William Wallace's Civil War letters: the Virginia campaign

              Society's Iconographie Collections
Civil War cooks at work in an army camp, photographed by a member of
Mathew  Brady's staff.
in the mill in the old country. Every man
almost failed to recognize his comrade, for
the day was warm making the sweat come
freely. After supper resumed the march and
marched north of New Market about a mile
and a half where we encamped with three
brigades. Just at dark had to get them another supper at 8 o'clock and at nine we went
to sleep on the hard ground. At eleven at
night I was ordered to cook two days rations
and be ready to march at midnight. Well I
got up out of my sleep, tired and sleepy, being
up all the previous night and had only been
to sleep scarce two hours. The night was
quite cold, making a fellow shake as if he
had the ague. Between 12 and 1 the brigade
marched south to New Market, when they
turned east on the New Market and Gordons-
ville turnpike over the Massanutten [Mountain]   at 5 o'clock in the morning.
Wednesday 7th. Got up at sunrise and
gave the boys the chickens, bread and coffee.
After breakfast some of the boys smelled some
whiskey in the sutlers tent belonging to the
Indiana 27th, some got drunk. By and by
Colonel Ruger heard it, when he sent a squad
of men to the aforesaid tent and arrested the
3 sutlers and placed them under guard and
immediately confiscated his whole  property,
4 fine horses, and 4 mules and 2 wagons and
all of his stock of goods, as he was violating
the army regulations in selling licquers to
the soldiers. So ended his career in the army.
He lost several hundred dollars besides the
fine.
We are going back to Strasburg, so it is
reported, and there to entrench ourselves, for
we dont expect that Jackson will attempt to
follow us, so our fighting is about ended. In
this valley at Strasburg the railroad leads to
Manassas and thence to Richmond and we
will be only 18 miles from Winchester, where
the railroad runs to Harpers Ferry where we
can get rations and forage plenty and can
move on to Richmond by railroad in short
notice if we are called on. All the forrage for
horses is nearly ate up in this valley, for what
the rebels did not take, we did, so we cant
gain anything by going further.
Sabbath 11th. The boys is busy playing
cards, Sabbath day as it is. Soldiering is the
worst place that any young person went to.
They see all kinds of immerality and evil
speaking and some of my neighbors is as bad
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