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4 We Suffered Considerably The Confederate army around Centreville began stirring from winter encampments in early March. With the coming of spring, and concerned about the expected Federal offensive on Richmond, Confederate commander Gen. Joseph Johnston evacuated the Centerville positions during the weekend of 8–9 March for better defensive lines along the Rappahannock River. Johnston had good reason to fear a Federal offensive. Maj. Gen. George McClellan, commanding the Federal army, intended to move the army by ship to Urbanna on the Rappahannock, below the Confederate army at Centreville. From there, he would be in position for an overland strike at Richmond. However, the Confederate fallback forced McClellan to change his base of operations from Urbanna to Fort Monroe, still in Federal hands at Old Point Comfort on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers. The artillerists of Page County, underarmed and ill-equipped, had prepared for war as best they could. The coming weeks would test their readiness.1 The men of the Washington Artillery and their Dixie Artillery campmates began preparations to leave their winter quarters on 6 March. They formed the reserve artillery for Maj. Gen. James Longstreet’s division while Pendleton’s reserve artillery supported Maj. Gen. Gustavus Smith’s division. The men filled their wagons with quartermaster stores and destroyed what could not be carried . On the eighth, they began the long march along the Warrenton turnpike to Warrenton and south to Orange Court House. The march was arduous, in cold, wet weather over muddy roads. The Dixie Artillery brought fifty-five horses and two mules, all in poor physical shape from lack of forage; all suffered through undue strain. Taking proper care of horses was difficult, if not impossible, under these miserable conditions. Both man and beast struggled to extricate heavy wagons, caissons, and gun carriages from mud that was at times axle deep. Several horses of the Dixie Artillery and Washington Artillery broke down and were condemned. Commanders reduced ammunition carried in limbers and caissons to half loads and forbade cannoneers to ride. The wretched circumstances made for a slow march. The soldiers reached Warrenton on the tenth. Three days later, they stopped at the Hazel River (a tributary of the Rappahannock between Warrenton and Culpeper) to rest for a few days.2  we suffered considerably  The artillerists arrived at Orange Court House by the nineteenth, and Walton’s command remained there with Longstreet’s division for the next few weeks. The Washington Artillery, with the Dixie Artillery nearby, pitched their tents in a grove of pine trees on a local farm. Longstreet’s headquarters was nearby at the farm of Erasmus Taylor. The men trained in artillery drill daily, weather permitting. A festive attitude prevailed in camp. Men feasted on the newfound bounty of food in a land not yet ravished by the army. Fair young women appealed for the attention of decorous officers. The more mannered officers of the Washington Artillery, along with some of Longstreet’s staff, organized a dance club at a local tavern, where they were entertained by the battalion band.3 The gaiety of camp life shortly lapsed, though, as the specter of war resurfaced . The enemy was reported in the area of Fredericksburg, and as the sun set on Sunday, 6 April, Pendleton’s reserve, the Washington Artillery, and others of Longstreet’s artillery fell in behind Longstreet’s infantrymen and began a difficult march along the plank road to Fredericksburg. The men marched all night and into the early hours of Monday morning. The march resumed that morning after a brief rest. A winter storm blanketed the region with cold, dismal weather; snow, sleet, and rain made for poor conditions. The men bivouacked that wintry night without rations for nourishment, tents for shelter, or wood for fires. After passing an uncomfortable night, they awoke Tuesday morning to more snow, sleet, and rain. The reports of the enemy advancing on Fredericksburg proved wrong, and the men, cold, wet, tired, and hungry, retraced their steps before turning off toward Louisa Court House. They marched all day Tuesday in chilly, freezing rain. It was a hard march, along a road thick with mud and through swollen streams. Tuesday night was again spent under wretched conditions in pouring rain and without shelter. The march began anew Wednesday morning over even worse roads and in even heavier rain and sleet. Frozen, drenched, and covered with mud, the...

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