Our army correspondence.
Since my last, no demonstration has been made by the enemy's cavalry, save the crossing at Ellis's Ford of about four hundred, who came with their side arms only.
The object of the visit, it appears, was to secure a number of cattle belonging to a citizen, who, it is alleged, had removed from his place of residence on this side of the river, with all his goods and chattels, to within the
Yankee lines.
The expedition ended in a failure, and the capture of several prisoners by us.
The gallant
Mosby is understood to be again in the saddle, and his success cannot be doubted.
Beyond this, the most perfect stagnation continues to prevail on both sides.
In our own camps, however, drills, inspections, and reviews, are of daily and weekly occurrence, which furnish a pleasant relief from the monotony of camp life.
During the present week
Gen. A. P. Hill has reviewed the veterans of
Anderson's,
Heth's, and
Wilcox's divisions.
The respective brigades were in excellent condition, and presented an imposing illustration of the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war." These occasions are largely attended by both sexes — especially by the fair sex, who grace and enliven the scene by their presence.
On the authority of an
Assistant Inspector-General of
Gen. Lee's Staff, whose weekly rounds of the army afford that scrutinizing officer ample opportunities for knowing, the whole army was never at any period of the war in better condition or fighting trim than at the present juncture.
Well shod, clothed, and fed, and always in most exuberant spirits, they could not be otherwise.
The camps are eligibly situated and regularly policed, and particular attention given to measures for the preservation of health.
As an illustration of the present healthful condition of the army, only about ten of
Ewell's corps are on an average daily sent to the hospitals, whereas formerly there were five or ten times as many, perhaps, from each corps.
The commissariat is ample, and to each man is daily issued one pound of beef or bacon, one and a quarter pounds of flour or meal, peas, rice, salt, &c., in proportion.
In some brigades there are regular issues of rations of green corn, and good facilities for obtaining other vegetables of the season, which the surrounding country affords in abundance.
The beneficial effects of the late order from
Gen. Lee, granting furloughs to two of every hundred men and brief leaves of absence to officers, are visible in the spirit of contentment that prevails and the less frequent occurrence of desertions, from which the best army ever organized, under any circumstances, was never free to some extent.
The trains continue to bring in return numbers of convalescent sick and wounded, who are promptly returning to their posts.
What if
Charleston should fall?--a consequence by no means necessary or very probable — or what if no ray pierces the cloud in the
East, bringing hope of foreign recognition or interference?
We can still carve our own way with the sword to independence, and lay the foundation of the true Southern policy for which this revolution was inaugurated.
The sooner we make up our minds to this the better.
If there exists any ground to fear the demoralization of our armies it is from the despondency and periodical croakings of those not in the service, who have not yet learned to appreciate the wonderful patriotism that animates the most unpretending private in the ranks amidst all the privations and dangers of the march and the battle-field.
Gen. C. M. Wilcox, lately promoted
Major General, has been assigned to the command of the division of the late
Gen. Pender;
Col. B. G. Humphreys, of the 21st Mississippi regiment, lately made Brigadier, has been assigned to the command of the brigade of the late
Gen. Barksdale.
Both are superior men and officers, and, as some regard it a
sine qua non, both were educated at
West Point.
Col. Lomax, of the 11th regiment
Virginia cavalry, has been promoted Brigadier, and is in temporary command of the brigade of
Gen. Jones, now under arrest and on trial before a Court- Martial on charges growing out of the late
General Order reducing transportation.
Major A. G. Pendleton, formerly
Adjutant General of
Gen. Jackson's corps, and now of
Gen. Ewell's, has been made
Lieutenant-Colonel, a deserved promotion.
It is the general belief, and my own opinion, that
Brig.-Gen. A. K. Wright has been acquitted of the charges preferred against him, which purported to have originated out of the order reducing the transportation of the army.
Without recapitulating the facts, I would state that the charges are trivial and were not sustained by the evidence.
The whole case was "a tempest in a teapot."
