rned that
Hancock had accomplished his purpose and was moving back to Harper's
Ferry. We followed leisurely, reaching the camp about noon, thoroughly
tired and bedraggled from the rain and mud.

CHAPTER VIII

FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG

We remained on Bolivar Heights, at Harper's Ferry, without further
special incident until the 31st of October, 1862. In the mean time
Lieutenant-Colonel Wilcox had been promoted to colonel to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Colonel Oakford at Antietam. Major
Albright had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel and the senior captain,
Shreve, Company A, had been made major. Colonel Wilcox was on his back
with a severe case of typhoid fever, and Lieutenant-Colonel Albright had
been some ten days absent on sick leave, during which time Major Shreve
had been in command. Lieutenant-Colonel Albright, hearing of the
probable movement of the army, rejoined us in time to take command as we
bade farewell to Harper's Ferry. To show how little a soldier can know
of what is before him, I note the fact that we had just completed fixing
up our quarters for cold weather at Camp Bolivar. This involved
considerable labor and some expense. My diary records the fact that I
had put up a "California stove" in my tent. This, if I remember rightly,
was a cone-shaped sheet-iron affair, which had a small sliding door and
sat on the ground, with a small pipe extending through the canvas roof
just under the ridge-pole to the rear. It cost, I think, about four
dollars, and required some skill in "setting up," chiefly in fixing the
pipe so that it would not tumble about one's ears with every blast of
wind that shook the tent, and in windy weather would at least carry some
of the smoke outside. A special course of engineering was almost needed
to be able to properly handle those stoves. A little too much fire, and
you had to adopt Pat's remedy when Biddy's temper got up--sit on the
outside until it cooled down. Too little was worse than none, for your
tent became a smoke-house. On the whole, they were much like the goose
the aforesaid Pat captured and brought into camp, "a mighty unconvanient
burr'd, a little too big for one and not big enough for two."

This fixing up of quarters had been done in contemplation of remaining
here through the winter, and we had taken our cue from like actions of
our brigade officers, who were supposed to know something about the
movements of the army. When we