Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-11-19
ARMY coRREsPoNpENcE.
Prem the Thlrty-Seyenth Regiment.

HEADo'Rs 37rH Wis. Vol. INF'Y,
- PEBBLES FARM, PETERSBURG, Va,
ss October 80, 1864.
EuroRs JOURNAL: Since my last letter to
you we have had an agreeable little inter-
Jude to the monotonous life we were leading
at these headquarters. On the 26th instant
the entire 9th Corps was. reviewed, by di-
vision,5 by the respective division generals,
and the same night orders came for US TO
draw six days ratioRs and 90 rounds of am
munition. This looked ike business, and
that Immediate and pressing, though, OF
course, we were ignorant of its exact nature.
The usual speculations were rife throughout
the CAMS Danville and Burkesville were
named aszsslkely spots" and individuals OF
sanguine sanguinary and facetious turn
of mind, made appointments to dine at imsgi-
nary hotels in Petersburg Late in the even
ing the order. game, Strike tents at 2 A. M.
andsbe in readiness to march by g." The
fewshours remaining US forsfeep passed away,
as such hours generally do, quickly enough,
and at the first tap of the drum at O'Clock
of the dull, misty, morning, that the 9th OF
October offered to the world as its best effort,
the men weTe-up and dressed and ready for
thea.rext item in the bill of fare. The rows
of white tents melted away like fog banks be-
fore Tie sun, and perched themselves II, a
condensed shape on the knapsacks of the
men,, coffee was drank and hard tack disposed
of in quick style, and 3 o'clock found the
regiment in column ready for the order to
march. This soon arrived, and we were
quickly stumbling along amcng the stumps
and brush roots of the road leading out due
west from our. camp. Just outside the abat-
tbs we we're halted and ordered to sit down
on each side of the road while the I'd and Sd
brigades Of our division passed through our
ranks to precede US. This took up some lit
tie time, so that day had fairly dawned and
the sun was Beginning to rise, as we passed
through our picket line and formed line of
battle in field beyond the woods in front of
our trenches ST. Z
The rising sun shone redly through heavy
bank of clouds low down in the east, the
morning was raw and chilly, and anything
but a pleasant one, for either fight or irolic,
but our boys we're in the best possible spirits
and eager and anxious for a row. Our regi-
ment was, asI have said, formed into line of
battle and while this was being done, dis
tant diminishing on our left indicated that
the 9Th corps had already got into it, and
that the ball had commenced. Forward
all nswas the call of Gen. Hartrauft, our
Brigade commander, and forward we went to
support the-51st Pennsylvania, who were de-
ployed as skirmishers, in our front.
In this style we advanced for about two
miles, the skirmishers feeling the way eau
and the line of battle supporting
them. Occasional shots were exchanged in
our front till about A. NJ, when the firing
blazed up pretty lively and was continued
for an hour in somewhat brisk style. We
were then halted in the rear of the Pegram
farm, and after having been " saluted by
couple of round shot, shell, and a round of
spherical case, from an unseen battery, were
ordered to lie down in the edge of a thick
swamp and this order we, like well-trained
soldiers as we consider ourselves, promptly
obeyed.
Whilst waiting here for orders, some of US
started to the house in our front to recon
hotter, and found it inhabited by family
from 0swego, State of New York, consisting
of an old man and his daughter and her
children. The father of the latter, we were
told had been shot By the ieDeis Tor suspect
ed Union proclivities In this field occurred
our only casualties in the days work, Pri-
vate Bent, Co. ID, being severely, though not
wounded in the head by piece
of shell and one other man having his shout
der slightly confused by the same missile.
Advancing at length across The field, we
found our skirmishers" brought up all stand
ing" and rafting away with their Spring
fields right merrily, and here our reconnois-
sance ended. Our scouts reported the enemy
behind very strong works with
{" slashing in front OF some two or three
hundred yards in width. Deeming the as
sault of these works inadvisable if not i'm
our General ordered us to go to
work and build breastworks, and in very
short season a strong breastwork, composed
of logs covered with earth, was thrown up
along the Whole front of our brigade. Be-
fore dark the timberI for. some tenor fifteen
rods in our front was cut down with the tree
tops towards the enemy's works, and the
boughs so intimately connected" as to form
"a slashingn the most adventurous Johnny
would hardly care to endeavor to penetrate,
At least with hostile intention.
By shutdown we were all, officers and men,
pretty well tired out, and were glad to "court
the balmy;" and one-third of the regiment
being directed to be on guard at once, the
remainder disposed themselves to sleep as
best they could. About this time, the rain,
which had been all day impending, CON-
nenced to fall in good earnest, and as no
fires were allowed to be lighted for fear of
drawing a fire of different kind from the enc
",
The next time you have a rainy night, just
imagine you belong to the Army of the Poto-
mac, go out into the Park, let the pile of
cord wood that generally adorns the south
west angle of the capitol represent the
wrap yourself in a cavalry over
coat, and take a seat on the bare ground,
your back against the end of the sticks of
wood, and if before morning you are not
picked up by the patrol as a lunatic or inc
Driate, you will know how the night of 0cto-
Der 9th was passed by large portion of the
Army Of the Potomac. The sensation, crede
srperto, is a miscellaneous one, a tender feel
ing about the parts in contact with surround
ing objects, a n,oist feeling about the back of
the neck and sother parts where moisture
ought not to be, except at stated periods,
md when washing is in vogue; an amphibi-
ous feeling generally, and feeling of hatred
toward ones brethren, especially the ser
ringn ones of the Southern States.oot97a8
The long hours of the night passed slowly
away, their silence only broken by the ceassless
drip of the rain, and an occasional shot from
som conscientious picket who deemed it his
duty to FIRE at anything that moved near his
post, were it only a bush swinging in the
wind. Towards morning fellinse an uneasy
slumber, during which i dreamt l was ship
wrecked, drowned, married to a mermaid,
had raised a family and was holding the
youngest, a codfshy looking infant, in my
lap, when awoke, and after brief mental
struggle, realized the fact that sat beneath
the pine trees of the Virginia. swamps, the
rain running down the back of my neck and
dripping freely rom my nose, sitting in one
pool of water with my feet in another and
my sword lying across my lap. About s
o'clock the company cooks came up with the