Sergeant William S. Hineline of E Company shared Middleton's concern:

"There is scarcely an even place to be found in this neighborhood, and when the boys are on the march they have some climbing to do."

But a Lt. Pierson climbed to the tops of the Patapsco Institute for Girls and rhapsodized about the scenery:

"beautiful and picturesque, being a mixture of rocky hills covered with beautiful timber, and the Patapsco rushing over its rocky bed in a number of small but perfect falls and rapids."

The Twelfth settled into a daily schedule that called for reveille at 5:30 a.m., followed by breakfast at six, surgeon's call at seven, guard mounting at 7:30, regimental drill from 8:30 to 11:30, dinner at noon, company drill from two to five p.m., supper at 5:30, retreat at six, tattoo (when the evening roll was called) at 9:30, and lights-out at 9:45. At least that was the plan.

In reality, the New Jersey officers found that they had to march the men three miles beyond the town to find a level enough field to practice drilling. Then they had to march three miles back for lunch. Lt. Pierson wrote that actually, "The time spent in going and returning make a large part of our drilling."

One alternative was to stay in town and practice close-quarter tactics and house to house fighting for three hours at a time. Local people lined the drill field every day, and some would cheer. The New Jersey men wrote home about "the fine town band, which played for the enjoyment of the townspeople several evenings every week." Major Davis wrote that the Twelfth dines on

"Bread and crackers, fresh beef, bacon, pork, potatoes, beans, Jamaica peas, rice and hominy, molasses, sugar, coffee, and sometimes tomatoes....For my own part, I think we dine well."

Many of the Twelfth New Jersey turned out for services at the nearby Emory Methodist Church. Some began to attend mass at the Catholic church in the morning, then go on to Protestant services later in the day. Other pastimes included brewing applejack, going fishing and hunting, and having tintypes made by the itinerant photographers who visited the camp.

Both the Patapsco Guard and the Twelfth New Jersey showed an interesting pattern of many early casualties of war before any conflict occurred. In fact, 60 percent of the known deaths in the Guard occurred before they ever left their home town. One cause was illness.

At 20 years old, Patapsco Guard Nathan Bortle died of pneumonia in December, 1861. While the Twelfth New Jersey was in Ellicotts Mills, six of its soldiers died of diphtheria, pneumonia, typhoid, or dysentery.

Accidents were another cause. Martin Toole was killed by a train while guarding the tracks in early 1862. Death was also caused by careless behavior as young men became accustomed to military realities. At that time, the Patapsco Guards patrolled the covered bridge over the Patapsco on the Howard County side of town, while the soldiers of Company B, the 60th Regiment, New York Volunteers were patrolling the Baltimore County side. Every two hours, at the change of guard, the guards on each side of the bridge met at the center for a salute.

Town witnesses gave testimony that William Knight had been horsing around with Private Simon Fishbeck of New York at the bridge, playing at bayonet fights, when Fishbeck's gun went off. Knight was wounded in the shoulder. Although he received immediate care from Dr. McGlaughlin of Ellicotts Mills, who witnessed the shooting, Knight still died within minutes. The New York troops were not allowed to carry loaded guns in the daytime, but Fishbeck testified that he had picked up the wrong gun, one left over from a night sentry, and that it was apparently loaded.

Though the Patapsco Guard saw little actual combat and no real battles during the war, about 3 percent of the men in the company died in service.