On the 18th of December, Lieutenant Frank A. Hanner was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, vice Lieutenant McKnight killed. Orderly Sergeant Chas. A. Campbell to 2d Lieutenant, Jr.; Sergeant William M. Paisley was appointed Orderly Sergeant; Corporal C. W. Stratford, Sergeant, and privates Alfred W. Klutts and Rufus B. Gibson were promoted to Corporals.

During the month of December, under special orders No. 72, Lee's headquarters, a general court martial was convened for our (Heth's) division. Capt. J. A. Sloan was detailed as judge-advocate; Col. R. Mayo, of the 47th Virginia regiment, as president, and Sergeant William U. Steiner, of the Grays, appointed recorder. With the exception of a temporary suspension in February and again in March, to accompany our several commands on expeditions made at those times, the court was in regular session at Orange Court-House. In the meanwhile Lieutenant Banner was in command of the Grays.

On the 8th of January, private Chas. W. Westbrooks, our company chaplain, and known as our "fighting parson," was discharged by order of the Secretary of War, and received an appointment as regular chaplain in the army. Charlie preached as he shot without fear and to the mark.

On the 16th of January, private Henry G. Kellogg, at home on surgeon's certificate, was permanently detailed in the commissary department at Salisbury, North Carolina.

On the 18th of February, W. H. Donnell joined the company.

On the 20th, Corporal Thomas J. Rhodes was promoted to Sergeant, and private Richard S. Smith was appointed Corporal.

On the 1st of March, Preston P. Dick joined the company. At the same time private Henry W. Ayer, who joined the Grays in May, 1863, was transferred to company "C," 48th N.C. regiment.

On the 12th, H. Smiley Forbis died of disease at hospital in Lynchburg, Va.

On the 31st, private A. Laffayette Orrell was transferred to the C.S. Navy, "or words to that effect."

On the 13th of April, private Pleasant Ricks died in camp of typhoid fever.

On the 25th, E. Tonkey Sharpe was detached, by order of Gen. Heth, for duty with the provost guard.

On our return from the Mine Run "freeze-out," we planned, built, and improved our winter quarters, and soon had a city of log cabins. It was now our turn to watch the wary "yank" on the borders of the Rapidan, and we picketed up and down the stream in the cold and ice until early in February, when Kirkland's N.C. brigade was sent to our relief.

While we were in camp near Orange Court-House in December, 1863, the good mothers, wives, and daughters of Virginia, with the ready hands and loving hearts that had always characterized them from the beginning to the end of the fearful struggle, bethought themselves to give Lee's army a Christmas dinner. Every pantry, turkey-roost, and hog-pen in the dear old State was called upon to furnish its quota for the feast. Our infinitesimal ration dimmed with the prospect, and we looked forward to that day, which ever stirs all the better and sweeter impulses of our humanity, with longing desires. In our log cabins we lay upon our hard beds and dreamed of its past celebrations, of its anthems and its carols; we thought of its bays and its wreaths of evergreen; its sprigs of holly in the parlor, and the sacred immortelles around the portraits of the lost ones; its gift-giving and all those interchanges of tokens that make friendship sweet; its suppressions of self; its lessons of generosity, and its going out to others. Need you wonder, under these circumstances, that Lee's hungry rebels were all anticipation. The day was ushered in with a snow storm, but, nothing daunted, our brigade wagon was soon on its way to the depot to receive our share of the feast; but, unfortunately, these same pantrys, turkey-roosts, and hog-pens had been invaded so often before that our part of the grand dinner assumed microscopic proportions, and the wagon returned with about a half-bushel measure of dissected gobblers—our Christmas dinner!

"O, ever thus, from childhood's hour"—

Early in February we received a most delightful and interesting visit from Greensboro's eminent divine, Rev. J. Henry Smith, who preached for as in the large log tabernacle erected by the boys for divine service. During his visit the cry of the "Philistines be upon you" from the other side of the river was heard, and we were ordered out to resist the threatened attack. The parson exhibited an eagerness to become a "soldier of Lee" for the occasion. After spending two days and nights of bitter cold weather on the banks of the Rapidan, the enemy making no further demonstrations, we were returned to our quarters.

On the 26th of February, three formidable columns of cavalry, under the command respectively of Generals Kilpatrick, Custer, and Col. Dahlgren, proceeded by different routes towards Richmond to surprise and, if possible, capture the city; and, if successful, to sack and burn the city, pillage the buildings, and kill "old Jeff Davis and his cabinet." In the meanwhile two corps of the enemy crossed the river and proceeded to Madison Court-House; their object being, by a feint, to cover their cavalry demonstration upon Richmond. Two days later another army corps left for Madison, and our corps (Hill's) was ordered to follow them. We left our camp before day on the morning of March 1st and reached Madison late in the evening, after a long and weary march in the rain and mud. On our arrival we found that the enemy had retired, and were returning to their former position on the Rapidan. The weather turned very cold during the night, and the next morning we retraced our steps through snow and ice to our camp, the men suffering greatly from fatigue and cold. We remained quietly in our winter quarters until the 4th of May.

Sometime in March, 1864, Major-General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed Lieutenant-General and assumed command of the armies of the United States. In April he made his headquarters at Culpepper Court-House, and took personal command of the army of the Potomac. During the months of March and April re-enforcements were gathered from the four quarters of the globe and sent to this army.