Officers on detached service in September were: Lieutenants Sanderson and Spear on permanent duty with grand-guard, a line of sentinels stationed between the Forty-Second camp and Alexandria. Lieutenants Hodges and Ballou on permanent duty with provost-marshal-general. Lieutenant Thomas with a permanent guard at Hunting Creek Bridge, where an artillery block-house was built. Lieutenant Hawley was detached on mounted patrol service, in answer to a request from General Slough for an experienced cavalry-officer. Captain Ward, Lieutenants Aldrich and Shattuck, Company G, on guard at Soldier’s Rest since September 14th. On detached service at Great Falls were Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, Captains Tinkham, White, Waterman and Ford, Lieutenants Fuller, Smith, Bates, Conner and Cook. Lieutenant Galvin was absent in Philadelphia on sick leave.
At the close of September there was present for duty: seventeen officers, three hundred and seventy-eight men; twenty-six men sick. Absent: eighteen officers, four hundred and sixty men on detached service; one officer, twenty-two men sick; three men in arrest.
There was no chance for any camp fun in October, for officers and men were constantly on duty, day and night, in obedience to orders for guards, patrols and pickets, that came thick and fast. Details of men were called for by mounted orderlies, with verbal orders, at all hours of the day and night, in addition to details mentioned later on. Adjutant Davis, not in good health, manfully stood to his duty in exceptionally trying circumstances. To fill these constant requisitions from among grumbling men in a raw regiment, already overworked, was not an easy matter. To do so, men who just reported in camp from some long tour of guard or patrol service were obliged to again depart from camp, swearing like troopers, on a like service. After four companies left for Great Falls, members of the band were made to resume duty in the ranks and go on the regular camp guard; at one time not relieved for sixteen days, men were so scarce and the difficulty so great to comply with these orders.
Duty done by the regiment, required by written orders, was: September 29th and 30th—One officer and forty men sent to guard stores to Fairfax Station. October 2d—One officer and fifty men as train-guard on Orange and Alexandria Railroad. October 2d—Captain Ward, with fifty men, to guard a telegraph construction party running a line of wire from Manassas or Warrenton Junction, on the Manassas Gap Railroad. Captain Ward and his men had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry, on the fourth, near Gainesville, and drove them back without loss. October 3d—One officer and fifty men, with detachments First and Second D. C. Volunteers, as guard for a construction train on Orange and Alexandria Railroad. October 4th—One officer and forty men on same service. October 5th—One officer and fifty men on same service. October 5th—Seven men as permanent guard at coal wharf. October 6th—One officer and twenty-five men to guard a special train. October 12th—One officer and thirty picked men on duty for three days with mounted patrols and pickets, to be relieved every three days. This order was in force until October 27th. October 13th—One officer and twenty-five men for train-guard. October 17th—Four officers and one hundred men, with two days’ rations, were sent every day, until October 27th, for train-guards. Of this detail two officers and fifty men went on duty at 3.45 A.M., and two officers and fifty men at ten A.M.
These details were in addition to the regular camp-guard, men for grand-guard duty and men for the pickets stationed outside the grand-guard line. Nearly all the trains were freighted with supplies for General Sheridan, after communication with him was opened. Every two or three miles along the railroad were guard-stations, in block-houses, on account of the guerrillas who infested the line of road. None of the Forty-Second detachments had a chance to test their mettle with the enemy, except the slight skirmish by Captain Ward’s men. At Rectortown one train came along just in time to allow the Forty-Second guard to help get a cavalry-post out of an unpleasant position; the enemy retreated without a fight.
Details in October for daily duty with the regiment were: 1st—Private Peter Broso, Company F, on duty with quartermaster. 1st—Private A. W. Mitchell, Company A, orderly at headquarters. 1st—Private Edwin H. Alger, Company D, as wagoner.
One case for discipline occurred: Corporal Albert F. Burnham, Company A, was reduced to the ranks October 24th, for leaving camp without leave. On an appeal for a hearing, made by Burnham, an inquiry was held in his case by officers detailed for the purpose. They justified the degradation.
The officers detailed on court-martial duty in September were: Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, Captains French, Eddy, Stewart, Stevens and Wales, and Lieutenant Gray. Every captain in the regiment, except White, did service on general court-martial duty. Major Stiles was constantly on general court-martial duty by details of August 6th and September 20th, and not relieved until October 15th, when the following order was issued:
“Headquarters Military Governor,
“Alexandria, Va., October 15th, 1864.
“General Orders No. 84.