Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-10-08
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| with little to do aside from duty. Toward:
| the last days Of the siege OF Vicksburg ouE
| brigade was sent across the river to Young
Point, Louisiana, to guard the peninsula op,
posite the city, and keep Kirby Smiths (reb-
| eli forces at respectful distance from the
! river. y lille there We suffered severely
| with miasmatic feverS. Our long rest here
has restored health generally. and the COM
mand is again in good fighting aud marching
| trim, with little prospect at present, how
| ever, OF having TO do either Future army
| movements are not much discussed in this To-
callty, tor the reason that nobody pretends
to know what direction our winter campaign
will take. Heretofore, in this department,
we have usually had no difficulty in antici-
patIng the points against which We were to
be moved. The enemy was constantly in our
front, and boast1uI of numerous strategic
points" and "last ditches;" but now the
Armies Of the West, having opened the river
and cleared its banks Of all enemies, are at
lost TO know what there is for them to do
next. When Mobile falls, probably Banks
will march into Texas, and our corps move
forward and occupy the line of the Alabama
river, forming connection with Rosecrans
on our left. But it is idle to speculate.
Col. Robbins has resigned. \ great many
officers and men are home on brief furlourhs.
The order Of Gen. Grant allowing a certain
per cent. of the soldiers of each regiment to
go home, is having a good influence The
men are allowed thirty days, and it is a cred
liable fact that they generally rejoin their
commands at the expiration OF their fur
lOughs. Officers are allowed but twenty DAYS
and it is a fact, whether credtablc or not,
that they generally do not reioin their com
mands at the expiration of their leaves
But there is a good reason why they do not.
At the present low stage of water in the
Mississippi, it takes from eight to ten DAYS to
go from NickSburg to Cairo, and two DAYS
from Cairo anywheres. To return within his
leave, an officer who starts for Wisconsin,
having twenty days from Vicksburg, should
go no farther than Chicago; from there he
can acJite to ms friends that his leave will ex-
pire by the time he returns to Eicksburg and
can hope they have enjoyed his visit. There
was an understanding thar the twenty DAYS"
meant Twenty days outside of the depart
ment;" i. c. from Cairo but up to this time
there has been nc official confirmation of tie
fact. The consequence is that every officer
who returns having overstayed his leave
goes before a military commission, where his
case is investigated and the proceedings for
warded to the War Department. Our more
fortunate brOther-soldiers in the Army of the
Potomac can go home and return in six days
However, we have nobody to blame but our
selves. We should not have worked our way
so far into the Southern Confedc"acy.
Among the absent officers are Captains
Redtield, of Co. A, King, OF Co. 6, (sick,
Estee, of Co. h, (wounded, } Dawes, OF Co. D,
(wounded and on detached service in the
Department of the Northwest, J Wolf OF Co.
&, sick, and Kennedy, sick; and Lieutenants
Jones, Williams, Mcdowell and Palmeter.-
Capt. I Dung, OF Co. L, has been detached for
nearly year, commanding the Division Pr
oneer Corps. He has a good thing of it
The Corps Numbers over hundred enlisted
men, mechanics, and has or is to have three
hundred negroes attached to it. Surgeon
Murta, than whom the service has no better
medical officer, and Capt Bartlett, of Co. X
Lieut.. DOty, of Co. g. and our popular suffer-
Fred. Cooley, all returned from a visit home
yesterday.
1t is notable fact that every soldier comes
back to the army disguised with the peace
party Of the North, denouncing it as sympa-
thizing with the traitors whom we are en-
deayoring to subdue. Engaged as the army
has been for two years in actively lighting
the rebels, and paying little attention to par
ty politics in the North, it has been slow to
believe that there was really party at home
amounting to anything, either in talent or
wi oh har baH u
but when such man as Vallandigham is NOM
mated for the highest Office in the gift of the
people OF State, when the Governor of
great State and prospective candidate for
the Presidency pats wild murderous mob on
the back and endeavOrS to bully the Govern
ment into yielding to its clamors, when in our
own State numerously attended convention,
having no single word of commentator for
the soldiers or of cheerful hope and sympa-
thy for soldiers families, adopt platform re-
plete with the most perniclous teachings and
cynical illusions to the government, when the
honest, earnest efforts of the Administration
to save the Union are found fault with, and
the President reviled, sneered at and defed,
when the leading rebels are praised as states
men and their treachery fairly applauded,
when skulks and towards who desert our ar
mics are given places of refuge and their ap-
prehension resisted By force, when sick sol
diers seeking to recover their lost health in
the quiet Of their own homes are badgered
and irritatej till they die--when these things
are done in the North, as the army learns
from its returned members, from the public
papers, and from private letters, the conclu-
sion is inevitable that the party organization
which encourages such practices is disoyal to
the core, and its leaders much deserving
hempen collar as the leaders of the rebels in
arms. When this war is ended and the army
dlsbanded, men who have been dislOyal in
word or deed will be objects of contumely,
and their cowardly instincts will prompt them
TO accept every kick and reproach which 10y
atty gives them as gracious fayors thankful
to escape so easily. The position of the ne
gro race is supposed to be sufficiently humili-
ating, but the degradation of the present
race Of Copperheads will be inefable.
When election day arrives, if the Wiscon-
sin soldiers in this department are not shoot
ing leaden bullets into the rebel ranks YOU
will find them sending broadsde of ballots
against the Copperheads at home Their vote
WI be unanimous for the candidates on the
UNION TICKET; and, it is more than likely,
that if they should be on a march or entering
fight, they would ask for short halt, or
brief suspension Of hostilities" in order to
attend to the enemies in tho rear In the
North there is a great deal of discussion as
to what constitutes reasonable language"
If submitted to the test Of the undoubtedly
loyal army, the matter would speedily be set
tied. Harl argues that are listened to by you
with no immediate marks of disfavor, would
quickly be stopped if attempted to be deliv-
cred to soldiers in the field and any one of
the modern so-called Democratic Conventions,
with its abuse of the Government and string
of resolutions sympathizing with rebellion, if