Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-02-26
OUR ARMY CORRESPONDENCE.
From the 81 Wisconsin.

QHceQ-F oar hundred FOLutiteefs lett w hu
the Third has been doing Of late-Errrors o,
the Core-The "lfen Of the Big Bounty Epoch
furnish the Deserters-The Army disguised
a0ith Northern Crackers.
Correspondence of the State Journal
CAMP OF Sd REGIMENT WISCONSIN YoLuyTEEgs,
Near Stafford Court House, Va, Feb. II, 1862. !
The Third Wisconsin still lives; that is
to say. if being cast away in an ocean d
mud-not the rich dark mould OF prairie
land, reekipg with agricultural wealth
and life-giying fertility, but the barren
sposh from which the leech Of slavery has
drained whatsoever is favorable to the
growth Of vegetable thipgs-if this car
be called living without any indecent
stretch of significance, then We still live
A parcel learned geologist might CLASH.
f7 US with the fossil remains of another
stratum, ard claim US as evidence of al
earlier order of beings but with some
slight mental and physical reservations
we persistently claim to still live. By
dint of six mule teams and an incessant
semi raft navigation of corduroy roads
ali afoat like the affairs of the nation
we manage to subsist; and with little
help from the papers and other works OF
fiction, more amusing and less mischevious
than the general run of war news, our
consciousness doesn't struggle very far in
rear of the.great {" column en- route of the
present race and age.
Our regimental existence is qualified by
another consideration. We have now to-
gether about two-ffths of the bodies and
souls that went originally to the making
up of our corps. On paper we number
GA at this writing. Four hundred pres
ent, all told, is our fighting weight. For
the remainder, call the rolls of hospital or
peer into the faces Of mud cased teams
tiers, wagoners, etc. OF all ranks-thin--
ming visitations, detached service" is
one that comes oftenest and always goes
off with booty. Something over 1876 have
been discharged during the past year for
disability, some so have died of diseases,
in battle and of wounds, and to complete
the depletion, the War Department last
fall let loose among Us cormorant gang
of recruiting officers of the regular army,
who in short metre wiped ont So names
from our master rolls and would have
gobbled up the " balance " had not their
merciless game been stopped.
But the few that are left are, as | said,
every ounce fighting weight-the nerve
that privation and peril has made steady
and strong-the muscle that Tugs without
murmur the great. shoulder CALLING KNAPP
sack, one days rations in belly, three in
haversack, the double supply of cartridges
which plods cheerfully through mud
that has neither bottom nor end; marches
when need be on half ratlons and under
double burdens; the enduring frame that
sleeps in mud, rain and cold stands the
life-wearing picket night and day in
weather that is a nasty conglomeration of
all climes and seasons; and so we say
with honest, veteran pride that the gaunt-
framed Old Third Unconstitutional and
spare as an Arab-still lives!
The 18th Army Corps, to which we be-.
long, and which, while commanded by
Banks made for him his military fame,
was after the battle of Antietam turned
into the Army of the Potomac as a corps
of all work, so to speak. When the Grand
Army left the Upper Potomac we were
left behind and put to the task of fortify-
ing Harper's Ferry, defending Maryland,
and standing all the picket and camp d.
arrh9a that mortals could endure. No
sooner had the corps felled the trees of
hundreds of acres, dotted the heights of
Loudoun and Maryland with forts, and
linked them together with long lines of
breastworks, and built their rude shan
ties for shelter, than orders to join Burn
side started Us from thepost made impreg-
nable by our toll. Pushing down nearly
to Burnside, the repulse at Fredericksburg
changed the plan; We were about faced
and went back to "cover Washington"
Stuart's Cavalry lurking around US, and
dartlng, through our lines kept US as good
as under arms most of the time, till
the last movement was projected, then
we were ordered to join the main army
once more. The march from Fairfax was
made in rainy weather-the other corps
here sunk fast in the mud and we came
wallowing down only to sink beside them
and here we remain san statu quo," which
being interpreted means stuck in the mud.
Our condition is the most active OF all in
activities, as any home grumbler can find
by taking his post IN quagmire and at
tempting to maintain his level.
All this is hard enough to bear. 1t is
weary waiting to the soldier as we'll as the
country. The constant vigilance required
when before the enemy renders inaction
anything bat idleness. The chronic aspect
of the war is painful enough to him wh5
sees the future sprinkled with blood and
dotted with graves, and feels that 10 any
battle fields are between him and his
home. This is dispiriting enough, but the
hue and cry of the press, proclaimine
through the land that the Arnay Of the Po
t0alaac as denoraIised, lnsu6o7dinate ana
disatected, this is the bitterest pill of all
Branded day by day as great immobile
mass of Incidence that ought to be broken
up AMI scattered, the Army has grown
heart-sick, and it may truly be said that
the press is responsible for all the despond
ency the Army feels. The press has crea.
ted it, and nursed it.
True, the Army felt Indignant when Nc.
Clellan was snatched from them. in an
hour when they were all confidence in
him and victory. They bore it as the sol
der should. Their hearts swelled with
indignant sorrow at the carnage at Fred
ericksburg. so fearful and useless. Bu
they have been shametully misrepresented
they are sound to the core. The ole
troops are full of the old fire. The hired
men of the big bounty epoch are little
sick of it. and furnish the deserters, bu
they will come to the scratch when they
get tough. The old regiments can be de
pended on in all emergencies. They ex
pect TO remain in service to the LAST da,