The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1863-02-03
HEAD QUARTERS 9th Iowa VoL's J

HEAD QUARTERS 9th Iowa VoL's.)
Camp Reed, jackson, Tenn, Jan %. '63{
FRIEND RICu While al Memnhis. 7
promised that on my return to the regi.
ment, | would send to you for publlca
ton, list Of the absentees of this regi.
men, and The places of their present stay
But shall have TO beg you 10 excuse
me from that task, as our reports show
that there are now absent from The repi-
ment 1872 men. This list would be a
great bore 10 you, and uninteresing to
most Of your readers. Ny visit to Mem
phis resulted in the return to the regi,
ment Of fiiy-fve men out of two hun
dred and forty seven absent. 1t also re.
suited in my returning with great dis,
gust at Tie management OF affairs in
Mem 2Lis. Though Gen. Grant was
there with all his statl. add everything IN
full blast, none of the subordinate officers
seemed 10 know what he had a right to
DO or how to do ii. The only way
succeeded in getting through, was, by
writing out orders aud signing them and
delivering them 10 the men in command,
with as much non chuiance as though
was Gen, Grant Or some other man high
in au hority. They almost all answered
that they did not know whether they bad
authority IN the matter or not, but would
sign The order for what it was worth.
Then the next man did not know whe;h-
or il was right or not, but he would run
the risk
The factis, we all went into this war
green as squash In June, and men get
put into position without knowing what
t. do. Instead of trying TO iaform them.
selves as to what they have a right to do,
by reading the laws and orders of the
War Department, they so it blind. Thus
are our sick neglected, the absences
from the army are left away, and a vast
amount Of decentralization ensues. do
not write this by way OF fault finding
with the general management Of The ar
my, but Chat men frequently get into
places Of command who are ignorant Of
their duties and won't learn. These
men, also, aware of their ignorance, are
corresponding, Iy insolent This makes
it very unpleasant for one 10 do business
with them. But when you once come
across man who knows his duty, ii is
quite relief to do business with him.
Such man | found in Brig. Gen.
Vealch. commandant of the district Of
Memphis.
Lieut.. Donnan has returned to his
company. Lieut.. Ilemenway | left in
Memphis 10 look after the sick, until
they could be got into hospitals. | found
in the Ovenon Hospital some of our
men. This hospital. as also the Jefter
son Block Hospital. is kept in fine con.
dition. | saw several Of the Sisters OF
Charity in each of these, and was inform.
ed by the inmates that they were great
God send to the sick soldiers. The eth
is now ~ the "a Brigade, command Of
Col. Durham, of the 5Jrh Ind, in the
division oil Gen Sullivan, who com
mands the district Of Jackson, Tenn.
We have had very severe storm here
1t commenced on the night Of the 18Th
inst, and lasted three days, during which
We had great deal of rain and about
four inches Of snow. This lasted until
now, but warm rain that We had last
night, took it nearly off Our regiment
is eucamped in The woods, where they
were comparatively projected from tho