On the 4th, a brigade came up under command of General Mulligan, who now assumed command of all the troops. The night again set in cold and blustering, and as none of us had blankets, a cool prospect was in view. Skirmishing began early for a bundle of hay or straw for covering, and all prepared to make the best of the situation. Two smart chaps from Co. G crawled into a wagon box, with their little bundle of hay to pass the night, and were soon in the land of dreams, but their comfort was of short duration, for a stray mule, wandering that way, proceeded to help himself from their covering, and did not desist so long as a straw remained. The increased cold soon waked the boys up, and after expressing their feelings in a very forcible manner, sought other quarters in which to pass the remainder of the night. At half past one, on the morning of January 6th, five companies of the 123d, and five companies of the 116th, with Mulligan’s Brigade, started out to attack a camp of Rebels, distant nine miles, but after marching to near the point designated, found that they had left in a great hurry for a more southern clime; returning to camp, we arrived there at 3 o’clock A. M., having marched eighteen miles—a long walk before breakfast. It was on this march that Gen. Mulligan compelled the men to throw down captured chickens and turkeys, which otherwise would have made many a good breakfast on our arrival in camp it is needless to say, that this sort of fooling was not indulged in to any extent in later years. It was on this occasion, that the incident happened, which Col. Wilson is so fond of relating, and which always provokes a hearty laugh from listeners, especially those who remember old Capt. Newman, of Company H, who when asked how he came to set such an example before his men, as to capture a turkey, with the evident intention of taking it into camp, remarked that the “Tam durkey coom’d a runnin out of the gate mit his mouth vide open, and Colonel, you don’t tink I is goin to let a tam durkey bite me? no sir!” As a matter of course a reprimand was not administered. The next day a part of the Regiment went out foraging for grain; and in the afternoon, firing being heard in the direction taken by them, reinforcements were sent out to their assistance; but they soon met the boys coming in all right, with their wagons loaded principally with grain; but chickens, potatoes, onions, &c., entered largely into the cargo, and a pretty good supper was the result.