The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1863-01-07
A letter from the Militia.


manifestations" and it will be my busi-
ness now TO chronicle them as we'll as |
can. On Sunday the I'd of Nov we were
mustered into the u S. service in con.
nection with part of the Tioga men, un-
der Capt w, B. Hall of Tioga Frank. |
ling Steadman of Harrison was very sick,
unable to help himself; he was discharged
and | was detailed to take him home
Arriving in Harrison was taken sick and
detained two weeks after my furlough ex-
Epired. On getting back to Camp Curtin |
found all the Potter County men that were
Ileft in another company, under Captain Z.
IL. Horton Co B. There are but few left.
la list of whom | append to this We
had been formed into a regiment under
Colonel E. Bierer, an old volunteer Cap.
tain, the cominandant of the camp for
drafted men. was still left in Co G.,
under Capt. Hall | have kept along
with the regiment, although unable to do
any duty; and it is more than probable
THAT 1tHevar shall be! But it is useless
to complain for they will let no one 90
home now unless he is full half dead,
with a surety that he will never be good
for anything. f a...ts
found, on my return to camp, good
deal of complaint in regard to the guam
tity and quality of the rations furnished
The bread was good. but often it was
found saving of human muscles to driye
the meat to our quarters instead of carry
ing It, The hams and bacon was spoiled,
nagaty
The attempt had been made to put the
militia into the old regi ments They mu-
q tinted aud the result was the formation
of militia regiments entire. a great many
of the militia, especially the substitutes,
deserted at every opportunity and the
. provost guard from Harrisburg were
brought up to guard the camp This
came near bringing on a fight between
:. tho militia and volunteers on the 2Sth of
Nov, the day we left. Almost every day
the guard lines were chaoged and it was
hardly possible to keep track Of them.-
That day private in Co ID, Capt Hin
man, named MIrcn Kilnrr, had been
sent to the CommiSsary on an errand and
arrival Of cavalry horses, and on attempt
! ing to get a better view of them accidcn.
tally crossed one Of those new, cross
, guard lines. be was ordered to halt. aud
on turning around to sec what was want
ed, the guard deliberately drew on him
aud shot him through the leg, inAicting
a seVeIe wound, This was more chan the
militia could stand, the old grudge was
revived, and several companies armed
themselves, marched to the headquarters,
} where the guard had fed and demanded
him, he had however fed TO Harrisburg
AT this moment the order was given to
strike tents and prepare to march, which
E probably saved quite fuss IN Harrisburg
we packed up marched to the railroad,
and just at dark started for Washington
by way of Baltimore. The really bad fea-
ture of this ride was there was not ears
enough furnished; we were packed to
close some, myself among the rest, and
sick at that, being obliged to stand up
, most of the night Arrived at Baltimore
before daylight, marched through to near
the Washington Depot, and took little
rest on the side walk All through the
city, Union flags were hung out and
waved to US, and cheer upon cheer vel
coined US to her once inhospitable streets
Soon after daylight we were marched to
the Union Rerief buildings and a good
breakfast served to the whole regiment
at once. Some of US then took look at
the city until noon. Every where | was
saluted respectfully, and spoken to kindly
by all classes of citizens all seemed anx
ious to communicate any information de- |
sired, and 1 could not help contrasting
our treatment with that of the first Mas |
sachusetts troops who marched throush |
there n9
Soon after noon we took slow train
of freight cars and started for Washing
I ton. Here, for the first, we began to see !
the country and the Institution. The
land looked exceedingly poor, and the
people generally poorer The soil is 7
yellow or red clay, in many cases crop
ping out over whole fields, giving the
whole country desolate appearance. -
The country is much of it wooded al
though it has once been under cultiva.
ton. Extensive fields are thrown out to
common and grown up to weeds and oak
shrubs, after the slave has drained the
upper three inches of the soil with corn
and tobacco There were two or three
very good looking plantations, but gener-
| ally they Were niG. On the best ones
we're a few acres of wheat aud some quite
extensive corn6elds. but saw more wheat
and corn in five miles in Pennsylvania
than all through Maryland. School hou- !.
ses there were none; no barns saw
L.. 4 e Il L. /