The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1863-02-18
Army Correspondence.

DEAR Es:-Again I am permitted to
drop you line to remind you and ou,
friends that a portion Of the 9th Iowa arr
still in the land Of the rebels, but not much
on praying grounds-unless it be prayers
for a termination Of the war. think l
can safely say that if the wishes Of the
9th were answered, there would be peace
before to morrow morning. This thing of
"spiling for fight" has played out some
time since. Still if help should be needed,
we are on hand.
Everything around us here seems quiet !;
there does not seem to be any danger Of
trouble Our forage trains 60 out nearly
every day and brings in corn, fodder, and
other things which they stand in need Of.
We have had no attacks Of pickets, nor
even false alarms, since we came to this
camp. Our business has been guard duty
and foraging; this, taken With the rain and
snow storms, has kept US in state Of con.
stant activity. have been out twice in
the last week. 1t is quite job this mud.
dy, wet, weather. We 60 from five to
twelve miles out on the different roads, and
take from 30 to 100 teams and an escort
Of from leo to 800 men, drive out, hunt
up corn, &C., load up and return. This
takes sometimes all day and good share
Of the night, but generally the men prefer
it to camp duties. We get an opportunity
to See the country and breathe the pure air.
The country around this is better than
the part we Travelled through on our way
to the Tennessee river, being more level
and better improved. Still there seems to
be want of energy in the people; i'm.
provements are very poor; houses ate
mostly Of wood, and very ancient look
about them the negro huts are log cabins
halt decayed. with moss grown over the
roofs of many Of them. The fences appear
to Dc the only thing that has received any
attention, and some Of them seem to have
been sadly neglected. You would natural
'y suppose, to glance at the country, that
the men had all been absent and the women
attended the farms. There are some ap
pie orchards, but thy seem to be sadly
n"g;ectcd-everything has an old decayins
appearance. Still, the inhab,tan's must
have been bus'ly engaged the past summer,
for their cribs are well filled, and their
stores are abundant. They seem we'll clad
in home->pun, dyed with butternut bark !;
,his seems to be their favvrite color-sol.
Iicrs and citizens wear it.
January 3oth, 1868.
Several days have passed since COM
mence'i writing this letter. Guard duty,
camp duty, and some other little matters,
too numerous to mention, have occupied
attention to the exclusion Of letter writing.
In fact. there is so little of news here that
| fear what do write will be so fiat that
it will be a bore. One thing can say, that
for the last week or two our camp has had
feast Of rumor. One day the cabinet and
army officers on the Potomac are at sword :
points; the next day, Father Abraham
had taken command in person AGAIN
that Maj Gen. Hooker was in command
and would move toward again on Richmond
All these and a thousand other rumor>
keep us thinking, and for want Of reading
matter it is no wonder that we come to diff
ferent conclusions from those who are post
ell every day, and I hope We will not be
too critically dealt with if we should vary
from the folks at home. Now, when say
to you that there is great deal Of dssat
isfaction in the army in relation TO the
management Of the war, both 10y the cabi
net at Washington, and Generals high ir
command, say only the thoughts of a
large portion of the army Of the south and
west. Indeed, there is general diSsa,is
isfac,ion, and there only wants an oppor
tunity to develop it. The causes for this
dissatisfaction is apparent to any one wht
has watched the movements for the las
year, and will venture to say that ha'
matters stood as they do now, six month:
since, the large army would not exist to
day. Messrs. Editors, some Of the latt
acts of the admins ration have caused tn
patriotism Of many good man to gradu
ally ooze out, and they are only in tn
army now because they cannot ges out 0
it honorably.
We are still encamped near jackson
Tenn, but how long we will remain, can
not say, but Judging from appearances an
what few items q. can pick up, it will nc
be long. Preparations are going on whic
look like the evacuation Of jackson. Fo
. instance, commanding officers are movin
all the ordnance stores to Memphis. Ma
, chinery for repairs Of all kinds, are on tn
move. The cotton used for works Of de
J fence has all been removed, and is bein
shipped as fast as transportation can b
procured. Troops are also on the move
mostly in the direction Of Memphis. Their
has been some talk Of the evacuation Of tn
railroad from Columbus to Corinth, an
supplying Corinth by way of Memphis
. This move would save the use Of a gres
i number Of men now employed guardin
this road, and am Of the opinion that "
> will not have men to spare, should We agai
}. attempt to take Vicksburg. Rebel ctizer
$ here feel confident that our army will nev'
take the latter place. They feel certain
the maintainen nee Of their confederacy.-
Our late reveses have given them new !f
y and TINY will fight frcm this with desper
j ton.
y The weather is now a little cool, b,