Lagrange, Tenn., July
1, 1863.
Everything moves quietly here. No more alarms or anything
else to "bust" the confounded monotony of garrison life. A guerrilla
was brought in yesterday who has murdered at least one of our soldiers, and an
unarmed one at that. He rests comfortably now with a nice lot of jewelry on his
arms and legs, and a good heavy chain connecting his precious body to his bed,
a not very soft plank. He is a worse fellow than we have in Illinois to my
knowledge. We have two regiments of negroes here now, great big, stout, hardy
fellows, and they really look right well in their uniforms. I heard from old
Company "E" of the 8th this morning. They have had two men killed and
five wounded before Vicksburg. There are only 15 left now. Wonder where my
bones would have been if I had stayed with the boys.
A woman from Holly Springs is up to-day with the statement
that Johnston is marching on Memphis, and proposes to have possession thereof
within ten days. Good for Joseph! We had a confirmation of the report of the
taking of Port Hudson yesterday, but nothing further to-day. It don't go down
here without a good deal of forcing.
Isn't it music to hear those Pennsylvania fellers howl? I
almost wish that Lee would cut the levee of Lake Ontario, and let the water
over that country. Don't tell father and mother. If Lee don't wake them up to a
sense of their misery, he isn't the man that Price is. If ever Price reaches
Illinois, and he swears he's going to do it some day, you can reckon on seeing
a smoke, sure! Don't you folks feel a little blue over Lee's move? Kind o' as
though you wish you hadn't gone and done it! Never mind, you'll get used to it.
The first raid isn't a sample. Wait until general Rebel somebody, establishes
his headquarters in Canton, and you've all taken the oath of allegiance to the
Confederacy. Imagine yourself going up to the headquarters with your oath in
your hand and tears in your eyes to ask the general to please keep the soldiers
from tearing the boards off your house (for bunks), or asking for something to
eat out of his commissary department, and then blubber right out and tell him
that the soldiers broke open your trunks and took your clothes and what little
money you had, and you don't know what in the world you'll do. Many of these
people are in this condition, and I hear a hundred of them tell the story every
week. Every man in Illinois ought to die on the border rather than allow an
invading force to march into our State.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an
Illinois Soldier, p. 184-6
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