December 22— We renewed our march this morning, but made little progress, as it took us the entire day to march six miles. Our horses stalled at every hill on the road. At one place one of the drivers became so vexed and aggravated at his balking horses that he dismounted and drew out his pocket knife with the determination to cut their throats; however, before he proceeded with the deadly operation he asked me what I thought of his intention. I told him it was most too late in the campaign, and that we were near the end of our march for this year, for anything of that kind. He hesitated a moment, with his knife open and ready to cut. I saw that he was in earnest, so I advised him not to commit the rash deed, as it might prove to be a serious affair in the end, when the officers of the company heard of the murder. He then put his knife in his pocket and went to work on his horses with a hoop pole.
We forded the north fork of the Rivanna this morning, which took us just three hours, in consequence of the ford being very icy and the south bank on coming out place slippery and very steep. One of our artillery horses fell down in the middle of the river and was very near being drowned before we could extricate it from the harness. One of the cannoneers stripped off his clothes and plunged into the icy water and assisted the struggling horse to rise from its perilous submerged situation. Late this evening we crossed the south fork of the Rivanna at Rio bridge on the Earleysville road, five miles from Charlottesville. We are camped this evening in a woods on the Earleysville road, about four miles from Charlottesville, and at the place of our intended winter quarters.
