150 YEARS AGO TODAY: For the men of the Second Brigade (3rd. Div., 2nd Corps) who had returned to their encampment after the “reconnaissance” across the Rapidan River at Morton’s Ford, Sunday, February 14th, 1864 was a special day. The men had built a chapel and on that day, a special service of dedication was held. Capt. Samuel Fiske (Co. G, 14th CT, a.k.a. Dunn Browne) described the event for readers of the Springfield Republican:

Dear Republican: We had a real dedication yesterday of a house of God, built of logs and plastered with mud, and covered with canvas furnished by the Christian Commission, pewed with log benches and able to accommodate 150 people with comfort. It seemed actually like “going to meeting” again, for we had a dozen ladies in the audience and good singing and a good sermon and good worship every way. When the chapter describing the glorious dedication of Solomon’s temple was read, it occurred to me that there was something of a contrast between the scene in Jerusalem and our humble dedication service on the bank of the Rapidan. But “all the people said amen” I think in both cases; and if the spirit of the Lord filled with a cloud of glory that temple built of fragrant cedar and overlaid with shining gold, perhaps He was equally present with us in our temple of riven pine overlaid with Virginia mud.