Camp Near Sulphur Rock Ark June 16th 1862

Camp Near Sulphur Rock Ark June 16th 1862

Dear Journal: I wrote you one week ago from Jacksonport, since which time but little of importance to your readers has transpired in this vicinity.

There appearing to be no immediate occupation for infantry at Jacksonport, we were marched back to this place on the 9th inst., and have been lying in camp ever since. The location is dry and healthy—water tolerably good, and altogether superior to that at Jacksonport. The miserable little backwoods town here takes its name from a sulphur spring, which rises in the rocky margin of a small stream near our camp. The inhabitants are, of course, all Union, since we came here, and will so remain while we stay, unless an overwhelming rebel force should appear. That might make a very great change in their political sentiments and position.

Really, one must conclude that a great proportion of the population here are either most consummate hypocrites, or else the most pusillanimous, cowardly, and time-serving selfish wretches alive—every ready to cry “good Lord or good Devil,� so that they may remain unmolested, and be required to make no sacrifices for the government. That there are some few who are unconditionally loyal I have no doubt—but they hardly amount to more than Lot’s family in Sodom.

There are some bands of guerrillas hovering about the country, one of which, commanded by the notorious Hooker, has a fastness in the Village Creek swamps, southeast of Jacksonport, and is said to number perhaps some four hundred. A portion of this gang, perhaps all, attacked a forage train a few days since, which was guarded by a part of the 9th Illinois Cavalry, Col. Brackett. They held the rebels in check until the Colonel forwarded reinforcements from his own regiment, supported by part of Bowen’s battalion with two mountain howitzers, or, as the boys call them, “bull pups.� A sharp skirmish ensued, in which the rebels were driven into the swamp where the cavalry could not follow them, with a loss of twenty-eight killed and captured—our loss one taken prisoner and twelve wounded.

There is also a force, estimated from 4,000 to 10,000—most of them extemporized under the conscript law of Arkansas, commanded by Hindman, an ex-member of Congress, and said to be moving toward Batesville. We most ardently hope they are—and should it be the case, you may hear of some fun in these “parts� are long. Gen. Hindman, if he does not watch the corners, may find the old proverb of “the d—l take the hindmost,� and foremost too, to be no joke.

When and where we shall move from here I do not know, and if I did, it would not be proper for me at this time to tell—but, for the benefit of those who have dear friends in this command, I will say that there is almost no sickness at all in the regiment—the boys are in high spirits—the officers as kind and indulgent as consists with good discipline, and there is not the least fear of any force with which we cannot promptly and successfully cope.

Yesterday we had public religious service, which was attended by nearly every officer and man not on necessary duty, from General Benton down, and which was characterized by order and decorum which would compare very favorably with that usually attendant upon like occasions in the walks of civil life. I am happy to say that the officers give the men a good example in this regard, and that they seem well disposed to imitate it.

We are living in hope of the opening of communication by way of the rivers, and a consequent improvement in the regularity of our mail facilities, when you may hear from us more interestingly, if not more frequently.
A. W. Sanford,
Chaplain 8th Indiana.