Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-07-31

even for old soldiers, but we all stood it
like majors. When the great six pound
balls come near our heads some of our
boys rather squatted to dodge them, and
Col. Peck, whl was riding coolly along be-
fore the lire, seeing them lodging the
balls laughed at them and asked # they
were afraid Of few cannon balls. Capt.
Mckee too, stood at the head Of our COM
pany bpt few feet from me apparently as
calm and collected as he would be pleading
law in the old courthouse.
Col. Coon, our former Colonel, is now
one of the aids to Col. Sherman, the COM
mander Of our brigade; he came down our
line once in a while with orders to Col.
Peck; he showed more courage than we
supposed him capable Of, for he rode al ,tg
in the most unconcerned manner possible,
asking as he passed, how we felt; we re-
piled that we were 'saH righP aud asked
him how he felt; he answered that he felt
perfectly cool and hoped that he would re-
main SO. have just heard that our loss
was % killed and 40 wounded, the rebel
loss must have been more than this, for our
artillery kept up all most an incesssant fire
upon their battery for about three hours.
And many Of our rihemen assert that they
concealed themselves behind trees close to
their weeks and picked off many Of their Of
ticers and men. 1t is said General Beaure-
gard was there and and directed the battle
don't know how true is.
IL . ,faI IL = /,
noon and we have been lying idle here all
day. We are sure that our Generals are
at work. II is said that part OF our ar
my has gone around towards Manassas to
cut off the enemies retreat. We have now
got some heavy columbiads and rifed can
non and arrangement for firing hot-shot
and shell, so that without exposing our
men to much danger we can soon make
their position too hot for them. | expect
this letter will last you a long time, for it is
written SO poorly that you cannot read it
in week, but you ought not to expect il to
be very elegant for the paper has been
crumple, in my pocket for days, and then
| have to write on bit of board, OF crack
er box or any thing else | can get. Our
Col. and MAJOR, are both writing letters,
and notice that they do not have any
more conveniences than | do: the Col. is
sitting on the ground writing on a board
placed across his knees; the Major is partly
reclining upon the ground writing on flow
box. | intend. if / can get it finished IN
time, to send this letter to Washington<by
J. f. Potter, member Of Congress from
Wis, who is in camp to-day; he is around
with the bowie knife that he made to fight
Pryor, and several pistols; for. as you may
suppose, it is not very safe travelling the
road from here to Washington without be-
ing well armed.
We have taken quite number Of prison
ers alcng the road; three OF the rebel cav
airy deserted and came to us; they say
that they were pressed into the rebel SER
vice. One of them has been furnished
with a musket and has gone into our ranks.
AT one Of the houses we passed | saw two
rebel soldiers who were left behind sick;
they did not seem to be near as intelligent
as many Of the slaves.
We have slept out upon the ground for
three nights and have lived almost entire
" upon hard bread orcrackers, and though
she nights here are very chilly and the dew
very heavy, we stand it very well. 1t is a
grand sight to see our army over the HIS
and along the road; it might be called
river Of bayonets flowing along glistening
in the sun, seeming to one who ism the mid
die Of it, to have neither beginning nor end.
And then when we encamped for the night
we are divided according to the brigades,
each regiment being formed in line by
itself, the cavalry generally occupying one
field, the artillery another, and as far as
the eye can reach in every direction the
fields are full 81 Inen and horses, with the
covered U. S. wagons scattered over the
whole. 1t is indeed a grand view, and es-
pecially to us, who never saw a company
ofsoldiers before leaving home. Our chief
trouble on the march is want Of water.
Every time we halt few men are allowed
to 90 from each company with lot ofcan-
teens for water; they Immediately break
for the nearest we'll or spring, and on get
ting there never fail to find it surrounded
by twenty or thirty soldiers, each one Of
whom tries to crowd himself as near the
water as possible. If is spring, in less
than FIVE minutes it Is converted into a reg
ular mud puddle and the men ladle up the
dirty with water an eagerness which can be
only caused BY thirst. fit is well, one
Of the soldiers winds up pailttd, but be-
fore the bucket gets to the top score Of
cups are plunged into it, and the bucket is
quickly drained. | have not suffered very
much from thirst, for by standing my
ground and gradually working my way in
10 the crowd | have generally succeeded ia
getting drink, though ] was seldom for
tunate enough 70 fill my canteen.
July Pot Is said that Gen. Scott con-
demns most seaerely the action Of Cen.
Tyler in SO needlessly exposing bis men in.
the battleday before Yesterday Las night
our company was detailed as part Of the
picket guard, and consequently / got but
little sleep. We heard firing in the direc-
ton Of our advance at intervals during the
whole night ] have not heard what it was
II