mountain. It is situated south-west of Culpepper, about six or eight miles distant, and joining it is another mountain called Garnett Mountain, taking its name from a family of that cognomen who live or lived at its base. We followed the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to near Mitchell’s Station, and then struck off across the fields, passing through some of the camps of the 2d division, 1st corps. On the top at the western extremity of Garnett Mountain is a signal station in charge of Lieut. Wiggins and camp signal officer of our corps. This point is denominated Bald Knob, probably because of its rounded shape and being very smooth and clear of trees and brush. We soon found ourselves on its summit, and before us lay a magnificent prospect. The scene was somewhat obscured in consequence of a hazy atmosphere, but not so much as to forbid our admiration and enjoyment of it. On a clear day Orange Court House can be seen, a distance of ten miles, and far to the south-east may be witnessed the wilderness, that tangled thicket of trees in which the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville was fought. Glimpses of the Rapidan, winding its crooked course along woods and through vales, meet the eye, and emptying into it is Robertson’s River, which is observable in spots. The Rapidan lies between Cedar and Clark’s Mountain, running near the foot of the latter, which looms up far above the peaks of the neighboring mountains on both sides of the river. Its position is very commanding, for from its summit the country can be seen for many miles, and it is no hard matter for the rebels to descry the movements of our troops as far back as Culpepper, and in some localities even beyond. They have a signal station on top and doubtless know very correctly the strength and disposition of our forces between Culpepper and the Rapidan. Indeed, the position of the 2d division is by no means an enviable one, for reasons which, perhaps, it would be contraband to state. A bold and energetic dash on the part of the enemy, under the cover of night, might result in his gobbling up the whole of the above division, and then again he might catch a Tartar. Gen. (John C.) Robinson, commanding the 2d division, is fully awake to any demonstrations that may be made of this character. The outer pickets of our line are a few yards from the foot of Garnett Mountain, and signal officers, whose headquarters are in close proximity to the pickets, remarked to us that they shouldn’t be surprised some morning to find themselves en route to Richmond and candidates for the Hotel de Libby. Not a very charming prospect to retire to rest with, and well calculated to make a person “sleep with one eye open.”

Rebel deserters come into our lines at this vicinity almost daily, averaging from three to eight per day, some of them bringing their muskets with them and evincing joy and gratitude at their escape from rebeldom. They recite the old story of destitution, privation, etc. These oft repeated stories are confirmed by the looks of their narrators, and proclaim very forcibly the exhausted condition of the South. And every day this exhaustion appears to grow greater and greater, and shadows over the Southern Confederacy seem to be rapidly lengthening and darkening. The beginning of the end may have come. Who knows? The qualities of wisdom, vigilance and sagacity are needed to be displayed now, surely, and if so displayed, may we not reasonably hope for the return of peace very soon?

Our route back to camp took us along the east side of Cedar Mountain, on whose wooded slopes in the month of August, 1862, were planted rebel cannon, which poured death and terrible carnage into the ranks of our brave men who stood on the plain below, openly and fearlessly exposed to the murderous fire thus brought against them, and not from artillery alone, but from a most terrific and destructive musketry fire. The battle of Cedar Mountain, its awful and sanguinary story is doubtless familiar to the minds of my readers, for many pens have graphically described it and told its thrilling incidents. No wonder the enemy beat us, for with Cedar Mountain to hurl the iron projectiles of his guns from, massed behind trees with a position fortified by art and nature and most formidable in every respect, and with almost thrice the number of men that Gen Banks had, led by that mighty warrior, rebel though he was, Stonewall Jackson, what prevented the defeat of our valorous troops who fought with a magnificence which has never been excelled in the annals of this war! Come to ride over the ground Jackson’s army occupied, we saw more clearly than at the time of the battle the great advantages our troops had to contend against in point of position. It was like battling on the plains of Fredericksburg against an enemy triple in force, intrenched on the frowning and impregnable heights of Fredericksburg.

About midway on the side of Cedar Mountain is located a large white frame house, formerly the residence – and it may be now by some of its members, though it had a most desolated and abandoned appearance – of a family called Slaughter, by which name the mountain was known previous to the battle. It takes its name now from a stream called Cedar Run, which winds along in its vicinity. About the only traces of the battle observable are the graves and trenches on the field, where rest the dead, both friend and foe, who died fighting for and against their country. The scene was one of much interest, historical of one of the hottest conflicts of the war, and of the commencement of Pope’s disastrous retreat to the defenses of Washington. That was a year and a half ago, and now here we are back where that disaster began. But we hope we are to have no more Pope runs.

In the woods along the edge of the battle field, on this side, we found a squadron of the 8th New York Cavalry on picket duty in command of Capt. (Morganzy) Hopkins. Further back, about half way to Culpepper, we found the reserve camp of the above cavalry. We stopped a few minutes and saw Major (Caleb) Moore, and then hurried on to Battery L, reaching “home” a little after dark.

Yesterday morning a number of the re-enlisted veterans of our company started for home. A happy time to them and a safe return.

Lieutenant Charles S. Anderson and Sergeant William H. Shelton of our battery have left us to report to your city on recruiting business. We want fifty good men. The record of the battery speaks for itself, and its claims upon the city and county whence it hails for reinforcements ought, we think, to be responded to. The inducements offered to enlist in the battery are as great as any presented by any military organization in the field, and we speak of what we know, that there are advantages to be enjoyed in the artillery branch of the service not to be found in either the cavalry or the infantry.

We were visited this afternoon by Major General (John) Newton, a part of his staff, his wife and two other ladies. The General was very much pleased with our camp, and complimented the men for the comfortableness and neatness of their houses. The interior arrangements of several of these camp mansions were inspected by the ladies, and their verdict – and who are better qualified to judge of such matters than they – was one of much praise. A wide street separates the two rows of houses, which has been christened Broadway. Each house is numbered.

The weather is delightful and very much like Indian Summer. Inspections and reviews have begun to be the order. Our battery will be inspected to-morrow. G. B.

Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke, detached from Lee’s army, threatened Union outposts in North Carolina in February. Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, commanding the Union troops in that department, contemplated a move against Richmond to relieve pressure on North Carolina. He requested that the Army of the Potomac stage a demonstration against Lee’s army in hopes of forcing Lee to recall troops from Butler’s area. The result was a sharp skirmish at Morton’s Ford on the Rapidan when a division of Warren’s II Corps crossed the river on Feb. 6 to test Lee’s defenses. (6) The soldiers were withdrawn the next day, and the soldiers were back in their camps on the 8th.

Camp near Culpepper, Va.
February 8, 1864
(Appeared Monday, Feb. 15, 1864)

What the object of the late movement of the army of the Potomac, or rather of three corps of it, has been, I do not know positively. My readers, ere this, have doubtless been informed by telegraph of an advance having been made by a portion of this army and of the return of the troops to their old quarters. The advance did not extend very far, only to the Rapidan, and a little beyond at one point, and the time occupied in going and returning was but about thirty-six hours. There was no very heavy fighting and not a very great loss of life. The enemy was strong in numbers, so reported, and we know the immense strength of his position, for he had a long line of high bluffs and hills on and behind which he fought, or stood ready to fight, and made doubly strong with entrenchments and fortifications. And then we had another antagonist, and a very severe one to contend against, in the element of mud, which proved a bitter and formidable foe, and perhaps was the means of partially frustrating the purposes contemplated in the movement. It reminded us too forcibly of Burnside’s famous mud march. What the article lacked in depth was made up in stickiness and heaviness, and it seemed every time the horses planted their feet in the soft and ocherous soil that they would never be able to extricate them therefrom, and if they did they would be minus their iron shoes. Many a team became mud-bound, and then such a heaving and hauling as there was, accompanied with a liberal expenditure of expletives. But it is all over now and we are back again in camp, which we were exceedingly loth to leave. Nay, that don’t express it. The dislike at moving, after just getting nicely and comfortably settled for the winter, or the remainder of it, was intense among officers and men, but there was no getting rid of the inevitable marching orders, which most unexpectedly were received last Friday (Feb. 5), about the hour of midnight, instructing us to be ready to move at day-break the following morning. I assure my readers that this was a writ of ejectment, hard to bear, and if they don’t believe it, let them imagine the receipt of peremptory orders, notifying them at six or eight hours in advance, that they […] comfortable homes in the dead of winter, for some unknown locality and for some unknown object. They will then form some conception how we soldiers felt on receiving the above orders. The sting was taken from them, however, from the fact that, with the orders came instructions not to destroy the camp, but to leave a guard on it, and there the baggage wagons were to remain, and only three days rations were required. All this argued a reconnoissance merely and a speedy return to our comfortable winter quarters. Only half the batteries in the 1st corps were ordered to move, Battery B, 4th U.S.A., the 1st Maryland Battery and our own. The other three were to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. It was nine a.m. before we moved out, the sky dark with clouds and portentious of rain, and our route lay in the direction of Raccoon Ford, about six miles distant.

At two o’clock p.m. we arrived near the Rapidan, halting in a wood about a mile this side. Between four and five o’clock we advanced to the front together with the 1st Md. battery, taking position in a large open field, or it might more properly be called a wide, level plain, covering many acres from the woods to the river. We were about midway between Morton’s and Raccoon fords, the latter being on our right, the Rapidan almost fifteen hundred yards in front, from the opposite side of which were the bluffs before mentioned, commanding a magnificent position by the rebels confronting us, whose fortifications on the top of the heights could be distinctly seen and whose guns could be brought to bear a concentrated fire on the ground we occupied, entirely exposed as we were in plain, open sight, with no earthworks in front of us. Our supporting infantry lay in the woods to our rear. At Morton’s Ford the 2d corps were stationed, a mile and half distant. Before we took position the 2d corps artillery had been engaged with that of the rebels, and the enemy confined his attention exclusively to that corps. We opened fire immediately upon going into battery, as also did the Maryland Battery on our right, directing our guns on the fortifications in front. No response, however, could be elicited, though we fired from fifty to sixty rounds. Why the rebels remained so quiet when, if they had been disposed to, they might have damaged us most severely, was a little strange. Doubtless, they preferred to save their ammunition in case an attempt was made to cross the river in our front or at Raccoon Ford.

We threw a few shot, and also the Maryland Battery, at some houses near that Ford, where the rebel reserve pickets were supposed to be, which resulted in setting fire to the buildings, but the enemy paid no attention to it. Of course, we were grateful at being thus let alone, for we had no particular ambition for an exchange of similar compliments, considering what an opportunity the rebels had of sending them to us. We ceased firing about 6 o’clock, when a division of the 2d Corps, which had succeeded crossing at Morton’s Ford, effecting the passage with little opposition, the bluffs being further back from the river at that point, and the enemy thinking, no doubt, that it would be impossible for our troops to assault him with anything but disaster to themselves if they undertook it. Indeed, it is very likely the rebels were desirous that our forces should cross there, as they were at the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, knowing the strength and formidableness of their position and the advantages which might accrue to them. I am informed that a brigade of the 2d Corps crossed, took possession of the enemy’s rifle pits, and captured a few rebels. The rebels then charged upon them, and we could hear their peculiar yell, and see the flash of their muskets, it being quite dark. The contest lasted about an hour, and was a very severe one. The rebel cannon sent their missiles of death into the ranks of our brave men, high up from the wooded bluffs where they were massed. At 7 o’clock all was quiet, our forces holding their ground, and under the cover of darkness recrossed the river. They encountered largely superior numbers, and to assault the works of nature and art, held by a valorous foe, was an unequaled combat, if not a totally destructive one, and therefore they withdrew with a loss of about 200 killed and wounded. There are the facts as reported to me. (7)

Battery L and the one supporting it retained the same positions all night, and just at daylight the next morning we fell back about two miles, through the woods to a field, where we lay till six o’clock last night, when orders came to return to camp, which we obeyed with alacrity, arriving “home” about 9 p.m.

Now, as remarked at the commencement of this letter, your correspondent is all in the dark as to what the real object of the recent movement was. A reconnoissance, he conjectures, to ascertain, if possible, how strong in numbers Lee’s army is; whether he has sent a large portion of his forces to other localities or not. It was rumored that the purpose on our part was a demonstration, a show, a feint merely, while Butler was operating on the Peninsular, but that’s got to be such an old story, a conjunctive movement down on the Peninsular or at some other point, whenever the Army of the Potomac moves, that it is about “played out,” for the sequel has always been no such movement. It is something like our operations in the Shenandoah Valley under Pope. Most generally whenever confronting the enemy, or we were chasing him, or he us, Sigel was sure to be operating on our left or right, and the rebels were certain to be “bagged.” Concert of action, unity and concentration in military movements and operations, are matters emphatically essential to success, and we have no better authority for that than Gen. M’Clellan, but since the instructions and counsels of that great commander and strategist (his enemies have pronounced him “the greatest military humbug of the age;” their attention is respectfully solicited to a perusal of his report) on that point have been ignored or disregarded, or were so at least, perhaps simultaneous movements in our armies are not to be looked for. But then it may be the nation has learned wisdom in this respect, since the days of M’Clellan.

The night that we lay at the front, several of us had the good fortune to make our quarters in a commodious house, which was directly on the left of our battery, the residence of a Mr. Stringfellow. The night was cold and rainy, and a shelter in-doors on the floor was very acceptable. This Mr. Stringfellow is a cousin to the Stringfellow of Kansas notoriety, -- indeed I heard that he was the identical man, but I take his word for it that he and his cousin are distinct individuals. (8) He has resided where he is at present located for fifteen years, is a man of considerable ability, a very fluent and pleasant talker, possessed of some legal knowledge, though a farmer by occupation; and from his conversation I judged that he was or had been quite a prominent and influential citizen in Virginia. He is an out-and-out secessionist – that is he believes in the right of secession, and advocates the doctrine of State rights as expounded by Calhoun and his followers. But he was adverse to the policy of secessionism, believing that it would prove injurious, if not disastrous to the South; but Virginia having seceded he went with Virginia, though like John Minor Botts, he took no active part for or against the government, but was astride the fence, ready to jump on either side according to the issue of events. (9) He considered himself a paroled prisoner, but I shouldn’t like to trust myself in his hands outside our lines. His counsel to Virginia was, at the time South Carolina seceded, if she was determined to dissever her connection with the Union to do so at once, and then, with two or three other States which would doubtless immediately follow her course, go to South Carolina and say to her, “Here, don’t commit any overt act against the Federal Government, but now that you and I and other sister states have passed the ordinance of secession, let us make a compromise on the country’s present difficulties with the Federal Government, and we shall be listened to. The right of secession is a clearly defined one, our sovereignty as States is indisputable, the same power which took us into the Union being able to take us out of it. The Federal Government will no doubt see it in that light, or at any rate see the policy of admitting it, and unquestionably a compromise can be effected.” Really, Mr. Stringfellow, even the “O.P.F.” couldn’t “see it in that light,” and the acknowledgment of the right of secession would have been striking at the very basis of the Union. But Mr. S. said that while Virginia was hesitating, or electing and sending Union delegates to the convention, South Carolina threw down the gantlet to her and her sister States by firing on Fort Sumter and that act instantly decided the Old Dominion to secede, the Union delegates, with few exceptions, whirled right around and voted for secession, and the people shouted Amen. Mr. Stringfellow thinks that slavery has been the cause of the war, and that the war better be continued till it is fought out or else future generations will have it to fight about.

His ideas respecting the Abolitionists of the North are rather exalted, believing that they are very conscientious men of pure principle and are opposed to slavery strictly on religious grounds. Entertaining a notion that the Abolition element has little to do with politics, but is chiefly and energetically a lofty? and unselfish? one actuating its possessors in trying to abolish slavery from the best and most religious of motives. He might be mistaken, and we thought he might be, too. Tried to enlighten him a little on that point – told him that there were some religious Abolitionists at the North, but the sprinkling of political and fanatical ones almost excluded from view the former class. A fellow officer in the room remarked to Mr. S. that his views on the subject of Northern religious and political Abolitionists would be regarded as a novelty by his friends in Pennsylvania, where he resides, and he should improve the first opportunity of making them known by letter. Will they not be considered equally novel by those further North?

On the matter of disposing of the “freedmen” of the South, when all the slaves shall have become free, Mr. Stringfellow very pertinently asked, “what are you going to do with them? We who have owned or do own slaves, don’t want them. We would rather do without them. Having been their masters, now that they are free, we cannot feel or act towards them as formerly, nor they towards us. We prefer white labor. If slavery is abolished, there will be between four and five millions of blacks with no homes and nobody to take care of them, and utterly unable to take care of themselves. Do you want them north? Will you colonize them? Will the northern people be willing to submit, in addition to the tremendous taxes resulting from the war, to a still greater burthen in support of the negroes? You would not of course, think of colonizing them, or transporting them to any locality in or out of the country, without at least furnishing them with a year’s supplies of clothing, the necessary implements for farming, or for obtaining a subsistence, etc. I admit, that the south is bankrupt, or will be, but there will come a financial crash, a financial collapse at the north also, and nothing can prevent it, notwithstanding the present great seeming prosperity of the northern states. What, again I ask, will you do with the negro, or what will become of him?”

But my letter has grown to too great length. I will close. I have written the sentiments as expressed by Mr. Stringfellow in a discussion with your correspondent […] secessionist in principle and a man of interest and intelligence with whom I have conversed in Virginia. He is a representative of a Southern States Rights man, and apparently believes in the doctrine, though his honesty in the treatment of the subject is questionable on some points, more sophistry than truth being presented. His wife is a woman of marked intelligence and generous hospitality – evidently a Christian woman – but committed to the Southern cause and yet deploring that the Union should have been broken. Notwithstanding the property of her and her husband has been nearly all wrested away, or destroyed or laid to waste, their slaves, numbering about thirty, all gone, she feels resigned and is willing to endure much more for her “home and fireside” against “invasion,” as she denominated it. Her desire for peace, however, makes her long for the war to end, either for or against the Southern Confederacy, though she hopes the former. It is possible, in consequence of our battery being in such close proximity to the residence of this family, that the rebels out of respect and sympathy to them forbore firing at us, for some of their shots or shell would unquestionably have struck the house, and the result might have been its conflagration. G.B.

Near Culpepper, Va.
Feb. 22, 1864
(Appeared Friday, Feb. 26, 1864)

Washington’s Birth Day. We hail its anniversary with feelings of pleasure and interest, and yet not unmingled with sadness at the tho’t that the American Republic, of which the illustrious Washington was the great founder, is rent by political convulsions, distracted and severed by all the horrors of civil war, and threatened with the direful fate that has befallen the republics and nations of the past. Sad, sad indeed, that this Union, which Washington so much loved, for which he wielded his sword and labored to make indissoluble, come what might, should now, in little more than half a century, be torn and nearly destroyed by fratricidal strife, so broken, perhaps, as never again to be united. Full of sorrow is the thought that the parting words of the Father of his Country – words replete with love and wisdom, sound instructions, earnest counsels and prophetic warning – should have been set at naught and apparently altogether forgotten. The dangers and evils which he foresaw and predicted, if passion, prejudice, and violence took possession of the minds and hearts of his countrymen to the displacement of reason and fraternal affection and good will, have come upon us, and it will be well if they do not engulf the nation. That the leaders of the rebellion, whose hearts and lives are foul with treason, have spurned the counsels of Washington, and by their conduct have done infamy to his exalted name and revered memory, is a truth not to be gainsayed. But are these men the only guilty ones in the matter of disregarding and ignoring the farewell advice of him, the anniversary of whose birth we celebrate to-day? What says the truthful record of the country? Can all the fault be laid at the door of the South? The greatness and heinousness of her crime in her death-dealing blows at the Union and Constitutional Law and Liberty can not and must not be underrated; but is the North entirely without sin in the causes which have brought upon our once peaceful and happy land war and desolation? Can she, in the clear and beautiful light of Washington’s memory, calmly and boldly say that she, unlike the rebellious and disaffected States, has heeded the words which Washington spoke, has imitated his deeds and emulated his example? Can she truly affirm that the lofty and unambitious spirit which reigned in the heart and controlled all the counsels of our beloved Washington in the affairs of the nation, has been her ruling motive and power? Has she indulged and displayed no feelings of bitterness and animosity – no unfriendliness towards the South? Have all her ways been “right and just?” These reflections come to our mind, called forth by the day, in thinking of the Farewell Address of Washington, the priceless legacy which he left for his countrymen to read and profit by. And should not the terrible trials of the country draw us very near to Washington; and can we honestly expect a restoration of the Union, with all its blessings, unless the teachings of his Farewell Address are fully regarded and acted upon? Heaven mercifully grant that the next anniversary of his birth-day may witness a restored country, with peace, happiness and prosperity prevailing all over the land.

The day has been observed very quietly in the army. No reviews or demonstrations of any kind have occurred to my knowledge. Not a gun fired. Cannonading was heard from across the river this morning, in that direction, at any rate. The rebels, notwithstanding their deeds of treason, honor the name and memory of Washington with as much enthusiasm as the loyal people of the North. Both claim him as their great example and profess allegiance to his principles. This link between the two sections of the country remains unbroken. Is it not a good augury of the future? We try to think so.

On Friday last there was a sham fight in the 1st division of our corps, commanded by Gen. (James C.) Rice, in which Battery L participated, as also did Battery B, 4th U.S.A., the former engaged against the latter. A regiment of cavalry and a battery of horse artillery were represented on both sides. All the manoeuvres and evolutions incident to a battle, the advance of cavalry skirmishers, then of infantry, and then a general attack, were gone through, the numbers and nature of positions being about equalized between the two combatants. We were supposed to be on the rebel side, which was the attacking party. Cavalry and bayonet charges were made, and it was declared a “big thing” by participants and spectators – particularly regarded so by the former, who knew what fighting was. Both parties entered into the contest with almost as much zeal as if it had been a reality, but the total absence of gunpowder, shot and ball kept away the excitement so characteristic of a bone fide engagement. I could not but think how easy a matter it was to so stir up the passions of men as to produce strife and deadly carnage between them. To be sure, we didn’t exactly fight; no shots were exchanged; nobody was hurt; all was in fun, but how much would it have taken to have made it a solemn reality? It is not at all difficult to see and understand how the Southern people have been led into this rebellion by the political demagogues and wicked men who have had, and still have rule over them. Human nature is weak and fallible, and governed a great deal by circumstances, which affect and reverse the course and action of individuals not only, but of whole communities and states. And hence, while showing no favor to the plotters and leaders of wickedness, the necessity and wisdom of forbearance and conciliation in dealing with those whom circumstances have made our enemies.

The bogus fight lasted one or two hours, terminating in a “drawn game” I concluded, for both sides cheered lustily at its close. The personated “graybacks” were the last to leave the field, following their harmless antagonists. It would seem, considering the nature of the contest, as if all skulking or straggling would have been impossible, but two or three infantry men were seized with the common army complaint in time of hostilities, which obliged them to face to the rear, just as their regiment was about to advance or make a charge. My readers can infer to what a degree this disease develops itself, when facing a real enemy. This sham battle was gotten up for the special benefit of the ladies, who are favoring the army with their presence by hundreds. Every day brings scores of civilians to the front, and we have been called upon by several citizens of Rochester and vicinity.

There appears to be little doubt about a reorganization of the Army of the Potomac. It will probably be consolidated into three grand corps. Reports are in circulation that two of the corps are to be sent South, and that the 1st is to be one of them. (10)

The weather is improving in mildness, and the roads are in fine condition. But very little rain has fallen this month. Everything indicates an early spring campaign.

We were so fortunate as to have assigned to us to-day six recruits, who came from Camp Distribution, Alexandria. They enlisted in New York city for the 1st N.Y. Heavy Artillery, but there is no such organization. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 new men at Alexandria awaiting to be forwarded to the army. By all means, they should be hurried on, that they may be drilled before active movements begin. It is strange why better and more vigorous measures are not used to forward recruits more promptly to the regiments for which they have enlisted, instead of keeping them so long at the different State and Government depots. Men who enlisted for our battery weeks ago are still confined at Elmira, though they have applied to be sent on. This might be obviated, we think, by detailing or authorizing a sufficient number of men, whose sole business it should be to conduct recruits to the army, in smaller or larger squads.

A review of the 1st corps is ordered to take place to-morrow. G.B.

Near Culpepper, Va.
March [February] 28, 1864
(Appeared Thursday, March 3, 1864)

The movements of the 3d and 6th corps and a portion of the cavalry force attached to this army, which began last Saturday (Feb. 27), has been made known to the public and its results have been fully detailed. The 1st corps was under orders to be ready to move on short notice, and for a while we expected to take an active part in what we concluded was a reconnoisance only, for but three days’ rations were ordered and no preparations for a general advance of the army had been made. We were not disturbed from our quarters, however, and everything has again settled down in quietude. Not exactly settled, either, for what has become of Kilpatrick and his five thousand picked cavalry, in whose favor the above expedition was specially made? They left for Richmond last Sunday morning, so I have been informed, and last accounts reported them about seventeen miles from Culpepper and between fifty and sixty miles from the rebel capital. They had captured the rebel reserve pickets and their advance so far had been a success. Of course, we are all anxious to hear the sequel of this bold and daring raid, and to-day will probably develop the affair. Kilpatrick, it will be remembered, went on a similar errand last spring, which was quite a brilliant achievement, though Richmond was not taken. We will hope, albeit it is like hoping against hope, that this remarkable place of rebeldom has finally received a visit from the dashing Kilpatrick, very much to the grief and consternation of Jeff. Davis and his rebellious citizens, and very much to the joy and gratitude of the inmates of Libby Prison. (11)

The Christian Commission has established a chapel in our brigade, and religious services are held nightly. The chapel is crowded with soldiers at every service and much interest has been awakened on the all-important subject of religion. A number of new converts has already resulted from these meetings, and many professing christians are happily and profitably improving the opportunity thus afforded them for showing their love and devotion to the cause of their Divine Master, giving their hearty co-operation to the gentlemen who have charge of the chapel. For three weeks, up to last Monday, the Rev. Mr. Fuller, from Holloway, Maine, was stationed here, a young man of high attainments and eminent piety, and during his stay in our midst he made many warm friends. He has been succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Parker from Rochester, who formally ministered at Asbury Church. We are glad to welcome Mr. P. and trust that his labors may be pleasant and successful. These clergymen offer their services to the Christian Commission for six or eight weeks at a time, and they are then assigned to the various regiments or brigades in the field. I need not mention the good and noble work the above association is performing in our army. Its workings have been fully published and I can bear witness, that its labors and results, to both body and soul, are truly great and glorious. It is in every way worthy of the energetic efforts and liberal contributions of the Christian public. (12)

I made a visit to Pony Mountain the other day, going to the top where the 3d corps has a signal station. It commands a splendid view. A sweep of country extending miles and miles around, presenting hill, dale, forests, mountains and a variety of landscape is spread before you. Culpepper looks like a large, fine city lying in a great basin, a very striking confirmation of the poet’s words, “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,” for on approaching the place it is disrobed of all its greatness and beauty. War has made its ravaging and desolating marks upon it.

Innumerable “tented fields” can be seen from Pony Mountain, and rebel camps are plainly observable. The mountain ought more properly to be denominated Stony instead of Pony Mountain, for it is literally covered with huge stones and rocks.

The storm which set in last Monday and bid fair to be of long duration, passed off before the next morning, and we are having another installment of beautiful weather. This will be apt to expedite army movements and operations.

Battery L is getting ready for active work by having its gun carriages and caissons all painted up. A number of the men have been busily plying paint brushes to-day. I believe that the Federal armies represent every profession and trade in the world: artisans, mechanics, merchants, lawyers, ministers, etc., and the falsity is certainly given to the assertion that the less intelligent a man is, the better soldier he makes. Can any other country produce better, braver, more heroic and enduring soldiers than America?

The first lot of veteran volunteers in our battery who received 35 days furlough has returned, and another party are now awaiting their turn to go home, their furloughs having been sent in for approval. G.B.

Near Culpepper, Va.
March 16, 1864
(Appeared Tuesday, March 22, 1864)

News is a scarce commodity in the Army of the Potomac. Quietness reigns everywhere. The common monotonous routine of camp life is performed day after day, though its monotony is greatly broken and relieved by various amusements, principally ball playing. Every fair day witnesses hundreds of officers and soldiers engaged in this favorite and excellent game. The members of Battery L have a particular passion for it, and eagerly improve their hours in the sport which it affords. Some of them are old hands at the game of base ball, and their names appear foremost in the honorable and distinguished record of the first ball clubs in Rochester and vicinity. There is “Teddy” Adams, for instance, who won such brilliant laurels in the famous “Lone Star” Club. (13) It is a real treat to see him catch a ball, he does it with so much ease and grace, arresting its flight and holding it with his fingers, with apparently a slight of hand movement. Very seldom does the ball escape his hands if it comes anywhere near him. And it is a difficult task when he is “pitcher,” for the “in” party to make the bases. He is hard to beat, is thoroughly conversant with the game, and every way fitted to command a base ball club. And then there are Asahel Morse, Martin Annis, Garry Minnamon, Maurice King, Martin Blogett, and others I might mention, who are admirable and skillful players of the renowned National Game of Base Ball.

A match game took place this afternoon on the drill and parade ground, front of our camp, between Battery L and the Excelsior B.B. Clubs, the latter composed of “boys” in the Quartermaster Department of our Brigade, who challenged any nine men of Battery L to play with or against them. It was a spirited and interesting affair and witnessed by a large crowd of officers and soldiers. The “Excelsior” had the first innings and made so many “runs” that outsiders began to question the ability of L Club to cope with their friendly adversary. But it didn’t remain a question very long, for L boys entered the contest zealously determined to win, and by the time the third innings were made, “Excelsior” was a way behind, and the completion of the seventh innings – nine was to be the number – the Excelsior men threw up the game, declaring that L Club was altogether too much for them, and acknowledging themselves badly and fairly beaten, 23 runs against 71. Not a very closely contested game that, but mostly on one side. The following is the score:

 

 

Excelsior B.B. Club
Name	Position	Outs	Runs
J.D. McGlinchy	Pitcher	1	5
Lt. Corcoran	Catcher	4	2
F. Wright	1st Base	2	3
P. Flym	2d Base	3	2
D. Dimon	3d Base	3	2
G. H. Marshall	Short Stop	3	3
“Shorty”	Right Field	1	1
J.D. Plummer	Center Field	2	3
T. Budsworth	Left Field	2	2
Seven Innings		21	23
"L" B.B. Club
Name	Position	Outs	Runs
G. Minnamon	Pitcher	4	6
A. Morse	Catcher	1	8
G.E. Adams	1st Base	3	7
M. King	2d Base	5	6
A. Ades	3d Base	3	7
M. Annis	Short Stop	1	10
J.S. Wells	Right Field	1	10
W. Gibbs	Center Field	0	9
M. Blodget	Left Field	3	8
Seven innings		21	71

Umpire – Capt. Bartholomew, 76th N.Y. Vols.
Scorer – E. Hoekstra, Battery L
Scorer – S. Williams, Excelsior

It is expected when Lieut. Gen. Grant returns to Washington that he will furnish this army with immediate employment of a different kind than that of base ball playing, or perhaps I may say, a different kind of ball-playing, where the balls are not so easily batted and pleasantly caught, and where even the agile and dexterous Adams, who elicited so much praise to-day, would prefer “dodging” to “catching.” Ball playing with Lee’s veteran army! A most serious game. The Army of the Potomac has had several of them, and behold the sad result. A hundred thousand men killed and wounded! Is the army in its future solemn games of war, to present a duplicate record of that number of “outs?” We hope not, but may it count many great and glorious “innings.”

Our battery is filling up with recruits. Between thirty and forty new men have reported for duty. Of course they are cordially welcomed. (14)

The furloughs for our second lot of veteran volunteers have not been returned yet. Only a limited number can be allowed from the corps at a time. G.B.

Transcribed And Donated By Bob MarcotteTranscribed And Donated By Bob Marcotte
​​​​​​​Robert E. Marcotte
Rochester, N.Y.
February 2005