oving to our camping ground. At half-past nine we finally
received orders to march off. Passed up the railroad from Aquia to
Fredericksburg about two miles, filed to the left, continued on from
the road about one-third of a mile, and after another delay of perhaps
half an hour, our colonel selected our camp, and we formed upon it, to
pass another unpleasant night. The spot selected was in the woods, upon
the side of a hill. The heavy wood had been cut, and most of it taken
off, but all of the tops, and some of the largest logs were left, all
covered with the snow which fell the night before. Every thing being
wet, it was some time before we could start our fires. But little sleep
could be had that night; the most uncomfortable one that the Twelfth
Rhode Island Volunteers had experienced. The place we christened Camp
Smoke, a most appropriate name for this place. The first night and the
following day it was impossible for us to escape the smoke from our
numerous fires, half of it passing into our eyes, and down our throats.
We would pass around our fires, the smoke following our coat-tails as we
moved along, and fastened to us soon as we stopped; it was impossible to
escape it. We stopped at this place until Tuesday morning, the 9th, when
the brigade again took up their line of march. We arrived opposite
Fredericksburg Wednesday, the 10th, and encamped for the night
alongside the Seventh Rhode Island.

The signal guns, ominous of the coming battle, were first fired at five,
A.M., the next morning, and at intervals until sunrise, when a fierce
cannonading commenced along the whole line in front of the city. At
nine, A.M., we received twenty extra rounds of ammunition, three days'
rations, threw our knapsacks and extra luggage into a pile, slung our
blankets over our shoulders, and moving to within three-quarters of a
mile of the city, formed in line of battle, and rested on our arms,
ready for the emergency.

In trying to throw the pontoon bridges over, our forces met with
determined resistance, and were obliged to shell the city, in order to
dislodge the enemy. Being satisfied of the impossibility of crossing the
river this day, late in the afternoon we returned to camp. Early in the
evening, the cannonading, which had continued through the day, ceased;
and two or three regiments crossing over in boats, after a fierce
conflict in the streets of the city, finally succeeded in dislodging the
enemy, and the bridges were co