The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1863-02-14
iARmY C0nlsssr oNDENCE.

HSlf7T 9{EIEfEf 3af 49, ElfsB{fn3 attTs{@Sg5a 20
"ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI" ]" Camp 30th Reg
Iowa Infantry Vols, Is miles below Vicks'
Ell turg, La. ssE98lsItRd m giio 9la g
ni7a slEfa 90 qc January 26th, 1862
baEp1roH Hawk EYE: LA few items from ,tht
boys who are away downin 'Di1ie, !" may hayt
some interest to their friends in Iowa, and al
they generally read the Hawk. Eye this is q
yof1r service: 9yae1 eGel t@sgsaH -
/ steele's division d,sembarked about s miles
above, and in plsin eight Of fiVicksburg, Jap'J
23d, on the Louisans side Of the river W.
had been proceeded the day before by part b
Geni'l sstew arts forces, Who had proceeded
down, and opposite yicksburg, and taken = pos
session Of Buffers famous ditch, and recon
menced work thereon. That night, tas usual
for us, ] we had to march about seven miles BY
/. round about out Of the way path, Or blind
vosd, throughs lower. Mississippi bottom Of
swamps, jungle, mud, etc, etc.7 and arrived 81
our present Camp about 2 . m. Now, xe
could have made This march direct down the
Levee and ditch on good roads, and four miles
distance, but that would have been contrary,
perhaps, to the circumlocutionsry perogsnves
Of red tape, Id s. l.it,,s,4 rssg,s sssfs .,ss
ig On the morning Of the Oath. your correspon.
dent, after walking mile, found himself at
the lower end Of Gen'l Buffers ditch, or canal,
which has become . famous as ''any other
ditch, not excepting the ..last ditch" that our
.'Southern brethren" just over the river, we're
wont to retire to, to expire-to be exhsled
into ETHEREAL nothingness- trsnsplanted to
JETS Plutonian Paradise. This ditch, then, Of
which I write, wss still open at both ends, the
back.wster from the lower end was one or
two feet deep, and extended two or three hum
dred yards up from its mouth. 1t is said to be
one mile and one eigth of . mile long, which is
Eve thousand nine hundred and forty feet.
am precise in stating what ] understand to be
the exact length Of this canal, as it is supposed
it was measured with a,red tape Lane and there
fore could not vary an inch. sSsf' IS
Az I walked up this ditch, about half way,
met the frst water that ever passed through
this canal, rolling its way, slowly along over
the loose dirt. The Mississippi had risen dur
ing the night sufficiently to throw small vol.
ume of water entirely through it., This ditch,
as Butler left it, was about 10 feet wide and
seven or eight deep. It had filed up some-
what, should say foot or two,, from the ae-
ton Of the elements. / was along it to-day,
it is now 20 feet wide and perhaps an average
Of FIVE feet deep. 1t has three or four feet Of
water in it. The river has risen until they
have been compelled to quit work on it. /
learned that the river is falling above, and that
an early resumption Of work is probable. To
q practical, unscientifc view, can see no
reason Why this ditch might not have been
finished, even to permit boats to pass through
it by this date. But msnJ things now hidden,
shall be made known, some future day. About
midway ofthis ditch the surface Of the earth
is lower than the water in the canal. Our men,
have, as consequence, been making Levee,
to keep ourselves from being inundated. There
is diversity of opinion as to the success of
the canal, as there will. be, on all great ques>
itiohs, from the division of an empire to dog
fight. My opinion is, that when We dig it
down to the subsoil of sand, two or three feet
below it's present bed, and open it wide enough
to admit volume Of water great enough to
make current, that it will do the rest itself.
On the bluffs, on the Vicksburg side, which
begin to bear away from the immediate bank
Of the river, and directly opposite the mouth
of the canal, there is a huge Fort, on which
our friends over there have been workin g
day and night. They have many masked bat
teries and minor works. They salute US sew
raj times day. with shot and shell, but have
done us no harm yet. Thayer's Briga6e, the
4th, 9th 26th and 30th are in camp about one
mile and E half below the mouth Of this ditch.
Our guns, some heavy ones, are in position,
masked so as to command the navigation Of
the river below Vicksburg. We have stopped
Rebel boats, and captured one steam Ferry
boat, two miles below our camp, They have
concluded, guess, not to attempt to run our
blockade, either above or below Vicksburg.
was pretty authenticately informed that GenI
Grant was here to-day. What may be our
movements, and how we will take the Rebel
Gibraltar, soldier does not know, and if he
did, he is not expected to tell. lam ssnguine
that it will be done, though some little time
may elapse before it is done.
3 The Army Of the Mississippi spent from the
22d Of Dec. to the 23d of Jan'y on transports,
except about one week before Vicksburg, and
four days at Arkansas Post. They were over
crowded, without sufficient protection from
rain and cold, with no hospital accommods-
tions, and no medicines. The sick and we'll,
indiscriminately mixed together, without &C
commodations for cooking or washing, and ex.
posed to the email pox. The sequel of all this,
shows sick list appalling, almost, and We
have the small pox developing itself daily. Il
If the nistreatment and fearful sacrifice of
British soldiers, on the altar of red.tspe Gen.
eralship and doctorship, in the Crimesn cam.
psign, called out from the press and public OF