Dec. 11, '62. The regiment left camp before sunrise, crossed the York
River to Gloucester Point, and in company with the Fifty-second
Pennsylvania, Fifty-sixth and One Hundredth New York, and Battery H,
First New York Artillery, took up the line of march for Gloucester
Court House, where we arrived at 4 p.m. We remained in the vicinity of
the Court House, sending out foraging parties in different directions,
who captured herds of cattle, sheep, mules and some fine horses. The
cavalry, which led the advance from Gloucester Point, advanced to
within a few miles of the Rappahannock. The expedition was commanded by
General Henry M. Naglee, and was intended as a diversion in rear of the
rebel army during the battle of Fredericksburg.
We commenced our retreat just after sunset on the 14th, and arrived in
camp at 3.30 a.m. on the 15th, without the loss of a man, bringing our
captured herds and the prisoners captured by the cavalry.
One of the incidents of this expedition occurred when a member of the
Eleventh attempted to pay for certain articles of food at a house near
the Court House. The occupant absolutely refused to accept greenbacks,
but one of his comrades perceiving the dilemma, produced a bill on the
Bank of Lyon's Kathairon, a patent medicine advertisement, which the
lady readily received, supposing it to be genuine Confederate money.