Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-08-10

I :
BEFORE PETERSBURG, Va,
July "a, 1864.
| EDITORS JOURNAL: A long continued 81
| lence of several weeks has probably led you
to draw the not unwarrantable conclusion that
YOUR regular. correspondent of the 31th Wis
consin had contributed his two yards OF
bad stuff" to fertilize the sacred soil OF Viz
GINA Such. however, is not the case. II
not exactly still % in the fesh," am, at any
rate, - still in the bone," presenting fine
subject for the student in anatomy. Four
weeks in the hospital, and remittent fever
have incapacitated me from letter writing,
| killing rebels, writing TO the Journal and
| other polite amusements of the nineteenth
| century.
| The Thirty seventh regiment is gradually
| gaining. The men have had a respite from
| duty allowed them, and have recovered, in
| a great measure, from the fatigues of their
| long marches and hard fights. The presence
of our Colonel, whom the vexatious and har-
assing business of recruiting long detained in
| the State against his will, adds not little
| towards making the men feel cheerful and
| contented- The arrival of company K has
| brought up the effective strength Of the reg
| mept to about three hundred and thirty men
| ft for duty Not the least notahle arrival of
| late at these headquarters has been that of
| Ulysses 5. Grant, Esq, not the General of
| that name, but young eagle which the boys
| of company have brought from the State.
| He is a fine specimen of the American eagle,
| about ten weeks DID, and even at his early
| age, measures over seven feet between the
| tips of his wings. He was presented to the
| regiment by lIr. Jos. Smith, of Hudson, St
| Croix county, and is quite pet among the
men.
We still occupy our old position, the rifle
pits and breastworks in front of Petersburg
! A daily interchange of compliments, con-
sisting of musket balls she'll, &c, takes place
between us and the Johnnies and and
| then a man gets hit. Towards evening the
artillery, once in a while, commence duello
and the woody hollows round Petersburg echo
with the roar of Columbiads, Parrots, NOR
tars and all the various implements of des-
| truction used in that great game called war.
| After a while, the ear gets so nicely trained
| that. even at a considerable distance, one
can distinguish between the sharp crack Of
/ the Parrots, the dull thud of the mortars
| and the sullen heavy roar of the long 81
FOUNDER siege guns.
| The siege seems slow business to us here,
/ but it progresses satisfactorily we feel. All
| through the army of the Potomac is a deep
/ rooted, immovable faith in Gen. l. ). Grant.
/ If he is apparently doing nothing at present,
| for rAfa
in some other direction, to mature and de
velop. As rebel Captain-prisoner-sa
the other DAY In reference to Grant and Lee,
| 'Gentlemen there's two id old heads
| got hold of the chess-board now" and we see
! The point.
| Ever and anon the breath of rumor brings
Us good tiulngs from Sherman or elsewhere,
| and semi occasionally a stray newspaper
comes along confirming the same.
| The DAYS Of secession seem to be surely
numbered tighter and closer the mesh Is
/ being drawn round them. The Richmond
Ecaylsi,seg' keeps up a sickiy pretense of cheer
| tulness, struggling to maintain THE hope
/ that maketh the heart sick" Hardly day
passes without the arrival of deserters from
| the enemy in greater or less numbers, half
/ starved half clothed, sick in mind as in body,
| weary of a cause the success of which they
/ have long since despaired of, and the right
of which they are now beginning TO doubt
! Although rebels and enemies, one cannot
help feeling sorry for them, especially the
privatas Forced in, in many instances,
| against their inclinatons, in others led in by
designing politicians, the actual realities of
war have come upon many of them and
shown them, when too late, how widely they
! have erred.
! But ahler pens than mine have handled this
/ theme to depletion, and | viii leave moraliz-
| ing on the evils consequent on secession and
! stick to my proper province, that OF chron-
! telling the doings of the 37th Wisconsin.
Since our arrival here on the 10th of last
month we have taken part in four desperate
/ charges have held the advance line of works
/ for twenty-nine days, twenty-one of which
| were continuous, without relief or support.
1 We have lost since that day in killed and
wounded, one hundred and Lightweight men.
The health of the regiment is good, al
! though We have quite number of men in
/ hospital, none of the cases are dangerous,
and rest will very shortly restore most of the
/ iuvalids 20 the ranks. | enclose q list of
/ killed and wounded since the battle of the
/ Sth. and, with best wishes for the prosperity
! of the old Badger State and a speedy termi-
/ nation of the war,
Remain yours faithfully, R. c. f.
LIST Of casualties i, S7h Regiment Hisco,,si,,
Volunteers 6st,reeR .J50,e 10Th and .juiy 25ut,