The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-10-11
Army Correspondence.
CAMP WILER, LOUISVILLE, KY,
October 3d 1860

October Sd, 1862.
Iokhe Free T|ader-Since my last, thipl
have taken a singular turn here W
were first placed in Gen Bur bridges Br
gade, then into Gen. jackson 's-Burbridg
being ordered to Cincinnati. Then Jacl
son was assigned to division, and Co
Moore was assigned as temporary com
mander of the Brigade Next we wer
ordered to report to Gen. Dumont; thel
he was made Division commander ant
assigned to Louisville Station, and Ger
Gilbert. the old Station commander, as
signed to the field. Atpresent. believe
we are an Independent institution, havin.
no general over us-belonging to no di
vision or brigade; and, being generally {
very peaceable and orderly set of men, 6
strong effort is making by the citizens to
retain US here, and l am q little afraid
they will succeed.
The death of Gen. Nelson has been q
great misfortune to the army here. He
having been in full command of all the
forces at this place ever since it was
threatened by the rebels, was, of course,
in possession Of much valuable secret in
formation, which was lost when he was
shot. The army also has lost its head
We are now without General in-Chief
Ihe arrangements Of divisions and brigades
has temporarily ceased, and vast body of
troops lay In and around the city without
any other than regimental or battalion
organizations. Some fourteen divisions
were organized before Nelson was killed
Some OF these have been sent into the
~. ,,-,xt
but the commanders and Gen Nelson
All these troops will have to be halted
and their orders remoddled New plans
will have to be instituted, and, in short,
everything will have to be reorganized
Had Gen. Bragg the army he is reported
to have, now would be his time to strike
But the fact that he is falling back shows
ln.. the great army Of invasion is a mere
paper concern-a bug TO scare women
and children.
ed command; but his grand army are
down on him. They accuse him of all
kinds of deinquencies, even unto disloyty
he Is too slow motIoned for the agile
Bragg, and if the task of catching the
rebels is left to him, we will have 10 60 to
the capes of Florida after them
Most Of the rebel scouts vino have been
hang ging around US for the past two weeks
have disappeared. The last we heard of
them they were skedaddeliug for the in
terror OF the State. 4 small body Of Ken
lucky cavalry had a skirmish with about
an equal number Of rebels, IL miles from
here, yesterday. Our loss was killed
and wounded The rebels lost about
the same The enemy was rcpuised, aud
nothing has been heard of them since
All organized divisions are now in mo-
ton. one would suppose the entire male
population of the West had assembled
here from the vast numbers moving Eve
ry street seems to be packed full OF march
ing soldiers, and their polished bayonets
glitter In every direction. The heavy
rattle OF the cavalry and the deep rum
bling Of the artillery, intermingled with
the songs, cheers, aad chatter of the men,
lends grandeur to the scene which can
only be realized by those who witness it
What the design of all this comrnotion is
| am yet unable to explain, and have no
desire 10 guess. That there Is an immense
army here, there can be no doubt, but
What its actual number is 10 one seems to
know There are 4, Ill. Regiments here
besides cavalry and artillery Indisna
Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Michigan, New York and
pennsylvania, are AL represented here,
besides the troops ralsad by Kentucky.
have made a hasty calculation OF the
number, and think there cannot be less
than 100000. What will be done with
this vast army seems q mystery to me
now that Bragg has been allowed to enter
the State and plunder it of all the essen
tlals for sustaining an army.
The Government seems to have q poor
estimate Of human life. To save little
transportation, the soldiers are compelled
to carry all their clothing on their backs.
They were required to draw all their
clothing at a time, consisting of shirts,
jacket, pants, 2 pr drawers, cap, = pr SHOES,
, pr SOCKS, overcoat, blanket, DC All
this makes a pack to lug around of about
80 pounds Then comes the c,in, forty
rounds of cartridges, haversack and two
days provision, canteen full of water &c
ali this makes pretty heavy load, and
in warm day is much too heavy for a
man to carry. Hundreds Of soldiers are
killed Oft by these loads, while if the 60
vernment would furnish about two teams
more to the regiment these men might be
saved, and our armies could move much
quicker. In this warm climate men
should not be required to carry any more
than their rations and ammunition. Then
marching would be pleasant, and they
would move with ease from to 10 miles
further every day. This cutting down
transportation and loading up TIE men. is
miserable economy. 1t is destructive Of
human life, and greatly retards the pro-
gress of our armies. 1t is saving horses
and mules instead of men. The miserable
system Of making pack mules of men has
hx of&
severed in the ranks, who ride their
blooded nags decorated with gaudy trap
pings, with q train of their own of from 4
to e army wagons Our armies have been
decimated in the South during the past
season by just this kind of bad manage.
ment
There is something wrong in our @. NJ
Department Here in the midst of plenty,
where every thing is cheap, the fields
teeming with corn and beef, in the great
est pork region III the world, we have
been suffering for provisions, and what we
have got are of a very inferior quality
Yesterday the men were ordered to draw
I days provisions. All they got was some
miserable beans, lot of hard bread of no
better quality, and sugar and coffee in
proportion. Not q mouthful of meat
could be had. Where the blame Of this
miserable management rests, l not pre-.
tend to say. There is one thing, however,
which is new in camp life, and that is, to
compel men to draw or 10 days rations
while lying still in camp, without any
means of taking care of them. IT looks
like another imposition upon the men
Officials unburthening themselves and
piling it upon the private soldiers. There
is one saiety-valve, however, to these de
linquencies of the commissary department
Our camp has been swarming with pigs
and geese; these have been aorfstipa!fet
pretty freely to-day, and l expect to see
them disappear tomorrow like ths
mists of the morn before the rays Of thu
, r1oinU NM