Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-03-26
FROM THE CAVALRY.
CAMP NEAR EVANSVILLE, VA.
March l6, 1868.

in the position of our regt., and some loss
es have been met with. The more i'm
portant of these the papers have doubt
less appriscd you Of Indeed it is of
little use in this age of lightning to at
tempt to communicate anything of much
Importance through the medium of letters
and the mails, expecting to have such
news fresh when its destination is reached.
The kilograms get ahead.
Probably you have been apprised of
the loss by drowning of Lieut.. Pixley, of
Co. B, privates Rush of Co. D, and Ru-
fus Bean, of Co. |. That was some time
ago. And so was the loss of our pickets,
of which we lost several men, they were
taken prisoners. After the capture of
Cauts. Huntoon and Woodward, with
their squad, and the excitement Of that
time, the line of pickets was changed so
as to leave the Draninsville post and its
pickets far less exposed to the attacks of
wandering bands of rebel Cavalry. The
force at this post, too, was strengthened.
The greater part of our rcgt,, which pre-
viously had been scattered over dozen,
Or less points, was ordered here; so now
the Vt. Cavalry is nearly all together.
The headq uarters of the regt. still re-
main near F. Scott, in the Immediate
vicinity of Washington, where they have
been since the first of October, but only
a small portion of the officers and men
are there, mostly those who are unwell or
detailed in care of the sick. With slight
exceptions the remainder are here. This
makes it more pleasant than to be SO d.
vded up as we were earlier in the win
ter, and indeed until quite recently.
The health of the regt is good, better
than at any previous time during the
last six months There are few cases of
serious sickness here, although some are
troubled with severe colds occasionally,
and sometimes the boys gets exhausted by
hard duty. Our quarters are comfortable
except for the mud, which is a necessity
everywhere in this State The horses
suffer most from this evil. Obliged to
90 miles over worse roads than Vermont
ever dreamed of, sometimes, perhaps,
ridden at the top of their speed with
heavy load to carry, they get literally
covered with mud and then, it may be-
are obliged to stand twenty -four hours ex-
posed to the driving storm, half knee
deep in the poach, and quite likely with
out mouthful to cat, or, at most, with
only a feed of grain, and to conclude
the days work are ridden back again to
camp. And here the comforts are not
much greater. To be sure most of the
horses are kept out of the mud, for the
boys have cut logs and split them into
rough planks to make kind of floor for
the horses to stand upon, but lumber is
not plenty enough to make sheds for them,
even if the prospect of our remaining here
was strong enough to warrant the labor
Hay cannot be brought from Georgetown,
where we get our supplies, and we are
obliged to depend upon the farmers in the
vicinity for that article. Of course the
supply is uncertain, especially if a storm
C ines on and makes the roads worse than
usual, Grain we usually get in sufficient
quantities, but sometimes even that gives
out, and then woe to the horses if the hay
is wanting at the same time. Is it won
der that horses seldom last more than
year in this service, usually not that?
Our chief duty here is picketing,
though sometimes detachment is detail
ed to 60 on a scout. Every second or
third night the men have to 60 out on
picket But this serves to relieve the
monotony of our life. There are always
rumors enough of a force of rebels
in our vicinity to make the "harking" in
teresting. For instance, it is to-day re-
ported that strong force is within fif-
teen miles of us threatening our line of
pickets. But that will pass off as others
have, and leave us undisturbed.
And so will leave you again for a
time. MARcKs.
ACcInpNT IN NFwpOpT A man am