Scottsboro, Ala., April 30th, ’64.
You know we have been under marching orders for several days. At dress parade this evening orders were read notifying us that the division would move out on the road to Chattanooga at 6 a.m., May 1st.
This is the first intimation of the direction we would take.
It surprises me very much, and I think many others. I was certain we would either cross the Tennessee river at Larkins Ferry or near Decatur and take Dalton in flank or rear, but Sherman didn’t see it. I would rather do anything else save one, than march over the road to Chattanooga. That one is to lie still in camp.
When the boys broke ranks after the parade, cries of “mule soup” filled the camp for an hour. That is the name that has been unanimously voted to the conglomeration of dead mules and mud that fills the ditches on the roadside between Stevenson and Chattanooga.
The whole division has been alive all evening; burning cabins has been the fashion. Captains Post, Smith and myself got into a little discussion which ended in our grabbing axes and demolishing each other’s cabins.
30th. F.’s birthday—alas! alas! Busy all day getting Q. M. stores and fixing up for the march. Wrote home and to George. Didn’t get to bed till nearly one. Have had hard work for several days.
Saturday, 30th—The Eleventh Iowa was mustered today for pay. The regiment numbers about six hundred men present for duty, and but few are absent on account of sickness. General McPherson is having his entire corps (the Seventeenth) armed with new Springfield rifles, and our regiment today turned over to the quartermaster the Enfield rifles and old accouterments to draw the new rifles and accouterments. Most of the men feel that the Enfield rifle is better suited to our use than the new one, for it has a bronze barrel, hence easier to keep clean, as the outside does not require extra polishing.
I took a walk this afternoon over Cairo to view the town. There is a great deal of building going on, even if it is one of the biggest mudholes in the State of Illinois. The town may be said to be on stilts, for the buildings rest on posts, ten or twelve feet from the ground, and of course the sidewalks are the same. There are only two or three really nice buildings in the town. But it is a very important place for our armies, as it is the mobilizing point for our army on the Mississippi and the Tennessee rivers.
Saturday, April 30.— Left camp about 9.15 A.M. and marched to Bealeton Station, where we took possession of the 4th Michigan camp. Met Monteith on the way up and Batchelder[1] at Bealeton Station. Went up to General Griffin’s headquarters and saw Barnard and Davis. Then saw Captain Martin and offered him $275 for his horse, which he would not take. Rained a little during the day. Were ready to form line at a minute’s notice. Last evening I received documents from War Department in reference to Brown of Philadelphia.[2]
[1] Both Monteith and Batchelder were with me on General Porter’s staff.
[2] The man whom we smashed up for selling liquor to the men.
Huntsville, Saturday, April 30. Probabilities of a march greatly lessened. To-day 3rd Division assigned to guard the line of communication from Stevenson to Decatur, nearly eighty miles of road. The duty will be very heavy for infantry and active for all, if the enemy assume the offensive. 3rd Brigade under General Matthies left this morning on the railroad to Decatur where they will relieve General Dodge’s troops. Rainy forenoon. Went after rations to town. Sanitary gave us a mess of vegetables, etc.
April 30, Saturday. The Wilkes court martial found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to three years’ suspension and a reprimand. It is a light punishment for the conviction.
Army movements indicate an early and great battle, but when and where to be fought is unknown in Washington.
Congress to-day has ordered a committee on the Treasury. It is made up as only Colfax could do it. Some able friends of Chase are on it, and Brooks . . . is associated with them.
Thirty years ago I was accustomed to meet Brooks, then a resident of Portland, Maine. He was at that time a zealous Whig partisan, with no settled principles. Judging from the New York Express, his paper, I think he has changed very little, though now elected by, and acting with, those who call themselves Democrats and have a Democratic organization.
April 30.—A company for the establishment of a volunteer rebel navy was organized in Richmond, Va., with a capital of ten millions of dollars, one million five hundred thousand of which had been paid in.—Richmond Enquirer.
—General Steele, on his retreat from Camden, Ark., crossed the Saline River. Before crossing, he was attacked by the rebels, under General Fagan, and lost several men, among them Major Atkinson and Lieutenant Henry, both of whom were killed.—The schooner Judson was captured off Mobile Bar, Ala., by the steamer Connemaugh.
by John Beauchamp Jones
APRIL 30TH.—Federal papers now admit that Gen. Banks has been disastrously beaten in Louisiana. They also admit their calamity at Plymouth, N. C. Thus in Louisiana, Florida, West Tennessee, and North Carolina the enemy have sustained severe defeats: their losses amounting to some 20,000 men, 100 guns, half a dozen war steamers, etc. etc.
Gen. Burnside has left Annapolis and gone to Grant—whatever the plan was originally; and the work of concentration goes on for a decisive clash of arms in Virginia.
And troops are coming hither from all quarters, like streamlets flowing into the ocean. Our men are confident, and eager for the fray.
The railroad companies say they can transport 10,000 bushels corn, daily, into Virginia. That will subsist 200,000 men and 25,000 horses. And in June the Piedmont connection will be completed.
The great battle may not occur for weeks yet. It will probably end the war.
April 30th. At Bunker Hill. Only doing picket duty and resting. Weather cloudy. Liable to march at any minute. All is quiet and nothing important has taken place up to this time. Camp made up with our shelter tents.
