Image ID: AILH

Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book Of The War. Vol. 2, No. 52. When this picture was made, the Third Corps was yet an independent organization, under the command of Gen. French, whose Chief Quartermaster was Lieut. Col. J. B. Howard. The distinguished flag of the Colonel’s command, which adorns the side of his dwelling, carried the historical diamond of the Corps, in red, white, and blue, with the words “Chief Quartermaster.” The adjoining canvass-roofed hut was the Colonel’s business office, the patched addition in front, warmed by a stove, serving the purpose of an ante-room where orderlies could wait in comfort. In the first hut there was a fireplace worthy of a New England mansion house. Oak logs, supported on camp-made fire dogs, gave a cheery blaze, and spread a genial warmth through the apartment. The floor was of plank, and the ceiling of canvass. On the walls, partly covered with hanging blankets of various colors, and partly papered with illustrated weeklies, there hung maps, field glasses, arms, &c. Pine chairs of the simplest pattern, a desk full of pigeon holes, crammed with papers bound with red tape, and an iron safe, completed the list of furniture. In these quarters the Colonel’s wife and little daughter found sufficient attraction to detain them several weeks; and round the blazing hearth, on many a sullen winter night, the ennui of camp were forgotten in pleasant re-unions of the General’s staff.