Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1863-05-23
The Peninsular Campaign in Virginia.
(MARcH-JuLY, 1863
BY THE PRINCE DE JOINVILLE.

VI.
All these works were make with admirable
energy and Intelligence. In this respect, the
American soldier is unrivalcd. He is patient
of fatigue full Of resources, Il good digger, an
excellent wondcuttrr Il good carpenter, and
even something of civil engineer. 1t sever
al times happened IN the course of the cam
pagn that we came upon tiour-mill ora saw
mill, turn~d by waterwhccl or a steam en-
ginr. which the enemy in retr,ntin". had put
ont of order. In the first regiment that came
up, men were at once found who Were able TO
repair and retit them, and set them goin"
again for the use of the army. But the most
remarkable. thing of all was to see a detail of
men set TO work to make al, abattis in the
the woods 1t is impossible to imagine the
crlcrtv with which this work WAS accom-
pIishcd | remember to have seen ninety
eight acres Of venerable oaks and other hard
wood trees cut down in single day by sin
glc battalion. But all this work was not done
without great fatigue, both physical and moral,
resulting from constant activity unde: an in
ccsS,nt Gre
In these vast, patlirss woods where there
is constant danger of unexpected attacks, the
advance guard cannot he thrown far forward,
for fear of their being surprised and carried
off by the enrinv. A line Of pickrts, as it is
called in Amerca-an M inierunted line OF
sen'in"ls, supported by Strong reserves, and
which never move TAR from the corps TO which
they belong. The two armies were near,
and 50 careful not to yield an inch Of ground.
and their pickets were within call of each
other. Generally, they Were on very good
terms and contcnted Themselves with watch
in" each other. Sometimes friendly commit
ncaions to1l, place between them: they
traded in many small articles, and cxcl,anred
the Richmond papers for til" New York Her-
aH. 1t even happened one day that soma
Federal officers were invited by their conftd-
crate comrades to go to a ball in Richmond;
on condition, however, that they would allow
their eyes to he handagrd in going and re-
turning But asin"le chance shot was rnongh
suddenly to interrupt thcs" good relations ;
whrreupon they fired at each other for quar-
ter of an hour, and killed or wounded about a
hundred men before quiet was restored.
At other times the troo,s were surprised in
their camps bv shower of shells, coming they
know not whence over the heads of the pick
rts-a rather disagrrcahlr awakener. when
this happened in the night. If it took place
in the day. time, the men climbed to the toy, of
high tree to sce where the shots come from
The smoke indicated III" place. and sometimes
also n confederate soldier was seen perchrd
in the top of tall forest tree, and thence d.
ractng the fire of the gnnncrs. The Federals
Immediately replied. and particularly tried to
bring down the aerial artil"rvman. These
isolated provocatons. whether they consisted
in picket-iiring or long-range shojlinp. dit
turhrd very little any one but the troops i'm
mediaicly exposed for they were constantly
occurring. and one gets accustomed to any
thing. But sometimes cannon and musketry
mingled their roar witla violence that nobody
could mistake, which made the men spring to
arms and the e.nff officers. leap on their horses.
The enemy was making a demonstration in
force and we wer" replying. Would battle
grow ont of it! This consent uncertainty was
singularv fa'iguing. Bnt the battle did not
come. The Son'hrrn generals were no more
anxious than the Northern generals to engage
ppmaturely in general action. They had
| their projects and waited for them to ma
ture Every day brought them reinforce.
,nents. and they were expecting more. The
whole force of the sspbellon was soon to BE-
united around Richmond. Meanwhile, sick
ness was making great ravages among the
weary sonliers of the Federal army. Thee
treme heat. together with the marshy cxhala-
tons. bred fevers, which almost Immediately
assumed typhoid character. Divisions al
ready weakened by the fire of the enemy, had
about two thousand sick. A system of tenn
porary and irregular leaves of absence. which
had grown Up in the army also helped to re-
duce its force. Many colonels assumed the
right to grant leaves of absence for several
dsvs to soldiers who returned no more. 1t is
right, however, to say that in this difficult po-
sition General Mcclellan had received some
rrinforcempri,ts. One of his old divisions, that
of Mccall. had been restored to him. Beside,
Fortress Monroe having at last been put un-
der his command, he had drawn from thence
five or six thousand men. This was some
thing, but it was ton little, much too little. to
fiji tie daily increasing gaps in the ranks.
| These days, passed in inaction, had the ad-