The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-05-19
War Of the Peninsula.
CAMP ON TIE Battlefield. }
near WllIiamsbursh. May I. 1862. {

HUI w iIidHlSpulS5H. may lT Va. y
MR. WILLARD i have no patience To- write
or read long letters but nuth,nE short Of II tWo-
column communication will tel! Won the story Of
"ur narcnes fatigue and lighting for the las,
three days. All I'll" grand, srn.'.toE and Bun
cO,ub particulars. such are usually ,slyen III
official reports, or whispered by the ngh!nng Of
tie Associated Press, yon have probably given
your readers, and Oh the top OF such stupendous
news. a plain, unvarDished ;aie cannot DC very
attractive.
On the morning Of the 4th lest at day}reah
II near sunrise, our Brigade, and directly there.
after the Division, and little later The Army
I'll the Peni sula was under arms. The -
regimen. was first sent forward t. 1aMk BATTERIES,
where Gems. Smith and Brooks stood viewing
the works OF the enemy, only one man, and he
unarmed, being in sight. 1t was no new thing
to see deserted air about their cncampments
and Notifications. But that morning the Cen
erals seemed to see something that gave edidenee
Of evacuation. The General then called on the
regiment for twenty volunteers to cross the dam
and " prospect tor rebels. Just as this call
was made Captain Reed, of Brooks Staff,
rushed forward on TO the dam aud called on the
man in the rebel works to come over. He start
cd, and the Captain met him halfway, stopped
for moment, and then rushed on, followed by
some forty volunteers from the aforesaid reg-
ment. under the command Of Capt. Stowel.
The Captain and volunteers are in the works.
shouting, yelling and fairly crazy with excite
ment. The regiment follows, is soon over, de-
ployed and skirmishers thrown forward. The
redoubts arc in our possession, and though the
whole line of defence was evacuated, Generals
Smith and Brooks were first in possession Of the
evacuated fortress, Smiths despatch to Nc
Clellan being half hour earlier than any ether
on the line. As there was nothing very brave,
or bold, or partaking Of the character Of an
achievement, | must confess that | felt rather
chagrined to see the standard OF Vermont
regiment waved, as If something grand had
been done, over the embrasures, stencil, filth
and old clothes OF deserted fortress. In the
shouts and exultation of the volunteers, their
captain and leader there was nothing wrong
they had perfect right to cheer, but Vermont
standards and regiments are for more heroic
purposes. The Brigade was soon there, and
anon the Division, and if you can form any idea
Of the consolidated curiosity of eight or nine
thousand 4" Yankee troops, for The first time
inside Of rebel defences and quarters, you can
get q better picture Of that mornings work
than my pen can give you.
What sight, and what an awful stencil. A
slaughter-yard in the heat of summer il bad
enough for any neighborhood. but the stencil of
this fortress was fully as bad, and how an
army could endure it, even Tor days, cannot be
explained save by some congressional sanitary
commission. l shall say nothing sbou. the
slash, water-pits, sluioe-wsys, end pitfalls in
front Of these works That story has been told
enough.
Quit number of old and late letters were
found in their camps, and in them wero ex-
pressed variety OF opinions, hopes, prayers
and expectations, most Of which, save, perhaps,
the opinions, are, by this time, out of date
Wives and sweelbearts expected great things,
and husbands and lovers had made some stu
pendous promises. This whole peninsula was
soon to be Yankee graveyard, and every tree
q tombstone for the id invaders. What
provision they intended to make for Potter 3
field | cannot say, but presume the 9th North
Carolina and Louisiana Tigers could furnish us
some information on that point. But such lev
ity is wicked and uncalled Tor, but hope, under
the circumstances, excusablc.
There were also papers thcre-some from
Dixie and Others from the north forwarded BY
some regency not known to Stantons inspectors
of military elligence.-Amoug these papers
was copy of the Boston morning Herald OF
the 9th ultimo-as late paper us had seen
in ureamps. said something just then, no mat