Letter written by Rush P. Cady, lieutenant in the 97th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company K, to his mother of Rome, New York, from Headquarters 97th N.Y.V. near Stafford Court House, Virginia, November 21, 1862
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Headquarters 97th N.Y.V. (97th Regiment, New York)
Near Stafford Court House, Va. (Virginia) (Stafford, Virginia)
Nov. 21. 1862. Dear Mother,
Not having had any opportunity to send the letter I
wrote at Rappahannock (Rappahannock, Virginia)
, I write again now; as our Sutler is about
starting for Washington (Washington, District of Columbia)
, I can send it by him. We did not
leave the Rappahannock (Rappahannock, Virginia)
, till nearly night, on Tuesday; but the
wagons, containing our tents & baggage went off the night be-
fore, & we had to sleep on the ground,- the officers having a
large “fly” to shelter them.- It rained some that day & con-
siderable the next. Tuesday morning the Reg. was ordered on
picket, at difft points on the Rap. River, in the vicinity of
the bridge.- The rebel pickets
across the river, were in plain
sight, in two or three places. Some of them came down to
the opposite bank of the river, & conversed with our pickets,
& threw across papers to them, by means of wrapping them
around stones. They said they expected to get Richmond (Richmond, Virginia)
papers of yesterday, that day & promised to exchange. They wore the gov’t
overcoats – light blue, & said they were very comfortable. A good
many of their troops were quite destitute of proper clothing, & there was
some suffering in consequence. Stuart (Stuart, James Ewell Brown (General)) s & Ashley (Ashley) ’s Cavalry
under command of Gen. Stuart (Stuart, James Ewell Brown
(General)) , were near by there. They
were Cavalry pickets. Pleasanton (Pleasonton, Alfred (General)) s & Bayard (Bayard, George Dashiell (General)) s Cavalry (Pleasonton's Cavalry) (Bayarad's Cavalry) were
on our side, guarding the fords along the river; two Brigades
under Pleasanton (Pleasonton, Alfred (General)) & are under Bayard (Bayard, George Dashiell (General)) . Towards night,
orders came to destroy the Rappahannock bridge; & fires
were built on the bridge & under it, & a good many after
timbers were cropped off by the Cavalrymen. Our men
assisted in burning & chopping. It was a grand sight to see
it burn.- It had been burned before by the U.S. troops af-
ter our retreat from the Rapids, across the Rappahannock (Rappahannock River) .
Finally our Brigade, then in rear of all the other troops, took
up the line of march, supposing our destination to be Fredericksburg (Fredericksburg, Virginia) ;
we went about 10 miles, turning to the right at
Bealton Station (Bealton Station, Virginia) & going nearly south. Having rained con-
siderable during the day, the roads became very muddy, & march-
ing sometimes after dark, over a terribly rough, stony, mud-
dy road, was extremely fatiguing & unpleasant. Not having
caught up with the wagon, we were obliged to sleep with-
out tents, but fortunately the rain ceased & the weather
was mild, so we experienced little inconvenience.-
On Wednesday we resumed the march at 7 o’c. A.M.,
which seemed rather early, after breakfast, as we had
not retired till 12 o’c the night before.- We marched
about 14 miles, the roads being quite muddy & bad, &
caught up with the wagons in good season that afternoon,
so that we had our tents that night. It rained some
during the day, & again quite hard all night, so that the
roads were becoming terribly bad for marching & for artillery.
But again we marched, coming about 12 miles, through
mud & rain, & being rear guard of the Brigade, were
nearly all day, & rather late in the evening, coming that dis-
tance. It rained almost incessantly during the day
& evening & the roads were perfectly horrible. Such a
time none of us ever experienced before. Most often
men stood up in the rain all night – around the
fires – but a few of us officers put up a tent, & had
a shelter, sleeping tolerably well; considering that we
were wet & muddy to the thighs. Shall probably
remain here three or four days. Destination probably
Aquia Creek (Aquia Creek, Stafford County, Virginia) , then to ship by water.- Artillery has
been going all night & during the day. Must close
for want of time. We are well.
Will write again as soon as an opportunity oc-
curs to send.
day, we passed Hooker (Hooker, Joseph (General)) s Corps (Hooker's Corps) (formerly Porter (Porter, Fitz-John (General)) s (Porter's Corps)). Gustavus (Palmer, Gustavus M. (Captain)) saw Lt. Stryker (Stryker (Lieutenant))
& others. They had all resigned (the officers of the 14th (14th Regiment))
an account of Porter (Porter, Fitz-John (General)) s (Porter's Corps) removal, & expected their resignations
to be accepted soon.- Gustavus (Palmer, Gustavus M.
(Captain)) also saw some of the officers
& men of the 146th (146th Regiment) for a few moments, among them Jesse Arm- strong (Armstrong, Jesse) , Enyam Matteson (Matteson, Enyam) , Will Roberts (Roberts, Will) , & others. They looked as
if they hadn’t seen much such service as we have. But I must [check?] -----
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