Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-11-05

4 on; week has passed, and tue boys seen
settled lor life. just before tattoo, soml
night, down comes AN order to march a
five in the morning. A line, driZSling rRiE
has set 10 u thick blanket of fog has beer
snugly tucked around the camp; the fire!
look large aud red and cheerful; the boys
are Just ready "tO turn IL" when down
comes the order. Nothing is as yon would
think i. no complaints, no murmurings, nc
watching the night out. They are not tC
be cheated out of their sleep-nOt they II
takes your green recruits to do that; every
bundle of blanket has sleeping soldier
in it; every kuapsRck has q drOwsy head
on it. Al three the roll of a drum strag.
giles through the gloom; the camp is awake
tents are struck, knapsacks packed, bag.
gage wagons lONded, mules untaugled -
Soldiers have nOtiOus, and among them is
the destruction OF their improvements; =
the bower house crackles like q volley ol
musketry, the cedar ricoliages are in flames,
the stools and tshlesAFe glowing Goals, and
it they don,t fiddle, US Nero did, when
their Rome is ,hnrning-and as much Of a
Romcr 100, as that was in tt.e time of the
LqPiRns sbroth efs7-at least they eat. A SOL
die sacItngs sien . IE.sh1ts5Snen ne has
their little tirea in the thick aud turbid
morning. the ehink of the baygnGt beIOkens
the coffee to come; the snutty kettles
bubble with the Arabic deCOcIiOn, as black
as the tents of the Sheik who threw dust
on the beard of his father unhappy pork
szzles from ramrods, aud the boys take
breakfast.
Some wise man proposed in Congress,
you remember, the substitution OF tea for
coffee in the army, and told the people
that the soldiers would welcome the
chaugel A tolerably fair specimen OF
theoretical, stay-at home wisdom, but not
worth a Sabbath days journey OF the
Queen of Sheha to look at. Why, coffee
is their true aqua VitSs; their sOIace and
mainstay. When q boy cannot drink his
coffee, you may be sure he has done drink
ing altogether. On march, no sooner is
a halt ordered, than little fires begin to
twinkle along the liue; they make coffee
in five minutes, drink it in three, take q
drill at hard cracker, and are refreshed.
Our comrades from "der Rhine" will squat
phlegmatiCaIly anywhere, even in line OF
battle. No sooner has the storm swept to
some other part of the field. than the ket.
Ties begin TO boil, aud amid stray bullets
aud shattered shell, they take great swal.
lows of heart and coffee together. 1t is
Rhine wine, the soul of Gambrinus, "SWit-
zer' and "Limberg" in one.
But it is five o'clock, and dingy morn
ing; the regiments march away in good
cheer; the army wagons go streaming
and swearing after them the beat OF the
drum grows fainter, the last straggler is
out of sight; the canvas city has vanished
like a vision. On such a morning and
amid such a scene have lOiIered till it
seemed as it busy city had passed out
of sight, leaving nothing behind for all
A. I.E Il ISa.l,N a
Will you wonder mush il | tell you that |
have watched such u vanishing with a
paug OF regret; that the trampied field
looked dim TO me, worn smooth aud beau
tiful by the touch OF those brave feet
whose owners have tIod upon thOrns with |
Oe-fsStJ-S1tass-=gbaS AhAE=sbAalI
never agaiu In all this'coming and going
Sofld make music upon the old thresh-
holdsI And how many such sites of per.
isheh cities this war has made, how many
bonds of good fellowship have been rent
to he united no more
AT home anywhere, wrote, and might
we'll have added, aud used to anything, the
boys are. You would wonder, think, to
see men lie right down in the dusty road,
under the full noon sun of Tennessee and
Alabama, and fall asleep in a minute.
have passed hundreds OF such sleepers,-
A dry spot is as good mattress; tue flap
OF Il blanket quite IL downy pillow. You
would wonder, think, to see a whole army
corps, as | have, without shred Of u tent
TO bless themselves witt, lying anywhere
aud everywhere in all night rain and not
grOwl nor grumble. | was curious TO
see whether the pluck and good nature
were washed out of them, and so made
my way out Of the snug, dry quarters am
ashamed to say occupied, At fve in the
morning, to see what water had done with
them. Nothing Each soaked blanket
hatched out MS jolly fellow as you would
wish to see-nuddy, dripping, half hOun-
dered, forth they came. wriugiug them
selves out as they went, with the look Of
troop OF "wct down" rOosters 10 y full
rain storm, plumage Mt half mast, but
hearts trumps every time. If they swore
and some did-it was with a laugh the
sleepy fires were stirred up; then came
the-cOfTee and they were as good as new.
"BloOd is thicker than water" l cOuld
never tire of telling you how like iron
wrought irOn-men can get to be, and half
the sympathy had corked aud labeled for
the hardships of soldiers eyaporated when
| came TO see how like rugged OnkS they
tougheued into knots under them. True,
there is another light to the picture. The
| regiment twelve hundred strong now stacks
five hundred muskets. Bullets did not do
it, as you would think, but just the terrible
sitting process; the regiment is screened
like grain; the sturdiest manhood alone
remains. Writing OF downy pillows, l
noticed, on that rainy morning, that one OF
the boys did not hug mother earth as
closely as the rest; his head was we'll up,
and when he shook himself and whisked
off the blanket he had lain upon, saw his
pillow, and no duck ever dressed in such
such plumRge; 1t WAS q little triangular
piece of iron, the fragment of some bit oi
machinery, through which were thrust
three iron rods some six inches 10 length
1t was this queer tripod of pillow, thea
"a corner of blanket, then IA pouring rain,
and then a good hearty all night sleep
Never mind that feather the wrong way ia