A Siege of Yorktown, Without Judson

Judson Cheney
Born: May 11, 1838, Hopkinton, St. Lawrence County, New York
Died: September 29, 1864, Chaffin Farm, Virginia
Relation to Author: 2nd Great Grand Uncle

On this day 150 years ago, Judson was sitting at camp near Newport News. The Siege of Yorktown (not a major battle - 182 North casualties, 500 confederate over a few weeks) has started about 10 miles away, but Judson's regiment and division are not involved. Kruetzer says that they have remained behind, "for want of transportation" while the other divisions have begun what will be a slow move up the peninsula.

Since waking up on April 3 in Newport News, Judson had a meal of soft bread, boiled ham and coffee - brought with him from Alexandria - then later received more rations and set up camp. Each soldier was given a piece of cloth six feet by five, which they would combine with one or two other soldiers and stretch over sticks cut from the woods to make a tent. They would then dig a shallow trench to keep out some rain.

However, on this day (April 5th), the rains came all day, increasing in the night so much that it woke the soldiers up at 10pm with at least a few inches of standing water on the ground. The soldiers left their tents with their gear, "wrap his oil cloth around them and looks for higher ground." Only the eerie singing of a lone lieutenant could capture the craziness of the situation, and bring the other soldiers to sing and have some cheer.

Update: 
The New York Times Disunion blog has a good post about the beginning of the peninsula campaign. So if you are looking for a little more information about the situation Judson had found himself in, definitely read it. Here is a preview, describing the scale of boat journey Judson and many others took to get from DC to the peninsula:

The quartermaster general, Montgomery Meigs, had assembled 400 ships to transport 100,000 men, 14,592 animals, 5 locomotives, 80 railcars, 1,224 wagons, 74 ambulances and 103 cannons.

So Judson's ship was one of 400. Amazing.

Update 2: 
A great post on the Disunion blog tells us that Yorktown turned to a siege instead of a battle because McClellan lacked an accurate map of the peninsula (and because McClellan was overly cautious).