TO RICHMOND
While I was away Pickett's Division and other troops under Longstreet left the vicinity of Fredericksburg, marched to and through Richmond, and camped on the 13th of February, 1863, near Chester Station, on the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad. I heard some of the men say, that when bivouacked here, while the army slept under their blankets a heavy snow fell, enveloping all in a mantle of white while sleeping comfortably and quietly until day dawned, unconscious of the additional cover spread over them during the night. I rejoined the command about that time, and later we marched to the south side of Petersburg, protecting forage trains down towards Suffolk.
After marching in Southside, Va., for a few days, through Southampton and other counties, where we got some of the splendid hams—the finest I ever ate—for which this section is justly famous, one afternoon our mess bought some fresh herring. That night we ate all we could for supper and covered the rest up in the leaves for breakfast. But we were aroused at daybreak the next morning, and left for Petersburg, leaving the herring there in the woods. I often afterwards thought of and wished for those fish.