Jan. 1st, 1863. This was a red-letter day in our history. We moved into new wooden barracks, which had recently been constructed. It was an agreeable change to our men from the cold and cheerless Sibley tents to the warm and comfortable quarters to which we were now assigned. We celebrated the event by a grand house-warming in the evening. The bill of fare was in marked contrast to what soldiers were accustomed to select while serving in the field. It consisted of a roast turkey supper with all the fixings. Not wishing to share our feast and pleasures alone, we invited as our guests the men of the Third New Jersey and Second Maine batteries. That occasion will long be remembered by the participants as a bright epoch in their soldier lives.
While encamped here we often obtained permission to visit Washington, and we made good use of our time while there. The Capitol was a place of special interest to us, and we were accustomed to visit the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives, and hear the lawgivers of our land expound the momentous questions of the day. We recall the stalwart forms of Sumner and Wilson of Massachusetts, Anthony of our own little Rhody, and a score of others well known to fame, who stood as beacon lights in that stormy period of our nation’s history. The White House and Treasury Building were visited by us, likewise the Patent Office, where our First Rhode Island regiment was quartered in the spring of 1861, received our attention. What a contrast the city presented at that time to the Washington of to-day. Then (in 1863) the uncompleted monument of the “Father of his Country” was a disgrace to every patriotic citizen. Now that majestic shaft in full completion towers above all others in this country, while the public and private buildings will vie in splendor and magnitude with many of the capitals of the old world. The unpaved streets through which roamed the swine and fowl in the old war time days excite the wonder and admiration of the visitor at the present time by their well constructed appearance and cleanly condition.
Lieut. Charles F. Mason.
January 5th. A mounted drill took place at nine A. M. to-day of all the batteries encamped here. Lieut.-Col. J. Albert Monroe, of our First Rhode Island Light Artillery regiment, was present in command.
January 19th, we received orders to prepare three days’ cooked rations. On the following day we marched into Washington in a terrific rain-storm. When we arrived on Arlington Heights the wheels of the battery sank into the mud nearly to the hubs.
On the 23d we arrived at Fairfax Station about noon, and went into camp. This was a severe and exhausting march, and many of our men became disabled and contracted diseases from the effects of which they never fully recovered.
On the 24th our battery was assigned to General Casey’s division, and attached to the Vermont brigade commanded by General Stannard. He was a brave and gentlemanly officer, and respected by the entire command. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Second Vermont Infantry in May, 1861, and was in May, 1862, assigned as colonel of the Ninth Vermont Infantry; promoted brigadier-general United States Volunteers, March 12, 1863, and brevetted major-general United States Volunteers, Oct. 28, 1864. General Stannard’s prompt movement upon the flank of Pickett’s division at Gettysburg won for him the strongest commendation of his superiors. He was four times wounded, the last time losing an arm in the successful assault on Fort Harrison, Sept. 29, 1864. He died in Washington, June 3, 1886.
February 10th. Bugler Thomas J. Goff died to-day. The death of our comrade cast a sadness over us, as it was the first that had occurred since our existence as a battery.
February 12th. The battery was reviewed at two o’clock P. M. to-day, by General Stannard.