Arkansas true Democrat., 1861-12-05

der is stern-'' Bring all your sick" Oh," said one of the sergeons to me, !" that was the cruelest order officer ever gave. protested Tn vain. urged that 1t would kill my patients. But come they must. l shall lose perhaps 30 or 40 of my regiment. and It will plant consnmp- tion ill the lungs of 200 more"
 And here Is another picture. We splash along tediously through the mire, and mounted officers encourage their men by kind words ofsympathy. Nearly ali relieve feeble soldiers by carrying their knapsacks and muskets. Col. Steedman, long racked with chs and fever, and scarce able to sit on his horse, rides with his scattered columns. Col Connell, suffering from illness, bears the burden of sick soldiers knapsack. Col. Coburn dismounts and pushes through the mud, while a feeble lad rides his charger. The captains on foot emulate their superiors, and encourage them by example.
 At Rockcastle river the column is yictoriously over Wildcat The dismal train halts at the ferry, in the mud and rain. The jaded men fall asleep on the sod of @ nelghborlng meadow, waiting the slow process ot crossing all the col umn in one small float. The teamsters stuff their worn out animals with corn. A few, in desperation, plunge into the ford where the wa ter is swift and some narrowly escape watery grave. The l4th Ohio loses two wagons and VI ammunition. The 17th loses wagon and 26,O00 rounds of ammunition at the ferry. The Ten nesseeans lose two wagons and contents, with horses, and the 38th Ohio loses one wagon | How much more was lost, 1 do not know.
 This was morning, but the column was long after night in crossing. Afterward throughout the day the scene already described, increased | and assumed more aggravatlng torms The road constantly became more wretched. Men flung away their knapsacks and stalked onward n utter desperation, their officers refusing to see l insubordination. Some stumbled and fell by the wayside, where they lay and slept the sleep of exhaustation. And the sick in the uncovered wagons, and those accufSed ambulances, were racked and bounced oyer rocks and ruts until their weak bones ached, their countenances tes tifying to their utter wretchedness. And thus, hour after hour, through mud, and slime, and rain, over rocks, rails, and. logs, UP the toughest and steepest grades, and down the ruggedest de- scents, our weary tootso1e, exhausted soldiers and faded teams struggled and toiled in pain all the miserable day and far into night; for even at midnight feeble stragglers staggered into Nit 1 Vernon. where the l4th and l7th rested, to find | their comrades.
 This night the poor lads went to bed supper \ less, for fatigue was overpowering, and sleep | sweeter than meat. Some of them marched | l4, some l6 miles that day-l3 the night and morning before. This days work was more dis astroua than ordinary battles. God knows how many sturdy constitutions it itwrecked, how many brave volunteers 1t will kill.
 CRAB ORCHARD, Nov 1.-The 18th Ohio and the 33d Indiana are coming Tn slowly. The former was more deliberate, but suffered It's pro- | portion. The latter are sleeping in the woods without tents. know not whether the Tennes>
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 There is not much beauty, or gaiy in sol dier's life, if it is like this. But the toll, and suffering, and sacrifices, and the manly efforts of brave men obeying orders under circumstan- ces such as 1 have sketched are very eloquent. Will soldiers respect, love, and cheertully fight under officers who abuse them as slaves or brutes?
 The amount of physical suffering caused by this march cannot be computed. None can tell how many sturdy frames will bend under disease contracted from this ruthless exposure. The mortality list of the regiments will shortly begin to make record. Many of the sick who were dragged out of their beds in the London hospi- tals, to be tortured on the rugged roads, sa'ura- ted with rain, and chilled with cold, must die Many of the well must fall i'll. An, well, there are 250 sick in the 33d Indiana; only couple of hundred or so sick in the l4th Ohio; only a 1 al scores sick in the l7th Ohio; ouly few,hun dreds altogether. If they die, recruit the regi mcns.
 The loss of the property is nothing. The government is rich. Only thirty horses belong ing to the l7th Ohio were knocked up and rem dered unfit for service, and one died; one wagon was lost and 26, ,000 pounds of ammunition;about the same report Is made by the I4th Ohio; SC with each of the regiments. But the moral eff
 ects of the countermarch is one of the worst features. The mountaineers Of Kentucky re- gard it as retreat, and the prestige of the vic tory at Wildcat turned against US. And so ended the great Cumberland Gap expedition.
 But beg you to wait, readers, for an echo
 from the Wildcat bridge. If 1 mistake not there will be fierce growl ere long from the Tennes- see camp, as vehement as the denunciation from " East Tennessee" which you read day or two ago in the Commercial And I am inclined to believe that if the indignant letters of the Ohio and Indiana boys are permitted to see the light of public print, none will think have colored the foregoing picture.