Diary of a Young Officer–Josiah Marshall Favill (57th New York Infantry)

August 1st. The regiment was mustered for pay during the morning, after which the men signed the rolls. Pay day is always an event in the army, almost every man being dead broke long before the paymaster comes around. The men, generally speaking, are improvident, and some of them great gamblers, soon getting rid of their cash; many send home a large proportion of their pay to their families, and the express companies do a big business in money packages every pay day; we are all paid in paper money, and sometimes with coupon, interest-bearing notes; my pay amounts to about one hundred and sixty dollars per month, a third of which I send home for safekeeping, the balance I spend. There are a good many professional gamblers in the army, who, many think, enlisted for the sole purpose of despoiling their comrades; at any rate, there are certain men in our brigade who regularly gather in the bulk of the money. Gambling is forbidden to officers, as well as private soldiers by the regulations, but it is a complete dead letter. The regiment received to-day a new set of camp kettles, to replace their old ones, abandoned on the great retreat. The men were delighted. Since our arrival in this camp each man has cooked his own rations in his tin cup, and his bill of fare has in consequence been extremely limited. Now, again, the company cooks take charge, and the men will have more leisure and better fare.

July 31st, At midnight we all jumped out of bed in a hurry, startled by a heavy artillery fire, which at first could not be located. The men assembled on the color line without orders and remained there until the firing ceased, about an hour in all. It turned out to be a rebel field battery, sent under cover of darkness down the right bank of the James, to shell the numerous transports anchored near the landing. Our gunboats, ton jours pres, opened immediately with their big and little guns, but did not silence them for over an hour; curiously little or no damage was done while the possibilities were immense. Two of their shells burst quite close to our regiment, which indicates they did not get the range. When the firing ceased, we turned in again and were soon asleep.

Brigade inspection at half-past seven A. M., rations and ammunition inspected, as well as arms and accoutrements; our regiment was in fine order. Lieutenant-Colonel Parisen takes infinite trouble in seeing everything for himself. Shortly after nine o’clock it commenced raining and continued throughout the day, deliciously cooling the atmosphere and the parched earth. Anxiously awaited orders to march, which did not come, however.

July 30th. To-day was the hottest of the season thus far. The heat was intolerable, and all work not absolutely necessary was stopped. We made desperate efforts to keep cool, but were wholly unsuccessful. Our tents are covered with pine boughs; the fly is up in front as an awning, and the sides of the tents looped up to the cords, making a free circulation, but still we were almost suffocated. We owe much to the ladies of the sanitary commission, who very kindly furnished us with a lot of palm-leaf fans. At noon received orders to prepare three days’ rations, issue sixty rounds of ammunition, and hold ourselves in readiness to move at a moment’s notice. It was really a good thing to have something to do, for we forgot for the time being the great heat. The cooks set to work; ammunition was issued in the few cases where the men were without their proper complement, and the camp soon became animated and interesting. No information was given as to the movements intended, and so we arranged for a final leave taking of the camp by packing up our traps. At 6 P. M. the brigade was ordered out for drill, in full marching order, three days’ rations included; drill lasted until 7 P. M. After it was over, and before the troops were dismissed, six men from each regiment were selected to serve on the James river gunboat flotilla. Nearly every man in the regiment volunteered to go, and those selected considered themselves fortunate; the fact is a foot soldier is always ready to change place with any man riding horseback, sailing on gunboats, or even driving mule teams. Late in the evening received orders to parade at seven o’clock to-morrow morning. Colonel Zook is still on leave of absence, trying to get recruits for the regiment from the governor of the state; we all hope he may get them and soon rejoin us. Companies are much too small for service.

July 29th. Weather delightful, barring the great heat. In the evening from six to eight o’clock the whole division was paraded for review by General French, commanding. The men returned to camp covered with dust, and saturated with perspiration. It is altogether too hot for unnecessary parades, at least so we think, who do most of the work.

July 28th. Hot as Jupiter! Men and animals suffering much from the prolonged spell of hot weather, and especially from the horrible swarms of flies, a nuisance we cannot abate apparently. The large deep well the regiment has been making was finished to-day and yields abundance of fairly good water. It is just a trifle cooler than the water in the shallow wells, but there is much more of it, which was the chief object in making it. From 6 to 7 P. M. the troops were drilled by brigade, Colonel J. R. Brooke commanding; subsequently, every regiment had a dress parade. We get no news of the enemy and curiously think very little about him. Have settled down to a regular camp life, and are enjoying its quiet comfort. Experience is the one thing soldiers cannot do without. There are certain things essential to one’s comfort, only to be learned in actual campaigning; once acquired they become a part of one’s existence. One of these things is contentment. “Take no anxious care for the morrow!” “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Two golden maxims for a man of war; faithfully observed, they save a world of anxiety in such stirring times as these and are well worth practicing.

July 27th. Sunday morning, bright and beautiful, but intensely hot during the day. Early in the morning the quartermaster issued new clothing, including drawers, socks, trousers, shoes, and blouses. At 7:30 A. M. we fell in for inspection, and nearly every man appeared in new clothes; the regiment looked very fine. After sunset, Broom and I rode over to the river to cool off.

July 26th. Weather glorious; good food and regular sleep has made a wonderful change in our physique, most of us getting stout. I was as thin as a rail, but am beginning to fill out a little. At 11 A. M. every tent in the whole division was struck, the ground thoroughly swept with home-made brooms, and left exposed to the sun till 5 P. M. ; this was to restore the hygienic conditions of the camp which were believed to be foul. Just after the tents were put up again a heavy storm gathered and broke about six o’clock, lasting until 9 P. M. It rained tremendously, but our tents were well put up, and stood like trees.

July 25th. Weather still fine. Had a capital brigade drill in the afternoon, Colonel J. R. Brooke commanding, French still being in command of the division. General Richardson absent on sick leave. For the first time this summer the rations included new potatoes, cabbage, and tomatoes; the country hereabout produces nothing but corn, and all we have comes from the North; our main stay is, of course, hard bread (hard tack), salt pork, and fresh beef, killed on the hoof, and dressed and served on the ground, the animals’ skins being used to cut up the meat on. As the beef is issued immediately after being killed, it is generally warm and full of sand, due to the carelessness of the butchers.

July 24th. Warm pleasant day; towards evening foggy. Porter’s corps was reviewed to-day, and a whole host of Second corps officers rode over to see how it looked. It is the only corps that has any so-called regular infantry. There is one brigade only; the regiments are small battalions, generally commanded by company officers, and are inferior in appearance to scores of volunteer regiments. The Fifth New York is brigaded with them and is by all odds the finest regiment in the whole corps. As a whole, the corps looked soldierly and are a well disciplined body of troops, but we thought not equal to the Second corps. Our regiments average greater strength, and carry themselves more soldierly; there are few regimental commanders like Brooke and Zook and Cross; and, then, Sumner never tires in disciplining everybody, even himself I don’t mean to say we have no poor regiments, because we have; but they are very few in number.