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85 CHAPTER THREE • FromNorthernVirginiatothePeninsula 8 January–1 May 1862 The new year found Captain Carter and the men of the King William Artillery encamped in winter quarters at Davis’s Ford in Prince William County. Dull daily routines filled their days and nights, and false reports of enemy movements were all too frequent. Carter informed Susan in mid-January that “[w]e have had . . . alarms so often that they are but little regarded.” The new year also brought with it distressing news for the Confederacy. Union victories in Tennessee and on the coast of North Carolina in February dampened Southern morale. At the same time, many units in the Confederate armies were fast approaching the end of their initial twelve-month period of enlistment. The Conscription Act, which had passed the Confederate Congress in December 1861, would shortly go into effect. Its goal was to solve the manpower needs of the various Southern armies, but it also had the potential to cause chaos and confusion in the ranks. Carter, like many others in Joe Johnston’s army, spent a great deal of his time trying to obtain a furlough to visit his family.1 On 7 March the Confederate army, anticipating the long-awaited Federal advance, began to pull out of its positions in northern Virginia. Carter’s battery evacuated its camp on the eighth and marched southwest alongside the tracks of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. After resting several days near the Rappahannock River, the battery made its way to Rapidan Station, where it arrived on 20 March. The army did not remain in central Virginia for long. To counter the movement of Union general George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac down the Chesapeake Bay to the tip of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers, Johnston’s 1. Macaluso, Morris, Orange, and King William Artillery, 22; THC to SRC, 27 Dec. 1861. Carter misdated the 27 December letter. His references to events that took place in the first weeks of the new year suggest a more likely date of 12 January 1862. The letter appears in the correct chronological location but retains its original date. 86 • From Northern Virginia to the Peninsula army reinforced the smaller Confederate force at Yorktown. Tom Carter and his battery arrived at the old colonial port on 11 April and immediately occupied a defensive position on the Warwick River line. On 28 April the King William Artillery officially reorganized under the provisions of the Conscription Act and unanimously reelected Carter as its captain.2 k Davis’ Ford Jan 8th 1862 My precious Wife, Last night, which was the usual time for my letter to be written, I was so much fatigued by my ride to Centreville that I postponed my letter ’till today. All the morning I have been engaged in having the Battery horses rough shod for the slippery state of the roads in accordance with the emphatic orders lately received to that effect. A battle is still talked of here—none of us believe it but I always obey orders so that no blame can attach to me if possible to avoid it. The orders lately since the sailing of the Burnside fleet have all been most warlike but that armada is probably intended for the Southern Coast.3 I wish the alarms would end or the battle come off—in either case I could get away. As it is now the furloughs of several Infantry Captains have been returned to Rodes [and] refused in consequence of an impending battle. Battery Captains being on the footing of Cols of Infantry are of course required to remain. My command unlike that of a Captain of Infantry is separate & independent. In the event of a battle no one could command it but a Lieut. In Infantry the Comp[an]y would be in a regiment & if under the Col it would matter but little whether the Captain is present or not. With a battery which acts alone[,] you see[,] everything is different. No regimental organization except in the case of Col Pendleton who is assigned to the defense of the breastworks at Centreville & therefore he commands a Regt. of Artillery.4 On the field a regiment would be entirely unmanageable. 2. Long, Day by Day, 180; Macaluso, Morris, Orange, and King William Artillery, 23; THC to SRC, 22 Mar. and 29 Apr. 1862. 3. Carter is referring to the combined Union naval and army force under the command of Brigadier General...

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