Litchfield enquirer., 1864-05-19
COrrespondence of The Enquirer.
 ALEXANDRIA, VA., May 9th, 1864.

8 Ing of special importance has occurred in this aregion- that is, nothing exciting, nothing out of the general run of happenings in country where WAT scenes and war surroundings are constant and daily. And do not know as l
 should trust myself to write you this letter, il Fit wasn't fact that people sometimes like to know that there has nothing happened up to a specified date, when expectation, mingled with hope, fear and doubt. is raised to such an ex- citing pitch as that of the public mind of the North must at present be, considering the very hostile positions assuming by those two magni Sfcent armies of the Potomac.
 Railroads to the front continue to operate, night and day, but they carry fewer troops than , they did week ago. They are loaded now more with forage and supplies, and within day or two several batteries of Light Artillery, pon 3toon boats. Ambulances and army wagons have gone out on the Orange and Alexandria
 Road
 A large portion of Burnside's Expedition passed through the suburbs of the city last week, on their way-some vhere. It took the { Scolumn-consisting of Infantry, Light Artil- slery and Cavalry with their wagon and am bulanee trains,-from o'clock A. NJ. till about sssundown to pass at a given point, and it was ssaid that it constituted only one third of his Sforce, that there were two other columns on Bother roads.
 We are having beautiful Spring weather here snow-just the kind for army movements, and sfarmers, and the latter are improving it, al- sthough their work is necessarily slow, for you must recollect that at one time this was almost ssthe front" and that these sacred hills were covered with the white tents of an army, skr- finishes, even, occurring only short distance interior. In fact the murder of Col. Ellsworth reminds us that Alexandria proper Aas been the scene of bloodshed between our soldiers and ; the rebels. Of course every foot of ground j bears marks of war Fences have all been de- stroyed and must necessarily be rebuilt, and many other difficulties must be overcome, but the farmers are busy, with all the help they } lean command, and are in fair way to raise arcmunerating crops. Military authorities are en couraging them, and have made trespass by ! ssoldiers punishable offence.
 Some of the forts in this vicinity were visit Eel on Wednesday, 4th inst,, by Generals Howe and DeRussey, and the troops garrisoning them dressed up in their best'' and went through 5 the various evolutions of drill. The companies of the 2d Conn. Artillery Regiment stationed , at Fort Ellsworth drilled on their heavy guns Flight battery guns and afterwards in infantry battalion movements. Their precision and apromptness Of action, and every day order, was s illustrated on the occasion. When the batta- a alion received information that the Generals : " ere coming, they wer, on drill ia fatigue dress ' and looked dusty and brown. In ten minutes every man was in the ranks in ''trainin' day clothes, bright as pin. On Thursday follow. , ed Brigade dress drill and parade, at Fort , Worth, consisting solely of the lst and 2d
 Conn. Artileries. There were upwards of 3,
 900 men, and they appeared well. suppose ! our folks" at home would have called it a
 grand sight. Probably it was, but where one 3participates the charm vanishes. How differ
 ent is war practically from war as idealized l.
 To witness, and then go home and talk about
 ths magnificent grandeur of such large body
 of men in precise and concerted movements is ! 3all very we'll It would make man enthusias.
 tic, naturally enough. But when you get into
 the ranks and consider the matter individually you will find that every man goes into the
 ranks just about as farmer goes out to feed his pigs. It is the same thing daily, and it. no wonder that men on garrison duty should
 long for the more exciting life of active service though accompanied by severer hardships and
 greater danger.
 Any number of startling ''rumors of wars are brought to us, but they don't amount to vancing, and it may be so. If it sAould prove true, very few days will pass before the whole , North will be electrified with the news of a
 battle, and rejoice over glorious victory won, or mourn disastrous defeat.
 John H. Thompson, member of Go. c, lst Ohio Cavalry, was shot for assertion to the ene- my last week. The place of the execution was about mile from Alexandria. It created quite an excitement both among civilians and soldiers and should judge about 4,OOO or > 1000, of both classes were present to witness it : The affair was conducted in the usual manner He was shot upon his own coffin, by squad
 detailed for the purpose, from the lst D. c ! Regiment. The religious ceremonies were af Hfecting in the extreme. After prayer, by the HChaplain in attendance, hymn was sung, in , which the prisoner joined, his voice sounding ] aclear and strong above the others. He evinced
 the utmost calmness, never moving muscle ir
 agitation up to the command" ,"Aim Fire" whict kconsigned him to eternity. He met his deatf f more with the air of a martyr than of traitor
 His conduct and conversation prior to his exc |lcation indicated penitenee.
 QuINNIPIAK.
 A letter from Rome mentions that all the
 :.uols nd fha 0o1d crown of the statue of the