Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-01-09
The War in Kentucky.
Letter from the 18th Regiment.
CAMP WooD,

Letter from the 18th Regiment.
CAMP WooD,
MUNFoRDsvILLE, KY, Jan. /, 1862.
EDITOR CHRONICLE Southwark, surely,
although slowly to the ardent and enthusi-
astic friend of the Union its advance may
appear, the central column of the Federal
army, under Gen. Buell., is tending. Tn few
days, or as soon as the Railroad bridge is
rendered passablc, forward movement will,
no doubt, be made beyond Green River. AT
present full Regiment performs picket
duty daily on the South bank, or rather
mile or two beyond At night sufficient re-
serve forces are sent forward to aid the
Regiment on picket in case Of an attack.
Since the fight with the Texan Rangers the
Rebels have kept out of reach, nothing
having occurred deserving the name even of
skirmish. Yesterday and the day before
rulnors of an advance by Buckner were rife
in camp, but up to the present writing he
has not arr'red. Without pretending to
see farther into futurity than "any other
man." | am safe in saying that he will come
up (if he over does) "throuuh much tribula-
tion" and emphatically he "a man of sorrow
and acquainted with grief " for the remain
der of his days, - which will be tr,o and
full of trouble"
The 18th Regiment spent yesterday and
last night as the advance picket. We threw
out guards in every direction in which the
enemy would be likely to approach. At
night our fires were all extinguished and a
sharp look out was kept up for any of the
Sccesh gentry whom business or pleasure
might induce to make US visit yet,
strange as it may appear, they failed to come.
and we had to pass the last night of the old
year without an opportunity to manifest
our regard for them, especially as we were
well provided by our mutual friend, 'Uncla
Sam, with numerous presents for their
pleasure to have distributed as intended by
wo hope yet to be able to do 80. If they
wont come for them, probably Gen. McCooi
will permit us to take them to them, ere
long.
Our picket duty was not without interest,
|
persons, wishing to pass into our lines,
most of these being unprovided with passes
had to turn back. All rere, and had al
mays been, for the Union. Scarcely one
who had not been robbed, hunted, and mis-
erably maltreated for their devotion to the
Union. If we had have been green enough
to believe their yarns, we must have conclu
ded that the whole population hereabouts
were the very essence of loyalty. The only
conclusion we could arrivo at from their own
statements was that they were, generally,
either great liars or great towards, probably
both. A number Of great big louts huns
around offering to sell to the boys pies, witt
crust like peach leather, dirty looking eggs,
corn bread, shrivelled apples& hazlenuts,- =
of the latter article one of the boys bought {
large boot full tor dime. AS the owner o
the boot is a near relative of certain Lieu
tenant from Old Belmont, you may bet youl
pilc those nuts were soH cheap, During the
[aftcrnoon we were somewhat aroused tc
realize that shooting might injure us a,
likely rs wound our foes-if tho missile
should take the wrong direction by hearing
the explosion of u young earthquake "ol
something else" few rods to tho right ot
the post where your correspondent was on
duty, and on direct line with our pickcts
What made that noise was the question
for the boys to decide, as no artillery wa.
on our side of the river. 1t was not artil-
lery, too loud by Jug.full for musket to
make, Just as, by common consent, it was
concluded that one of tho back rooms OF
the Mammouth Cave had fallen in, it wa.
discovered that one of Company Il had
been practicing gunnery on a plan of his
own. He had found an unsxplodsd shell
and after trying to break the darned thing
in order to see what was in it, he concluded
to burn the outside off; so in the fire it wen
and the outside burnt off witha a vengeance
scattering the logs, dirt, and fire in all di
rections. Luckily no one was hurt, but. som,
body as ltte--astonished The boy:
say Company Il has now battery attache.
to it. However, | imagine that battery vii
keep quiet for some time TO come. ....
The Regiment returned to camp about l,
o'clock, A. NJ, well pleased that their watci
meeting was over. We crossed Green Riy
er on the Pontoon bridge in almost sole
column. The bridge iscapable Of good ser
vice, osly oscilating enough to make tn