Return from Picket Duty

Sunday, October 19, 1862

After two days of picket duty the men of the Thirteenth New Hampshire gather at Upton Hill for inspection, drills, and religious services. They receive orders to return to camp, leaving Upton Hill at 6:00 P.M. and returning to Camp Chase by 8:00 P.M. Exhausted and without tents, the men camp on the open ground in the freezing rain. Exposure to the elements begin to take their toll, as nearly one-hundred men report sick the next morning.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), 14.