, the ration had been one and one-eighth pound of
flour, and one and a quarter pounds of beef. On March 27 the ration
was eighteen ounces of flour, and four ounces of indifferent bacon,
with occasional issues of rice, sugar, or molasses. Symptoms of
scurvy were appearing, and to supply the place of vegetables each
regiment was directed to send men daily to gather sassafras buds,
wild onions, garlic, etc., etc. Still "the men are cheerful," writes
Lee, "and I receive no complaints." O.R. volume 25 part 2 page 687.
On April 17 the ration had been increased by ten pounds of rice to
every 100 men about every third day, with a few peas and dried fruits
occasionally. O.R. volume 25 part 2 page 730.) for the single line of
badly laid rails, subjected to the strain of an abnormal traffic,
formed a precarious means of transport; every spring and pond was
frozen; and the soldiers shivered beneath their scanty coverings.* (*
On January 19, 1200 pairs of shoes and 400 or 500 pairs of blankets
were forwarded for issue to men without either in D.H. Hill's
division, O.R. volume 21 page 1097. In the Louisiana brigade on the
same date, out of 1500 men, 400 had no covering for their feet
whatever. A large number had not a particle of underclothing, shirts,
socks, or drawers; overcoats were so rare as to be a curiosity; the
5th Regiment could not drill for want of shoes; the 8th was almost
unfit for duty from the same cause; the condition of the men's feet,
from long exposure, was horrible, and the troops were almost totally
unprovided with cooking utensils. O.R. volume 21 page 1098.) Huts,
however, were in process of erection, and the goodwill of the people
did something to supply the deficiencies of the commissariat.* (*
O.R. volume 21 page 1098.) The homes of Virginia were stripped, and
many--like Jackson himself, whose blankets had already been sent from
Lexington to his old brigade--ordered their carpets to be cut up into
rugs and distributed amongst the men. But neither cold nor hunger
could crush the spirit of the troops. The bivouacs were never merrier
than on the bare hills and in the dark pine-woods which looked down
on the ruins and the graves of Fredericksburg. Picket duty was light,
for the black waters of the great river formed a secure barrier
against attack; and if the men's stomachs were empty, they could
still feast their eyes on a charming landscape. "To the right and
left the wooded range extended towards Fredericksburg