On January 8th, 1863, the Fifth Corps was reviewed by General Burnside. Since it was the
first review that
the Fifth Corps had been in for some time, and since reviews often preceeded a campaign,
rumors arose.
Finally, after earlier orders to break camp were countermanded, camp broke on January 20th.
Retracing
their earlier route to the Falmouth camps, the Regiment started marching, in a westerly
direction towards
Banks’ Ford. Little progress was made due to supply trains and other troops blocking roads.
By nightfall
the Regiment bivouacked less than seven miles from their starting point. Just after dark, a
steady rain started.
Most troops, being without shelter, spent an uncomfortable night around fires. Heavy
rains continued the next
morning, bogging down troops, artillery, and supply trains. Many commands were
reduced by half due to
stragglers and troops being left behind by the general confusion. The Regiment halted
at noon, the 21st, in a
pine forest. Shortly afterwards, the rain stopped. Work parties were turned out to
fell trees and corduroy the
roads, to pry forage and ammunition wagons from the quagmires into which they
had become stuck, and to
return the supply trains and artillery of the army to order. Wagons, in some cases,
were to the wheel tops in
mud, and it was not an uncommon site to see exhausted horses and mules fall into
the mud and drown. Finally,
the exhausted troops started back to the Falmouth camp on
Saturday, January 24th.