rewith to refresh the inner man.

There is a large mill in this place, which is capable of turning out
large quantities of flour and meal. There are twelve sets of stone in
the building, six for grinding wheat, and six for corn. I visited this
mill, and for the first time, witnessed the operation of grinding,
bolting, and packing flour. There were only two sets of stone running
for wheat, at the time I visited the mill. There were also two sets
grinding corn. Having seen no Indian meal for sometime, I bought half a
peck, paying at the rate of two dollars per bushel. There seemed to be a
scarcity of provisions among the people of Falmouth, the boys paying
fifty cents for a breakfast of warm Johnny cake and coffee. I went to
Falmouth in company with Lieutenant Bucklin, who determined to have a
breakfast before leaving, and by hunting awhile found a place, and by
teasing, obtained a seat at the table, and for once we ate our fill. We
had fried pork steak, hot biscuit, hot coffee and syrup, as much of each
as we wished.

In talking with Falmouth men, they tell me that last winter was
unusually severe, with large quantities of snow and rain. They told me,
also, that this winter had been very mild thus far, but that every sixth
or seventh winter was apt to be severe, like that of '61 and '62, but
that this winter was a fair type of what they usually are in this part
of the country. I told them I was surprised to find the weather
continuing so mild, with so little rain. I had noticed one feature of
the country that gave me some little uneasiness. This was the deep
ravines with which the face of the country is indented, and which I
supposed were caused by the heavy winter rains, and expected to see an
illustration of this kind of drenching and washing, much to my own
particular inconvenience. I was told they have their heaviest rains in
the summer; this information relieved my mind of that which I had the
greatest fear of.

The village of Falmouth is an old, dilapidated looking place,
containing, perhaps, one thousand inhabitants. It is situated at the
head of tide water, on the Rappahannock, three-fourths of a mile above
Fredericksburg, and is connected with the opposite side of the river by
a bridge, which crosses directly opposite the centre of the village;
half of the bridge, on the Falmouth side, remains uninjured, the rest of
the way nothing but the piers remain standing. The length of this bridge
was about forty rods,