, 1861-07-12
CAIRO CORRRSx0NnEunE

CAIRO coRaRsFoNDKnoR.
h enlistnent- Aorat Of, our 7tpons- J.ao;a.
slides--AM alarm at Gat,p b 11aneeE sya,r,, -
Cairo-Fhr'ostghs- UneNtvalruxs: nipa,,rt-.
zrsato" ;.'s {" Nathsal7e, lH- Gun6oats at o5lss.
= A-.1 Z: \.
ESPECIAL Correspondence Of tho Chicago Trfhune.1
CAIRO. ILL.,, Tuesday, July Q, 1851.
ne are still like a seething cauldron on the
subject Of re enlistment tor the wsr. It would
have been far better when the matter was first
-hroached, to have gone through. the brigade,
separating the three years. from the three
months men, paying off the short-time men
and filling up with others, who ought to have
been here drilling and preparing for the "tug
Of war" Delay Is denornlizing the troops MI
the time; suspense Is iarworse than the worst
that can come besides. Officers know not
what to do, the men are careless, and e7ery-
th1rg goes at loose ends; and this, too, In the
face Of evidences accumulatine every day and
pointing unerringly to demand for the stern
work Of actual fighting. Had the brigade dis
banded month ago, and the Colonels raised
new regiments out Of the fragments aad new
recruits, and had proper recognition from
headquarters, by this time everything would
have been in the finest possible trim, and
would have worked as smoothly and nicely as
steamboat machinery upon the third trip.
There are great many rv,aons given By diff
ferent persons for this state Of thinr5. and
" doctors will differ" bat with becoming
modesty and due Difference to all concerned
{.our correspondent thinks that three things
In ct al &4ot ofr
attention has not been paid to the personal
comforts Of the men,. Ills true Rreat MANY
things have been corrected, which were the
result OF thou& &htleSEness or inexperieuce. hut
upon the whole the men have not been i'm
pressed with the idea that their comfort was
as much in the thoughts Of the directing
minds as was: the security Of said mfnds and
bodies In their positions; and this, coupled
with the fact Of nothing to dor great part
Of the time, has worked It's Legitimate teslits.
Again, the discipline of the camp, as a
whole, has come much nearer that of camp
tor ornamental soldering in time Of peace
tla taan ne M knd required BY men who are to
thing, and only stern, unrelenting discipline
will nuke Of men effective soldiers and to
make this more effective, far more attentton
should be paid to the amusements Of the
men, and far better provision made for the
profitable occupation Of leisure time. Every
drinking shop In the place ought to have been
ehut up and kept so by summary process,
and every barrel or keg, or jug Of, the vile
compounds that hare been wasting the
strength and running the morals Of ouf men,
Faters," to poison the fish for the secession
lists to eat With the facilities here for trans
.poItation, there ought to have been an e1pe-
dition for accommodating purposes up or
down one Of these rivers, so as to
have ont IN turn every, regiment and
times at least This would have made every
man and every officer feel that he was OF
"Eome accuunt;" It would have infinitely in
creased the esprit du oorps'' Of our army, and
would have impressed the secessionists Of sur
rounding regions with the idea that we pos
some fear Of Uncle Sam and his boys. An
efficient river police, such as might have thus
been established, could have captured about
the mouths Of the Cumberland and Tennessee
rivers, and at Cape Girardeau, great quantities
OF provisions which are now feeding the rebels,
this been done Union men would not have
been driven out Of Paducah as they have been
within ten days, nor out Of any Of the river
counties Of Kentucky and Missouri within q
hundred miles Of Cairo. The third aud not
the least patent reason is the uawillingness
OF The men to be "led as sheep to the slaugh-
teri by men Of no military knowledge or expe-
rience. Since the Great Bethel and Vienna
shughte1s the men, who know that theirs is
the risk, feel very shy OF field officers hastily
improvised out Of good, clever stump orators
They are beginning to realise that war is q
science and that no amount Of bravery cancom-
p&nsate for the want Of that kind Of knoW1-
edge and skill, which comes only from mill.
taTy education and experience, They feel
that they are far safer and far more apt to
win renown under the leadership of even
perfect tyrant, sa!o knoscs .aat he u about, than
with eyer 20 good man who does not I
hope sincerely that the press from one end Of
the country to the other will ventilate these
matters without fear or favor, and that Con-
gre6s, and especially the Senate, will do their
utmost to w1nnoW the chaf from the wheat
snd give us leaders competent to theh posi-
tons.
1t Birds Point laud.s1ides or ssseccss1ons
of soil" take place dolly and nightly. Near
Q half mile Of the 1ailroad track Is useless.
One depot building has been removed beyond
| the track, aud If the other is not moved soon
it will secede and be . greater loss to
| Uncle sam'e Commissariat than the secession
Of slave State Some Of the boys said that
| Col Bird Was only sending his soil. down to
his plantation IN Louisiana, It 80 the Mfssis
-sippi has all the carrying trade in the matter
| The 18th Regiment, Col lawler, Ia encamp'
! ed just below the 1ltb, which occupies the
camp vacated by the 4th Missouri Regiment
Col. schuttner. schuttner's Regiment was
Eut over here and Col Wsllaces placed there
in It's stead as peace offering to the Mtssou
1aRs af at s6q ba e5 f sh0s ae
seem to have heard Of the Old penSysy1ga ptn9y a,st
MAN, who on hearing that s'no body was hurt
ut Sumter, md being assured that 1t was
the application Of science to warfare, re
marked that the Dutch never could fight with
cut tSan1R1 aR9ft4ihng 4hg = somebody They evidently
while garzoned By he u Dutcb some eo of fSm' tSs
would surely be hurt, for they never made
any demonstration until the olive brauch was
held out IN the removal of the GeYmans to
| tbs side. Since then, the pickets have been
! aitaekea oy 9'ght three times, and one Of the
wounded Last night, the picket fired On
| some men attempting to pass the line, who
returned the fire, when the reserve Guard
| came quickly up and treated the rebels to a
voley Of musketry, which drove them off and
thoroughly alarmed both Camp Lyon and
! guns were fred; the drums beat to arms,
and In = very short time the whole body
OF troops In Cairo were under arms ard ready
To- obey the order to go over. The boys Of the
! 9TH regiment, Col Paine, are In high feather
to day, because they were the first regiment
70 form IN line and march to headquarters, al
| though the Sth and 10th are encsrlped nearer
to the headquarters than they. At the first
sound Of the alarm almost every officer and
man seemed to wake and spring simultane-
oualy to their feet and take their places in
time. The next In readiness WAS the 4th Mis-
6our1, who we're In line and marching off be-
fore their nearest native neighbors could form
for marching. The Germans ara usually con
s1deIed aforementioned, but 1t Is a notorious
fact here, that the regiments composed chiefly
Of Gt!mans can be brought from Their tents or
Ga7sckf, Into line OF on a march quicker than
any others. An anecdote upon this point will
be apr1pos:
COLE A. Paine, OF tie 9th-which is at
least three-1ourths German-arriYed one MOI
at l0:45 trom Centralia, and on going to his
1som found an order from headquar
tets which be read, "Hhrade your
regiment with twelve rounds Of cartrld ses,"
| 1t WIS near half mile to bis camp, but il ten
minutes from the reading Of the order he was
back to headquarters aud reported to General
F1eafEs that his regiment was paraded, and
waiting further orders. "Paraaed for what 81
eaid the General? "1n obedience to your
order,n said the Colonel II gave NJ such
order" said the General, and On examining
| the copy 1t was found to read "prorids your
| regiment With twelve rounds of cartridges" !"
Ihe joke was good c-e, but when Ee con-
| ard left the regiment In line, 1t shows . re-
markable state OF discipline
10 chow the spirit Of our men, the officers
said that their companies we're hardly eFer 80
full as last night, and the Lieutenant Of Com.
| pany a, 9rk regiment, said that he had never
bad Is many out to dress parade as he brought
| into line last night; The hospitals ttfnned
| out rapidly at the beat Of the drum. and gomo
bad to be forced back to their cots. Il nouId
90 you good to see how the companies will
peg 10 ne taken In when there ia 4 selection