Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-04-13
Camp of 5th New York Cavalry,
WINCHESTER, March 9th 1865.

DEAR SISTER Il received your most well
come letter last evening, and was very glad
to hear again from home You know that
letters, to soldiers life, are like stars in a
dark sky, and every mail is watched in
fever of anxiety. | supposed you had
heard of my return from the raid, as wrote
home the next day, and furthermore, | do
not think you read the papers much, or you
would have seen an account of our doings.
Well we started from here, Feb. 9th, with
Gen. Sheridan, and proceeded with him as
far as Waynesboro', where the fight took
place between Gen. Custer and Gen. Early,
the result ending i'll the capture of Early's
whole army, wagons, artillery, and every
thing belonging to his command, and he
only escaped by the skin of his teeth"
| by taking to the mountains His army
consisted of only about one thousand three
hundred men, which we guarded safely back
to Winchester. We were four days going
and six coming back, the distance being
one hundred and twenty miles, the road
with the exception of twelve miles was
very good, being a macadamised pike, and
that twelve miles was the worst road |
ever travelled without any exception. The
mud was knee deep to our horses, and you
can imagine how the prisoners looked
wading through this mud. occasionally
poor fellow would fall fiat on his face,
and half dozen men run over him. l felt
sorry for the misguided rascals They were
mostly well dressed-altogether the best
looking lot of "Johnnies" | have ever
seen some of them expressed themselves
stiff Secesh-others said they were glad
they were taken
Although we had no hand in capturing
the prisoners, we had the satisfaction of
| cleaning out some of Rosser's men who had
gathered together with the intention of res
cuing their fellows, and had been following
| in our rear all the way from Stanton, every
day getting more men until they had got
| three hundred men of all kinds, the most of
them officers and when we arrived at the
Shenandoah valley, we found we were sur
rounded by guerrillas, could see them all
around us, and they attempted to hold the
river SO that we could not cross, but they
did not do it. While we were crossing the
prisoners, the rebs thought they could drive
the rear guard into the river, and probably
kill or drown them, but the 5th n Y was
there as rear guard, what there was of us
only about two hundred men and we
let the Rebs come upon a charge to within
about twenty rods of Us, when we gave
them volley and returned the charge with
such fury that they were obliged to make
good their escape as best they could, not
however without leaving ten men killed and
twenty prisoners. After that they were
contented to let us come on in peace, and
did not bother us any more. There are
some interesting accounts in the papers of
Sheridan's raid. They printed paper III
Charlottesville, advertising for their julie,
land my boy Rosser," describing them as
"runaways"
The Johnnies in this valley are terribly
afraid of Sheridan's cavalry, it is perfect
terror to them Little Custer is the man to
cad them a dash and "a yell, and the Rebs
fly before them.
Charge was the Captains cry,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die.
As into the jaws of death
Rushed those brave hundreds"
Often | have thought of those words
when going into fight, "Ours but to do
or die" but we think we can see the end
when Sherman closes up on Lees rear there
will be no alternative for him but to sub
nit, and Lees army once destroyed, the re-
belion is crushed; and ere another cam
pain ends, or before another harvest is
come, the war will be over, and we shall
have an honorable and lasting peace, and
we shall all be sent home to dear friends,
there to enjoy the blessing of one of the
best governments that ever existed on the
face of the earth. And we shall be proud
to know that we have stood by our coun-
try and defended the dear old Stars and
Stripes.
We have meetings, spelling schools,
prayer meetings, &c. at the chapel, which
are we'll attended. The wind tonight is
blowing perfect hurricane. The weather
has been delightful for the last few days
The grass is beginning to look quite green
) the leaves are bursting out il the warm
genial sunlight, the air is full of sweet song
of birds, and everything tells us that spring
has again come to gladden. the earth. Write
at your earliest convenience.
Your Affectionate Brother,
L. Huston CASE.
No human heart is vacant. 1t has as in
, habitant-- an angel or devil.