Moved from the Middle Fork of the Buckhannon river at seven
o'clock this morning, and arrived at Roaring creek at four P. M. We came over
the hills with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war; infantry,
cavalry, artillery, and hundreds of army wagons; the whole stretching along the
mountain road for miles. The tops of the Alleghanies can now be seen plainly.
We are at the foot of Rich mountain, encamped where our brothers of the
secession order pitched their tents last night. Our advance guard gave them a
few shots and they fled precipitately to the mountains, burning the bridge
behind them. When our regiment arrived a few shots were heard,
and the bayonets and bright barrels of the enemy's guns
could be seen on the hills.
It clouded up shortly after, and before we had pitched our
tents, the clouds came over Rich mountain, settling down upon and hiding its
summit entirely. Heaven gave us a specimen of its artillery firing, and a heavy
shower fell, drenching us all completely. As I write, the sound of a cannon
comes booming over the mountain. There it goes again! Whether it is at
Phillippi or Laurel Hill, I can not tell. Certain it is that the portion of our
army advancing up the Valley river is in battle, somewhere, and not many miles
away.
We do not know the strength of our opponents, nor the
character and extent of their fortifications. These mountain passes must be
ugly things to go through when in possession of an enemy; our boys look
forward, however, to a day of battle as one of rare sport. I do not. I do not.
I endeavor to picture to myself all its terrors, so that I may not be surprised
and dumbfounded when the shock comes. Our army is probably now making one of
the most interesting chapters of American history. God grant it may be a
chapter our Northern people will not be ashamed to read!
I am not confident of a speedy termination of the war. These
people are in the wrong, but have been made to believe they are in the right—that
we are the invaders of their hearthstones, come to conquer and destroy. That
they will fight with desperation, I have no doubt. Nature has fortified the
country for them. He is foolishly oversanguine who predicts an easy victory
over such a people, intrenched amidst mountains and hills. I believe the war
will run into a war of emancipation, and when it ends African slavery will have
ended also. It would not, perhaps, be politic to say so, but if I had the army
in my own hands, I would take a short cut to what I am sure will be the
end-commence the work of emancipation at once, and leave every foot of soil
behind me free.
SOURCE: John Beatty, The
Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 18-20