Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-06-02
Letter from the 2lth Indiana.
CAMP 24TH INDIANA,
Baton Rouge, La, Nav rs.


suppose you Ut some Di your EeA1eEb
will have no objections to hearing how
we are getting along, and as ! am
Dead Wood must relate lit,le of
our experience first:
Well, we the non.veta. are sometimes
called the Coppernuts or Vallandigham-
ers, but generally Dead Woods." They
can call Us what.they please, but assure
you that We are all strong Union men,
and are in for vigorous prosecution of
the war, and are willing 70 sacrifice the
last one Of our male relatives rather than
recognize the Confederacy. We have
seen several "ups and downs since the
regiment re-enlisted and went North on
furlough. In the FIRST place we we're
transferred to the llth Indiana, where
they came down on us heavy, as was
said, TO learn Us discipline. Soon after
we joined the llth, the regiment was
ordered to MadisonVille, on the north
shore Of Lake Ponehartrain; there We
we're put through the regular routine Of
digging Notifications, and we came to
the conclusion that if We did cot capture
the Confsderaey we would at least dig
ii up so that i would never be Of any
use to the natives
There was a good deal Of profound
strategy shown there. We we're camped
alongside Of large swamp, for the pur-
pose, / suppose, Of draining all the feUer-
Hagsr out Of IL The fact is there was
good deal drawn out Of II, which could
be plainly seen from the shaking in
camp. We had been in the ilth about
q month when the veteran fever broke
out and ragged to an alarming extent
So much so, that il took out about three
fouFshs OF the regiments We had Vet
eran Meetings aud speeches almost every
night for over week, by Pap MeGinness
and Cameron, and others, explaining
the beauties Of the veteran service. As
soon as the llth made up their list Of
Vets we were transferred 70 the SD
Ohio regiment, and we we're, most Of Us,
well satisfied with the transfer, for we
had been very short Of grub while in
the llth. We do not wish to throw any
imputations on the CommisSary Of tha.
regiment, but we shall always think
there was something rotten there And
we naturally came TO the conclusion that
digging up the Coufederacy on short ra-
tions was not our forte
As soon as we had the breastworks
well done, we got marching orders TO re-
port at New Orleans. We we're some
what astonished at such orders, for we
had got our mosths set to stay and gar
rison the place after getting il so well
fortified. But military strategy, in
that case, as in many others, was pro
found and incomprehensible, AZ least 70
ns. We left there onlths 10th Of Febru.
AIRY, on the steamer Kate Dale, and the
fractions Kate came near being the means
Of sending us all to Kingdom Come
By bursting one of her boilers The
leak caused some excitement on the
lower deck, but fortunately there was nc
damage done, only the springing of one
Of the boiler plates, and they still KEPT
on steam enough TO run at the rate oi
three miles an hour, which landed us a;
Lakeport about midnight Next morn
ing train came to take US to New Or
leans. We got aboard and were in New
Orleans in about an hour. Crossed the
river and went into camp at Algiers
Lay in camp there about 3 week, unit
the balance Of the division came from
jacksonville, when the division was or
dered to Brashear City, and the 'Deac
Woods Of six different regiments wer'
ordered to report to Lieut.. Col S. L
Warner, Of the 56th Ohio, to form 6 bat
talon for duty in Algiers and vicinity.
We had very pleasant time while il
/ Sha ha H.1nr Assfu
expected TO serve out our time there
when our calculations we're again knock
; ed into pi By the arrival Of the 9th In
diana from the North. We we're var,
+ glad to see the boys, and hear Of sh
good time they had while on furlough
but rather sorry to leave the good quar-
ters we had in the battalion to take a.
with the rough fortunes OF the 24tl
We Joined the 24th again on the llth Q
April at New Orleans, when the regi
ment got orders to report at Bato
Rouge, where We have been ever since
with the exception of the time we wer
out on q scout after some rebs who wer
prowling about eonscripting citizens
stealing pigs and chickens, and playin
numerous other tricks that soldiers ar
- guilty OF we found tnem ABOUT twent
IL miles northeast of this place We g
3 orders at noon of May ID to be ready
b. march at 5 o'clock P. NJ, with two day
r. rstionA We got started at about 5, an
l. marched until about A. NJ the nel
. morning, when we laid down to res
= bat so soon as We got into sound suoo7
= We were aroused with orders to get l
: and make coffee, and be ready to marc
!. at 1 a. NJ We marched about hv
" miles, when we found the rebs We SOC
'. formed in line of battle in the woO'
and advanced about half a mile, whs
we came TO an open field There q
q, rebs opened FIRE on us, killing one ms
:. in the 18th New York Battery al
:, wounding another. We threw cut . lii
. of skirmishers and advanced on thel