Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-12-25
A visit to the 18th and SID Ohio Resi.

A Visit to the 18th and 62d Ohio Regi-
~ ments.
. Hon. Isaac Welsh has been on a visit Of
mercy to our Belmont boys in General
RosccrsDs army, and at our request has
furnished us with an account of his trip,
which will be read with great interest BY
tho friends Of the 18th and SD regiments
On the 9Th inst, the writer started by
way of railroad to Bowling Green and /
Nashville, to see after the interests,of some
of our sick aud wounded in the Hospitals
at those places and visit the army South of
Nashville. | made very good time until l
reached Louisville, which was on Saturday.
the 9th, at 4, A. NJ. Here we learned that
we must have passes ii we proceeded furth.
er South Tor which purpose we must hunt
up the Provost Marshal. whose office was |
9Th of mile from the Depot. WhcreuponI
score or 80 Of US set out for the Provost's |
Office, which VIC finally found, and were very
| grudgingly admitted about daylight but
no Provost was there. The very innocent
clerk informed us that il was entirely tool
early That "officc hours was Q O 'clock.n
| But as the cars were 10 start at 3 O. clock,
we insisted on depai ture from tho CON
mon rule, and prevailed on the clerk to 60
and wake DIP the Provost. Tho clerk per.
| formed this duty with manifest fear Of
being discharged for his impertinence inl
disobeying orders. But the Assistant
! Provost came in, in about 30 minutes after
being walked, in very bad humor, c)m-
| planning Of people being such fools as TO
crowd into the Office at that unreasonable
fhour-"why could NOT they have come the
| day before during Office hours" II did not
OF course occur to him that any one could
have been four or five hundred miles from
his Office the day before Well, some of us
got our passes aud barely reached the cars
in time to get aboard many others were
left. Our passes only took us to Bowling
Green, where we had to stop OIL aud lay
over day, whether we wished to or not, in
order to procure a pass to Nashville.
/. I visited the Hospitals at Bowling Green,
which found to be eighteen in number, and
three Conyalcscont Barracks. There are
now about 3 900 sick and wounded there.
The average number of deaths per day ut
I the first OF the month was twenty. 1t il
Q now the l3lh) reduced to six. The Hospi-
tai accommodations arc as good as could be
: expected. Many Of the Hospitals were
gotten up in u. great hurry, and some Of
Q them are yet deficient in. proper hospital
supplies. found several Of the Belmont
Sus Z y surgeon n one of tha HosnitaIs and
doing aeod service Lieut.. Jas M. Welsh.
. of t5e 18th. is thereon sick leave and II
s unite NJ feeble health. There Ia uuite a strong .
n jjn;on element among the citizens Of Bowl.
inv Green. The town, which at The com.
mencen,ent of the war. containei some 4. 0)C
$ inhabitants Is much reduced In population.
! Nearly one fourth Of the buildines have
2 been DESTROYED by fro. Not only Bowling
! Green but the entire road from Louisville
4 to Nashville over which the coutendipp
: armies passed shows unmistakable signs d
: the rayages of war. Kentucky made I
' fatal blunder when she permitted herself L
/ be deceived into the net Of neutrality, b,
Q Secessonists. There can be no neutra
! ground for q State, between loyalty ant
;, treason. This fact Kentucky has learned
= at great cost: may she profit well by thu
!, lesson. But to return to my narrative. .Afts
y procuring pass 10 Nashville, and signiDl
% an oath Of allegiance to the G5overnmsnl
- and promising not to give Intelligence, ait
|, or comfort to the enemy, and sundry othe
- things, the penalty for the violation O