The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-04-17
Erotn the Tenncssce River.

j. w. NoRms,-De0r Sir According
to promise made you before leaving Ottumwa
propose to commence what, with the kind
indulgence of yourself and readers, and with
all due allowance for the unforeseen casualties
Of soldiers life, may be long or short Sc
ries Of friendly epistles from member OF
the Iowa 18th Regiment which, in point
Of numbers, at least, the people Of your
county and section, have more interest in,
than any other in the service. You are
aware Of the fact that Capt Madison and
Lieut.. Hedrick, raised and rendered a CO.,
to Col. Reid, in October last Immediately
after going to Keokuk, Lieut.. Hedrick was
appointed Quartermastcr, and Feb lst, pro-
NOTED to Captain Of Co. X. Madison and
IIetiricll continued to recruit in Wapefio un
til leaving Keokuk, when Madison had some
100 and IIedric'l 103 MN at least $50 OF,
these men were from Wapello Co, being
perhaps double the number Of men i'm this
Regiment from our county, than in any other
in the service. Some 80 or GO of Hetfricl1's
men are from Knoxville and Keosauqua
The number and character of our men.
entitle them to the sympathes and hest
wishes ofthosc they leave behind them, even
if they were recruited without bleeding the
good people OF Ottumwa for Board Bills, re-
cruitins expenses, &C., and in the abundance
ofmy charity try to hope they have it
Nevertheless, when remember the fact that
the people through the COURIER were kind
| ~ invited last winter, to furnish our Boys
with Mttens or Gloves, (articles not sup
piled by the G,vernmentO and that they
got never pair, and that they gave Fest
walls to benefit general Hospitals that are
always we'll supplied with all needed articles
while they had nothing to spare for ar i'm.
prcvised Resimental Hospital at their own
doors, known to he almost totally destitute
of such articles, containing at one time some
| 80 or 40 Of their own citizens with that most
fatal Of all other diseases to sollier-Mea
| sizes, and from which some II men. from
the two companies only, were carried to their
last resting place brave, selfsacrifcing men
whose patr; otism and deaths as justly enti-
ties them to the grateful memory of their
| coun'rymen, as if they had fallen upon the
bloody fields of Wilson's Creek, Belmont,
Donelson or Pea Ridge; and the still further
fact that, reader of either Of the Ottumwa
papers during the past four months, would
scarcely have known that there was slch
Regiment as the 18th iowa, or that Old
Wapello had nearly two full companies Of
her brave sons in it.
say that the consideration of these facts,
has led me at times to conclude that our peo-
pie had but little sympathy for at least a
portion of their citizen soldiery, who had
sacrificed their business, torn themselves
away from their firesides. parents, brothers.
sisters, wives and children, to maintain with
their lives il necessary, An imperiled consti-
tuition ana country or, that they had no
knowledge of the existence Of such regi.
ment. Being. as said before, charitably
inclined, give their action the latter inter-
probation, and now propose to write it up,
and now gentlemen quill drivers, who have
so persistently beslobered certain other reg
iments, (whom we all feel proud of, and who
have done their duty, nothing more, moth
ing less j.. throw down the gauntlet and
believe especially in that portion of the Ser.
mon on the Mount, CT believe it is there, If
not it should be, as it is true) blessed is he
that bloweth his own tin trumpet, for if he
bloweth it rot II shall not be blown" or in
the classical language Of Shakespeare, ! say,
"Lay on McDua and dsm'd be he who first cries
hold, enough"
And now, If the bloody 18th, sometimes
"sarcastcally" called the "thirsty 18TH" is
not written into notoriety and fame, it viii
be because your humble servant has signal
ly failed in what the kind Partially of his
friends have generally conceded to be his
speciality or "forte," as A Ward has it.
But seriously speaking, the Iowa 18th is
splendid Regiment, Our Col, Hugh T.
Reid, is one of the most practical and ener-
getic men in the Estate. Coming to Iowa at
an early day, poor man, be has first, as an
able Lawyer, then later, an extensive and
successful dealer in real estate, and as May
or OF the City Of Keokuk, and still later as
President Of the Keokuk TT. d. NJ. & NJ. X.
r, pushing that work from Ottumwa to
Eddyville mainly during the hardest of the
hard times, and finally in his success in
raising such regiment and getting it into
the field, SO finely armed and equipped, has
shown himself to be man Of sufficient mind
and resources, to make an excellent and ef-
ficient officer.
Lieut. Col. Dewey is resident Of Sidney,
Fremont Co, graduate Of West Point; a
strict disciplinariap and every way qualified
to fill with h,nor and success, the position
he holds in the regiment. might add that
he has figured prominently and successfully
in politics, having been in the Legislature
from the Missouri Slope.
Major Belknap was prominent Lawyer
in Keokuk, Captain, at the time Of his ap
pontment, Of the City Rifles, "a crack mill
tary company at Keoknk, that has managed
to furnish more Generals, Colonels, Field
and Staff officers for the service, out Of Q
fewer No. Of mon, than any other organiza
ton in the country. the famous Chicago Zou
ayes hardly excepted. The Maj. is popular
/