Thanksgiving Day, the regiment received a portion of the poultry sent from the North for the soldiers; and, by clubbing together, nearly all the messes had a tolerable soup. A real Thanksgiving, however, arrived from Cambridge on the 27th; and then Cos. A, B, and F had turkeys and chickens and puddings in abundance. If the kind friends at home could have looked into those little tents at Camp Russell, at that time, they would have considered themselves repaid for all their trouble.
CHAPTER XVII.
Preparations for Winter—Log-huts—Break Camp—Winchester—Provost Duty—Baltimore—The Stables—Visit of Rev Dr. Ware—Extracts from Letters.
PREPARATIONS now began to be made for passing the winter at Camp Russell. The shelter-tents afforded poor protection against the snow-storms, which were becoming frequent, and boards were scarce; so, in every camp, log-villages arose, many of them far neater in appearance than the tenements in which families of poor whites had been reared on the banks of the Red River.
The regiment was putting up its last row of huts, when a sudden stop was put to all further work, by the reception, on the afternoon of the 20th, of marching orders; and before daylight the next morning, in the midst of a driving storm, the third brigade broke camp, and marched to Winchester, where the Thirty Eighth was selected to do provost duty, and quartered in deserted buildings in the vicinity of the Court House. A portion of the duty here consisted in guarding the rebel prisoners brought in by the cavalry, and in taking squads of them to Harper’s Ferry.
The people in Winchester, and all through the Valley, were bitter foes to the Union, giving constant information to the enemy of all military movements; and many of the prominent citizens had been sent to Fort Henry, in Baltimore. The women adhered to the Confederate cause with a tenacity that could not but win respect, and daily brought baskets of food to the captured rebels. One day, it was the duty of the writer to notify the citizens to have the snow taken off their sidewalks within a certain specified time,—not a very pleasant task considering that the majority of the houses were tenanted by females. Some quietly said it should be done; others were not so tractable. One fair dame said, in a rich Virginia accent, that we had taken all the men off, and that she would see us “durn’d” before she’d shovel snow: she’d “go to the gurd-house first.” Fortunately, a “right smart rain” that night did the work, and saved the dignity of the fair ones.
The provost duty at Winchester was of short duration. Marching orders were received on the 5th of January; and before daylight the next morning, the regiment was groping its way through the silent streets to the outskirts of the town, where it awaited the arrival of the brigade, under command of Lieut.-Col. Richardson, who had recovered from his wound, and returned to duty a few days previously.