New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1862-04-14
Letters from Virginia.
special to the New Orleans orescent.l

lFst seven Gays p9mpardinent OF Island NO. lU,
by your correspondent, ~. g." was copied into
the Examiner and read with great deal of
pleasure. By the way, 81. G." is no mean poet.
To be able to write poetry at all, under the crcun
stances depicted in his letters, is marvellous.
When was MISUNDERSTANDING it in camp,
couldn't write the wretchedest prose; and at the
expiration of three months, it was with difficulty
signed my name. ~. G." is a great man.
salute him-at a respectful distance. I have seen
letter from Yankee on board the Benton-as
dolefull, down in the mouth epistle as Southern
eye could desire to see.
We hear, this afternoon, that there has been
fighting since 10 o'clock this morning, at York
town. A hundred thousand Yankees, with Nc.
Clellan at their head, constitute the attacking
force" They say the latestrepor is that the enc
my has been repulsed, and that he is nouming
heavy guns to shell Us out of our entrenchments.<
Another report is that the whole story Is one Of
those "reliable' narratives with which wehave
been SO often entertained, and never so certainly
as after two or three days dearth Of news. 1t is
hardly probable the enemy could have reached
Yorktown SO quickly by land, for Magruder has
dtched and dug enough in the Peninsula to make
a continuous embankment thirty feet high across
the Continent. He has three lines of defence,
each strong enough to hold a large army in check
until reinforcements can arrive. Ex-senator
Gwin, who reached here from Washington the
other day, says Mcclellan has lS00 900 of the finest
troops he ever saw, but owing to Johnston's evac-
uaton of Manassas, this great army had been de-
moralzed and all idea of reaching Richmond by
the Manassas route had been abandoned-the be-
lief in Washington being that the command would
be transferred to the Peninsula, and was even then
on it's way there. -.
Some say that Heintzeman is at the head of The
Yankee army of the Peninsula. Speaking of SEN
ator Gwin, it bold and honorable thing in him to
come to us when our futures seems darkest, and
when the Yankees are sanguine OF subjugating us
within the next sixty days. Miss Gwin has been
in the city for several weeks.
The action of Congress in regard to free trade is
generally approved though some agree with the
Wing in thinking that the mere repeal of the tariff,
during the existence Of the blockade is not enough,
but that special as free trade for
fifteen or twenty years-should be held out to the
nation which first interyenes in our behalf by break
ing the blockade, declaring it Intellectual, andrecog
nzing our independence. For some weeks past the
Whig has urged this course toward France, although
Mr.. De Leon, formerly U. S. Consul to Egypt, has
shown, in the Whig's own columns, that we have
as much to hope from England as from France.
And, if we may credit the news by the Juan, Lord
John Russell has got to praising he constancy of
Southern troops. and accusing the Northern hire
Dgs of being disposed to desist and anxious for
the war to end. One is so startled by a declars-
tion like this from LORD John that he is inclined 10
suspect him Of having parted with his reason. But
here am in my hobby again.
We may laugh at the preposterous rstinue Of
Yankee Governors assigned to the various States
of the Confederacy by the Herald, but who
dreamed year ago that Andy Johnston would be
at. this moment lording it over Tennessee, with
Nashville for his capital and hundred thousand
Yankee soldiers to enforce his tyrannical man.
dates? When l picture to myself that beatle'
browed, black k-winged bla ck.hearted abominaton
of humanity sitting in state In Nashville, feel in
deed that the ways of Providence are past finding
out, and do not wonder that
The evil of the earth brings FORTH
| bitter, bitter cry before high heaven. 1 an
| tempted to curse Andrew, fore and aft, up one
| side and down the other; but like the man wher
the tail board of his cart got loose and all his ashes
were split on the side Of the hill, own that 81
| can't do justice to the subject" wish Andrew
| no harm, but l do wish little diversion. If by
hook or by crook Scott's Cavalry could charge
upon Andy, Iwould, I confess be slightly enter
tanned and perfectly willing for what was left o
Andy to pick itself up and travel withersoever i
| pleased. Further damage than this to the body o
Andrew do not desire but I have no objection
to seeing his soul in region which you may if yo1
choose, call sub Central Africa.
A ed-bearded friend o. mine, who is detailed Of
duty in the city to ferret out the delinquent mil
ish," gives me an amusing account of his adven
lures with Doctor -. He found the doctor il
b ) office, and demanded of him to show cause why
lie should be exempt from militia duty. The doc
tor promptly handed him paper, which, upon eS
animation, proved to be mere pass from Ger
Winder to allow him free ingress and egress to th
city. My friend told him paper of that sort wa
of no earthly use, and he must march at once t
Camp Lee. The doctor beceme very fierce. "Sir,
said he, ~ defy your authority. will not go
most positively will not. You must use force
sir, force. But, sir, warn you that am dan
gerous man, very dangerous man-perhaps tn
most dangerous man in this city," Here he locke
daggers. My friend called in his squad Of soldiers
with fixed bayonets, and commanded them t
take that man to camp.' The doctor caved a
once, and was meekly led before the Colonel q
the regiment, who permitted him to get off on som
fimsy excuse. The best of the joke is, that th
| - very dangerous man " was Qrummeu OUT OF IN
army last summer for stealing Gen. Kirby Smith
horse Hence his Colonel felt no particular anz
iety to see him go back in the army.
} The grass, the leaves, the buds, men, women an
J children, the asp, the adder the cockatrice, th
crocodile, and other venomous birds, all emere
from their holes at the approach of warm weathe
and hence, during the last few days, there has bee
such another rearing and tearing around of pede
trians and equestrians as Richmond never saw sine
it was little boy. The effect of heat upon anims
life was wonderful to behold. People swarme
out like insects. The fair sex seemed especial
instigated to perambulation by the influence
what DR.. Lazarus calls the " solar ray" The tow
was in ferment. But with the night came iutens
Stiffness broken only by the cries of the sentinel
How odd 1t sounds to hear fellow in front of I'll
) post-ofice sing out, corporal of the guard, po
No. 2n' The warrior who guards the street ne
my Office whistles " My Maryland regularly, ar
wishout pause, from midnight till O'Clock in IL
morning. This song is getting to be, in fact i
what Ever of Thee " used to be summer befo
last, or what Dreamt D welt in Marble Halls
was twenty years ago, when Madame seguin fir
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