Headquarters 79TH Regt.
Camp Advance, Co. K.
Virginia, 1861.
Dear Mother:
A most delightful moonlight forbids my retiring at the usual
hour to rest, so I will write and let you know that all is well — that we have
had a dull week, that there has been naught to stir the sluggish blood since
last week save once, when it was thought that the Army of Beauregard was
marching in heavy columns upon us, but it didn't come, so we all said: “Pooh,
pooh! We knew it wouldn't. They are too wise to attack us.” Alas, that we
should have to tell that sorry tale of Bull Run! Walter has written me, and is
full of our defeat. He does not feel flattered by the cheap lithographs in the
shop windows representing “Yankees Running,” which are thrust upon his sight
all over England. He is delighted though to think that the 79th did well, and
that I was a member of the Highland Regiment. As we file out of our camp, full
equipped, the soldiers of other Regiments are wont to say, “There go the
Highlanders. There will be fighting to-day.” We are now formidably intrenched,
and I think can make a tolerable defence against the foe. The Richmond Examiner
says: “We” (the Southerners) “flaunt our flag defiantly in the face of the
cowed and craven-hearted foe, but they tamely endure the insults we heap upon
them, and refuse to accept out challenge to a fair and open fight.” Well I
think we can afford to endure the flaunting of the “stars and bars” until
McClellan is ready, when we hope to march forward, seeking winter quarters in
the pleasant mansions of the South. Just this same thing the Southerners are
hoping to gain in the North. Beauregard thinks Philadelphia, Baltimore and
New-York, gay places in the season, where the Southern youth may join in the festivities
of winter. Nous verrons.
We have a little parson in our regiment, who has a due
regard for his personal safety. We love to get him into our tents, and describe
with graphic truthfulness the horrid nature of shell wounds. The worst of
shells too, we add, is, that they can be thrown to such a distance that even
the Doctor and Chaplain are exposed to their death-bearing explosions. Our
parson grows uneasy, and when an alarm is given, starts off, carpet-bag in
hand, to our intense amusement, for the nearest place of safety. He is like
that worthy chaplain, who, on the eve of battle, told the soldiers, “Fear not,
for those of you who fall, will this night sup in Paradise.” The battle
commenced and the chaplain began to display most entertaining signs of terror.
He was reminded of the consoling language he had himself used in the morning. “No
thank ye,” he answered quickly, “I never did like suppers.” To such an extent
are we obliged to resort to everything to amuse ourselves. Our darkeys give us
some amusement and much more trouble. Ours, we have dubbed the “Pongo,” who
knows how not to do it, in a manner to excite our unbounded admiration. In the
evening these Africans have a way of getting around the fire and singing real
"nigger melodies," which are somewhat monotonous as regards the
music, and totally idiotic as regards the words. A favorite of theirs goes thus
— viz:
My little boat is on de ocean
Where de wild bird makes de music
All de day.
This will sometimes be repeated for a couple of hours by the
indefatigable nigger — indefatigable in this alone.
Good-bye, darling mother.
Most affec'y.,
W. T. Lusk.
SOURCE: William Chittenden Lusk, Editor, War Letters
of William Thompson Lusk, p. 87-9
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