The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1864-01-21

our boys were on duty at the Landing
when it arrived. "What regiment is
this ?" they asked, and when the reply
was given, they started for camp like
quarter-horses, and shouted as they
rushed in and out among the smokey
cones of the "SibIeys," "the 54th Vir.
ginias at the Ferry!'' The camp
swarmed in three minutes Treasures
of coffee, bacon, sugar, beef, preserved
peaches, everything were turned out
sin force," and you may believe they
went laden with plenty, at the double
quick to the Ferry" tn. b., bf.,
1 The same old scene, and yet how
strangely changed. The twinkling
fires, the grateful incense, tho hungry
captives, but guests and hosts had
changed places the star,lit-folds
foated aloft for s'the bonny blue flag )"
a debt of honor was paid to the utter
most farthing. IF they had triumph
of arms at Chattanooga, hearts were
trumps at Kelley's Ferry. And there
it was and then it was that borrid war
smiled human smile, and a grateful,
gentle light flickered for a moment on
the point of the bayonet. And yet,
should the 54th Virginia return TO-
morrow with arms in their hands, to
the Tennessee, the Sd Ohio would
meet them on the bank, fight them foot
to foot and beat them back with rain
so pitiless the river would run red {!
No elbow pagans in little village
at the hateful age of gossip, who di.
vine each others breakfast by the smell
of the kitchen smokes, ever knew more
of their neighbors' business than the
hordes on Mission Ridge and Lookout
seemed to know of ours. On Sunday
night before the battle, rations ot
"hard-tack" and eighty rounds Of am
munition had been issued. 1t had a
serious look and argured work on Mon
day morning. That very Sunday
night, an Indiana regiment went out to
picket duty, and the first salutation
from the rebel line was, sHo, ho! you
Yanks think of fighting, do your Got
eighty rounds, did you, and hard bread
to match !" There were five Thousand
loyal men in Chattanooga at that mo
ment, to whom it would have been
the freshest of news! a u
Have 1 told you how l tried to get
out of sight of Lookout, one day.
without leaving Chattanooga, and that
| it could not be done without you turned
ostrich and hid your head in the sand,
or played Sancho Panza in his blessing
mood, and fell asleep? Climb to the
J top of Lookout and one half the mystic
!, ry that involved the rebels minute
} knowledge of our domestic matters, il
dispelled at once. Chattanooga is q
chicken-pie with the top off; you look
u down into it like the father Of the fami-
ly at Christmas dinner. Gaining the
crest of Mission Ridge, and seeing
how, from it, the rebels could have
swept Chattanooga with the siege guns
that we found lying lazily at Rossyille.
the wonder grows not so much. that
they were driven from their vantage
ground as they did not clear out the
chicken-pie to the bottom crust. Bu,
they fatally relied upon their formida
bic defenses nature and art had con
spired to make them strong and stupid
for the story of wars abundantly proves
that the very bastions furnishing shelter
to one army lend soul and sinew to the
other. More than this: there can be
: no doubt that the rebel Generals fan
cied they had us at their mercy; they
. / t-st iH ieI ~ lAiaH fs :
looked down upon us there, one hund
red and twenty-three miles from oul
base of supplies by a single line of rail
the distance eked out on thirty mile.
ofbriver by three feeble little boats
: and finished off at last with nine miles
Of mountain road. It seemed to them
that somehow they were perched. ). like
one of the Fatal Sisters upon the noun
/, tains, and that with one snip of the
: shears they could cut the slender
Z thread, and they would have us. like :
! dead oyster shivered in the shell. {
e And must own to you, now it is al
t past, that things for while wore !
doubtful look. Whether the rose "a az
f astra to the regions IIwhere men gt
about like so many Aliases, with one o.
two starry worlds upon, their shoulders
d mt would not become me to state, ever
|, if knew, but down in theignoble realn
of the stomachs of rank and file, ther,
g qoas, night after night, doubt as tn IN,