April 27,1863. 4 months pay; Company H guarding the RR

"Washington, DC April 27th, 1863

"My Dearest Wife,

"Instead of being at the “front” I am in the rear. Our court martial adjourned for three or four days and as then was not much going on in the regiment, I came to the city. Yesterday I was at the Metropolitan with Capt. and Mrs. Hunt. I go back to the regiment this morning.

"Enclosed pleased find check for $300 which with your name on the back in fall as it is on the face, will get you the money at either bank in Brattleboro.
"My health is splendid. In a few days will write more at length. I write on a best case now. "Love to mother and children - Truly yours loving husband - Charles" ~ Lt. Col. Charles Cummings, Sixteenth Regiment, Letters April 19, 1863. VHS.

"Monday 27th. Slept on a feather bed last night & undressed for the first time since leaving Brattleboro. Feel refreshed, & rested from my walk. It is very quiet here & my time is mostly spent between the Cooper's shop & the house, going backwards & forwards, as the spirit moves. The Reg't was paid 4 months pay to-day by Major Robinson." ~ Diary of Horace Barlow, 110, Pvt., Co. C, 12th Regiment


"April 27. Battalion drill in the morning. At the close, the regiment is formed into a square; Gen. Stannard is introduced, and makes a short speech; the soldiers give him three loud and hearty cheers; then the officers are called forward, and introduced personally to him by Col. Randall,-the General shaking each by the hand warmly."~ Lt. Edwin Palmer, 13th Regiment, The Second Brigade: or, Camp Life, By a Volunteer (1864) 

"April 27. The Paymaster is again in our camp, laden with "green backs" to pay us off. The weather is still fine."  ~ J. C. Williams, Corporal, Co. B, 14th Regiment, Life in Camp, 113 (1864) "Camp at Union Mills Va. "Our Regt is a little broken up just at present, 3 Co’s (F. G. & H.) being out on the R.R. between here & Warrenton, for four days, & about as many more on picket, for 24 hours. "I think before long some of our Regt will be sent down on the R.R. to encamp. I think that would be the best way. I wish they would send ours, for all the way from Manassas Junction to Warrenton it is the most beautiful country I ever saw. "I noticed when we went out, a man ploughing about a mile from the R.R. near Warrenton, & in a field near by, a large flock of sheep; it looked quite like civilization again. Some how he had managed to stick to his place in the midst of the war. "I think he must have been astonished to see the long train of cars coming up the road that day, covered all over with blue soldiers, after so many months of quiet." ~ Joseph Spafford, 1st Lieutenant, Company E, Sixteenth Regiment, Letter, April 27, 1863 (uvm)

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