On 12 December 1862, the 3rd Brigade of Gen Casey's Division (which included the 27th Maine) left Camp Seward and headed south towards Alexandria, Virginia. A couple of miles south of the city was the encampment of the Vermont Brigade, consisting of the 12th through 16th regiments, 9 month troops also under the command of Gen Silas Casey in the defense of Washington, DC. They had just received orders to move west towards Fairfax, Virginia, and their winter quarters were vacant.
 1861 map, Hunting Creek area | Named Camp Vermont, it was located on the land of George Mason, Esq (seen as "G Mason" on map (left) near the crossroads south of Ft Lyon), and laid out on "a sloping hillside, by a stream of good water, and in close proximity to the family of the manor of Spring Bank". This was east of the mansion house, which was taken over as Division headquarters. The land had been cleared by the Vermont men, the timber being used to build the wooden structures needed to house the troops during the upcoming winter. |
| As a soldier in the 14th Vermont wrote: "each company to have barracks of its own, which are to be 100 feet in length and 20 feet in width". This description matches the wooden structures the 12th VT Infantry built that were later taken over by the 4th Delaware Infantry. A lithograph of the camp can be seen here: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/jan/delaware-civil-war-011912.html The 27th Maine was brigaded with the 4th DE, and may be one of the two other camps seen in the background on the lithograph. |  1865 map, with Ft Willard bordering G Mason's land |
The 27th Maine would only camp here for three weeks, as they were transferred into the 1st Brigade under Casey, and would relocate north to the hills near Fairfax Seminary (Camp Casey).
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