From The 14th Battery O. V. A.
Camp Dennison, Jan 9, 1862.
To The Editor Of The Sentinel.
Hurrah! For Kansas!
Ho! For Fort Leavenworth!
All the Excitement attanding “marching orders,” is upon us. Why it is we are called into the field without arms, or with being drilled in the use of cannon and sabre, is quite as puzzling to me as the idea of the use of the secesh double-barreled shot gun, (minus the lock,) was to the Rich Mountain rebel prisoner that owned it. But however strange it may appear, our Battery have orders to move with the 2d Cavalry Regiments to join the division under Gen. Lane. A large majority of the boys are suited with this arrangement, while some think they would prefer coming under the command of “meeker” General than Uncle Jim, and would rather join an expedition not quite so extensive as the one he proposes. Being desirous of getting into service, on the whole, the plan takes first rate among the boys, and we shall be just as ready to assist Gen. Lane in demonstrating the utility of his expedition to the Union, and its destructiveness to the rebel cause, as we now are to leave Camp Dennison. When we march, is to us profound a secret as where er are going was four days since. But in all probability some days will yet elapse ere we bid adieu to our now comfortable quarters.
We have just come in from Dress Parade, and have had the unpleasant sight of seeing another soldier bid adieu to camp life and United States service, stepping to the tune “Rogue’s March.” He belonged to Company D, 1st Artillery Regiment, was from Cleveland and named James. He leaves no friends and half his hair to mourn his loss.
There has been quite a number of desertions in this regiment as well as in the Infantry here and we are not infrequently greeted with the music of the fife and drum, and the sight of the deserter as he marches between a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets or sits on the barber’s chair to undergo the pleasant operation of having half the head shaved, free of cost. With the exception, and one or two deaths from being shot in artillery drill, and a rumor of soldiers poisoned eating pies, all is quiet in camp as usual, and sojering is now so common that we make a regular business of it, and thus time passes almost as unheeded as when at home we pursued our daily round of Business. But the bugle sounds for roll call and I hasten to close. More anon.
Yours truly, Lenox.
This article was published in the “Ashtabula Sentinel”
Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio 22 Jan 1862
Page 1 Column 4
The newspaper is on microfilm at the Ashtabula Public Library.
This is part of a series on the Civil War in Ashtabula County as was reported in the Ashtabula Sentinel