Every so often, something happens to make us poor high privates happy. The new orders concerning picket duty have been rescinded. We now do our duty the old way which is of great benefit to us. Of course, that may change once the campaign season begins but that is to be expected. For the time being, we will enjoy what we have been given.
The Yankees cannot defeat us but the rain certainly can and has. All of our efforts to keep warm and dry have been thwarted by the rain. Only when we are in our cabins do we stand any chance to get comfortable but the chance is slim. Wood details, drill, forage details, inspections and other soldiery activities mean that we must spend a good deal of time outside where the rain may beat down on us as much as it likes. We should change the name of our mess from the, "Dandy Eights", to, "Pneumonia Acres".
Our rations seem to be improving but if this is true, it is by so little an amount, that it seems to be an abnormality. We have a bit more salt horse and a bit more corn meal but not enough to fatten on. There has been no rice or peas for some time. Our best opportunity for a substantial improvement in our rations will be to take them from the Yankees. They are much too fat, anyway.
We hear that General Hill is absent, sick and that General Heth now commands the corps. I do not know enough about him to render a proper judgement as to his ability to command an entire corps. It was, supposedly, his division that brought on the engagement at Gettysburg while looking for shoes, before our Lee was ready for a fight. I will let future scholars debate this.
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| Chambersburg Pike, where the first shots at Gettysburg were fired. |
We have also heard that our Lee has been promoted, if it can be called a promotion, to the command of all our armies throughout the entire Confederacy. If this means that he will be leaving us for a desk in Richmond or to assume command of some other army, then the game is up. We hope it is not true as it will have a detrimental effect on us, his soldiers.
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| General Robert E. Lee |
Captain Stover is back from some unknown absence. Lieutenant Williamson is once again our platoon commander. We did not mind him commanding the company and hope that he will someday be given the promotion he deserves.
The captain may have returned a bit too soon. We have just been told that the entire brigade is to make ready to repell a Yankee attack expected tomorrow morning at three of the clock. Has it started? Are the Yankees ready to beaten again?
I Send You These Few Lines
The change that Tooms speaks of was mentioned in the last diary posting. A regiment had to do picket duty by itself over the entire brigade front. This proved unpopular. The old way of each regiment taking care of its' own piece of the line was re-instated.
Tooms is behind on the news. General Lee was appointed general-in-chief of all Confederate armies in January. The Confederate government was hopeful that Lee could work his magic and turn every Confederate field force into another Army of Northern Virginia. Now that's wishful thinking. Lee would never leave his creation, his army, his soldiers. Wherever he goes, they will follow him and he will not leave the field.
Hills's corps consists of three divisions, one under Cadmus Wilcox, another under William Mahone and the third under Henry Heth. As Heth is senior to the other two, he was in charge of he entire corps in Hill's absence. Tooms and his 12th South Carolina is in McGowan's brigade as part of Wilcox's division.
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| Lieutenant General A. Powell Hill |
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| Major General William Mahone. |
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| Major General William Mahone |
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| Major General Cadmus Wilcox |
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| Brigadier General Samuel McGowan |
After the war, Mahone worked as a railroad magnate. He combined several Southern lines into what would become the Norfolk and Western.
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| Norfolk & Western steam locomotive |
The change in the matter of manning the picket lines was reported by the brigade historian.
A good deal of the blame for poor rations in the army, rightly or wrongly, has been laid at the feet of the Confederate Commissary General, Lucius Northrup. At this time in the war, Northrup has been cashiered and replaced with Isaac St John. It has been noted by some historians that St. John was a better administrator than his predecessor and that some improvements in the Commissary Department were beginning to take effect. However, like Lee's promotion, the change was far too late to have any substantial effort on the war.
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| Lucius Northrup. |
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| Isaac St. John |
Salt horse is just a nickname for salt pork.
If the brigade being ordered to be prepared to meet an attack is just another false alarm, then the campaign season has yet to begin. The opposing forces in their trenches will be there a little while longer.
But if it's true...
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