The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1864-01-30

Sc e ~ TsglLLKs a LA-, Jan, 10th, o.
FRTEsD DURKg. szs
/ have 5ust completed the perusa Of
'your "trip from Council Bluffs 10 Des
Moines and back again. and must say that
t.yoa make great fuss over q small Ash !"
Why, my dear fellow, you surprise ME.
Have you forgotten the Bonneville and
Ripley rnarchesf These were eapitai for
you. Bat you say they are old. Well,
then, why didn't you talk about the csle-
brated march Of the old Eth Division, 18th
4, G. from Memphis to the little town
of Chattanooga Oh, you wasn't there
Well. ii is forme TO tell, then, is it Here
II goes.
On the 10th of September last, our old
Division left Vicksburg for a trip to Lit
tIe Rock. They wanted US there for there
was a prospect of fighting. When we
reached Helena, the news was that Price
had fied. No fight, no go. So lay at
Helena two weeks. It was understood
that Gen: Smith was gathering up foet
of boats to take us back to Vicksburg. He
was certainly absent the whole time in
Memphis, on business suspected some
thing-I was certain there was soneething
in the wind, for ! knew that one Johfiie
belonged to the Brigadier General timer
acy, and that he would drag us through
mnd. food, blood and blazes II he could
see any chance of banging another star out
of the bushes. / was right, in my sur
misses, and have often thought since, that
If / could hare been near him and been
.as-soldiered, would have given him q
baagthat would have made. him see ten
thousand stars, whereahe thought he saw
onlystaoo.
At first it was rumored that we were
going to Memphis to relieve Gen. yeach's
Invalid Command, axd that Gen. Veach
was going to Chattanooga. 1t pleased
many of the boys, but didn't please ME.
We did go to Memphis, however, arriving
there about the LIST of October. We swung
around to the wharf in torrent of rain
and went on shore-aH in good spirits,
for We were to be the Provost Guard of
Memphis.
An army on the move, when it wishes
10 stop, will hunt its camp; we immedi-
ately commenced hunting ours and had
a devil of time of it. On-on--on we
went-~three miles out of the city; pretty
place for provost guard. Wen, when
stopped our officers told us not to cut
down any trees, nor pulldown any fences,
nor steel any vegetables, nor catch any
chickens, nor kill any pigs, for if we did
we, should not be the provost guard Of
Memphis. 1t did have an influence over
the boys, but they will never catch them
that way again.
We stayed on the outside of Memphis
one week and then started on tour,
which if the like should be repeated in
the East, would form new hegira i'll Turk
ish history.
At first, to pacify US, they gave us a
ride on the cars. On the first jump, We
landed at Glendale, little mud-hole with
one log hut and negroe colony, nine
miles east of Cortnth, Miss. Here our
riding was at an end. and now for the
"toting." After resting in Glendale one
week, we moved on to DixOn's station,
Ala. From here we marched "hellwards'
/. e., to Chattanooga the roundabout way.
From Dixon's Station to Chickasaw ION
the Tenn. River. from Chickasaw to
Waterloo: from Waterloo to Florence;
from Florence to Rogersville; from Rog-
ersville to Bethel from Bethel to Pros.
poets Station, Ton the great Southern
Central r. R. from prospects Station
to Fayetteville, Tenn. from Fayetteville
to Winchester; from Winchester to
Decherd ION the Nashville and Chattan-.
ooga r. r.: from Decherd to Cowan 5
Station ION the same road. and now we
began to see the thing coming to point;
from Cowans Station, which lies "SnJ
caId." ofthe Cumberland Mountains, get
your Lexicon, haven't time to translatel
right over the Cumberland Hills and
down to Bridgeport on the Tennessee
River. We were now, like the Revolu-
tlOnafY. nero, SO near tiS enemy tIA"t "S
could hear their guns. He got no nearer
but we were not so fortunate. ,
At Bridgeport we rested three days and
then on we went, as the boys playtully
said, to be provost guards at Chattanooga.
Poor fellows, Many of them found their
''long homes along the steep sides of the
rugged. rocky mountains that surrounded
that once rebel stronghold. May their
spirits be guard to that principle which
they died in defending, and may they
ever feioice in the presence of our old
national flag, floating proudly and peace
fully over that wild romantic country
The distance from bridgeport to Chattan'
ooga is % miles. and We made it in t*o
DAYS time. On the evening of the 18TH
of November, 1863, we passed along 4'de'
the camp fires of the enemy, on the oeie'
brated Lookout mountain. Just little
further on we encamped and so near
were we to the rebels when we rolled our
selves in our blankets for the night, that
| it seemed one might reach the enemy
| ires at single stones throw. At two
o'clock in the morning we moved across
the Tennessee river and established
temporary camp behind mountain sspul