1        Bucks County Intelligencer, From the Ringgold (104th) Regiment.  May 6, 1862  Page 2  Col. 3        1

 

LETTERS FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS.

From the Ringgold (104th) Regiment.

Special Correspondence of the Bucks County Intelligencer.

CAMP WINFIELD SCOTT, NEAR YORKTOWN,

VIRGINIA, April 27th, 1862.

Rainy, and dull weather continues ; showers all day,

and mud without end or bottom.  Ours is the meanest

camp ground in the army of the Potomac.  Our friends of

the other regiments belonging to our brigade move away

to better locations, but we remain.  Why is this, when

there is good land near for the purpose?  We have re-

ceived our ? ? tents, (shelter tents).  Each soldier car-

ries a half of one when on a march; they are buttoned to-

gether, making a nice tent for two, with ample room, or,

more than two may be connected together, making a long

tent , as far as you may wish to extend it ; pretty good ar-

ticle.  We have had rain sufficient to test them.  Our for-

mer tents lay at Newport News, except a few we brought

with us.  Five companies on picket duty; stationed at 10

a. m., will be relieved at 10 to-morrow.  The mail arrived

at 6 o’clock this evening from Fortress Monroe.  Heavy

? up the lines towards the right.

April 27th.—Sabbath morning in camp; but how would

we know it if we were to forget the day of the week.  Our

Chaplain is having services this afternoon in camp, which

is the only indication of Sabbath.  We have very heavy

cannonading up the line to the right.  No news of the

cause.  Perhaps they know at Philadelphia.  We learn

many things through the papers that happen near us, of

which we would be totally ignorant if we did not see them

recorded there.  Some of these accounts are amusing to

us; they are dished up.  The scenes and plans of engage-

ments given certainly must be drawn at the newspaper

offices; as no one could come so wide of the truth, if pres-

ent at the place they occurred ; but it adds interest to the

story, renders the newspaper popular and harms no one. 

Our five companies return from picket ; no alarm during

their absence.

April 28th.—One of the most wonderful things we have

to relate is, that it has cleared off to-day and the sun

shines out warm ; and what an agreeable change.  If it

would only remain clear for a while.  This wet season is

nothing new in this State, or this portion of the State. 

This the old negroes tell us who have been here for 80

years, and one quite active yet, is 93 years of age.  All

the information we receive is from slaves ; no white per-

sons are left here except those under the guard.  The

slaves are sullen, and not communicative at all, and at

times impudent.  Nothing has occurred to-day in camp

strange or startling.  We have been up at the tower, bus-

ily employed.  Yesterday about 10 o’clock the rebels

sent a shell near our tower; but it passed beyond it, stri-

ing a tree thirty feet from us, and thirty feet from the

ground, tearing out a large scale of bark, and wood, inju-

ring no one, although several of the workmen were lay-

ing around the fires in front of their bunks.  This is the

only shot fired at us yet with cannon, and this was a

small affair.  This afternoon one rifle shot was fired from

their battery, or from behind it; the ball passed us and

struck near three men, who were probably discussing the

uncertainty of human life; but its sudden appearance,

and the splashing of water in their faces ended their dis-

cussion, and they returned to their work, after fishing up

the ball as a trophy.  It was considerably flattened, al-

though it had met with no resistance, except mud and wa-

ter.  A requisition had been made by Lieut. B. F. Fisher

for two kegs of spikes to aid in the construction of the

towers, but none could be drawn.  The wits of the party

were now put to work to supply the deficiency, after re-

flection some of the party remembered seeing a great

quantity of Iron rods at Young’s farm, yesterday.  We

despatched six men to bring them up, with pulley blocks

they had seen there.  They returned with the rods, but

no pulleys.  One must be manufactured—one we must

have.  A heavy yellow pine board is secured, and an old

Iron pulley, taken from some machinery near Warwick

Q. H., is all we have; but we now have an excellent pul-

ley, which raises our heaviest timbers.  Our rods are be-

ing made into bolts and spikes at the same time ; the an-

vil is an axe, with an axe for a sledge, and an axe for a

cold chisel.  Sassafras wood for coal, for two reasons ;

first, it makes a hot fire and burns well green; second, it

does not smoke ; so the rebels cannot get the range on us

from the smoke of our fires.  But notwithstanding all our

obstacles, we progress finely.  We are forty-two feet high

to-night ; if these towers were located where the tall trees

are they would be but small jobs.  While on picket a

few days since, Captain Marple and I cut a tree from cu-

riosity and it measured 115 feet long, clear of the stump,

and only 10 inches in diameter outside of the bark ; but

where this grew, the soil was adapted to pine, and not

much else.  The only thing I have felt envious of in Vir-

ginia, is their timber.  How often we have gone miles to

obtain certain lengths of timber in Bucks county, which

could be found here by the hundred, without any trouble. 

Their plantations are so large, and so much timber on

them, it becomes a burden instead of a blessing, as we es-

teem it.  But we are satisfied now ; they are ahead of us;

they make their cannon out of pine logs.  There is a bat-

tery near us with five genuine pine cannon, which were

mounted, but thrown down by our boys ; the ends laying

yet in the embrasures, and from a distance looked really

formidable.  The breech is rounded with an axe, the

body barked, and then burned or smoked black; the ta-

per of the tree giving them very much the appearance of

heavy Dahlgren guns.  If any of the Philadelphians want

to see a Quaker gun free of charge, here is a noble chance. 

It is a little dangerous to visit the locality except when

our pickets are advanced for the night; then for one dime

we will ensure your life.  At 417, Chestnut street, you

can see but one Quaker gun, and perhaps that one not gen-

uine, but here five are on exhibition, which are warranted

to be manufactured for this battery especially.  The re-

port in camp is, that New Orleans is taken.  Hurrah for

that.

April 29th.—Morning dull; cloudy, showery through

the day until 3 o’clock, cleared away and the sun shone

out.  At the tower two shots were fired at us to-day, with

a small gun; probably, from the report, a field piece—

Nobody hurt ; the balls did not reach us, reaching the

ground before they reached the pickets; boys anxious to

dig them up, but the pickets will not permit them to pass

out.  Return to camp and find the regiment gone—no one

can tell where.  They were busily engaged moving camp

to a small distance; when they received orders to fall in

quickly, and were marched away with the rest of the bri-

gade and the battery.  They went on a reconnoisance up

the lines, which it is said was very successful in ascertain-

ing the position of the enemy.  The rebels sent six shells

whistling over the heads of the brigade, the music of

which pleased the boys wonderfully, and formed a theme

for conversation, which will last them for days yet unless

there should something occur by which the subject may

be enlarged upon.  They returned to camp near 10

o’clock; with the loss of one killed and two wounded, in

the 11th Maine, and one wounded in the 17th N. Y. regi-

ment.  These are the casualties on our side.  It is

thought the enemy lost a greater number ; one fellow

was shot from a tree ; which if the ball did not kill him,

the fall certainly must.  After their return, rations were

in great demand, as their haste to get off had prevented

them from taking eatables with them.  The regiment

slept at the new camp, which, by the way, is a splendid

affair ; as much the prettiest as the one we left was the

muddiest and meanest in this section.  It is thick grown

of young pines, 12 to 15 feet high.  Our streets are cut

through these, and where the tents are the trees remain. 

This has a very pretty appearance, and is decidedly the

most comfortable place we have seen since we left the

barracks.