The Citizen-Soldier | Page 3

in a meadow, one mile from town. The country through which
we marched is exceedingly hilly; or, perhaps, I might say mountainous.
The scenery is delightful. The road for miles is cut around great hills,
and is just wide enough for a wagon. A step to the left would send one
tumbling a hundred or two hundred feet below, and to the right the hills
rise hundreds of feet above. The hills, half way to their summits, are
covered with corn, wheat, or grass, while further up the forest is as
dense as it could well have been a hundred years ago.
3. For the first time to-day, I saw men bringing tobacco to market in
bags. One old man brought a bag of natural leaf into camp to sell to the
soldiers, price ten cents per pound. He brought it to a poor market,
however, for the men have been bankrupt for weeks, and could not buy
tobacco at a dime a bagfull.
4. The Fourth has passed off quietly in the little town of Buckhannon
and in camp.
At ten o'clock the Third and Fourth Regiments were reviewed by
General McClellan. The day was excessively warm, and the men,
buttoned up in their dress-coats, were much wearied when the parade
was over.
In the court-house this evening, the soldiers had what they call a "stag
dance." Camp life to a young man who has nothing specially to tie him
to home has many attractions--abundance of company, continual
excitement, and all the fun and frolic that a thousand light-hearted boys
can devise.

To-night, in one tent, a dozen or more are singing "Dixie" at the top of
their voices. In another "The Star-Spangled Banner" is being executed
so horribly that even a secessionist ought to pity the poor tune. Stories,
cards, wrestling, boxing, racing, all these and a thousand other things
enter into a day in camp. The roving, uncertain life of a soldier has a
tendency to harden and demoralize most men. The restraints of home,
family, and society are not felt. The fact that a few hours may put them
in battle, where their lives will not be worth a fig, is forgotten. They
think a hundred times less of the perils by which they may be
surrounded than their friends do at home. They encourage and
strengthen each other to such an extent that, when exposed to danger,
imminent though it be, they do not seem to realize it.
7. On the 5th instant a scouting party, under Captain Lawson, started
for Middle Fork bridge, a point eighteen miles from camp. At eight
o'clock last night, when I brought the battalion from the drill-ground, I
found that a messenger had arrived with intelligence that Lawson had
been surrounded by a force of probably four hundred, and that, in the
engagement, one of his men had been killed and three wounded. The
camp was alive with excitement. Each company of the Third had
contributed five men to Captain Lawson's detachment, and each
company, therefore, felt a special interest in it. The messenger stated
that Captain Lawson was in great need of help, and General McClellan
at once ordered four companies of infantry and twenty mounted men to
move to his assistance. I had command of the detachment, and left
camp about nine o'clock P. M., accompanied by a guide. The night was
dark. My command moved on silently and rapidly. After proceeding
about three miles, we left the turnpike and turned onto a narrow, broken,
bad road, leading through the woods, which we followed about eight
miles, when we met Captain Lawson's detachment on its way back.
Here we removed the wounded from the farm wagon in which they had
been conveyed thus far, to an ambulance brought with us for the
purpose, countermarched, and reached our quarters about three o'clock
this morning.
I will not undertake to give the details of Captain Lawson's skirmish. I
may say, however, that the number of the enemy killed and wounded,

lacerated and torn, by Corporal Casey, was beyond all computation.
Had the rebels not succeeded in getting a covered bridge between
themselves and the invincible Irishman, he would, if we may believe
his own statement, have annihilated the whole force, and brought back
the head of their commanding officer on the point of his bayonet.
8. This morning, at seven o'clock, our tents were struck, and, with
General McClellan and staff in advance, we moved to Middle Fork
bridge. It was here that Captain Lawson's skirmish on Saturday had
occurred. The man killed had been buried by the Fourth Ohio before
our arrival. Almost every house along the road is deserted by the men,
the women sometimes remaining. The few Union men of this section
have, for weeks past, been hiding