It is half-past
eight o'clock, and we are still but eight miles from Clarksburg. We were
informed this morning that the secession troops had left Buckhannon, and fallen
back to their fortifications at Laurel Hill and Rich mountain. It is said
General McClellan will be here to-morrow, and take command of the forces in
person.
In enumerating the
troops in this vicinity, I omitted to mention Colonel Robert McCook's Dutch
regiment, which is in camp two miles from us. The Seventh Ohio Infantry is now
at Clarksburg, and will, I think, move in this direction to-morrow.
Provisions outside
of camp are very scarce. I took breakfast with a farmer this morning, and can
say truly that I have eaten much better meals in my life. We had coffee without
sugar, short-cake without butter, and a little salt pork, exceedingly fat. I
asked him what the charge was, and he said "Ninepence," which means
one shilling. I rejoiced his old soul by giving him two shillings.
The country people
here have been grossly deceived by their political leaders. They have been made
to believe that Lincoln was elected for the sole purpose of liberating the
negro; that our army is marching into Virginia to free their slaves, destroy their
property, and murder their families; that we, not they; have set the
Constitution and laws at defiance, and that in resisting us they are simply
defending their homes and fighting for their constitutional rights.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 11-12
