First Week at Camp Bowers

Sunday, May 24, 1863

The Thirteenth New Hampshire spent their first week at Camp Bowers hard at work digging entrenchments in and around on Fort Rodman. The weather had become exceedingly hot and the men needed to work either early in the morning from 5:00 to 11:00 A.M. or in the late afternoon from 3:00 to 7:30 PM. The Thirteenth spent their Sunday in their usual fashion at religious services, inspection, and dress parade. ¹

References:
¹S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 : A Diary Covering Three Years and a Day (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888), 161-63.

Settling in at Camp Bowers

Sunday, May 17, 1863

After the usual Sunday regimental inspection the Thirteenth New Hampshire is ordered to move four miles into a pine grove, forming a new camp nicknamed Camp Bowers. Camp Bowers was strategically located at a position where the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad met three roadways. Upon forming camp the Thirteenth immediately began work on a new fort named Fort Rodman.¹

References:
¹S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 : A Diary Covering Three Years and a Day (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888), 161.