1 Bucks County Intelligencer, From the 104th
Regiment. June 3, 1862 Page 3 Col. 4 1
LETTERS FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS.
From the 104th Regiment.
CAMP
6 MILES FROM RICHMOND,
May
27th, 1862.
Messrs. Editors :—We are encamped at present about
6 miles from Richmond, and expect to fight our way there
in a few days. The 1st brigade of Casey’s division has
been on the advance for the past week, and has exper-
enced war in reality. The 104th Regiment was engaged on
Saturday last. The skirmish was very brisk, and we drove
the rebels about a mile. We were engaged about five
hours—part of the time under a galling fire. The enemy
opened upon us with musketry, from the edge of the woods,
and for some time sent the balls at us like hail ; luckily
for us, however, they generally flew high. Our skirmish-
ers replied in good earnest—marching up to the “rack”
boldly. The rebels fell back, but soon opened a battery
on us, firing shot, shell, tailors’ geese and scrap iron. This
firing they continued for about three-quarters of an hour,
very rapidly. Our battery soon began to reply, easing
the feelings of our boys considerably, for they knew that
the rebels could not stand our fire long. They were not
particular where they fired, but sent their shot and shell
and other missiles in every direction. They must be short
of ammunition, or they would not use tailors’ geese, minus
the handles, for shot. Our General showed courage and
superior bravery. He told the boys to “ give ‘em hell !”
—and when he noticed a disposition to back out, he asked
them, “ What in the devil are you afraid of?” After the
engagement he complimented us for our conduct, and I
presume that he has formed a good opinion of the 104th.—
Companies A, B, D, and F were detailed as skirmishers,
along with two companies from the 52d Pennsylvania. I
believe the 104th and the 52d were the only regiments ac-
tually engaged; the others were held in reserve. Happily,
our loss was not heavy. Corporal Thompson and Private
Rohr, of Company D, were wounded. W. H. H. Brown
of Company C, was killed by a shell passing through his
head. Lieut. Groff, of Company H, was struck by a spent
shell on the breast, wounding him. He and others made
narrow escapes. Four or five others were slightly wounded
by fragments of shells. During the engagement rain fell
in torments at times. The men were wet to the skin, and
many of the guns could not be fired. The rebels display
great cowardice, and I am inclined to think that the long-
boasted Southern chivalry is about played out. I will en-
deavor to inform you of our doings hereafter, though we
have poor opportunities for writing.
As I was marching in ranks to-day, deliberating upon
our doings and the measures held forth by some of our
hard-working political friends at home, the thought struck
me—here are thousands of brave men, marching as it were
unto death, enduring the hardships of camp and the
march, for the sole purpose of establishing law and order,
and advancing the cause of civilization. You may ima-
gine how painful it is for those to reflect upon the meas-
ures that are being introduced to misguide a certain class;
by the friends of slavery, for the purpose of making po-
litical capital, and thereby retard the harmonious work-
ings of the Government.
Those who maintain that this war will be the means of
overrunning the North with the colored population of the
South, do not appear to know that they are sowing the
seed of discord, and misleading the people in the same
manner that the poor wretches of the South have been
mislead in days gone by. We humbly ask the friends of
the Government to consider this important matter well
before they act upon deluded imaginations. There may
be a few individual cases of slaves running away from
their brutal masters, and emigrating North to escape the
horrors of slavery. They have glowing ideas of the great
North and its noble people, but they will find a cooler re-
ception than they imagine. They think that the people
of the North will receive them with outstretched arms.—
In this they will be deceived, which will at once cause a
reaction. In coming to the point, you may ask—what is
to be done with the “niggers?” Is the government to
furnish them with the ways and means of living; or are
they to be sent to Africa at the expense of the laboring
people of the free States? We admit that we cannot ac-
commodate them in the free States, particularly as long
as there are thousands of square miles of waste land in
the South, the country of their birth. It appears to me
that the “nigger” question is very simple and easy of be-
ing solved. Let Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, and other
States be made free, and as soon as the crack of the slave-
driver’s whip ceases to resound through the hills and val-
leys of the South, so soon the colored class will leave the
North and settle in the South, which is more suited to
their nature. The absurdity of men imagining that our
system of labor is to be ruined by runaway slaves, is sur-
prising in the highest degree, and contrasts with what is
commonly known as a “high degree of understanding.”
The history of the past proves that free negroes have no
particular desire of living in the free States, or the thou-
sands in Maryland and Delaware would have emigrated
there as they became free. It is those, only, who are
fearful of their masters, who go to the free States. Those
who will not believe these facts should visit Virginia ,
where they can witness scenes that will convince them of
these facts. M.