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HISTORY'S STORIES
Winter Quarters	Tuffy Hicks
March 2010 HISTORY’S STORIES Winter Quarters By Ralph A. “Tuffy” Hicks The recent weather of several weeks of snow and severe cold reminded me of my early research into the soldier’s camp life during the War Between the States. Life in the camps of Union and Confederate were of boredom, disease and death. Regulations in the Confederate and Union armies called for an organized camp to be in a grid pattern with streets and quarters to be in an orderly manner. The terrain locally being hilly made it almost impossible to have an organized camp. Over the last 50 years many of us that search for relics have had a firsthand knowledge of these camps and how they were constructed. I remember my first venture into a camp located in White Oak with the late Wally Mann in 1958. Wally pointed out the hundreds of “hut sites” on the hillside and went on to explain how the soldiers built their homes to avoid the severe Virginia winter of 1862-63. The soldiers, usually 2-4 men to a “hut,” would dig a hole usually 2 feet deep, 5 feet wide and 6 feet long that would resemble a small basement when finished. They would then put logs on the edge about 6 feet in height and make a doorway at one end. They would then either make a roof out of wood or put a canvas cover on top. They would also build a fireplace out of rock with a chimney of brick they had taken from buildings. Many of the huts they would make fancy with windows and doors, and even brick floors. The White Oak Museum, owned and operated by D.P. Newton, is well worth a visit. D. P. and his father were also early relic hunters and constructed “hut sites” on the outside of the Museum and also inside using actual bricks and relics recovered in Stafford and Fredericksburg camps. These huts were quite warm in the coldest of weather and the soldiers would write about them in their letters home. There were very few if any tents used in the winter months. Firewood was needed 24 hours a day for warmth and cooking. Each soldier had the duty of keeping the fire burning. It is said that very few trees were left standing between Fredericksburg and Washington after the winter of 1862 because of the need for firewood and wood for construction of the huts. When not drilling or standing guard, the troops read, wrote letters and played cards. And the Confederates, just after the Battle of Fredericksburg, engaged in a huge snowball fight involving 10,000 troops… That scene could have easily been re-enacted last month! Tuffy Hicks packs a mean snowball but prefers snow-free fields for relic hunting.
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Tuffy Hicks packs a mean snowball but prefers snow-free fields for relic hunting.