The Situation

Whilst the army was waiting patiently till spring should give it freedom of action, it set itself to work to provide for the winter. The spoils of Sebastopol materially contributed to our comfort and efficiency in this respect. Kitchen-ranges, boilers, iron-bars, Stourbridge bricks — I had some in a chimney built into the side of my hut, which were marked "Harpers, Stourbridge" — ovens, brass, iron, and copper stoves, pots and pans, flues, kettles, and hundreds of similar articles, were seized and utilized with wonderful tact. Fine well-built cook-houses were constructed from the cut stone of Sebastopol, which was found in large blocks around unfinished houses or was taken from the ruined edifices and walls about the place. Mechanical ingenuity was largely developed in the adaption of materials. One officer converted the funnel of a small steamer into a chimney; another used one of the pipes of an engine as a hot-air apparatus to heat his hut; a third arranged a portion of machinery so that he could communicate from his salon, sleeping-room, and dining-room (three single gentlemen rolled into one), with his cook in the adjacent kitchen, and dinner was handed through direct from the fire to the table, after the fashion of those mysterious apparatus which obey the behests of London waiters in the matter of roast meats, boiled beefs, and their satellites. Many officers distinguished themselves by the trouble they took in showing the men how to make themselves comfortable. The number of those employed on the roads and in various other ways rendered it difficult to get on with these works, and in many cases the officers were unable to complete their huts for want of wood and labour, and the unfinished walls stood in grim ruin here and there about the camp. Wood, canvas, little bits of glass, tar and pitch, and, above all, nails and tacks, were eagerly sought after. At the headquarters' sale, on General Simpson's departure, a hammer, hatchet, and saw sold for £2 15s. A bag of nails was disposed of by auction the same week for 40s., and on counting the contents it was found there were only 130 nails in the bag. Friendly little felonies of planking and such things were not unheard of, and the greatest favour you could do a friend was "to let him have a piece of board about six feet long by a foot wide;" or "The Captain says, sir, as how he'd be very grateful if you could give him a bit of glass about three inches square, sir, for his{439} winder." The heart soon grew hardened under constant pressure, and one was at last obliged to refuse "a couple of tenpenny nails" or "the loan of a hammer for an hour" with the sternness of a Brutus.