The Ottawa free trader., 1889-06-22
WAR EXPERIENCES.
An Excursion ana Reconnaissance.
by WM. w. WEIGH.

An Excursion ana Reconnaissance.
We had become established In regular
encampment In the stump pasture at La
Grange; q veritable camp for routine study
and practice-of patience, endurance.
and some other things,-to all true, seem.
ing only that. A continuation of that ex'
tensive and expensive farce, the proper
entitlement of which should have been,
wait and See I" or " How Not to Do IT,
General Actuary, the great, silent man of
destiny; stage manager pro tenn, General
Halleck.
Five months since leaving recruiting
Camp Cushman, The horrible mess of
Plttsburg Landing, the body and soul
killing experiences, more like Of slaves and
convicts serving sentences for high crimes
under brutal task masters, In unhealthful
penal colonies; digging those mighty
bitches and heaplng up heavy fortifica-
tions, so utterly worse than needlessly
when the whole great army was being 80
wasted by disease and death. Horrors
heaped on horrors head" augmentingly
on the heads OF our worthy, sincerely pat
riotIc, citizen vOulteers-so tantilizingly,
by traitors In the lead, In that abominable
melodrama, the siege-no, plot and bar
gain with our enemies mlscalled "The
Siege of Corinth!" Our strength wasted,
our men destroyed In that foul region of
deadly miasmas, polluted water, cesspools
and burial pits. We were literally stripp-
cd naked left helpless and defenceless In
presence Of our enemies; the worst ones of
all, those In command, d,-ooe were the be-
seiged.
Then all the dilatory, sickenlng, farclcal
procedure which had brought us to the
last days of June, 1862 Only that the great
heart of that large army was true and 10y.
al, beyond whatever fate, mutiny and dis
integration had resulted from the base
trlHing'at headquarters. The situation was
we'll understood by intelligent observers In
the field, at the time, and secretly talked
over between them; when, II 1t had been
done openly, penalties for mutiny had re,
suited. For there was close espionage,
systematized, continually maintained there
from the first. SO In all armies, ,-pickets
without "inspectors within; doubly
guarded.
Plain why no hint of the true condition
reached the newspapers In those days.
Persons In position, wherever, on mischief
intent, do not publish their designs from
the housetops, nor sound trumpet pro-
claiming them abroad. Such men as was
Col. Cushman, who "saw through" much
that others did not, fully well understood
all; though he was guarded In all he said,
even among those nearest to him. But, as
said of him months ago, he was a
marked man. lie could not abide sham
and nonsense much less could he tolerate
the graver forms of falsehood and treache.
ry In high places, He was therefore liable
to prove troublesome TO workers of iniquity
and self-seekers In high places. And
haye ever since believed II was as much to
keep him and the regiment amused and
diverted, as anything else, that one Of the
very last days of June QS02) we got an
order for some real " field work. the first
we had had, the regiment being ordered on
ARECoNNoIsANCE.
To have three days full rations; suhi-
Client camp equippage and two ambulan
ces. Any seriously sick, were to be sent to
Gault House hospital; those sick In quar-
ters or unable to march, TO be left in camp
which was to have sufficient guard for
Its protection, under proper officers. All
provisions made for whatever emergen-
Cies.
The command 'to be kept we'll in hand
"a frequent point In orders, In those days.
No foraging to be permitted. Should alb
solute need require that anything be ap-
propriated on the expedition" the regi-
mental quartermaster (Philo Lindley
them to give receipt 10 the owner In due
form, for subsequent collection from the
Government. AS much formality as II a
general army movement. No tresspass
upon private premises to be allowed; and
generally, the country to be treated with
great tenderness and consideration, that
they might be saved from experiencing
any OF the seventies and hsrdships OF war!
That sop was continued 10 be thrown 70 the
Southern cerberus, the entire season, In
Tennessee, In orders TO different commands,
from chief headquarters. Given out that
the majority of the people of that state
were at least loyal, though overborne, and
that 1t was desirable TO propitiate them TO
reasonable extent Ii proved like many
other fallacies cherished of our Southern
brethren when duly exploded. Nor was
II till later, when we had men like Sher-
man and Mcpherson in command of de-
partments, that the war was prosecuted In
earnest, and meant putting down the rebel
Ion by all Legitimate methods and means
OF modern warefare. The loyalty claimed
for Tennessee proved Ike everything else
southern, always to be taken with 3 good
deal OF salt. With all their high claims to
chiyalry and "awnah," they proved, in the