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Chapter 4: our first campaign.--battle of Fair Oaks.
About the middle of March we broke camp and took up our line of march for our first campaign.
We bade good-by to our tents, which had sheltered us since we left
Massachusetts, and sent them to
Washington with our extra personal baggage, where I expect they are to-day, as we never received them again.
We marched to the river, then up the towpath of the canal to
Harper's Ferry, forded the
Potomac at
Point of Rocks, and for the first time our feet pressed the sacred soil of
Virginia.
We saw here the devastations of war,--the ruins of the old arsenal that had been burned by the rebels, the dilapidated and vacant houses,--but most interesting to us was the old engine-house, where
John Brown made his gallant fight.
This we found filled with rebel prisoners.
“Truly,” we said, “his soul is marching on.”
As soon as arms were stacked we rushed to the arsenal ruins for relics.
I found an old gun-lock and several other parts of muskets.
These I packed in my knapsack,--and the next day threw them away.
With other regiments we marched up the valley to join
Banks's division, and bivouacked at
Charlestown in the field where
John Brown was hanged.
The next morning Company A was ordered back to
Harper's Ferry for provost duty.
The rest of the regiment
