Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-10-17
Letter from Washington.
WILLARD's HOTEL, Washington,
October 2, 1851,

October 2, 1861.
cannot tell you, my dear H, what de-
! lightfu ride we had down, although we did so
much regret losing your company. We could
not have had better day if we had wished
! for it, nor more agreeable fellow passengers
! one of whom | had met before in Elmira, by
| the name of kAP?, residing in Northumberland
! He was, | should think, acquainted with every
body on the route from Washington to BaIt.
more, aud seemed perfectly willing to commu.
nicate. He would inform us of Dutch set
Element here" " Yankee settlement there -"
aud u mixture somewhere else and before we
were aware, we were in Harrisburg, where we
| left our new made friend The train pounded
on and arriving at York at 80 p. IN, we were
detained by an accident, six lniles below, occa-
stoned by two freight trains running upon each
other, till 10 80 p. N, which gave us chance
10 q" look around" York, as you know, is an
! old town. little public spirit, which is evident
to Yankee gO.ahead uiCeacss, in passing through
the streets. Some of the houses of which are
ready to fall to pieces, through age and neglect,
and others would vie in elegance with a Fifth
| Avenue mansion 1t is a great manufactur-
ing town, especially iron implements and In
ger Bier. The first Michigan Cavalry which
was also detained availed themselves of the op
! portunity to see aud be seen, and try the good
| quality of the latter named article.
| We arrived in Baltimore at a. m, found
a detachment of five companies of the 10Th
| Massachusetts at the depot waiting to escort
the said Cavalry, and had remained ir the one
! position since o'clock, the previous evening
p or fellows
The peace element seems prevalent You
know that is another form of Secesh," and
in reality more malignant. | say prevalent
because the first mau we met in conversation
was peace man, and when the FIRST one is, |
am " on guard" for more Of the same type
Am | not right
We arrived in Washington at l l m, and
to give description of the War spirit, noise,
and human beings, contained herein, would be
| impossible. | will only attempt it and leave
you to suppose the rest.
FIRST the War Spirit. Every man, woman
and child is eager for the first nkIing of news,
good, Dad or Indifferent, which will aid in af-
fording the least light on the state OF the great
Armies, on which depends our Nations life.
Aud then the incesrunt hurry Of army wagons
stages, hacks, the roll Of drums, the music of
brass bands the bugle notes of the Cavalry,
the screaming Of the little news boys and the
Orgau grlHderS, altogether make a din some
times intoeraole to quiet uninitated ears,
but when | consider the number that are here
Il am told it is $50, ,000), and regiments con
stan.ly arriving.
| am silent to complaints. | tell you, my
dear H., when | see regiment after regiment
of splendid Infantry, and of more splendid Ca
valry and Artillery march by, | cannot but
| ask myself, = Are these men, with these death
| implements to become towards. aud is there
possibility Of their annihilation ~ No, it can
not be And now that they have a commau-
der who dare stand firm for right, irrespective
of time and place. 81 acW not BE- T.! Let us trust
in a higher power
THURSDAY EvENING.-The day has been
varied one, dear H. Scenes have presented
/ themselves which, year ago, the longest
head would not have thought possible | sup
pose war, in its most favorable light, has been
viewed by Us aud now it remains for us TO see
it in its " horrors" | hope the "horrors'
may be long coming.
When you come TO Washington do not neg
lect to see "A Regiment on evening parade
We have just returned from witnessing the
10th PennSy IVania performing this act, and |
can assnle you it is indeed splendid The Re
giment (l0th), is encamped on bill two aud
a half miles from the city, with a number of
other Pennsylvania regiments among them
the 18th, in which is Capt. GUSTIN of the
Troy Guards, and a little further on, is the
Pennsy yIvanid 6th u which is Lieut. and Adj
MCKEAN. We regret we did not start early
enough TO call upon the Lieut., but night closed
IN upon us, and We missed our anticipated Wis
it. We could distinctly hear the 9th Regi-
ment's band from where we were. | should
have told you that the 10th returned to their
quarters from the parade to the music Of Com
ing Through the Rye which sounded beauti-
fu ly among the hills. They are from Pitts
burg, Pa.
In our return to the city we had view of
the tented cities with their camp fires. Imag-
inc US on "a rise of ground, overlooking the diff
fereut camps of, | might say, hundreds of Re
giments, aud you cannot turn your eye but you
will behold the cheerful and dim fires, (dim
because of the distance and think, too, Of
the living human beings contained therein, why
these things are and you can have faint
conception of my feelings as passed along
We could see the fires from Arlington Heights
o almost wished myself an old soldier ill.,
stead of the poor thing that am.
We visited Company f, Captain CALKINs,
4th Pennsylvania Cavalry in the course of the
tain, who has been i'll for some time, is now re.
covered, able to attend to duty. They are en-.
/ camped in pleasant grove, one and a half
miles from Wizards, which, am told, was
the property OF a seceSh" The boys have
felIed many of the beautiful old trees for FIRE