Barrier is still stationed on Confederate Point near Fort Fisher, where all is generally quiet save for occasional shelling and a few inconsequential skirmishes. Barrier is now in command of Clingman's Brigade, and he doesn't like it: "I am placed in a very unfortunate position just at this time . . . have been in command for several days and likely to remain so for several weeks." There is a rumor around camp that there will soon be peace and that, as Barrier says, "We shall be recognized as one of the great nations of the Earth." He is afraid of the effect it might have on morale should this rumor prove to be false. He is interrupted while writing by the news that he will have to appear in Wilmington to serve as a witness in a court martial and cuts his letter short.