Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-09-29
DOWN SOUTH IN ALABiIi'
LAND OF COTTON, CORN AND NIGGERS.
Louis A. Ciosuit. Who Beats the Bass Drum
in the Fourth Regiment Band, Relates
incidents Of the Trip to Admission.

Howe High school, class of '92, and now
a soldier musician under orders OF
Uncle Sam In the south, sent letter TO
the REPORTER last week which we are
permitted to publish, as follows:
Camp Shipp, Admission, Ala, Sept, 10,
1S9S.-My Dear Edmonde: When l
last saw you at Camp Douglas [ prom
! lsed 10 write some notes of our trip
south. Am not much of a scribe, YOU
know, but if in my letter there is found
anything Of interest, you may use it.
! Send me the REPOHTER and give the
! bpys my regards as it is hard to write to
! them ALL
Our regiment left Camp Douglas, Sept.
II, in four sections, two going over the
! Mort hWeStern and two over the St. Paul
| Ry. to'Chicago. Tie band travelled in
the first sectlu: over the st. Paul Rv.
in a car hy itself Our train consisted
OF fourteen first class passenger coaches
| and one Wagner sleeper. We received
royal greeting all along the road to
Milwaukee. At Milwaukee there was a
| very large crowd to receive US, as there
were three of the Milwaukee companies
on orr train whose friends came to the
| depot to say farewell.
At Chicago we left the st. Paul system
and took the Chicago < Alton Rv, to
East St. Louis. Our nrst stop in Illinois
was made at Springfield in order to get
coffee for the boys. Springfield appears
to be Il nice city. We passed Just a few
blocks from the capitol building and
Exposition grounds. At this stop we
lost one of our band men. He got too
far away from the train and had to come
n hp Vt A
Illinois is corn al! along the railroad
1t seems to me that they don't grow
anything but corn i'll this state. l also
noticed many factories and ironworks.
We got III the railroad yards at East st.
Louis at noon. If you have never been
here you can't imagine what place
this is. Large factories and fOundries.
dirt, smoke and niggers. Everybody
seemed busy here. There are about
l25 switch engines in the yards and the
noise and rattle of industry is almost
unbearable. We all got out of the cars
and got chance to stretch our legs, as
we were getting pretty stiff from our
ride; marched down to the rivers edge
| and got fair view of st. Louis on the
Missouri side. The one object of inter
| est that is presented to view first is the
great bridge that spans the river here,
| boats and car ferries on the river, of
course, were quite sight to US who live
where q row boat is the biggest and only
boat used. The river is muddy and is
much different from the looks of the
grand old "Wisconse." After a stop of
half an hour, we took the Mobile &
Ohio Ry. south, Southwestern Illinois
is fine country; it resembles eastern
and southern Wisconsin where one may
see other growth than scrub oaks and
jack pine. Arrived in Cairo at .. m.
and crossed the Ohio river on a big car
ferry. The river here is wide, being
only half mile from its mouth.
After leaving Illinois we were on
Kentucky soil, but didn't see ANYTHING
Of Kentucky or Tenne ssee as we cross ed
both states in the night. We woke IN
in Northern Mississippi and for the
first time saw Il cotton field. All you
can see in Mississippi is cotton and Mig
gers. The only white people we met
were the railroad hands and, once in
awhile, some distinguished parsonage
that looked ike Il southern colonel.
The climate Of Mississippi is fine at this
tlm@ OF the year. 1t Is cotton picking
time and all over the fields could see
the nggerS at work. Cotton gins and
every station. We travelled south as
far as West Point, Miss, then east to
Mapleville, Ala. This portion of Ala
bama is about the same as Mississippi
only 1t don't seem TO be SO thickly pop
ulated. We got out and stretched our
legs again at Columbus, Miss. The
band paraded down main street and
was loudly cheered when it PLAYED
Dixie" The people here thought the
war was all over and that we were going
home. I gness they never saw band
of twenty-four pieces before by the
way they acted and coaxed us to plav.
Col. Seaman and Adjutant Green got
nlgger about IS years old to dance an
old fashioned hoe down while the band
played popular niger tune. 1t was
great sport for the boys.
AS we entered Alabama the first OBJ
jeCt | noticed was the regulation "razor
back hog. 1t would make Nick
Reiland go wild if he had to handle
such animals as this in his market.
They are about feet high, t feet long
and inches thick, come to a long slim
point at the nose, have ears like a mule
and don't appear as if they had any,
thing to eat for months. At Vaudeville
we took the Southern Ry. to Admission.
We arrived here at 6 o'clock Saturday
morning. Our camp is on top of hill
that overlOOks the town. Besides this
regiment there is the Second Arkansas.
Fourth Kentucky, Third Tennessee and
Third Alabama (col0red) located here.
We have a nice location and the climate
is fine. Weather like July at home.
There is very little sickness here. An
nistOn is a city of 1900 inhabitants.
about half colored. This is one of the
incest of southern cities. There are
two colleges here, one a ladies' semi
nary. There are fine churches and
schools, some beautiful residences, big
cotton factories, some of the largest
blast furnaces in the country. iron
works and general manufacturing
center. There are three railroads and
two lines of electric street railway, |
The main street is paved and the side |
walks are cement 20 feet wide. The
business houses are three story build |
ings Of stone and brick. There is fine |
system of WaterWorks and sewerage. |
Ia the business portion they use gas
and electric lights, and all have electric
fans. There is lots of iron ore in this
country, also gold, copper, tin, and
great beds of aluminium clay. The
nIggers here are much different from
the few we see up north. They are
dirty and law and lounge around in
shlitless existence. The nigger
"ShaCks." as their houses are called,
are about the size and look q great deal
like northern chlcken coop. Except in
the finer residences, the Chimnevs are
on the outside Of the house and reach
from the ground up. 4 few davs ago
the cOiOred regiment and the Tennessee
O nd .