The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-09-03

THE SIEGE OF ArLANrA.-No material
change has taken place In the line since
last writing. Indeed, as far as can learn,
every regiment il in the same poeition.-
The sd Corps is across the Sandtown road,
and within three fOurths Of mile Of the
railway, but unable to intercept the pas
sage Of trains by its artillery. Picket fir
ing In the day time has become almost OBJ
solete, and at night the men persist in
keeping one another awake, and render
ing the night hide0us by their rapid ex-
change of shots; artillery officers follow
suit, and fire at random In the direction Of
the city-firing building occasionally,
and creating q general alarm among the
few women and children who remain.
There has, for several days, been a truce
upon the right between the pickets who are
close together, and able to join in cOnver-
satiOn. Our soldiers treat them very CIV
lily and the courtesy is returned. Both
parties are so honorable that they will me-
yer violate the truce, and when the time
comes for ending it, both sides seek their
holes, and at once, Il brisk fusilade is be-
gun between men who, perhaps a moment
before, were exchanging coffee and tGbac-
co, and clasping each others hands. Sew
eral instances Of honor on both sides have
been stated to me. One day last week the
rebel picket officer came up, and cursing
the pickets, ordered them to keep up the
|
having a truce. 'D-n your truce" said
he. "open on the scoundrels." They all
hesitated, when the officer seized gun and
fired upon our men. The rebels instant
ly sprang up, and holding up both hands,
to show their innocence, exclaimed, Hold
on, Yanks, it wasn't us, it was the Major;
now get into your pits, as he says We mus:
open dfe." of
Another of many instances. Three
rebels, being assured that they would be
permitted to return, came over toexchange
or ''swap," a. they call it, and while nego-
tiations were pending, picket officer came
down, ordered the truce broken, and would
not permit the rebels to return. They
were sent 70 brigade headquarters by q
to the brigade commander, who, while he
was no party to the truce, gave them per-
mission to return to their own lines or their
choice Of remaining. After some consul
tation, and being assured that they would
be treated as deserters from the enemy,
they voluntarily elected not to return.
DEsERTl0Ns FROM THE,ENEMY
Are largely on the increase, notwithstand-
ipg the closeness with which the lines are
drawn, and the difficulty of passing over
under fire from both sides. The men,
however, resort to various ingenious de-
vices TO get over to Us. In my last stated
the circumstance Of almost 200 coming In
on Friday night to John:on's (l4th) corps
and Logan's. have since learned that
they were the remnants OF the 18th ana -
Georgia regiments, who during truce had
arranged through q commissioner sent
over TO our line, the terms of surrender
At certain signal the two regiments,
which composed the rebel pickets, were t.
open upon our pickets, firing high, and
falling back until the rebel pickets were
drawn away from their reserve, our men
were to flank them and cut them of. The
ruse worked to charm. Our boys carried
out the programme faithfully, and All those
who were IN the secret got IN: only one
man in the line, who not having been IN
formed Of the scheme, ran back, was m
|jured by our men who also nreo over tne
rebels. The whole thing Was ingen1ousiy
planned and clsverly executed by the sklll-
ful diplomatists. This is but one OF the many
ruses resorted to to reach our line without
being subject to the fire OF their Own cOn
rades.-Cbr. Gin. Corn.
LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF SHEEP.-
The English rule is to weigh sheep wnen
fatted, and divide the weight by seven ana
call it quarters. Thus, sheep weighing
one hundred and forty pounds, would give
twenty pounds quarter as the deao
weight. If the sheep are in good condition,
this rule is sufficiently accurate for all pur-
poses. Poor sheep will fall below Inc
maIk, and extra fat ones = over 1t.
Tom Florance's Constitutional Union, OF
Washingt0n, urges the nomination OF
Frank Pierce, at Chicago, "because his
views are identical with those Of Je6. Da-
Wis" This the Constitutional Union thinks