Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/199

Rh of the 17th and that he took command of the brigade and that he was still in command, but expected Gen. Armistead to be able to return to duty in a few days. Gen. Early in his official report of the battle says: "Shortly after the repulse of the enemy Col. Hodges, in command of Armistead's brigade, reported to me, and I placed it in line in the position occupied by my brigade and placed the latter in line on the edge of the plateau which has been mentioned and parallel to the Hagerstown road under cover." This battle was the most destructive battle of the war for the time engaged.

In his letter last mentioned Col. Hodges says: "We have had a very hard time since we left Richmond. I have not slept in a tent since leaving there and have only been in three houses. We eat whatever we can get. and sometimes the quality is anything but good and the supply scanty. This army has accomplished wonders and undergone the greatest amount of fatigue."

On the 15th of October, 1862, Armistead's brigade was encamped near Winchester, Va. On that day Col. Hodges writes: "On Monday last we had a grand review of our division, by Gen. Longstreet, who commands our corps d'armie. There were two members of the British Parliament present. We had about ten thousand men in line, and the whole passed off very well. It was quite an imposing sight. I suppose the Englishmen did not know what to make of such a dirty, ragged set of fellows. The orders forbade the barefooted men from going out. I think they ought to have let our army be seen just as it is. I have now some eighty men without shoes, notwithstanding that I have within the past ten days issued to my regiment one hundred pairs." I

Burnside had superseded Gen. McClellan in the command of the Union army, and was now moving towards Fredericksburg. When this intention manifested itself, our forces concentrated in the neighborhood of Culpeper Courthouse. Our brigade was ordered thitherward. I remember the first day's long, severe march. The first day's march is always trying to soldiers who have been in camp for weeks. Speaking of the shoeless condition of the army, I remember an incident that occurred under my very eyes. I beg to mention it. Moses Young, a member of my regiment from this city, as he marched along the road, saw a