HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGIMENT
O. V. U. S. A.,
2D BRIGADE, 1ST DIV., TENNESSEE
EXPEDITION,
ENCAMPED NEAR PITTSBURGH,
TENN., March 21, 1862.
You will have been made very anxious about me by the one or two
letters I regretted writing immediately after they were sent; but we had every
hope of an engagement with the enemy, every reason to expect it would come off
within a few hours, and in the excitement of the moment I deemed it my duty to
write you just then. But the enemy retires as we advance, and up to this time
refuse to give us a battle. Since writing last we have encamped and marched in
Alabama and Mississippi, and are now encamped within a few miles of Pittsburgh,
a point on the Tennessee River, above Savannah. Our camp is high, and I hope
will prove healthy. The First Division, under General Sherman, has the advance,
and the Second Brigade has the advance of the Division. I am second in command
in the brigade, and therefore next to the first regiment in the whole army. The
army will doubtless be from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty
thousand strong, so that I have great reason to be satisfied. I have reason to
believe that the 54th is well thought of.
The service of my regiment has been very active, though we
have had no general engagement, marching, changing camp often, with scout and
picket duty, has kept them constantly on the “qui vive.” I find the life of a soldier full of
excitement, and to me perfectly fascinating. My mind and body are constantly at
work. I hope good will result to the country from the efforts we are now
making, but every one here is opposed to us. The people almost without
exception are “secesh.” I have taken a great many prisoners, some of them men
of wealth, who do not hesitate to declare their traitorous feelings. An army of
occupation will give us the control of trade, however, and restore to the
Northwest the commerce of the Mississippi.
SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of
Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 190-1
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