The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-05-31
ARMY CORRESPONDENCE
FAYETTEvILLE, Tennessee,
Nav %. 1862.

EDITORS JOURYAL:-We have received
two large handles of your weeklics. Our
men are very thankful for them. Your
courtesy deserves recognition, and this let
ter is all that we can make. A paper from
home is thumbed by each officer and private
as long as the material endures. Let those
who despise yesterdays issue, enlist, and
learn to realize the great truth that the
value of newspaper depends not exclu-
sively upon the date, but greatly also upon
the quantity of reuding matter it contains,
including the advertisements Do not i'm
agiue, however, that we are entirely with
out reading matter. We have General
Orders" from the Headquarters OF the
Army of the Ohio, and we have also the
" Chaplain's General Orders" The unin-
tracts ii It's distributed BY the 66spIdf6 svsfs
Sunday morning. They are good deal
like the "general orders of the army in
appearance, similarly printed on separate
slips-hence the name. But these classes
of reading matter are, it must be confessed,
rather restricted. For many weeks we had
celebrated novel, "Big DICK, the Boxer"
Have you ever read that great work 2
Every man in the AID is your superior If
you have not. The last | saw of " Big
Dick" there wss nothing left of him except
the frontispiece. Our pleasures are not con-
fined exclusively TO that class called intel
lectual, nor are they, must say, largely
astronomical. To smoke the greatest num-
Der of pipes of tobacco per day is lauda-
BILE ambition, combining some pleasure with
great exertion of the facial muscles We
have many rivals for the hoaor. Sometimes
we have negro song and dance by con-
Irabands" in front of the Colonels tent =
In fact contrabands" F" add largely to our
pleasures in more ways than one. The
military order is TO exclude them from camp,
but they come in under various pre'ences,
and it is difficult TO get rid of them. At
first they skuk alb ut around the cooking
fires, making themselves useful in various
ways. By degrees they get kind OF foot
ing, and soon are openly installed as cooks,
walters, &c. Superior officers do not close
ly investigate the status of strange negroes
or horses. The contrabands are soon dub
bed with some distinguished appeilation
which they hold as long as they remain
with US. We have had the honor of be-
ing waited on by Beauregard, Buckner,
War Trace (from the battle grouud)
and big Dick.n The latter was nuisance,
and War Trace frequently goes to sleep
standing up, keeping the fires off the table
That distinguished artist, Major Harris, has
| to squeIch him against the wall three times
a day to keep him awake at all. So much
for the brutalizing effects of slavery When
we reach the Division they will take War
TrAce away. IS they took Beauregard and
| Buckner; but Major Harris very strangely
seems TO pay no attention to any "general
ORDERS" and is constitutionally opposed to
hewing wood and drawing water. 1t may
| be safely asserted, that as long as the in
| stitution" exists ''among u.s. he will have
a subordinate to perform the heavy work,
leaving the delicate manipulations for bis
own practiced fingers. The negroes are all
friendly to US. They will run any risk to
give US information, and we have never
been deceived by them. Often our first iu-
! formation of an approaching squadron of
secesh cavalry has been through them. The
duty of the citizen will override the natural
sympathy of the man, and we will do these
poor creatures little good in our passage
through the farms of their rebel masters.
Here. at Fayetteville we find but three
or four Union men, The people are unani-
mously opposed to US. Still, the soldierly
and gentlemsnly bearing of the officers and
men of our regiment have won their respect,
almost their regard. They vie with each
other in praise of US. They are not dis
courteous, and sell US anything they have.
Some of US have been entertained in their
houses. They do not very much seek our
society, nor do they sedulousIy avoid US.
When they are thrown with US accidentally
they treat US with civility. They profess a
firm belief in their ultimate success. Time
alone, and wise severity in adDinistra-
ton, and coneiliatory legislation, will make