The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-06-04
From FincdStis.


FIScAsrLE, VA, May 20, 1851.
There are two subjects to which you have
recently called the atten ton of your readers
The first is, reques ting your correspondents
news.
l beg to be permitted TO present to your
readers I subject, which is not q matter of
news, but at present a very important one to
the people CT Virginia and the South. In do
ing so, | beg your permission to allow a cor
respondents article 10 appear, even If he does
not confine himself to the matter of news.
Second.-I am glad to find in the person of
the editor of the Dispatch an ardent friend and
:,d1nirer of mode Of warfare, which bids fair
10 become a very destructive one to our enc
mics. L have read with special atteH ton your
remarks upon this subject, and have labored
to impress upon the minds OF our people its
importance. Since ] was eight years old
have been from time to time, roaming over
the hills and through the valleys of Western
Virginia, in search of such game rs infeet our
mountainous country, until o-ttly; have no
hesitancy in saying that twenty mine out OF
every thirty squirrels | shoot at, will be stew
ed without an eye and great portion Of his
head.
have shot at 80 yards at n target (and that
very recently,) 20 balls, and nineteen out of
the twenty cut Me cross every one of which
were covered by quarter CT dollar This
is no Dragging. but Is simple fact, which i
can prove. And yet, am far from being the
best shot in the county: there are plenty more
AS good If not better, than l am. Would it
not De wrong 10 Llke LDlS kn1u OF material
put it i'll service where this knowledge would
be useless | think so. Another object ton
to the regular service is this /, with many
Others, know nothing about mill tary drill,
literally nothing, and would be unfit to per
form the duties of soldier for months to
come. But, accept us in our hunting garb,
with our squirrel and deer guns upon our
shoulders, and good bowie e-knite; relieve us
of shoulder arms, Garry arms 'mark
time'' &c, Sc, and we'lI promise that for
every crack of our rifles Il hated Yankee will
bite the dust. We are all accus toned to camp
/ life in the noun tains the most OF US being in
the habit of going on deer hun tilrg excur-
sion once Il year, and sleeping in the woods in
all kinds of weather. Bat TO place us in reg
u lar service, and throw around us all the
arduous duties of & regular soldier we would
be no better than the man who never fired Il
gun. Accept us as we propose, and twenty
four hours would be sufficient to muster to
any point in the State q number of men who,
when the hour came, would be found "mak-
| ing their mark"
There a company of this kind formed
| in this county, numbering 107 men, but was
| broken up, because OF the very severe and un-
| lust censure { received at the hands of some
| honorable gentlemen in the county who ex-
pressed great con tempt for any set of men,
who refused TO meet the foe face 10 face, and
| fight the accursed Yankee like honorable and
polished gen tlemen, avowing that any set oi
men, who proposed fighting from behind Trees
and bushes, would never be recognized OF
countenanced by Il civilized Government -
w nat Is your opinion, MR.. Editor
Let me tell you about these very gentlemen
who denounced this move. Neither of them
have gone to the wars, and if it lasts for years
| doubt the going of either of them. IN Ven.
| ture farther opinion, and that is that if We
are invaded, that the man who will oppose
| any movement at such time this, formed
/ to drive back our enemies, will yet prove 9
! traitor to Virginia and the South.
| have experimental recently with the i'm
( proved rifle, and compared it with such as VT
/ use in the mountains, and l find that after
you go beyond 200 yards there is no certain
! ~ in striking the object at which you fire
I under that, the size of man can be hit by
our common rifles every shot, while with tht
! improved rifle there is great nncert tainty
Ii the authorities of Virginia will accept tn,
| services of fifty Botetourt boys, offered il
| this way I'll scour our blue mountains ant
| get up some OF the best men that ever pulled
| u trigger.
There was 3 large vote polled at the lat
| elec ton, and but two votes were given agains
/ the Ordinance of Secession, and these two,
| learn We're given because some person ha(
| said that man dare not vote against it.
Both the Senate and Legislature will b
| furnished with No men from our county
| who are sound through and through, and wh(
| have been right all the time.
| SHARP-SHooTER.