West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-12-15
In DiXie'S Land.
Way Down South In The Fields o E
Cotton, Cinnamon Seeds and sandy
Bottoms"
rrom our NO. corre.L ondent.
CAMP CoNnAD. CoLUMBus.
n. runr

CAMP CONRAD. CoLUNBUs.
Decemb ~ >. 1898
To-day we will try and write vour
readers a few lines from our ne " camr
way down in Dixie's land. wh re- cot
ton Is King. truly. black and Lluly. as
the little girl once said.
Things come to pass in their own
good time, and Mn order from n cad
quarters placing the lst w. Va. the
drst brigade, second division, first
corps. with the Tooth Indiana and 3rd
Kentucky, with headquarters at Col
umbus, Ga, was duly received and
rcuted.
There was sadness in the camo Of the
9th Ohio. their Buckeye b.others
across the greasy" dummy, when on
Nov. 26. the First regiment folded
their tents. but not like tn. Ar .L,-
silently stole away. for our Buckeve
friends gave Us d royal if sad fire well.
The 9th olio and LIST w. Va. have
been brothers 80 long i'm the same
brigade. the two regiments bein
placed side by side down in Chick
ainauga. that IL was "a thought de-
voutedly To be wished that they might
SO remain till mustered out of service
Everything possible was done TO have
them remain together. but alas and
alack for the plans Of mice and ,ren.
Down in ChickaInauga the buckeyes
drank at our canteen bar and we wrote
letters at their Y. NJ. c. A, for THAI
was before our regiment had gotten
their chapel tent. So the friendship
begun Ties early formed arc seldom
broken. Then the regiments went TO
Knoxville together.
The i5sth Indiana, the tried brotber
OF the old brigade, was mustered out
OF service. Their place was filled by
other regiments but none so accept
able as the "Hoosiers," for they were
a warm n of the trio.
hen the ''greasing" of the dummy
is another interesting chapter in the
history of the twin regiments. But
the greatest event of all was the
Thanksgiving dinner given the Buck
ewes" by the Snakes on Thankspiv-
ing day. The entire 9th Ohio were in
yited over to take dinner with the Isl
w. Va. And they came.
Companies were entertained by com.
pany alphabetically and staff officers
entertained staff officers. The dinner
WAS out of sight. or at least IL som
went out of sight and FRANK Watson
ate SO much that he had to use an 49,
wrench To get his s~uspenders unbut.
toned. Everything to tempt the pal
ate or p'case the eye was spread ont
before the assembled multitude and
after everybody had satisfied ,he inner
mlu to the fullest extent Grooming
tables were relieved OF their burdens
with neatucss and dispatch. Tn,
miracle az old was repeated and enough
fragments were scraped up to fll sever
baskets. The product OF the lager
beer esta bli>hments were called
upon to quench the thirst.
After dinner s~peecIImaking and story
telling were INDUCED in and probably
1t all never would haye ended if night
had not come.
When the regiment moved two
btttalions of tho 9th Ohio escorted our
regiment to Lonsdale. where II loaded
saturday was the most disa ~rrea
day spent in Knoxville and it. shonld
have beer the best, bee the last
Snow flakes fell at intervals and tn
sun refused Professionally to shine. a
chilling north wind blew with reg
nlarity that went To the very bones
despite the heavy o~vercoats. All IL
all 1T was a bad day to bid good.by t.
Knoxville, where the soldiers have
been so kindly treated.
The regiment got away in five sec
tons, two and three passengers. The
list passenger left Knoxville about
noon and got TO Columbus at 11:15 Sun
day, being on the road some twenty
three hours. Passed Atlanta about
midnight and it was colder than on
densed ice. The train men were run.
ming around with muhi.r on like
E,quimaux We got here in good
tune TO take dinner with the 16Oth
Indiana as previously invited, and
supper with the 3rd Ketucky.
The camp here is called Conrad. after
a Santiago hero 1t is located in a
cotton and sweet potato field and not
a very small one either. The boys
dig potatoes for a change II is close
TO the city.
The boys like IL very we'll so far ex.
cept the weather. The first day IL
riined hard all day, the next dav tho
wind blew TIL we had to hold our hair
on our head, then we had a nice sum
mer day that reminded us that there
might be something IN the sunny
south after ali, since we have had
miHturs Of weather that tastes like
O"l,a's. viii tell you something
about the city ia our next letter.
I.C GTHsov,
Columbus, Ga.
Care w Va. Regiment Hospital.