THE FIFTH AND TWENTIETH UNDER ARMS.

301 dered where the veterans obtained windows and various other fixings that added so much to their comfort, and were told that they drew them.' After a while, the greenness wore off from our men; and they, too, learned to draw things,' not always of Uncle Sam's quartermasters. Boards were afterwards sometimes drawn' from the side of a barn two miles from camp; windows were drawn' a still greater distance; and then they managed to 'draw' hay or straw for a bunk. It takes soldiers a year to learn how to keep comfortable." That confession will answer for all the regiments during their unseasoned period. Sickness prevailed as the result of the exposure and the new life; and, during the winter, more than thirty died.

On Nov. 10, Slocum's corps moved to join the main army near Fredericksburg. The Fifth Connecticut, which had been detailed on provost duty at Frederick, now rejoined the corps.

Passing through Hillsborough, Wheatland, Leesburg, Chantilly, and Fairfax Court House, they reached Fairfax Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, on the 14th. They crossed the Occoquan next morning at Wolf-run Shoals, and pushed on through rain and mud for two days, while heavy guns were pounding away at Fredericksburg. On the 17th, Burnside having escaped from his cul de sac, they turned back to Fairfax Station, and began to make a winter camp.

For a time, rations were poor and scanty; and many actually suffered for food. While the 12th Corps was at Fairfax, the rebel Stuart rode with his cavalry entirely around the force, and passed out below Leesburg unmolested. The Fifth and Twentieth were under arms for a time; but there was no fight. The men built half-comfortable loghuts, and were beginning to settle down for the third time. for a winter's rest, when orders came to march to Stafford Court House. Again the drudgery and toil of moving were repeated: the great wagons were loaded, and dragged on four miles a day, the corps keeping along so as to help the stalled teams out of the mud. Soldiers were most of the time on half-rations

The full army-ration is enough for any man.

It consists of meat, either fresh or salt, hard or soft bread, or flour, beans or peas, rice or hominy, coffee or tea, sugar, vinegar, candles, soap, salt, pepper, potatoes, and molasses; but after a battle, or during the prevalence of a long storm or deep mud, and very often when no sufficient reason was visible, this was diminished to suit circumstances. At Stafford Court House, the men found food, rest, and the army paymaster. Capt. Cogswell of the Fifth, and Lieut. Beardsley of the Twentieth, were detailed as brigade-inspectors; and Major Buckingham acted as assistant inspector-general of the division. Col. Chapman of the Fifth, to whom, mainly, the regiment owed its efficiency in discipline and drill, was compelled on account of ill health to resign, and was succeeded by Col. Warren W. Packer of Groton, who went out as captain of Company G. A correspondent wrote the Providence Journal at this time as follows:

"We learned a day or two since some interesting facts of the Fifth Connecticut Regiment, which, for army-life, is as anomalous as it is pleasing. Its commander, Col. Packer, we are assured, is a teetotaler; neither drinking any intoxicating liquors himself, nor allowing any to his men. Its chaplain, Rev. Mr. Welch, is declared to be the very best in the army, though never preaching a sermon; and its sutler, Mr. Randall, who acted in this capacity over two years, never sold or offered for sale a single drop of liquor."

At Stafford Court House, the men once more built themselves winter huts; and occupied them, with only the usual incidents of camp-life, until the army was thawed out in April.

CHAPTER XX.

The First Connecticut Battery and Seventh Regiment in Florida. - Capture of St. John's Bluff.-Sixth and Seventh in South Carolina. - Battle of Pocotaligo. The Twelfth at Camp Parapet. - Yankee Enterprise. - Anecdotes of the Thirteenth. - Services and Sufferings of the Ninth at Vicksburg. - The Battle of Baton Rouge.. The La Fourche Campaign. - Battle of Georgia Landing. - Thanksgiving. - The Ninemonths' Regiments leave Long Island. - The Twenty-eighth at Pensacola. — Destruction of a Rebel Gunboat.

URING the heat of the summer of 1862, the Sixth and Seventh, with the First Battery, remained at Hilton Head; while military inaction reigned, and the jurisdiction of the department contracted. The members of the Seventh named their camp "Camp Hitchcock," after their lamented comrade.

In September, an expedition was planned to capture a fort at St. John's Bluff, Fla., which had considerably annoyed the navy, but was on such high ground, that the gunboats were unable to destroy it. The Seventh Connecticut, 47th Pennsylvania, Capt. Rockwell's First Connecticut Battery, and one company of Massachusetts cavalry, were selected. for the purpose. They left Hilton Head on board the steamers Ben. Deford, Boston, Cosmopolitan, and Neptune, on the thirtieth day of September, 1862, arriving off the bar at the mouth of St. John's River on the morning of Oct. 1. They went over the bar; landed at a place called Mayport Mills; traveled across the country for miles, through swamp and mire, the most of the time through mud and water knee-deep; and came across a rebel cavalry camp, charging through it, and putting the cavalry to flight with an exchange of shots, but no loss of life to either side. The fugitives left their dinner smoking hot; and the Union boys,

tired, wet, and hungry, did ample justice thereto. After a two-days' farther march, they came upon the rebel stronghold, only to find they had abandoned it in a hurry a short time before, leaving every thing behind them,- camp-kettles on the fire with their rations in them, and guns unspiked. The fort was immediately dismantled, and all the guns sent to Hilton Head. The force went up the river as far as Jacksonville, bringing away a number of white and black refugees from Rebeldom, who hailed our men as their deliverers.

In the afternoon of Oct. 21, two brigades under Connecticut officers, with Gen. Brannan in command, started on an expedition inland to burn the railroad bridges between Charleston and Savannah. Sergeant Robert Wilson, an intelligent scout from Stamford in the Sixth Connecticut, had been out with a negro examining the rivers, landings, &c.; and he now piloted the raid.

The Sixth, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Speidal, was in the 1st Brigade, under Col. Chatfield; and the Seventh in the 2d Brigade, under Gen. Terry. The Connecticut regiments had each five hundred men. The Seventh Regiment embarked on the Boston; and the whole force moved up Broad River to Mackay's Point, where they landed next morning, the 22d.

The line of march was taken up, the 1st Brigade ahead; and the force, in column by companies, moved briskly some five miles inland, where they discovered the enemy posted on rising ground beyond a marsh which was flanked by thick woods. The rebels opened with howitzers and musketry. The 1st Brigade advanced in line of battle, and soon became hotly engaged: but the rebels fled along the road before the 2d Brigade was fairly up; and our men jumped the ditch, waded through the swamp, and pursued.

Another rapid march of two or three miles, much of it at the double-quick; again the skirmishers were driven in; the enemy had taken a new position. Two field-pieces were posted on a slope beyond some sparse woods, while their infantry was stationed in the thicket, or concealed behind houses near by. The Sixth Connecticut, a New-Hampshire, and two Pennsylvania regiments, moved into the woods to dislodge the enemy. These regiments were subjected to a

THE DEAD OF THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH.

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galling fire of both artillery and musketry. The Sixth suffered severely at this point; Col. Chatfield and Lieut.-Col. Speidal being both struck with canister-shots while bravely leading their men. The line moved steadily forward, cut up by shot and shell, tangled by thickets, the men now standing, now lying down, now carefully advancing, pressing the enemy closer and harder in a fight of two hours; when, despite their advantage of ground, the rebels again fled, protecting their guns, however, as they dragged them sullenly to the rear. During the fight, Capts. Chamberlain's and Burdick's companies of the Seventh had also done good service as sharpshooters, and the rest of the regiment had been for a short time briskly engaged.

Again our forces pursued; but the rebels retired deliberately, our column being much harassed by guns unlimbered on commanding points in the road, and infantry firing from the fences and woods. The need of cavalry was much felt. Our troops successively charged upon and dislodged the enemy for a distance of nearly four miles; when the rebels retreated across the Pocotaligo River, burning the bridge behind them. Across this creek, which, though narrow, was deep, the enemy posted batteries; but some of our men proceeded to fell trees across for bridges. During the lull, a locomotive whistle was heard in the distance; then a train loaded with rebel soldiers thundered into the village, and was received with cheers for "South Carolina." At nightfall our forces returned to Mackay's, which they reached before daybreak, and re-embarked for Beaufort.

The Sixth had lost five killed and thirty-three wounded; Orderly Sergeant Robert B. Gage of Bridgeport, a brave man, being killed by a rifle-ball in the side. Of the wounded, Corporal David G. Shepard and Private Taylor died of their wounds. The Seventh lost in killed two, wounded twenty-seven. Five died of their wounds.

The expedition did not result in any advantage to the Union cause.

Our regiments in Louisiana were living by no means an inactive life. They had recruited their ranks to the maxi