SEVENTH REGIMENT INFANTRY. 259

that some inside accommodation had been reserved for at least the "field and staff,"
and was immediately and not at all ceremoniously pulled in by the guard. In the dark-
ness and confusion, the inside guard (of the 20th N. Y.) mistook him for a prisoner who
had been trying to escape, and rejected all his protestations as "weak inventions" of the
enemy. The doctor found himself in a car densely crowded with Louisiana Irishmen,
where he was closely watched by the guard inside as a specially intelligent and danger-
ous prisoner, capable of framing very plausible stories. The train reached Alexandria at
two o'clock in the morning. The prisoners were then turned over to a guard in waiting
and marched to the old capitol prison, and the Maryland boys, relieved of all further
responsibility, found (to them) sumptuous quarters at "Soldier's Rest."

Soldier's Rest.

The spacious enclosure which contained the various buildings was stockaded to
the height of fifteen or twenty feet, with banquettes and loop holes for musketry.
The first impression, naturally, was that this stockade was only designed to check
our hungry and misguided Southern brethren in case any portion of them, with force
and arms, should desire to participate in the hospitalities of the place. The next idea
that suddenly presented itself to the astonished minds of our boys, after they had
duly washed, eaten, drank, rested, and frankly sought to penetrate into the external
world, was, that the same stockade answered equally "well to keep them in. All the
outlets were guarded by armed men in the Frenchy, sky-blue uniform of the ''Invalid
Corps." The officer on duty was a polite young fellow who had left an arm at Gettys-
burg, and at his invitation the field and staff spread their blankets on the floor of
the guard room, adjoining the large hall where the men slept.

Bristoe Again.

The next morning, the necessary preliminaries for transportation having been
easily arranged (and nothing was ever found easier or less encumbered with red-tape
than getting transportation to the front), the Seventh exchanged the romance of soldier-
ing for the reality, and in due time was found once more at Bristoe, taking its share of
duty with the rest of the Maryland brigade in picketing the railroad and its approaches
from Manassas Junction to Kettle Run.

Rappahannock Again.

The Maryland brigade left Bristoe on the 23d, and marched some twenty miles to a
point near the Rappahannock, and three days later moved camp to the bluffs on the
north bank, near the railroad bridge.

Meade's demonstration upon Mine Run occupied the closing days of this month,
during which Kenly's division was held in reserve, guarding the line of communication.

Paoli Mills.

As soon as things began to look settled again, the men occupied themselves in put-
ting up winter quarters, but were not allowed to begin even to feel at home in them.
The 3d of December, 1863, was a day of stir and bustle, troops and trains coming back
from the front, and on the next day the Maryland brigade marched before daylight,