Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-12-15
A Soldiers Letter.--No. As.
SECOND VERMONT REGIMENT,
November 20, 1868.

November ~, 1868.
I EDITOR FREEMAN This quiet sabbath morn
ing while the good people Of Vermont are at
tending their accustomed places Of worship
we, here in the army, are engaged IN manner
widely different. Our regiment il on picket to
day, close up to the enemy, and picket firing IL
going on nearly all the time. have seated
myself by our little fire on the support, and as
II will be several bours before my turn will
come to 90 on post perhaps | shall have no bet
ter time to acquaint you with our proceedings
Tor the last week or so than the present
We are IN what am told is called here, the
Owls Wilderness, and certainly 1t would be
bard to conceive OF n name more appropriate
ltappears to be one uninterrupted wilderness,
extending fifteen or twenty miles either way
without any other inha itants than owls, buz-
cards. and such like animals. There may be-
once in while, small clearing with log house
in the center, and high fence all around it, aud
With some signs Of the land having be-. II cult
waited in modern times, but these places have
:trayed away 50 far from all civilization thai it
will be hardly worth while to take them into
account, The land where we are now, is covered
with small second-growth pine, and looks as if
t had been under cultivation once, but probably
worn out and abandoned for more fertile regions.
Part Of the woods that we have been through
is grown up to oak and other solid timber Of all
sizes, and has probably been forest from
time immortal The land Is level, and has the
appearance Of bcns good soil, aud if am any
Judge should cali it just such land as would
tempt the eyes Of almost ans practical farmer,
if 1t was up in our Northern tates, instead Of
being here in declyed Virginia.
As to the latitude and longitude Of our pres
ent whereabouts, the man in the moon could
tell rs y II az we. W. have marched principal
ly N the night, and 10 all directions, 50 it has
destroyed all our calculations as to distance and
directions, and al we can say about the matter
is that We. have crossed the R4pid4n and are still
On tLe rebel side Of tie river. IL is cheering
to beable, under such circumstances % put con
tide1ce 10 others, for we should be in o woiul
plight if We were obliged to ae! upon our geo.
graphical knowledge az the pre.eo, time. The
sun rises in the s0uthwegt, ana n0icod that the
needle Of she comIass points almost exactly the
wrong way. II anybody vas going to desert
just now, | should by poor guide to direct
their aIsht.
One week ago to day We had divine services in
our regiment, held By Mr Chandler, Aom Brat
tleboEo. As We have no ulaF.am Of our own,
and consequently very uoasrc religious prigi-
leges Of any kind, j! Nas quit arauiy to hear
any one preach He'll connected with the Chris
tian Commission, and IN anticipation OF battle,
had come out here to acc the part OF the Good
Samaritan to the suaeIlng,-as a great many be-
longing .toItba! Commission have done, to tue
everlasting gratitude Of those Who nave been
wounded IN actlop, land 10 preach the gospe
and distribute religious reading where such ser
vices are needed. lie had large bundle OF pa
pers with him that were eagerly received
On the morning Of the 24th, we had orders
to be ready to march vt an early hour Accord
ingly, at precsely three . clock in the morning
our quIs; dreams were broken up by the rafting
of drums all through camp, and forthwith we
commenced to break up housekeeping the
mos! Of Us had built US tip top houses and to
prepare ior another campaign or for whatever was
to BE- accom- ished. The sei,her va, grim and
forbiddrg, AID the rain drop, as III y came nat
tering On our lent that moraing, dsl,sn Dy reg
ular nor easter IRA ,sty ah9,l sound in view
oftv rtoop-s before US. 4 raius,orm is very
unny,tug auxiliary with which 70 commence
long campaign \. any season Of the year, but
more especially now when col weather has come
and when wet clothes can hardly be made to sug-
ses, iay hing bu discomfort Of the .-,l de,ir
able kind. Our truiS - become wet aud heavy,
and % pAsfy u, sc in aur kntpiaess With all the
rest oflte clothing that we re obliged To cary
at this tone OF the year, was going to make
pretty heavy draft upon The strength Of lows
back bone, It's the last sl5.W tblt breaks the
camel. TACK, ara tue ADDITION Of G. tew extra
pound. Of water might nave !ae same effect On
Us, fyr our acks have hhoro b as heavy as
seemed possible for US o carry. You miy judge
of orr satisfaction then, wien We heard that the
order to march had been postponed H. Two day,
Some thin. ,h4t G,4e. reasons h'sides unprop.
tious weather, was The cause Of the delay il not
j was rather Of an anomaly 10 our var experience
but none the less acceptable for all that. We
shall certainly think we have one good re sou for
respecting Gen. Meade.
Aitboug we had been expecting to move
somewhere for a long tme we had but little
idea where we were gong. There bad Teen all
sorts OF rpmors 10 camp ms there always are at
such times, and almost every man had a rumor
of his own. No hopest man could believe two
Oi them ut the same lime Sometimes it was
reported that we were going to New York Gen.
Smnnarl had command there and wanted us to
do service under him. beard that some officers
had offered to bet very extrayagantly that such
would be the case i is curious how such ru
moTs will thrive and strengthen themselves in
thousand different ways 1t was coolly told in
the third brigade, and believed there that orders
had been read to us on dress parade to draw
clothing suitahle for gnfrisnn duty ,rhan mn s,,oh