The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-04-30
Army Corresp ondence.


Army Corresp ondence.
"For the coprler.n
Camp 9Th lows, Crockers Brigade,
n cArthur's Division, 8 miles below
Lake Providence Louisiana,
April IL, 1868.
s For the information of
the public, and those having friends in the
18th Iowa, I propose to improve this even
by writing you letter, giving you some &C.
count Of the condition of affairs here gener-
ally. AZ rs -
Your readers are better informed Of the
condition below here, than we are, from the
simple fact that you get the Northern pa
pers before we do, and it is from this
source that we derive all our information
from below and in fact from abo We. ~
Ipresume that it is generally known,
that after Canafiing nearly month before
Vicksburg, our division came up here ITO
dig another Canal" That nearly a month
since the water was let in, and that it has
been pouring through the cut in the levee,
into the the Canal, thence into the Lake,
and beyond, with q volume equal to, and a
velocity much greater, than the Des NJ Dimes
on Rampage" at high water arh,
flooding the entire country, compelling our
division to "vamose" and to seek encamp-
ments here and there, whenever we could
find enough dry ground to encamp Que
brigade or regiment in place. The dam
age to this country and the destruction Of
Plantations, personal property
&c. is incalculable, and ten times greater
than vicksburg is worth in the "opinion of
the Court" e sF@f1a @
The destruction Of property and the
"grief'' it will cause "Mr. Seeesh" in total
ly destroying the very finest productive
portion of the confederacy, is about all that
may be expected from the canals, past, pres
ent, and prospective. dug, digging, and to
be dug, in this country under the inspira-
ton of the immortal hero of Belmont, Dom
elson and Shiloh. @ fs
81 Of the recent military movements in this
department, of the totally unnecessary and
demoralzing retrograde movements Of
Grants army from Abbeyville, in Decem-
Der, flushed,with victory and sanguine of sue
cess, pursuing fleeing and d,sheartsned
enemy, on the highroad and only prActi.
cal road, and the road we have yet to take
before Vicksburg falls, In my humble opin-
ion--of the wretched policy: that sent tina,
immense army Of Infantry, Cavalry and
artillery, to perish aboard crowded tr ans.
ports, with hardly suffi cient dry land in the
country to camp on, much less to- hand
vancouver, and render effective so, 900 men
with all these blunders, not to say crimes
and more too, staring me in the face, I
confess sir, that cannot speak of the res.
pons:ble authors, and the "powers that be-
here, with that respect, and Difference due a
superior from an inferior, hence will
"switeh off" from this subject by addin.
that it is the deliberate opinion OF all the
sensible men here, that had our army went
ahead while at Abbeyville, that VIC would
have been able to cut of all reintorcements
going to vicksburg, wintered in jackson,
approached Vicksburg at our leisure, regu-
larry investingit it, with our feet in front,
compelling them to come out and fight us
on our own ground, or what is more than
probable sarrendering to Us "bag and bag
gage" from mere starvation, long ago.
But you say it is easy enough to see
these things after it is too late, but an
swer, nearly every man with sense enough
to command CorporaPs guard, who had
grown old enough to regard with supreme
all these profoundly incompre-
hensible military movements-in rotation
Of all the rules Of common sense-called
it at the time and openly de.
nounced it. Had that course been pursued !,
Vicksbnrg would have been taken long ago,
with comparatively little loss, less men than
we have lost and win loose, from disease
by the delay, the service.wou have been
saved the disgrace Of the failure Of an inf.
mite number Of attempts to dig them out of
bayou and canal schemes without number,
undertaken at the suggestion Of new fedg.
ID scientific engineers. who have not CON-
non sense enough generally to take them
in ont Of the rain, and who would starve to
death, before learning how to dig mess of
Potatoes, if their camp was pitched in q
potatoe pat,h. lN s. ss s
l have held these opinions from the start,
IS you well know. have however re-
served the right to take ell I have said in
regard to the matter back, provided we do
take vicksburg one of these
days by "canawr' 'sbayou" ''cut OFF, or
some similar means Of modern warfare,
known only to Generals wonderfully and
versed in strategy" In the
mean time | very respectfully beg leave to
doubt. @ gs atS,e "a aoass 81
Adjutant Genl. L. Thomas visited Us
few days since and made as speech, an.
nouncing the policy of the, Government in
regard to the everlasting negro, Our diyi-s
sion consisting of brigsdes of 4 regiments
each, with severalsbatteries, cavalry, &C.,
making force little short of ten thousand
men. WAS .sclosed in Ynass ,, hefora Gepl