All summer, the troops in Louisiana had been obliged to drink warm, dirty water, from rivers, bayous, and mud-holes; and when, upon arriving at Georgetown Heights, two cool, delicious springs were found bubbling out of the rocks, the satisfaction was unbounded, and many men lingered around them as if attracted by some fairy spell.
The stay in Georgetown was a short one. On Sunday afternoon, July 31, the regiment broke camp, and again marched through Washington, to the Baltimore depot. The closed stores, the crowd of church-going folks on the sidewalks, and the absence of vehicles in the streets, told the men of the Thirty Eighth that they were once more in a land where the Sabbath was outwardly observed, at least. A brief extract from a letter written a day or two after the march through Washington will give an idea of the interest which the arrival of troops at that time excited.
“.... There was an interest and a curiosity manifested by the citizens never exhibited in New Orleans. In that city, regiments might march through the streets from morning till night, and no one would think of asking who they were, or where they came from. In Washington, on the contrary, the questions put to us were quite numerous. The deep color burnt into our faces by the Louisiana sun told plainly that we were no militia men, even if our marching and general appearance did not show it; and so the first question was, ‘What corps do you belong to?’ ‘The Nineteenth.’ ‘Oh, Banks’s men.’ And the inquirers generally appeared to be pleased at the information. A general surprise was shown at the smallness of the regiment; and one man asked me, ‘What company is that?’ ‘Company!’ said I, ‘That’s the Thirty Eighth Massachusetts regiment.’ ‘Where’s the rest of them?’ ‘A good many were buried in Louisiana.’ ‘Oh, you belong to the Nineteenth Corps.’ I expected, before we got through Washington, to be asked what squad we were.”
It must be remembered that the enemy then threatened Washington by way of Harper’s Ferry, and the arrival of the Nineteenth Corps was a great relief to their fears, although the regiments appeared small, accustomed as they were to the arrival of new regiments with full ranks.
After a supper at the “Soldier’s Rest,” the regiment took the cars about eight o’clock, and reached Monocacy Junction a little before noon the next day, going into camp in a reaped grain-field, near the still smoking ruins of the depot, and in the vicinity of the battle-field of Monocacy, where the first division of the corps was then in camp.
No movement took place until the 4th of August, when the cars were again taken, and, in company with the Third Massachusetts Cavalry, which had been dismounted, the regiment rode to Harper’s Ferry, bivouacking for the night on the heights overlooking the town.
August 6th, the army broke camp, and marched to Halltown, four miles beyond Harper’s Ferry, where the Thirty Eighth was attached to the first brigade of the second division, then in command of Col. McCauley, of the Eleventh Indiana. On the 10th, the whole force, artillery, cavalry, and infantry, under Gen. Sheridan, moved forward in pursuit of the enemy, the cavalry skirmishing with their rear-guard; and, on the night of the 12th, the regiment went into camp a few miles beyond Middletown, near Cedar Creek.
The men of the Nineteenth Corps, who had been worn out by the Red River campaign, who had regained but a small portion of their strength while encamped on the banks of the Mississippi under the burning sun, and who had been packed almost as close as slaves on the transports, began this new campaign under unfavorable circumstances. Unlike the level plains of Louisiana, the marching in this portion of Virginia was over hills and through valleys, and the summer heat was still intense; but the clear, cold springs all through the valley were a luxury the Thirty Eighth was unaccustomed to, and men lingered around them, drinking again and again.
The army remained at Cedar Creek until near midnight of the 15th, when, in danger of being flanked by the enemy, the whole command fell back toward Winchester, the Thirty Eighth going into camp at Milltown, where they remained during the day. The reveillé was beaten at one o’clock, A. M. of the 17th, and passing through Winchester, the regiment reached Berryville at noon, and went into camp.
Thursday, the 18th, opened with a rain-storm; but the weather seldom interfered with Gen. Sheridan’s operations, and the army still fell back, encamping at night in the vicinity of Charlestown, where the Thirty Eighth remained until the 20th, when, in pursuance of orders, it changed camp, and rejoined the third brigade, which had just arrived in the Valley under the command of Col. Sharpe.