Thick ice formed over everything and some of the shallower brooks froze solidly in their beds.

The Southern lads were not nearly so well equipped against the winter as their foes.
Not many had heavy overcoats, and blankets and shoes were thin and worn.
The forest was now their refuge.

The river was lined thickly with it, running for a long distance, and thousands of axes began to bite into the timber.

Hardy youths, skilled in such work, they rapidly built log huts or shelters for themselves, and within these or outside under the trees innumerable fires blazed along the Rappahannock, the crackling flames sending a defiance to other such flames beyond the frozen river.
Harry had a letter from Dr.Russell, which had come by the way of the mountains and Richmond.

He had already heard of the terrible day of Perryville in Kentucky, and the doctor had been able to confirm his earlier news that his father, Colonel Kenton, had passed through it safely.