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.


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