of being nearly in its
center. The corps occupied a line nearly a mile in rear of the old camp,
where the ground had been unoccupied, and where a growth of young pines,
and, in places, considerable groves of oak timber, afforded far more
attractive surroundings than the old quarters.

The wounded were taken to an immense field hospital at Potomac creek,
where hospital tents sufficient to accommodate eight thousand wounded
men were erected in a locality where cool breezes could play freely
among the encampments, and where pure water could be obtained. On the
9th, many of our wounded were brought to the side of the river at
Fredericksburgh and sent over to us by the enemy, in pontoon boats,
under flags of truce. On the morning of the 10th, the surgeon of the
Seventy-seventh was ordered to proceed at once to Banks' Ford to receive
wounded officers who were to be removed from the enemy's lines. The
doctor was soon at the ford, where he found a boat and a flag of truce
at his disposal. He crossed the river and met the officer in command,
who received him courteously, but declared that he knew nothing of any
officers to come there. The surgeon addressed a note to General Wilcox,
commanding the brigade at Banks' Ford, but he knew as little about it as
the officer at the river. "There are plenty of federal officers here,"
said he, "and we shall be glad to send them across to your lines at any
time when General Hooker shall apply to General Lee for them; but I know
of no arrangement of the kind now." Believing that some arrangements had
been made for the transfer of the wounded officers, but that the order
had not yet reached General Wilcox, the surgeon spent the day among the
rebels, conversing with their officers, while his boatmen, having with
them a canteen of brandy, soon made themselves very popular with the
crowd of rebel soldiers who gathered about, dressed in motley colors,
buff, blue, gray, butternut, and colors indescribable. They were all in
good humor and lively, and the hours passed pleasantly, as the men from
the two opposing armies chatted in the shade of some oak trees. Finding
little prospect of executing his peaceful mission, the surgeon obtained
permission from General Wilcox to get the remains of Colonel Van
Houghten, of the Twenty-first New Jersey regiment, who was shot at Salem
Church, and died from his wound next day. Doctor McNiel, of the
Twenty-first, with a party of men, proceeded to the place where the