Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-02-05
Letter from Ii. Col. Hali,. Commasd

tsI written oy eOlOieI ID tne llSo heS SilueAss
portion Of which is stationed st California.
Mo, which will be found interesting
Col. Hare is in command at Fulton, and Il.
Col. Hall is in command here. Col. Hall, am
happy to cay. is every day proving himself
.Antirely competent to the command which 10
Vested in him. He has proved . terror to
secesh around these "dIggius." Crowds come
in every day to give themselves up. and
to get the privilege. tif the Colonel sees fit,)
of taking the oath OF ellegisucs and going
back to their homes ana live in peace
Most OF those who have served in arms
syainst the United States he sends off to st
Louis or Jefferson, where Gen. Halleck deals
with them. Yesterday We sen, seventeen live
seceeh TO him on the morning train they were
genuine secesh and, when they were
staining on the platform waiting for the train,
come OF the poor devils struck up poor rebel
ditty. to the tune Of The HappJ Land OF Ca
nssn.' describing in glowing terms the battles
in which they seemed to think the y had worst.
ed Uncle Sans boys tut still it was easy to
see that nost Of them felt very n uch down in
the mouth. We have got come Is or % more
10 the guard house, and had sent of two lote
before this last one. one OF : and the other Of
8. Nearly all confess to have been under
Price or come other rebel officer Of Lesser note,
Some few were at the battle OF Boonvile bot,
they said, only to look on which is very
good notion to q whipped cause. | presume
there are lots of the Missouri boys who vi !
say they Only went to took on, until srring
CONES, aad then, il they get the least chance
10 Go so, Will re-eullst in the same desperate
cause.
We have q secesh here OF tie female per-
suasion. and tell you che is q nut-she car
res her revolver and dehes the soldiers at all
times. Heretofore she has done a. che wished
in The way Of sending good victuals, DC, to
the birds We had Gagged, ii dev before yester
day, when, as she took he- fine dishes and
food in her hands and marched to the guard.
house. it seems The corporal en- guard refused
her ajmittance, and also refused to deliver the
vic;uae-whereat sae gave him and the " hole
Union army the beet "b.essiDe' they ever got
iu the open street IRON pretty female wilder
| understand her husband is in Prices army
and she passes oif ss a widow. You will find
plenty OF widows 10 this State now, and an
alarming scarcity CT young men. A pretty
girl told me, the other day, that she had lot
had . beau fJr two months.
The boys have had the privilege Of attend.
log the dances that were gotten mp in town
until the othe. ight, when come tf them got
quite jolly, either on account cf their pay,
which they had that day rec. ived, or from the
effects Of some red eye" which not withstand.
ing the vigilance Of the officers, they manage
to get ho.d of oscason lis, and kicked Up
-mal row. which ended INV o or three SCARED
countenances, some brok- heads and chairs
and a good warm sit for two Of them in the
guard house The men. genetal thing
behave themselves gentlemaaly
We are Gusrtered in houses. stores, dc. Orr
company occupy store and dwelling togt ther
which is quite fine to living in tents this wea
ther. Although tie winter seems hardly cou
yet. it is almost over here, and We are now
erjoying soft weather consisting of rain. slee,,
tile snow, with any emount OF mud. which
the natives here sGy Is the annual prelude, OF
9 months duration. to tb a: elcone 10. tit u,ion
called spring. | am afraid, if it continues
month, it will rot leave much chance for
marching soon. To-day it is raining, and the
trees and fences are full ci cc!es three or four
inches lorg.
This appears to be q good fruit country,
from the amour, and quality Of apples brought
IN TO market-any amount Of j.nne,ting ap-
pies can he bought Tor - and 80 cents per
huehel. which opportunity s well appreciated
by the boys, AID you would think 50 il you
could lock into the heads OF the tuuks, nesrly
every ore OF which contains from q peek to a
bushel Of that delicious fruit
The health Of ,hi. detachue ent is not es good
as one Won wish the duties being quite hard
aud great mary OF the men unused to snch
work. have taken bad colds. great maay Of
which have resulted in Ilething worse, prin
c,pally lung fever. from which there s some
eight or ten suffering in the hospital. The
measles have also been qniie bad, too. and
the mnmps is making It's appearance, under.
stand. Excepting one case of lung fever in
Capt. Fosters company, none have proved
fatal. That poor fellow died last Thursday,
making seven # Lis men that have diei Stree
they we're sworn 10. The whole regiment
has lost l9 men by death since we left Camp
Mcclellan.
Our fare here is pretty good. ard ns long
az Uncle Sam feeds his men go we'll he can
not Tut expect cone tall fighting when they
get q chance. Gen. Curtis and some other
Generals force marchei within four or FIVE
miles past this place on their way to Roa
last Saturday morning, from which place they
will probably make q move against Price a,
Springfield,
Last Sunday morning we we're ell Sur
prised to a small procession marching
into town, some on horseback and some oa
foot. On inquiring into matters We found
it to be some secesh prisoners that were take
by an ex-Captain OF Home Guards aud two
| men. There were seven prisoners, and the
whole were taken by three men, and FIVE men
brought them to town. A captain of cur de-
tachment, with two men, the other night, took
nine seceshers at one house They managed
go that the rebels did not know the amount of
| soldiers with them, and two inen guarded the
nine till the captain came to town and got re-.
Inducements. They then marched the bcys to
town, where Col. Hall kindly furnished them
With quarters 10 the guard house All Of our
| prisoners are more or less aru ed-soue with
rifles. Col Hall has quite young armory at
headquarters. OF such weapons, Sometime
they carry great long knives strung to tn cir
bsts. which, taken with their general appear
ance. gives them the appearance of the much
talked of Southern Desperate. At fret when
We came here We had sufficient space in one
| room Tor their sccommodati n, but nov We
have two guard houses. one in which We keen
our own disorderly boys. and the other the
rebels.
E The place conta'n ns about 800 Inhabitants
About one third Of the houses are empty. bay.
ing been vacated by both Union and eece.h
people. this place having got too hot f,r th cir
devoted heads There is one paper publishe
here, about the sizs of the famous "Creat
West 1t was formerly q full sized sheet. but
the off1ce vac demolished once by Boern.teiD's q
men, and the editor though best to send on,
| in half the usual size.
1t 10 nov grow rg near supper time. and
l must cloee. / receive the DExoos.r AND
NEvs once . week, for which I suprose am
indebted to you. and for which you will please
accept my tiocere thanks Remember me to
m IL rn md