February 21st. A number of the men attended Divine service in Washington. In the evening our battery held services in the barracks. A clergyman from Washington, of the Free Will Baptist denomination, conducted the exercises.
March 3d. We had a grand review before President Lincoln and Cabinet on East Capitol Hill to-day, all the batteries encamped here participating. As on a previous occasion, Battery H was privileged to fire the salute on the arrival at the grand stand of the Presidential party, an honor we greatly appreciated. General Barry and staff and a large concourse of spectators also witnessed the ceremony.
March 14th. The battery was reviewed on East Capitol Hill by Gen. A. P. Howe.
Sunday, March 20th. Mounted inspection at ten A. M. Divine service was held in our barracks in the evening, led by a clergyman from the city.
April 10th. Mounted inspection to-day at ten A. M. The battery has at last received marching orders, and we expect to join the Ninth Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, when it arrives from Annapolis. This news was joyfully received by us, as we had become weary of the seeming inactivity of camp life and longed for more active duties in the field.
April 24th. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and Rev. Augustus Woodbury, late chaplain of the First Rhode Island Infantry, visited us to-day and received a soldier’s welcome. We have now received orders to join the old Ninth Army Corps. We are proud of being attached to this gallant corps, commanded by the loved and esteemed Burnside, Rhode Island’s foremost soldier. This corps since its transfer from the West has been reorganized at Annapolis, and now numbers nearly twenty-five thousand men. It is composed of four divisions, three of white and one of colored troops. It has been well designated as “Burnside’s Geography Class,” for its tattered banners bear the inscriptions of battles in six states in which it has participated. Its history began in 1861, and was then known as “Burnside’s Coast Division,” and won substantial victories for the Union cause in North Carolina. It was afterwards reenforced by large accessions of regiments to its force, and was then organized into what is now designated as the Ninth Corps. After the transfer of the larger portion of the corps to the Army of the Potomac it was joined by a division from Port Royal under command of Gen. Isaac I. Stevens. It fought with great bravery at Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, and when General Burnside was placed in command of the Department of the Ohio, the Ninth Corps was assigned to that department. It was subsequently dispatched to the assistance of General Grant at Vicksburg. It arrived at General Grant’s lines on the 14th, and was immediately employed in protecting the besieging forces from any hostile demonstrations in their rear. With other troops it kept the rebel General Johnston at bay, forced him back and drove him beyond Jackson, and then returned to Vicksburg. Its presence assured the successful termination of the siege. It was afterwards ordered to Annapolis, as we have already mentioned, and is now about to enter another field of action.
On the 23d of April, 1864, the Ninth Corps marched from Annapolis and proceeded to Washington, encamping on the Bladensburg Road about six miles from the city, on the night of the 24th. The next day, as it passed our camp at eleven A. M. on its way to Washington, Battery H joined the column and moved to its position, it being assigned to the First Brigade of the First Division. Our division commander was Gen. Thomas G. Stevenson; our brigade commander, Col. Sumner Carruth. On its arrival in the city the corps marched down Fourteenth Street and passed in review before President Lincoln, General Burnside, and a number of civil and military dignitaries. The colored division, under General Ferrero, was the first body of colored troops that had marched through Washington, and they appeared to great advantage, President Lincoln acknowledging their cheers with great respect and courtesy. The corps crossed Long Bridge and went into camp near Alexandria.
Lieut. Benjamin H. Child.