Headquarters 53d Regiment P. V.,
Falmouth, Virginia.
Wednesday, Feb. 11th, 1863.
Messrs. Editors:–It is nearly two weeks since we last wrote you, and we write now, not because there are any matters of
interest to record or events of momentous importance transpiring, for things here are as dull as dishwater, but merely for the
purpose of informing our gentle readers, that we are still “upon the carpet,” and eager to flourish our steel pen.
We moved into our present camp on the 1st inst., and by this time the quarters are all up and large fatigue parties have
neatly cleaned off the company streets, drill ground, &c. The camp is laid out according to the plan required by the Army
Regulations. The huts are constructed of logs, built up about five feet high and shingled with shelter tents. Each one has a large
fireplace and chimney attached. The huts are fourteen by eleven feet and as but two or three men are quartered in each one
there is plenty of room. In the entire camp there is perhaps seventy of these log structures. To construct these at least eight
hundred trees were felled, and then it was necessary to cut them the required length, and notch them at the ends. To make the
building warm and airtight, the space between the logs was first chunked with odd pieces of wood and then chinked with mud.
We do not know whether all our readers will understand the word chunked and chinked–we know very well that we did not
know a few weeks ago. Doors and windows were put in–doors furnished with wooden hinges, and the good old-fashioned kind
of latches, with the unpretending latchairing always hanging out. To do all this in four or five days you will at once see
required work.
To accomplish all this required the more labor and ingenuity from the fact that we had no proper tools except axes. An old two-inch
rusty augur and a dull saw without a handle–was made to do noble service–but just think of the idea to use a two-inch augur to
bore a hole through a door to let a diminutive latch string through. And then to use a handleless saw by tying old rags around
one and to keep the teeth from biting your hand, while the deuced old rip was so dull that if you would shake it at a piece of wood,
old mister wood would groan and try to roll away. We never did see such a saucy saw; we never saw the like and at the same time
found it almost impossible to saw the wood. You perhaps think it time that we change our subject, so do we; but we must remark,
by way of easing our feelings, that an old saw with three teeth looks as unpromising as a tadpole without a tail!
The new commander of the army of the Potomac is apparently doing his best to win the confidence and good will of
his soldiers, and he is succeeding in his laudable object. General Hooker knows full well that he must have influence in the
hearts, as well as command over the actions of his men, ere he can feel assured of victory. In battle soldiers will go a certain
distance because they are commanded to do so, but if they have confidence and love their General, they will go a little farther
on their own account; and it is this going a little farther that turns the tide of the conflict and wins the victory. General Hooker
is aware that there is an intense desire on the part of the soldiery to get leaves to go home–many of them were told when they
enlisted that they could get a furlough every three or six months–and he at once issues his General Orders No. 3, giving a
certain number of enlisted men out of every hundred a ten day furlough.
Although by virtue of this order but comparatively few will have an opportunity of getting home–yet it shows to all that our
General commanding wishes to please us, and the desire on his part is accepted for the deed. Again, the General knows that
that adamantine rations called hard bread or crackers, is the cause of more cursing than is manifestly for the good of the
service, and consequently he issues his orders that four days in a week soft bread, potatoes and onions shall be issued to the
troops. This is a delicate way of winning the soldier’s heart, by substantially filling his stomach. This one order has made
Hooker more friends among his command than a thousand “highfalutin” addresses of heroic composition. It was the close
attention he gave to these apparently little things, that in part caused McClellan to be such a favorite, and General Hooker is
endeavoring to profit by his example. If he exhibits the skill necessary to command such a large army as this, we have reason
to believe, that we will open the next campaign by a victory that will thrill the hearts of the freemen of the world.
The weather here for the past week has been truly delightful–but the mudified sacred soil prevents any movements.
The boys are well and we must go to dinner.
Yours, &c, L. J. F.
[Montgomery Ledger, February 17, 1863]
