On December 1st a snow storm set in, and after dark we marched to the rear, and recrossed the Rapidan at Culpepper ford about daylight on the 2d. About 9 o'clock our march was resumed, the 57th and the 63d Pennsylvania acting as wagon guard to our long train. Having run out of rations we were very hungry, but we contrived to get something to eat before night. On December 3d we reached our old camps, and finding our huts still standing, we soon had them roofed, and were again comfortably housed.
A few days after we got settled down, the question of reenlistment was much discussed among the men. The War Department had issued General Order No. 191, which allowed every man who reenlisted a bounty of $400.00 (to be paid in installments) and a furlough for thirty days. Before leaving on furlough each man was to be paid $100.00, under the bounty act of July 22, 1861, one month's pay in advance, $13.00, premium, $2.00, and first installment of bounty under General Order 191, $60.00, making a total of $175.00. Where three-fourths of the men present for duty in a regiment reenlisted, the regiment was allowed to go in a body with their arms to place of organization, and from thence the men could go to their homes on furlough. They were also entitled to be designated as "veteran regiments," and each man was allowed to wear the veteran stripes on the sleeves of his coat.
On the 24th of December the regiment was formed in a hollow square in front of headquarters, and was then briefly addressed by Chaplain McAdam on the propriety of reenlisting. At the conclusion of the chaplain's remarks, Colonel Sides requested those who were willing to reenlist, to step three paces to the front. Over three-fourths of the men stepped forward, and, after giving three hearty cheers for the Union, were dismissed. Then for several days the officers and first sergeants were busy making out muster rolls, furloughs, and reenlistment papers.
Among the men the furlough was the all-absorbing theme. When were they to be granted? It is safe to say that a bounty of $1,000.00, without the furlough, would have secured but a small number of the men. But the assurance of spending thirty days at home was the great inducement for reenlisting, as most of the men had been absent from home for two years or more.