Rapidan river. The confederate
pickets on the other side were infantry. The union pickets were mounted
and the duty was very wearing on both men and horses. Stuart's cavalry
performed comparatively but little picket duty, and was kept back in
comfortable quarters, recruiting and fitting for the coming spring
campaign.

During the winter there was very little firing between the pickets.
There was a sort of tacit understanding that they were not to molest
each other. Indeed, officers could ride along the line without fear of
being shot at. When on inspection duty, they at times rode down to the
bank and conversed with the enemy on the other side. The pickets were
suspected of crossing and recrossing and exchanging civilities--trading
tobacco for papers and the like. The word of honor would be given to
allow the federal or confederate, as the case might be, to return in
safety and it was never violated when given. These visits were always in
the daytime, of course, for at night vigilance was never relaxed, and a
vidette was not supposed to know anybody or permit even his own officers
to approach without the proper countersign.

Life in winter quarters was at best dull and it relieved the monotony to
go on picket. The detail as field officer of the day was welcomed,
although it necessitated a ride of forty or fifty miles and continuous
activity for the entire of the tour of duty, both night and day. On
these rides I made the acquaintance of a number of Virginia families,
who lived near the river and within our lines. Of these I can now
recall but two. On the banks of the Rapidan, directly in front of
Stevensburg, lived a man named Stringfellow, who owned a large
plantation, which had been despoiled of everything of value, except the
house and a few outbuildings. Every fence was gone, and not a spear of
anything had been permitted to grow. Mr. Stringfellow was a tall man,
with gray hair, and clerical in garb and aspect. He was, in fact, a
clergyman, and the degree of doctor of divinity had been conferred upon
him--a thing that in those days meant something. Degrees, like brevets,
were not so easily obtained before the civil war period as they have
been since.

Mr. Stringfellow was a gentleman of culture, a scholar and profound
student of Biblical literature. He had written a book, a copy of which
was to be seen in his house, in which he had demonstrated, to his own
satisfaction, at least, that the "institution of slavery"