campaigned in Kentucky, had participated in the
siege of Vicksburg, had accompanied Sherman into the interior of
Mississippi in his pursuit of Johnston, had returned to Kentucky, and
then, in conjunction with the Twenty-third Army Corps, marching over the
mountains into East Tennessee, in a brief but brilliant campaign under
its old leader and favorite, Burnside, had delivered the loyal people of
that region from the miseries of Rebel rule, and had placed them once
more under the protection of the old flag. But all this had not been
done without loss. Many of our brave comrades, who, through a storm of
leaden hail, had crossed the bridge at Antietam, and had faced death in
a hundred forms on the heights of Fredericksburg, had fallen on these
widely separated battle-fields in the valley of the Mississippi. Many,
overborne by fatigue and exposure, had laid down their wasted bodies by
the roadside and in hospitals, and had gently breathed their young lives
away. Many more, from time to time, had been rendered unfit for active
service; and the corps, now a mere skeleton, numbered less than three
thousand men present for duty. Never did men need rest more than they;
and never was an order more welcome than that which now declared the
campaign ended, and authorized the construction of winter quarters.

The Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteers--then in the First Brigade,
First Division, Ninth Corps--was under the command of Major
Draper,--Lieutenant-Colonel Goodell having been severely wounded at the
battle of Blue Springs, October 10. The place selected for the winter
quarters of the regiment was a young oak grove, nearly a quarter of a
mile east of the village. The camp was laid out with unusual care. In
order to secure uniformity throughout the regiment, the size of the
log-houses--they were to be ten feet by six--was announced in orders
from regimental head-quarters. The work of construction was at once
commenced. Unfortunately, we were so far from our base of supplies--Camp
Nelson, Kentucky--that nearly all our transportation was required by the
Commissary Department for the conveyance of its stores. Consequently,
the Quartermaster's Department was poorly supplied; and the only axes
which could be obtained were those which our pioneers and company cooks
had brought with them for their own use. These, however, were pressed
into the service; and their merry ringing, as the men cheerfully engaged
in the work, could be heard