Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1862-07-23

Our correspondent at Fort Henry sends
us the annexed letter, found in the quar-
tsrs OF one of the rebel soldiers after the
occupation Of that fort by Gen. Grants
force. 1t was written from a Confederate
camp below Mobile, and evidently yery
thirsty, hungry and good natured secession
list, to an apprecistiye friend at Huntsville,
Alabama. "EHhu Squiggs," we deem to
be the non de plume hit by the writer.
doubtless to hide the patrican cognomen of
one OF ''the first families" If his account
of the condition of the troops near Mobile
approaches the truth, soldering in the far
South, sens bacon whisky and bread, Is
an thing but an eniyening pursuit. No
tice too, the sadly humorous way MIR.
Squiggs refers to his prospects Of receiving
pay for the hardships he andergoes:
Camp Near Mobile.
DEAR BoB-Hsre we are, as the clown
says, away down South in Dixie, ON Doc
River, Is miles south Of Mobile. You
may thank your stars, Bob, that you did
not Join us, for this is the cussedest place
ever YOU went anywhere to stay all night.
Lopesome-oh no, it amt lonesome a bit:
and as for society, it's delightful. People
don't think no more Of dying here than
you do of going on a bust. What would
You think, you was dead, if the fellows
were all to holler at you as vow went by in
your box, "Goo3 bye. Old Fel--got your
furlough, hey" Would you ike it--say |?
There's new disease broke out here
the scamp disease" they call it, The first
symptom is a horror Of gunpewder. The
patient can't abide the smell of it, but is
seized with nervous trembling in the
knees, and whiteness about the liver, and
a longing inclination to advance backward.
That's the way water serves mad dogs
Then comes what our Major calls the
home fever; and next the sufferers wife
and nine children are taken sick; after
which the poor fellow takes collapse, and
then relapse. But its mighty hard to
get discharge, or even furlough-awful
hard. Fact is you can't do it without
working the thing pretty low down.
I'll tell You what Bob, between you and
me, I'm afraid I'm taking the disease mr.
self; | don't like the report We hear from
tke coast. We hear cannon booming down
there by the hour, and they say the Yam
kess are going to play the very devil with
cur ducks. think | can detect a faint
smell of powder in the breeze, and feel q
strange desire to crawl into some hole 1t
may be the climate; but don't see how that
g should make me turn so Geld about the
hsversack every time see bayonst If
{ | only had 50 e goodspirits, now, to take
: every morning, | think | could stand it
+ very well. Please send me some immedi-
ately on receipt Of this, On. B.-M TX
the box, Drugs, care of Surgeon Cd Bait.
Ala. Yols.") Our Major is sharp as
brier, and down on brandy like a duck on
- q Junebug 1t was only last week when
be took demJohn away from an old ne
gro who had struggled it into camp-sont
d the old darkey agiphin, with flea in bis
ear, and made smash Of the brandy. If
: you'd seen some Of that you used to set
: out IN the old counting-room, | could set
both the climate and the Yankees at de-
atoe-to say nothing of their being thrse
burroughs ID every bottle That's fact
capable of demonstration, as Pete says.
lie works it out by algebra, and gets the
answer. First says he, suppose equal to
bottle brandy and Y equal to ! dram;
then il follows that is equal to 6 e.
there being six good drains to the quart.
Now it is a fact assumed and admitted that
drains skillfuliy applied, will bring one
Through therefore x--6 &c drains
8 furloughs. That's some, amt it ?-suna
eSse f1t-a sum that is a SUM.
This beats all countries, Bob, you eve
saw. The trees are as green as any Office;
and the weather is like summer; and the
frogs are all piping in the swamps most
beautifully just like spring time.
The people down here are SO used to
being baked no wondcr they took to eat
ing fire, and got us all into hot water.
They're not Ike our folks no how, especi-
ally the women. 1t is true they have the
same number of arms ard legs, but they've
lived in the pine swamps SO long they
look Ike smoked aIigators. However,
the climate agrees with me, and if we stay
down here on Dog River till next summer
hope to be as big dog as the rest.
What would you think, now, Of going
in a washing Now Years day? Lots Of
our boys done ii, Notwithstanding the all
gators are a. thick rs gnafs. Fact i, It
is SO sandy and smoky here we are obi
ged to do it. Why one Of our fellows,
after scrubbing himself aboutan hour,found
shirt he had missed abont three weeks
before, washed down to if.
Bob, you remember what devil OF
time we had last year at school learning
non tong-paw, aud parley VOC. Well,
these cussed tools down here make their
negroes learn French. saw some in Mo
bile, black as our old Josh, that could
jabber away in French like geese. IL
made me feel bad to think that | had been
to school SO much, and after all, was not
as well educated as Mobile Niger
But the thing miss most, after cigars
and whisky the women. Devil a pet
ticoat have | seen since / first landed en-