On the 18th we moved back to a small place called Clifton, remaining there until the 20th; on this day our regiment reported three hundred and sixty men and six officers for duty; Capt. Kellogg, of Company E, and Lieut. Leonard, of Company D, joining us that evening.
The next morning the regiment went out as guard to a forage train, and while loading our wagons, heavy skirmishing, with the occasional firing of artillery, was heard near by, and we hurried back to camp, only to find it deserted. After considerable traveling, we found our proper place in the line of battle which had been formed, and went to work building a breast work of rails, which we had to carry quite a distance. Early in the evening we moved out to support a battery in our front, but as night came on the firing ceased, and about 11 o’clock a retrograde movement commenced in the direction of Harper’s Ferry; and after marching about fourteen miles, we came to the place where our troops were going into camp. Our brigade commander, who was with our regiment, had, in the darkness, lost the rest of his brigade, and we had the honor of escorting him around hunting for it. At last, in disgust, he told us to go into camp—where we had a mind to—an order which we very quickly obeyed.
On the following morning skirmishing was again going on in our front, and before noon we were at work fortifying, and by night our division was strongly entrenched.
We remained here until the 28th, and during the first three days we were here a continuous roar of skirmish firing was going on along the whole line; if a soldier from either side showed his head above his pile of rails, he was sure to be made a target of. The officers of our division tried to stop this kind of warfare, but with little effect, until the 25th, when the 123d was sent out on the line in front of our brigade; when by the exertion of our commanding officer, skirmish firing, which had been almost continuous from both sides, was stopped by our regiment, and when it was noticed by the Rebels that we were not doing the usual amount of firing, they also ceased, and we were soon on easy terms with them, trading papers, coffee for tobacco, etc.
Our example soon became generally adopted, and firing ceased along the whole front. We were highly complimented by Gen. Thoburne for the prompt manner in which the nuisance was stopped.
