HAMBURG, Harding Co.,
Tenn., April 25.
FRIEND SANDERS: When
I left Davenport I promised to write you occasionally. I have kept my word, though I have only written
you once before this, for I understand occasionally
to mean when there is occasion for it, or in other words when there is
something to write, worth your trouble to print and the public to read. Such occasions in the army are rare, for
generally that which may be written is hardly worth the effort, and everything
really valuable or important is prohibited.
Of our travels and exploits as a regiment you have a very faithful and
lively reporter in the person of “Diff,” who keeps you fully posted, but I have
an item or two which deserves to be published, to the credit of our regiment
and satisfaction of their friends.
Many regiments have taken special pains to report the amount
of money sent home by the soldiers, and heartily approving the practice, I
desire to speak for the 2d Iowa Cavalry.
Last week I took from New Madrid to Cairo, to express to the families of
soldiers, fourteen thousand and six hundred dollars, nearly all from our
regiment; and full ninety-five per cent. of the amount went to Iowa, and
probably not less than six or seven more was sent by private hands and by mail;
besides many of our officers being in Cairo at about the same time expressed
their own packages. When it is known
that the regiment had nearly four months’ pay due and only received for two
months, this amount I think will compare favorably with that sent from any
other regiment under same circumstances.
I have another little incident which I consider it a
pleasure and a duty to relate, as a public acknowledgment of personal
obligation, as follows: Some weeks ago
while on a trip from New Madrid to Cairo after the mail for Gen. Pope’s division,
I was compelled to leave my horse at Sikeston, when some rascal, being a better
judge of horseflesh than of morals, stole my horse, to recover which it cost me
several days of anxiety and tedious travel, besides considerable money. Yesterday Lt. Col. Hatch and Capt. Sanford,
Co. H, presented me with seventy dollars in behalf of the officers of their
regiment, to reimburse me for the expense of the above, and for my late trip to
Cairo as express messenger. The value,
to me, of this compliment is not at all expressed in figures. The good feeling and sympathy that prompted
it, and of which the act is evidence, is worth more to me than treasury
notes. I only hope I may always deserve
their confidence and they always enjoy their prosperity their liberality
deserves.
As predicted in my last the general health of our men is
much improved. The more frequent our
changes and the nearer the prospect of battle, the better the health. I have known men quite sick in hospital to
rally under marching orders and be able to travel in twenty-four hours, or at
least they would travel and do when permitted, so reluctant are they
to be left behind.
Having passed over my ground proper, leaving country,
scenery, exploits and trophies for “Diff,”
I remain yours,
&c.,
C. G. TRUSDELL,
Chaplain 2d Iowa
Cavalry.
__________
FRIEND SANDERS: On
Tuesday last the 22d, after a week of entire seclusion, the sun rose in all his
former brightness and glory, giving a more cheering prospect to things generally.
Lieut. Col. Hatch, in command of the 2nd cavalry, with the
staff and two companies, had been transferred from an over-crowded boat, to the
Platte Valley. After taking aboard
forage, she steamed up to Mound City, and took on coal for the trip. Col. Hatch and Major Love visited the two
hospitals at Cairo and reported everything kept in A No. 1, style – eight hundred
sick and wounded in one and five hundred in the other. Mound City is beautifully submerged, the
water being up to the windows of the houses.
The Hospitals being large high building suffer none, except the
basement, which is not occupied.
In the evening we left Mound City for this place, passing
Paducah in the night. Next morning we
found ourselves on a swollen but most beautiful river. The Tennessee is a narrow stream, the banks
rising at this high stage of water from ten to one hundred feet above the water
level, with generally level bottoms extending from a quarter to two miles from
the river. In some places the bluffs
approach to the water’s edge. About 9 o’clock
we landed at Fort Henry. It is not more
than four feet above the water at present, and gunboats had a fine range for
their guns at that Fort. The rebels had
commenced works on top of a high ridge, half a mile from the river, a few miles
above, in a much stronger position, but the sudden appearance of our gunboats
caused them to skedaddle.
Here is a navigable river flowing for near three hundred
miles through a fine, rich soil, and a climate second to none, possessed of
unusual natural advantages, in the heart of a country long settled, yet we pass
along near two hundred miles and witness not a single town, not even in name,
and on average I do not think one plantation in five miles. What a commentary on “the institution.” Were it in free Iowa, what a different scene would it present, thousands of
happy homes, some cities and scores of thriving villages.
On Thursday morning, the 23d, we arrived at Pittsburg
Landing. We soon got orders to move up
five miles to this place, and disembarked.
Gen. Pope’s division is on the left flank at this place, with the
cavalry on the extreme left. The right
is thrown out for the river below the landing, while the centre is held by Gen.
Buell’s division. Our lines must, I
think, present a front of eight or ten miles.
At the place where our troops poured back to the river on
the 6th, there is a fine rolling bluff, perhaps a hundred feet high, over which
it is said our troops swarmed by thousands.
Less than half a mile above is a slough running up back of the bluff. Our gunboats took position at the mouth of
the slough and saved our army.
The battle-field presents a view of the rough side of war,
many of the rebels being buried on top of the ground, which has washed off,
leaving here an arm, there a leg, and again a skull exposed to view, while the
stench arising from the shallow graves is far from pleasant.
The day we arrived, the cavalry got orders to move five
miles out on the Corinth road. The 1st
battalion is now camped there. A rain
set in during the night and continuing, the order was suspended in the
morning. To-day is clear again, and a
few days will make the roads passable.
The engineers are at work on the road.
I do not know the number of our forces here, and wouldn’t
tell if I did; but we have enough to whip Beauregard’s rebel hoards, and crown
with victory the decisive battle of the Mississippi valley. Within ten days you may chronicle the
glorious result.
For 2nd cavalry, address to Gen. Pope’s division, Tennessee
river. Hoping to give you details of the
battle after the victory, I am yours,
DIFF.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette,
Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 2, 1862, p. 2
