Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1864-02-09
NO. 81.
FOR THE SPECTATOR.
INFORMATION WANTED 7

! Don,t imagine, gentle reader, that my wife or
| daughter has eloped with some gentleman with
oars or stars upon his collar, for have neither.
| NOT tna1 my brother or some other near relative
nas peen IN ssing for months, of whom moth
ing can be heard but the information wanted
is this; Ist, Why is it that Ouartermasters and
lCommlssaries with the rank and nay of Captain
or MAJOR can dress finer, ride finer and fatter hor-
ses tnan company or field officers of the same
RANK ana pay "a, Why is it that Commissaries
can feed their horses ON coru-meal at the rate
oi from TWO to three gallons per day, and them-
| selves on ham, sweet potatoes molasses and ev-
cry otner good thing that the country can afford,
Wniie private or company officer does not know
that there Is such thing in existence Sd, Why
is 1t that Certain gentleman who volunteered for
the war in the Spring of 1852, has been ut homo
lever since that time without dong one days.
| duty aud without putting man in his place, has
never been reported by the officers of his COM
pany or regiment, while another member of the
same company who has over hundred Thousand
dollars less to fight for than the other gentleman
referred to, has been reported by tue same ofii-
GERS as a deserter, because he happened to be-
detained on his way to the army by Gen. Lees
order
| do not pretend to know anything about mil
itary law, nor civil jurisprudence; bat claim
to have q little COMMON SENSE, which has always
enabled me to distinguish right from wrong; SO
when | with the rank OF captain or
Major exposing himself to the enemy's balls as
well as to all the trials and perpiexites OF camp
life, and then at the close of each year hndS
himself in debt from five hundred to thousand
dollars, while another man, with the same rank
and pay, lives upon The fat of the land, never
heard minnie, and at the end of each year buys
a farm for twenty or thirty thousand dollars cash
down, when every body knows that before the
war he couldn't pay his liquor bills, am fore
ed to conclude that all is not right. So, also,
when ! see man, difference what his age
may be, volunteer for the war and then go home
and remain there unmo iested and unreported oy
the officers under whom he volunteered, while
all others are reported as deserters if they hap
pen, from any cause whatever, to remain DAY
or two over their time, am | compelled to come
to the same conclusion. And when see that
same man riding around through the country
buying everything he can get hold OF ana tnen
selling it for double what he gave, whiethe other
man, who is no more volunteer than no, ana
who stands upon precisely the same footing ln
his company, has TO have his name banded a
round not only through the army, but in his
native counly as deserter, simply because ne
failed to report up to time owing to The tact tnae
Gen. Lee had ordered all men to be stopped
at Gordonsville, [ am constrained to beheVe
that JUSTICE has fled from her temples on eartn
and awaits us only on high to measure out Whas
is right between man and man do not pretend
to say that these things are not right IN the eyes
of the MILITARY, but from where stand, Deneatn
a musket and forty rounds OF cartridges, 1T DOES
NOT LOCK so consequently, any information on
the subject will be gratefully received by
JUSTICE, Co. T, 5th va. lnfantrys