Christmas came. The men were in winter quarters, and merry times they had,—dinners of roast turkey, plum-pudding and mince-pies, sent by their friends at home. After dinner they had games, sports, and dances, chasing a greased pig, climbing a greasy pole, running in a meal-bag, playing ball, pitching quoits, playing leap-frog, singing and dancing, around the camp-fires through the long Christmas evening.
The winter passed away without any event to break the monotony of camp-life.
Officers and soldiers alike became disaffected at the long delay of General McClellan. The President and the people also were dissatisfied. President Lincoln, being commander-in-chief, selected the 22d of February, the birthday of Washington, on which all the armies of the Union were to make an advance upon the enemy; but it was midwinter, the roads were deep with mud, and the order was withdrawn. General Grant all the while was winning victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and General Sherman and the navy had taken Port Royal, while the great Army of the Potomac, on which the country had lavished its means, and granted all that its commander asked for, was doing nothing.
The President, in March, issued an order to General McClellan to complete the organization of the army into corps, with such promptness and despatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations which he had already directed to be undertaken by the Army of the Potomac. General McClellan complied with the order.
The First Corps was composed of Franklin's, McCall's, and King's Divisions, and was commanded by Major-General McDowell.
The Second Corps was composed of Richardson's, Blenker's, and Sedgwick's Divisions, and was commanded by Major-General Sumner.
The Third Corps was commanded by Major-General Heintzelman, and was composed of Fitz-John Porter's, Hooker's, and Hamilton's Divisions.
The Fourth Corps was commanded by Major-General Keyes, and was composed of Couch's, Smith's, and Casey's Divisions.
The Fifth Corps was composed of Shields's and Williams's Divisions, and was commanded by Major-General Banks.
It was a long, dull winter to the soldiers. They waited impatiently for action. Camp-life was not all song-singing and dancing. There were days and weeks of stormy weather, when there could be no drills. The mud was deep, and the soldiers had little to do but doze by the camp-fires through the long winter days and nights. Thousands who had led correct lives at home fell into habits of dissipation and vice. Their wives and children haunted their dreams at night. A sorrow settled upon them,—a longing for home, which became a disease, and sent thousands to the hospital, and finally to the grave. The army early in the winter began to suffer for want of something to do.