Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-05-14
FROM THE NINTH REGIMENT.
PICKET PosT, on the bank of thel
Nausemond River, near Suffolk, Va. :
A Iai.il Dc 1863 L

camped in the woods near the banks of
the Nansemond river, below Suffolk about
three miles.
Itisina very pleasant grove of pines,
and the boys like it very we'll. We came
here the 18th, and have been ON constant
duty since The boys work on the forth
fcations one day and 60 on picket the
next When we sleep in camp, we are
called out in. line one hour before day.
break, and stand till sunrise. A Regt.
was called out to 90 about five miles, to
hold rife pits while large force went
out on reconnaissance We went out in
the rain and mud such as is only found
in Va, and staid until about 10 P. NJ,
when we were ordered back to camp.
What the result of the expedition was,
we have not learned but conclude that
we gained nothing There has been
heavy cannonading and some skirmish-
ing near here for about 10 days. The re-
bel pickets can occasionally be seen across
the river, which is not very wide. They
shoot at our pickets and men who work
on the Notifications, and when our boys
get out Of patience they shoot back
There has been quite number of gun
boats on the river, but the rebel batter
les kept up such fire on them that they
left river. Our men occasionally cross
the river, and have taken one battery and
i112 prisoners at one time. | do not
know how many men we have here, but
probably from twenty to thirty thousand
and probably the rebels have many more,
for about all we do is to keep them out of
the place. 1t would be hard place for
them to take, for it is we'll fortified, and
rife pits extend all around it. We feel
perfectly safe from an attack at present,
but don't think we have men enough here
to make an advance. Maj. Gen. Peck
commands the army here. There are
many New England Regis. here, but none
from Vt. We have hoped that one of the
VT Brigades would come here, for we
would like to be brigaded with men from
our own State At present we are not
brigaded, but are under command of Brig.
Gen. Getty. The weather has been rainy
and cold most of the time since we came
here. To-day the sunshines but the air is
cold enough to wear our overcoats. The
boys are quite healthy now. Our Co. has
SO enlisted men here, and but one in the
Hospt. Our rations are very good, hard
"tack" is the hardest of all. Yesterday
we drew rations of soft bread for the first
time since we came here. Co. G., still
remains at Chicago. What few men
we have here, are in the best condi-
tion they have been since we left Vt. II
we could HAYES enough such to fill the
Regt., we should be all right. Two Asst.
Surgeons arrived here last night for our
Regt Probably the daily papers will
give more news of what is going on here
than | can, SO l will close.
CAMP NEAR SUFFOLK, Va, J
May 9th, 1868.
Mr.. EDIToR.-We have once more NOV
ed our camp from the bank of the Nanse-
mond, north of Suffolk, to the south Of
the town. The distance was about five
miles. We have now pleasant situation,
but our duties have been hard until the
enemy skedaddled, which they did on the
night of the Sd. Our men followed them
closely and took many scattering prison
crs They fell back to Blackwater, and
perhaps have gone to reinforce Lee, in
front of Hooker. On the 4th, Gen. Cor.
coran, went with two regts. and secured
the country South Of here, but found none
of the enemy in force, but took two OIL
three hundred struggling rebels, prisoners
Yesterday the 9th, were called on to g
out four or FIVE miles to destroy the
breastworks that the rebels had built OF
the Edenton road. We found the work!
much stronger than any that we had
ever built, being from ten to fifteen fee
in thickness, and six feet high. Our
8 scarcely ever exceed three or four feet il
) thickness, or four or five in height. They
had also placed an abbattis of tree tops
with timbers sharpened, and sharpcnet
sta L..c IN front nf tho hraa Of WORK. eo III a