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 In bivouac near Rappahannock, 4.5 miles below Falmouth, Virginia, May 1, 1863
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In bivouac near Rappahannock (Rappahannock River) ,
4 ½ miles below Falmouth, Va. (Virginia) (Falmouth, Virginia)
May 1st 1863. Dear Mother (Cady, Daniel (Mrs., Fidelia W. Palmer)) (Cady, Fidelia W. (Mrs. Daniel Cady)) (Palmer, Fidelia W. (Mrs. Daniel Cady)) :
I should have written to
you before, had a good opportunity occurred,
but we are required to be in constant readi-
ness to march, & expect every moment to
be up and off, in some direction or other.
In order to give you as good an idea
as possible, of where we have been, what we
have seen, & what has come to our knowl-
edge within the past three days, I will trans-
cribe a few pages from my packet Journal.
“On Tuesday Eve, 27th Apr. we rec'd orders to be
ready to march the next morning at 8 o'c A.M.
We were in line about 11 o'c. During the day we
marched about 8 miles, resting considera-
ble, and getting pretty well, seeing that we
were heavily loaded. The whole of the 1st & half
of the 6th Corps (6th Corps), were marching in the same direct-
ion, and seemed quite an Army of themselves.
It rained when we started, & continued for
some time, though not raining hard. About
7 o'c. we bivouacked in on Oak wood, within
a mile of the Rappahannock (Rappahannock River) . Cutting stakes and
a cross pole, Aleck (Alexander, George (Lieutenant)) & I put up our shelter tent,
spread down rubbers & blankets upon leaves in-
side, & making coffee, we lay down while
eating supper, & experienced the luxury of
rest, after a tiresome march. Spending a
portion of the evening straightening up my ac-
counts, lay down for the night, at about half
past ten. We expected to cross the River very ear-
ly in the morning.
Wed. Apr. 29. '63. We were aroused by 3 o'c. this
morning, but not with “drum beat and bugle
note.” It was comparatively quiet. Fires were
built, coffee made, breakfasts eaten, then all
packed up, and the line was formed by half
past four. Marching out of the woods to the
road, about a half mile, we halted, stacked
arms & rested till after 12 o'c. It was very foggy
this morning, but as soon as the fog had
somewhat lifted, (about 7 o'c.) our batteries o-
pened, though the firing was not con-
tinuous. Last night it seemed to be the gen-
eral opinion that we were four or five
miles below the point where we crossed
the river before the battle of Fredericksburg (Fredericksburg, Virginia) ,
but now, (as we have moved about a mile
further down the road, since 12 o'c. and hav-
ing stacked arms are resting- in the road
which runs near the River, and parallel
with it), we can see that we are just op-
posite to the place where we lay on Sunday
and Monday, supporting a battery, after the
fight of the Sat. before; and where I wrote
a letter to Father (Cady, Daniel) & Mother, of which extracts
were published in the Citizen. This is per-
haps a mile below where we crossed before.
The large brick house, on the other side of
the River and which was used as a Hosp. (near which we lay, after the battle)
is in plain sight; also the house on this side
was used as a Div. Hosp. & where
Gustavus (Palmer, Gustavus M. (Captain)) stayed several days.
A short time before noon, about one hun-
dred rebel prisoners marched by - under
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