her thousands of depraved creatures in human shape. And I
speak from personal knowledge, for they were quartered for weeks near my
late residence, when I say that of all the soldiers who were in this
community since the commencement of this war, none have left behind them
such a bad moral odor as have many of these men. Drunkenness, wanton
destruction of property, thieving, fighting and stabbing each other, (in
some cases to death outright,) were frequent occurrences. And yet such men
are not only allowed to vilify and abuse the people whom their misconduct
has outraged, but certain New York sheets take up their cause and pour
forth wormwood and gall upon the town, the community, and the State. Let a
virtuous public pronounce its verdict.

Let me illustrate what kind of "defenders" these two regiments of New York
militia were. On their arrival in the town, and whilst marching through it
on their way to camp, about one mile south from here, some of the men
received the hearty cheers of our citizens with sneering remarks about the
necessity of coming "all the way from New York to protect Pennsylvania!"
Just as if the protection of the border was not at the same time a
protection of other States--perhaps, in certain contingencies, even of New
York. But mark the sequel. They went to camp the same day of their
arrival, with liberal supplies of everything. The border was known to be
imperiled a second time, and a large portion of our citizens were armed
and marched out with these regiments. During the night our scouts brought
information to camp that the rebels were moving from the Potomac this way.
And now a scene of confusion ensued which beggars description. In the
greatest conceivable consternation, these "defenders" made for
Chambersburg in "double-quick," and took seats in the cars, "homeward
bound." Two interesting little circumstances, in connection with this
_allegro_ movement, must be added, of which hundreds of our citizens were
eye-witnesses. The first is, that these "defenders," in their hasty
retreat, did not forget to provide for themselves as _safe_ a retreat as
possible. To this end they ordered our citizen soldiers to keep in the
rear--in military phrase, "to cover their retreat" until the militia-men
had reached the cars in safety! The other little circumstance is, that in
their hasty retreat, they left the whole of their camp equipage behind. At
daylight the following morning you might have seen a score of w