Halls Hill, Va., March 3, 1862.
Dear Father, — I infer from your last letter, in which you say that I have not written you how I was received by General Porter, that you have not received all my letters. In letters written to Hannah and others of the family, I have mentioned several times that I liked General P. very much, and that he received me very kindly, etc. You know that when I came here first the general was not here, and he did not return for some days. When he did come I was introduced to him by Captain Locke, and was warmly welcomed by him. I gave him your letter, which he read. He asked how you were, and has since told me that he had been meaning to send you a photograph of his. He also wished me to remember him to you. He advised me to drill with my regiment whenever it was practicable, and to go out with General Martindale on his brigade drills. My regiment have had no battalion drills since I have been out here, on account of the mud. They have had bayonet drills under sergeants, and target practice, at neither of which I could attend as an officer. I have been over there some five or six times, and when I go, always stop and see my captain and lieutenant and some other officers. My captain’s name is Thomas, a regular Yankee, with the nasal twang, sharp and smart, and a very pleasant man, although not remarkably well educated. He is from Roxbury, and used to be connected with the iron foundry in R. just by the tannery, and where our old man Michael used to work. My first lieutenant is named Howes, and is from New Bedford, where he was a boat-builder. I should say that he and Captain Thomas were about 45 years old. Lieutenant Howes is a smart officer and an agreeable man. I don’t know any of my privates, but hope to soon. My company is D, and is one of the best in the regiment. It has the right of the line. . . .
I see Tom Sherwin two or three times a week, and often ride with him. I can’t ride as often as I would like, as my horse has the scratches and the mud increases them and makes them worse. You ask about one other person, beginning with C., but I can’t make out the rest of the name. I see Colonel Griswold quite often, and am quite intimate with him and Tom Sherwin. I also know Lieutenant Martindale quite well, a son of the general’s and one of his aides.
I have hardly made up my mind about the horse yet. I have had no chance to try him fairly. I think, however, he has good powers of endurance and will stand hardships well. I believe I can stick on him as long as he can run. I took him out yesterday to go with the general to the different camps to inspection. He had not been out for some days, and so thought he could have it all his own way. He raced round the field through bogs and ditches, and brambles, etc., kicking and rearing, etc., but all to no purpose. I clung on and ran him round until he got tired of the business. To-day I went to Washington with the general, and rode him (horse, not general) very fast all the way. When I got in there we went to General McClellan’s headquarters and I left him out in the rain and mud for three or four hours, not knowing the general would stay so long, or else I should have put him in a stable. I then galloped him almost all the way out here through mud-holes and mud-ponds, etc., and on arriving here found that he was not tired or blowing at all. I think it is a pretty good test for him.
Look out for news soon. All the division commanders of the Army of the Potomac were at headquarters to-day, and it was to meet them that General Porter came in town. There were some twelve generals there. General McClellan was not there, being, I think, with Banks’s column. I should judge that we were going to advance down from Harper’s Ferry from some such indications. I hear that the Regulars are all under marching orders. I left General Porter in Washington, he saying that this meeting would keep him till midnight. The generals had a large quantity of maps, etc., spread out on a table, and were all figuring over them. I got the general some of his photographs, drew a check for him, and then started for camp.
Yesterday I went with the general to see Stockton’s Michigan regiment reviewed, and from there went down to the cavalry camps, where we lunched, and then went over Forts Woodbury and De Kalb, both of them small earthworks. It began to snow just as we started for home, and by the time we reached here the snow was some two inches deep. A heavy rain has set in to-day, however, and I hope soon to find it all gone and the roads in good condition. Our orders to be ready at any minute to march were countermanded a day or two ago, probably because Banks had no opposition offered him. . . .
We are to have a son of Colonel Barnes here as volunteer aide with rank of captain. He is a good-looking gentlemanly fellow, a lawyer by profession in New York, and will be quite an acquisition to the staff.
I received an invitation to Miss Chase’s[1] reception tomorrow from 1 till 4, through General Butterfield, who was kind enough to send it to me. I think I shall make my “debut” in Washington society, as General Porter is going and kindly offered to have me go with him.
Tell the girls I have cut off my magnificent moustache and beard because they did not grow fast enough. How do you like my last photographs?
I forgot to mention that General Martindale’s headquarters are within 30 feet of General Porter’s, so that I should see as much as ever of my present staff. General M. is one of P.’s brigadier generals. . . .
[1] Miss Kate Chase, daughter of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase; afterwards famous as the wife of Senator William Sprague of Rhode Island.
