Reminiscences of the Civil War, William and Adelia Lyon

To Mrs. Lyon.

July 5, 1862.—I had a very pleasant visit from Dr. Miller, of Geneva. He is appointed surgeon of the 6th Wisconsin Battery, Captain Dillon, which is at Rienzi, nine miles from us. He stayed all night with us, and then went to his post. I enjoyed his visit very much indeed.

Colonel Heg called to see me yesterday. His regiment, the 15th, is encamped near us. Out of 750 men we have here in camp, not more than 40 are sick, none seriously so. My own health is perfect, not a throb of pain, scarcely of weariness, and the health tingling to my very toes’ ends.

We hold ourselves in readiness to march any hour, and in any direction. We think that Beauregard’s army has not gone to Richmond, but that a part of it is at Vicksburg and the balance about fifty miles south of us on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., near Okolona. I think we shall neither attack them nor be attacked by them very soon. Their cavalry scouts have been within twenty miles of us at Booneville and had a skirmish with our cavalry. Things look better at Richmond since McClellan has changed his front, contracted his lines, and got out of the swamps.

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp Clear Creek, Miss., July 1, 1862—We went to Danville, a little huddle of a dozen old houses, four miles south of this place, and the next day went five miles farther south to a small village, Rienzi, where our orders were countermanded, and we returned to Danville. Remained there over night, and came into camp this morning. I have learned that we started for Holly Springs, seventy miles west of here, but a force that preceded us found that we were not needed there, hence the countermand.

There is a rumor here that General Pope, who has been assigned to the command of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, is trying to get the Army of the Mississippi transferred to that section. The men all hope it is true and that he will succeed. I think the decisive fight must occur at Richmond, however, before we get there. I doubt whether there is any considerable force of the rebel troops in this section, and I do not expect any more fighting here this summer.

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp Clear Creek, Miss., Sunday, June 28.—The boys are usually well, but I have quite a number sick at the hospital ten miles back, none dangerously. Out of 63 men here, all, except three or four, are fit for duty, and none of them are very sick; yet I notice that when a man gets sick here it takes a long time for him to recover his strength again, but the men have to stay right here and do the best they can. There are but few paroles now granted to either officers or enlisted men, and it has become almost impossible for an enlisted man to get a discharge. An officer can only get his resignation accepted on account of sickness. Many of our regiment have been taken sick and resigned since we came up the Tennessee. I think this climate well adapted to my constitution, and I have no fear of being sick, neither have I the least disposition to leave the service until this rebellion is put down. When that will be, God only knows; but I do not despair of getting home next fall. I see no prospect of any more fighting this summer, if ever.

We are under marching orders to leave in an hour. I do not know to what point we are going, but I hear it is Ripley, a place west of here and south of Grand Junction, on the Miss. Cent. R. R.

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp Clear Creek, Miss., Friday, June 27, 1862.— We are still here, pursuing the old routine of duty, and I am still entirely well.

To Mrs. Lyon.

June 24, 1862.—Although I have considerable to do, yet the duties of one day are so much like those of another that life is monotonous. I will tell you how we spend the time. Drill from 5:30 to 7 a. m.; recitation in army regulations at 10, in tactics at 2 p. m. and drill from 5:30 to 7 p. m.; the intervals filled up in study, doing company business (of which there is considerable), eating, sleeping and smoking, are the pursuits and occupations of a day. The routine is broken about one day in eight by grand guard duty, which sends us to the woods about a mile from camp for twenty-four hours, and in pleasant weather is a great relief.

To Mrs. Lyon.

June 20, 1862.—Last night it was quite cold. We were out on grand guard duty. I slept on the ground out of doors, with nothing but a rubber blanket under me and an elevation of ground for a pillow. I had a little cold yesterday, but today I am nearly well. I live quite luxuriously in camp. Our mess consists of Lieut. Smith, Henry Bull, A. S. Henderson, of Bloomfield, and myself. We have a large Secesh tent with an awning in front, and live principally on biscuit, ham, black tea, and pork and beans. The boys make excellent biscuit.

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp near Clear Creek, Miss., Tuesday, June 17, 186:2.—I went over to the 16th Regiment, which is located near Corinth, about four miles from here, and stayed all night with Sperry. He is perfectly healthy, and fleshier than I ever saw him. He expects every day to receive his commission as 2d Lieutenant from April 29th. His pay will be $105 per month from that date instead of $20, which he received before. He stands a chance of being Captain within sixty days. I also saw Colonel Bouck, of the 18th. Neither of these regiments can turn out two hundred well men. They have not been in any fight since the battle of Shiloh.

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp five miles south of Corinth, Friday, June 13, 1862.—I have been doing picket duty at Booneville. We shall probably remain here some time. Indeed, I think we are in summer quarters, unless some exigency of the war should call us away. We are encamped in scattering timber, on a dry and, I think, healthy location. We have hot days, but cool and comfortable nights, and no mosquitos. The water is tolerably good.

General Halleck turned all of the lying newspaper reporters out of his camp after the battle of Farmington. Hence their hostility to him. The army is well satisfied with him and has unbounded confidence in him. He was not fooled by quaker guns, for there were none of these weapons at Corinth except a rusty revolver of mine which won’t shoot! I have already explained to you that the position was what we wanted, and it does seem to us here that it was better to win it without much bloodshed. Talk about soldiers getting blood-thirsty! Why, the desire which seems prevalent at the North that thousands of us should have been uselessly butchered before the formidable entrenchments at Corinth beats us blind in cool blood-thirstiness! My dear, put not your trust in the newspapers!

To Mrs. Lyon.

Camp near Booneville, Miss., 25 miles south of Corinth, on Mobile & Ohio R. R., Sunday, June 8, 1862.— We are lying quietly here, encamped in a beautiful grove, on dry, clean land. Our regiment is in better health than almost any regiment near us, and yet we have a large number of sick men back in the hospitals. For myself, I seem to grow stronger and more healthy every day. The climate seems well adapted to my constitution. We have warm days usually, with cool, delicious nights. I sleep every night on the ground under a shelter of boughs, our tents not having yet reached us, with nothing but a rubber blanket under me, and I sleep soundly and sweetly. I do not think we shall move from here until the Mississippi river is open so that we can get our supplies by railroad from Memphis. We now have to haul them with teams from Hamburg, between forty and fifty miles distant. The Tennessee river will soon be so low that it will be difficult to get them to Hamburg.

I have no idea where Beauregard’s army is, but we have plenty of evidence that it is sadly demoralized. I do not expect any more hard fighting here, for I do not believe that the rebels will face us, but I may be mistaken. If McClellan takes Richmond, and the Mississippi is speedily opened, I shall confidently expect a speedy termination of this wicked rebellion. Then, our duty performed and our beloved country relieved from peril, with glad emotions will we return to the arms of our loved ones and to the sacred peace of our happy homes. God speed the joyful hour!

I have now been in two fierce battles and have faced death for long, weary hours, and amid the wild terrors of the contest have been enabled by our kind Heavenly Father to preserve my self-command and do my duty. Oh, how sublime a scene is a battle! I can not describe it, but it seemed like the thunder on Sinai or the day of judgment, as our imaginations picture those wonderful events. Aside from its fearful perils, a battle fills the soul with the most sublime emotions. Then life is regarded at its true value, and the obligations of honor, patriotism, duty and humble trust in God fire the soul to meet manfully the terrible responsibilities of the hour. I thank God most devoutly that I have been enabled to render some service to my country, and that thus far our sweet babes will never have occasion to blush at the thought that their father failed to do his duty. The conviction that I shall return to you in safety at the end of the war keeps my feelings constantly calm and happy, and I sincerely hope that you feel so. I am well satisfied that I did not accept the promotion to the 18th, for I feel justifiable pride in the renown which our regiment has achieved. I feel now very clearly that it is my duty to keep with my company. The devotion of my men to me, evidenced in a thousand ways, often brings tears to my eyes.

I am vexed with the newspapers. Some of them are dissatisfied because we did not fight a great battle and, of course, have a great slaughter; and they call the whole operation a defeat. This is frightfully, cruelly wicked. These men are in a rage because ten thousand more homes are not desolated. The fact is, the whole campaign has been conducted with the most consummate generalship. Corinth is a most important position in a military point of view, flanking both Fort Pillow and Memphis. We wanted the position. The rebels themselves, with their arms and supplies, were of but little consequence to us. We won the position with but little loss of life, and these cowardly home-guards gnash their teeth in impotent rage because no more of us were butchered.