October, 1st and 2nd.–During these two days the regiment has been busily engaged in moving its camp about four miles. The new camp is to be called Camp Vanderwerken, from the name of a man owning a large property in the immediate neighborhood.
Very shortly after crossing Chain Bridge, our regiment was transferred from Gen. King’s to Gen. Smith’s brigade, to which we remained attached till about the 28th of September, when Gen. Smith was promoted to the command of a division, and we transferred to a new brigade under command of Brigadier General Winfield Scott Hancock, an officer of fine appearance, but with rather a narrow forehead, and from what little I have seen of him, I should presume him to be at least excitable, if not irritable. We have been between three and four months organized, and have not yet lost a man by either disease or accident. So after all, the life of a soldier, if his health is properly looked after, is not more exposed to sickness than that of a civilian. I am fast coming to the conclusion that the great mortality of camp life is owing much more to neglect of the proper means within our reach of preserving health, than to any exposures to which the soldier is peculiarly liable.