Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-09-03
dMotttster 4ailg Spp
Letter from the 25th Regiment.
Correspondence of the Worcester Daily Spy.
HARRISON PLACE, Aug 25th, 1862,
Five Miles From Newbern.

ceived in our regiment to have companies K
and G relieved by two other companies. for
which the captains drew lots, and it fell to A
and c, who made preparations for an early
start, the next morning, so as to have our
march in the cool of the day. On Thursday,
at three o'clock, the we'll known voice of our
orderly sergeant was heard, in its accustomed
loud tone, ''turn out company A." and by
o'clock we had been to breakfast and were in
battalion line with company C, ready for
march. Both companies were under COM
mand of Lieut. Tucker, Capt. Atwood being
in Massachusetts,, and Capt. Goodwin on
court marshal, and Lieut.. Bessey sick Your
correspondent took command of Co. A, and
after hot march, we reached Harrison Place,
Ga large cotton plantation, on which is a cot
ton press, gin, &C., formerly owned by a man
by the name of Harrison, now in the rebel
army where we are now quartered on picket
duty, X and G having taken our places in
Camp Oliver.
We have now been here several DAYS, and
for change enjoy it much. A few incidents
of our experience may not be uninteresting to
your readers. On arriving at our new quar-
tiers, we were all very much amused by an
ingenious piece of mechanism, of one of
the German company, in the shape of a
wind mill, situated on the top of one
of the tents, attached to which were
two figures, representing sold Abe" and
''Jet. Davis" jeff. was turning a grind
stone, going through with all the motions,
while Old Abe was very unaffectedly grinding
his sword down in Dixie. Such are some of
the amusements of soldiers life. The first
two days after we reached our new camp we
spent in cleaning up and arranging our tents,
after the style of companies A and C, and at
the end of the two days a member of either of
the former companies who had just left would
have been lost had he have been ushered into
our camp. In the rear of one of the officers
tents was thrown up breast work of hun
dreds of empty bottles, the contents Of which
has destroyed more lives in our army than
have fallen by the balls of the enemy. Still
the use of the vile poison is allowed, and if
those who partake are only fortunate enough
to have shoulder-straps, they are considered
gentlemen, while private, for each offence,
is showed into the guard house.
On Saturday afternoon, to make the renov-
alton Of our camp complete and more thor
oughly purify the surrounding atmosphere, we
were visited by bolt of lightning, which
shivered two trees, and killed one of the fin
est horses Of the cavalry regiment, belonging
to one of the captains, and one of the trees
stood within six feet of the tents, and the oc-
cupant was thrown PROSTATE upon the
ground, but not severely injured. The
whole camp, for a few moments, was
thrown into confusion the occupants of each
tent thinking that their tent had been struck
The bolt burst directly over our camp, and
not over fifty feet above us, and nearly every
soldier felt the shock, and smelt the sulphur.
Thunder showers here are very severe-and
we have them several times a week, some
times nearly every day.
On Saturday morning an incident occurred
here which will show you the effect of Gov.
Stanley's course in North Carolina. Soon af-
ter breakfast sixteen slaves, women and chill
dren, made their appearance within our lines.
One old lady with two of her daughters,
eleven grandchildren, from nine months to
fourteen years old, and one great-grandchild,
a granddaughter only fourteen years old,
having an infant, and the sixteenth parsonage
was sister Of the cid lady. The whole par
-ty were barefoot and nearly naked, and chill
dren from six to eight years old were carrying
upon their backs other children from one to
three years of age; and each mother had a
H. -, I,,, 4 Il.
SIDE and they had come fifteen miles through
the woods in two days, with only such food as
they could get by the way. Such a scene
must be witnessed to be realized for no pen
can describe it, not even Mrs. Stowe, and the
reader of her famous "Uncle Tom" will well
recollect her. Topsy, the deliniation of
whose character to some, seemed overweight,
but to such this scene would have furnished
several living Topsys ''who neber was born,
but Crowd" When they arrived at our head
quarters box of hard bread was set before
them, and quicker than thought, a dozen near
ly naked and halt-starved little urchins,
bounced upon it, bales and all, and setting
upon the ground, had their fill. Major Denis,
the commander of our post, had some meat
cooked for them, and then sent them IN a
buggy-wagon to Gen. Fosters headquarters
They were all slaves of one John Oliver a
able-bodied men and women who could be of
service to him, back into Hyde county, beyond
our reach, sending their women and children
to Newbern to be cared for at the expense of
our government during the war, and then re-
turned by Gov. Stanly to their owners. This
is the manner in which the war for the Union
is waged in North Carolina By order of this
same Stanly, the name of "Union Hotel A."
which was painted upon one Of the public
houses after the arrival of our army in New
bern, has within week, been painted out,
because it did not suit some of the ''much-
talked of loyal men of North Carolina" and
this is what men of Massachusetts are doing
for the peculiar institution, and if in any of
our long marches and scouts, we happen to
take rebel who, it may be, has murdered
several of our soldiers, be must be returned
with his horse and property, and be paid for
his detention, all for the Union, with the hell
ish institution of slavery.
This is one side of the picture, and you
shall have another, showing the ability OF the
slaves to do business on their own account,
and their willingness to labor for Fay, from
our daily experience and observation, dispel-
ling at once the idle harangue Of many lazy
and perhaps jealous nOrtherner, "that the
Niger is not capable of getting his own liv-
ing" Yesterday company of us visited a
tar nit, entirely under the supervision of these
contrabands, who had always been slaves till
after the taking of Newbern, and was very
much interested in the process of its produce
ton from the dead and otherwise useless trees
of the forest description Of which cannot
fail to interest the younger readers of your
paper, at the same time showing the concu-