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.It had the pride of men who had fought hard and well, and it was sure that it would win the war the next time it went into battle.Getting into Maryland, too, was like coming home.No longer did the Westerners and the New Englanders feel that this slave state was foreign soil.The farms and the countryside might not be like Massachusetts and Indiana, but they were even less like the flat, dank, wooded country of the Virginia peninsula, and they had not been scorched by the usage of war.Best of all, the people themselves were friendly.In western Maryland, at least, public sentiment had settled on the side of the Union by the fall of 1862, and the inhabitants welcomed the army joyfully.Young Captain Noyes, on Doubleday's staff, remarked that girls with buckets of cold spring water waited at almost every gate to give tired soldiers a drink."If my hat was off once, it was off thirty times," he wrote, adding ecstatically: "Fine marching weather; a land flowing with milk and honey; a general tone of Union sentiment among the people, who, being little cursed by slavery [Captain Noyes was the staunchest of abolitionists], had not lost their loyalty; scenery, not grand but picturesque, all contributed to make the march delightful."3Nearly all of the soldiers who made that march and left a record of their thoughts made the same sort of comment.A diarist in the 22nd Massachusetts felt that the combination of beautiful country and friendly people did wonders for the army; around the campfires, he said, there was universal agreement that they would beat Lee decisively next time they met him.In the 27th Indiana it was agreed that getting back into Maryland made all the difference; the men felt better, and it wasn't because of McClellan—this regiment had never served under him before and had no ingrained hero worship to respond to.General Abram Duryee's brigade—97th, 104th, and 105th New York, plus 107th Pennsylvania—straggled badly coming out of Washington; too many men had loitered, as one writer confessed, to enjoy "the comforts of civilization," and the first day's march was hard.But the stragglers all caught up after a while, and the brigade stepped out gaily; in the town of Frederick, the brigade historian recalled, "hundreds of Union banners floated from the roofs and windows, and in many a threshold stood the ladies and children of the family, offering food and water to the passing troops, or with tiny flags waving a welcome to their deliverers." The 3rd Wisconsin found it hardly needed its army rations in Frederick, "so sumptuous was the fare of cakes, pies, fruits, milk, dainty biscuit and loaves" which the citizens were passing out.A regimental diarist added fondly: "Of all the memories of the war, none are more pleasant than those of our sojourn in the goodly city of Frederick."Men in the Black Hat Brigade noted that children stood in almost every doorway, offering pies, cakes, drinking water, and the like, and flags were hanging from almost every window.A soldier in the 9th New York found the streets "filled with women dressed in their best, walking bareheaded, singing, and testifying in every way the general joy." Captain Noyes spoke of the passage through Frederick as "one continuous waving of flags, fluttering of handkerchiefs, tossing of bouquets," and said the soldiers grew hoarse cheering in response.A veteran of the 7th Maine extended his grateful benediction to all of Maryland; the regiment found camp sites "conveniently situated as to chickens and corn and honey and apple butter, and like the Israelites of old, we looked upon the land and it was good." Remembering the hostile people on the peninsula, he added: "The girls no longer made faces at us from the windows, and the people were down at their front gates with cold water, at least, if they had nothing better.It seemed like Paradise, this Maryland, and many were the blessed damosels we saw therein [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]