The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-05-10
NEW SERIES-NO. 38l.

ing our hOwtzers. Some OF the rails had
been carried off considerable distance
from the track, Others were pitched down
steep entertainments, and into bitches of
water and in many cases sleepers and rails
were torn up together, a dozen at time.
This was the way in which the cowardly
enemy, who did not dare to meet US face to
face, had intended to render our march i'm
possible, rot calculating upon our having
scientific engineers, as we'll as practical
track layers in the ranks of the two Regi>
ments. Our Regiment has special corps
of engineers, and in the Massachusetts Re-
giment, some of the men had followed track
laying for livelihood. This march was
fatiguing enough in the hot sun, but when
night came on, cold with dews, and with
the exhalations of endless swamps, the suf-
feriDgs of our boys who had never been
used to such hardships were very severe.
We staggered on, footsore, half starved,
chilled through, almost exhausted, and ut
terly wretched. Whenever we halted,
those who were not needed to lay rails, &c.
would drop down on the track, or on the
wet land and fall asleep at once, only to
be aroused again perhaps by the poking of
muskets.
X Utterly forlorn,
unclean, and wolfsh with hunger, we came
to the Relay House," where we were to
take the train for Washington, about dawn
on the 25th, and pulling down rail fences,
warmed and toasted ourselves little, till
the cars arrived. Coming into Washing
ton, we were marched in the sun to the
Presidents House-then to the Capitol,
where we took possession of the Represen-
tatives' Hall, our present quarters. Now
we are in clover again, our home the mag
ni6cent rooms of the Capitol, with the Ho>
tel to which we are marched, three times
day, by companies, for meals. In day or
two, we are to camp on Georgetown
Heights, an advanced post and one of
honor. long for this camp life, as our
present style is too luxurious for war SER
vice.
On the the 26th we went
through the imposing ceremony of taking the
oath of allegiance, and being mustered into
the service as United States soldiers. We
we're drawn up in grand square on the
pretty grounds of the capitol, with green
grass under foot, trees in spring foliage all
around US, and the marble halls looming in
front. Our cross belts were pipe-clayed to
snowy whiteness guns, bayonets, side
arms, howitzers, buttons, &C., cleaned
freshly, and the colors of the regiment waved
gaily in the light, sweet breeze. The whole
regiment repeated the oath, sentence by
sentence, after the magistrate. Then we
went through parade as battalion, and
by companies; Mr.. Lincoln aud his wife
looking on with delight, and the full regi.
mental band playing the Valance Polka
and national airs.
4 lam afraid however we
shall not have chance for much of brush
with the enemy. There is no immediate
danger of an attack upon Washington.
There are now from $4,000 to 10000 troops
here, and the levee en- masse throughout the
North has paralyzed the hopes of the Sc
cessionists. Regiments are arming every
day; the city and neighboring forts are
securely garrisOned; outposts are pushed for
ward into Virginia, and prisoners and spies
are often seizei and locked up in Wash.
ingtoO.
Do not believe the opinions
expressed in the New York papers last
week, that the government was remiss in
forwarding troops, SC. 1t was not so. The
disturbance in Baltimore prevented the
government from having any communica-
tion with the North or with the advancing
troops, for some days for instance thir-
teen messengers $50 MIR. Secretary Chase
told me) we're sent to the Seventh Regiment
at Annapolis, and only one got through.
We were thus left to force our own way on
a new and unexpected route, with inefficient
supplies. There was great anxiety at
Washington until we arrived, and we were
received with cheers and tears of emotion,
as the van guard of great army.
The next troops, and all since, have been
forwarded as rapidly as possible, and are all
we'll provisOned and cared for. A rigid
blockade of Southern ports has, as you
read in the papers, been ordered, and Mr..
Chase told me yesterday that all their har-
bors would be /" sealed with sealing wax"
in twenty days.
The lovely thing, in all this new and
strange life, is the complete determination
and brotherhood among the men of the
regiment. We share everything, give, and
relieve whenever we can. Between US and
the Massachusetts eighth, our companions
of the march, there is also a complete COM
radship. We dragged them, with our
steamer, off a sandbar in Annapolis harbor,
upon which their transport had been run by
secession pilot, and where they would
have been blown to pieces, without the pos
sibility of assistance, by small battery of
SKIES on the Maryland shore. We also
shared with them our provisions in return,
they ran the locomotive, and elped us ma
terially in laying the track, doing often the
toughest work. We raised $500 yesterday
for one of their men who had been seriously
injured by the accidental discharge of a
musket.