We built shelter for our horses, and quite good quarters for the men; but we had not more than completed our quarters before we had orders to move nearer our base of supplies, so on Dec. 12th we broke camp and marched through Winchester to within a short distance of Stephenson Station.
This march was very hard on both men and horses, as it commenced to snow soon after we started, and when we arrived at camp there was about six inches of snow. It cleared up at night, and came out cold, the ground freezing up, making it quite a job to pitch our tents. There was very little sleep that night.
The next day we had time to log up our tents, and at once began to build shelters for our horses. We soon had a very comfortable camp, where we remained until the 10th of March, 1865, with no hard duty to perform.
By the middle of December Gen. Sheridan had sent all of the Sixth Corps to the Army of the Potomac, then in front of Petersburg. One division of the Eighth Corps was sent to City Point, and the other to West Virginia, the cavalry and the Nineteenth Corps remaining in the valley. The cavalry made a raid through Luray Valley and destroyed all the forage and wheat; they also drove off about three thousand sheep, one thousand hogs, and hundreds of cattle and horses.
On the 19th of December Torbert started up the valley with eight thousand cavalry, to strike the Virginia Central Railroad and destroy the James River Canal. This enterprise was not a success, and on the 27th he returned to Winchester, many of his men frost-bitten by the excessive cold.
This ended all movements until February 27th, when Gen. Sheridan started with ten thousand cavalrymen and two sections of artillery on his successful trip up the valley, through to Grant's army before Petersburg. At Waynesboro he captured all of Early's command, and the valley was clear of any large force of the enemy.
On the 10th of March we broke camp and moved near Winchester, remaining in this camp a short time, and then moved to the east of Winchester about a mile and went into camp. Our duties there were light. We fired a salute of one hundred guns on Lee's surrender. Knowing that the war was about over, we had very short drills, both mounted and the manual.
On the 4th of July we received orders to turn in our battery and other government property, and proceed to Rhode Island. It is needless to say that this order was received by the men with every conceivable manifestation of joy; some hugged each other, while others shouted and threw their hats in the air, and when "water call" was blown it took fifteen minutes to form the line, but after that things quieted down, and on the morning of the 10th we started for home, under command of Capt. Corthell, taking the cars as far as New York, and then the steamer John Brooks, which landed us at Fox Point wharf on the morning of July 13th.
The officers accompanying Capt. Corthell and belonging to the battery were First Lieuts. Frederick Chase and Charles E. Bonn, and Second Lieut. Charles C. Gray. The men numbered ninety-five, and presented a remarkably fine appearance, having nearly new uniforms.