The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-02-26
Intercepted Letters Of Rebels, &c.

cation showing the feelings of rebedom, and
especially from those who were formerly from
the North, will be interesting, send you ex
tracts from letters out of captured rebe
mail. The letters being sent me " one Of
the staff officers of the department of Tenn
You have of course seen the announcement oil
the capture of large quantity of letters and
dispatches in that department. All consid
cred of any consequence were sent 10 Wash
ington and the rest ordered to be destroyed
Of those doomed to destruction of couse
many were spicey ep;stles. select from two
of them that are written by those that il
seems formerly made their homes at the
North. First that of lady which il
seems went South to teach, but married q
Southern man and as it seems has imbibed
Southern principles. She says, You ma!
think strange that was brought up under
! Yankee rule, as an abolition fanatic that
should have thrown off the false opinions in.
stiled into my youthful mind, yet, with the
help of God, | have been enabled 10 do so
My husband is lieutenant in Bragg's army
and am rejoiced to lie able to inform you
that he has re-enisted into the noble cause
! of the South, and is bound to do his best to
EXTERN nate the thievish Yankee mercena,
ries; the Northern abolitionist send to des-
olate our homes and ruth the farest country
the sun shines upon. | learn that my broth
er James has enlisted into Lincoln's hordes
pity his conscience, yet suppose it is partly
healed with money; but to you, my father
and mother, would say that when his dead
! body is returned to you, must not be ex-
pected to sympa,hize. | cannot sympathize
with any who will tread on the rights Of the
South" After this fendish outburst she
goes on dispensing love to her friends al the
North, just as though she was capable OF
love and expected all Of her Northern friends
to be glad of slice. Then melting into a
most atFectionate farewell TO her parents, she
subscribes her name, " Lucy Tennis"
The other seems to be from man with
brothers in the North, and is also written to
his parents. He says, My health is good
and | am in good spirits, rea ly and anxious
to meet the Yanks. l have only been in two
engagements since l wrote you-one neal
! Little Rock and the other at Pine Bluff
That at the Bluff was brilliant little aflir
The fight was mostly with artillery. We
were put 10 supper: battery, ard were ex-
posed to the enemy's artillery at short range
and also to their sharpshooters bu: We sus
tanned but little loss-three killed and five
wounded. Our loss in all was twelve killed
and thirty-two wounded. don't think there
is much prospect Of fighting much more thi:
winter, but we have not gone into winter
quarters. If Bragg is successful we shall as.
sumo the offensive. il not, We shall act or
the defensive. have heard from home tina,
all the boys have gone into the militia
l think but little Of their principles,
think in fact they have none; just tell them
for me that before | would make that sacri
! fee of principle, would live in camp on
bread and beef the remainder of my days
am in for the war, and if the South goes
under l will go with It. If she stands will
be one of the free. | make no calculation
about ever going home. Give my love tc
my friends; tell them the longer fight the
more l want to. You may hear We are far.
ing roughly, that is all true yet we want tc
be free. Tell sister should ike to see her
remain your son, ]. N. Smith"
So much for the chivalry of the South Of
their boosted civilization, their Northern men
with Southern principles. We have reason
like Mrs. Tennis, to thank God-to thank
Him We are not like these. We can agree
with Smith that he cannot make much calcu-
la,ion about going home" yet, through the
the extreme clemency of our government, he
may lie pardoned, but as that would imply a
change of that indomitable "prncple with
the pardon must come change of mind.
With little anecdote from the letter of our
correspondent We will close. He being on
duty to carry some orders of command from
the major general, came so near the enemy's
lines, that during the night they were sur
prised, their horses seized, and they dispers-
ed to prevent capture. Up the morning his
guards were not to be found, and it was nee
essary his dispatches should be Delivered
He repaired to plantation and ordered a
horse to be saddled, giving the owner the
customary receipt for him. After travelling
mile or two he met secesh lady with a
very fine horse. He told her to dismount
as the salvation of the Union depended on
his exchanging horses with her. She in re-
turn called him every bad name she could
think of, and as he expresses it, more too.-
He however exchanged horses and reached
his destination just in time. He said he was
allowed to retain the horse, and it was much
the best one he had had since he was in ser