Letters from the Front - Nathan Hayward

Saturday, August 23, 1862

Doctor Nathan Hayward penned a brief letter to his father from Newport News. He mentioned that until this morning they believed they would remain at Newport News for at least a week. He wrote, " .. [we] had sent to Fort Monroe for a wagon load of fruit, expecting to make ourselves comfortable here and enjoy the luxuries of the season and the place. What our destination is, we do not know, whether A[c]quia Creek, Alexandria, or elsewhere."¹

References:
¹Nathan Hayward, "Letters," Association of Officers of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, Reports, Letters and Papers Appertaining to Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, vol. 1, p. 396, Twentieth Massachusetts Special Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.

Northward March Continues

Friday, August 22, 1862

The Union Army continued their march northward, arriving at Yorktown Wednesday where they camped for the evening. At 6:00 A.M. on Thursday morning the Army resumed their march, covering fifteen miles and arriving at Big Bethel by evening. This morning the Army began their progress at 4:00 A.M., marching in a heavy rain eight miles to Newport News. From here they planned to travel north by steamer along the Chesapeake Bay.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 142-3.