No sooner had he assumed command than the Grand Divisions were abolished, and Generals Franklin and Sumner relieved—the latter at his own request. General Smith was immediately after transferred to the Ninth Army Corps, which had departed for the Peninsula. The following was his parting address:
Headquarters Sixth Corps, in Camp near White-Oak Church, Va., Feb. 5, 1863.
To the Officers and Soldiers of the 6th Army Corps:
I relinquish command over you in obedience to orders. Your soldierly qualities make it a high honor to command you, and long months of association with you make me regret the separation.
To my old Division I would say more in memory of our past and longer association. You will not forget that you were in the advance from Fort Monroe to within sight of the spires of Richmond; that in front of the lines near Yorktown, you took and held for days a position within three hundred yards of the enemy; that your valor decided the day at Williamsburg; that in three consecutive days, the 27th, 28th, and 29th of June last, you met and repulsed the foe; that on the 17th of September you came upon the battle-field to find the enemy advancing upon unsupported artillery, and that, rushing upon their lines, you drove them back in confusion, and saved the right wing at Antietam. With such memorials your future is easily foretold.
W. F. SMITH.
The rainy season had now arrived; all hopes of further active operations were abandoned, and the army went into permanent winter quarters. During the month of February, the Thirty-third, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania, and One Hundred and Nineteenth Pennsylvania, were formed into a new Brigade, and placed under the charge of Colonel Taylor, who established his Headquarters at the “Lee House,” about one mile and a half from White-Oak Church. The Regiment changed its location to a woody crest on the Lee estate, a third of a mile in the rear of the Colonel’s quarters. This was the most delightful camp the Thirty-third had during its two years of service; airy, roomy, healthy, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country, and well supplied with pure water from springs close by. On the summit of the hill, a square clearing was made, company streets laid out, and the soldiers’ cabins built in regular order. The officers’ quarters were constructed just in the edge of the wood at the head of the various streets. Encamped directly beneath, on the hill side, were the Forty-ninth and One Hundred and Nineteenth Pennsylvania.
The months of February, March, and April, passed very pleasantly. Athletic sports of every description and in-door amusements, beguiled away many hours. A mail was received every evening and distributed at the Chaplain’s tent. The New York, Philadelphia and Washington daily papers, together with numerous volumes from the Bernard libraries, and other secession sources, furnished ample reading material.
On becoming weary of the monotony of camp life, many sauntered out to the surrounding forests, fields, and farm-houses, in quest of adventure. Between the encampment and Acquia Creek was a settlement of contrabands, employed by government in wood-chopping. They occupied the huts built by the enemy when in possession of the region, and were apparently very contented with their new mode of life. After the labors of the day were closed, they assembled for a Virginia “hoe-down,” in which the slaves so much delight, or to participate in religious exercises. Most of the older members of the community were of a religious turn, and not unfrequently spent the entire night in devotion. Their leader on such occasions, a wrinkled, osseous specimen, whose crisp hair and callous skin were, if possible, a shade darker than that of his companions, had been the head-cook of his master, and now acted in that capacity. He was never so much at home as when exhorting the brethren, and instead of being embarrassed by the presence of soldiers, then talked and prayed with increased fervor. The writer took down his prayer one evening. He had just risen from his knees when we entered, but loth to lose an opportunity of displaying his talent to the “northern white folks,” he again kneeled down and delivered the following with great unction.