The weekly union record., 1864-08-13
Letter from a Soldier.

tlemsn in Chico. Butte county; It is dated July
third ca. Our Regiment is at Memphis,
with fair prospect of remaining there for
some time. We have all had hard time Of
it this spring, and were worn out, sick aud
weary. When l left the boys were recovering
and feeling better, but il requires time to re
jlvenate a-man after two such expeditions
as the Red river and Sturges- I suppose it Is
OF little use 10 write TO you about the war, for
you have it all By telegraph as soon as we get
it here. We are confident that Grant will
take Richmond. Lee had al the men in the
South from sixteen to sixty eonseripted and
being drilled long before the campaign Of GA
commenced He cannot increase bis force in
the aggregate; be may increase it al Richmond
but TO do this he must weaken his power Of
resistance at some other point; and what is
i is true OF Lee and Grant, is also true in every
particular of Sherman and 10 Jobusou. All
in the Soath capable of bearing arms are in
the army in some form or other, so that the
wear and tear of this campaign cannot be re.
placed, and tell you the drain is an awful
one; this is also true Oh our side, but Proyi
dentially, We have the men to fill the places Of
those who are disabled, killed or taken priso
ner-this last now means about the same as
being killed. Rebel cavalry in the east is one
of the things that have been, it is now good
for nothing for two reasons-the men have
been permitted to rob. murder and destroy any
thing or body supposed to be tinctured with
Unionism from the commencement of the war:
now they cannot be controlled, and do not
pretend to ask whether man is Union or
Rebel. If, say they, "a man is a Federal
take all he has and kill him; if Confederate,
take all be has, he ought to give Us freely; are
we not lighting for his liberty? and say they
take all that comes in their way, for what we
don't take the Federals WILL" so you see the
/ Confederate Cavalry of the East have lost the
soldier and Joined the robber and thief so
much so that many are being shot You may
ask how know this? 1t is through refugees
and prisoners. Again, they have but very few
good horses. They are now poor, and worn
out, and there is no place where a fresh supply
can be had, and you know that cavalry and
mounted infantry have been the arm on which
the rebels have relied, and now 10 the West; it
is the arm that has given US the most trouble
they appeared everywhere, ald where least
expected. Their cavalry is worn out, and can
not stand our Infantry charges, and they are
becoming discouraged; and must either give
up and come over to US, or become desperate
and hoist the black flag This of course can
not last long; 200 men butchered and murder
ed in cold blood at Fort Pillow has already
sent $4,000 men into our army. That bloody
deed shocked the great National heart, 1t vi
brates yet. Fort Pillow now cries for ven
geance, aud it is the sworn determination OF
all our men to never knowingly ask of them
quarter or take any of Forests men prisoners;
it will soon be the same with Marmaduke's
men. aud all other cold booded murderers Ia
Qaantrel.
We are still getting more aud more of their
grain growing sections into our hands they
are constantly losing recruiting territory. My
assertion that the rebels had conscrpted the
last man." there are of course boys arriving of
age subject to draft also, in the mountains
and swamps are Union men secreted who are
hunted down by dogs and dragged into the
rebel army As soon as our lines extend over
their homes and farms, they seek for an oppor-
tunity to desert, and if we suffer temporary
reverse, and are obliged to fall back. these men
and their families fall back with Us the mer
join our army and make the best of spies scout;
and guides, and are an important auxiliary tC
our forces. Sherman is gaining important
territory from the rebels. from, which they bavt
drawn their bred and butter, beef, pork, horse;
and mules, also the salt peter and iron mines
hence the desperation with which the rebel;
fight for every inch of ground which We art
day by day Wrestling from them they know
that the possession of Richmond is vital Il
them on account of the moral disaster TO LOSE
it. The rebs fight for Atlanta and the sur
rounding country as a man would fight for hi;
life for to lose Atlanta is the greatest physica
disaster that could Def i them.
The accomplishment of all this may require
more time than think it will; we have suffer
ed disappointment more than once in this res
pect, We may be too sanguine in our an,icipa
ton; we can now look back upon our National
life for the past thirty four years and see how
deeply We have sinned against God and the
High design marked out for Us One Of the
first was in not hanging John c. Calhoun: and
although we may not feel like cursing the
memory of Andrew jackson in consequence o
his leniency towards Calhoun, vet we can now
see plainly as jackson did dimly, that to hang
Calhoun was to have taken this great rebellion
By the throat and choked it to death in its
infancy. The moral heart Of the nation long