December 13 — This morning I bade farewell to my militia comrades, took the stage at the fair ground, and came to Martinsburg. James H. Williams, who is recruiting for the battery and who induced me to join it, came with me. I arrived in Martinsburg this afternoon, and at once came to the camp of the company, which is near the railroad shops. Everything is strange to me, town, country, people, officers, and not a man in the company that I have ever seen or heard of before.
I had an introduction to Captain Chew, who is sick in his tent, but from the little conversation that I had with him, and from the soldier-like appearance of his environments and his gentlemanly deportment, together with the courteous welcome he gave me as a stranger to his command, I am almost convinced already that what I have done to-day will in the end prove to have been a prudent act, as I will be under the immediate command of one who has studied the art of war.
R. P. Chew is from Jefferson County, a young man, and a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, the latter fact being the great incentive that induced me to join a company of entire strangers.
The principal part of the men in the company are from Jefferson County, with a few members from Loudoun and Berkeley counties.
