Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-02-24
TfHE OPINIONS OF A REBEL BH-
SRRFER.
The Disgust Of the Rebel Army-HOW
War Resolutions are Passed.
WHAT VIRGINIA SOLDIERS WILL
100 DO.

ld The New York Times City Point cOrre-
spondent thus writes Of deserter who re-
Gently entered the lines Of General Grant:
This man was far above the usual run Of
rebel deserters who come into our lines.
His language and bearing denoted the gen.
-tlenian ofintelligence and culture, in spite
Of his dirty gray suit, while there was an
eaFnestness, and want of afectation about
him that made Il impossible to doubt the
truth Of what he was telling me, even if he
could have had any possible inducement
for falsifyihg TO Che unRuthoritAtiVs indi-
viduAl with whom he was converting
alone.
This young man assured me that, in spite
Of slI me falBe statements andleud buster
ing to be found in the Richmond papers
and snong the rebel orators, this lsSt peace
conference, and still mora the action Of the
rebel authorities respecting it, 80 far from
having reused the army to any new enthu-
sIaam, has only filed them with. deeper
disgust and despair, by proving not only
the utter hopelessness Of the cause for
which they have been fighting, but the
egregious falsehoods by which their leaders
are trying to hoedTipk them. he says
tbst their Congressmen-among Others
MesBrs. Baldwin and Florney-haYe been
round to hsrsngue the troops, telling them
that the hopes Of the ConfederAcy were
never brighter, that the condition Of the
army was never better, and such q number
of ridiculous lies" Ito use his own termS)
that the men had fairly TO laugh inSpite Of
their anger. U-l,
7 -. ~ eaoo,rvk nf hovT a1ah
grAdiloquent resolutions Is are being passed
Emohg the, army-such proceedings, for
instance, as those Of the HLouisiana Guard
Artillery" Lees proyostguard, and 9th
ers, are manufactured Wholesale. They
eall the man out in line, when an officer
reads ont the resolutions, calls upon those
to say "aye," and, no matter how few may
respond sf8rmatiVely, walks of pronounc-
ing the decision unGaimotES. Out Of 45o
men in his own regiment drawn up to pro-
nounce upon the resolutions not TO give up
fighting so long as they had 4 csrtridgeleft
or foot of ground to stand on, there were
not over fifty, including officers who cried
faye" and yet the resolutions were declared
unanimously passed. ..----- ....
0Ae thing, it seems we may safely count
upon, Snd that is that the Virgins soldiers
are determined, sn nsdsSe, not to fight on
Virginia soil, and that all those who can
viii desert to man, before they will follow
Lee out of their own State. Upon this
point my informant was IS positive and
earnest as he was in his assurances Of the
universal disgust that the soldiers felt st
the horrible life they were leading, and,
indeed, st everything connected with the
so-cslled Confsderaey. he says that he
fully believes one-hsK Of Pickett's whole
division will ;;be voluntarily within our
lines during the next few weeks; and Ger
tainly facts daily trsnspiring all along our
lines tend to justify this belief Thirty
deserters came in to thsss headquarters
yesterday, twenty-eight to-day up to the
present time of writing; and it is notoEi-
Gus fact that in spite of the order recently
ISSUED by Lee to tempt his deserters back
holding sugar in one hand and iasso IN
the other-deserters have, since the issue
of that order, become far more frequent,
and not one has returned 70 their lines.