100 men about every third day, with a few peas and dried fruits occasionally.  O.R. volume 25 part 2 page 730.) for the single line of badly laid rails, subjected to the strain of an abnormal traffic, formed a precarious means of transport; every spring and pond was frozen; and the soldiers shivered beneath their scanty coverings.* (* On January 19, 1200 pairs of shoes and 400 or 500 pairs of blankets were forwarded for issue to men without either in D.H.  Hill’s division, O.R. volume 21 page 1097.  In the Louisiana brigade on the same date, out of 1500 men, 400 had no covering for their feet whatever.  A large number had not a particle of underclothing, shirts, socks, or drawers; overcoats were so rare as to be a curiosity; the 5th Regiment could not drill for want of shoes; the 8th was almost unfit for duty from the same cause; the condition of the men’s feet, from long exposure, was horrible, and the troops were almost totally unprovided with cooking utensils.  O.R. volume 21 page 1098.) Huts, however, were in process of erection, and the goodwill of the people did something to supply the deficiencies of the commissariat.* (* O.R. volume 21 page 1098.) The homes of Virginia were stripped, and many—­like Jackson himself, whose blankets had already been sent from Lexington to his old brigade—­ordered their carpets to be cut up into rugs and distributed amongst the men.  But neither cold nor hunger could crush the spirit of the troops.  The bivouacs were never merrier than on the bare hills and in the dark pine-woods which looked down on the ruins and the graves of Fredericksburg.  Picket duty was light, for the black waters of the great river formed a secure barrier against attack; and if the men’s stomachs were empty, they could still feast their eyes on a charming landscape.  “To the right and left the wooded range extended towards Fredericksburg on the one hand, and Port Royal on the other; in front, the far-stretching level gave full sweep to the eye; and at the foot of its forest-clad bluffs, or by the margin of undulating fields, the Rappahannock flowed calmly to the sea.  Old mansions dotted this beautiful land—­for beautiful it was in spite of the chill influences of winter, with its fertile meadows, its picturesque woodlands, and its old roads skirted by long lines of shadowy cedars."* (* Cooke page 389.)

The headquarters of the Second Army Corps were established at Moss Neck, on the terrace above the Rappahannock, eleven miles below Fredericksburg.  After the retreat of the Federals to Falmouth, the Confederate troops had reoccupied their former positions, and every point of passage between Fredericksburg and Port Royal was strongly intrenched and closely watched.  At Moss Neck Jackson was not only within easy reach of his divisions, but was more comfortably housed than had usually been the case.  A hunting-lodge which stood on the lawn of an old and picturesque mansion-house, the property of a gentleman named Corbin, was placed at his disposal—­he had declined