The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-10-10
Citizen. What are you fighting for any

Oitlzen. WnaL are you HGhtinS ior any
howp
u Rebel / believe, sir, that I have been
fighting for the maintenance of great
principle. I may be wrong, sir, but that
principle has sustained me for fourteen
months before your batteries. We believe
that we are right, and that we will even
tually be successful. / can't exactly de-
fine the nature of the principle for which
we are contending. The statesmen of
both sections of our country have not been
able to come to satisfactory conclusion
about it. If they had, we should not
have been at war.
Citizen. What if you are not success
Rebel. Then don't care what becomes
of me but don't want then ever to see
South Carolina again. ] am sorry that we
Americans are fighting against each other.
I would not care the least if our enemies
were English, Irish, or Dutch.
Citizen. Why, one half of your soldiers,
at least, have been forced into the South
ern army.
Rebel. That is not true, sir. went
voluntarily Edont know any who have
gone otherwise. There is one of our men
in the car with me, who told at Harris
burg that he was forced into the Confeder-
ate service and say to you, in his hear
ing, that he lies. / have heard your men
say the same, when they were taken pris-
oners, but l believed it to be all stuff.
Any soldier who would say such thing on
either side, is unworthy to bear musket
in any cause he is liar and coward
Citizen. We hear that your army have
scarcely any thing to eat, and have no
shoes. ~
/ Rebel. So far as my observation goes,
that is not true. When we have been on
long, quick marches, for which some of our
Generals are famous, we may have suffered
some, being far away from our supplies,
but that such was the regular condition of
the Confederate armies, believe to be
false.
The citizen who had been interrogating
the rebel prisoner here retired, and his
place, and somebody else's place, were filled
with 'stalwrt boy" from Erin, who,
doubtless, felt it a duty to carry on con-
versation with the prisoner. He began
with, "Say, say, did yees see the Saxty-
MONTH, sir, in your travels?" P
Rebel The what, sir?
Erin. TheSaxty- nointh-did yees never
hear of the boys?
Rebel. | don't know what you mean
am not accustomed to the slang of these
parts. a a5
Erin. Imean the Irish boys-the New
York Saxty MONTH. .I
Rebel i never heard of them; but, if
it will afford you any qualification, l can
tell you that. l heard there were good
many Irish in the Federal forces, but they
never gave us chance to see their faces.
Erin. You name that while they were
marching along not suspecting an enemy,
you poured into their rare from your mask
ed batteries. 5 u5lt.oIl
Rebel. | don't want to talk to you,
sir. In my country, dog like you, if he
had the courage at all to bark, would soon
get his ears cropped. 5
Citizen What do you do with the Irish
who are in your armies?
Rebel. We have no faith in either Irish
or Dutch, and therefore never put them
in the field. They are used for garrison
duty, where there is little probability of
attack
The conversation between the parties
was here broken by the guards preparing
to conduct the prisoners to the boat for
Delaware. a...
/ We noted them as we best could as they
walked along, and were struck with the
great variety of attire of soldiers of the
same regiment. There was remarkable
identity, however, in their unclean appear
ance. Not knowing to the contrary, a
stranger might have supposed that they
had been on campaign to the great Afri
can Desert, where water, from its scarcity,
is the travellers most precious boon.