The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-11-26
Army Correspondence.
Letter from the Il4th Regiment.

EDITORS LANCASTER UAZETTE--
AS we can never see anything
in the Lancaster papers concerning
the 1l4th Ohio Regiment, ] fear
many of our good friends Of Fair
f field county have forgotten that they
, have few friends in this part Of the |
great Union Army. Ifso, we would
desire, by your kind permission, to in
T form the many readers Of the Gazette
Of this fact, though there are not as
many with us now by any means as
there were a year ago. The bat
tie field and disease have made sad
havoc in our ranks. / fear that my
, letter will not be very interesting from
the fact that | can tell Of no great bat
ties lately fought or daring feats per-
, formed. | might have done that sew
8 eral months ago, but for that article |
| must refer You to the vicinity Of Chat
i" tanooga, or perhaps to the army of the
Potomac. At the former place, we
; learn with deep regret, that many Of
t our former neighbors and associates.
V have given their lives as an Offering
upou the altar Of their country. They
could not have died in more glorious
| cause, and we trust that their souls
b, are now happy in the realms Of ctcr-
e nal bliss. On this painful subject we
feel inclined to say much, but time
r will not permit 1t is our design to
S give you very brief history of our
G regiment from the time we left Ohio
+; up to the present time; but it is i'm
possible to do our SUBJECT Justice in
/ the limited confines ofa letter. How
|. ever, we will do the best we can,
y We left Marietta, Ohio, on the 28th
{ day of November, 1862, and arrived at
- Memphis on the 9th Of December. On
f the 20th cf the same ronth we en-
l. barked with what was then called the
e Great Mississippi Fleet under the COM
u mand of Major General W. 7. Sher-
man. We spent our Christmas at the
IS mouth ofthc Yazoo river, and the next
k day assembled the Yazoo to little be-
+ low Chickasaw Bluffs, and commenced
-, the battle of Chickasaw Bayou or Wal
u nut Hills, as it is sometimes called.
ii Remained there amid the rain and
t. mud and amid shower of canister
SC and shell until the evening Of the 1st
}, !, of January, 1868, when it was pretty
= we'll demonstrated that that was not
the road to Vicksburg, especially tol
Y. us to travel. We then embarked
Ill again and soon found that our destina
ne ton was up the Mississippi river, bu
j. where we did mt know until we reached
,o the mouth of the Arkansas, where w
is were told that there was little place
le called Arkansas Post, not far from
ne there, where there was a little job fol
y us to do. General McClcrnand only
nd wanted to inspect General Churchill
e. forts, camps, munitions, &c. OF fcours
he took his body guard with him
C. which consisted Of several thousan,
~ ~ troops and few gun boats. Whel
,,sc we got there, the General conclude,
ne to remove the garrison to st. Louis
ur BUTT required three and half hour
ol ION the 11th Of January)-befor
we could pcrsuaCo the General AM
,s. his men of the necessity of such move
he however they yielded at last. The bat
Ike tie of Arkansas Post was complet
= victory for u.s. When the work of dc
nh molishing the rebel Notifications wa
at an end, we again embarked an
c's once more turned our faces toward
II Vicksburg. This was not very plea:
ant, for by this time the sick list con
III prised about two thirds ofthc regimen
) However we were to obey orders, an
he we went without murmur.
q Here General Ostcrhaus joined u
-. took command of the Division, an
Lc remained with us until after the fall (
Vicksburg. lie is General who d'
m serves that honored title. Would
MS God we had many more such as he i
49, ! feel confident it would hasten mat
inc rally the close of the war.
hat Well, we landed at Young's Poin
eft, La, on the 22d Of January, and +
ks maned there and at Milliken's Ben
until the 9th of April, when we agai
commenced operations against IL
to great American Gibraltcr. We So
NV. I pretty hard times while at Young
Nv" ,ooS Point and Milliken's Bend. We hcl
ub- consigned many of om comrades
cir their last resting place. Let their boz
not les rest in peace upon the banks of Il
Gi Ji Mississippi, where their souls are hapT
MT. in the realms of eternal bliss.
the BY circutous route through Lo
MS isiana, by way of Richmond we can