Year: 1862




BUcKFIELD, Aug. II, 1862.


To-day our quota of the 100000 volunteers,
who are coming, father Abraham, start for the
encampment of the 2Oth Regiment at Portland.
They enlisted gaily enough, but, now that the
time of their actual departure has come, they
can hardly help loving the old homes and faces
with an unwonted fervor. And we shall miss
them. They are of the pith of the village
They are our bravest and sturdiest. 1t is worth
while to notice out of what peculiar classes of
our citizens these recruits are obtained. The
men who go are likely more than little TO be
men who you did not think would go, not SO
much the bules and the takers as the thin,
nervous men and the reticent and restless ones.
They are not those who attend caucuses and
make officers of State and are ardent in parti-
zan politics. One of them has but lately re-
turned from captivity lasting since the battle
of Bull Run in the South. He has been the
victim of the untold sufferings of war. But he
enlists again holding his life of little value, 60
ing because he rather 60 than stay at home,
and yet he is small, and worn badly with a
cough contracted in Southern prisons, and is





demonstrativeness and boasting that you would
not give him credit for the unshrinking and
dogged courage which he possesses in as great
degree as any other man in town. There is
another man, a mechanic, young and just start
ed in life, who leaves a wife and a toddling
child, and who relnquishes business of near
ly thousand dollars year. because he thinks
1,xfxv IL l. H. Z.
sincere, unflinching and straightforward,
professor of religion, and in views of duty al
ways culminate into enthusiasm. No other
volunteer sacrifices so much, and yet in ordi-
nary life he is one of the most frugal and saw
ing ofmen. He will not seek place nor glory,
but will always be true to his post. The same
spirit Inspires him, which made the ironsides
of Cromwell inyincible. His idea of duty and
his religious faith have taken from him all fear
and sense of danger. / believe he goes forth
fearless. Such man cannot be appalled,, and
though he is of small stature and unnoticeable
carriage, his blacksmith's arm is worth legion.
He has thought and read about the war. But
i never have heard him lift his voice at the
street corners. When he felt it his duty to go,
he simply and quietly closed his business and
enlisted. Then there is Cy. He isn't bigger
than coffee pot. In our village life he is one
of the essentials. Ubiquitous and omnscient
He is everywhere and knows everything. He
entertains us with stories and new jokes-one
ofthose men who can say light things SO as to
interest you and make you wish you could say
them in the same way-and he sings O. nights
in the streets. He never said serious thing
In the world. When we went to school togeth-
er he played truant and made fy-cages with
his jack-knife. One ofthose men we love not
less for their faings than their virtues. / do
not know that have ever heard him express
any decided views about the war. Still he
goes cheerfully and rapidly and is doing for
his country all that brave man and patriot
can do.


So we are all somewhat saddened by the
departure Of these townsmen of ours for the
war. 1t is not to be denied that the recent
call of the Government for additional men,
and the reverses before Richmond which ne
cessitated it, have dispirited the whole coun-
try, and yet without much reason. 1t has
been the height of rashness to suppose that
the combined forces of eleven States could be
broken in day. Our own struggles in the
Revolution should have taught us better In
view of the strength of the insurgents, our
success has been remarkable. Instead of be-
ing respondent at two or three defeats-the ac-
compartments of every war, however glori-
ous-the country may esteem itself lucky to
have escaped with so few Compare, for a
moment, the circumstances under which we
enter upon the campaign Of this fall, with that
of last. Then, after total and disastrous
rout, the Government, without an army of re-
spectacle size and discipline, with a few troops
cast down by defeat, i'll oflicered, and un-
trained, found itself just entering upon the
work of subjugating the whole South Mis-
souri,, Tennessee, and Kentucky were overrun
with rebels. The Mississippi was in their
hands, and the Federals had not foothold on
their coast. Maryland was but halfallegiant;
there was want of all military arms and
stores; the Navy was inefficient, and the
blockade imperfect. This fall we begin again,
with Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ma
ryland redeemed, with the Mississippi almost
wholly in our hands, with Louisiana virtually
secured, and with strong foothold in almost
every insurgent State. Our Navy is complete