January 6 — Last night it commenced snowing very fast, and snowed all night, which made it very disagreeable for outing, especially without tents, and we all snowed under about six inches. This morning before daylight some of our boys went down to the Hancock depot on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which is on the Virginia side of the Potomac, and captured some splendid army shoes, jackets, and coats, all new and of good quality. They went in the dark, for the reason that there were Yankee sharpshooters on the other side of the river ready to plant bullets in any Rebel that would be despicable enough to dare to touch any of Uncle Sam’s goods.
About ten o’clock this morning the Yanks commenced passing some shell from Maryland to Virginia, and as we were close to the State line we moved back about a mile, and are now camped about a mile and a half from Hancock. Our camp is hanging way up on a steep hillside where the winter wind has a good whack at us.
Jackson’s men have all moved back beyond the range of the Yankee shell. His batteries did not reply to the enemy’s fire, which was slow and desultory, and from indications they had but two guns engaged. They threw their shell all over these hills and fired at nothing in particular.
