han fifty of the original
inhabitants being left, though the population of the town before the war
was nearly six hundred. Houses which were deserted were generally
stripped of everything. The court house was a solid old brick building
of very limited dimensions, with a little bell swinging in a comical
looking steeple. The court house was by no means an exception to the
general rule of destruction; the seats were torn out, and the judge's
bench had been split in pieces, and nearly all carried away by pockets
full, as relics. At one of the houses where the family still remained, a
party reined up and made some inquiries of the _pater familias_, a
hangdog looking specimen, with an old slouched hat covered to the crown
with rusty crape, a mark of second-hand gentility in these parts. He
said that "this yer war" had caused such a famine among the people, that
nearly all of them had been obliged to leave; some had gone to
Washington and some to Richmond, "a right smart lot of them had gone to
Richmond." He had "reckoned onct or twict" that he would have to go too,
but he "had succeeded in hanging on so long."

Our division was reviewed by General McClellan, who was received with
enthusiasm. Although many of us were familiar with the appearance of the
Commander-in-Chief, this was his first appearance to us as a division.
The General appeared a man below the medium height, with broad
shoulders, full chest and a round pleasing face relieved by a heavy
moustache. He sat his horse well and rode with great speed. While his
appearance and address were pleasing, there seemed in his smooth face
and mild eye nothing to indicate a man of brilliant genius or great
purpose.

At length the council of corps commanders had rendered its decision, and
the grand campaign of the Virginian Peninsula was planned. On the
morning of the fourteenth of March, with buoyant hopes and exulting
anticipations of a "quick, sharp and decisive," and as we devoutly
believed, a successful campaign, we left our camp at Flint Hill. It had
few charms for us, and we were glad to leave it. How little we yet knew
of real campaigning. Although we had notice several hours beforehand
that we were to move by daylight, yet many, indeed, the majority of us,
marched that morning without breakfast.

No morning sun cheered us as the day began, but the sky was hung with
heavy clouds. A drizzling rain, now diminishing almost to a heavy mist,
and now coming in fresh showers