Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-05-05
LETTERS FROM THE WAR.
BIZ BENJAMIN E. TAYLOR.
NEWS, THOUGHTS AND THINGS FROM
THE CHATTANOOGA REGION.
Special Correspondence of the Chicago Even
ing IOnrnal.

Special Correspondence of the Chicago Even
ing Journal.
AT THE FRONT, April 25, 1864.
A circus tent, new and white and swell
ing like q Lieutenant Generals MARQUEE
amid the tsttered, dingy canvass Of our
gallant host, has made its appearance
among the mountains, wherein Ubones,"
banjo and burnt cork will 20 into mourn
ing for the death Of melo drama, and the
boys in blue will pay fee at the funeral
However this may all be, there Is music
here thst can be worked splendidly in to
the grand march for the Union, for you
must know that among the song-birds
hereabouts, we have Orioles, Mocking- birds
and PARROTS" l saw q nest Of the lat
ter this morning, hundred-pounders and
you must needs be within musket spatter
of the enemy to know just how mans
heart warns TO those sturdy fellows that
put in the pedal bass Of battle. Thirteen
feet in length, circumference Of seven
feet at the Observation-Disclosures you
knew, like troopers trowsers - and
weighing ten thousand pounds, they will
toss a mass Of iron without trying, sRs far
as you can trot a sober pony in 8 round
hour. With voices like q sullen roar of
thunder, they deliver sermons IS well as
we'll as shot, and, speaking out Of the
cloud that clothes them ss with garment,
their moral effect upon an advancing enc
my is tremendous. There are plenty Of
pulpits for them about Chattanooga, and
what they lack, just now, is rebel con-
gregstion.
Writing of sermons, did you ever make
one at field preaching at the Front2 If
not, l must give pnu a hnmalp little pin.
ture 1 saw yesterday, which by the cslen-
dsr was Sunday. Blundering past rusty
camp, the tents stained and rent came
upon group Of about IS many as met Of
old "in an upper chamber" and not an
officer among them, unless it might be o
sergeant. They were seated upon logs,
and the Chaplain was just leading off in
hymn, that fosted up and was lost, like
bird in a storm, amid the clash Of bands
and the rumble Of army wagons in the val
ley below. The Chaplain wore hat with
feather in it, that he might have been
born in, for any evidence have to the
contrary, for during the entire services,
praise, prayer and preaching, the voice
came out from beneath the hat with
feather in it. Perhaps it would have struck
you as irreverent, but It may be that he
feared the misfortune Of the wolf who
talked hosrsely with little Red Riding
Hood, because he had a cold in his hood
At the heels Of the Chaplain ss he preach
ed q kettle was bubbling over fire, and
a soldier boy on his knees beside it was
apparently Horshipping the hardware
But he was no idolster for all that, since
a closer look discovered him fishing in it
for something with fork. Around tte
preacher, just out Of sermon range, boys
were chatting, smokiHgi dsrning, reading,
having q ETof1c; the voice Of q muleteer
came distinctly up from below, as he
damned the hearts of his six in hand
for no tesmster ever heard was 30 wild
as 10 swear at mules soul; the passing
trains Of ammunition crushed the Chap |
lain's sentences in two, and, now and
then, whistled q trusnt word away with |
4hsEl.l hui he lSspt-riS.Iat On, clear aarnpst
seDsible-no matter for the hat with 8 /
feather in it-snd l could not help feeling
a profound respect for the preacher and |
the group around his feet
The result Of my observation Of Chap |
lsins is already matter Of record in your |
columns, but must say that have seen |
little reason to vary my opinion that there
is no officer in regiment between cook
and Colonel, 80 utterly useless as an eff
cient Chaplain, nor go decidedly damaging |
SO an unworthy one. Ss1d q profane COT- /
onel to the question, "Wbat shall we do
with that rebel we have taken2 He says
he is a Chaplain" "DoP returned the
Colonel, keep him, d-n himl We are
oWt Of Chsplains p Now the doctrine of
total deprsvity is a good deal like the sd-
verbal sink in the old time parsing:
when we found a word and did not know
what 10 do with it, We called it an GdVerb.
So, people are apt to credit an evil to total
when, perhaps, but for them it
might not have existed at all. The Chap
ain, that Colonel was just "out Of" might
nave been good man, but he was good
nan ont Of place. he lscked-to borrow
! word from the artillerists-he lacked the
heavy metal of character; he did not
AIRY guns enough to command respect
)ne man like General Howard, command
ng the Fourth Corps, breaches sermons
IL the week through without saying
yord that put all men around him upon
heir honor.
Miss Emma Webb, the COpperhsad-ess,