Chaplain Alexander M. Stewart, who served with the 13th Pennsylvania Volunteers (re-designated the 102nd after its first three-month tour of duty), sent almost weekly “sketches” of life in the Union army to home-front newspapers. On April 15, 1863, the Reverend Stewart wrote: “My opinion is, that just now, with the enemy directly ahead of us, there is no eligible route for us into Richmond. . . . Hence our prime object is the enemies’ army in front of us, . . . we should continually harass and menace him, so that he shall have no leisure, nor safety in sending away detachments. If he weakens himself, then pitch into him.”