December 30th. Marching orders. Reported the rebel cavalry leader J. E. B. Stuart about to raid into Maryland along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The three companies of our regiment and other troops here are suddenly ordered out on the line of the B. & O. R. R. Left camp tonight in a warm rain [...]
Provost Marshal’s Office, Waterford, Miss., December 30, 1862. Fifteen days outside the world and still we live. No papers of later date than the 15th inst. have reached us, and ’twill be at least five days’ move before we can hope to see one. In that time there have been some six or eight fights [...]
Tuesday, 30th–We struck our tents and started at 10 a. m. We reached Coldwater by noon and stopped for our mess. Our colonel must have been cold and in a hurry, for he gave the order, “Front right dress! Stack arms! Break ranks! Get rails and build fires! G– D–!” It amused the boys and [...]
DECEMBER 30th.—We have another crisis. Dispatches from Murfreesborough state the hostile armies are facing each other, and not a mile apart; the skirmishing increases, and a decisive battle may occur at any moment. From Vicksburg we have no further intelligence; but from the Rappahannock we learn that both artillery and infantry were distinctly heard yesterday [...]