Nebraska advertiser., 1861-08-29
HEAD QUARTERs lsT REQ
Volunteers, Aug. 10.

lead QUARTERS 1ST neg
Nebraska Volunteers, Aug. 10.
Mr.. C. w. WHEELER:-Dear Sir
According to promise l embrace the pres
ent to address you and give you some in
cidents of a a soldiers life. You have
learned before this that the Nebraska
Regiment has been ordered to St. Louis.
When we arrived at St. Joseph we found
Lieut.. Col. Downs awaiting u arrival
with orders to proceed to St. Louis i'm
m~ediately, Col. Thayer having proceeded
in advance. Our arms were in ST. Jo-
seph, and after the boys received a new
musket apiece, and cartridge boxes and 40
rounds of cartridges, &c., we took the H..
& st. 10. r R., In the morning, and ar
rived in Hannibal in the evening without
any disturbance. The morning train had
been fired into by the rebels, and we ex-
pected they would perhaps be fool-hardy
enough to pay the same compliments to
our train. So the boys held themselves
in fighting condition all day. You could
see the bayonets bristling from the win
dows of every car, with a boy behind
ready to pull the trigger whenever the
rebels should show themselves. But be-
fore we arrived at the piece Of timber
from which they attacked the cars there
came up a heavy shower of rain, and it
continued until late in the evening, which
drove the rebels home for shelter.
The Iowa Sixth, which was camped
near the rebels, took advantage of the
circumstances and sent a detail Of men
to the House of Colonel Caldwell, the
leader of a company Of Cavalry which
had been doing so much mischief by fir
ing into trains, and took him out of bed a
prisoner, and carried him to Alton and
and put him aboard a Steamer, and pro-
ceeded with him to Gen. Fremont. l
had the pleasure of seeing him on board
at Hannibal. Ex-United States Senator
Jim Green was also on board the steam
boat. | had some conversation with the
officer IN charge Of the prisoner. He in
formed me hat jim Green made use of
harsh language when he came on board.
He told them that he was James S.
Green"-that his principles were "se-
c@ession, by Cd" and that if anyo them
considered themselves "smart" he would
meet them and discuss the matter. They
told him that if he did not keep still they
would meet him in such a way as would
not please him.
Whilst the boat lay at the wharf there
was considerable excitement in our camp
The boys wanted to take Jim Green
prisoner; and if it had not been for 1t.
Col. Downs, the boys would have taken
him in charge. But the only thing they
could do was to cheer the Union; Gen.
Fremont; the Iowa Sixth, &C., and give
hearty groans for Jim Green, during
which time he stood on the upper guard
in full view Of all.
The next day Gen. P@rentiss, in pass
ing up the river, paid our camp a visit.
and made a speech hat aroused the pat
riotisn of all his hearers. He told them
not to rob nor burn any mans property,
nor to insult any woman, but TO allow no
maj 10 talk secession, in their hearing,
under any circumstances; to arrest all
such, and if we could not dispose Of them
to good advantage, send them to him at
his expense. Shat he wanted some en-
trenching done and he could use seces-
siOnists to good advantage.
Our boys gave him many hearty cheers
The General isa fine looking officer. He
reports that he has eight thousand men
at Cairo and Birds Point, and says Gid
con is forty miles from there, with about
the same number of men.
We arrived at St. Louis on the morn
ing Of the 18th, and found Col. Thayer's
headquarters aboard the steamer .AIeck
Scott, at the foot of Victor Street. The
same evening we received orders from
headquarters to be ready in an hour to
take the Iron Mountain train at 10 o'clock
P. ID. The Company were soon ready
and in rank to march, and whilst the diff
ferent companies were formed upon the
green, ready 10 march under the beau
tifal light Of the moon, T. w. Upton,
gave Company &C. short patriotic ad-