Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-09
Kilpatriek's Raid-HOw it Damaged the Re-
beliOn.
From the Richmond Wing, March S.


Throw out of the account the valuable
lives of our citizen soldiers lost by the late
raid; throw out, too, the negroes, horses,
mules and cattle stolen, the mills and iron
works burnt, the bridges destroyed, the rail-
roads torn up, the alarm of the women and
children in the country and city-cast these
all aside, and look at the matter from another
point of view.
For three or four days all the Departments
and all the workshops have been closed. We
may be sure that the clerks and employees,
tagged out by marches, exposure and priva-
ton, will be in no condition to work to-day
The day of rest comes in good time for them
On Monday next, then, the public business
will be resumed-unless, indeed, some mis-
chievous scout takes it into his head to give
the people of Richmond another shaking up
Nearly meek scU thus haze been lost and lost at
time shea every moment is of precious valse
Thirty days grace in otich to fund sic hundred
millions of dollars, and the Treasury closed DIR
ing seuesa of those days!
If we turn from the Treasury to the great
workshops where the munitions of war are
made, the case is as bad, or worse, for the
time lost cannot be made up in either of
these places. But count the cost. Each
clerk and each artisan is paid IS, $40, SIS or
$50 day. His pay goes on, while the Gov
eminent is furnishing him rations in the field
and losing his skilled labor-the only thing
which saves him from regular military SER
vice. Taken suddenly from a warm room,
and exposed to rain and sleet, loss of sleep,
scant and badly cooked food, Il is but fair to
infer that the larger number of these clerks and
handicrattsme,t soiA be made more or less sick,
and rendered incapable of official labor for sceeks
TO come. The chances are that some of them sciH
die. -And skilled labor is scarce enough IL, this
Confederacy, sOliile all, or nearly ALL the Depart
nae,ats are 6elsi,sdlsand in their aoork.
The pay of cavalryman is thirteen dollars
month. His horse costs more than that, but
the two together do not cost per month more
than clerks or artisans pay per week, or
very little more. The cavalryman, properly
disciplined and kept in hand, as few have
been in this vicinity, is an efficient soldier,
capable of doing hard services without injury
to himself or the civil business of the coun-
try. What is more to the point, he can inter-
cept the raider, pursue him, cut him off, fol-
low him in all his lodgings and windings, and
bring him finally to grief
But zoe are short of men and horses. True,
vet not SO short that we cannot afford for the
protection of our Capital at least one full
brigade of the best cavalry in the service.
If too aoeak for Ibis, zoe are too aoeak to tus
and ought TO go under. We are not to weak,
however. The men and the horses can be
had by proper management and little head
work.
This cavalry brigade need not be kept here
always. 1t can go to Gen. Lee in times of
emergency. 1t can return whenever it is
needed. 1t can render material assistance in
ascertaining with certainty the movements of
the enemy, and save us from constant bell
ringing distractions and needless interruptions
of the public business IN fact, the relative
cost of TIE brigade, as compared Nth tbs repeated
suspensions of the Departments and Workshops,
,oouLd be nominal