The Placer herald., 1863-03-28
What the Soldiers Think of the War.

in the array of the Potomac, which are very
significant. One writer, who has been con-
nected with the army almost from its organ
ization, and who has never uttered word of
complaint until now, writes:
"DEAR c.: / am sick Of this ,car-so
sick that do not care upon what terms it
is settled. have seen thousands of men
lying maugled OF fifteen or sixteen
different batte-felds, all for nothing. Wives
sisters, mothers and children, losing their
husbands, brothers, sons and fathers all
for nothing! For here we have been fight
ing over year and half, and we have not
gained one point. We have lived and are
now living on nine or ten crackers, a piece
of raw pork, and some miserable copperas
water called coffee, per day, all to fill the
pockets of lot Of thieves who are trying
to make all they can out Of the people and
the government. The soldiers are all dis
couraged, and will not fight as they would
once on the Peninsula. Al we hear from
Washington is the nigger, the nigger, the
black, filthy nigger. One nigger is thought
more of than twenty white men who have
left home aud all that is worth living for to
come and lay down their lives, if need be,
w SAW thol tpuh'iN, NiliO tttii itdNtlo
are doing their utmost to ruin it. 1t is not
because we can't beat the rebels, that the
war is not over 10y this time; for we can beat
them. But it is because the government is
too busy thinking of the nigger to see that
the men are where they ought to be when
they are wanted. You must not set me
down as a grower. have good reason for
my growing. Almost every man in the
army thinks as do. If Job had served
in the army of the Potomac, he would have
sinned, and most feartuly too"
The following extract is from a letter
written on the 23d of December near Fal-
mouth, 10y member of one of the regi
ments raised in 1862. The writer has been
known for several years in Ithe village of
Woonsocket as an active Republican politi-
tan, and was vote distributor at the polls
at the last town meeting which he attended,
Had | known much Of the manage
ment of things six months ago as | know
now, fifty yoke of oxen could not have
drawn me out here. 1t is all id po-
litca humbug, and got up to make offices
for lazy Office seekers. | wish the leaders
were as far the other side of purgatory as
they are this side. 1t has turned out to be
an Abolition war, and ninety nine soldiers
out of one hundred say that if the Aboli
lionists are going to carry on the war, they
will have to get new army They say they
came out here to fight for he Union and
no, for a pack of ID niggers. These nigl
gers are lazy and dirty; they will lie and
steal; and they are saucy where they dare
to be. If a soldier touches an officers MIG.
ger, he will get court-martaled and lose
months pay. A niger is thought more
of by the government than the soldiers are
They get as much or more to eat Get as
much pay, and don't have to fight any A
curse on such things | hope something
will turn up before tomorrow night that
will settle this war. We got whipped at
fredericksburg, and we shall get whipped
every time we fight in Virginia | don t
think the North is right any more than the
South!'
The Columbus (Ohio) Crisis publishes the
following:
-, Va, Dec. 8, 1862.
DEAR SISTER AND FRIENDs:-I am well at
present. We have very good rations, ex
cept salt beef that is hard stuff. | guess
some of it never had horns on, for the rib
bone is round in lots of it. Ask father if
cattle have round ribs. The boys call it
mule beet. Il It We have all
sorts of rumors about peace. hope there
NAV be some arrangements made that will
bring it about.
will tell you how the thing is here, and
there is no use in denying it. AS long as
our Government was fighting to put down
rebellion and preserve the Union, it could
get plenty of mon and money but when it
came to make this a nigger war--a war to
free the nigger-it don't work. We did
not enlist for that service; we enlisted
to put down rebellion but the damned
Aboltionists have all stayed at home and
warred it there until they have made it a
ngger war | will tell you how it has
worked. 1t has demoraized our armies;
our officers are mixed up; some go for the
nigger and some against him, and it is just
so with the men; there is no unity; the men
are afraid of their officers, the officers are
afraid to trust the men; they are divided; as
long as it was to put down rebellion, our
men would fight; but now they are discour-
aged and disheartened, for they think, and
rightly, too, it has served to prolong the
war. The South will fight for their proper
ty and homes AS long as man is left, let it
be negro property or what not Our SOL
diers do not blame them for that; they do
not want to kill men for defending their
own property; they woull rather take them
by the hand and say, bully for your spunk;"
they cannot get their hatred up against the
South as the Sout!! has against the North; it
is too much like fathers, sons and brothers
fighting each other; the Southern soldier
believes the Yankees to be the worst people
on earth; that they come South to rob and
plunder As | have said before, they are
fighting for their homes and property and
unless the North gives them their Just rights
| do not believe there will be any peace. AS
for the North ever whipping the South into
terms it can never be DONE The South
want peace, but they want it honorably and