Thursday, December 4, 1862. — A clear fine day. In the morning I walked, or climbed rather, to the top of the hill near the camp, just east of us. On the top I could see east of me the camp of the Forty-seventh [Ohio] at Tompkins farm, the camp of the Fourth Virginia, and other camps on the west side of Kanawha to the west, and the road to Fayette south. A hard scramble but I stood it well. My arm is still weak and easily hurt. Queer feeling, to think I can reach up to grasp a limb of a tree, and find it impossible to raise my hand above my head. In the afternoon I walked with Captain Haven up to Gauley Bridge. He explained to me the dwarf and giant laurel and the beautiful holly. The dwarf laurel grows from three to five feet high, is usually in thickets, and has an oval leaf. The giant laurel grows fifteen or twenty feet high and has a long leaf. The holly grows as high as apple trees and has a prickly leaf.
I give Colonel Comly drill and discipline, Major McIlrath, supplies of all sorts, and I attend to general interests of the regiment. I have sinks dug, look to camp drainage, and the like. The exercise agrees with me.
