Three Years in the Sixth Corps | Page 9

depth of several inches. Here our men, tired
and wet, cold and hungry, were to pitch their tents, cook their suppers,
and make their beds.
The men fell to work heartily, and by dark they had cleared off the
snow and brush enough to make room for their tents, and many cook
fires blazed over the camp.

The regiments of the division showed us much hospitality, and a very
pleasant acquaintance commenced on that day, which was destined to
become earnest friendship. The next day was spent in putting the camp
in order. As rain continued to fall, the mud in the company streets
became knee-deep. Our sick, those unable to walk, had been left in our
old hospital with a sufficient number of faithful nurses, under charge of
the surgeon of one of the regiments that remained.
Let us for a moment glance at the composition of the division of which
we now formed a part. We were assigned to the Third brigade. It
comprised, beside our own, the Thirty-third New York, Colonel Taylor,
a regiment whose gallantry at Yorktown, Williamsburgh and
Fredericksburgh fully established its reputation as one of the best
fighting regiments in the army. The Forty-ninth New York, Colonel
Bidwell, a noble regiment with a noble commander, a regiment which
could always be counted on to do all that men could do; the Seventh
Maine, Colonel Mason, whose men were patterned after the pines of
their own forests, tall, straight and powerful fellows, who never forgot
their proclivities for hunting, and who were never so happy as when
they could pick off a few rebel pickets with their rifles. The brigade
was commanded by General Davidson, who afterwards made himself
exceedingly disagreeable to the rebels, and famous at the north by his
daring cavalry raids in the west. The first brigade included the
Forty-third New York, Colonel Vinton; the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania,
Colonel Irwin; the Sixth Maine, Colonel Knowles; and the Fifth
Wisconsin, Colonel Cobb; all of them excellent regiments, under
command of General Hancock, who has since placed his name high on
the roll of fame as the commander of the old Second corps.
The Second brigade was composed entirely of Vermont troops,
including the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Vermont
regiments, commanded respectively by Colonels Henry Whiting, B. N.
Hyde, E. H. Stoughton, L. A. Grant and N. M. Lord, and known as the
"Vermont Brigade," and nobly did they sustain the traditional
reputation of the Green Mountain Boys, as stern patriots and hard
fighters. They were commanded by General Brooks, who afterward
commanded the Tenth corps.

General William F. Smith, or, as he was familiarly known, "Baldy
Smith," commanded the division. He is too well known to all who
admire a true soldier to require more than a mention here, and his great
fame has been well and faithfully earned.
No more splendid material, either for officers or men, ever entered into
the composition of a division, and how nobly it played its part in the
great drama of the war, it shall be part of our duty to record. Drills,
regimental, brigade and division, were again in order, and picket duty
now became a part of our routine.
This would not be a faithful chronicle of the doings of the new
regiment, were we to forget to relate the history of our first expedition
into the enemy's country.
An order came one evening in February for Colonel McKean to take
his regiment and make a reconnoissance towards Vienna. His
instructions were to pass the picket line, advance towards Vienna, make
a thorough reconnoissance and return.
The news spread through the camp, and the regiment was ablaze with
excitement. Some who had been on the sick list, and were excused
from camp duty, sought from the surgeon permission to accompany the
expedition, while a few who had been, up to this time, well, were
earnest in their applications to be excused from the march.
The regiment was formed at ten o'clock at night; thick darkness,
darkness of the blackest and most intense degree, prevailed. One could
scarcely see his neighbor whose shoulder touched his own. We were
miles away from the enemy, but the men were to be instructed in
performing their movements in secrecy; so the commands were passed
along the line, as the companies were forming, in whisper. No lights
were allowed, and we left our camp a column of blackness. We were
presently joined by a guide who carried a lantern. We passed a great
many regiments, all the while observing strict silence.
The mud was deep, very deep; some of the men lost their shoes in the
depths of the mire, and some even lost themselves, and were only

discovered when they arrived in camp some hours earlier than the
regiment. Through