Humphreys’ Brigade broke camp at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1863, and marched eight miles to Hanover Junction. They camped there while Hood’s Division boarded the railroad cars and left for Richmond—enroute to Chattanooga, TN.

“The waggons and teams belonging to our command are being turned over to the Government,” 17th Regiment diarist Robert A, Moore recorded.

The brigade left Hanover Junction on the cars at noon on Thursday, Sept. 10, according to Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill, bound for Richmond. Enroute, he continued, there was an accident.

“The train that carried the 13th Mississippi Regiment was run into by a heavy train containing ordnance, but as we were moving very slow, but little damage was done. Most of the soldiers saw the train before it struck and jumped off.”

Some, however, were injured. One of them was Captain Richmond C. Jamison, of the Lauderdale Zouaves, who suffered a broken arm. He was admitted to General Hospital No. 4 in Richmond.

The brigade arrived in Richmond about 4 p.m., formed and “marched from the depot through the city,” Hill recorded, “across the James River to Manchester and camped.”

They boarded another train the next morning, Friday, Sept. 11, about 9 a.m. and, after riding about twenty miles, they arrived at Petersburg just after noon.

“Petersburg is a beautiful city of about 25,000 inhabitants,” Hill wrote. “It is situated on the Appomattox River at the head of navigation. Five railroads center at this place…The principal trade of this place is tobacco manufacturers.”

“Have spent the evening very pleasantly strolling over the city,” Moore recorded. “Petersburg is a very nice and pleasant old city. We will leave South at 9 p.m.”