The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-01-07
Army Correspondence.
SAVANNAH. GA. Dec. 23d 1864.

! To tie Free Trader:
In my former letter ! brought up nv Jour
| nal TO the night of the 18th Of Nov We
were encamped on the Ulcofancatchee river,
a clear beautiful stream, but scarcely large
enough at this point to be dignified with so
formidable q name.
Nor. l9M-Up to last night we have had
uninterrupted pleasant weather and excellent
roads. The vast amount of confagration,
however, which has accompanied our march
es, has finally produced what DR.. Espy would
have called cts legitimate effect rain
storm. 1t rained steadily most Of the night
though not heavily, and this morning the
whole country is developed in a dense fog.
This place was designated as a point at
which our corps should 'close up and the
| second division is now to take the lead. IL
| was, therefore, after dinner before our divi-
sion got under melton. The rain that fell
last night had only laid the dust in the road
| rendering marching easier than before. Our
route TODAY Law through Il very fine, and well
cultivated region Astounding with supplies =;
to-nigh, cur Yacl, animals were heavily loaded
with sweet potatoes. vans, pork, mutton,
turkeys. chickens corn meal, -four and sorgum
moasses. Our ioragers also secured quite
4 number of excellent horses aud mules.
through the country entirely unmoested bv
any enemy. To-day, however. it was ascer-
tanned that a small band o.; rebe! cavalry are in
our vicinity. Thcy were seen bv our forage
party, and report says, that several soldiers
have fallen into their hands. They will. no
doubt. hereafter watch our movements and
endeayor To pick up straggiers. ! don't know
but their presence viii be an advantage to Us
as it will prevent much Of the unnecessary
Struggling off BY q certain class ofmea whose
object Is more to rob and plumber than 70 in
lure the enemy.
This evening Just before dark we passed
through Sandtown. railroad station on the
!. 4 \. H. K. This IS one Of the pretticst
little villages have seen in GEORGIA. |,
has the appearance Of being cluster Of resi-
dences OF wealthy planters. All the build
ings are large, handsome and in good rrp,ir.
The station house. On :he railroad. IS also one
o: the best this side Of Ottawa.
Owing :, The late hour Of cur leaving
camp TO-DAY i, was after ten o'clock To- NJ yht
before w c.mc to Aal. We eucam,aed
en- a large plantation whe-e there WIS p.ea,r
Of forage for our horses and mule. and
plenty 81 rails Tor the men 70 cook their sup
pers with.
Noe. .0h-Bu; little attention is pad to
trail Ihey are 10 doubt citizens who keep
in our wake putting out fires 20 save their
fences. Thcy evidently have no desire 70 come
in collision with our f,rase parties. Soldiers
are a queer set, nearly every one smokes and
fire i, therefore constantly in reguisition.
For out OF SO many so!ne viii always be
ready 10 Ugh; his pipe. The consequence 5
that all along the line Of march either the
woods or adjoining fences are KEEP: ia a p--
pituai blaze. 1t i 10 eEtnrgIsl there fires
doubtless that bands O! hor>emen, 50 lreqeu,-
" seen BY our men, follow aate-us should
they fall in with anv Of our st-aryers thew
would. no doubt capture them could they do
it w.tnou, exposing ;Heir OWE lives although
il dose no: appear 10 be their object. The
ONLY effect their presence has produced up
on our mar.uders IS 70 induce Is - keep to-
ge;her in a larger sqnad, so they can defend
eacLothcr in case tEev are attacked.
Ii rained moderately, Al Intervals. ali day
bu: not enough % i,npa;. the roads. We
made 20 miles by eigL: o'clock .. m aad en-
camped abou, SIX niles East Of Shady Dale.
on another large plantation.
SHADY Dale is the name o. the Whiteield
Estate. 1t is one ofthe richest estates In Geo.
Around the propretor's residence IS quite
large village Of negro houses. This estate
is said to own over 1000 slaves AID nearly
Onc-third o. Jasper county. As We marched
through tho negro village our bands PLAYED
some lively pieces. This was something new
to the simple minded iarkies. who had never
heard any thing in the shape ofiustrumental
music above the banjo and homes. and they
all came streaming from thier houses to the
road apparently wild with enthusiastic de-
|, ght at the rrea: volume Of music that poured
forth from the bands. Some Of the Jolly
chaps unable to withstand the temptation,
leaped into the road and went to dancing
with all their might. The wenches, who had
on their Sunday Co-to-incetng clothes. cluster
ed around the bands and followed the column
for several miles, hopping and stamping with
their feet to keep time with the music. Ii is
remarkable to witness the power music has
over these negroes. Those that followed our
army marched all day and at night, the
moment the bands 20 to playing, they COM
mence dancing and keep it up as long as
the music lasts. They frequently run mile
with all their ght 70 get to there the bands
are playing and as soon as they arrive at the
spot they commence their favorite Terpsicheo-
an performances.
Nor 2l.-During the night we had very
heavy rains; an' this morning our camp was
perfect mud hole. 1t was after midnight
before all the trains got in. We moved out
this morning at daylight. The roads were
awful. The mud deep and sloughs filed with
water. 4 dense fog hung like cloud over
the whole country. penetrating through our
clothing and inpartng cold chilling damp
ness to the skin. Everybody was complain
ing of aching bones and rheumatic pains
Slowly we trudged along behind the doubly
slowly moving train. until nearly noon. when
we halted for several hours to allow the fag-
ged out mules to refresh themselves with rest
and feed for another long heavy afternoons
pull.
While resting, the mist rose from the earth
and q cold northwest wind set in. 1t gradu-
ally increased ia violence until about 4 u. m.
1t now blew perfect hurricane. Men drew
on their orercoats, blankets. and gloves. (,
Field officers leaped from their easy saddles, |
and, for the first tine. doubtless for months |
allowed their polished boots to become soled |
with the same dirt that the private soldier or |
the line officer treads. Their feet were too |
cold to ride. These north westers seem to |
take terrible hold of a man in this climate.
The blood is seldom prepared for SO sudden
and SO great change. Before night the |
mud was frozen solid and the ponds were
covered with ice. To warm their fingers. the
men kept everything along the road, that
would burn, in blaze. Far to our left the
march of the 10th corps could be easily
traced by the black columns of smoke that
streamed up over the tree tops. This was a
terrible day OF destruction The fire once
started would sweep through the forests or
fields with wonderful speed, enveloping every-
thing in flames before it. Georgia, truly
thou art sufferingt' Houses and barns
disappeared before the ravages of the flames.
Yesterday our cavalry destroyed a large
cotton factory near E'atOnfop TIL |
was owned by an English company and was
engaged in manufacturing cloth or the rebel
army, The destruction of this factory has
thrown out of employment some 800 women
whose condition is represented to be truly
pitiable. Many Of them lost everything thew