Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08
FIFTY YEARS. AGO
IN THE STAR

w nlte the two armies lay OppOeuS oaa0
another south and west Of Washington
in 1851 feeling grew that
Southern the issue of the war depend
w. ed in great measure upon the
nopes. outcome of the next fight be-
tween them. This was not true estimate
of the situation. as events proved, out II
finds reflection in such prints as the FOL
lowing contained in The Star OF Octo-
Der 2. 1891:
IAN intelligent lady, recently from VIM
chester, Va. informs US that all Glasses
Of society there favoring the cause OF
secession speak Of the Ito their cause) VI
tai necessity Of winning q great victory
opposite this city. 1t is held by nfeii'-
gent secessioAists throughout the state
that nothing short of such an event can
keep their army Of the Potomac together
lacking. as it does. quartermasters stores.
etc, while there is imminent danger OF
United States naval attacks upon the
coasts of other seeded states. whose ar
mics are not at hand to defend them
Beauregard and Johnson are there under
stood to be utterly without the tents,
blankets, ETC., necessary to render their
commands comfortable even through this
month of comparatively pleasant nights.
Their efforts to draw Mcclellan to their
ground for an engagement having failed.
they are at their wits ends to know what
line of strategy to essay next. We have
every confidence in the correctness OF
this lady's account Of matters there.
which comedies with the views Of the
best informed persons here relative to the
necessities Of the rebel generals situa-
ton. Thus. military men in high position
here believe that the rebel army is al
ready melting away. and that its retro
grade movement recently commenced
means a general fall back upon Rich
nearer to that capital. as our naval ex-
petitions shall strike blow after blow. in
ducing state after state to subtract its
forces from the main disunion army. and
thus render 1t less able to keep the field"
The presence OF large army in and
around Washington naturally caused an
immense increase in the bust
Soldiers ness Of the local post office.
NIL In The Star of October 3. 1861
is reprint from the Intelli.
gencer giving the figures of the letter:
handled during the week ending Septem.
Der 26. indicating the great volume Of the
| civil, official and military correspondence
flowing through the capital. During the
week there were letters received: I'm.
paid. "a .494: paid by stamps. 40. 1876; free
50, sos; total, 264, 54s. Letters sent: Tn
| paid. % $50; paid by stamps, III. 1893; free
| 6S571: total. 245,6A An average o.
more than y 600 letters each day, besides
| newspapers. These figures suggest thai
the soldiers received more letters thar
they wrote. The Intelligencer said:
'Since the railroads between Washing
| ton and New York have been controlled
by military necessity many failures have
| occurred in the arrivals at Washington
| in schedule time. particularly in the trair
due at 6 am. To secure connections the
| train for Washington has been detained
at Baltimore one hour later. Yet, not
| withstanding this extension of time a
that point. the mail from New York and
Philadelphia has failed to connect ant
the mail within the past week has no
| been received until 7:40 o'clock, instead o.
| Z am. No effort has been spared by thu
| postmaster and his employees to distribute
and box the letters SO as to cause as lit
tie delay as possible. There are nov
1So regiments. without enumerating the
Independent commands of artillery cav
airy, mounted rifles, etc. receiving and
sending from this Office their letters and
papers, Independent of our usual popula
| ton. OF this large body Of men nearly
all are writing and reading men. The
arrangement adopted by the postmaster
| is to assert and box all the civil letters
first. SO as to facilitate the delivery. The
military mails are then assorted into reg.
iments: this requires much time, owing
to bad chirography and imperfect adj
dresses, but the labor is usually accom-
| plished and delivery effected by II
| O'Clock, if the mail reaches here at
| am
! Despite all efforts to prevent much
liquor was Struggled into the camps
around the city and con-
| SMUGGLING sumed, with consequences
w.. affecting the military disci
Lay" oA' pline. On the subject of this
traffic The Star of October ;. 1851. says:
I'VE occasionally hear expressions OF
surprise as to where the soldiers can pos
| sibly get anything intoxicating. the pre-
| cautions against the passage of the ar
dent through the lines being SO complete
| and the right of search so diligently ex-
excised. In our peregrinations through
the metropolis We see many things not
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