We copy the following from a letter to the Cleveland Herald from one of the Soldiers at Camp Putnam.
The Camp receives its name from Gen. Rufus Putnam, who was one of the original settlers of Marietta, hence the name is very appropriate. The Irish feathers scattered on the floor, and the knap sacks hanging around the shanty, and the long tables covered with tin plates, and a hungry soldier standing opposite each one, look so natural, and are becoming so real, that downy beds and carpeted floors and sumptuous tables would be likely to give us all the dyspepsia before our digestive organs could learn the change. The inhabitants treat the Soldiers with great respect, and spare no pains for their comfort and enjoyment. They got up a very fine pic-nic for our special benefit, and spread our tables with all the luxuries and delicious fare that the season could produce or the palate desire.
A mutual good feeling and acquaintance are ripening among the citizens and the Camp, and especially between the boys and the fair ones of the place, which will not be likely to be broken up at the dismemberment of this temporary life. When the hour for drill approaches, a concourse of anxious spectators swarm the seats of the Fair Ground to see the performance of the soldiers, and after drill they shake their sides and often indulge in the genuine horse laugh, when the boys imitate the nations of the pond, as they go sprawling around the ground.
Our drill is regular and the rules very stringent, such as are required to make prompt and energetic soldiers. Every man knows his post, and the battery is like a magnificent machine, and moves with the greatest celerity and precision at the command of the worthy Colonel James Barnett.
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