question as to '_Whar do you lib?_'

"So dat de glorification ob Uncle Abraham Linkum shall resound ober de
earth, and we darkeys no longer hab to hoe de corn, but lib foreber on
de fat ob de lan'. Brudder Jerry will please pass aroun' de hat."

CHAPTER XIII.

Letter from Cheat Mountain -- The Women of the South --
Gilbert's Brigade.

LETTER FROM CHEAT MOUNTAIN.

Camp of 6th Ohio, at Elkwater, Va., 1861.

The trees begin to look barren, the bronzed hue of the surrounding
hills admonishing us that October, chill and drear, is upon us. Every
thing in nature is cheerless, and, adding to nature, man has, with
despoiling hands, laid waste the country for miles about our present
location. Pen can not describe the devastation of an army: orchards
are swept away; of fences scarce a trace is left; houses are converted
into stables, fodder-cribs, and store-houses; corn-fields are used as
pastures; forests must fall to supply our men with fire-wood; in fact,
with the soldier nothing is sacred. And why should any thing be sacred
in this "section," where traitors have been fostered, and where every
vote cast was for secession? Let them reap the harvest they themselves
have sown.

The farmers come daily into camp, whining because our men cut down
their sugar-trees, or "find" a few cabbages or apples; but, as the
Colonel is aware that the boys must be kept in fire-wood, he is
heedless of their whimperings.

The cold is telling fearfully upon the men at night, and I fear, if a
supply of clothing is not soon forthcoming, much suffering will be the
consequence. It is a burning disgrace to somebody, that such things
should be, and it is galling to our regiment to see Indiana troops,
just mustered into service, passing our encampment with large, heavy
overcoats, and every thing about them denoting comfort and an
attention to their wants. The cold frosts are beginning to leave their
imprints; already snow is capping the mountain-tops, and God help us
if we get winter-bound in this "neck of woods." Some few are glorying
in the thought of the fine deer and bear hunts they will have. The
latter I can't _bear_ to think about, and the former a man must be
_der_anged to think of catching upon, these mountains.

The paymaster has been disbursing his funds for the past three days,
and the boys are all in excellent spirits. Theodore Marsh and Leonard
Swartz will go home heavily laden with th