Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-07-19
FROM WASHINGTON.
Correspondence of the Muscatine Journal
WASHINGTON, July Z, 1861.

ASHINuloN, cuy =, AOoA'
This day has been hot enough, and, sup
pose, holy enough, for another battle Of Mon
mouth, or Waterloo either, for that matter;
and it may be that Patterson and Johnston
have met this very day in battle array. We
should scarcely hear of it till tomorrow even
ing by the New York papers, if the whole
rebel army, horse, foot and Dragons, had been
routed. It's mighty slow coach, this Wash
ington City, as you can see from the very
lorses that draw the hacks, which, for raw
bones and all manner of ailments, can take
the palm for crow-baits against the world.
But this is neither here nor there.
During war and revolution there is no Sun
lay, fact you can see illustrated here to
your hearts content. Late last night there
were forty-three regiments of volunteers in
md within three miles of Washington, on
the east side of the Potomac. There were
thirty three regiments on the Virginia side OF
the river, including artillery, cavalry, and
! regulars, the whole number was not less than
$4,000. Tonight, as l write, fourteen regi-
ments, averaging 1000 men each, are at or
near Harper's Ferry, the whole force of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad having been put
in requisition from a very early hour this
morning to convey these troops from this city,
to reinforce Gen. Patterson. The troops sent
from here were all taken from this side of the
river. OF course it has not been as silent as
Sunday at Muscatine. Spite of all my war fe-
YER | almost wished it had been, for it takes
time to get used even to the necessary secu-
larization, not to put too fine point upon it.
of the Sabbath, which is all the moralizing
shall inhict upon you tonight.
1t takes something besides armed men to
make an army. Even while l write, late as
it is, hear the rumbling of the baggage
wagons, as they go laundering over the stony
streets, with a peculiarly reverberating and
prodigious noise. All the live-long day and
Ill the night they go. Like the restless
crowds of men that everywhere, from morning
till morning comes again, tramp, tramp, tramp,
the worn pavements of London or of Paris,
so these wagons seem never to stop. They
pour down the avenue and across the long
bridge as constantly, and much more noisily,
Is the Mississippi flows by your city. It's a
big thing, this army of wagons. Music is
music, and noise is noise. The best band
playing ever heard was by some of the bands
that accompany troops now here but Of all
the concentrated noises man ever had dinned
into his ears, the qucerest and the biggest is
that of an army train going in full trot over a
rough pavement l rather like it, but sup
/ pose it would have killed Mozart outright
All this noise has been caused by the active
military movements which have lately been
going on here.
; Last week eleven regiments-eght from
New York, two from Massachusetts, and one
from Michigan-arrived at this city, and about
As many others removed their encampments
from this to the other side of the river These
.even regiments are composed of l0,402 men
Tn, most Of the reg iments from New York
now coming here number between eight and
nine hundred rank and file 1t would aston
ish you to see what splendid troops this army
IS composed of Travel from Archangll to
the pillars of Hercules, and from the tunneled
Thames towhere Byron swan the Hellespont
with your passport duly vised; look upon the
standing armies of England, of France, OF
Prussia and of Russia; examine with the
pleasure Of noble association the men who won
Magenta, and the long, trained corps who
conquered and were conquered at Solferino
; and among them all you shall find no better
men than they who now compose the grand
army of the United States To be sure you
will find more veterans who have stormed the
imminent, deadly breach, who have many and
many time seen the lightnngs and heard the
thunders of nation making and nation-ovtr-
turning battles; you will see more command
IT'S who have been soldiers from their youth
up; but nowhere will you find an army com
posed of men so superior physically, and so
elevated intellectually and morally as the 65,
100 troops now in and about our national
capitol. The skill with which they perform
the evolutions Of the drill and the parade is
astonishing. The New York seventh will
soon have to look to its laurels There are
now many regiments here who are but little
behind them. And upon par with the men
are the arms and equipments. Let man
once visit all the encampments here, and he
| v,;l1 fall 1;
oism warm with glow of pride at the amaz-
ing strength of government based on the
attachment Of the people.
g But why do you say nothing about Con-
gress!'' asks some impatient reader. Your
ear, my friend. In the first place, the tele-
graph will have posted you on Congressional
matters; and in the next place Congress, as
yet, hasn't amounted to much. may say,
however, that the Presidents message was re-
ceivcd a. was never message received before.
By galleries and hall it was frequently cheer
ed to the very echo. 1t fully comes up to the
great expectations'' of the Presidents best
friends, and all patio here unite in accord
ing to it the highest praise. You have been
perfectly right, Mr.. Editor, in reposing great
| confidence IN the President But there IN.
been little "cave'' in the Administration
somewhere. Whether it came from the Sec
retary of State, indulging, as is the custom of
,reat statesmen, in prophetic visions down
the dim vista of the future; or whether from
The Secretary of the Navy, who, whatever
may be the case as matter of fact, is un-
doubleday in the Cabinet as matter of law
or whether it came from a sort of dreamy I'M
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