Money is very precious to the poor Army at present, too, for not
one dollar has been paid to officers or enlisted men for over three
months! How officers with large families can possibly manage this move
I do not see--sell their pay accounts I expect, and then be court
martialed for having done so.
Congress failed to pass the army appropriation bill before it
adjourned, consequently no money can be paid to the Army until the
next session! Yet the Army is expected to go along just the same,
promptly pay Uncle Sam himself all commissary and quartermaster bills
at the end of each month, and without one little grumble do his
bidding, no matter what the extra expense may be. I wonder what the
wise men of Congress, who were too weary to take up the bill before
going to their comfortable homes--I wonder what they would do if the
Army as a body would say, "We are tired. Uncle, dear, and are going
home for the summer to rest. You will have to get along without us and
manage the Indians and strikers the best way you can." This would be
about as sensible as forcing the Army to be paupers for months, and
then ordering regiments from East to West and South to North. Of
course many families will be compelled to remain back, that might
otherwise have gone.
We are taking out a young colored man we brought up with us from Holly
Springs.
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