St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-08-08

the drums, and the shrill notes of the
fife, sounding the rereille for us to
arise and "fall in" for roll call and
all those who are not in ranks or in
the Hospital, are placed upon double
duty. After this you will see groups
engaged in various occupations some
busy preparing breakfast some
securing their their muskcts others
talking of the times, and giving their
opinions as to the course of the Admin
istration. At half past eight o'clock
comes guard mounting, then, at ten,
services by the Chaplain at three,
there is battalion drill of one hour !;
then we are dismissed until seven in
the evening, when we have a dress
parade Of half an hour. At nine the
drums beat the roll-call, and we "fall
in" respond to our names, and retire
to our tents. In fifteen minutes the
tattoo sounds, lights are cxtinguished
and all talking ceases. This is our
way Of spending the Sabbath nearly
as all other days, the exception being
religious service and no drill in the
| forenoon.
We are doing well, now; have
plenty to cat our rations are, per
man q day, one ib. and quarter of
beef or, if we have pork, three quar-
tiers Of fb. of not very good bacon ;
one fb. and two or. of bread one fb.
and half of potatoes, with rice, cof-
fee, sugar, tea, beans, soap, candles
and sugar. The latter are distributed
in quantity to a mess, and sometimes
we have larger rations than at others,
so it is hard matter to judge of our
regular allowance. Each man has a
tin plate, cup, knife and fork, and
spoon. Each mess is furnished with
two camp-basins, a camp-kettle, and
a small basin for washing purposes.
We have two blankets good ones,
too. We have lately received our
uniforms they are all wool, Of a light
gray color. The pants have a blue
stripe running down the sides the
coats are faced with blue, have a blue
collar which is alteays starched, a stripe
of blue on each sleeve, on which are
set three army buttons ; our hats are
gray, with blue loops which loop up
on the right side with a button they
also have leather visor and small
blue ball fastened on top. We were
also furnished with two woollen shirts,
two pair of woollcn drawers, shoes and
socks. So we are we'll provided with
clothes.
Sometimes we sleep in our tents.
We have slept out on the ground with
no cover but the starry skies, and we
are willing, if it is necessary, to do so
again for our country, and the ones
we love and have left behind We
can sleep we'll in almost any position,
from lying three deep, curled up so a
man can hardly find his own legs, to
standing on our hands and feet, which
we call sleeping on all fours l can
sleep as sweetly as though | slept on
feather beds and snow white sheets.
: We see quite number Of slaves
daily, and | must confess that all my
Abolitionism is fast subsiding. In
stead of seeing them cruelty whipped,
half starved, poorly clothed, and a de-
jected class at least what | have
seen of them IL find them q happy,
light-hcarted, wellfcd, well contented
class. l wish you could see some
Of them as they flock to see us on
dress parade, Sabbath evenings the
"boys" all clothed in broad-cloth,
and the "gals" in silk, and dressed
much better than many wealthy per-
sons can dress. l was speaking with
one, and inquired how he came to be
furnished with such good clothes :?
/" Oh" said he, Master let me have
one day in the week for myself, and
| earned enough to get them! He
was a carpenter and worked at his
trade.
think this war will have a good
effect in more ways than one. 1t will
enable the North to understand more
fully the South, her strength, and her
institutions 1t will learn the South
how quickly the people of the North
and West, will rush to the defence of
the flag which waved in triumph over
many field stained with the blood of
their fathers and friends.
May God grant that the storm of
war may soon pass over, and the rain
bow of peace appear upon our politi-
cal horizon, and all over this Union
this aohoie Union, of States-knowing
no North, no South, no East, no West /;
that the chain of peace may be wound
with links which cannot be broken !;
and that from every nook, in every
State, shall float the Starry Flag of
Liberty, and all the people as one per-
son arise and shout, "All hail !! for
ever hail, the Stars and Stripes !"
Then shall they proudly float DER the
greatest nation, possessing the fair
est land upon the globe the land
of the free and the home Of the
brave" Yours, as ever,
l