Wednesday, March 25, 1863. Gone out to Wolf Run Shoals

Union Mills Station

" A very warm and pleasant day but very muddy. The wind shifted into the north, and is now snowing. The band has gone out to Wolf Run Shoals." ~ Diary of Oliver A. Browne, Co. K, 15th Regiment

"Wednesday 25th. 3 Cos of the 13th & 2 of the 12th were ordered down to Mayhew's ford this A.M. but saw nothing, of course, for there was & had been nothing there."  ~ Diary of Horace Barlow, 95, Co. C, 12th Regiment

"March 25. Early five companies are scouting over the country within four or five miles of camp. I, with others, go on picket. ... The fourteenth regiment is now camped near us; the fifteenth and sixteenth are at Union Mills; the headquarters of the brigade are there also. 

"We have a pleasant day on picket; a plenty to eat of soft break, fresh beef, sugar and coffee. The air is filled with the song of birds by day, and the ceaseless peeping of frogs by night. It is thought that rebel cavalry are within the lines; and hence we have orders to be very watchful, and send all to camp, who are wandering about the post, whether soldiers or citizens."  ~ Lt. Edwin Palmer, 13th Regiment,  The Second Brigade: or, Camp Life, By a Volunteer (1864) 

"March 25. I learn that the 15th and 16th are at Union Mills, six miles distant, the headquarters of the brigade. The object for which we have come here, is to do picket duty with the 12th and 13th. There will be no rest until the tents are again stockaded, for to-day the regiment is busily engaged.

"The 14th has appropriately been styled the stealing regiment; for rail fences, which have been left untouched all winter by the other regiments at this place, are now rapidly disappearing. The boys of the 14th do not intend to suffer from the cold through a lack of tent fires, as long as rails are plenty -- and every night about dusk, may be seen a row of them about a mile in length, marching in single file, each with two rails on his back. I concur in the opinion of Gen. Stoughton, that if the government would permit him to place the 14th Vermont regiment within twenty miles of Richmond, the boys would steal the city."  ~ J. C. Williams, Corporal, Co. B, 14th Regiment, Life in Camp, 99 (1864)