University of Virginia Library

Letter from Charles N. Tenney to "Messrs Editors", 1862 February 27

Am I presuming too much if I request the insertion
of a few lines, from a soldier in your valuable paper? I would
like to propose a few questions, hoping some one will consider them
of sufficient importance to answer.

It is a well known fact that that no better regiment ever
left the state of Ohio than the Seventh. When organized as a three
year Regiment we considered ourselves as well officered, from Col=
onel to Second Lieutenant. We went into the field, the hope and
pride of the Reserve. Our friends were proud of having Sons and
brothers in the Seventh. Has our title, that of the "Noble Seventh"
been sustained? Do our friends still consider us the pride of
Ohio? "How is the mighty fallen!" Where does the cause lie?
The question has often been asked by different members of this Reg't.
and I repeat it now. "Why are all of our best officers resigning?"
Well do we remember our loved and noble Chaplain, Mr. Brown. Need
I ask why he left us? We have a Chaplain now, I suppose, but where is
he? I believe he has called the Regt once. then at Patterson's Crk.
I have not seen him nor heard of him since. I suppose I need not
ask why Lieut. Case resigned, as his reasons have already been
given in your paper. Thus two as noble men as ever lived we
have been deprived of. But this is but the beginning of the end.

Scarcely has the excitement caused by the withdrawal of Lieut.
Case cooled subsided, when we are informed that Adjt. DeForest has
resigned, following in the same steps as Lieut Kimball of Co A. has
signed, "But the end is not yet." It is whispered among those who

know, that our Major Casement, has tendered his resignation
and will go home in a few days. Will Col. Creighton go?
Will Col Tyler go? (Echo answers "go".)

Why is it? Is there something wrong Must we lose all that
we hold dear, our reputation, our honor, and remain ignorant
of the cause? Will Evidently a screw is loose some where, for we
certainly percieve a defect in the working of our internal machinery
though-- well, we must ask "where?"

Will not some of your numerous readers tell us where the
difficulty lies? What is the cause of our losing so many of our best
officers? Will Col. Tyler also resign? Echo answers ominously "resign".

If some one will answer these, to us, important questions, they
will confer a favor upon the entire regiment.