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T H E
s,
proving his expedition to New Orleans,
and refusing the reinforcements he called
for, for that expedition. The most prob-
able, and, doubtless, the true reason, has
come to our knowledge. It seems that
he fought the battle of Pleasant Hill con
trary to orders, whereby he failed to have
io the fight about ten thousand of his army.
He was ordered to fall back, and toll on
Banks, till he lie got to a range of hills
about 16 miles in the rear of Pleasant
Hill, a most admirable position. Here
he could have had the additional 10,000
men alluded to, in the action, and would
almost certainly have been able, from po
sition, and numbers, to annihilate the yan-
kee army. He gave battle too soon, and
without his full strength, and, although a
great victory was achieved, the large bulk
of Banks’ army escaped back to Alexan
dria, and, during the retreat, devastated
the country. Again, Gen, Smith’s plans
were laid, not ohly to utterly destroy the
army, but to capture the yankee gunboats,
and transports, above the falls near Alex
andria, which could have been done, if the
battle had come oft' in the admirable posi
tion selected. With that army destroyed,
and the possession of those gunboats, the
Mississippi river could have been restored
to our control, including New Orleans,
Baton Rouge, Port Hudson, Natchez,
Vicksburg, and Memphis. It is obvious
to everyone, what changes would have
been wrought by carrying out the cam*,
paign planned by Gen. Kirby Smith. Its
effect upon the future conduct of the war
cannot be over-estimated. It would have
proved the grand coup d’etat of the war,
and, in our opinion, wou'd have done
more to briDg an early peace, than any
thing that has occurred. It is not worth
while to elaborate, for its important bear
ing is patent to all.—Montgomery Adver
tiser.
Vegetables for Soldiers.—“From the
‘Military Surgery, ’ by Prof. J. J. Chisolm,
M. I)., we quote the following testimony
for provisions, and preparations ;
‘ Fresh meat is a frequent issue to ar
mies, and is the most common issue to
6ur troops. It is usually boiled, or roast
ed over the fire into a tough mass, known
as frizzled beef, which tests the capacity
of even a soldier’s digestion. The pro
per mode of cooking this ration is in soup,
which is always palatable,whether thicken
ed with flour, hard bread, or such vegeta
bles as the country affords. A French
military proverb says that ‘ Soup makes
the - soldier. ’ In the use of fresh meat,
let it always be remembered that a fun
damental rule in culinary art is to boil
meat slowly, and roast it quickly.
4 The free use of fresh vegetables is the
only mode of preventing the appearance
of tie scurvy among troops* When these
cannot be obtained, the free use of dried
vegetables, as rice, potatoes, corn-meal,
etc., will tend to sustain health and vigor.
‘A distinguished military surgeon has
remarked that 100,000 francs, spent in
fresh vegetables, will save 500,000 francs
from the expenses of sick soldiers enter
ing the hospital, besides the use ol the
men for active service. Of the dried veg-
C O U N T R Y M A N. t 431
etables, rice is among the best for feed
ing troops. It is easily cooked, easily di
gested, and is one of the most wholesome
farinaceous articles—correcting, as it often
does, the tendency to intestinal fluxes, and
yet, even in the rice growing country of the
Confederate States, it is issued very spar
ingly to our troops. ’ ”
Grant’s Losses.—“The statement,below,
confirms the account of the immense loss
es sustained by Grant, in the present cam
paign. When the truth is fully known,
it will be shown that Grant has sacrificed
more men in one month, than were lost in
the campaigns of McClellan, Pope, Bum-
side, and Hooker:
Camp Near Mechanicsville, )
June 11, 1864. y
Mr. Editor :—I clipped the enclosed
report of casualties from the Portland
(Me.) Daily, of the 30th May, 1864. It
may be of interest to see it in print. It
does not include, of course, the loss the
same brigade subsequently sustained when
Early turned their right flank, about the
1st of June, capturing, in all, about eight
hundred prisoners, from the 5th army
corps. The regulars have surely found
Richmond a 4 hard road to travel.’ If the
losses of this one brigade can be taken as
a fair sample of the losses in Grant’s army,
how great must have been his casualties !
Wm. Choice,
Capt. comd’g Co. K, 5th S. C.Inf.
ADDITIONAL, ROLL OF HONOR.
The following is a summary of the losses
in the regular army, in the recent battles,
as far as heard from.
Second United States Infantry—Com**
menced the spring campaign—officers 8 ;
privates 130'—total 138. Officers wound
ed, 5 ; privates killed and wounded, 63—
total, 68— Now report 40.
Eleventh U. S. Infantry—Entered the
campaign 3.50 strong.* Officers killed, 1 ;
wounded, 5- - y privates killed and wound
ed, 219—total, 224. Now report 130.
Twelfth U. S. Infantry—Entered the
campaign 550 strong. Now report 180.
Killed and wounded, 370; officers killed
and missing, 2 ; wounded, 6—total, 8.
Fourteenth U. S. Infantry—Entered the
campaign 500 strong ; report, now, for du
ty, 130—loss, 370. Officers killed and
wounded, 8.
Seventeenth U. S. Infantry—Entered
the campaign 234 strong ; now report 70;
loss, 164 killed and wounded; 6 officers
wounded.
The above five regiments of the regular
army, commenced the spring campaign
with 1,772 officers, and men. They now
report 556, having suffered the loss of
1,216.
Queen Victoria’s Farms.—“There are
cows at Windsor (says an English paper)
which give as much as thirty quarts of
milk a day. The Royal shorthorned nerd
is formed partly of cows of good old fam
ilies, the pedigrees of which may be seen
in the Herd Book, partly of well bred
cows, with three or four crosses of the
best pure-bred bulls, but not professing to
be Herd Book cattle. So far as could be
observed, there does not appear to be any
material difference in the milking qualities’
of the older, as compared with the ftewer
families. Nowhere can be seen more
clearly, in all its combined merits, the
unrivaled practical utility of the short
horn, the dairyman’s cow when in ‘profit,’
the butcher’s when not in milk/ Let the
doubters go and see. There are fifty-eight
short-horn cows in milk at the present
time, together with fourteen Alderneys,
for the supply of cream, milk and butter,
both for Windsor Castle, and for Bucking
ham Palace, and Osborne, when the Queen
goes to these places. The Soaw and Dai
ry farms are exclusively devoted to Short
Horns, under the care of Mr. Tall, while
the Norfolk farm, 4 which is appropriated
by the lovely Devons, and the Flemish
farm, where the massive Herefords hold
their reign,’ are much farther from the
castle, and are both committed to the
charge of Mr. Brobner, under the super
intendence of General Hood.’’
“A gentleman was seated opposite to
Coleridge at dinner, with a magnificent
forehead, and a very fine, and venerable
bald head. The eye of this patriarch was
scintillating, apparently with the fires of
genius, and the whole bearing of the man
was suggestive of immense capacity, labo
riously suppressed. 4 Ah, ’ thought Col
eridge, ‘if he would but speak, what grand
things would we hear—what large utter
ances, worthy of the early dramatists—
what poetry, and eloquence, and thought;
and truth.’ Suddenly, the gentleman
who could boast of a venerable nead, and;
great talent for silence, spoke : the oracle’
delivered its burning message, and to this
effect:
‘Hand me them durnplins.”
“ S. H. Goetzel, the enterprising MobBo
publisher, has in press 4 Three months in
the Southern States,’ by Col. Tremantle.
The work will shortly be issued. Book
sellers would do well to send in their ord
ers at once.”
The Georgia press, or a portion of it, isv
rapidly approaching the 4 high low ’ stan
dard of the North Carolina press, in the
use and application of base personal im
putations, and allusions, and retorts. VVe
rejoice that, in this state, we are not troub
led with such exhibitions.—Charleston.
Courier.
Freedom.— 44 The St. Louis Republican
(Abolitionist) mentions a chaplain in the
Federal army, who has been charged with
selling eighty 4 liberated ’ slaves. It quotes,
a statement from a Massachusetts aboli
tion paper, that a Federal soldier had sold
a colored lad, about fifteen years old, for
a pig worth five dollars.”
A Quartermaster’s Epitaph.—“ Killed
on the retreat from Resaca, A. L. Vouch
er, A. Q. M. He was kicked in the stom
ach by a mule. His last words were, 4 put
me on abstract L.’
For the benefit of the uninitiated, we
would state that ‘abstract L,’ in a quarter
master’s accounts, is used for things lost,
or expended.”