. History of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, in the Civil War, 1862-1863 . en they found their way back to camp were without any pro-tection from the piercing wintry blasts that swept over thesacred soil after the great battle. This extreme cold was succeeded later on by warmer weatherand rains which transformed the camp and surrounding countryinto one vast slough of sticky, viscid mud, in which men andbeasts floundered in inextricable desperation. Added to the dis-comforts incident to these conditions, and which made them lessendurable, was the feeling of disappointment and cha
. History of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, in the Civil War, 1862-1863 . en they found their way back to camp were without any pro-tection from the piercing wintry blasts that swept over thesacred soil after the great battle. This extreme cold was succeeded later on by warmer weatherand rains which transformed the camp and surrounding countryinto one vast slough of sticky, viscid mud, in which men andbeasts floundered in inextricable desperation. Added to the dis-comforts incident to these conditions, and which made them lessendurable, was the feeling of disappointment and chagrin, min-gled with sorrow, that pervaded the army in consequence of itsbloody failure to dislodge the enemy in the late battle. The en-emy still defiantly held the frowning heights, against whose steel-girt base the life-tide of seventy-five hundred slain and woundedheroes broke in great crested waves, dashing their crimson sprayfar up the embattled slopes. The great heart of the nation well-nigh lost hope in this ter-rible trial, but it at length gathered inspiration and courage X o. ■^Z, TWELFTH EHODB ISLAND VOLUNTEERS 181 from the intrepid spirit and sublime courage always displayedby the magnificent Army of the Potomac, no less in times of dis-aster like this than in the hour of victory. Six months later its unflinching heroism and unfaltering faithwere rewarded by a glorious triumph on the historic field of Get-tysburg and at Vicksburg. The survivors of the gallant old Twelfth are honored in havingshared the perils and hardships of that midwinter campaignalong the banks of the Kappahannock. What a strange panorama of mingled scenes of comedy andtragedy, of pathetic helplessness and ineffable disgust was pre-sented by a great army, invested with all the panoply and trap-pings of war; its men, horses, guns and baggage teams, flounder-ing in inextricable confusion in the indescribable mud of OldVirginny. How full of agony must have been the heart of ourdear old Burnside, a
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