Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-06-07
The SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONfR
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

and from there to La Grange, Ten
nessee, where rejoined the regi-
ment. From that place I addressed
a letter home, from which l make
few brief extracts:
La Grange, Tenn, Sept. 5. 1853.
my dear NJ
have at last reached my destina-
tion, leaving Lyons on Monday and
arriving here yesterday noon.
. vent one day in Cairo and one day
20 1.-TWO nights in Memphis. stopping
aN& Gayoso House, an old hostelry
Of cesoA, erable repute. had regis
tered NJ eme and retired for the
night. wM4Avho should walk into
my room hs seutenant Joe Con-
way. who CAM to my bed and
pulled me out. SAtfad a good old
time that night, as you may we'll
believe. He had come up to Men,
phis to draw his pay.
Sept. 9Th.
Yesterday I was compelled to stop
writing very suddenly, an order hav-
ing come for me to take thirty men
and 80 to Collierville to guard the
paymaster. We returned today.
having stayed at Collierville through
the night. I had over one and a
half million dollars in my care: a
good time to run away, eh!
The Chaplain of the First Tennessee
(coloredD breaches to us this after
noon. We have two negro regiments
here, the First and Second Tennes-
see. Our boys seem to delight in
having fun with them, but the Afri-
cans are very patient, and do not
say much. La Grange is quite a
pretty little place, about the size of
Clinton, though very little business
is done here now. acknowledge
with thanks the receipt of that little
flower. There are no flowers here
at present, so / miss my boquet. I
used to get one quite often at the
Bridge"
1t was during our encampment at
La Grange that letter was written
and q response received which fixed
|thesd domestic destiny OF all the after
NE Of Sko persons at least. / shall
not reproduce its contents here, for
l hold with another, that next in sac
redness to heaven-inspired words
are human love letters, and those
who read the love letters of another
commit a sacrilege. So on principle,
l withhold the opportunity in these
writings and thus remove the temp
tation from all eyes. l need only
say that these letters contained an
abundance of such ardent express
sions as lovers have been using and
writing to each other, the world over
from time immemorial, and will con-
tinue to say and write as long as the
world stands.
On the first of November the Sec
ond and Fourth divisions Of the Six
teenth Army Corps under command
of General G. M. Dodge left La
Grange and moved eastward toward
Chattanooga, forming the rear guard
Of General Sherman's Army of the
Tennessee. AS fortune would have
1t we did not get to Chattanooga for
the campaigns. about that city, hav-
ing been ordered by General Grant
to another service. to which he re-
fers In his memoirs as follows:
"Sherman's force made an addi-
tional army with cavalry. artillery
and trains. all to be supplied by the
single track road from Nashville.
All indications pointed also to the
probable necessity of supplying
Burnside's command In eastern Ten
nessee. twenty-five thousand men by
the same route. A single track could
not do this. ! gave, therefore, an
order to Sherman to halt General
G. M. Dodge's command of about
eight Thousand men at Athens, and
subsequently directed the latter to
arrange his troops along the railroad
from Decatur north towards Nash
Vile, and to rebuild that road. The
road from Nashville to Decatur
passes over q broken country. cpt up
with innumerable streams, many Of
them OF considerable width, and
with valleys far below the road-bsd.
All the bridges over these had been
destroyed, and the rails taken up
and twisted by the enemy. All the
cars and locomotives not carried OF
had been destroyed as effectually a.
they knew how to destroy them. All
bridges and culverts had been des-
troyed between Nashville and Deca-
tur. and thence to Stevenson. whore
the Memphis and Charleston and the
Nashville and Chattanooga roads
unite. The rebuilding of this read
would give us two roads a. far ~
Stevenson over which to supply the