Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1864-11-15
FROM THE RESERVE FORCES.
CAMP PRISON, 5,

..-g..- -..H Sdm1 = 0ASoS3 -.
FLORENCE, s. c., Nov. II, 1864. !.
Saturday night last, the prisoners had
quite merry time in the stockade. A
Yankee sutler hadmanaged to smuggle
in quantity Of liquor, while the Con
fed, who sleeps in his shanty, inside,
entered into a sort of armistice with
him, and they call got drunk together"
in which friendly gathering, he of the
fEistrong Arm," (ssLambh Laudher," as
the Irish have it) found himself minus
the next morning of his pocket book
and 81, 600, natural result from afil-
iation, or Reconstruction, it's twin-bro-
ther., The Gonfed. sutler, if not WI
ser, should be assobererman, after this.
( On Tuesday last, the prisoners, sn-
side, held an election for President,
without the fear Of old Abe's bayonets,
though still surrounded with that en-
,blem Of free suffrage, in other hands
Two bags of white and black peas were
procured, tile white for McClellan, and
the. black for Lincoln, one Of each was
given to the voter, who dropped in a
bag superintended by two b-irly inspec-
tors, The one of his choice. Little Mack's
champion was a jovial Irishman, who
made the speech Of the occasion, COM
bining some good sense, with much In
imitable humor, but with little success,
as will be seen by the sequel. The vote
as reported to me by one Of the super
v1iisors, if correct, shows but little inter
est among the mass, as their rolls show
ed week ago some 10000, not count
ing the baby and its mother; it stood,
1903, viz Lincoln, 1284-McC Clellan,
GIG. As it may be necessary that this
return should be made to Washington,
you had better send an Enquirer to Sec
retary Stanton, by flag Of truce. An
election was quite a novelty to some of
the prisoners, who never were parties
to one before, while to others it was the
first sober exercise of the franchise they
had ever indnlged in: They hurrahed
over the result, however, but the "vim"
was wanting. -. 80, ~ - - :
! This post has been well fortified, and
VIII be found available for q large force
at any time it may, be, needed. There
has been some talk Of removing the
prisoners to Columbia, and the Reserve
Forces with them, while the GeorgIans
here with us viii be sent to Charleston.
Wilmington or Savannah but the or
derly citizens Of Columbia protest
strongly against it, for various cogent
reasons peculiar to their own sense of
comfort. An !. entrepot for, Yankee
prisoners, and the necessary guard Of
citizen soldiers, are by no means an ac-
QUESTION to any fashionable town, espe7
cially one where two Terpsichorian Pro-
fessors are In full sway, with their innu-
merable votaries; nevertheless the fact
that Columbia is .'a safe place., is the
best reason why all the Reserves should
be there, that they might shelter under
the protecting wings Of the great Brig
adler. ,Badinage aside, do the Colum-
bia people know the situation Of Flor
epce? IT'S contiguity to the coast, where
raid from Georgetown. distant but
sixty miles, may at any time be gotten
mn. and If successful, greatly endanger
the roads that pour into the lap Of Co
lumbia the great quantity of public
stores deposited there? Theplace here
is well fortified as an outpost, we repeat
and that accomplished, eneighborhood
of Columbia could be placedin like con-
dition, not waiting until the Yankees
get there, as they may yet do, aoithsoast
invitation, if such selfish penny wise
and pound foolish opposition is carried
out, as the anti-War citizens of the Capt.
tai propose-for we cannot suppose
that the home Of Hampton. or the
brave soldiers who have left it or return
ed with honorable wounds, would CON;
slider as intruders the old citizens and
boys who have left their farms and
mothers apron strings to contribute
their all to the public safety. It is true,
there are other places as well fit for
the purpose as Richland District, but
the neighborhoods could justly re-vamp
the same objections, and Gov. Bonham,
yielding to the most popular objection,
might be necessitated to locate stock
ade on his own plantation. With the
Reserves, there is little choice in the
matter-t1ne, some of them from the
up-country who are expected to do all
the dirty work, will be nearer to their
homes, from whence they may occasion
ally receive "a box" Of those little
necessaries camp life require, but they
have followed the path pointed out to
them without fremonstrance," and can
not but feel aggrieYed that they should
be excluded from sthe pale" so redo
liant Of lace, fine women, dancing mas
ters, and mammoth distilleries. 1t is
to T be hoped that s some of these are the
privileged "classes' alluded to by the
Secretary Of War, in bis report to the
President, that they, too, may be or
dered from their comfortable quarters,
and find what they would mete out {, to t.9
the Reserve Forces base ingrstisude.