The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1862-05-24
THE GRAND ARMY.

The correspondents II the New Yorl
Times gives the following rscy description
of s.ihlngs in generap' in and nb ut The
headquarters Of the army Of the South.
west:
An Individual staying AZ home will have
but a small apprec alton Of the vastness u
tn. scale upon which operations are con.
Quoted. Starting from the landing. one
my rifle hours IN any direction, md vel
find NJ end 10 the stream OF trans and sni.
diers that are pouring al0n., seemingly
without purpose, sou ce or ending. Hun.
dreds of wagons ex end in long lines fruu
the lev-s-.om. waiting Tor supplies fr0u,
the boats, others pushing uf to their re.
spec'Ive commands.
Starting to reach any point one finds him
self az much puzzled as IT suddenly placed
in the midst OF y sfrany desert, and de-l
rous IT finding the shortest way out. In
curry IL ureless-n0t one man in = thousand
MS the slightest idea of where an, BODY j.,
or where he is himself. The road which
you anempt to follow branches of into a
hundred others. all equally we'll travel, d,
any one OF which ~ much as another sc )
Likely TO lead to the point desired. ~
meet wagons in train, whose length seems
endirs.-you overtake one. ard il d res no.
er-im possible ever to reach the other e.i
Her. long lines OF infantry meet ynu. there
they paar ynO ; now comes the b. nd If Il
co umn of cavalry ; seat ,OurseIf, and hour
after hour they will pnu, by. s--m,n. to in
ciude all the horses and men IN existence
CT np,n a hill, and as far ~ the eye can
reach. come, 90. pass. rrpas>. cross, recr ,ss
everywhere tn Sc everlasting trains of cav
airy. infantry, artillery trains and wagons
Nothing seems ~ pnrp selrss apd unmean
ing rs n 3 dow Of cnndic,ing currents, yet
We know that eventually they will all paur
into same ocean. whnsa gathering forces are
destined to over wh.Im the %traitOrOus ley,Ons
beyond, as the Red Sea lid the hosts Of the
rebellinus Phar inh.
One can better appreciate the difficulties
of getting familiar with everything here.
when It is known that We have not less than
three armies the army 1T Tennessee, Gen.
Grant the army If the Ohio, Grn. Buell.,
and the army Of the M.sslsappi, Gen. Pope.
Each of these arm aes occup,es a distinct
AMI separate position; consequent y. a !.
though within supp"rt,ng d,starce Of each
other. they cover necessarily an immensr
amount OF country. In view Of this, he
VIII" attempts to learn the position Of each
division of all this fotce-the single cor
respond ut who will endenvor 70 describe
in ..go.,d time" a hattle-wiii find that he
has undertaken = task about equal to that
in which some one should try to count all
the stars during the space Of time that he
gazes through the b0ttOm OF n tumbler while
swallowipg a whisky toddy. Esch army
has some SIX dlvIsiOns-in all some e,gh-
teen or ,weDfy-each OF which is u small
army Of nself. To-iay the i~ocation OF q
certain DIVISION is satisfactorily Iocated-
t. morrow. up"n hunting II 10, it will be
found . have moved u half dozen miles to
s0me point that it will take six hours OF
hard labor to find.
You leave a brigade to pay a friendly vis-
it To another brigade just over the r~avine,
or across that ~hea,irld. You leave the
general snoring comfortably IN his tent
tue men cnok,ng their dinn. RI, or drilling
assidu0us'y III front Of their quarters. In
a couple Ut hours you return. A few smol
der ny fires, some battered tin. pans. aqnan.
tity Of Cd c,ats, o%ne.irgged pantaioons,
and piles Of refuse, are all that 8 left OF
brigade, General, tents, 40 oilers and all -
Musa,ion 10 written upon everything. Tie
YOUR tavorite mule To u tent, wax once
around it, and when you get bnct there
won, apparently be a mule resemhlu g vonrs
within the limits bounded by tn" wUuds and
borzon. Lay down your McC.es n saddle,
lay your heal upon 1T fol u short siestd. and
before yau are Il dozen yards en- put for
dreamland. your head is quiet land upon
a small log, and your saadie takes Its de-
partnre forever.
Morals charge as we'll as property. A
year ago ! heard a refreshing exhortatiou
from n Praise Gnd- Barebones, in IN Iowa
pu PIT to-day, up IN the camp OF m Iowa
regiment, | heard a f-ilow Gu, sing u COM
raie in "A stvle that w"uli put to blush the
most profane Of Capt. Marrsatt's creations
turned NJ the sound, and in the long ha'r-
ed. d rty.lnok,ng individual, recognized tie
pIpus, 9 erical SIN IT the II .wkeye State.
A chaplain in \ CERTAIN d,v,s,"n, not fa'
now from the extreme right If the army ol
the Tennessee. drives n lucrative business
in stealing horses and mules. with which b.
is sturkIng his farm in u Western S'ate.--
This morning, a gentleman who was las,
Fill elected q member Of n trans. M,ssi.sippi
State. as a temperance candidate. got dis.
gustinyIy i, d,sgrac-d himself, and il
Consequence was sent out OF the brigade
BY tn. commander, with whom for s,mt
tim. past. the honorable gentleman from
- has been staying IA \ guest. An"'he
Parson Of my acquaintance is nov q yer!
drnnssn. very pr"fane captain in the -
regiment of the 81 Division.
Caro-, May %. :
Daae,.ers from the rebel camp a weel
ago. who have arrived here, report tina
B-nur-eavd had $50 600 men. They ar,
snE,+inO orentlv from sickceaa. An nv.