Soon after the Moorefield Expedition, the 55th Ohio, and its brigade, marched to New Creek, Va. and on and occupied ground that was previously held by another regiment. While encamped here, some of the boys happened to find a five-dollar gold piece, a pocket knife and other trinkets. This sparked a "gold fever" and many of the boys began to stir up the old bunks of the previous command for loot. This would soon prove disastrous as that previous command had several cases of measles.On February 18th, 1862, the command came again to Grafton in a pouring rain and encamped. The ground was soaked and, needless to say, the men were mis-erable. It was at this time that many in the command began to come down with the measles they were exposed to in the previous camp. William Keesy of Company I relates this sad period; "In an incredibly short time there were over 200 of the regiment sick. Our field hospital was full and some were lying around in the mess tents. In this camp 19 of our brave boys died with the measles, among them Clay Love of Norwich. His body was sent home for burial. William Wilson was completely broken out with it. He was lying in our tent and Thorley (Joseph W. Thorley, Co. I) and I were caring for him. He was doing well but Doctor Kling (Jay Kling - Regimental Surgeon, 55th Ohio) came down to see him and of course the doctor must give some orders to dignify his office. So Doctor Kling ordered the tent thrown up all around the bottom for fresh air. He threatened to punish us for keeping the temperature so high in our tent. He tore around like an enraged steer and in a short time had us as much exposed as though we were wholly out doors. Of course now we could not keep our sick man from catching cold. I thought 'Poor Wilson! you are done for!' We brought him through, but he had lost the power of speech. This however secured his discharge and thus the Surgeon had helped the Government!"
It was in this camp at Grafton that the regiment received its first pay from the government. It was also here that the regiment received its first issue of hardtack as well as the important "greenback". It is not exactly known when the regiment was introduced to the omnipresent "grayback".
On March 31st, the 55th Ohio boarded the Baltimore and Ohio train to Cumberland, Maryland. Just a few miles east of Piedmont, Virginia, the brake beam on the hind part of the tinder dropped down and derailed the back end. This resulted in the next several cars being derailed bringing the train to a sudden, screeching halt. Joseph Coxley of Company I was riding on the tinder and barely escaped with his life as the car bounced around and derailed. The broken cars were pushed off the tracks, a new engine was brought up and the command proceeded to Green Springs and encamped.
Sources:
Trials and Triumphs: A Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry by Hartwell Orsborne, 1904, A.C. Clurg & Co., Chicago.
War, As Viewed From The Ranks by William Keesy, 1898.
Memoirs of Luther B. Mesnard, 1901, Courtesy of U.S. Army Military History Institute.