December 23, 1863---An informal peace

DECEMBER 23, 1863:        

After a wet Autumn came a cold and snowy Winter. All over the heart of the North American continent, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, the Blue and the Gray have hunkered down against the windstorms and blizzards that rage across America at war with itself in this season. With Christmas only two days away, the pickets and foragers of both sides are firing into the air when they are firing at all. Most are shouting Christmas greetings across the lines. And although Confederate President Jefferson Davis is trying to motivate his new Commander of the Army of Tennessee, General Joseph Johnston, to engage the enemy, Johnston is still housecleaning the disorderly mess that Braxton Bragg left behind him. In sum, although there was no formal Christmas cease-fire declared, an informal peace is the gift Billy Yank and Johnny Reb give to each other this year.