Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-03-19
VIRGINIA SCENERY, sc.

CAMP NEAR WoLF's FORD, March 8. !.
Cousin George Il received yours Of
March LIST, and have now found an OPP
porunity of answeringi it. My health is
not as good as when / wrote to you last,
as it is harder business to get over the
measles in camp than at home. but then
there is no other way but to grin and bear
it. You wanted me to give you des-
cription of the country and also our way
of managing business in camp. This may
be interesting to you, so / will ondeavor
to the best of my ability to give you as
clear description as possible. What l
have seen of Virginia, it is not as noun
famous country as Vermont. The soil
generally is very free from stone, and re-
sembles brick dust. 1t is of such ma
ture that when wet it becomes Ito use
homely phrase) pudding. When dry it
becomes as hard as a stone. Many in
Vermont suppose, at least did before l
came down here, that there were very few
forests in Virginia. Not so, for l should
think there were nearly if not quite as
much uncultivated land in Virginia COW
cred with forests as in Vermont. The
houses and out-buildings in the South, Il
speak as far as | have seen,) are built on
a far cheaper plan than at the North. l
suppose there is no need of building them
as warm as at the North, because the eli
mate is not as severe, and it is only nee
essary to throw up something to keep
them out of the sun. But Virginia is
spoilu for one generation at least. You
can hardly find an acre of ground in the
vicinity or surrounding country, but what
has been desolated by either rebel or
Union soldiers. Fences all carried away
to build camp fires; houses torn down, in
fact everything looks dreary. But for all
this the lay Of the land in some parts, is
very pleasantly situated.
AS we took the turnpike from Fairfax
to Centerville, (this was some time ago)
we assembled a rise of land on which Cen
terville is situated, and there the most
beautiful country that I ever saw, met my
view and for time my mind was occupied
with the thoughts, that such a beautiful
country, possessed of such immense privi-
leges for agriculture and commerce. for
railroads and manufactures, should be
ruined by bloody and desolating war.
Virginia is now but one immense camp
field. Upon her soil two great contend
ing armies stand craving for each others
blood. A war which was caused and is
prosecuted in my opinion by abolition
fanatics of the North, aided by fre-eating
men of the South.
l will now give you a short history of
a day in camp The first thing in the
morning is roll-call. We have to get up
and appear on the company ground to an
swer to our names by the beat of the
drum or the sound of the bugle. After
roll-call we have breakfast, then the bugle
sounds the surgeons call, and all sick
ones that wish to get excused from duty
must 60 to the surgeon and be examined,
get a prescription &C., &c. Then we have
police duty, that is to clean up our streets
and tents. In the afternoon we have bat
talon drill from one to three; at five
dress parade; at half-psst eight the roll
is again called, and at nine the bugle
sounds and all lights must then be extin-
guished, snd the camps must then be still.
These are our duties during the day with
few exceptions, such as fatigue duty and
once in 50 often we have to 60 on picket
To-day has been quite an excitable
time in camp. Last night three hundred
rebel cavalry made a raid on Fairfax
Court House, and took everything that
was worth taking, besides taking Gen.
stoughtOn out of his bed and lugged him
off as prisoner. They took the brigade
band prisoners, 50 that it mas left the
brigade without a Gen. or band. One
of the members of Co. E was taken with
the band, Warren Seaver, l think, o.
!tStowe, at least such is the reports to-day
do not know how much of it will prove
true. But / must close by asking you t.
| xg,sto aoo, V1...o Al.