The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-05-15
The Blue Hens Chickens.

In the Jersey City Standard, OF the 9th in
stan;, we find Il number OF letters from the
volunteers III Lincolns army, stationed at
Washington We make Il fe w choice extracts,
which present mourniul contrast TO the
brag amt blu5t ter OF the politicians who have
deluded these poor soldiers III 10 the belief that
they were setting out upon campaign OF
glory aud conquest.
one honest lad thus describes the first SEN
sAtiuus OF misery
SUNDAY night first began TO realize what
! d, LIE IL IS l nave commenced. Everything
| WIS ~ tser0dte. There were neirly one thou
| sand uI US crowded ON one boat, VAIN scarce
| nail room enough 10 lie down even, let alone
| To walk about. AT nine . clock the drum beat
! tor US 10 90 to our 'bunhs' Ia The hold berthS
| had been put up OF rough boards, but even
| they would only accommodate hall our
| number. 1ne rest had TO wrap themselves
| ln their blankets and steep on DECK. / aid the
| iatLrr as the hold wAo 80 close ] feared
| coutdn' t stand Al. The officers Jared better,
| occupying as they did the eGtLe-rooms.
| In tue morIIng We were terribly hungry,
| aad had 10 stay go, or eat salt Junk and one
| nurd bi-culJ--tnLt coustI tutIng our only al
| owslnCe. luis Is all tudt We have had To ett
! since We lett, and only twice a day at that
Inc ste ward, IL Ia true, made pies, sand vIch- =
| es coffee &c, but charged one dollar fer -
| pie, twenty -five cents tor Il sandwich, and
! twenty cents Tor Il cup of coffee, which prices
| were lar enough out OF the reach OF the ex-
! chequer Of the most OF US"
ON the arrival at Annapolis things grew
| worse, and the writer thus ventilatss his sor-
rows:
-. Now came the roughest part We staid
| all day At the Naval Academy, in company
! with part of Rhode Island Regiment; but
| on Thursday morning, At four O'Clock, we
! started for Annapolis J Junction, IS miles Off.
| We could not march on the track, rs we had
| our baggage wagons 10 see to. That was
| an awful hard walk, tell you and we had
! Dothing 10 eat Gatu lea o'clock, and then
| ouly two hard biscuit. After eating this
| sc9nty breakfast, and an hours rest, we
| resumed our march, and did not halt again,
| for any length OF time, until six in the even
| ing, wnen We had a piece of junk served out
10 as. At eight o'clock We started again, and
| reached the junction ut four A NJ. of Friday
| having marched twenty four hours with
| hardly anything TO eat. After we arrived we
had TO build fires, and catch IN hours sleeI
| on the ground, Over twenty Of the boys gave
out, and had to be carried on the baggage
| wagon.
We met with no rebels on our march
although we sent scouts ont ahead. We
staid ali day at the Junction, but not to rest
as we had three yuN dress yaradeS in the ho
sun. We don't look much like the soldiers
| who marched down Broad way the Sunday Wa
| lett New York. All our faces are skinned anC
sore, our hair cut OF close to the skin, and oul
clothes dirty and torn. 1t has been very
| hot"
Another soldier, from the same State, use
John Hickman's desk, in the House of Repre-
sentatives for the purpose OF writing TO th'
editor Of the STANDARD ga little history: :"
d" We left Trenton, where we slept in tent
and barracks, on Friday afternoon. The toot
| was very poor at first, and we refused to ca
| II. About four days after upset the table,
and threw the fat II eat and bad but ter at tn.
negro, but our suTerings were slight com pared
10 what other companies were Obliged to sub
| nit to-
The same writer describes his first expe
rience OF soldering in Washington
"After arriving in ashiugton, In our hun
| for quarters we paraded the streets through
| the mud and rain till four O'Clock this morn
| ing, when We burst i'll the door OF Il large iror
| building on Pennsylvania Avenue, near Lh
| Capitol, and went to sleep.
| II have now slept on very hard boards 70
three nights, win nothing but my wet knap
sack for pillow, and blanket for covering
We are trying TO get straw tor to- night
| With one more extract from third letter
we leave the Blue Hens Chickens to thei
sorrows:
when we came here we had no place /
! sturn in aud walked the streets for thre
| hours III IA orsnching RAIN, until hnally w
/ fetched mp at place in Pennsylvania avenue
where we ara now quarterec.
! 81 can tell you, it almost took the light ou
/ OF US. The streets through which We march
ed looked like burying gronnd-the whit
| folks The farkes said whom we once IN
| while met, 'bein' away on de farm. don
wish TO 90 TO Annapolis again III hurry, 10
a more gloomy place l never saw"