The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-05-09
VOL. XXl1I---NO. 3S.
A Soldiers View Of a Soldiers Life.

In strong contrast with the crvmbline
spirit of some men is the following manly
aad cheerful picture Of soldierss life,
received from young man who has been
more than year in the Is. Minnesota
Battery. The letter is dated" Camp near
Lake Providence, La, April 9th "
For my part / have no fault to find
with our treatment We have enough To
eat and to wear, and. have never kpcwn
single case Of suffering or destitution id
the army but what the fault was more
their own than the Governments. And
my only wonder is that the Government
has done SO well as it has with such a gi-
gantic amount of business on hand. tos
a nation that has had half century OF al
most uninterrupted peace to raise, equip
and feed a million Of men as well as it has
done, is doing remarkably we'll, and there
is no occasion for fai.lt fndinG o..
Last December, when this army was In
Central Mississippi, our communications
were entirely cut off from the North for
some weeks. During that time there
were no mails and "" did not draw a dol
lars worth of supplies from the Covert;
mcnt for man or beast, but we did not suf:
fer at all. Gu the contrary, We never
lived better than We did then, but the ps-
pers were full ofacc9unts OF the suferihgs
of Grants army, while We were getting fat
on secesh cattle, sheep, hogs and iowl and
sweet tpotatocs. Some oi the men haya
suffered for clothing, but that, too, was
their own fault. ! have always had plen.
ty, because ! took good care OF them, and
others could do the same. There are fes-
soldiers who have not thrown away cloth
ing enough TO last them six months.
Strictly speaking, the soldiers day of
rest never comes there is no such thing
as Sunday in The army. We have as
much to 10 on that day as on any other.
Yet, with all this, the soldier is the ,hap-
piest man alive. His life is full ofeAcite-
ment, and it has charms which none but
a soldier can understand or appreciate
Even as write. some OF the boys ia our
company are singing, in true Me.hod odist
style, There's rest for the weary,
there's rest for you, while others, Of a
less devotional turn, are singing, Jordan
is hard read 20 travel. 1t Is astopish-
ing what resources soldier has TO fall
back upon in an emergency. rubber
blanket keeps off the rain when marching
and is good to lie down on in the mud ct
.ight, two of them together make asael.
Ter thO Van SASSP es
night aud laugh at the storm.
You have 10 idea how quick our men
will dress a goose or a chicken, or skin o.
hog or beef; ball from a revolver BIN &.
him down, and the boys will have him
skinned, dressed, and pieces of him roast
inr on the sticks before the fire, before
the animal is fairly done kicking. In our
company we have dozed mess kettles, IN
/ which the men make their coffee. boil
/ their meat, heat water 10 wash their clothes ,
( hands, and sometimes their feet bake
{ beans and mix bread-the mud from the
nearest ditch furnishing the material for u
bake oven. The unso lered half of tin
can;een is converted into a fry ing pan y
pint tin cup does duty for coffee or tea
pot, cup and saucer and soup dish. In
short, you cannot corner a soldier SO tight
but that he will always have good house
well furnished, whenever there Is mud
I and wood to be found. If thera are any
/ girls in your village who want a husband,
/ my advice to them is TO wait and get y
/ soldier, for they can alway depend upon
! him 10 get dinner on wash days, and y
! GOOD one, too, and trust him 10 mend his
/ own clothes and darn his own stockings
! besides many other things not provided
( for in house keeping tactics.