The Daily Dispatch: December 5, 1861., [Electronic resource]

From the Potomac

‘ The usual surveillance is still kept up off Aquia Creek by three or four Lincoln steamers.

At Evansport all was reported quiet yesterday morning. Ten steamers are reported as hovering around above our batteries at that point.

If Gen. McClellan meditates a forward movement this winter he has but little times left him, as the roads will soon render the passage of artillery next to impossible.

We spent an hour in the camp of the 30th Virginia regiment on Saturday, and were agreeably surprised to find that our soldiers had made for themselves such comfortable quarters. Many of the domicils are dug down in the earth from three to four feet, and lined with boards. A fire-place is made with bricks or earth, and a neat chimney carried up on the outside of the tent. The canvas tent is erected over the ‘"dug out"’ cell, and thus ‘"the boys"’ are enabled to keep themselves far more comfortable than a denizen of town would imagine.

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