NEWS: Items from The Alleghanian, April 3, 1862, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ _________________________________________ The Alleghanian, Ebensburg, Pa. Thursday, April 3, 1862 Volume 3, Number 28 Personal Mr. Clinton R. Jones, formerly of this place, but latterly of Western Virginia, paid us a brief visit during the beginning of the present week. He looks hale and hearty as if the climate of that region were an agreeable sort of companion. He states that the Union sentiment is prevalent there, albeit Secession is not altogether played out in other portions of the "Sacred Soil." Success to C. R. - may he live a hundred years! As It Should Be In consequence of the extreme state of debilitation in which the Ebensburg and Wilmore Plank Road now finds itself, the authorities of that company have seen fit to remit the tolls at both ends of the route. Those who succeed in summoning up enough courage to still attempt this high-old-way should rejoice! In this event, however, the exhilaration would hardly extend over a very large surface, for like the mythical Jordon, the E. & W. P. R. is a "hard road to travel," and few there be who enter therein. In short, the E. & W. P. R. is defunct! Removal C. T. Roberts has removed his jewelry store from its former location to the office one door east of D. J. Evans & Son's store. By this arrangement he comes into one of the most eligible business situations in town. He gives it as his conviction, moreover, that he can now sell clocks, watches, jewelry, etc., at a manifest reduction on former prices. Give him a call and see. Letter from Kentucky Camp Hambright, Ky., March 23, 1862 During our stay at Camp Hambright I had the pleasure of visiting the Dripping Cave and the Hundred Dome Cave. We could not penetrate the former to a great distance on account of the water which flows through it. The stream was much swollen by the recent rains. In the latter we found much to interest us. The long avenues, the spacious rooms, the high domes, the deep chasms, the formations of lime, gypsum, quartz, &c., and the myriads of dormant bats which hung in large bevies from the ceiling were all new and interesting scenes to most of us. After entirely satisfying our curiosity and collecting a number of specimens we returned highly pleased with our visit. We left Camp Hambright on the 23d and encamped at Camp Rousseau on Barren River opposite Bowling Green. Here we found both bridges destroyed and the river bank full. Three small steamboats ferried troops across as fast as they could but to transport a whole division by this means was an operation entirely too slow. A detachment commenced immediately to "take out" timber for the erection of a temporary bridge but this was soon abandoned as impracticable. On the 27th the river having fallen considerably, the three steamboats and a number of flat boats were anchored side by side thus forming a sort of pontoon bridge upon which we crossed. We passed Bowling Green about noon and after marching 22 miles, bivouacked in an open field, one mile south of Franklin. We crossed the Tennessee line at 9 a. m. on Friday. All the stores and shops along the way were closed and many of the houses deserted. We encamped at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon in a beautiful grove two miles north of Nashville. Our brigade crossed the Cumberland on the 7th and encamped at Camp Andy Johnson, one and a half miles beyond Nashville. Six companies - A and D of the 78th, two of the 79th and two of the Wisconsin First - were detached and placed under the command of Col. John C. Starkweather to serve as Provost Guard in Edgefield. We, the detached companies, are now encamped on a common near the centre of the town. Edgefield has about 2,000 inhabitants and is separated from the city proper by the river. All the bridges at this place, three in number were destroyed by the rebels, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the citizens on both sides. Floyd consented to leave them the suspension bridge after tearing up the planks, but his last act, on leaving the city, was to cut the main braces and precipitate the whole structure into the river. These bridges are said to have cost in the aggregate not less than $420,000. Our troops cross on steamboats. A regular ferry has been established on which the citizens are permitted to cross when the boats are not freighted to their full capacity with soldiers or army trains. We have found secreted several hundred rifles (common squirrel rifles) a number of picks, spades and shoves, 130 barrels of turpentine and a large lot of bacon. They have all been seized and are now in the hands of the Provost Guard subject to the order of General Buell. The city is quiet. The panic is fast subsiding. Citizens are quietly returning to their homes. Ladies, who a short time ago entreated the rebel commander that they might not be left to the mercy of the Lincolnites, now promenade the streets as free from molestation or insult as if surrounded by half a million of the "Chivalry." Stores and shops are re-opened and some of the streets present quite a business like appearance. Several cargoes of groceries shipped from St. Louis have found a ready and profitable market at this wharf. Greenbacks are in demand - $1 of "Lincoln currency" being equivalent to $1.25 in Tennessee bills. A few days ago the brokers gave but 10 percent of the Tennessee paper. The holders of Confederate Scrip attempted a bit of sharp practice the other day. They put in circulation the report of a great rebel victory at Manassas in which 30,000 Union prisoners were taken, but the bait wouldn't take. The citizens of this place treat us very kindly. The policy of Gen. Buell has a most salutary effect upon the minds of the people. Our conduct is vastly different from what they expected it would be, for they were made to believe that we would plunder and destroy all the property along our course. They now freely admit that we are the best behaved soldiery that has ever been in their midst. [Signed] Boanerges Letter from the Cambria Guards We take the following extract from a private letter dated Camp on Seminary Hill, near Alexandria, Va., March 23, 1862: On Monday, 10th inst., at 11 « A. M. we were ordered to pack up. 1 P. M. saw the Reserve, with light hearts but heavy loads, marching up the Georgetown and Leesburg turnpike from Camp Pierpont. We followed the pike for about eight miles then turned to the left along the Springdale road, a by-road ankle deep with mud. Crossed the Alexandria and Leesburg turnpike about two miles above Ford's Mills; thence through woods, mud and water until 10 P. M., when we encamped on a hill above Hunter's Mill, two miles above Vienna on the railroad. It was a very severe march, and a great number gave out. Next morning we were up and had our coffee bright and early, expecting to resume the march, reach Centreville at an early hour, and have a brush with the F. F. V.'s. Imagine our disappointment, then, when a dispatch was received informing us that such was destined to not be the case. We laid there until Friday. At 6 « P. M. commenced the retrogressive march, and marched until 10 or 11 P. M., when we encamped on a hill above Ford's Mills. It rained all night. In the morning, it was found that the creek was not fordable where the bridge had been burnt on the L. & A. pike. Next morning we resumed the march. Took back the same road we had come until within three miles of Pierpont. At 12 P. M. - the rain by this time falling in torrents - we turned to the right. At 5 o'clock we encamped in a thicket of woods along side the Alexandria and Leesburg pike. Had marched eighteen miles, and were then about thirteen miles from Alexandria. The ground was covered with water and although weary and tired, but few of us slept any during the night. The rain ceased about 1 A. M. on Sunday. At 10 o'clock we took up the line of march and reached our present camp about 4 P. M. I cannot describe the march - suffice it to say, it was horrible! Mud up to the knee almost every step of the road, the rain falling in torrents, obliged to encamp on the cold, wet ground, and no covering but the little tents we carry along! Seven men died of fatigue and exposure in the division but none from our regiment. The boys, as a general thing, enjoy excellent health. We expect to leave for another scene of action tomorrow - going per water - don't know where to - have an idea - but, presumptions are contraband here about just now." At latest accounts the Reserve were still stationed near Alexandria. From the Cambria Regiment Camp Campbell, near Washington D. C. March 21, 1862 Long have we looked and longed and looked and longed in vain for a copy of "The Alleghanian." Not even a stray copy has reached us since we left Camp Curtin. It used to be one of our most regular and welcome visitors. We have heretofore excused its remissness upon the grounds that the muddy roads in our camp prevented its coming but this excuse will do no longer. I would take great pleasure in furnishing you regularly with a camp effusion had I anything to write about. The ordinary routine of duty presents nothing worthy of the pen of a correspondent. When we take up the line of march, I will then have an ample scope and hope to improve the opportunity. The camp fire at night presents the only feature of interest. Here the lover of fun can enjoy himself in listening to the yarns spun by the soldier on his fellow comrade. Among the most ludicrous I have heard is one told of a solider, but not of the 54th, standing guard near a mud-hole of considerable depth one dark night. Sometime during the night the "Officer of the Day" started on his tour of inspection. With his escort he approached the guard. "Who comes there?" challenged the sentinel. Just at this moment the Sergeant of the Guard missed his footing and stepped into the mud-hole. "Jesus Christ!" exclaimed the sergeant. Thinking this to be the name of the party approaching the guard sang out: "Advance, Jesus Christ, and give the countersign!" It is unnecessary for me to add that this is decidedly the best story of guard duty we have yet heard. But there are hundreds of others told for truth by the mystic circle at the guard tent. Except the regular service and drills, we have but little to do as a general rule. This life is admirably calculated to make one lazy and doless. Plenty to eat and wear and but little hard labor has a tendency at any time to enervate the man but when you add to this the close confinement of the camp, you only tend to hasten the result. The march and battle alone call forth the energy of the soldier. What the result of the coming summer's campaign will have upon our boys, we can only conjecture. But we sincerely desire to be sent to Dixie ere old Sol travels too far Northward. Far more is to be dreaded, the army surgeons, say, from sickness consequent upon an advance into a warm climate by Northern troops than from the destructiveness of powder and lead. The destruction in time of battle, the history of this war has shown, notwithstanding, the number of troops engaged and the improved weapons of offense and defense employed is remarkably small. What a striking contrast the history of ancient battles presents to those of modern times. On the one hand, we read: "And the Philistine fought and Israel was smitten, and there fell one hundred and twenty and five thousand on that day." Whilst on the other we find: "Victory! Terrible Fighting! A Terrible Hand to Hand Struggle! Terrible Loss of Life on both Sides! Ten Rebels left Dead on the Field! Only Two of the Federals Killed!" And then the writer uses three columns of the INQUIRER or PRESS to tell, in small type, what he has already blazoned to the world in capitals of enormous size. Now we can't help but think that a sensible man would feel ashamed of such monstrous "tom foolery" about the merest skirmish. There have been but few regular battles fought in this war and in each of them the bill of fatality has been most remarkably and unaccountably small. But we find we are wandering and may throw ourselves open to the same measure of criticism we have just been bestowing upon the modern historian of the battlefield. No important change has been made in our Regiment since I last wrote you. And excepting the fact that ours was the honored regiment that furnished the funeral escort to the late gallant Col. Cameron, nothing has intervened to relieve the tedium of camp life. We have not yet been apprised of who is to be our Brigadier General but are constantly expecting something definite upon the subject. This is a matter we are all anxious to know something about. When this becomes known to us, we may then be able to say something concerning our future movements. Until then I hardly expect to know anything outside the limits of our camp. [Signed] Horace Victory near Winchester The United States forces under the gallant Gen. Shields, gained a most glorious victory over the combined forces of Jackson, Smith and Longstreet on Sunday, March 23d. The rebels, about 15,000 strong, attacked the United States forces, numbering between 8,000 and 9,000 effective men, about 8 o'clock on Sunday morning, and after a most bloody and desperate engagement were utterly routed with a loss of about 300 killed, 600 wounded and 250 prisoners. Our loss was 132 killed and about 300 wounded. The Union army pursed the flying rebels 12 miles past Strasburg, capturing a large quantity of army stores, 1,000 stands of small arms, two cannon, and tents and camp equipage in abundance. General Shields was struck on the arm by a piece of a shell and had to retire to a house about two miles distant from which place he gave his orders during the engagement. Among the killed is Col. Wm. G. Murray of the 84th Pa. Regiment, who fell at the head of his command while gallantly leading a charge against the enemy's center. The latest telegraphic dispatches from General Shields' division state that the enemy have been large reinforced but so demoralized that they will not make a stand any place.