dious. The means of transportation are amply
sufficient for the calls of the service. The de
mands of division commanders are promptly
responded to by Capt. Elison. Captain Elison is
a prompt and efficient Quartermaster.
The Commissary Department under charge of
Captain Chai. F. Hoyt, C. S. Vol's., has always
on hand an abundant supply of commissary
stores, giving as the ration all the regulations
allows. Cattle are slaughtered in camp and
fresh beef at all times delivered as part of the
ration. Attached to tho department is a large
bakory, where fresh bread is issued daily. The
bakory is capable of turning out sixteen thou
sand rations of bread daily, when called upon.
Capt. Charles F. Hoyt cannot only keep a hotel
but is fully aware of its wants. In no case has
his department failed to honor its requisitions,
[conclusion next week,]
._ m —
Letter from Gen. Grant to the Western
Nanitary Commission. —The citizens of St.
Ivouis are organizing a Great Western Sanitary
Fair; the following letter, from Gen. Grant, was
received at a meeting hold on Monday evening,
tho Ist inst.:
St. Louis, Mo., January 31, 1864.
f>r. W. G. Ellioi, George Patridge, and others,
Western Sanitary Commission :
Gentlemen: Your letter of yesterday, reques- I
ting my presence at a general meeting of the
loyal citizens of St. Louis on Monday evening,
to'make preparations for a "Grand Mississippi
Valley Fair," lor the benefit of the sick, and
wounded soldiers of the Western army is before
me. I regret my already protracted stay in the
city will prevent any longer delay from my pub
lic duties. I regret this, as it would afford me
the greatest pleasure to advance, in any manner,
the interest of a commission that has already
done so much for the suffering soldiers of our
Western armies. The gratuitous offerings of
our loyal citizens at home, through the agency
of sanitary commissions, to our brave soldiers
in the field, have been to them the most encour
aging and gratifying evidence that while they
are risking life and health for the suppression of
this most wicked rebellion, their friends who
cannot assist them with musket and sword, are
with them in sympathy and heart. The Wes
tern Sanitary Commission have distributed many
tons of stores to the armies under my command.
Their voluntary offerings have made glad the
hearts of m in v thousands of wounded and sick
soldiers, who otherwise would have been subject
to severe privations. Knowing the benefits al
ready conferred on the army by the Western
Sanitary Commission, I hope for them a full
and enthusiastic meeting to night, and a fair to
follow which will bring together many old
friends who have been kept apart for the last
three years, and unite them again in one com
mon cause—that of their country and peace. I
am. gentleman with great respect, your obedient
servant, U. S. Grant,
Major General United States Army.
_ > ■
The following circular has been issued by the
War Department:
All invalid soldiers mustered on invalid trans
fer rolls by surgeons in charge of general hos
pitals, and all men of the 2d battalion companies
who can be spared from the hospital, and who
" have so far recovered from their wounds or di
sease as to be thought fit for duty in tho Ist bat
talion, will be sent to the invalid camp or depot
nearest tho hospital; and they will be examined
by a board, consisting of a field officer of the In
valid Corps, and a medical officer of the regular
or volunteer service, who shall have power to
confirm their transfer to the corps, and to decide
to which battalion they shall be assigned; to send,
those judged fit for field duty to their regiments,
and to discharge those whose infirmities unfit
them for any duty.
■ « —
The whole number of applications for com-
Miand in colored regiments up to February
Ist was 1.349, of which number 707 woro"passed'
by tbe board, and 642 rejected.
streets with a strange, far eastern look, stand the
tents of one of those blessed cities of mercy—a
field hospital. The sun pours hotly down ; a
distant drum snarls now and then as if in a
dream ; the tinkling concert of a cloud of locusts
—the cicada of the South—comes, like the dear
old sleigh-bells' chime, from a distant tree.—
" The loud laugh that tells the vacant mind " is
unheard; the familiar sound of closing doors
and children's carol never rises there ; the tents
swell white, and sad, and still. Within them lie
almost three thousand soldiers, marred with all |
wounds conceivable, wasted with pain, parched 1
with fever, wearily turning, wearily waiting to
take up the blessed march. Ho, for the North !
That is the word, the ever-abiding charmer that j
" lingers still behind." It is Stevenson ; it is
Nashville; it is Louisville; it is home ; it is hea
ven. Alas for it, how they falter and sleep by
the way! And every one of these men was
somebody's boy once ; had a mother once, a wife,
a sister, a sweetheart; but " better is a friend
that is near than a brother afar off," and now
comes the blessed mission of woman. True,
there are only two here in person, but how many
in heart and work !
You have been thinking, my sisters, where is
our work in all these scenes? That snowy roll
of linen ; that little pillow beneath the sufferer's
head; that soft fold across the gashed breast;
that cooling drink the rude, kind, stalwart nurse
is putting to. yonder boy's white lips; that
delicacy this poor fellow is just partaking ; that
dressing gown whose broidered hem those long,
thin fingers are toying with ; the slippers a world
too wide for the thin, faltering feet; the dish of
fruit a left hand is slowly working at, his right
laid upon our Federal alter at Chickamauga, nev
er to be lifted more. Your tree, my sister, bore that
fruit; your fingers wrought, your heart conceiv
ed, " What do the women say about us boys at I
home?" slowly asked a poor wreck of a lad as I j
sat by his side. That brow of his ached, I know,
for the touch of a loving hand, " and the sound
of a voice that is still." At the moment he ask
ed the question he was turning over a little silk
en needle-book that one of you laughing girls
made some day and tucked in a corner of a bag,
labeled " United States Sanitary Commission."
On the cover of that book you had wrought the
words—playfully, perhaps—" My bold soldier
boy." I silently pointed to the legend ; the re
ply struck home to his heart; and he burst into
tears. I assure you they were not bitter tears ho
shed, and as he wiped them away with a tine
film of a handkerchief you girls had hemmed
for him, his question was twice answered, and
he was content. His eyelids closed down, his
breathing was regular ; he had fallen asleep, and
I thought it was the picture of tho " Soldier's
Dream " over again.
You hear of the mal-appropriation of your
gifts, but never fear ; one grain may fail, but two
will spring up and blossom out into "forget-me
nots." Your work is everywhere. Go with mo
to that tent standing apart; it is the dead-houso
tont. Four boys in their brown blankets, tour j
white wooden coffins, four labols with four
names on four still breasts, Two of the four
garments the sleepers wear are of linen from
your stores, stitched by your fingers. Verily,
the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Societies should be
named " Mary," for are they not like hor of old,
" last at the cross and oarlieet at the grave?"
Soldiers' "Weddings.
Our re-enlisted veterans and new recruits are
turning their high bounties to good use by liber
al investments in the matrimonial markot.—
Judging from the number of weddings that are
taking place all over the country, it would ap
pear that the first thing an old soldier or volun
teer with greenbacks in his pocket thinks of is get
ting a wife, if he has none. It is the old story
over again. The brave carry off the fair. Mars
and Venus aro in conjunction now as in the old
en time, with this difference in our favor, that
Hymen stands by with nuptial torch, in the
shape of goodly piles of greenbacks. The clergy
profit by the recruiting officer, and the number
of marriages this year will exceed all precedent.
There is philosophy in this. A bounty of a
thousand dollars, with the prospect of a pension
and a farm at the close of the war, cuts away the
difficulties from many a love match. It would
take years of hard work and self-denial for a
young man to gather the outfit which tnay be
gained in one hour by yielding to the impulse of
patriotism. There, is a well-founded impression
that the present year will see the end of the civil
war, and our young men embrace the chance of
high bounties to settle themselves in life. Their
pay will almost support their brides, and in a
few months the war will be over, and they can
fall back upon their bounties to make a good
start in life, and purchase stock for rebel farms,
or make a start in life in their native towns. It
is to the credit of our young ladies that they ap
preciate this thrifty patriotism, and appear wil
ling to dispense with the usual long courtships,
in favor of volunteers and veterans, whose fur
loughs expire on a certain given day. So
dings are everywhere done up on short notice,
and clergyman of all denominations are kept
busy. In this city the increase of weddings from
this cause is quite unprecedented. But it is in
the country that the results are more remarka
-1 ble. The villages and towns in the interior of this
State are almost depleted of marriageable girls,
who have been converted into war widows by
the sons of Mars, lt is the same throughout
New England. In one village in Connecticut,
where a. wedding is a rare event, no less than
twenty-seven have occurred since last Thanks
giving.
It is to the credit of our heroes that victories,
both in love and war, follow them wherever
they go. A civilian stands but little chance
against a soldier among tho girls. The latter
generally give the preference to the veterans.
Then come the raw recruits, and civilians last.—
This is the rule even in Dixie. The animosity
of the secession ladies to the Union is only
Pickwickian, so far as regards our brave sol
diers individually. In Charleston, Va., we
hear of thirty soldiers' weddings as the result of
a few months encampment of a regiment near
that place. It is almost the same in other parts
of Virginia and throughout the border States.—
In New Orleans soldiers' weddings are the or
der of the day. On patriotic grounds the re
sults are ominently satisfactory, as tending to
abate the animosity of tho feminine haters of
our country's cause. We take it that the best
way to conciliate these Dixie damsels is to fur
nish them with good Union husbands.— Exchange.
it, ♦ m i
Let it bo understood that the end of our ex
istence hero is that we may bo more God-like ; -
and may wo know that we shall become so by
being more manly in the world, and that we
are placed here to grow strong and noble, and
not merely to enjoy.— Beecher^