The Twelfth Regiment at Camp Defiance, Fourth of July 1861

The Twelfth Regiment at Camp Defiance, Fourth of July 1861

July 4, 1861

Recto: No text.

Verso: "The Twelfth Regiment at Camp Defiance as it appeared on the morning of the fourth of July '61. This regiment is encamped back of Cairo, between the Ohio and Mississippi levees in that flat shrubless waste of ground. But how forcibly do we see the old proverb demonstrated in this encampment, "that necessity is the mother of invention" No sooner do we see the tents pitched, than those sons of necessity fall to work constructing all manner of conveniences and comfort. Benches, stools, mess chests, shades, gun racks, etc. etc. All in the greatest dispatch, though not so fine as we have at home, yet surely more adapted to our wants in an army. When we first pitched tents in Camp Defiance June 4th we could see nothing but tall rank weeds which when cut away only discovered to us confused masses of old logs & stumps rotting away from their too frequent imertion [sic] in the over flowing waters. But the camp shows a different face now. The weeds have not even a root left in the ground to tell of themselves. The old logs and stumps are gone, not even a particle of their ashes can be found. The ground is leveled down as smooth as a floor. Though nature has not furnished living trees just where we would have them, we go to and put them there. Company F of the 12th surprised the whole batalion [sic] the 4th by the decorations with which they adorned their quarters. Five tall graceful young cottonwood trees stood out as represented in the drawing, like sentinels at the gateway of Eden. A wreath of small oak and hickory leaves embellished the rear of these in the most tasty style. On the center one hung the Colonel's likeness wrapt [sic] in the wreathe. Of cours [sic] after comp[leting] seeing this, fell to work and before ten o'clock our encampment was studded by the most beautiful young trees. // Bill D. Travis // Since I finished this article I have returned fro[m] Bird's Point, I find the Camp in quite differe[nt] order to ours' I tell you the 12th is head

Both left and right sides torn and frayed; corners torn and frayed; black ink mark top right; two vertical folds.

watercolor and graphite on paper

15.25 x 8.5 in.

Graphite drawings--American--1860-1870

40.6331249, -89.3985283

Original drawing location: CW-BDT-IL-7-4-61 (Box 10).

http://hdl.handle.net/2345/4969

(Becker)CW-BDT-IL-7-4-61