Transported by the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad to Washington, D.C., with a stopover at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Skellie was stationed briefly with his regiment at Fort Monroe before being shipped by steamer to Suffolk, Virginia, where his regiment was attached to the Union Army division commanded by Major-General John J. Peck. Finally issued guns and ammunition, they were then directed to pitch basic shelter tents on South Quay Road. Assigned to fatigue duty, they drilled regularly, and also dug rifle pits while battling their common camp ailment of dysentery. Ordered to march toward Franklin on November 17, the 112th New York Volunteers soon experienced their first true moment of combat. Marching quickly from 2 to 5 p.m. that day with Foster's Division in the advance, they took a 20-minute dinner break; continuing on, they marched until midnight when they took an additional 30-minute break. Making their way "through woods, swamps and mud holes" to reach "Zuni, a small town on the Blackwater river" at dawn, they joined with the 6th Massachusetts to force Confederate army skirmishers to cease operations.