Alexandria, Va., May 21^st 1865.

 

My Dear Sister:

                        Your letter of the 17^th reached me one yesterday.—a quick passage. On the 19^th we arrived here from Richmond, having been one week on the way, in which time we traveled about 150 miles. I shall not attempt to write you much of a letter concerning our march, although some things of interest occurred. I will leave them either for future letters, or for matter of conversation after I reach home. We are now camped near Alexandria, but in a day or two will probably move up nearer Washington. On the 24^th the Army is to be reviewed in Washington, after which we will again return to camp. What will be done with us is a matter of conjecture. The general impression seems to be that we will not be mustered out immediately; or rather that the veterans will not, but will be kept for a while longer. Dame Rumor reports that / only those men whose term of service expires next fall will be discharged. Of course this is very fine news for us, for it would be hardly just upon the part of the Government to so suddenly throw us out of some employment. Besides having been in the field so long, we would not be so apt to get homesick as those who came out more recently. Since we have served our country so long at so little cost it would be cheaper for the Government to keep us too than to retain these men who have just received such enormous bounties for volunteering at the last moment. These new men can now be returned to engage in business again, ( they were all the cream of society you know) whilst we, merely skim milk, have forgotten all about business from being so long absent from home. Then again our families have learned to live upon the wages we receive, whilst to compel the families of some of these new men to do it now for a year or so might result in their starvation. No doubt it is entirely just that we veterans / should be retained then, but being a little blinded by the pine smoke we have been living in and the sand we have been wandering through for the past six or eight months we can't see it.

 

            Mother is anticipating my arrival at Marietta too soon. I hope to come home on furlough if nothing more some time during the summer, but you need not expect me earlier that the first of July. I long to be at home, but of course I can't come till the Government sees fit to let me. I have pretty definitely decided that I will not finish my education unless I am home before next fall, but will go to California or Oregon. In fact I am afraid that I am already unfitted for habits of study, but if permitted to return to civil life this summer I shall at least make an endeavor to finish my college course.

 

            Mother's letter of May 12^th was received at the same time with yours. I am sorry that she did not send me five dollars as I requested. There is no prospect of our / being paid off soon, the papers to the contrary notwithstanding. No pay rolls have yet been made out.

 

            You must still write to me and direct to Washington. We will probably be here for 10 or 12 days yet at the least calculation, and perhaps much longer.

 

            When I wrote from Raleigh with regard to the non-acceptance of Sherman's agreement with Johnson, I did not know what terms were proposed. Since I have seen those terms I am glad that the Government did not ratify it. Sherman certainly made a great mistake. And yet that wholesale condemnation and abuse that the newspapers have heaped upon him is read amongst us with feelings of no small indignation. This army loves and reverences its leader almost idolatrously and an attack upon him is resented as an attack upon us. If we people are judicious they will be careful how they talk concerning Sherman in the presence of any of his army.

 

            I want you to write just as soon as you receive this. Whenever there is a probability of my moving I will let you know. Please send me four or five more postage stamps. If any letters come to me at Marietta retain them until further orders from me.

 

            I send you the remainder of my journal.

                                   

Your aff. Brother

 

The $2 sent in your letter were received

 

Wednesday March 15^th we moved 12 miles. The rebels were encountered and driven before us, across a small river, without much trouble. I now began to feel some of the effects of the long marching and exposure we had undergone. My shoes were so worn that I only retained them in order to keep the stones from hurting my feet, and an acute rheumatism made me to resemble in my motions more an old man of 90 years than a young man of 24. Accordingly on

 

            Thursday 16^th, I was compelled to mount a mule, and become a "bummer" as irregularly mounted men were called in general terms. But the term "Bummer" has a more specific meaning. More particularly it was the term applied to the foragers who mounted themselves on such horses and mules as they could pick up and each day scoured the country for miles in every direction. There were a large number of such men They extemporized all manner of trappings and conveyances. Some had saddles, some rope stirrups, and many rode with nothing but a blanket. Every by-road and path were scoured by these men, often for a distance / of 15 or 20 miles from the main column. If some buggy or cart was chanced upon near some rich plantation, it was loaded with plunder and taken to camp, where its load would be emptied, and the vehicle consigned to the flames. Hundreds of buggies and carts were thus burned. These bummers were everywhere, and many a rebel straggler was picked up by them. If they encountered a squad of rebels anywhere they would wait until a few gathered together, and then would charge, like cavalry, with a whoop and yell. They always would manage to outflank the column and get ahead although it was against orders and they ran the risk of capture by the rebs or arrest by our Generals. Nearly every town was first entered by them, and in some places they drove the rebels from places where they had temporarily delayed the column. Scattered as these men were, and oftentimes far away from the eyes of any officers, many rough, dark deeds were sometimes perpetrated. Many a man has been made to give up his watch or money to save his / life, and many a house has been thoroughly ransacked and pillaged right before the eyes of the owner. It was much safer to live upon the main road than to live a few miles from it; for in the former case, although everything eatable would be taken, yet your house would be preserved from pillage and yourself from insult.—We moved eight miles this day, passing over very swampy roads, being delayed also by the burning of bridges by the rebels.

 

            Wednesday Friday 17^th we marched 17 miles, passing over by-roads the greater part of the way through a good country. The day's march was without special incident.

 

            Saturday 18^th was also an uneventful day. The distance marched was 10 miles.

 

            Sunday 19^th we moved 12 miles. A fierce cannonading was heard off to our left a few miles, denoting that the rebels had been found in considerable force. It was the 14^th Corps who had met the enemy massed at Dentonsville. Our Corps was now 20 miles from Goldsboro, and had not met the enemy as yet. 

 

Scarcely however had the Sabbath passed into the small hours of

            Monday ere the reveillee sounded and at half past two our Corps was on the march toward the left. Corps Hd. Qrs. and the prisoners, with our guard remained in camp. The enemy were encountered and the part of our Corps, including our Regiment engaged. We lost 28 men in the fight, and the rebels came near taking the Reg't all prisoners, they being at one time nearly surrounded. Laying quietly in camp several miles distant I listened to the cannonading and wondered with no little anxiety how my comrades were faring.

 

            Tuesday we lay in camp until about 5 P.M., and then marched through mud and darkness until about 9 o'clock when we camped. It was not an enviable march at any time, but doubly disagreeable when we had prisoners to watch where when we could scarcely see them three feet distant. All the while the rain came pouring down, and the roads were horrible.

 

            Wednesday we moved 11 miles, passing through Everettsville, a little village of 200 or 300 inhabitants. Here we saw a Yankee locomotive and cars, the first seen since leaving Atlanta. We camped on Neuse River, 4 miles from Goldsboro.

 

            Thursday no movement was made. The wind blew all day with the force of a hurricane, filling the air with fine sand.

 

            Friday we crossed the river and entered Goldsboro. Weary with our long marching, many barefooted and ragged and dirty beyond comparison, there still never marched a braver or more cheerful army in the world. But what an appearance we would have made in comparison with the neat, starched feather bed soldiers of the Potomac Army. Many were mounted on old mules and horses, or riding in old carts or carriages, and hundreds of pack mules loaded with cooking utensils and meat, meal and flour followed with us. Right glad were we that our campaign was over, and that a few days rest was before us. Looking back upon what we had accomplished we had got a cause to feel proud, and regretted not the hardships and dangers we had encountered. Another giant blow had been dealt the rebellion.

 

The end of "Among the Swamps and Pines" /

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