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Letter From Alexandria

Letter From Alexandria image
Parent Issue
Day
21
Month
June
Year
1861
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Camp Wíllcos, neur Alejandría, Va.,) June, 14, 18G1. J Thongh I had promised on onr departure to keep you posted as regards our movements, I soon lound that tho Detroit papers were so full of news 1 aboutu?, that it would be sheer 1 fluity to add more. There has beon news published in thoso duilies, whioh was nows not only to you, but also to U9, and truth was a great many times enibellished witta considerable poetry as for instance, the awlul secession attsck dn Pairfax Mills, vvhere Capt. Iïoth with Company Ê., and a party of Zouaves were attuckod, where the Capt. aioresaid ran away, and the Zounvcs with bowie-knives, revolvers, blunderbusses, pickaxes and diverse other deadly weapone, entcrcd tho woods and put tho secei;sj.onists to flight, bnt did not succecd in killing anybody, but one of their own men. The great nttacking force at that time consisted of one of mv own men, Wolf, who, not fancying to sleep on tho bare fioor levied on somo h:iy, was flred at by a valiant Sergeant of Zouaves, got a Hule powder in his nose, and vory philosophiually laid himaelf down, to let the ballb pass over him, whereupon thö valiant Zouave swore he had seen twenty men advancing, had killed one deader than a door-nail, but that one had been carried oí by his comrades. Tho first shot had hardly been fired, belore tho whole Zouave Company took to their heels, firing asthey ran, which may be part of their taetics, (thefiïst Michigan never learned that part,) and continuing an indiseriminate fire. Your correspondent tried then to rnake a fooi of himsülf, and succeeded adïiiirably by throwmg himself before tho Zouaveb and commanding them to cease firing, whioh commnnd they promptly obeyed by firing at hitn, whereupon he laid himself dowti for a little while to tako eome rest, until the worst was over - not moro than a half a minute though, when he got up and partly succeeded by dint of very heard swearing to persuade the héroes not to kill each othor ; but to forin them was impossible, until your correspondent had called his mon out of tho rail and formod them. The last sensation story we read in the Detroit Tribune, of June lOth, is a letter to " Dear Barns," in which it is stated that there is no lack of anything at the offieef's quarters, but lack of noarly everything, except juna, and hard-bread, at the private's tents. Now I don't know who the puppy is, who wrote the letter, but tel! him hcre distinctly, that he 3 a doliberato liar, who insligated by tho devil and with malice aforethought attcmpts to work on the ieelings of the triends of our men at home. 1 claim to havo some experience in Camp life, but I never saw the üommiHsary Department of any Ilegiment conduoted botter than the First Michigan. Il fresb beef, and I hardly ever saw as good in any Ann Arbor marker, at the rate of 1 1-4 IL. a day per man, or in lieu thereof, occasionally salt beef or salt pork, beans, rice, coffee, sugar, vinogar, salt and potatoes, and the very best kind of broad are not good enough for those gentlemen who have been brought up on ioecream and sodawater, they had better go home again. Hore they complain 'ábout hard-bread, at home they eat crackers by the pound. Hard-broad of course is furnished to those who want it, and is the best thing for a march, when the men have to carry their own provisions, but in Camp they don't need to eat it unless they choo&e. Before our oven was built, vhe men drew either hard bread or flour. If the Jatter they generally traded it off in tho City and received fresh bread for it; if they did not want to do that, they had to eat hard-broad of conrse. This was their own fuult. I never yet couldfind out that a commanding offieer had any right to state to bis men wbat to eat. As regards the sumptuous fare of the olEcers, I really wish, those assertions were true. As far as the officcrs of Cömpany E are concerned thoy have nothing different f rom iho men, - and the same is true of tho officers of other Conipanies ; and how could thoy fare better, even if they would. The officers don't havo any moro rnoney than the men, " nary red," and asa natural conscquence cannot procure any Iuxnries. Tho gratuitou3 advico to Col. Willoox, to give more attontion to tho wants of his mon, i:s no more nor less than a baso slander. I venturo to aay that not one regiment in tho servico has a better commander, or one who takes more pains to seo that his trien aro well provided for, than our Colonel. He is busy day and nightgiving that very attcntion to the condition and wants of his mon which the wnter of the slanderous letters montioned above demands. Let that 6ame gentleman who probably thinks that we ought to be fed on etrawberriea and cream, (and for the matter of that, we get more strawborries liere than we evor had at home), pay a viait to the camps of oth. er regiment8 and see how they have to work, how they faro, how thsy are treated, how they are clothed, and a change wil] soon come over the spirit of hit dream. There is not a man hero who works harder than he had to work at homo, and in relation to ihe " grub,'1 I am not suying too much if I say thal a great many fare better here than they did at home. Bince Col. Willcox tookcommand of the regiment, i t bas been his constant endeavor to promote tho comfort of his men, and the respect in which tho regiment is held, the post of honor assigned them, the praises bestowed on them, are eimply owing to his ndofatigablo efforte. Lieut. Wiso, of tbe Ypsilanti coinpany, lulfills tho dutios of Cornmissary in a way that leaves nothing to desiro ; every reasonable want is supplied by him cheerfully and promptly, and n my whole military exporienee I never saw an offioer attend to the duties of a Commissary botter than he does. Still vo havo some wants, the first of vrbicfa is monoy. This will feoon be supplied by Government, and f ommen had not quandercd what they havo received, thuy would have enough left for all the littlo necessaiiea. The grealest of these little r.ecessaries, however, scems to bo "whiskey;" this they cannot get, henee, " tllae lacrymae.'' In my company the bo}'s have enough rations left to be able to geil them for money and parchase tobáceo, etc. But a further and more pre.ssing want is feit by sueh gentlomon as the letter-writer and great criüo heretofore mentioned. This want consista in hairoil, pomatum, nursing bottlew, diapera, Victoria pins, musquitonets, cantly, pea-nuts, rattle-boxes, etc, etc. Cannot somo of our patriotic ladies seDd somo of their old linen for our lotterwritiog babies ? Aa yon seo by the heading of my letter wc are stationed at Alexand ria yet ; for how long it is imponible to teil. We may receivo orders to march any moment, and we itlay be kepthoro yet a fortnight, or longer; and don't you bo scared ibout the predictions of the horrible fight we are to havo at Manasaas Gap Junction (or, as the boys cali it, Molas.ses Gap). In the first place, I don't believe the story of their great strength ; in the nest place, I beiieve that tho southern oivulry, true to their instincts, will run as soon as wo come. They might have given us a very warm reception when we came here, but preferred to vacato the premises, leaving their oarpet-bags, blanketn, etc, behind ; and what is more, they have too many Union men forecid into their rankf, whereas we havo not a single secessionist. The men in Company E are all well ; there are none in the hospital, and they feel first rate. As soon as anything of importance oecurs, I will write again, and will try, if I find time, to keep you posted as to our doiugs. N. B. Don't beiieve but about onefourth of the newspaper reporls. Yours. W. F. R. JC2T" The 'Germana of Dotioit are organizing an armed brigade to prevent the onforcement of tbe " five gallon beer law" wbich went into operation a few days sinco. (EF Hon. Wm. M. Feston, oí Flint, haa been commissioned as a member of tho State Military Board. A good appointment. SSf The Wheeling Convention is proceeding with its labora and has passed an ordinance establishing a government over tbe whole State. Frank Pierrepointe was unanimously nominated for Governor. fc Senator Johnson, of Tenn., arrivcd at Oineinnati on Wednesday, enroate for Washington to take his seat in the Senate. Ho is yet for unconditional Union. JL2" The propeller Cataract, was burned oü Erio, Pa., on Sundaylast, Four persons wero drowned by the swamping of a -smallj boat in whicb tliey were leaving the burning vessel. Cargo and propeller a total loss.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus