John D. Billings, The history of the Tenth Massachusetts battery of light artillery in the war of the rebellion

[120] falls away to the Rappahannock. A few rods below stood the piers to a bridge then destroyed. The road crossing the river at this point leads to Culpepper Court House. It seemed a truly picturesque and favored spot, and we looked forward to our stay near it with pleasurable anticipations.

The grounds in the immediate vicinity of the hotels were appropriated for the headquarters of Maj. Gen. Birney, he having command of the First Division, to which we were then attached. Going on past the hotels up the road which leads to Fredericksburg, some four hundred yards, we turn into an apple orchard on our left, overrun with blackberry vines, and on this rise of land locate our camp. There was no fruit on the trees, but an abundance on the vines, and we almost literally rolled in berries for some time. Having cleared up the ground, pitched the officers' quarters and the tarpaulins, and put up a brush shelter over the horses, but little reiained for us to do, and a reaction set in. Scarcely a man in the Company felt strong and vigorous, although there were but few cases of serious and protracted illness. Lying and sitting on the ground to the extent we had done were not conducive to a healthful bodily condition, and the systems of many became so relaxed that the slightest exertion was most distasteful. On the 17th of August shelter tents were furnished us, and just one week afterwards we pitched them, each man selecting a chum (or ‘chicken,’ as the Marbleheadmen called them), to share his quarters. Six streets were laid out, one to a detachment, and the camp presented a neat and orderly appearance. The tents were supported in most cases on ridge-poles averaging five feet from the ground, which gave opportunity to build rough cots within. This change produced an improved