Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-05-24

which l was a member only becaus
to do more than that would requir
greater space than could be allowel
within the limits of this volume
which is designed to be nothin!
more than mere outline of thos
event with which l happened to b,
in scme measure connected More
over the history of the war has beer
written by many competent hand:
some of whom enter into all it's de-
tails and have written from many
and various points of view.
After laborious pursuit of the
rebels from Corinth to Ruckersville
which occupied seven days, we re.
turned and went into camp at Cor
inth, operating from that point
against the enemy, who kept us
quite busy. In the meantime l had
been recommended for a Captains
commission which arrived in due
time, to my great satisfaction. II
stated that Harry H. Green, hav-
ing been duly promoted to the Office
of Captain of Company l, Second
Regiment Volunteer Infantry of the
state of Iowa, was duly commission
ed Captain of said Company, to take
rank from the Twenty-fourth day of
November, 1852" 1t was signed by
Samuel ]. Kirkwood, governor of
Iowa. From this time forward my
responsibilities became weightier. /
realized that |, like little Chad Bu-
ford, must 'act like a man now"
During the stay of the regiment at
Corinth several expeditions were
made after different rebel leaders
into the surrounding territory. The
first of these marches was to Little
Bear creek, four miles from Tus-
cumbia, Alabama, where after a
sharp engagement, General Roddy,
the rebel commander was routed,
the bridges burned, let of stores
of various kinds destroyed and 80
prisoners taken. On our side there
were no serious losses. The great
er part of the month of December
was spent in expeditions after Gen.
erals Forrest and Roddy, intercept
ing them in some of their maraud-
ing excursions into northern Ala
bama. The following extract from a
letter written to a very dear friend
in the north, with whom I was cor
responding, has reference to one Of
those engagements:
Corinth, Miss, Dec Is, 1862.
Lear Nj
Another of your ever welcome
letters is before me. l received it
last evening and now comes the
pleasant task of replying. We have
been on an expedition into Alabama
and have been away six days. Had
very small fight, only one or two
men hurt in the regiment; chased
the Butternuts over fifteen miles,
keeping up running fight with
them all the way. They finally
made stand and opened on us with
artillery, but we soon made them
"skedadle," leaving us about thirty
killed and wounded and the same
number of prisoners. The latter We
brought to Corinth and paroled. We
marched all one night and the great
er part of the day and was within
about twelve miles of Bragg's army.
1t was a daring affair. We arrived
safely in camp last night very
tired"
The arrival of the mail with let
ters from home never failed to be
an occasion of rare interest to the
soldier boys at the front. Especial
ly was this the case when, as so
often happened, long delays were
caused by the numerous accidents
and incidents met with in the army.
Corinth, Miss, Jan. 9Th, 1868.
Dear Nj
After being deprived of the bene-
fits of intercourse with the whole
world generally and the United
States of America, particularly, the
Corinthians were suddenly surprised
last evening upon hearing the well
come sound of a locomotive whistle
just from Columbus. That engine
caused more happiness in the Second
Iowa than it has felt for some time
before. and why? Because 1t brought
our mail, and in that mail were let
ters from, well" the boys would
say, mo matter whom, l know that
received one from-you know
whom" Anyone could have told
that had they but taken the pains
to watch my telltale countenance as
anxiously gazed upon the p. NJ
while he distributed them and ther
to have seen the look of Joy thai
suddenly lit up my anxious face al
my eye rested upon the looked fol
missive. To sum up the whole mat
ter in nutshell, our communica
Ia,