Henry Wilson Storey's History of Cambria County, V.II, p.167

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History of Cambria County, V.2

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. 167

we move camp to another spot until such time as all fences within sight or reach are consumed, and then shift off some place else, so finally it became necessary for our comfort to take to the woods to keep from freezing, and now I find myself located in the wilderness on the Front Royal road, and pretty well bewildered myself for every morning the sun rises in the West if there has been any change made in the celestial arrangements we have not been made aware of it yet out here and I hope you will let me know.
    In consequence of sleeping on the ground and rolling around in the dirt and generally slashing around through the woods for the last two months, I am getting to look something like theatrically dressed for the occasion, as our supply of clothing in the command, generally is scarce. One happy change has occurred with us though and that is the migration of graybacks, those peculiar minute animals peculiar to the Southern Confederacy; that have so long puzzled the brain of naturalists, and claimed the attention of sanitary commissions, and are endemic of a camp. Greenbacks have taken the place of graybacks. Money is as plenty now and everybody about as lousy with it as they were with the other kind a few weeks since. I feel though like the man who went to the fair and bought an elephant. I believe the first store I get in I will just go to work and buy it out.
    As it is very cold and our boys not very warmly clad we have very humanely put them to work to keep them warm in building a large redoubt, covering the Front Royal road and the Opequan Ford. They can't exactly see the humane part of this act though. This fort may possibly answer to our purpose some day, we don't know. We are building it though as Noah did his ark, at present it is like Toodle's coffin. If I correctly know myself I got enough of fortifications at Cedar Creek on the 19th of October.
    I think we have taken enough of stone walls and forts from John and in turn he has from us, to know they do not amount to much in a country open and broad enough to outflank an army of a million men. The name of Sheridan here has more effect than all the dirt we can throw up in a month.
    We have had a couple installments of mud and rain but lately the weather has been rather mildly inclined with the exception of bitter cold mornings and nights. It is something like Indian Summer and the mountains in the distance have a purple hue and every thing looks pretty to my romantic vision of course, but I cannot reconcile myself of course to the fact that the sun goes down over the Blue Ridge. I am surely lost or may be under the evil influence of a genii. * * *
    We have little to read and much less to do other than drill and picketing. As for all the fighting the cavalry has taken that by contract and goes out every day or two to hunt one. The other day they went in search of one and found a cargo of old

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	HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.	167
we move camp to another spot until such time as all fences within sight or reach are consumed, and then shift off some place else, so finally it became necessary for our comfort to take to the woods to keep from freezing, and now I find myself located in the wilderness on the Front Royal road, and pretty well bewildered myself for every morning the sun rises in the West if there has been any change made in the celestial arrangements we have not been made aware of it yet out here and I hope you will let me know. In consequence of sleeping on the ground and rolling around in the dirt and generally slashing around through the woods for the last two months, I am getting to look something like theatrically dressed for the occasion, as our supply of clothing in the command, generally is scarce. One happy change has occurred with us though and that is the migration of graybacks, those peculiar minute animals peculiar to the Southern Confederacy; that have so long puzzled the brain of naturalists, and claimed the attention of sanitary commissions, and are endemic of a camp. Greenbacks have taken the place of graybacks. Money is as plenty now and everybody about as lousy with it as they were with the other kind a few weeks since. I feel though like the man who went to the fair and bought an elephant. I believe the first store I get in I will just go to work and buy it out. As it is very cold and our boys not very warmly clad we have very humanely put them to work to keep them warm in building a large redoubt, covering the Front Royal road and the Opequan Ford. They can't exactly see the humane part of this act though. This fort may possibly answer to our purpose some day, we don't know. We are building it though as Noah did his ark, at present it is like Toodle's coffin. If I correctly know myself I got enough of fortifications at Cedar Creek on the 19th of October. I think we have taken enough of stone walls and forts from John and in turn he has from us, to know they do not amount to much in a country open and broad enough to outflank an army of a million men. The name of Sheridan here has more effect than all the dirt we can throw up in a month. We have had a couple installments of mud and rain but lately the weather has been rather mildly inclined with the exception of bitter cold mornings and nights. It is something like Indian Summer and the mountains in the distance have a purple hue and every thing looks pretty to my romantic vision of course, but I cannot reconcile myself of course to the fact that the sun goes down over the Blue Ridge. I am surely lost or may be under the evil influence of a genii. * * * We have little to read and much less to do other than drill and picketing. As for all the fighting the cavalry has taken that by contract and goes out every day or two to hunt one. The other day they went in search of one and found a cargo of old