March 22nd.–Ordered this morning to Washington to look up hospital stores and boxes, which are scattered “to the four winds.” This is the first time since the organization of the Regiment that it has moved without my personally superintending the packing and forwarding of the hospital stores, and the first time they have got scattered. “What you would have well done, do yourself.” I fear many of them will be lost.
In passing, I here note two circumstances, that I may not forget them. In addition to the poisoning of three men at Flint Hill by a mistake in medicine, yesterday I discovered that the dispenser, imposed on me by Gen. H_____, was himself taking pills of Unguentum–blue mercurial ointment– instead of blue pill, which had been prescribed for him, and was giving another man saltpetre instead of the sulphate of cinchona–innocent mistakes, to be sure, but indicative of the fatherly care which our General is manifesting towards the soldiers under his command. He refuses to restore my druggist, though he is made aware of these repeated and dangerous mistakes. The other circumstance: During all winter, when no fighting was to be done, our Brigade held the advance of the whole army. All the hard and dirty work fell on us–picketing, chopping, ditching; but we held the advance, the post of honor, were to have the first chance in the fight, and we grumbled not at the hardship and exposure. The time came for attacking Centreville and Manassas. We were ordered forward, when, to our exceeding mortification, we found that 40,000 troops had been thrown in advance of us. Our Brigade has not been permitted even to see Centreville and Manassas. They were occupied by our army before we were started. What means this? Has our Brigade commander lost the confidence of his superior officers, and as a consequence been thus disgraced? We are now near Alexandria, but not in advance. There are from 40,000 to 60,000 troops in advance of us.