Litchfield enquirer., 1862-03-06

surrender of Fort Donelson and its cOrdon of held works the departing mail allows me no tims to speak of. aHFEN
 CAMP CORRESPONDENCE.
 HEADQUARTERS REamESrAr. BAnp,
 4fH PENN. CAvALRY, CANT CAMPBELL,
 Feb. 18th, 1862.
 FRIEND HuMPHREY :--Wouldnt you like to hear few words from us, a little Band of le, who left New Milford in your County on the lst of November last for the war, since which time nothing has been heard of them through the Newspapers. We arc quartered at Camp Camp bell on the eastern side Of the Potoiac and quietly pursuing the even tenor of our way" counting neither notoriety and perhaps deserving nons,-but like Micamber and tho seven hun. dred thousand" in the field as well as the whole country at large, we are waiting -patiently /" waiting-fOr something to turn up." Wehear from our friends in N. Milford, Northville and your vicinity quite often in the way of letters and papers, and occasionally receive moFe sub stantial evidence of their good will in the way of provisions, &c.
 This reminds me that we are ever 90 much in. debted to the Ladies of New Milford and vicin- ity for barrel of provisions, (a Thanksgiving dinner) sent us in November, and when we shall be permitted to set foot upon our native soil once more, we may visit the donors en a,osss,- and infict some of the choicest melodies. Ther0 is very little news here in Washington. The Burnside expedition, it's destination and present whereabouts are eveloped in mystery. The most important events which I can record this week are Pay day, and the Advance of our :" noble ar my"! There is no mistake about it this time for we have positively adcanced do,onspardtwo feet. ......
 Yes, Mr. Editor, after nearly four weeks of continuous rain, we have only emerged from our tents to find ourselves "planted" to the depth of sixteen or eighteen inches in the stickiest mud you ever read about or heard of. We never saw the like in old Connecticut-never. Such storms make @ Soldiers quarters anything but comfortable and his duties anything but agree able; yet there is one consolation even here--it is not to us alone for the self same Providence that has drowned upon us during the long dreary weeks that have passed, has looked sadly down upon Richmond and Manassas, and the bittsr murmurings of the rebel soldiers and numerons accounts of their sufferings which somehow. find their way into their papers, their grievous com. plaints about our inactivity" and the mysteri- ous, uncertain, undefned policy" of our Rulers, the debauched and deplorable condition of their army according to their own admission, also re- minds us that "peace hath her victories" &c.,, that our supineness while it may to some degree affect the moral and physical condition of our army, is telling with tenfold more terrible efFect upon them. Their condition and prospects for the future as we now look upon them would al: most seem hopeless. The term of eulistments, Q2 months) of more than one half of the Con. federate army will expire on or before the 25th' of February and half fed, half clothed and poorly paid they will return disgusted to their poverty. stricken home, from which nothing but actual compulsion will ever induce them to leave to re- enlist in such a cause.
 They will have an opportunity for reflection. They may awake to the consciousness at last sthat they have neglected the honorable pursuits of industry for whole year and at a fearful sa- critice have been engaged in an unhOly crusade against what? A Government to whom they are indebted for everything they possess, and all they have enjoyed, and from whose vast resour- 1 ces they have plundered what little means they are now directing against it for its overthrow i-- Was there ever such ingratitude? But havo said that the enlistments of fully one half of the Confederate army will expire before another month shall elapse, and what is there to induce them to re-enlist or remain in the service2 The ardor which caused nearly the whole rebel states to rush to arms has cooled. There is not enthu- siasm now among them like that of July laet.-f No advance" on the Potomac to rouse them to b action and the last hope of foreign interven- ton" fled with the unceremonious departure of Mason and Slidell for the "neutral" realms of Johnny Bull. The whole plan of the campaign has changed. Instead of rushing our army upon their strongest defences for an indiscriminate. slaughter, "discretion" seems to be 1" the better part of valor" in our Generals and we take the advantage of their weak points. And as we look at them smarting under series of recent defeats, being fast hemmed in upon every side, and con slider that the flower of the Rebel army will soon be disbanded without even the chance of bat. tie on their favorlte ground, we may reasonably conclude that the back bone of this rebellion is broken. SE 's
 Meanwhile let the Union majorities of the loyal states point them to the fact that we are as undivided in sentiment and firm in purpose e at first, and that we shall remain steadfast unto the end. Show to them in Connecticut, Mr. Editor, at your coming election-that the men are scarce there now, who would sue for peace" without proposing or asking the conditions of such an arrangement. Thus while we remain in statue que steadfast and unfaltering they will be returning to their homes and may we hope that reason and consciousness will return with them. May they be impressed at least by the extreme patience and forbearance so manifest, of the real purpose of Q Government, so slow in it's anger that it hesitates to strike and annihilate the wretch that lifts his parricdal hand against it, And will not Government have achieved as much a moral as military victory and saved to ,hu- manity tales of suffering and slaughter and seas of blood? Such is our simple opinion. But my few words have heightened into sentences. lines and pages before was aware of it, nevertheless I'll not trespass on your patience so long again.
 Q