Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1865-04-14
NO. 3.

! forgotten by his nepheWs on TINS great
triumph day of the Republic.
I The Twentieth Corps crossed the Great
I Pedee at Cheraw during the night of
! March 9th. Thus the ninth river of the
campaign was left behind US. Hardee
withdrew his forces from our front and
| the march was continued without imped-
iment except from the bogs and swamps.
! At II o'clock on the 9TH the old Third
! Brigade crossed the line separating South
from North Carolina. We had now fair
| ly entered the pitch-pine region. The
eye wearied of the piney, pitchy monotO-
ny which everywhere presented ITSELF
In vain it wandered in search of some
| object to change the scene,
sswLers to the North pine trees in prospcst rise;
Where 10 the Eas', pine trees assaiI the skies;
Where to the West, pine trees O6sruct the view
| Where TO the South. pine tire ees forever grew
| The country now became wretchedIy
poor and the occupation of our bum
mers" was gone. Now and then a squalld
cabin would be found which was the
home of some distiller of turpentine.-
/ To me it was a mystery how the few in
| habItants of the country lived. | tried to
conjure up their daily bill Of fare and
finally made it out about as follows
Breakfast, pitch mullins, rosin biscuit,
fried tar. Dinner, turpentine soup, pitch
pudding, tar pie. Supper, chewing gum.
1 L
oldest settler" but is simply deduced
from observations of the country.
| When the troops are on the march
| they usually kindle fires at every halt
A soldier can hardly stop ten minutes
without setting fire to something. 1T
matters not what comes in his way, wheth-
er it be fence, a alog-heap, or corn-crib,
| if it will make fire suitable for warm
ing his hands or cooking a tinful of coffee
/ h, 6o fO THb11c fhoCa
cOmbustible turpentine forests all along
| the line of march became fired. The
gum which gathers on the outside of
each tree that has been tapped for tur-
pentine is very inhamable. Consequent
! " when the fire begins to spread itself
among the dry debris of the forest 1t
soOr communicates itself to this gum and
the trunk of each tree becomes enveloped
in a shroud of rigid fame. This will con-
| tinue until the gum IS all consumed
which requires about twenty minutes
time. The appearance of pine forest
burning in this way is, is at night especial
| ly. very beautiful. 1t resembles very
much the myriad fires of the camp.
The effect upon our soldiers of being
constantly exposed to the dense black
smoke caused by the burning of pitch
pine was remarkable. They became
transformed in spite of themselves into
! exaggeration in saying that an enemy
might easily have mistaken them for negro
soldiers. / have seen many a man the lin
eaments of whose countenance was so
| disguised by the all-pervading pitchy SCOT
that doubt if his best friends could have
recognized him.
As might be inferred, much of country,
particularly that in the vicinity of the Lum-
ber River, is very wild. During a march
1 of eighteen miles, I observed only three
| dwellings, and these were rude cabins
Wild deer were seen skipping about in the
woods 2S the column moved along. The
road was little more than a mere opening
through the interI2ipable pine forests.
On the 9th of March the Twentieth Corps
| crossed Drowning Greek, on Lumber river,
at McFarland's Bridge. The old Third
Brigade had the honor of being assigned to
the work of recOnstructing this bridge
/ which had been destroyed by the enemy.
Emerging from the gloomy pine forests
which border the deep narrow channel OF
the Lumber we came into a more fertile dis
trict and our fOragers soon added some
other articles of diet to the parched corn
which had begun to be nearly our only
means Of subsistence,
On the llth the Left Wing arrived at
Fayetteville. The troops had hardly gotten
possession of the town until the whistle OF
a steamer was heard far down the Cape
Fear River. 1t was a Union gun-boat COM
ing up from Wilmington. Such is the vast
energy with which our Government prose-
cutes this war! How amazing! y Union
Steamer from Wilmington arriving at Fay
etteville almost cOincident with the Grand
Army from Savannah! Could such spIen-
did episodes and condolences occur in
war waged for cause less great, Less Just
than ours? Methinl<s not. God watches
over the destinies of this nation and guides
its armies and its fleets. He prospers our
cause for the reason that it is Just, and in
this sign we shall conquer.
A. T. scotland.