Second Corps Departs from Falmouth

Monday, June 15, 1863

The Second Corps, as rear guard of the Union Army, was the last to leave Falmouth on the march north to pursue the Confederates. The Twentieth Massachusetts, along with the Second Corps, departed from Falmouth today and marched through Stafford Court House, which was in flames, en route to Acquia Creek for evening camp. The temperatures were extremely warm and the regiment suffered several cases of heat stroke and exhaustion. This was the first day of the most grueling march in the history of the regiment. ¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 262-3.