New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-12-20
FRIDAY MORNING. DECEMBER 20, 1861.
Letter from Fishback.


am inclined to hope that this will be my last
letter from this place-so at least our officers en-
courage us to believe, and feeling that thus
encouraged for some wise purpose, I'VE give fancy
free rein in laying out plans for the futurequarter-
ing ourselves, for instance in Richmond, and dane
ing and reveling through the winter solstice with
the natives. Meanwhile, time drags 2wearily
enough. Our only amusement is to build air cas-
ties Il wishyit was winter quarters) around big
fire and dodge the smoke, and should we remain
here, | think more Of us will die from too much
Centrevie on the brain than from all other causes
whatever. / don't say that the townis any more
dull and sensationless than many Others that we
both have probably passed through; butt seems
80 to US, doubt If an incident or adventure ever
took place within its dreary limits, unless the ne
cessity of passing through of staying all night
to some benighfed Traveller in such aGod.forsaken
collection of boards might be regarded in that
light. Society OF the softer seq-there is none.
Coffee-houses, there are none. Blacksmith shop,
a few stores, kept by men who swindfe the care
less soldier at extremely cheap rates-and the
ghost of hotel, SO unredeemably dismal that
night spent in q snowbank would be preferable TO
entering its portals-these, and few other houses,
built upon an almost perpendicular street, constl'
tute the town. s=} .l.- .lg.aE q
From this atmosphere a few friends Of different
regiments, together with myself, resolved for one
day to escape. Freedom though only for afew
hours, was sufficient motive for me, but with my
friends determination to obtain lost dog was an
additional lndueement. Our conversation natur-
ally turned upon the qualities of this faithful fol-
lower of man, and from my friends learned that
his complexion was bilious, soap-coored yellow,
that his body was bereft of its tail, and that his
legs were dsproportionately long for his body, had
it not been curtailed of its narrative already.
What the use Of this sorry cur was, was unable
to ascertain, as the mere asking Of such question
might have been construed, BY a soldiers mind,
into an affront. But learned that the mere per-
mission to hunt for him required the signatures of
half the officers in the regiment, besides Or two
BrigadierG in order to pass the pickets. "
Gradually the conversation subsided into sub
jects Of less interest, excepting, of course, in
quiries of every wayfarer in reference to the lost
animaD and one of the party, who seemed
familiar with localities, and anxious to talk,
pointed out surrounding objects of interest.
Among others he described the occupant Of small
house--two rooms and garnet, which was, he said,
familiar to soldiers as the " Widows and where
| those who were fortunate enough to have fifty
| cents were wont to repair for their meals, The
doorway, continued my informant, is always
| thronged with hungry crowd, Under the eye of a
sentinel of officers and privates who restrain their
impatience until the board is spread by Wallowng
| on the beds, or smoking pipes, with their legs
above the kitchen mantlepieces, ejectng saliva at
| the kissing stove. Whether the guests visit the
widows from admiration of the sex of the cult
nary art my friend thought impossible to say-her
pretensions to beauty and skill being about evenly
| balanced. But eating or love making, no one
seems to be able to boast Of much preference, her
| smiles being distributed with the same impartality
| as the tt-bits, gizzards and livers Of her table
| Conspicuous at one time among the widows ad
mirers was sandy haired youth with a " coming
stomach" whom you may know as Charles
Charles >parti.colored ties, moccasin vests, bear
greased-locks and glittering appearance generally
| had constituted him at one time the cynosure Of
the bar-rooms and galleries of your city; but the
of his glory had long since set, and nought re
hY,f lYrfry =
His face bore but little evidence of familiarity
with water, while the tangled jungles of his heat
were equally untroubled with the inroads OF brusf
| or comb. His hands dangled at his side, coarse
and dirty, like couple of smoked hams, and, il
short, as mouldy and wilted a looking bird was
| Charles as was to be found in the Confederate
camp. 1t was about this time that chance led hin
| to the widows door. The visit awakened ole
memories, and was attended with the purchase o
comb The second interview involved the wash
ing of his face and hands, and each succeeding
| visit was attended with similar change and trans
| formation. Whether this brilliant metamorphosi
was wholly due to the humanizng influence Q
| woman or partly to his months pay and the hold
ing of strong hands at poker, my Informant did mo-
take it upon him to say but at any rate, the mo
ments Of Charles, which are not absorbed il
painting pair of tremendous boots-tops, soles
and all-are generally whiled away in the widows
salons. f ts3
Thus diseoursing and listening to the statistics
| another soldier, whose mind appeared to have
been much occupied with the study of mules
| wagons and other means of conyeyancing not men
toned in law writer's, not forgetting, meanwhile
to make constant inquiries in reference to the miss
ing dog, we passed through country war-scathed
exhausted of almost every supply, and almost de
populated Of its native Inhabitants. No traces o
| anything like an inclosure were anywhere to be
| seen. The zig-zag worm fences had disappeared
at the first appearance of winter, and rail is now
almost as much an object of curiosity as would be
| the presence of the great Rail-Splitter himself
| Much was said at the time by the few farmers who
remained about the destruction of their property
| and stringent orders were issued from camp
| But the soldier whose blood was freezing was moi
| in a condition to weigh calmly the difference be
tween ne,na and teuna 1t was doubtless goot
that farmers should have fences, thought the sol
diers; but it, was also good that patriots should
| keep warm; and so the last sign of one has long
| since Disappeared. .' er s. "+ s' -
Our road led us over the black waters of Bul
| Rum the famous Stone Bridge, the Stone House
| the Hougomont Chateau of our Waterloo-ant
| through the memorable battlefield itself. Th,
fallen trunks of the trees which were cut down t.
| intercept the enemy's path, near the bridge, ar
still remaining land the broken and splintered top
| of others attest where the Whirwind of battle ha
| passeds otherwise, wxshreds and patches o
cotton, which mark the positions of the batteries
house almost destroyed by the balls--and lastly
the graves of the dead, are the sole remaining in
dcations of the greatest battle ever fought upol
this continent.
We had not proceeded many miles farther be
fore we came to a house, which appeared to b
still inhabited by its owners, and whose externa
appearance antfa sayory smell from the kitchen
gave US some encouragement to hope for dinner
It is not generally thought necessary by the sode
to waste much time in knockinS or pulling at th
bell, and SO we entered the parlor without furthe
ceremony. By way of announcing our arrival, on
of the party, in O large, broad brimmed hat, an
with white blanket thrown around him, in India
style, seated himself at the piano, and favored u
with some music, with touch about as light a
would have been produced by a horse gallopiu
across the keys. We had sung, or rather shouted
the Marsellaise and other airs, and one or tw
couple were waltzing in bonnets and other article
of female paraphernalia, which we found in tn
room, when just at that moment the door opened
and through the dust which had been kicked on
Of the carpet, we saw the angry face of the lad
of the house. There was evidently no use of apo
ogizing or attempting to mitigate her wrath. Sc
putting on a courageous face, we told her W
wanted dinner---we were ready to pay for it, 3n
were obliged to have it-that we were not particI
lar, and that anything in the way of chickns,
eggs, butter and other light dishes of thai sor
would easily satisfy US. This we finally persuade
her to do, and before we had finished the meal sh
admitted we were not as hard-lookng cases as sh
at first thought US to be, and that we might, if W
choose, return. Meanwhile, one of the party ha
been out in the back porch-had discovered tn
lost dog rge, laying sleeping in the sun, and wa
heckoning, whistling, and employing all the en-
l. dearing names which are generally found mos
II successful in attracting dogs attention, bu
without avail. Tige seemed afflicted with the aris
tocratc affectation OF deafness; but at the frs
movement that was made by the soldier in hi