Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-10-24
Letter From the goth.
nEAporaRrgRs or rHg lsT DirisroS or
TIE AMY SOUTHWEST MISSOURI, 1sP Z
ysAH GAP FIR, vetcber llth, le62. J

u
e.. very few were lost, mainly consisting
Of india rubber blankets md ponches, when
the un luckf owners bought for a rou price
at 81 Louis. and the loss vf which they VIII
70. coon Geese 10 depiore.
We spent tue day ut our arrival at newfo-
MIA IN goiui. ~ the bait e-heid OF iuesiay,
aud ssx nry eouye irs OF he struggle
scattere. o,, tbs ground. Dead hofaes were
coptnon sic.a,s some of them ba II mangied.
A sisgie shei bursting amopg group ei horses
killed eiehs Of them. In ali, believe about
~ horses ere killed. There w.re several
axsd todes wing around the field untuf;ed.
| think ho g Q yer, that there we're note hut
IDaiaus which had been left 60, and there may
haye been rood reasons for tue apparent gtose
n. yleet Of Che les. du:ies which we oH alike
10 friend and foe, .f which We know nothing.
It eeens TO me that proper regard Tor 'he
sanitary con.itiou Of camp. would he fnh.
cient iDdUcem ent TO any conmahoer ior oroer-
,ny everything which would rrrder the air
in, ure aud unt eathy 10 be buried Ihe bcys
pick I'd up several very valuable pistols en- The
ground. Ou4 of them a very fiue one Of Eog.
ish manufacture. apparently quite oia, oe'bg
silver mounted, ard bearing oD the crest tie
heraidic emblem Of BEARS paw grasping
spear This pistol is now in the possession OF
Mai Thompson Of our regiment
We naturally felt vesy deeply chssrinej at
not fudlog .Ae eoetpy oE hand Tor h:,ht, tut
am not certain that the day did not bring
with it advantages which more than counter
balanced all its dsappolntm mcatf
eudeayored Ia my las5 letter to describe
onr teeiinrs as ". were led on the felj. few oi
M e.er having seen an ermy Ia battle ARRAY
before, nons Of us knowing anything of the
force with which expected to contend. nor
of the aum bers and whereabouts OF the forces
L.a'. HAD
| rea!iv b-heve as VI eCncernediy as w ever
formed on drs IS parade, and ooe Of the com
pensa,i.rs a., III disappointment q the deT l.
the can't i.1es which Gen. Totten nnst ieei in
the rlncl- of b:s c,mfDand. And then when
81. : ecte3 our ans and lookei ab9at, cd
sa " the numter Of Gainu iEcofs which were
on Lhe ground. and Se-'y np, snshueo "a,
excellence of tie plsn - lce o"'sl' ' .tei
shout, have been fought. the les !ng Of o"aa-
depce in the commanding '.Ae ~ ~iheh was
engendcred 10 ,he n,itda ol y. sold1ris Il sfi.
other resal. Of the ater hic see"'s 10 nae
to be above oil price.
at about i've o'clock in the al err fcn ~s
marched eff TIE field Ia a con sppient e-aee 70
eucapp GUARDS were poslel aul ". 'ssd CT
the ground aud slelt.
Toe next day. whiie waiting Tor our I, tsns
to arrvA, We atuused ourselves bv funi inc
down aEi xii lug several sscesh pigs Dd h. ns
which were cooked il scr.s of wnva a. q
eaten 10y the boye vita a wonderful reiish -
ihs generally laudabie .ndeavor 10 I'D the
couGtry OF seces.iorists. carried I, such a. |
extent that at ia-i he biows began to tall up !
On the pig- aud chickens man who has III !
his pockets a written ca ard for bot b per. |
son and property, from +.-s person than |
ii Gen. ; Il. Curtis 10 rnsideralion Of val. |
uabie services rendered 4 him sometime du- I
u; t,,t ~ - \
thera followed compliant. and Of course
guard was set over the mans property. and OF
course there aroee tho usnal cry sbont guard I
ing reLel property Now this is thing |
want to write about. | have heari good
deal OF grnnblipg ip this command. aud saen
good deal more in the p4pets, about this
guarding rebel property" hich | believe |
would be stopped II the case were properly |
UNDERSTOOD
L. the frat place TIE charge Is often made
wheu 1t is altogether unioupdsd. In Spring
fislh. for instance. we bad O guard set over
mars property. near our camp, md one night
one Of the guards wounded b. sho, fir
ed OF bin in the dark. The boys up
great growl about guarding rebel property
Now the fac = in ihs case were that the man
was a Udionist. and q federal officer, appoint
d to a responsible poet by Air. Lincoln. ono
was naturally ANXIOUS TO preserve bis aipe-
hence the guard. Ard at Newtonia tie man,
whether Uncnat or q secesh. had a safe
guard aud the General In ccmnand " as bonnu
to that it was observed, and it wa
guarded aud IN the next place there is a wa,
prescribed by law for taking and holding reb-
el property. aud TIA, way is not fer every MAJ
to run al over the country md appropriate 10
his own use everything be cen lay his HAND
on But when the proper officers fed any-
thing which they wish to feiz-, they go and
ssize lt in The way prescribed. and then ii im
medately becomes the property Of the nation.
and guard is not only properly but necessari
ly tlaced over II, The offi :ers being il fac,
Just ns much bound to guard pig or chicken,
which belongs to the United States, az they
would 10 guard an arsenal or powder house
Now this seizlng property 10 conducted in
very qaiet manner, and not more than or
two in Whole com,nand know anything
either Of its being done or the mann r OF doing
it, and go don't oltme the boys fer thintiue
that they are puar ing rebel property; bot
persona who accompany the army IN the cara.
city Ct regular correspondents Of the press
cugh. to know better. api believe thai the,
often write their grlmblir gs bout tins as well
az ther matters IN pure ep'rit of mischief
Bu, am done With this. and proceed with
my story. We stayed at New,onia from
Saturds until the next Thursday. being con,
ssantly under orders to be in readiness to
march at q moments notice. The weather
was very fine uail sday afternoon
when it began to rain, aud such rain. We'll
it poured down all that night and di.i,', s,on
in the morning. not much 1t diins-bat ".
formed in line and waited until tbs Frat r.;
gade Of our division-(have l ever ;o;, NJ,
that ours is the first division of ,h. .rr,.
South est Missouri. commanded n.n "
ten lfnct. I'll tell you go no. o,a ,hss ou..
.s the second brigade, unds Cl DveN-v,,h
iss long tram. marched pas, Ne. and then We
got the order ioFws. a ,,,-c.n Cr..,or,
e." Ne started eff in the con. |
.oeas "opo 'n" we sh, uii ind It dreadinlly |
mu'aS SIsaa am happy to cay that we we're |
rs. r.. ~ o. ssppoi ted Mud mud mui /! |
:. sun w Of mud (iidn's the ancient Greeks
."u - ,mans support some ench chap y had |
~" to work to u TX up the roais to suit him. |
If he couldn't have done better Job. You /,
, couldn't find place TO set Your foot. excsp. !
10 the mud. Of every conceivable consis.ency.
| always over shoe, and often bali way up to
ones knees. Pse made up my lind that two
regiments OF infantry, one ditto of cavalry. a
| battery Of artillery, ard the bs. gage trains
Pre- per!y belonging to them, marching in the
rain over a road naturally inclined to he soft.
| isn't calculated to improve the road-no,
much However, We marched abou, ts e,ye
wiies that day. and stopped ct night on
| stream called Joy Greek. abou. half a mile
from the Iitti- village OF Cad Fly, and We are
Staying In toe came spot still. wai,iog for our
trains to come up. We had 10 tents on
Thursday night. and think I've said 1t rained
in the day time. Well, it didn't stop raining
(lrno d.