The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1864-08-16
= 77-7 II :
Letter from Miles," Of the fifth.
PHREE MILES WEST or ATLANTA,
GA, July IS, 1864.

THREE MILES WEST or AT1ASrA,
/ GA, July 25, 1864.
1 EDIToR SENTIxEL:
Everything is fair in war, is an old
and accepted saying. But think there
4 is to that--like every. other rule--some
exceptions, and one is that 1t is not fair to
hold a man and allow another to strike him
| Eve blows to one Fivc'letters have been
written reasetiug severely upon @Hles % =.
for an article he asserted in a late number
Of the eSentinel and feel assured that
you, Mr.. Editor, will regard it as entirely
.taiir that I should have one m7ro chance
for life. I ask oaly this once more. to oc--
cuPy a space il your paper in reply 70
I those letters, and then promise you 1
shall subside. All ask is two blows to
five aud I agn content '1e--
I certainly did not intend to imply flat
the entire 154th Regt. retained the idea
that now for the first time "meu who had
enjoyed every luzury in life, y were obgag-
ed in the holy work Of defending our flag;
that the best blood of tha ooantry, was
now, for the first time, represented in the
army; that the. two millions that had for
merry been called out were only the Off
securing Of tie country, whose. loss would
De a blessing to the land, By no means.
1 know men IN that regiment that an /
we'll assured do not think SO. admit
that to one disposed to derive such a nead-
ing from my article, they might Do 50,
but.,I diselain any Intention. to imply the
entire regiment. Bat pat tbe writers of
those letters IN our situttioa, AMI they
will feel aud speak as did We, upon fsad-
ing that letter in the Journal" There
is nothing of which a soldier is so jealous
as his hmor, and auy reflection md. up
on it will be taken to heart, and it is right 1
it should be- All we git e5mmensurate
with our du:y aud hardships Is the honor.
The pay IS nothing. It is conscious
ness of duty done" that We wish to feel,
and We wish the gool people to aPpreci-
ate and acknowledge our services, and we
will b, we'll paid for our selfdenial5. go.
j. misrepresents me wh3re he quotes me
as saying, ono man deserves especial hon
or for doing his duty. Snuff the can
die; rub your glasses; put the paper a
little further from you-noW read-"no
man deserves especial praise" &c. Now
you have it, (you are improving rapidly in
your capacity to read } a soldier desery-
es all the h2nor a grateful people can be-
stow, but to praise the 30. n. Gs," rep
reseating that the answering of the call
vas wonderful and the patriotism withouta
parallel, as did many Of the home plper'
is wrong and unjust t3tho old War-aorn::
and bullet-scl lrrad Veterans. To enlist is
one thing; to do good AMI valuable sorv-
ice il another, and quite diff thing.
It is just as much their duty to come out
as ours, and no more wonderful mark
of patriotism. But it was made SO. To
read the pages of home papers, you would
iufar that il the estimation of the people
and some Of the N Gs. our patriotism
paled before theirs as the morning star
pales before the noon3ay sun. When a
soldier enlists he Dies his duty and all
that can with propriety be said to him by
his fond friends is: eve ara sorry you
must leave US, but your country bieeds in'
every pore, and your services are required
and your duty is to 60" Bit when he
returns and relates the terrible charges in
which he has been engaged; when he
tells how he met the deadly fire of the
enemy and wavered; when he shows
the fearful scar Obt timed while fear.essly
the victorious flag, or "takss his
crutch and shows h5w feIls were won
then may the world honor him as one who
not only enlisted in his country's behalf
but foug,t ike a dluutIess hero. All
that have a plaes on the muster roll of ;
the Government, wear Government cloth
ing, ard receive pay from Government are
not soldiers. Many such are an injury to
the service.
AS to "Greonhorns' and "Cowardsf" l
I only related some remarks that were q
ma le by the soldiers. didn't endorse
them, but simply related them to give an
idea Of the style Of remarks the soldiers ,
make. I chose the n1iLdest 1 could, T t
thinking the moro severe ones hight be
imagined. We are we'll convinced they !
will fight and wouldn't care to remain on :
the field longer than they would do. Ger /
tainly a regiment that could strike tents,
pack wagons, form line, and be eoffaon a t
march in ten minutes after receiving the
order (2) would be powerful antagonist +
They could move with such rapidly on a
the field that miunies couldn't hit them. a
tH. c. z" says the 30. N. Gs havedone Il
more hard duty than the 74th did in the {
whole of their first year in the service" Il
ao forgets that the battle Of Stone River u
vas fought during the first yelr Of our "
Organization. Or perhaps he ?
considers the "battle Of Moorefsld psf =, =,
which only nine different printed accounts v
anne into our regiment, and where they b.
saw one dead man lying by the road side n
,ut they just went on as ifnothiug had a
Iappsned pas far more terrible and :.
important than Stone River. "The l54th d,
lave mrrched as far as $50 miles in three u,
lays. When did your regiment beat that IL
lr, Miles p Never; I don't know that 81 y
Yer l heard that one beat. Our regiment
foo v,iovvg 6 n