Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-05-17
+, CORRESPONDENCE OF THE JOURNAL
Letter from near Richmond, Va.
HEADQUARTERS LIGHT BATTERY a, lsT !
Penn "a Artillery, 24th Army Corps,
Manchester, Va, May Sd, 1865.

what lnopportune, on account OF the time
which. has elapsed, yet propose, as briefly
as L can, to continue my narrative of the OPP
erations of this organization since | last adj
dressed you.
On the oath of March, we We're ordered
to have everything in readiness for an i'm
mediate march, but after waiting for some
hours, the orders were countermanded, and
we have since learned that 1t was the Iuten-
ton to have us sent to the left with Sheri-
dan and Meade. But for the time being
we were allowed to remain unmolested.
OnApril 3D., however, ynthe successful
operations on the left on the lst and ID, the
way for our advance was opened Late in
the afternoon Of the I'd information was
brought in by deserters, and confirmed by
our scouts, that the rebel works on our front
were being evacuated, and orders were at
once issued for an early advance on the fol-
lowing morning, and at the hour designated
we were on the New Market road with faces
towards Richmond Fifteen minutes march
brought us to the first line of rebel works ;;
and these passed without the sign of a 'reb'
we continued forward with that buoyancy of
spirit, which could only arise from the. self
evident fact that we were about to realize
the full fruition of every hope INDUCED in
during the vicisitudes of three and a half
years of active, cruel, and relentless war
that of entering in triumph the rebel capl-
tal At 81 a. IN. on that glorious morn, our
battery fled within the precincts of the COW
eted city, being the second to enter-the
post of honor being reserved by the Chief
of Artillery for his own battery, whose gul-
dons We're the first artillery colors flung to
the breeze III that nest OF treason. | need
not repeat how very soon after the occupa-
ton OF the city. the old order of things were
reversed, nor with what fiendish maleve-
lence the most business part of the place
was fired by the retreating traitors, leaving
desolation and famine to greet our approach.
Every one is now familiar with all this, or
have been crowded from the memory by
rapidly occurring events J. could not but
think, at the time, that the day of our en-
trance into Richmond was the proudest pc
riod OF my life, but the glory OF that hour
was soon destinedto be absorbed by the more
resplendent lustre Of the achievements Of
the army on the left, under the immediate
direction OF Grant which, by the most in
defatigable exertions, succeeded in intercept
ing the retreat of the army of Lee, and
forced that willy chief at last to succomb to
superior skill--resulting In the surrender Of
his whole army on the 9th
Yet scarcely had the reverberations of the
cannon's notes of rejoicing ceased, and while
yet the exultant spirit ofbur army here was
at Its hight for what had been done, and the
bright prospect the event had given us of
an early and honorable peace, the astound-
ing intelligence Of the assassination of the
President of the United States burst upon
us like clap of thunder from ii eloudless
sky, so increditable did the report at first
appear but when the fearful reality was
verified by official dispatches from the Sec
,Nf,r al
most uncomfortable Indignation, and loud
AMI deep were the execrations heaped upon
the assassin who could thus with fendish
and insatiate thirst imbue his polluted hands
in the blood of the Nation beloved chief.
In an evil hour, our great aud good and
beloved President, the commander-in- chief
of the army and navy, was stricken down
by the violent and relentless hand of treason
and just as the country was emerging from
the tolls of rebellion unprecedented IN his
tory Tor persistency in its unholy work, and
when our chief executive was just beginning
to witness with evident satisfaction the fri
umph OF right over wrong, Of freedom over
slavery, then thirty millions of people were
left the mourn the calamity as the greatest
single misfortune that ever betel any hatioe
or any people. Not simply has Abraham
Lincoln passed from earth to Heaven, but
the recognized and adored head Of a great
nation has been severed from the national
body, III which was centered the hopes of
millions of his adniring and confiding coun-
trymen, and in whose wisdom was reposed
the implicit faith and ability as an instru-
ment in the hand Of God, in whom he re
lied, to bring the country swiftly into state
of tranquility and peace.
In the providence Of that God, who con
trols and directs the destinies of nations as
of men, the great and good man who has
just fallen at his post, was placed at the
helm of the ship-of-state at a time when the
waves OF sectional fanaticism threatened to
engulph her N the maelstrom of destruction,
and who, by his coolness in the hour of dan
GER and by his foresight and his unexamped
integrity was largelysinstrumental, perhaps
more than any other man, IN guiding that
ship through the stormy pillows of more
than four years of lncessant war, and then,
just as the shore of peace was looming up
under the soft shadows of safety and repose
and promising permanent relaxation from
the tolls and cares and dangers of his ardu-
Gus labors, which bore him down with their
crushing weight, and against which he strug-
gled with almost superhuman efforts, he Is
smitten to the earth with the implous hand
of the assassin, and the American people
overwhelmed with grief and indignation at
the heartlessness of such damnable act.
No words of mine, no thoughts that [
could pen, can sufficiently express the deep
adherence and indignation that wells up
within my heart at the contemplation of so
sad and atrocious an event; and on It's an
nouncement here among the soldiers of the
24th corps and, indeed, among all classes of
every distinction, was the signal for the
most universal outspoken condemnation
which has ever been my fortune to witness.
Tt seemed to me that, as if by magic, all
distinctions of caste, all animosities between