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September 8, 1861 - Rufus R. Dawes to ?

Part I - Click for full-sized scanned image Part II - Click for full-sized scanned image BIVOUAC NEAR CHAIN BRIDGE, ON POTOMAC SIX MILES ABOVE WASHINGTON SEPTEMBER 8th, 1861. It is very difficult now for me to write at all, so do not be alarmed at a little irregularity in my correspondence. We left the old camp on Kalorama Heights, a week ago to-morrow night (Sept. 2nd.) Since then we have been moving around from one place to another, wherever our presence has been deemed necessary. We left our tents, extra clothing, cooking utensils, everything but one woolen blanket and one oil cloth. We sleep on the ground with nothing above us but the canopy of heaven. To intensify our discomfort, the weather has been cold and rainy. This is rather a hard road to travel, but I keep healthy, hearty and happy, and feel better than when I first began to sleep in a tent. Our regiment has been doing picket duty along the Potomac river on the Maryland side from Chain Bridge to Falling Waters. My company has been deployed along about four miles. The rebel pickets and cavalry could be occasionally seen along the other side of the river. I have really enjoyed this week's work. The scenery on the Potomac here, is very romantic. The people generally sympathize with the rebels. Our boys have fared sumptuously every day. They declared that even the pigs were secessionists and they burned them at the steak for their treason. Turkeys and chickens shared the same fate. It was impossible for me to restrain men who had been starved on salt-beef and hard tack, when they were scattered over four miles of territory and sneered at as Yankees by the people. The fact is I ate some pig myself. The present bivouac of the regiment is within a few rods of the ruins of Montgomery Hall, once, you know, General Washington's Headquarters. Across the river, opposite on a high hill, now the site of a powerful battery, is the spot where Clay and Randolph fought their duel." (To view the Source Category for Part I, click HERE) (To view the Source Category for Part II, click HERE)