Since the burning of the Virginia Military Institute barracks, by Hunter at Lexington, the school had been transferred to Richmond and occupied the almshouse. This, on my visits to the city, I made my headquarters, and, preparatory to calling on my lady acquaintances, was kindly supplied with outfits in apparel by my friends among the professors. Having developed, since entering the service, from a mere youth in size to a man of two hundred pounds, to fit me out in becoming style was no simple matter. I recall one occasion when I started out on my visiting-round, wearing Frank Preston's coat, Henry Wise's trousers, and Col. John Ross's waistcoat, and was assured by my benefactors that I looked like a brigadier-general. Sometimes as many as four or six of our company, having leave of absence at the same time, would rendezvous to return together in the small hours of the night, through Rocketts, where "hold-ups" were not uncommon, and recount our various experiences as we proceeded campward. Indications of the hopelessness of the Confederacy had, by midwinter, become very much in evidence, with but little effort at concealment. Conferences on the subject among the members of companies and regiments were of almost daily occurrence, in which there was much discussion as to what course should be pursued when and after the worst came. Many resolutions were passed in these meetings, avowing the utmost loyalty to the cause, and the determination to fight to the death. In one regiment not far from our battery a resolution was offered which did not meet the approbation of all concerned, and was finally passed in a form qualified thus, "Resolved, that in case our army is overwhelmed and broken up, we will bushwhack them; that is, some of us will." Notwithstanding all this apprehension, scant rations and general discomfort, the pluck and spirit of the great majority of our men continued unabated. To give an idea of the insufficiency of the rations we received at this time, the following incident which I witnessed will suffice: Immediately after finishing his breakfast, one of our company invested five dollars in five loaves of bread. After devouring three of them, his appetite was sufficiently appeased to enable him to negotiate the exchange of one of the two remaining for enough molasses to sweeten the other, which he ate at once. These loaves, which were huckstered along the lines by venders from Richmond, it must be understood, were not full-size, but a compromise between a loaf and a roll. Desertions were of almost nightly occurrence, and occasionally a half-dozen or more of the infantry on the picket line would go over in a body to the enemy and give themselves up. The Federals, who had material and facilities for pyrotechnic displays, one night exhibited in glaring letters of fire: "While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest rebel may return."