The Weekly Ottumwa Courier

From the South
VICKSBURG, Miss., March 12, 1870,
MAJOR A. M. HAMILTON-
DEAR SIR:
It is such a long time since
I heard from any of my Iowa friends, outside of our family, that I begin to feel a
kind of home sickness over it, and feeling
that you would not consider it an annoy-
annce to be compelled to read a few lines
from an old acquaintance sojourning in
the land of reconstruction. I devote a por-
tion of this evening to bringing your fam-
iliar countenance more clearly before me,
and to entertain it for a short time with
any thoughts that may suggest them-
selves on the occasion. Well, I suppose,
myself and my ideas of things will have
to be the theme of discourse, as I presume
I am about the only individual, in this
part of our great nation, with whom you
are personally acquainted. You are
aware, of course, that I am now a mem-
ber of the 16th Infantry, our old 15th hav-
ing been consolidated with the 31st at the
last re-organization, to form the 16th.
Since my arrival in Mississippi, my du-
ties have been various; most of the time,
however, serving on military commission
and courts martial. The great case which
occupied so much of our time during last
summer, has at last been turned over to
the civil authorities without the proceedings of the military commission being
published or acted on. This, of course, in-
owing to the great pressure, political or
otherwise, which has been brought to bear
by the Yerger family on the great people
of our country, who furnish the wisdom
necessary to the smooth running of the
machine.
During the registration and election, I
was Military Inspector of the Counties of
Bolivar and Coahoma, both of which gave
Republican majorities. There was not
any disturbance in either County, during
the whole time occupied in registering
and holding the election. They are two
of the heaviest cotton counties in the
State, and, of course, in the population
the colored element largely predominates,
as it requires labor to produce the article,
and the white people of the State are not,
as a class, noted for their anxiety to ful-
fill the Scriptures by "earning their bread
by the sweat of the brow," so far is it to
the contrary, that they concede to the col-
ored population all the privileges to be
derived from the strict observance of that
portion of the Sacred text.
On the 16th of last month I was ordered
up to Sunflower County, where a detach-
ment of the regiment is on duty, assist-
ing the Sheriff to enforce the law and pre-
serve peace and order in the community.
Sunflower County is bounded on the east
by the Tallahatchie river, of which you
have, doubtless, some lively remem-
brances. Shell Mound and Fort Pember-
ton are in the southern part of the Coun-
ty. Those places you may also have
heard some talk about during the time
you were engaged in coercing the chival-
rous people who were fighting for their
rights. The old Mound looks as natural
as ever.
As I looked over the ground, my mind
was carried back to the remembranod of
old scenes, and many were the forms and
faces that presented themselves, claiming
the right to be remembered in connection
with the darkness and the sunshine, the
sorrows and the pleasures of March and
April, 1863. The graves at the foot of the
Mound are now leveled with the surface.
The forms we laid there now rest in the
National Cemetery at Vicksburg. with the
Flag of the Union, for which they died.
waving over them.
May they rest in
peace.
Fort Pemberton was a very large work,
commanding both, the Yazoo and Talla
hatchie. Before I saw it I was under the
impression that it was at the confluence
of the last named and the Yallabusha, but
the mouth of the Yallabusha is quite a
long distance below the Fort; there also,
was a very heavy work. Did it ever oc-
cur to you that the means by which the
expedition got down there, was the very
thing that prevented us from taking the
place afterwards. This must be true, for
if the Levee had not been opened at Moon
Lake, which flooded the country, the
swamp above the Fort could have been
crossed by the troops. and the work taken
by assault at the time their guns were
silenced by the DeKalb and Chillicothe.
March 20th, 1870.
There. you can give me credit for hon-
estly putting in the date above, instead of
finishing my letter without it and charg-
ing the delay to the Post Office Depart-
ment.
probably Bay, Yerger has flowed, and the
a great piece of martyrdom from all ac-
counts (which they read), had the United
States undertook to regard his crime in
any other light than the fables of a crazy
GENTLEMAN. for General Ames, I
think the Senate might just as well save
time and trouble by quietly giving him
his seat, for, if I may be allowed to ex-
press it, it's my opinion he is the only one
they will get, and if they send him back
to Mississippi, marked, rejected, Miss.
sissippi will respectfully return him to
them "again, with the information that
from personal experience, it has found him
to be a true and just man, and that com-
modity being rather scarce in these parts.
besides, mistakes are liable to be made in
finding it, it prefers to hold on to an article
which has stood the test, and in which it
stated it, but it will amount to about the
same.
I think I will bring this to a close as
soon as possible. for fear I might be in.
terrupted and put it for eight days more.
By reference to Ayer's Family Almanac,
you will find this is receiving its finishing
touches on Sunday, which is a time set
apart (North of Mason and Dixon's Line)
for business of a different character. I
hope no objections will arise to the read.
ing of it however, on account of the time
occupied in its production.
S. K. M.