Year: 1861

u


In compliance with the request
which you made just previous to my departure
frome home that I would write you occasional
ly, and give brief account of the Whereabouts
and encounters of the 9Th Regiment, / improve
this my first opportunity for doing so, and as
perhaps an account CT our departure and jour
ney from Madison to this city will not be un-
interesting to you will give you an outline
of it,


As you are of course aware, we left Madison
on Sunday the 28th ult. At o'clock A. NJ.
Of that morning were aroused from our
slumbers by the discharge of FOUNDER
which We had in camp followed by martial mu-
sic.I n few minutes the camp was a scene of
hustle and confusion, and in less than fifteen
minutes from the time the last echoes Of the
Cannon was heard from the distant hills every
tent was struck and ready to be transported to
the cars which were standing near the camp
awaiting for their reception This being done
the time was occupied by the men in making
the necessary preparations for the journey un-
til o'clock when it was announced that break





marched to the mess house where many no
doubt partook of the last breakfast they ever
will in Wisconsin. After the wants of the inner
man had been cared for, each man was direct
ed to take tin plate one tin cup, and and q
knife and fork and put into their haversacks
for future use, and to those who think that the
noble hearted sons of Wiscon sin have made but
a vo1I 1nte Jofe IL
country>s honor and their country's flag, there
was a scene followed which ought to have erad-
icated such an idea from every reasonable
mind. In consequence of the Regiment being
called to leave much sooner than was expect
ed many who had calculated to return home
previous to their departure were debarred from
so doing. and not willing to go and leave be-
hind those they held most dear without again
seeing them and giving them another pledge
Of their affection and esteem, sent for them
to come to them, that they might once mere see
them and bid them final adieu. OF course
many promptly responded to the call, and here
and there throughout the camp might he seen
an affectiouate wife imprintiDg her last kiss up
on the cheek of her husband, as she held him
with convulsive grasp which it seemed al
most impossible for her to relinquish, while sis
ters were hanging upon the necks of Brothers
their hearts finding vent to their emotions only
in sobs that would have touched the hearts of
the most obdurate. And Parents, not forget
ting the love they bore to their children, had
come from distaLt parts Of the State with tot
tering steps to once more say good bye to their
children, while the tears coursed down their
furrowed cheeks as they stood bowed down by
the weight of years. In that camp that morn
ing there were many eyes unused to weep
from which tears flowed freely and, like the
sturdy oak, which is compelled to bend and
tremble by the tempest, many of them perhaps
for the first time since attaining the years of
manhood, trembled in every limb, and, no lon
ger able to keep down the struggle going on
within their bosoms, found relief only in flow
of tears If there is a class of men upon the
face of the Earth who should be held in the
highest esteem by their fellow men it is these
who have forsaken their homes and lett behind
wives and children, fathers and mothers
brothers and Sisters. and gone to fight, not on
" their own battles but the battles of those
they have left behind !; it is an ordeal which,
when subjected to by the true patriot, will call
into exercise his whole nature. as duty to his
country calls on the ore hand, end to those
who occupy the most prominent place in his af-
fections on the other. The feelings which
experienced when l left Watertown the last
time previous to my coming here were such as
/ hope never to experience again, leaving as I
was my little family the only friends Of which
| could boast in the State of my adoption, to
subject myself to all the hardships and vicissi-
tudes incident to the life of soldier. and ex-
pose my life amid the din Of battle to the epe-