The day passed, and in the night, the pickets cautioned to keep the
fires going and then left to take care of themselves, Meade had his
Army quietly slip away from out of sight of the defences they had only
looked upon, and then, without hurry, back to the old camp at Brandy
Station, where from the 2d of December, 1863, to May 3d, 1864, the
camp life of Winter was unbroken, save for a day or two, taken up by
the march to the Rapidan on February 6th, as a caution to Lee, who was
somewhat restless to learn what the Army in front of him was doing.