Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1862-05-21
From the Forty fifth Pennsylvania Reg
lmeQt

Extract from Letter ofa Piiratc Soldier in
he Betterilte FeHcibles
May 49, 1862.
As / have not much to do this morning, |
thought would take up my pen to send you
few lines, as | suppose that some Of the folks
would like to hear from u.s. In this company
all are we'll with the exception of two or three,
who are still getting better fast one Of them
had the measles, the others bad colds We
have had midding good health ever since we
left home last summer. We left Fortress
Monroe on the sixth day of last December,
and after three days and nights sailing on the
ocean we landed at Port Royal, South Caro-
lima, and since that time we have been here.
| will not say anything about the fighting
here. My reason is because | do not think
we are allowed to write these things. But |
may say that our men are driving the secesh
off pretty fast AS jeff. Davis sees them ad
vancing, he takes his chair and sets upon the
steeple calling for his people and saying to
them, the yankees are fast advancing and
am afraid it will not be long till the Stars and
Stripes will wave all over Us, and | think
they will drive us so far into the Union that
it will take about two years for us to come
back again, and now | think better plan is
for them to hang me along side of a white oak
tree, and Floyd and Beauregard and johnson
on the other side. AS we stand on these san
dy bottoms looking for coming mail, and
after looking for some time here comes mail
for us, telling of some true love left behind,
and in reading it tells US they are all well.
scppose there are some people who wonder
what we do with the flies here they are so
plenty. But alligators are middling plenty
Whep the sun shines out very hot you will
see them lying upon log sleeping, with their
mouth wide open, and then the flies gather in,
and when these animals awake they shut their
mouths, thus catching from pint to two
quarts at time. / think that is making way
with them fast. Snakes are also very bad on
this island, and we must always keep on the
lookoutfor theE, for they are dangerous. Mos.
quitoes and gnats keep us SO busy scratching
that you might think we had the itch. The
weather here is getting very warm. Some
days are cloudy with strong wind blowing,
which makes it more pleasant. | will tell
you some little about Fort Pulaski. | was en-
eye witness to the bombardment. Some of
our boys were talking to some of the prison
ers. They asked them if they did not think
they were whipped? They said not. Then
they asked them why they did not take our
battery to which they replied that the yam
KEGS threw SO n.uch rotten iron, or, as we call
them, bomb shels and balls, they could not
stand it any longer. They said they volun
teered, and think the yankees cannot whip
them But some of them looked as if they
were nearly out of clothing. Negroes are
plenty: more so than care about. Some of
them are very saucy and if you speak to them
they give you some short answer. Some of
them wish the yankees on the island were all
killed. They are secesh. 1t is almost din
ner time, and have just asked some one what
we have for dinner to-day. They say we have
some pork with the bristles on. | think the
butchers will get rich, judging from the looks
of their meat. 1t looks as if it was scalded
with cold water; but we do not care for that,
for we have got shoemaker in our company