April 1864, Brandy Station, Virginia. Union soldiers of the 6th New York Artillery stand outside their log company kitchen at winter camp. The structure is typical of Civil War winter quarters, built from whatever timber was available, with wooden barrel staves and split logs corduroying the muddy ground. Brandy Station was a major Union staging area during the winter of 1863 to 1864, housing much of the Army of the Potomac as it prepared for Ulysses S. Grant's spring Overland Campaign, which would begin just weeks after this photograph was taken.