It is raining again today. It has rained
nearly every day for a week. Of course
you have heard all about "Burnside stuck
in the mud." Hooker’s & Franklin’s Grant Div.
commenced moving up to the right a
week ago yesterday. The storm commenc-
ed in the P.M. & continued three days. Of
course the mud was horrible. A half hours
rain will make the mud knee deep here
& after a few wagons or a battery passes over
a road it is impassable. The troops passed
near our camp. They were marching up

all the time Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.
It rained continuously & was very cold. The
poor fellows must have suffered terribly.
Thursday the enterprise was abandoned
& the troops commenced going back to their
old camps. The roads for ten miles were
full of wagons & platoon trains of batteries
stuck imoveably in the mud. They have
been at work night & day since moving this
back. It was a most disastrous affair as bad
as a defeat in battle. It is thought that at least
2000 men will die & be disabled on account
of the hardships they went thro. Several did
die on the march. Sumner’s Grand Div. didn’t
move tho. we were under orders all the time.
It was a wonder to us all we never laid still
before when the rest were moving. It is said
that we were to support our batteries here in front
of the city while Hooker & Franklin crossed
above. The whole thing is given up now.
I don’t think another move can be made for a
good while. The wet weather has set in &
will undoubtedly continue for a month or more.

Several promotions have been
made. Capt.Hapgood to be Lt.Col.
& Capt. Cross to be Major. Hapgood is
from Amherst; he came out as Capt.
of Co. 9. He has been at home since last
July on recruiting service. He is a good
officer & a fine looking man, and
there is not a handsomer officer in
the army than Capt. Cross. So we have
there a fine looking field officers as
can be found in any one regt.
Francis W. Bulter[?] who came out with
us as our 2^nd Lt. is our Capt. now. He was
detached as signal officer [----?]
and has been with this signal corps
ever since. He was with Mc Clellan on
the peninsulas. Since then he has been
with Sig el. He will now take command
of this Co. He is a noble fellow and was
always much liked. Our 2^nd Lt Livermore
is now our 1^st Lt. He was an Orderly till last
summer when he was promoted to 2^nd lt. He
is one of the smartest officers in the regt and

has been acting as Quartermaster for the past
3 months. Our orderly—Walker-- is now 2^nd Lt.
I am highly pleased. I could not have arranged
it better myself. I shall probably be Orderly as
our 2^nd Sergt who was wounded at Antietam is
disabled & will be discharged. Orderlys get $20.00 more
a month.

I have not got my box yet. I suppose it is at
Aquin Creek. They won’t deliver express
matter to anybody but the Provost-Marshalls
of Divisions. I suppose they will have it
brought up when they get ready. I feel
mad about it. I wish the boys could have
the handling of some of these officers a
while, perhaps they would attend to the
wants of the soldiers a little better.
I need my boots very much this muddy weather.
Benj B.Gilman of Raymond was here yester-
day. Tricke[?] Drelly[?] is about here some-
where.

I have not been to see the 18^th Reg yet but am going
some day. I have several old schoolmates
in it. There is one Rye boy in our Co. Gilman
Johnson. I rec a letter from James yesterday.
I shal write to Samuel soon
Give my love to all.