Camp Ewing, November 4, 1861.
Dear Uncle: — Your
letter of October 21 came to hand the day before yesterday. I am very glad you
are so much better. If you will now be careful, I hope you will be able to get
comfortably through the winter. You have no doubt heard that Matthews has been
promoted to a colonelcy and has left us. I have been promoted to his place of
lieutenant-colonel. We regret to lose him. He is a good officer. I have now
been relieved from duty as judge-advocate, and will hereafter be with my
regiment. The colonel of our regiment is a genial gentleman, but lacks knowledge
of men and rough life, and so does not get on with the regiment as well as he
might. Still, the place is not an unpleasant one.
The enemy has
appeared in some force, with a few cannon, on the opposite side of New River at
this point, and on the left bank of Kanawha lower down, and are, in some
degree, obstructing our communications with the Ohio. To get rid of this, we
are canvassing divers plans for crossing and clearing them out. The river here
is rapid, the banks precipitous rocks, with only a few places where a crossing,
even if not opposed, is practicable; and the few possible places can be
defended successfully by a small force against a large one. We are getting
skiffs and yawls from below to attempt the passage. If it is done, I shall do
what I can to induce the generals to see beforehand that we are not caught in
any traps.
This is Birch's
birthday — a cold, raw November morning — a dreadful day for men in tents on
the wet ground. We ought to be in winter quarters. I hope we shall be soon. We are
sending from this army great numbers of sick. Cincinnati and other towns will
be full of them. . . .
[R. B. Hayes.]
S. BIRCHARD.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 137-8
No comments:
Post a Comment