In Camp with L Company, Second Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry

by George W. Petty

Harrisburg is noted far and wide for its steel and iron industries, and it was a most interesting sight to see the tall chimneys along the approach to the city vomiting forth columns of flame high in the air, lighting the whole neighborhood, while inside the foundries great masses of red hot metal glowed and sparkled while going through the molding process. But we never dreamed there were so many pretty girls there, in fact we were literally besieged as soon as our section arrived in the car sheds. Our officers were very positive in their order that no one should leave the cars, so we had to look cheerful while a fellow from some other Company walked off with the girl who had turned up such a bewitching, beseeching face for "just a little button." The boys from eleven companies of the Regiment had a mighty good time while we were waiting here, but some of the girls didn't mind being pulled up to a window and paying a forfeit as long as they got the button, and when the trains finally drew out again the boys of Company L had quite pleasant dreams of the Harrisburg girls. We had been waiting here for about two hours when our Junior Lieutenant came into the car and with a cheerfully serious face announced: "Well boys we are in for it now; we are bound for Jacksonville, Florida." I think an electric current must have passed through the car at that instant, everybody jumped out of their seats so quickly. Jacksonville and Tampa were about the same in our minds. It seems that Chickamauga Park was filling too rapidly with troops and transportation was getting clogged; hence the switching us off to the south. It was estimated that we had gone about three hundred miles out of our way. About eleven o'clock we drew out of Harrisburg, taps were sounded through the trains and all lights were extinguished. We found that the only way of taking a comfortable sleep was as follows: The back of one seat was swung upright and held in position by our rifles placed under one end; we then took out each seat and placed them crosswise; the lower ends would be under the upright backs. This gave us room to stretch ourselves at full length, and by putting our blankets under our heads for a pillow we managed to sleep fairly well. We arrived in Washington during the early hours of the morning and were awakened by the train starting out again at daylight. We caught a glimpse of the monument and the dome of the Capitol as we were rushed across the Potomac. In Alexandria, the town made famous in 1861 by the tragic death of Colonel Ellsworth, the white people were still sleeping and only stray negroes were out to see us pass. We skirted the Potomac for some miles, when we turned westward and southward. At Widewater we stopped for water and I plucked two daisies from Virginia soil and sent them home in a letter. This section of country which we traversed was as desolate and uncultivated a region as I ever want to see. It was totally unexpected and wholly disappointing. Vast fields in Virginia appeared as if the growing of grass was a hardship. Here and there a negro's log cabin, with its ten by ten garden of dwarf corn, with perhaps a bed of peanuts or sweet potatoes, reminded us that we had not left civilization entirely.

"NEGRO LOG CABIN, WITH ITS TEN BY TEN GARDEN PATCH OF CORN AND PEANUTS."

As we rode swiftly towards the South a great disappointment was felt that we were not to go through the cities of Virginia—Fredericksburg, Petersburg and Richmond, historical places that we were peculiarly anxious to see. These were skirted or passed some distance away, but we caught a glimpse of the spires of Richmond and it set us all agog. We passed into North Carolina and soon entered Weldon, the scene of several cavalry engagements. After leaving this city we passed through miles of desolate country, over which once waved the tall and stately pines, but now only the blackened stumps greeted us. Occasionally a small forest was passed, which looked amid the general destruction as if it had been forgotten by the axeman.

These small forests, which had been used only for tapping for turpentine and resin, contained trees sixty or seventy feet high, straight as an arrow, with the lowest branches twenty feet from the ground. These trees were about the only interesting features of this whole region of piney atmosphere. Occasionally we caught a glimpse of some far away range of mountains, but the view was quickly lost. At Henderson we stopped for water and our ice coolers were refilled. The water was gotten to the coolers through the top of the car by means of hose from a hydrant at the station. This refilling was done hurriedly and they were not very particular as to the direction in which the hose pointed, hence quite a few sorry looking soldiers.

As we were slowly crossing over one of the many muddy streams of North Carolina a workman called out to us: "Be you un's come all the way from New Jersey?" "Yes." "And be you un's all goin' to Cuba?" "Yes." "Well you un's had better all go right back, for its hotter 'n hell-fire down there." A peculiar thing I noticed was the absence of all enthusiasm among the groups of people we occasionally met in the wilderness through which we passed. Most of these were negroes, but in nearly every group of black-faced humanity could be seen the fair face of the white girl, "Missus's little lamb," who took the household with her to see the Yankee soldiers, whose fathers years before had tramped through that very region, leaving burning forests and even cities in their wake. We entered Raleigh and passed the encampment where the State militia had mobilized. Soon after leaving Hamlet darkness descended, taps were sounded and we prepared for our second night's repose.

We woke next morning as the train was crossing the Savannah river and immediately afterward entered Augusta, Ga., just as the cocks were crowing, having passed through South Carolina during the night. Here we enjoyed the luxury of a good wash and we needed it badly. The only water obtainable on the cars was in the water coolers and they had been empty a long while. Augusta gave us quite a welcome. It had been steadily getting warmer and warmer, until now as we pulled out of Augusta at about 8 a.m. the thermometer in the car marked 87°; at noon it was 95°, where it remained until far into the afternoon. Upon leaving Augusta we noticed for the first time the unmistakable signs of the tropics, great ferns, seven and eight feet high, which had rank growth in the swamps lining our route. Here and there scrub palmettos reared their graceful branches like giant hands bestowing a blessing upon the smaller growth beneath, and farther south loomed the shaggy headed cabbage palmetto, the sight of which recalled the brave fight at Fort Moultrie off Charleston in 1776, which fort was built almost entirely of palmetto logs, the principal advantage being the fact that they did not splinter when struck. We passed vast swampy areas of tangled scrub, out of which we could almost expect to see alligators show their bony snouts.

We stopped at Millen near noon to take our coffee. This town was burned when Sherman's troops marched through on their way to Augusta. It was a sleepy sort of a town. No one seemed to have any business to attend to. The stores were one story affairs, and upon entering we would select whatever we wanted and drop the nickel in the hand of the proprietor, who was seated at the door. The only busy place was the post-office, which did a thriving business during the hour we halted there. About 2 p.m. we drew into the car sheds at Savannah only long enough to have the cars inspected. Here the boys were again besieged for buttons and souvenirs.