"We stay at six".

Tuesday, October 6, 1863, Orange Court House, Virginia.

If boredom could kill, half of us would be dead. There is so very little to do that is of any consequence. We chop great quantities of firewood for we expect a harsh winter and that is useful. Some of us sneak out of camp to hunt deer, fully aware that if they are caught, they will be charged for the cartridges they use or will face some punitive punishment. This is the time of year when the deer are active in their efforts to achieve connection and it is so hard to see them prance hither and yon and not think of a good supper.  I Company draws picket duty only every so often and with the exception of one flurry of activity, the Yankees have given us little excuse for raising a sweat. 

Towards the end of last month, on the 25th, the Yankee cavalry attempted a raid on Liberty Mills, on the Rapidan. They perhaps had heard that Longstreet's corps has left us to go out west and therefore our lines were weakened. Our division, being hard by, was ordered to take care of them. Lane's brigade of North Carolinians stayed behind at Barnett's Ford while the rest of the division went downriver, looking for Yankees. The Twelfth was separated from the brigade and went down from the Mills. We saw nothing and fired not a shot. The North Carolinians who stayed where they were saw some action but we did not.

Two days later, we returned to camp. Our only casualty was Hancock who twisted an ankle. Good soldier that he is, he did not allow himself to be separated from his pards and rode in a supply wagon with a teamster. That night, at supper around the campfire, Hancock produced a slab of bacon for all of us to partake. Hancock said that he had captured it. Our mess gave him three cheers. The commotion attracted the attention of Corporal Flynn who paid us a visit. We expected him to turn all bellicose and threaten all manner of punishments but all he said was that it smelled good in our mess. We bade him sit and share.

Longstreet and his whole corps has been sent to help Bragg out west. It seems that he cannot beat the Yankees without Lee's help and as Lee cannot leave here, he sent his trusted lieutenant, Longstreet. It is all too bad that Stonewall is no longer with us. If Old Jack were sent, he could drive the Yankees straight back to and beyond the Ohio.

There have been some changes lately. Colonel Perrin, who took over command of the brigade upon the wounding of General McGowan at our last great victory of Chancellorsville, has been promoted to brigadier general. When our division commander, Pender, was wounded at Gettysburg, it was Wilcox who took over comand. We now learn that his temporary command has been permanent now that poor Pender is dead, succumbed to his wounds.

The re-organization of our company and squad after Gettysburg seems to be working well. "Jeffie" Turner, and "Ham" Steele, Sims, Sullivan and the rest are adjusting to us and we to them. We have taken to calling Stafford Hood "General Hood" after that great Kentuckian -turned-Texican Hood and he does not mind it in the least.

We of the Dandy Eights mess have pondered what to do now that we number just six. Troy Crenshaw has been absent since being wounded at Second Manassas which was more than a year ago. Vincent went missing since Gettysburg and now it stands that we are six. We debated allowing others to join our mess to bring our numbers up to eight but we decided not to as it would be an admission that we would never see our two pards again. We shall stay at six.


I Send You These Few Lines


They may be bored but at least no one is shooting at them. The great scene of action, at this time, is in the West, with the Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg.In September of 1863, Bragg had his opposite number, William Rosecrans and his Union Army of the Cumberland penned up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Longstreet and part of his corps, not all of it as Tooms thought, were sent to help deliver the killing blow to Rosecrans.

Washington was not to permit this to happen. Two corps of Meade's Army of the Potomac, the XI  and XII Corps were sent west to assist Rosecrans. Sending away so much of Meade's army would slow but not halt offensive operations against Lee. Tooms is unaware of this transfer of Federal troops away from Virginia. 

What constitutes west at this time needs clarification. When someone spoke of the west back then, they were not referring to Wyoming, Nevada, Utah or Arizona (none of which yet existed) but rather Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan and other states which are now called the Midwest.

Tooms and his pards will need to enjoy the respite from active campaigning while it lasts. If the lull lasts much longer, the change from good weather to bad will terminate all campaigning until the Spring. If.

By that time, Longstreet will return and Lee's army will be whole again. The same cannot be said for the two corps sent from Meade's army. Neither would return to Virginia. The XII Corps would be broken up in April of 1864 and the troops used as the nucleus of a new corps.

The other corps that never returned, the XI, has quite an interesting story. At the Battle of Chancellorsville in April of 1863, it was this corps, under then O.O. Howard that was first attacked by "Stonewall" Jackson as part of his lengthy flank march. The reader may recall from the May 7, 1863 diary entry by Tooms, two captured Union troops, Albert Drehfall and Adam Herlich that were being escorted by Tooms' regiment away from the field. Both of then were with the 54th New York, part of XI Corps.

Two of the three divisions comprising XI Corps stayed in the West. The remaining division, would be transferred to the Department of the South to take part in operations against Charleston in 1863. The headquarters of the Department of the South and the base for operations against Charleston was Hilton Head, South Carolina, about 45 minutes south of where this writer (and Tooms) lives. 

So Lee gets all his people back and Meade gets nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. He does get some guy named Grant.