The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1863-07-07


succeeds Lieut. Donnan in the Provost
Office. Capt. Whitney and MS company
are improving. Capt. Noble has been
sick some Of late. Lieut.. Sill is always
ready for duty and no line officer in the
regiment performs it better. P. G.
Smyser, Co. II, has been detailed as
Regimental Baker, and is doing finely.
CHI. l..
Correspondence of the Guardian.
CAMP DODGE, NEAR CoRINTH, Mss 4
June oath, 1863.
FRIEND RICH Never was there a
more trut full expression uttered by man
than the o(t.repeated one, This is an
educating war; And in no place, and
among no class Of people, can you find
this truth more thoroughly demonstrated
than in the army, and among the soldiers
and officers composing it. Here we are
at Cornth, Mississippi, raising regiments
of colored men to help crush out this in
human, wicked and causeless rebellion.
| have been told that when the first reg
iment was organized there were 800
applications for positions in the regi-
ment, and if the men who obtained po-
si;on are specimens Of tie whole, | be-
lieve they applied because their hearts
were in the work Now ! venture to
say, that if their friends had told them,
when they enlisted, that within two
years they would be seeking positions,
from Colonel down TO Orderly Sergeant's,
in negro regiment, nine out Of every
ten Of them would have felt grossly in,
su lied. Yet here we are, and here are
the coored men learning the art of war.
Now the question comes Will they
make soldiers ? | believe they will, and
for many reasons. First, they have been
taught from infancy the most important
lesson OF a soldiers life, and that is i'm
plicit, and unquestioning obedience TO
orders. You let an order come from the
Colonel Of a white regiment for The men
/ 70 fall III line at an unusual hour, when
the regiment first enters service, and you
will see the men running TO the Orderly,
TO the Captain, and even to the Colonel,
TO know what is wanted You tell a
company Of colored men 10 fall in line,
and they fall in, expecting that they will
/ fnd out what is wanted soon enough.
Obedience then we have to start upon.
The next point is can they learn? To
this will answer. The LIST Alabama
was rganized-tha is--its officers were
appointed the 10th of May last. At that
time there were, | think, three or four
full companies. and two or three parts oil
companies. AT least three companies
had not man in camp. 1t was not un-
til after the 1st OF. June that the ten com
panies were made up and commenced
drilling, and 10 day the LIST Alabama In
fantry can execute the common maneu,
vers in company and battalion drill as
well as several regiments have seen,
which have been in service for months
Their drill in the manual of arms ELECTS
praise from all who witness them, yet
they have but about 400 muskes in the
regiment. for near 900 men, and have
only had those about ten days. The
next question is are they patriotic ? |
answer, many of these men have travelled
all night and some of them for several
nights, hiding in the swamps by day, to
get inside our lines. Ask them what
they ccme for and they will tell you
81 comes to You all to fight desc var
rebels. Use heered dat Msssa Linkum
done said we might come and here is "
"Well, sir, what do you want to do? Dc
You want TO drive team % No, sir, |
don't want to drive no team, wants 10
tote de musket, and be soldier, dats
what | wants" But if you are a sol.
der the rebels will shoot you or hang
you il they catch you Well, Massa,
I'll jes tell ye, | can't die but once. Use
been slave all my life, and amt much
count, no how. Praps | can do you
some good. Use got wife and chil'ern
and wants dem to be free. I'd like To
be free wild EN- mighty well. but some S
got TO die 10 save The rest and if | can
save dem Sc satisfied" Is there pat
riotism or not ? The next question is,
will they fight? Could you see the ca.
gerness with which the black man learns
the use of his gun, how he will 20 out as
soon AS the sun is up. and work all day,
and then drill with shouts Of JOY after
dark could you hear the vim with which
he hopes he may be able TO square ac-
counts with his old rebel master; could
YOU see him as have done, after he
himself was safe inside our lines, 90 back
TWO, three, five and even ten miles to the
plantation Of his master. who had threat.
ened TO shoot him # he Joined US, to get
another child. | think no man would
pnautt,t, tI4.i, hrauar, TI., mill