Litchfield enquirer., 1864-07-14
Our Army Correspondence.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF POTOMAC,
 .Inlx. fsh 1aHA


 1 HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF POTOMAC
 July 7th, 1864. , DEAR ENQUIRER It is hot For weeks the t sun has looked down with it's eyes of fire upon thisanproteeted, sweating, panting. and parch, ed army. But sixteen drops of heaven.distill- ed rain have fallen upon the head of your cor respondentin twice that number of days, q make this statement from actual memoran. da); and not even cloud as large as a mans hand is visible now to excite his faith and hope.
 There are some phenomena developed by such "speA of weather" that are interesting if not remarkable. The densely wooded cOun. try where the left wing of our army lie, is r mdfura s'Oan.p. It is gsnera1ly low country, undralned by art, and covered with'a thick growth of "scrub oaks" and pines; yet even there not particle of water is found, except by digging to the depth If from 5 to 10 feeA Water has become an article of staple value. and have been often amused to see how sa. credly the boys upon the bat tie line hoard ur up half tea cup full or so, for future sanitary or culinary use. This will evaperate in a few hours and leave the proprietor in dumb aston ishment and suspicion of his eoinitadss. Am other phenomenon is the 'grizzley negro"-a mixture of the pure negro, and some of 'the dust of the Earth" of which white men are supposed to have been made. Col ored mule. drivers, after riding few hours under sun that literally "taRss the juice out" of tAenn through clouds of rolling dust, (six lazy mules can beat twenty mad bulls at raising dust, become covered With thick coating of nna white sand, giving them kind of "half-mourn; f ing" color. It is at this state of civilization ) that they take the above cognomen. By the way it has been discovered that ne- groes are natural muleteers as they arc natural horsemen. As Beta" of the N. Y. Tsibxns says: "thsre seems to be an understanding be. } tween darkey and a muls" A mule is "a study" any way. He will stand for hours with his ears sat firmly back and his eyes bali closed, the perfect ideal of stubbornaess and stupidity. 3 A big horsea may light upon his tail and 3 e1'a,O blood, but it cannot draw from him the least sign of life or susceptibility. Let white l man mount him, and he braces his fore legs, crouchss his hips, sets his eais hack mere firmly, and-that is all. The rider may kick him. and club him, and stono him, and swear at him but the only way he can make the mule go is to fasten him to four or five mules that ,uant to go and have them drag him. believe have seen mules pulled along thus for Q nile, over rough corduroy roads, before they would y submit. But let negro get into the saSdlo. crack his whip mechanically. and cry chip, hip" two or three times-ths mule "erects" his ears , like two Church spires, turns cheerful eye of recognition on the mutual friend" upon his 7 back, and "makes tracks," There is never any disagreement between them. If the mule is "dead sot" that he will not go, the negro does not care to go just then; if the mule is d<tsr- mta'ed to go to the right, or fsft, or backw ards or forwards, and will not listen to reason, why the negro :happens to be going that way" too; so ''all goes as merry as marriage bell" be- tween them, aud the negro, in the end, always has his way.
 Very few and slow changes are transpiring ! here now. Our lines are gradually being strengthened and advanced. Heavy siege guns. all l believe in charge of the lst Corn. Artil-
 lety, are being brought to the front and placed n in commanding positions. Artillery firing is n very actiye and the siege ef Pstersbu,y seems
 to have really commenced. Parallells are even now beginning to reach out after the enemies . rihe-pits, and mines are being constructed an der on bed of their strongest works. Un-. r. doubtedly the rebels are not less active. A r collision is at any moment possible, but noS' : probable. An attack was projected, to take
 place early this week, but was abandoned fer very good reasons.
 l The Rebel demonstration on the upper Po- g tomac creates no anxiety here. It is looked upon az ruSe, to draw away share of Grants forces from this position, but it has most sign ally failed. Gen. Grant has sent force, but no more than he could safely spare with the whole rebel army in his front. Every maG whom Lee sends upon such An expedition will be nearly the same as one recruit to the Army of the Potomac; for it will be strange if the North cannot present local opposition that will be sufficient, against any force that Lee can spare from his threatened and psrilous position here. and leave these brave men to rest or advahts.
 have not seen the And Artillery since my
 last letter but it is hardly possible that anything important has transpired with them.
 ! REV.