The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-06-17
Letter from Cleveland.
Correspondents Of the Union.l
Our Volunteer Regiments '0aiting Home
tcdrd Orders.


ioard Orders.
CLEVELAND, TENN, l4th June, 65.
The wane of the war presents many
themes for reflection. These long,
warm June days glide very languidly
by. With no battles looming up in the
future with armed hosts, with no great
- physical danger Ehsn the diseases
incident to the season and to camp life'
with the volunteers awaiting to be mus
tered out, the monotony becomes op-
pressive to many, and the weaknesses
of poor human nature are brought
prominently in view.
This pretty village is the head-quar-
ters of the third brigade, and the l56th
Illinois and six companies of the llth
Michigan are stationed here, Col Lafa-
your of the latter regiment, command
ing the Post The camp of the l56th
is on steep hillside, on the East side
of the town, and the tents covered with
banners, look picturesque in the
moonlight
The l56th Illinois, like many. West
ern regiments, IS composed largely of
men and boys reared to farm labor, and
was mustered into the United States
service on the 9th of March of the
presents year. 1t contains some ex,
cellent material with the usual percent
age of driftwood, and small handful
of "dead beats. Had the war eontin-
ued, there is every reason to believe it
would have given a good account of
itself
But men who enlist but for q year
or two, either because the country
needs their services, or from an sd-
mixture of self interest with patriotism
from which perhaps too few of US are
altogether free, do not take up arms
to become soldiers for life time or a
long terms of years, and are naturally,
when the causes that called them from
civil life into the army have ceased to
operate, most anxious to return to their
usual ayocations, and discipline and
drilling to which they cheerfully sub
mitted, while there was prospect of
their services being needed, become
distasteful and even irksome when the
certainty of their being useful to the
government has passed away. The
thoughts of many, who own small
farms in Illinois, inevitably fly TO their
wheatfeids, and they consider how
their labor is needed at home, snC
, hence the reiterated question; win we
, be discharged before harvest is U'oF.'
With the landless thoughts of the price
their labor could command, and the wei
stocked farm tables, and comfOrtabl
beds, come up in vivid contrast to tht
: monotonous diet, carelessly cooked 8
t best, of the company mess. With tn
weaker minds and bodies comes home
sickness. camp diarhoea, and cllmah
changes to try those whose practice
minds can not or will not see the ne
cessity of red tape, or stop to conside
: that the government has much worl
0 to do, and that however anxious the
) are to return, the government is eve
r more desirous to rid the nation OF. il
{ enormous burthens-or which, to spea
more correctly, would be enormous t
e any other people, but which, to Amer
cans, are but bands of straw, that IN
: people and the resources Of the coui
= try viii burst ere two decades pa'
% away, until not fragment Of the nj
n tional debt remains. That that det
# will voluntarily be paid by our people
h spontaneously, wild and imPractabI
o as the scheme may seem to many
n the present time, l no more doubt tha
# the setting Of this golden sunlight ths
3 now streams its glorious rays in Il
i. room in the hospital where l am writ
Is ing. Let the large cities at once co
!. leot the amount and deposit them
? some designated place Of safety, or be
n ter still, begin by purchasing gOyerl
J, ment bonds and destroying them; L
the country see a hole made in the \
Il tional Debt and town, villsge, hamle
: win hasten to widen it until the mon
, tain raised by the war, becomes b
4 the nOle-hill, or > psace.sooting exPe
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