hungry, very hungry

It is written^[1] that 150 years ago today,

To alleviate near-starvation among his troops, General Thomas L. Rosser leads 300 Confederate cavalry from Staunton, West Virginia, on a raid against well-stocked Union encampments at Beverly. To accomplish this, the Southerners brave high snow drifts and howling winter winds for 75 miles.

“Winter picket duty” by Alfred R. Waud (Library of Congress)

Rosser’s Confederates attacked the Union troops at Beverly on January 11th and “Rosser secures 583 captives, 100 horses, 600 rifles, and, above all, 10,000 rations to feed his hungry men.” ^[2]

Quite a bit had changed in North America in seven years, but Mother Nature was still making life cold:

“The March across the Plains in a Snow Storm [Gen. Albert Johnston’s march to Camp Scott, Utah Territory — troops” (from Harper’s Weekly 4-24-1858 Library of Congress))

1. ^[1]Fredriksen, John C. Civil War Almanac. New York: Checkmark Books, 2008. Print. page 540.↩
2. ^[2]ibid. page 541↩