On Saturday, December 10th, we started on our return march. The roads were in a terrible condition, which made the march very fatiguing, especially to the new recruits, of which there were many in every regiment. Crawford's and Ayer's divisions had some skirmishing to do while we moved to the rear, but on our part we were not molested and reached the vicinity of our old camps about 2 o'clock p. m. on December 12th. We laid out a new camp in front of the rear line of entrenchments, west of the Halifax road, where we remained until the 5th of February.
It was reported that many of our soldiers who had straggled from their regiments during our advance in the Weldon raid, were found during our retreat, lying in the woods, killed by rebel guerrillas, some with their throats cut. Be this as it may, it is certain that many of these stragglers never returned to their regiments. Many of the houses that stood near the road were burned on our return march in retaliation for the murder of our men.
On account of the abundance of the liquor called applejack the Weldon raid was generally spoken of by the men as the "applejack raid." As our division had the rear of the column in the advance we did not get hold of much of the liquor. There is no doubt that many of the men who straggled had tasted too much of the fiery stuff and became too tired to march, and lay down to rest. In the 57th we had some who had taken "as much as was good for them," and they became rather hilarious, but none of them straggled from the ranks.
General Hancock bade farewell to the 2d corps on November 26th. He had been appointed to raise and organize a new corps, to consist of veterans, and of which he was to have command. He was succeeded in command of the 2d corps by Gen. A. A. Humphreys, an able general, who for a long time had been chief of staff to General Meade.
Disbanding of Companies A and E--Regiment Organized Into a Battalion of Six Companies--Consolidation of the Eighty-Fourth with the Fifty-Seventh Pennsylvania--Necessity for Changing the Letter of Some of the Companies--Confusion in Company Rolls Growing Out of It--Officers of the Consolidated Regiment--Another Move Across Hatcher's Run--The Regiment Again Engaged with the Enemy--Great Length of the Line in Front of Petersburg--A Lively Picket Skirmish--Battle Near Watkin's House--Enemy's Picket Line and Many Prisoners Captured.