Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-04-18
A Letter from the cid asth.

few lines about the regiment, hope
will not be uninteresting to your numer
| Gus readers.
There ia few Of the old yetarAns lef
yet 10 the regiments the ssmnAnt of q
once numerous and powerful regiment.
To these have been added about five
hundred drafted men, many OF whom
have already distinguished themselves
as patriots and heroes.
The 18th has been emphatically an
active regiment In long marches and
hard fights il has nobly borne its part.
The IAen boast Of having marched down
and fought the enemy ia nine of the
seeded States, and now only await or.
ders to march on 10 the tenth
The regiment is commanded by Lieut..
Col James s. Wright, an able and
popular officer; manifests great coolness
and self-possession on the field Of bat
tie; man who has, in a peculiar de.
gree, maintained his integrity as az up
right, moral and christian gentleman.
Major VIM. II. Crenshaw has proved
himself often TO be brave soldier, and
is now filing his new position ably and
honorably. He is an officer Of bright
prospects.
George Fallon makes an excellent ad-
jntant. DR.. c. l.. Thomas, the old vet
eran surgeon, is still at his post, laboring
assiduously for the health and comfort
Of the men-a man without model, in
whom is no shadow of turning.
In some respects the campaign has
been u very hard one--a heavy demand
on all the mental and physical abilities
that could be mustered We started
poorly prepared for the long campaign,
only half rested from our former march.
es, and very iuadequately supplied with
clothing, &c., and the consequences was,
the latter half of the march was made by
thousands Of bare-footed and almost ma.
ked mon, Yet none eomplained-all
were heroes
AS q general thing the men had plenty
TO eat. Only occasionally were the roe
tions short 1t was amusing to see the
efforts of the citizens to hide their goods
from Yankee eyes, and still more anus
ing to see the Yankees find and appro.
pirate them. Molaases was found in
eisterns-perhsps for want of barrels;
chickens in coops were let down in wells
meat buried in fields and plowed over
10 hide the place; horses, cattls, boxes
Of books, bedding, &C., hid away in
| swaWpsi watches, jewelry, money, dc
under the floor Of the pig sty; sugar,
lard, &C., buried in the gatewsys and in
| the roads. +a p Z
One mean, stingy old rip, living on q
large plantation near Fayetteville, N. c.,
buried all his household and kitchen
furniture even the bedsteads were
buried; and about two bushels Of old
rusty pieces of iron - scraps of old
plows, chains, hoes, pot.hooks, seythes,
| old, rusty, broken axes, worn+ont horse,
shoes, and all JsuehS things, were care.
fully concealed But the Yanks would
find and dig them up, and then make
the old man carry them TO the house
| AT this the old fellow complained con-
siderably, but complained more because
"you uns had taken all his niggers and
would not send one to help him tote .
the things. The boys fHally told him
that they could End money, jewelry, etc.
| Just like water-witehes find water, anc
that be bad. better get h;s money soon
for If they dug it up be would not b
| sent for to "tote it to the house. A
this the old man became much excited
and FASTENED of to tree in the yard
aud began TO rake away the trash, whei
the Major said to him that he was not a
the right place, and the money was far
ther back, by another tree. At this tn
a. aEn wrskA L.
foot and twitch his head like sheep il
fy-time, went directly to where the Ma
Ilor had guessed, and dug up his money
But it was only large roll Of Coufeder
ate trash. 1.g..
Your readers can form no idea of tn
extent aud thorough destruction of tn
country over which the army passed
Thousands of people must necessarily
suffer for the neeessaries of life, an
perhaps many will perish a. their homes
with everything taken from them. with
out transportation and without money
especially is this the case in that sectio
of country between Wiunesboro an
Cheraw, South Carolina. The poor i
this country say that the rich VII
= brought on the troubles have fed, Leaf
ing them to receive the punishment du
traitors of deeper dye. Though the ie
son is expensiVely learned yet it ma
take all this and more, to teach shel
their duties and responsibilities in
r Government like ours Of this class
may truthfully be said: my people ar
DESTROYED for lack of knowledge"
= South Carolina bears unmistkable sigI
OF long stagnation and gradual dechr
" in all The industrial departments. Larl
tracts of land once cultivated are no
: covered with dense pine forests of mar
years growth. Houses are erected wat
= out any reference 10 taste, comfort =
\. convenience The paint brush has BET
: either lost, or thrown away for the Ia
twenty years. Everything looks ok
: the fields, the houses, the cattle 81
% % "critters, the cmeny women and eve
a the children, all look old MANY loo
as though they had been dried Ike he
ring or picked in an ash-hopper. b
: North Carolina is vastly different; the
are large orchards, extensive VINEYARD
and beautiful gardens; the houses a
- bnils to order, and you can tell the pc
N ple are alive even while they are sittii
still. ~ s-ss-7s..s y, go.
Perhaps few lines as 20 the order
: march of this grand army would be
some interest to your readers It
Or something as follows: - s
/. Advance skirmisbers, follow
closely by foragers mounted. on "a
N critters,
.. A Major General and staf, folio
ed by the headquarters OF amo1lanc'