Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-11-17
ARMY CORRESPONDENCE.
Frem the Thirtz-serenth REGIMENT.

Grdft s iCteeTtt fIeCg5J5JO iSSGIceI/l AdJE1c6-
II Night IN he Roin-Tbe Return Con-
dit,on Of the Regiment.
HEADQ'Rs 37rH Wis Vol. INF'Y,
PEBBLES FARM, PETERSBURG Va,
October 80, 1864.
EDITORS JOURNAL: Since my last letter to
you we have had an agreeable little inter
| Iude to the monotonous life we were leading
at these headquarters. On the 26th instant
| the entire 9th Corps was reviewed, by 81
vision, by the respective divisi on generals,
and the same night orders came for Us to
| draw six day. ratioRz and so rounds of am
| munition. This looked like business, and
that immediate and pressing, though, OF
| course, we were ignorant of its exact nature.
| The usual speculations were rife throughout
| the cam s Danville and Burkesville were
named as likely spots" and individuals OF
| sanguine sanguinary and facetlous turn
OF mind, made appointments to dine at imagi-
nary hotels in Petersburg. Late IN the even
ing the order came, Strike tents at A. NJ.
and be in readiness to march by 3" The
few hours remaining US for sleep passed away,
as such hours generally do, quickly enough,
and at the first tap of the drum at O'Clock
OF the dull, misty, morning, that the 9th OF
October offered to the world as its best effort,
| the men were up and dressed and ready for
ofwhite tents melted away like fog banks be-
fore the sun, and perched themselves in a
condensed shape on the knapsacks of the
men, coffee was drank and hard tack disposed
Of in quick style, and 8 o'clock found the
| regiment in column ready for the order to
march. This soon arrived, and we were
quickly stumbling along among the stumps
and brush roots Of the road leading out due
west from our camp. Just outside the abat-
| It's we were halted and ordered to sit down
on each side of the road while the ID and Sd
brigades of our division passed through our
ranks to precede us. This took up some lit
tie time, so that day had fairly dawned and
the sun was beginning to rise as we passed
| through our picket line and formed line of
| battle in field beyond the woods in front of
| our trenches.
| The rising sun shone redly through heavy
bank of clouds low down in the east, the
morning was raw and chilly, and anything
but pleasant one, for either fight or trolic,
but our boys were in the best possible spirits
| and eager and anxious for row. Our regi-
ment was, as | have said, formed into line of
battle and while this was being done, dis
| tant diminishing on our left indicated that
the 18th corps had already got into it. and
that the ball had commenced. Forward
all was the "call of Gen. Hartrauft, our
Brigade commander, and forward we went to
support the 51st Pennsylvania, who were de-
ployed as skirmishers, in our front.
In this style we advanced for about two
miles, the skirmishers feeling the way eau
tiously, and the line of battle supporting
them. Occasional shots were exchanged in
our front till about A. NJ, when the firing
blazed up pretty lively and was continued
for an hour in somewhat brisk STYLE We
no, al in, +bo &c
farm, and after having been "saluted" by
couple of round shot, shell, and round of
spherical case, from an unseen battery, were
ordered to lie down in the edge of a thick
swamp and this order We, like Wel-trained
soldiers as we consider ourselves, promptly
obeyed.
Whilst waiting here for orders, some of us
started to the house in our front to recon
hotter, and found it inhabited by family
from Oswego, State of New York, consisting
of an old man and his daughter and her
children. The father Of the latter we were
told had been shot By the io6eis Tor suspect
ed Union proclivities In this field occurred
our only casualties in the days work, Pri-
vate Bent, Co. D, being severely, though not
dangerously, wounded in the head by piece
of shell and one other man having his shout
del slightly confused by the same missile.
Advancing at length across the field, we
found our skirmishers &C brought up all stand
ing" and rafting away with their Spring
fields right merrily, and here our reconnois-
sance ended. Our scouts reported the enemy
entrenched behind very strong works with
ga slashing" in front OF some two or three
hundred yards in width. Deeming the as
sault of these works inadvisable if not i'm
| practicable, our General ordered US to go to
| work and build breastworks, and in a very
short season a strong breastwork, composed
of logs covered with earth, was thrown up
| along the whole front of our brigade. Be
| fore dark the timber for some ten or fifteen
rods in our front was cut down with the tree
| tops towards the enemy's works, and the
boughs so intimately connected" as to form
"a slashing" the most adventurous Johnny
| would hardly care to endeavor to penetrate,
at least with hostile intention.
| By shutdown we were all, officers and men.
pretty well tired out, and were glad to "court
| the balmy;" and one-third of the regiment
being directed to be on guard at once, the
remainder disposed themselves to sleep as
best they could. About this time, the rain,
which had been all day impending, com
menced t. fall in good earnest, and as no
fires were allowed to be lighted for fear Of
| drawing fire of different kind from the enc
my, our situation was not very pleasant one.
| The next time you have a rainy night, Just
| imagine you belong to the Army Of the Poto-
mac, 60 out into the Park, let the pile of
cord wood that generally adorns the south
west angie of the capitol represent the
| breastw wrap yourself III a cavalry over
| coat, and take a seat on the bare ground,
| your back against the end Of the sticks of
| wood, and if before morning you are not
| picked up by the patrol as lunatic or inc
| briate, YOU will know how the night Of Octo-
| Der 9th was passed by large portion of the
Army of the Potomac. The sensation, crede
erperto is a miscellaneous one, tender feel
| ING about the parts in contact with surround
ing objects, moist feeling about the back Of
the neck and other parts whele moisture
ought not to be, except at stated periods,
and when washing is in vogue; an amphibi-
Gus feeling generally, and feeling of hatred
toward ones brethren, especially the Ger
rinen ones of the Southern States.
The long hours of the night passed slowly
away, their silence only broken by the ceassless
| drip of the rain, and an occasional shot from
som conscientious picket who deemed 1t his
duty to fire at anything that moved near his
post, were it only bush swinging IN the
wind. Towards morning fell into an uneasy
slumber, during which | drearlt l was ship
wrecked, drowned married to a mermaid,
had raised family and was holding the
youngest, codfshy looking infant, IN my
lap, when awoke, and after brief mental
struggle, realized the fact that | sat beneath
the pine trees of the Virginia. swamps, the
rain running down the back of my neck and
dripping freely from my nose, sitting IN one
pool of water with my feet in another and
my sword lying across my lap. About s
| o'clock tie company cooks came up with the