Inspection and Picket Duty along the Rappahannock River

Wednesday, December 10, 1862

At noon the General Samuel Zook inspected the newly-assigned Twenty-Seventh Connecticut regiment and declared that their rifles were unfit for use. The rifles had been issued to the Twenty-Seventh before leaving New Haven. A member of General Zook's staff proclaimed, "Boys, if you can't discharge them, you can use the bayonet."¹

During the afternoon two hundred and fifty men from the Twenty-Seventh deployed for picket duty along the Rappahannock River.²

References:
¹Winthrop Dudley Sheldon The "Twenty-Seventh," : A Regimental History (New Haven, Connecticut: Morris and Benham, 1866), 20.
²Winthrop Dudley Sheldon The "Twenty-Seventh," : A Regimental History (New Haven, Connecticut: Morris and Benham, 1866), 21.