'V -^^ ,-^^ % A^'- o . %^'' :- A^'^ 'V' ,0 o^ .v :.^^. .- .y <. '^/'•■' s .'N -^^ x' .X> "'C*-. "o 0^- - '^;p f atone of .the extortioner with success, the present necessities of our citizens would do so. It is needless to attempt to disguisefromtliecncuiy or our own people thot our wants are great; but still we can conscientiously nsserl our belief Ihnt there ia plenty within our lines, by nn exercise kreadstuds secreted, and are dolin<^ it out at the most cxorbiumt figures to thow whr had not the forrxight or means at theii cnmmund to provide for the exigency now upiiii us. A rumor has reached us that par- lies in ourcity have been and are now.sell- SnS *lo"'" at f*^" dolliirapcr pound— mol as- ■ - 1 dollars per sallon, aud com al 1 doltai yvt prr per OooD News.— Tn devoting a large por- intelligence, copied from the Memphis bulletin of the SGth, it should be remem- bered that the news, in the original truth, is whitewashed by the Federal Trovoat Marshal, who desires to hoodwink the poor northern white slaves. The former editors of the Bulletin being rather pro- Southern men, were arrested for speaking :eedom, and placed in the chain gang ing at Warreutou, where they now This paper at present is in duress, and edited by a pink-nosed, slab-sided, toad- " Yankee, who iaa lineal descendant of J udaa hcariot, and a brother gcrmaia of the greatest Puritanical, sycophantic, Robert E. Lee has given Hooker, Slilroy & Co.oneof the best and soundest whippings on record, and that the "galorious Union" )• SQvr exceedingly weak ta the kaeca. SEN. ROBERT E. LEE 1161111. Again we have reliable news from the gallant corps of Geo. Lee in Virginia. Elutcd with success, encouraged by a sc rice of brilliant victories, marching to and crossing the Rappahannock, defeating Jlooker-e right w.nc ai the from Winchester and capturing 6,000 of his men and & large amount of valuable stores of all dcBcriptions,rc-cntcring Mary- land, holding Uagerstown. threatening Washington city, and within a few miles of llatlimorc — onward and upward their war-cry— our brave men under Leo are striking terror to the heart of all Yankcc- leftai ands rdya ling il independence, ght and honor. Tn-day the mongrel ad- ministration of Lincoln, like Japhct.are in search of a father, for their old Abe has departed for parts unknown. Terror reigns in their halls. Lee is to the left of them, to the right of them, ia front of them, and all around them, and daily do we expect to hear of his being down on them. Never were the French in Algeria more put out by the mobile raids of Ab Del Kadir, than ore the Federals of Maryland, Washington City, Pennsylvania and Ohio, by the mercurial movements of Lee's cav. airy. Like Paddy's flt-a are they to the Federals — now they have got them and now they haven't. The omnipresence of our troops, and they, throwing dust in the cyca, or ra'licr on the hecla of the panic- stricken Federals in Maryland and Penn- sylvania, clearly prove that Lee just now is. the right man in the right place. .We lay before our readers in this Issue an accountof Leo's brilliant and Bucceesful onslaught upi 1 from their rd.how ■airy ha ihcd gallant boys of 0' their swords to the hill with their vauni ing foe, and now each musket of our ii fantry has told its fatal leaden lule. To-dny Maryland is our«, to-morro' Pennsylvania will be, and the next dn idway, like Mohammed coffin I 1 Ood |5r*We have heretofore refrained from Iluding to a matter which has been a nurce of extreme anno/ance and loss to ur citizens. We refer to the lax discipline f some of our company officers in ollow- ng ihcir men to prowl around, day and lightjond purloin fruit, vegetables, chick- :. from rdeniz jorily of cases,from those whose chief s ;islcncc is derived therefrom. Thiaclia 3 not confined solely to those at the wor lUt is equally, if not mainly, attributa cnowlcdgc wherein the oflenders have ipcQ daylight, ^entered pre cattle and other thini We lilt an esteemed i I'm. Portcrfield, was undc I protecting his properly, f two soldiers and deprivt fe. We fully appreciate Ih ui.j., d defied the own- Vicksburg, aud ed ; but upon inquiry ii utingtothcwelfarcofl sity, other of hi! hoscgallani limb for the .illn of tl.. 2 his good nfliii li'tt B'sUief, s OkUit.— That the great Ulysses— the 'aokee Generalissimo, surnam<;d Grant — ns expressed his intention of dining in icksburg on Saturday next, and celebrat- ; the 4th of July by a grand dinner, and HRKEE JIEWS FROH ALL POINn. iLADELPBiA, June 21, 3:30 a. m,— The following is all the newa of intertst in the Washington Btar: Major Brazull, of tlie United States vol- unteers, received intelligence from Fay- ette county, Pa., this morning, that the rebels in heavy force were advancing on Pittsburgh, via the National road leading from Cumberland acroaa the Alleghany filouuUins. Their pickets had reached GranUville, Md., thirty-eight miles from Uoiouto\¥a, Fayette county Pa., on Wednesday evening last. It is reported in Washington to-day that two members of Hooker's stall were gob- bled up by guerillas last ni^ht in the vi- cinity of Fairfax. Harhisboro, June 20.— Operations portion of a N. Y, cavalry regiment, cap- turing twenty rebel prisoners at McCoa- nebburg, in Fulton county. Col. Lawrence, with a portion of the 127lh Pa. regiment (mounted), captured a sqund of rebels who wero marauding on We hold Chambcrsburg.and the citizens ceived here late tlvia evening, states that a rebel cav-ilry foree is within eight miles of Gettysburg. New Yorx, Jnne 2i;— A Harrisburg dispatch to-night contaiiks the following:: ■'The rebels are reported 40,000 strong at Hagerslown and fortifying." A Herald's special from Monocacy Sta- tion, Md., theSlst, saye: About4 o'clock p.m. , Major Cole, of the Ist Maryland cav- airy, made a gallant dash into Frederick, side. Our cavalry passed through the city, and immediately after abput fifteen hun- dred rebel oavalry re-occupied the town. The rebel cavalry entered Frcdcricli about S o'clock and dashed furiously through the city, capturing nine of our men al the signal station, and paroled Iha invalid soldiers, numbering about sixty, in the hospital. A number of horses were seized, secession flags were displayed at the Central Hotel, ond some citizens col- lected there to welcome the rebels. A nia- jority of the population evinced no plei tthe The :ed- ,ud foi J the city. ch had ordered that the place be held liefurtificationa opposite this city are >hed and ars considered impregnable, he rebels arc known to be 8,000 strong lagL-ratown and Williamsport he rebels hold the north bank of the omnc river, from Cumberland to Har- 3 Ferry. Gen. Kellcy drove them out Jumbcrland, and when they left they It is thought Gen. Rhodes is opposite Willinmsport with 20,000 men. The rebel Gen. Imbodcn is reported as advancing, but this is considered doubtful. F.nEDKiticK, Md.. June 20.— The ene- my's caviilry left Doonsboro last evening, after capturing a number of horses, and Six thousand infantry are reported tc have crossed ot Williamaport./ It ia not be- lieved that they will visit Frederick. The enemy baa nearly fl,000 infantry thi! side of the Potomac, under Gen. Rhodes. Two regiments of infantry and a squad of cavalry are at Sharpsburg, and the rcu " dcr are encamped between Williamsport and llagerstown. No artillery has been any troops crossed stationed at Charleslown. Lee's army is not known to be within supporting dis- tance of Ewcll, and it is very probable that the force now in Maryland will not pene- trate further north. The cavalry force numbers about I.SOO, under Jenkins. . The party which first advanced upon Orccncostlesnd Chunbcraburg numbered only 6.10.. WAaBmGTos,.Tune 23.— The Richmond Dispatch of thcSlstconUins the following: Dispatches received yesterday from Sa- oaha nfedci c the capture by tl ' i-clnd E rFin- iiiniandcd by Capt. Webb, of - t.ickcd and captured after an action of thirty minutes, by two Federal ironclads, Richmond papers of the SOth say the city of Darien, Ga., was burned by the Feder- als on the nth inet., and ia now one phiiu of ashes and blackened c1)imneys. Seven Fcdcr;iIironcladswcreat Brunswick, Git, and largo forces had Undeil from trans- ports. Vallandigham lias run the block- ade from Wilmiiigtou.' He is going Wa nd thence to Canada. «21.- L Harrisburg, rn.. oispntcn to tite Herald states thut Jenkins pussed through Greencastla last evening with 700 mouMied infantry, in the direction of Waynesboro. The rebels arc reported to have sixteen pieces of artillery with thtir largo force.' They occupy the south blink of the Potomac, between Cum- lierhiid aud Harper's Ferry. Rhodes has 22,000 men at Williuinsport, The opinion in official circles at Harris- bnrg is that the rebels have serious designs on Baltimore, Tlieir movements indicate this, and fears are entcrtaind for the safety e liuTidrcd rebel cavalry .rg di.pul -.1 pla. the 0, Juuc -L— A dit-paUb r ngly expressive in their dcmonstrationa of disgust, and showered words of sympa- thy upon our prisoners U tbej passed through the town. The rebels are reported to be fortifying It South Mountain. They have in the vi- cinity of Williamsport about aix thousand nfantry, one thousand cavalry, and a fcvr pieces of artillery. A squadron of cavalry could undoubtedly capture the entire force this aide of South Mountain^ ^"Mid the din and closh of arma. tha- Creech of shells and whistle of bullets, Hiich arc a continual feature in the status elcaguered city,incidentsof happi- oftei vary II c evening: nirth and phases . of the 30tl»ult., with gaycty, i good-feeling, at a prominent hospital of this city, through the ministerial ofScea oC a chaplain of a gallant regiment. Charles Royal, Princeltnperiiilof Ethiopia, of tha Berbcrigo family, espoused the lovely and accomplished Rosa Glass, Arch Duchess of Seoegambia, one of the most celebrated Princessea of t]ie Laundressima Rcgima. The affair wne conducted with great mng- times,tbeaabler element wna predominant. The foe may hurl their deadly LoU» And think wcarca'fr-ghted. Well may wo- scorn them— silly dolts — Our Blacks are now united. Vktivized. — We learned of an In- atoncfl wherein a "knight of the quill" and in their hearts and vengeance in their eyes, rutlilessly put a period to the existence of ble feline, that has for tim be expected of him, to the dry vermin in his neighborhood. Poor de- funct Thomas was then prepared, not for the grave but the pot, end several friends invited to partake of a nice rabbit, Asa matter of course no one would wound the feelings of another, especially in these limes, by refusing a cordial invitation to dinner, and the guests assisted in consum- ing the poor animal with a relish that did honor to thcirepicurean tastes. The "sold" a»surc us that meat was dclicious,and that pussy must look out for licr safety. , ^~The Federal! Genera! McClci until recently outside the rear of ou has been superseded. He and Grant indOn t haa all his ^-Thc Yanks outside our city are cot siderubly on the sick list. Fever, dysei tery and disgust arc their companions,au Grant IS their muster. , The boys are d( BcrtTng daily, and are Crossing the river i the region of Warrentoo,cur!< jniifihisdinnerwithhim. Thc"Cit ivcs to see it. For the lust tiiue it ap >u "Willi pnpcr." No more will it eul heluxury of mule-mcntund fricassee the types n mil be ViituuliU JKrcafur u Ill {Memory of OUR FALLEN HEROES and to OUR HONORED VETERANS This Volume is Gratefully TDedicated. PRKKACK. §N sending forth this volume, the editors do so believing that it will be welcomed by the heroes of the great struggle \j^ and also find a place in the hearts of the people who cherish the memory of the noble deeds and heroism of the brave hearts who left father and mother, wife and daughter, brother and sister, home and friends, for their country, thousands of whom to-day are peacefully sleeping in the "City of the Silent," where no earthly "bugle call" disturbs their slumber. Other war books have preceded this, but they have been for the most part purely historical and statistical, or the experiences and observations of a single individual, thus portraying but a glimpse of the most gigantic, thrilling, and bloody drama of the nineteenth century. The actual facts and experience concerning such a colossal and terrific strife can in no way be so accurately and truthfully ascertained as by and through the unbiased testimony of the actors themselves. Neither time, pains, nor expense has been spared in gathering the material for this volume, and it comes fresh from the heart and pen of more than three hundred veteran soldiers of the rank and file, both North and South. The work is not confined wholly to the achievements of cannon, musket, and sword, but records many of the countless incidents and experiences prominent in soldier life, which are not only exceedingly entertaining, but decidedly instructive. (6) PREFACE. 7 These venerable and heroic men, who, in full vigor of man- hood, marched to the cannon's mouth, are now rapidly falling from the ranks, and their burning words will be treasured in memory's bosom, by a grateful nation, which is justly proud of the bravery, heroism, and sacrifices so freely contributed to save the Union. A war, so gigantic, continuing through four long, weary years, so costly in blood and treasure, reaching with its sore bereavement into the peaceful quietude of almost every home circle of our land, attaches to this volume an individual and personal interest without a parallel in the whole range of war literature. Nowhere in the realm of books is portrayed more vividly the grandeur and heroism of the American soldier, his courage and love for home and country. But the sword has been sheathed, and the gentle breezes waft sweet perfumes over the graves of peaceful warriors as they sleep side by side. Monuments dot hillside and plain where once the battle raged. Federal and Confederate chieftains sit side by side in the Senate chamber, and unite in the councils of our chosen ruler. Peace and joy have spread their silver wings over the desola- tions and bereavements of the past, and to-day we are one people, one country, united under one flag. Fraternally, Springfield, Mass., June, 1887. Will. -©. JCinj,. GAnP-riRE SKETGRES*- *BATTl2E-riELD EGH0ES OF THK REBELLION, "THE BOYS." THE CHRISTIANA RIOT, OR How the First Gun of the Rebellion was Fired. BY M. G. O understand the famous " Christiana Riot " it will be necessary to go back and investigate the causes that led to it. In the lower part of Lancaster and Chester counties. Pa., lived a community of Quakers, and people reared under Quaker influences. These people had been accustomed to succor fugi- tive slaves. Many of them did not go so far as to assist them in leaving their masters, but they all felt it to be a Christian duty to assist them after they had escaped. "The Fugitive Slave Law" made such assistance a crime punishable with fine and imprisonment, and it aroused the deepest feel- ing in this community. The "Gap-gang," a notorious band of outlaws, took advantage of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, to kidnap and hurry off to slavery colored men who were known to be free. On the 9th of September, 1851, Mr. Edward Gorsuch appeared before Edward D. Ingraham, and, under the act of Congress of September 18, 1850, asked for warrants for the arrest of four of his slaves whom he had heard were somewhere in Lancaster county. Warrants were issued to H. H. Kline, a deputy U. S. marshal, authorizing him to arrest George and Joshua Ham- mond, Nelson Ford, and Noah Buley, persons held to service or labor in the state of Maryland, and bring them before the com- missioner. Mr. Gorsuch then made arrp.ngements with two police officers of Philadelphia, named "Agin" and "Tully," to assist Kline in capturing the fugitives. It was about daybreak of September 11 when they neared the house. The building was the property of Levi Pownall, a well-known Friend, and, at the time, was the abode of a colored (9) 10 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. man named William Parker. The officers demanded the slaves, and threatened to shoot them or burn down the house if they did not surrender. The number of besiegers is said to have been fifteen. While they were advancing on the house Mr. Gorsuch saw a colored man whom he thought he recognized as one of his slaves. The party came to the house and found the door open. They entered, and Kline ordered all to come down stairs, saying that he had warrants for the arrest of Nelson Ford and Joshua Hammond. The negroes re- plied that there were no such men in the house. Kline and Edward Gorsuch attempted to go up stairs. They were prevented by an ordinary fish gig, or pronged instrument. Mr. Gorsuch and others now went outside to parley with the negroes at the window, but Kline fired his pistol up the stairs, the warrants were read, and a demand was made for the landlord. Kline then proposed to withdraw, but Gorsuch re- fused, saying, that he would not leave till he had arrested his slaves. The deputy-marshal next ordered some one to go to the sheriff and bring one hundred men. This was intended to intimidate the negroes. While this was going on, a colored man, who lived in the neighborhood, chanced to pass Parker's house. He saw the yard full of men, one of whom presented a pistol and ordered him to leave the place. He hurried to the store of Elijah Lewis, near by, and told him that ''Parker's house was surrounded by kidnapers, who were trying to get him away." Mr. Lewis is still living in Christiana, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, and what happened after is best told as from his own lips: "I was the first white man that arrived there. On my way I called upon 'Castner Hanway' and told him what was going on. Parker's house is in Sadsbury town- ship, Lancaster county, about two miles from Christiana. The BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 11 first person I met was Henry Kline, who had a warrant for the arrest of the fugitives. He commanded me to assist in arrest- ing some slaves. I said, ' Thee has come to the wrong place for assistance.' He showed the warrant, and, while I was convers- ing with him, a company of colored men came with their guns and arrayed themselves in battle order across the road. They stood there, pointing their guns right at us, and calling: 'Get out of the way ! get out of the way !' I said to Kline: 'Look up and down the valley; see, the men are coming as hard as they can run, with guns and other weapons.' I then told him to call his men away, and stood by to aid them if needed. They started as if to go away, but the old man and his com- pany went back to the house, leaving an enemy behind in those drawn up across the road, and also to meet several colored men in the house, who had just come there for an apple-butter boiling. I heard the men in the house shout: 'We are saved! we are saved!' Then they came down from the second story. Gorsuch met them, and fired his pistol at Parker. The col- ored men returned his fire and killed the unfortunate slave- holder. His son was shot also, but not mortally wounded. Then began the running — the colored people, the masters, and the constable's posse — each trying to save himself as best he could. An inquest was held over the body of the elder Gorsuch. In the mean time Lewis Cooper took the younger Gorsuch to Levi PownalFs house. Here he was nursed as carefully as if he had been a brother." There was nothing done for thirty-six hours to try to arrest those who had had a hand in the riot. Then a warrant was is- sued for the arrest of those engaged in the affair, giving those actually guilty time to get half-way to Canada. Warrants were issued by a magistrate, Joseph D. Pownall, at Christiana. None of the men that had assailed Parker's house were ever arrested, but thirty - seven innocent negroes languished for weeks in Moyamensing. The total immediate result of the out- break, which was believed by the anti-slavery people to be part of a gigantic slave-catching expedition into Pennsylvania, was the catching of a single fugitive, but who, by the exertions of Passmore Williamson, Thomas Earle, and others, escaped. Its more remote results are with us to-day. ARRIVAL * AT t THE » CAPITAL of * * THE FIRST « BODY « OF * PA. « TROOPS. Ati Excited Moh.—The First Blood Shed Noyth of Fort Sumter. BY WILLIAM F. M'KAY, 25th PA. REGIMENT. (WO years previous to the bombardment of Fort Sumter the miilitary spirit of Lewistown, Pa., was revived by the formation of a company of light infantry. Tlie ranks were filled by young men from the best families in the community. On the morning of the sixteenth day of April, 1861, Governor Curtin called upon our com- pany for service. The summons was obeyed promptly. Our total number was fifty-one men, including officers. Captain Selheimer increased this number to one hundred and four men in the space of two hours. We took our departure that night for Harrisburg, and were the first company to arrive there. We were speedily joined by four other companies of the Pennsylvania National Guards, the Washington Artillery and National Light Infan- try, of Pottsville, the Ringgold Artillery, of Reading, and the Allen Infantry, of Allentown. Our men were only partly armed, and what few muskets we had were turned into the State Arsenal, and for some unaccountable reason we were loaded on the cars, entirely unarmed, to pass through the then disloyal city of Baltimore. We were accompanied by a detach- ment of forty regulars, whose destination was Fort McHenry, Baltimore. The city of Baltimore was under the control of the Seces- sionists and an infuriated mob, frenzied with passion and liquor, who awaited our coming. As we disembarked from the (12) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 13 cars we were surrounded by a hooting, yelling crowd, who lav- ished the most opprobrious epithets upon us. Our line of march was formed with the ' ' Logan " Guards on the right, preceded by a part of. the regulars, who accompanied us a part of the way. A line of Marshal Kane's police was on each side of us. The streets and sidewalks were jammed with people, and at every cross street we were met by fresh masses, who hurled bricks and paving stones at us. The line of the police was nearly broken at several points. Doorways and windows were filled and many secession flags met our gaze. Indeed, the only national flag that could be seen was at Fort McHenry. Had the rioters organized as they did two days later, when the 6th Mass. Regt. fought their way through this city, they would have annihilated our command, A colored servant of the Pottsville companies was the first man on our side to shed his blood, north of Fort Sumter. He was knocked down by a paving stone and his head badly cut. We were put into freight cars at the Washington depot, and it was then that the mob seemed more ferocious than ever. Some mounted the decks of the cars, and by jumping on them at- tempted to break them through. A continual stream of mis- siles was flying through the openings of the cars; they attempted to tear up the track and several times uncoupled the engine from our train. Some of our boys were hard to restrain under all these insults and abuse, and two of them jumped out and offered to fight any two men in the crowd. This seemed to please them some- what and they said that we might go on, but that they would give the " Massachusetts Yankees h 1." After many delays, we were once more on the move, and at 7 p. m. arrived in Washington. We were silently marched to the Capitol Build- ing, where we were reviewed by Major, afterwards General McDowell. We had our headquarters in the hall of the House of Representatives. That night was our first experience in the art of eating wormy pork and hard-tack. One of our mem- bers, who was fully six feet in height, actually shed tears because he had no sugar on his bread. This young man was afterwards a captain in the gallant 96th Pa. Vols., but he is called " Sugar Jim " to this day. Early on the following morning our first sergeant reported us ready for duty to Adjutant-General Mansfield, and he told 14 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. Matthews that we were "the first company reported for duty in the war," The Gth Regt. of Mass, Vols, having fought their way through the blockade at Baltimore made us feel still more valiant, but for eleven days after we were entirely cut off from the North, until General Butler opened a new route by way of Annapolis, The Massachusetts soldiers were quickly followed by regiments from New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. In a few days we received orders to embark for Fort Wash- ington, on the Potomac, opposite Mount Vernon. As we passed Alexandria, our men kept concealed and our steamer hugged the opposite shore, for the rebels had a battery of field guns on the wharf, and had they known there were Union troops on that steamer they would probably have sent us to the bottom of the river. Major Haskin, a one-armed veteran of the Mexican war, was in command of Fort Washington, and under him we speedily acquired the steadiness and accuracy of regular soldiers. Squad and company drills, mounting heavy guns in the fort and water battery, and making abatis on the land side, left us little time to do anything else. When the news of our disastrous defeat at Manassas reached us our time had expired and we voluntarily remained two weeks longer. We were then forwarded to Harrisburg, where we were mus- tered from service. On the 23d of July, 1861, we received the thanks of Congress, the following resolution having been passed: — Resoloed, That the thanks of this House are due and are hereby tendered to the five hundred and thirty soldiers from Pennsylvania, who passed through the mob at Baltimore and reached Washington on the eighteenth day of April, 1861, for the defense of the National Capital. This company afterwards furnished no less than thirty-three commissioned officers in different organizations, and we chal- lenge any company in either army to make a better showing of what the citizen soldier can do, Selheimer and Hulings became colonels. Our first sergeants, Matthews, Irwin, and William G, Mitchell, late of General Hancock's staff, were brigadiers, another be- came a major and the rest were commissioned captains and lieutenants. The other four companies also made a brilliant record in the war. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 15 DEFEAT. General Scott could not understand how a "hero of one hun- dred battles" could be beaten, and he only believed when the retreating, panic'-stricken army sounded its approach. When the veteran was convinced, he gave an order to suppress all news of the disaster which might be offered for telegraphing to the country. Armed with this document I drove to the American telegraph office and notified its manager. The tables were piled with specials from the field, describing in thrilling language the scenes and events of the day. All intimations of disaster were ruthlessly cut from the specials and only the rose coloring was permitted to be telegraphed. Thus it was that whilst the gloom of the darkest hour in the Repub- lic's history hung like a pall over Washington, throughout the North bells were ringing out rejoicings over the glad tidings of victory. Telegrams were sent to General McClellan, at Beverly, West Virginia, informing him of a "repulse" to Mc- Dowell, and to Generals Banks and Dix — both of whom were in Baltimore — instructing them to keep their men under arms. No official telegrams for aid was sent at this time, but Col. Thomas A. Scott, with a keen perception of the situation and foreseeing the necessity of the morrow, sent a telegram to Governor Curtin, at Harrisburg, which was so characteristic of the man, that I give its full text: — Washington, July 21, 1861. Hon. a. G. Curtin, Harrhhurg, Pn. Get your regiments at Harrisburg, Easton, and other points ready for immedi- ate shipment. Lose no time preparing. Make things move to the utmost. Thomas A. Scott. This dispatch anticipated by many hours any official action looking towards a call for "more troops." Mr. Lincoln lingered around the War Department until after two o'clock in the morning, when he retired to the White House, leaving Mr. Scott on guard — an active, watchful sentinel of the move- ments of the night. Had the country been consulted, it could not have selected from its patriotic sons an abler, truer, wiser, braver guardian than the noble man Mr. Lincoln left to care for the nation's interests in the crisis which had come upon it. Btlj Mass. Regt. Fussing througlj Bcltipe. A FURIOUS MOB BARRICADES THE STREETS— MARSHAL KABE HELPLESS. N answer to the President's call for troops Governor Andrew, of Massachu- setts, on the 15th of April, 1801, ordered the 6th Mass. Regt. to mus- ter forthwith on " Boston Com- mon." On the night of April 18, they had reached Philadel- phia, Pa. . and had put up at the Girard House, then new and unoccupied. The regiment was here met by Gen. P. S. Davis, an agent of Massachusetts, who informed Colonel Jones, of the 6th, that there would be a stormy time when the reg- iment reached Baltimore, and added he could take no respon- sibility in directing his action. Colonel Jones responded, "My orders are to reach Washington at the earliest moment possible and I shall go on." It was about 1 A. M. the 19th, and he at once aroused his regiment ( and arranged with the officers of the railroad for a " pilot en- gine" to go in advance of his train, so that they arrived safe- ly at Baltimore about 10 a. m., several hours in advance of their expected arrival. Twenty rounds of ball cartridges had been distributed en route, so that all the muskets were loaded and primed. As the train reached the city, the en- gine was unshackled and horses were at once hitched to the cars, as was usual, to draw them across the city. The rail- road officials were making ner- vous haste, fearing what might happen, but nothing like an at- tack was made until the sev- enth car had started. Major Watson had been stationed at the rear of the train when leav- ing Philadelphia, the regiment having taken the cars in regu- lar order as in line, but when they were transferred at Havre- de-Grace the cars were attach- ed differently, so that the order as in line was now broken. IG) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 17 When the car upon which Major Watson was stationed started, he took it for granted that all the regiment was on its way across the city. His car was attacked by clubs, paving stones, and other mis- siles, but no defense was made until three men had been wounded (the last by a pistol shot), when the company was permitted to fire at will. As it crossed the city, this car was three times derailed. Upon reaching the other depot. Su- perintendent Smith, of the Bal- timore and Ohio Railroad, in- formed Colonel Jones that the road was so obstructed that the four remaining companies could not be brought over. There were two hundred and twenty men in these four com- panies (C, I, L, and D) and they were surrounded by a mob of thousands, who filled the air with yells, oaths, taunts, mis- siles, and shots. Capt. A. S. FoUansbee, finding the railroad and streets obstructed, at once assumed command and in the order of the companies as stated commenced his march across the city. A formidable barricade on Pratt street was scaled; and a point where tlie mob ha,d hoped to annihi- late the detachment was thus passed. Cheers for Davis and for the South, and taunts of "you can't fight," "dig your 2 graves," "nigger stealers," and "Yankee scabs," filled the air. Pistol and gunshots came from windows, roofs, and streets, while everything which could be picked up was hurled upon the devoted column. It was early on the march evident, that nothing but blood would satisfy the ruffians, and though in a measure they left the ad- vance clear, yet the crowd hung upon the rear of the col- umn, a dense and infuriated mob. After a few of the men had been wounded. Captain FoUansbee gave the boys per- mission to defend themselves, and from that time until the detachment reached the Wash- ington depot there was a con- stant fusillade of musketry. As any of the 6th Mass. were wounded they were borne along by comrades. As they reached the Washington depot they found an immense crowd brandishing revolvers, knives, clubs, and other weapons; and the police powerless or disin- clined to control them. Guns and revolvers were being dis- charged on both sides, and the depot was soon perforated like a pepper box. After consider- able delay the train started, fol- lowed by an enraged crowd, who piled every conceivable obstruction on the track. Af- ter frequent stops for repairing breaks the conductor reported li CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. he could go no farther, and that the regiment must march the rest of the way. Colonel Jones told him, he held through tickets to Washington, and if he could not run the train through, he had men who could fill every position on the train and could and would put the train through. The train was again started, and at Jackson Bridge, the mob gave up the chase. After a long delay at the Kelay House, the train reached Washington late in the afternoon, and the boys were received by Major (after- ward General) McDowell, and were quartered that night in the United States Senate cham- ber. The loss of the regiment in passing through Baltimore was four killed, and thirty-six wounded. First Battle nf Bull Run. JULY 21, 1861. A "Baptism of Fire" and a Desperate Struggle. How Jackson got the Title of " Stonewall." BY MAJOK WILLIAM M. ROBBINS, FOURTH ALABAMA REGIMENT. 'N the afternoon of July 18, 1861, the army of Gen. Joe Johnston, 10,000 strong, which had been in front of ■\^^ General Patterson near Winchester, Va., was hastily put in motion and marched off southeastwardly, going we knew not whither. Heat, dust, and night-fall made the rapid march disagreeable enough, but it was pushed without check until we reached the Shenandoah. This river — about waist deep — was waded at dawn of the nineteenth amidst songs, jokes, and general hilarity. The Blue Ridge was passed at Ashby's Gap, and at evening of the same day the head of the column arrived at Piedmont station on the Manassas Gap railroad, from whence Johnston's forces were forwarded in detachments by rail as fast as transportation could be furnished. . BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 19 So much has been said about Johnston's troops appearing on the field, in the nick of time, and after the battle had been long raging, that an impression extensively prevails that none of them were there at the opening of the fight. This a great mis- take. Three brigades — Jackson's, Bartow's, and (nearly all of) Bee's — were at hand when the battle opened and bore an im- portant part in it all day. The 4th Alabama and other regi- ments of Bee's brigade reached the Junction at noon of the twentieth, and were among the very earliest in the conflict the next day. It was only a comparatively minor number of Johnston's men under Kirby Smith and Elrey that leaped from the train when the battle was in progress, and, hastening down the War- renton pike, came in so luckily on the right rear of the Federals and caused the panic which gave the victory to the Confederates. The 4th Alabama were busy with breakfast not far from the Junction, when the boom of a gun in the direction of the railroad bridge, over Bull Run, drew our eyes that way, and we saw for the first time the little sphere of white vapor produced by the bursting of a shell. Our regiment, with others of Bee's brigade, was at once moved at double-quick towards the Con- federate left, but we had scarcely reached the designated point when we were again ordered to go at a rapid run two miles still further up the stream, to meet the Federals at Sudley's Ford. All depended on presenting a quick front to this unexpected movement. We went across the fields at our highest speed and soon reached the plateau of the Henry House, around which the battle was afterward mainly fought. Bee knew that his brigade alone could not hold the position, and saw that the enemy would secure it, unless checked and delayed by some means, before an adequate force of Confederates could get there to oppose them. To gain the needed time it was neces- sary to risk the sacrifice of the two and a half regiments then with him by a bold movement still further to the front. So he ordered the 4th Alabama, with the 2d and 11th Mississippi, to move half a mile further to the next bridge, to engage the enemy and delay them as long as possible. Down the slope we rushed, panting and breathless, but still eager, because ignorant of the desperate crisis which doomed us to probable destruction, to save the whole army. As we passed 20 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. the little rivulet below the Stone House, the artillery duel began, and shells of friend and foe shrieked wildly above our heads. Mounting the hill and entering the copse of timber north of the Stone House, we began to hear a sharp crackling of musketry ahead of us — a collision between the Federals and Wheat's "Louisiana Tigers," wearing the Zouave uniform. A little further up the hill and beyond the timber, we struck the enemy and no mistake. Their long advancing line, with the " Stars and Stripes" (which made some of us feel sorry), began to peer over the crest, eighty yards in our front, and opened a terrific fire, but which went mostly over us. On re- ceiving the enemy's fire we lay down and waited until we could see their bodies to the waist, when we gave them a volley which was effective and the Federals fell back behind the crest. After some interval they advanced another and longer line; but the result was the same as before, only they held on longer this time and their fire hurt us badly. A third time they came on in a line which extended far beyond our flanks, and now the conflict became bloody and terrible. Their balls came not only from the front but from right and left oblique, cut- ting down our colonel (Egbert Jones) and many a familiar form so recently full of hope and gayety. Then War began to show us his wrinkled front. It seemed our safest course to hug the ground and pepper away at them; and so from sheer des- peration, as much as anything, we kept at it, until, to our great joy, the enemy fell back once more behind the crest. General Bee, seeing that we would be overwhelmed at the next on- slaught, gave us the order to retire. Nearly one-third of the -tth Alabama had gone down in the effort and were left on the ground, including the colonel, mortally wounded. The 7th and 8th Georgia, of Bartow's brigade, also came to our ad- vanced position but far to our right during the contest. They had a bloody collision with another column of the Federals, and contributed materially to the delay of the Federal advance. As we retired by the same route along which we had come, we saw a regiment in column by companies, marching down the rivulet toward us. Their flag was furled on the staff and so was ours. They thought we were Federals, but were not sure. As for ourselves we felt certain no enemy had got so far in our rear; their uniforms also resembled that of the 6th North Carolina, belonging to our brigade, and we naturally took them # BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 21 for that regiment coming to our aid. Thus encouraged we halted, faced about and re-formed our line, intending with this re-enforcement to take another tilt with the enemy. The regi- ment referred to also halted and deployed into line of battle at right angles to ours and less than one hundred yards from our flank. Their colonel signaled us with his handkerchief, for the purpose of learning who we were, as it afterward appeared. We never dreamed that that was his purpose, thinking of course he knew us. All this took place in a few moments. Having rearranged our line our flag was unfurled showing the " Stars and Bars!" Instantly a blaze of fire flashed along the line of our supposed friends (a New York regiment it really was), and an enfilading hailstorm of bullets tore through the 4th Ala- bama, killing many and disabling more. Amongst those who fell were Lieutenant-Colonel Law and Major Scott, leaving our regiment without a field oflicer. What do you supj^ose we did? We didn't stay there; it is frank to say that we got back to the main Confederate line in the shortest time possible. Having arrived there, the 4th Alabama fell in on the right of the line and fought to the end of that terrible day. The position of our regiment being now on the right of the Confederate line, the plateau of the Henry House, — and the leading design of the Federals during the entire day being to turn the Confederate left, the heaviest fighting gradually veered toward that flank. The 6th North Carolina, separated from the brigade in the maneuvers of tlie day, had rushed in single- handed and attempted to check it, but had been smitten by overwhelming power, and their gallant Colonel Fisher and many of his men were no more. Jackson, with his brigade, was struggling desperately, to arrest the Federal columns; but immovable as Jackson and his men stood, the surging tides of the enemy were beating upon him with such a mighty force that it seemed as if he must give way. At one time the battle had entirely lulled on the right. Our brigadier. Gen. Barnard E. Bee, at this moment came galloping to the 4th Alabama, and said: '" My brigade is scattered over the field and you are all of it I can find. Men, can you make a charge of bayonets?" " Yes, General," was the prompt response, "we will go wherever you lead and do whatever you say." Pointing toward where Jackson and his brigade were desperately battling, Bee said: " Over yonder stands Jackson, like a stone wall! Let us go to 23 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. his assistance." Saying that, Bee dismounted and led the 4th Alabama to Jackson's position. Other re-enforcements coming up a vigorous charge was made pressing the Federals back. In this charge Bee fell mortally wounded. Bartow fell nearly at the same time within a stone's throw of the same spot. Before the Federals recovered from the impression made by this partial repulse they saw Kirby Smith's men advancing down the Warrenton pike upon their right rear (as before stated), and his unexpected appearance in that quarter struck them with an overpowering panic and caused their precipitate retreat from the field. The battle ended so suddenly that the Confederates could neither understand nor scarcely believe it. By the Camp^Kirk. BY MRS. S. D. HOBART. E meet in joy and gladness Beside the camp-fire's light, ^And kindly greetings temper The chilling winter's night. Amid the song and laughter. The comfort, warmth, and glow, Our hearts recall the pictures Of camp-fires long ago. '' Come ! " rang from Freedom's watch- towers, And, answering to the call. You went, our manliest, bravest, Our light, our joy, our all, While mothers to their bosoms Their stripling first-born pressed, And whispered through their soblung, " Dear land, we give our best ! " Beneath the Southern star-beams, By camp-fire blazing bright. You told the tales of skirmish, Of pickets, inarch, and fight. The songs that cheered the moments Ring down the aisles of time ; No songs so thrill the soldier As their wild, pulsing rhyme. " Glory, Hallelujah ! " Pealed through the startled trees ; " We'll rally 'round the flag, boys," Came floating on the breeze. With "Marching on to Richmond 1 The canvas walls resound, And the echoes chorus " Tenting To-night on the old camp-ground." " We're coming, Father Abraham 1 " Rings to the hills away. " Our flag shall float, forever ! " " Our own brave boys are they ! " " When this cruel war is over No longer will we roam." " Tramp, tramp, the boys are march- ing ! " And the song of " The girls at home ! " BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 23 Soon came the rude awak'ning ; Startled, but undismayed, You heard through widening circles The furious fusillade. O'er wounded, dead, and dying, Amid the cannons' roar. Unwavering and unswerving. Fair Freedom's flag you bore. Oh ! valiant, true, and steadfast, Through tempest, heat, and cold, Our country crowned you hei'oes. In those grand brave days of old. Though homesick, heartsick, weary, Daring the battery's breath, Your brave hearts never faltered While face to face with death. Then back from field and prison, A band of crippled men, The wreck of battle-surges, We welcomed you again. We saw your thin ranks falter. And wails of anguish sore Went up from home and hearthstone, For those who came no more. Still through the rolling ages Shall brightly glow their fame ; Still on our country's annals Theii" deeds of valor flame. And bands of patriot children, In spring-time's sunny hours. Shall rev'rent place above them Fair wreaths of spotless flowers. ^^3^ A PRESENTIMENT DP DEATH. C. M. BABBITT, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. {WAS a member of Company E of the 37th Mass. Vols., and had a bunk mate by the name of James Perkins, who enlisted from the same town with myself (South Adams), who had a presentiment that he should be killed in the next battle our regiment was engaged in. After the battle of Chancellorsville we tried to%rgue him out of the idea, but he continued to assert that he knew he should be killed. On the night of July 1, and a portion of the day following, we were compelled to make a forced march of upwards of forty miles .to reach Gettysburg for the action which occurred there. During the march my comrade James was so overcome with fatigue that he had to fall out of the ranks, and did not reach the battle field until a few minutes be- fore the rebels opened their terrible fire on the 3d. Our regiment was ordered to re-enforce a point in the lines at double quick, and just as we were get- ting under way, James turned to me and said, " Charley, this is pretty tough, to nearly march your life out to get here to be killed." The words were scarcely spoken when a piece of shell struck hiin just over the right ear and passed through his head, coming out above the left eye, killing him in- stantly. I fell over his body as he was breathing his last. The next morning, with my comrades Baldwin and Pettitt, I helped to put him in a rude grave and mark a board with his name, company, and regiment, which afterwards led to his remains being placed in the National cemetery. HEWS BT THE CJPim FPIH BOLL BOH. How Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet Received the Defeat. NE of the most illustrious groups brought together during the war with the South, was one which gathered in the War Department at Washington on the beautiful Sunday which witnessed the tragedy at Bull Run. The group was composed President Lincoln, William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, Salmon P. Chase, Gideon Welles, and Edwin Bates of the Cabinet; Colonels Townsend, Van Rensselaer, Hamilton, and Wright of General Scott's staff; General Mansfield commanding the defenses at Washington, and Col. Thomas A. Scott, of Pennsylvania. With maps of the field before them they watched the conflict of arms as it progressed. The military telegraph, which had not yet reached the efficiency which afterward characterized it, extended only to Fairfax Court House, from which point General McDowell kept the authorities advised of his movements. Hour after hour the couriers reported our gallant troops steadily forcing the enemy back. A dispatch had been received from General Patterson the evening before, announcing that Johnston had eluded him, but the possibility of Johnston's forming a junction with Beaure- gard that day was not thought possible. The day passed quietly, all looking forward with absolute confidence to Mc- DowelFs success. Up to half past three o'clock in the afternoon, advices from McDowell were frequent, the dispatch at that hour indicating that he was pressing Beauregard back to the Junction. From then until the shades of evening, an oininous silence settled on the telegraph. Conversation took a speculative turn on the cause of the sudden cessation of information from the field, but (24) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 25 the general opinion was that McDowell, flushed with victory, was too busily engaged in securing its fruits to write dis- patches. As time wore on, speculation gave way to impatience, until the throbbing instrument broke the long silence saying, "Our army is retreating." There was no consternation, and but a feeble ripple of excitement. Whatever may have been the feelings and thoughts of these gentlemen they kept them closely veiled. Mr. Seward smoked on, but the days of his prophecy were ended. Col. Thomas A. Scott, turning to General Mansfield, said, " General, it would be well to man your fortifications and stay this retreat," and then left the department with the purpose of holding a consultation with General Scott. *->>^fe]j ^,^~y^-c=^. ARN/LY TKAN/[STKRS. R]MY teamsters were never appre- 0^;, ciated at their true value by sol- diers in the field, for it was the general opinion that " any fool can drive mules." Those who tried the experiment found the team- ster's office not a sinecure. The suc- cessful handling of six stubborn, pugnacious brutes required a degree of patience, skill, and will power only developed by long experience. When the roads were dry and even, wagon driving was a pastime, but when the trains reached the mountain passes, or the roads became seas of mud, then the task was no joke. Mud, three feet deep, as tenacious as stiff clay could make it, rendered the movement of wagons and artillery a difficult opera- tion. The wheels were solid disks of mud, and the labor for both men and animals was multiplied four-fold. Then the genius of the teamster was manifested. Witli an inexhaustible vocabulary of oaths at command, and armed with a formidable snake whip, both were used with startling and telling effect. The air, blue with shocking profanity, and the huge whip whistling cruelly on the backs of the quivering brutes, gave them new strength, and the mired vehicle soon emerged from its muddy bed. It was a leading article of faith among team- sters that mules could only be driven by constant cursing, and they lived up to that belief with rare constancy. An attempt to drive a team of mules with- out indulgence in profanity invariably proved a failure, because the animals had become so accustomed to that method of persuasion that they would not move without it. Teamsters, as a class, were brave and untiring in their peculiar sphere of duty, but they got very little credit from the rank and file, 26 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. being generally looked upon as men who were unwilling to fight. They could fight, however, for the teamsters frequently saved their trains from capt- ure by stubborn resistance when at- tacked. Every wagon carried a loaded musket and the weapons were often used with deadly effect. Many a brave mule driver died like a hero in defending the property in- trusted to his charge, though there was seldom any record cf such brav- ery. To see an ordnance train gallop upon a battle field was an exhilarating sight, for the teamsters were then in their glory. Coming up on a trot the wagons wheeled into line as cleverly as if the men were moving field pieces into position, and the mules strained every muscle and obeyed every com- mand with remarkable docility. KINDNESS NOT FORGOTTEN. Muj. Burke and the Qth Mass. Regt. a.URING the war Major Burke, of J New Orleans, was in command ^^ of a detachment that captured a part of the 6th Mass. Regt. He treated the prisoners as kindly as cir- cumstances would permit, and parted from them with expressions of courtesy and regret. Years passed and he heard not a word from any of them. But at the time of the great flood, when South- ern Louisiana lay prosti-ate and helpless under the sweep of turbulent waters. Major Bui'ke, as chairman of the relief committee, received a dispatch from Boston, authorizing him to draw at sight for $10,000. This was one of the earliest responses to the pitiful cry that had gone up from a stricken community for help, and it touched and encouraged the major and his associates. Two hours later came another dispatch from Boston " draw for another -'^10,000," and in a few hours came a third dispatch donating another $10,000. With these dispatches came the state- ment : " The 6th Mass. remembers the kindness of Major Burke." AN ANECDOTE OF "JEB" STUART. By General Longstreet. ^EB STUART was a very daring AI fellow, and one of the best cavalry- ^ men America ever produced. At the second Manassas, soon after we heard of the advance of McDowell and Porter, Stuart came in and made a report to General Lee. When he had done so. General Lee said he had no orders at that moment, but he re- quested Stuart to wait a while. There- upon Stuart turned round in his tracks, lay down on the ground, put a stone under his head, and instantly fell asleep. General Lee rode away, and in an hour returned. Stuart was still sleeping. Lee asked for him, and Stuart sprang to his feet and said, " Here I am, General." General Lee replied, " I want you to send a message to your troops over on the left to send a few more cavalry over to the right." " I would better go myself," said Stuart, and with that he swung himself into the saddle and rode off at a rapid gallop, singing as loudly as he could, " Jine the cavalry." THE FIRST IRON-GLAD RAM. AN ATTEMPTTO RAISETHE BLOCKADE AT NEW ORLEANS. IS Si. BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER IN ARMS. '61, among the earliest orders I received from the Confederate government, was to report for duty on board the steamer McRae, then fitting out for sea at New Orleans. The craft in question was perhaps of a hundred tons burthen. Above the water line and about a foot below, it was encased with railroad iron placed fore and aft. longitudi- ^^^^^^^B nally. Private persons had constructed this ram and when completed she became the property of the Confederate government; the battle of Bull Run taking place at about that time, she was named the Manassas. She did not carry battery, but depended wholly upon her ramming powers. It is worthy of consideration that in this hastily constructed ram there was a return to the method of Salamis and Actium; that, too, against artillery compared with which the cannon that thundered at Trafalgar were mere popguns, with the dif- ference that steam was substituted for oars and iron armor for the open deck. A single vessel like the Manassas, unarmed as she was, might easily have destroyed both the Greek and Per- sian fleets at Salamis and have turned the tide of battle at Trafalgar. Commodore HoUins having taken command of our little naval force at New Orleans, he determined to make an effort to raise the blockade of the river. By this time the Sum- ter had got to sea, and the machinery of the McRae proving defective, her orders to run the blockade were countermanded and she was permanently attached to Commodore Hollins's com- mand. The McRae was a propeller, mounting six guns, and in (27) 28 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. adfdition to her, Commodore Hollins's squadron consisted of a side-wheel steamer, commanded by Captain Fry, a couple of tugboats, mounting a gun apiece, and the ram Manassas. The Federal blockading squadron lay at anchor in the river. It consisted of the steam corvette Richmond, the sail corvette Preble, and one other vessel whose name I have forgotten. Commander Hollins selected a dark night for the execution of his plan, which was as follows: To ram the Richmond with the Manassas and simultaneously to set adrift fire-ships in the river, above the enemy. Lieutenant Warley, executive officer of the McRae, was selected to command the Manassas. War- ley was known as a dashing, intrepid officer, whose readiness to obey an order would be equal to any danger attending its ex- ecution. By a singular coincidence he had served on board the Richmond, so that it was against his recent messmates and personal friends that he was about to act. With officers of the regular service it was civil war and no doubt of it. It was messmate against messmate; brother-in-arms against brother- in-arms; and it was only a stern sense of duty that could, under such circumstances, have made American officers take either side. For fire-ships two coal barges Avere loaded with combustible material and taken in tow by the tugs. On the night of the 12th of October we got under way and steamed down towards the enemy; the Manassas in the advance, fol- lowed by the tugs towing the fire-ships; the McRae and Fry's boat brought up the rear. There is nothing more trying to the nerves than to approach danger in the dark, a fact that I fully appreciated, while, with- out a word being spoken, we peered into the black night, with the expectation of finding ourselves at any moment under the broadside of a hostile ship five-fold more powerful than our own; for in the wide river and dark night the ram and tugs might readily have passed the enemy without either having seen the other. After a wliile, the fire-ships were seen in full blaze away down the river, but of the enemy, the Manassas, and the tugs, saw nothing till day dawned. The first object that met our view was the ram lying up against the bank, with Warley and his men standing on her rounded deck. "Well, what's the news?" " We struck the Richmond," was the reply, "but we can't tell what damage we did." The damage, as it turned out, was trifiing. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 29 Just before the blow was struck Warley took his seat on a camp-stool to await the result, and the shock was sufficient to turn him and the stool over. If the Federal vessels had been commanded by a cool head they would have captured the whole of our mosquito fleet. As it was, at the first sight of a torch on the river they slipped their cables and made haste to bury their keels in the mud on the bar. There we found them wallowing in the morning and exchanged a few shots with them at long range. The Federal officer reported to Washing- ton that he had been driven on the bar by countless fire-ships and an iron-clad ram, and Commodore HoUins telegraphed to Richmond: "I have raised the blockade. I have peppered them well." AXOOrTiL. fjNTSMOUNTED from his horse, .^ On the summit of the hill, D ^ Stood our gallant General Corse, And he stood erect and still. He could see them far below. From the summit where he stood, He could see them come and go, All the rebels under Hood. Under all the far-off trees He could see them form their lines. They were gathering like bees Beneath the oaks and pines. And the hero watched them now, As a man may look on death. With a clouding of the brow. And a quickening of the breath. For the traitors were a host That hourly swelled and grew, And around him at his post The loyal men were few. Then heavenward looked he, And a prayer was m his eyes, But the banner of the free ^Vaved between him and the skies. And the blue of heaven was blent With the stars, as if, jyst then, 'Twas an answer God had sent To the leader and his men. Up the hill the flag of truce. With its folds of dingy white, Came as if it could seduce Our general from the fight. And the message that it brought From the rebel in the wood Was as if a coward wrought As a scribe for General Hood. " Now yield ye to our strength, Ere we come with might and main, For yield ye must at length, And the bloodshed will be vain." On the flag gazed General Corse, As in thought, but not in doubt ; Then he leaned upon his horse, And he wrote this answer out : — 30 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. " Ye may come whene'er ye will, Ye may come with might and main, I will answer for it still That the bloodshed is not vain." Back, underneath the trees, Went the flag of truce, and then, Like clouds of climbing bees, All the valley swarmed with men. No pen can paint the strife, Nor the long and desperate fight When we gave life after life For our flag and for the right. We saw the false ranks reel, And all the bloody morn Tliey sank beneath our steel Like newly-ripened corn. Bleeding and faint our chief, But watching still, he stood, With a smile of grim relief. The retreating ranks of Hood. And he sighed, " I mourn the dead. For their blood has poured like rain, But 'twas true as truth I said, It should not be shed in vain." WHAT A BATTLE IS. ¥he GalE^, fehe GaHi^er^ade, the Chapge, fehe liQfe©FY BY A BATTLE-SCARRED VETERAN. S we formed in line with the cool green woods at "■^ our backs, the birds were singing, the butter- flies fluttering about on erratic wing, and a cow stood under a tree to our right and lazily chewed her cud and switched away the flies. It was midsummer, and the scene was so quiet and peaceful that our eyes would have grown sleepy, had we not known that ten minutes more was to change it into a raging hell. In the woods behind us we could hear the tramp of regiments and brigades — in the forest across the peaceful meadow regiments and brigades of the enemy were coming into position. One could have crossed the meadow and scarcely noticed the prep- arations for the bloody struggle ready to begin. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 31 Now came that dreadful silence which always falls upon an army just before the flame of destruction is lighted. It is this silence that makes men turn pale and tremble. If it lasts five minutes it seems a day. There is no loud talk — no words of jest. The most reckless man feels the weight of that omi- nous silence. If the line is to be dressed, the order is given in a low voice, and the men step softly. The horses feel the oppres- sion as well as the men. Some move uneasily about, others stand perfectly quiet, ears pointed forward, and eyes searching the woods beyond. Crash! Bang! Roar! The opening comes as suddenly as a thunder-clap, and there is a movement of relief up and down the line. The spell is broken, and men and horses are anxious to move. The song of birds gives place to the roar of guns, the sleepy haze to a cloud of smoke, and Peace stands aghast. The brigade to the left swings out and the one to the right is slowly hidden by the smoke. Bullets are singing over our heads and throwing up the dirt in front. All of a sudden the roar is increased. The enemy has planted a battery on the hill to our left, and is plunging shot and shell into the flank of all the troops on our right. Down our front sweeps an avalanche of destruction, breaking our own lines, and shattering others beyond. We change front to face the battery. The line in front stalks grimly into the smoke, and the line behind us makes its pres- ence known by a steady tramp! tramp! tramp! One cannot tell whether a single regiment or a whole brigade is moving off to charge the battery, for the smoke has drifted upon us until the tenth man to the left or right can barely be counted. We can hear no order, but the line goes straight ahead until clear of a dip in the meadow, and then it suddenly springs forward. Men cheer, but in that awful roar the voice of man could not be heard ten feet away. Men fall to the right and left. The line stumbles over corpses as it hurries on. There are flashes in the smoke-cloud, explosions in the air; men are stepped on or leaped over as they throw up their arms and fall upon the grass in agony of mortal wound. It is a nightmare of death. The rank and file hear no orders, see no officers, and yet they push on. Bayonets are fixed, and we are upon the guns before we see our enemy. No one has 32 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. an order to give, and no order could be heard. The line moves ahead or falls back as if it were controlled by a lever, and yet no one can see how. Each man acts for himself, and yet all act together. There is a struggle over the guns. Men are shot and bay- oneted as they ram home the charges. The guns are dis- charged upon struggling masses not ten feet from the muzzles. Now our lines retreat. Why so we cannot tell. A dozen of us are fighting over a field-piece, shooting, stabbing, and clubbing, but we fall back and reform. Half of the guns are silent, others are pouring grape into us across a space not three hun-' dred feet wide. No one seems to give orders, but all at once our lines move forward again with a cheer. No one sees his right or left hand man. For the time each one is alone. The line bends back — doubles up — straightens out — surges ahead — falls back — springs forward, and again we are among the field pieces. Bayonets and sabers clash. Muskets are clubbed to deal blows after bayonets are broken. There is a terrible roar — a thick smoke — a constant cheering and the horrible night- mare forces a single man to attack a dozen. Ah I what is this? All at once there is a lull. Men look around in astonishment. Wounds unfelt five minutes ago begin to bring groans now. What has happened? The smoke drifts and the explanation is at hand. We have captured the guns and routed the regiment in support. It was a bayonet charge, resisted by bayonets, and we have won. There are ten acres of meadow covered with dead and wounded — with knap- sacks, haversacks, canteens, muskets, and swords, and yet it was only one simple move on the chess-board of the battle field. The guns are turned on the enemy, our lines reformed in rear, and men ask if it is really so, that we stalked in the shadow of death for half an hour. It seems like a dream; it might be a dream but for the awful sights all around us, but for the awful cries coming up from the wounded as thirst and pain do their work. |P'X-SEN"ATOR POMEROY. of Kansas, states that on March 18, 1861, he and ^p a friend watched a delectation from the secession convention at Richmond, I'" saw them go to (^en. Lee's house at Arlington, heard them offer him the com- ■!• mand of the Virginia army, heard him accept, and then hurried back to Wash- ington and told the President. They were referred to ]\Ir. Seward, who repudiated any suggestion of Lee's disloyalty, and refused to take steps. Next day Lee was in connnand of the rebel army. Thrilling Experience of a tinion Scout. CAPTURED ON THE STONEMAN RAID.— THREATENED AS A 1/ -«!!l I SPY.— ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE. JOHN C. HALL, BELT, MICH. ENERAL Capron would never surrender; but finding I was too badly wounded to follow him he made his escape with his command from the field. The severely wounded were removed to Confederate Colonel Has- kell's house. There — I w^ pointed out to the Con- [3i federate officers by some of our own men as a spy, and was informed that if I lived until the next day I would be hung. That night John Smouse, of the 2d Ind. Cav- alry, died from an amputa- tion and was buried at Sun- shine Church, and a board with my name, company, and regi- ment was placed at the head of his grave. The members of Company E, lith Wis. Cavalry, can testify to this. We were now moved to Macon hospital, where my hair and beard were removed and I was known as John Culbert. A few days before the surrender squads of our men were sent out to destroy railroad and other public property, but the boys frequently destroyed private property and confiscated articles of value to themselves. My duty as a scout brought me one day to a fine brick resi- dence not far from Sunshine Church, where I discovered some of our boys. I dismounted and went in to see what they were at. I found they had piled some fine furniture on a splendid 3 (33) 34 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. piano in the parlor and were about firing it. I tried to dissuade them, telling them that we were not sent down there to make war on defenseless women and children, or to insult them and destroy their property. This only aggravated the boys; they made for me, and it was not until I knocked three of them down with the back of my saber that they could understand me. They then left, I threatening to report them. It occurred to me afterwards, as I lay in hospital at Macon, why I had been pointed out as a spy. As I recovered from my wound I was allowed the freedom of the hospital grounds. One day I met a paroled Federal officer — a prominent commander in the late disastrous raid. He turned to the guard and said, " You had better take care of that fellow (pointing to me); he is a dangerous man." The guard replied, "Mind your own d d business. You don't run this thing." I soon found out why I met with so much considera- tion at the hands of the enemy. The people whose property I saved from conflagration came to the hospital, thanked me for what I had done for them, gave me a roll of Confederate money, and expressed a hope that they might give further assistance. I soon lost this soft thing, for we were sent to that world- wide renowned pen at Andersonville. Here I saw and heard things too terrible to mention. I can only say that, after all that has been said and written, "the half has not been told," and never should be. It would be too revolting for human ear. At the end of six weeks I made my escape. The dogs were put on my track, but I managed to avoid them. I wandered in the bush for several days; was captured near GrifHntown and taken back to Macon. After five days I walked out into the country and hid in the bushes, making my way the best I could toward the Union lines. After three weeks I was recaptured near Milieu and taken to Lawton. I remained there five weeks. I was sent out one morning with the wood squad and forgot to go back. I wandered in the woods several days and nights, until my feet were so frozen that I could not walk. A reb found me, took me to his home, made me comfortable, and in a few days turned me over to the proper authorities, and I was sent to Savannah prison. Escaping again, I went out on a rice plantation and remained secure for three weeks, when I heard they were exchanging prisoners at Charleston, so I went thither BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 35 and gave myself up. But here I met with a sad disappoint- ment. I was put on a train with some other prisoners to be sent to Florence. We were put in a box car with two guards. Before reaching Florence we passed over a long trestlework. It was growing dark, and our guards were standing by the open side door lighting their pipes. Quick as a tiger I sprang upon them, pushed them from the car, and they fell clear off the bridge. Their guns went off when they struck the trestle- work, but I have never heard from the guards. At the first stop I escaped from the train, secure in the darkness. I wan- dered about several days, but becoming exhausted, I surren- dered to General Iverson, at Florence, who, in spite of all the unpleasantness between us at Stoneman's surrender, treated me very kindly. I remained at Florence until March, 1SG5, when I was exchanged and rejoined my old regiment. CARVED HIS OWN HEADBOARD. SINGULAR DEATH OF" A SERGEANT-MAJOR. BY OLIVER EDWARDS, BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL, U. S. A. pREMONITIONS of death in bat- ^p tie prove false a hundred times to one ; but I will relate an instance where it proved true, that occurred within my own command, the 4th Brigade, 2d Division, 6th Corps. It was at the close of a charge upon the enemy's lines, with my brigade shel- tered from heavy volleys of grape and canister by a slight rise of the ground in front. The regiments were prone in line, and night closing in rapidl3^ One of my regiments (the 10th Mass., Col. J. B. Parsons), their time expiring that night, had their orders to proceed to City Point the next morning and embark for home. Sergt.-i\Iaj. George F. Polly at this time carved upon a shingle, or slab, his own headboard, as follows: "Sergt.-Maj. George F. Polly, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed at Petersburg, Va, June 21, 1864"— the date being for tlie next day, when he knew the regiment was going home. He handed the headboard to a comrade and in- sisted that he would be killed the next day. At daylight next day the regiment was relieved from duty and marched to the i-ear of Sugar Loaf Hill, and halted to draw rations. On the top of the hill two negroes were on a scaffold to be executed for rape. The rebels fired one shell from a twenty- pound siege gun. The shell passed over the hill and burst. A large frag- ment struck Sergeant-lNIajor Polly, in- stantly killing him. He was the only man hit, and that, too, in a position where he seemed perfectly safe. Any member of the brave 10th Mass. then present can vouch for the truth of the above. 36 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. ON a U A R D. )T midnight, on my lonely beat, When shadow wraps the wood and lea, A vision seems my view to greet Of one at home that prays for me. No roses bloom upon her cheek — Her form is not a lover's dream — But on her face, so fair and meek, A host of holier beauties gleam. For softly shines her silver hair, A patient smile is on her face, And the mild, lustrous light of prayer Around her sheds a moon-like grace. She prays for one that's far away — The soldier in his holy fight. And begs that heaven in mercy may Protect her boy and bless the right Still, though the leagues lie far between, This silent incense of her heart Steals o'er my soul with breath serene. And we no longer are apart. So, guarding thus my lonely beat, By shadowy wood and haunted lea, That vision seems my view to greet Of her at home who prays for me. CAPTURED OURSELVES. CXPERIENCE of a colored team- ster of the Federal army at the battle of Bull Run, as related by him in Willard's Hotel, Washington : " De fust ting we know'd we see de sogers comin', and I should tink dar war millions on millions — de cap'n of de regiment sing'd out 'drap down dar ! drap down dar ! ' but Lor' ! 'twan't no use ; de bung-shells cum and took dar heads clear off ! Dis chile tink him dead for suah, and in de confusement Massa Gibbon's mules got loose wid six niggers on 'em, and run smack and sraoove into Massa Linkum's lines and captured ourselves ! " GENERALS FOSTER AND HILL. AT WASHINGTON, N. C. S^^HEN the Union troops were un- Wl'iv'l) der siege at Washington, N. C, truce, demanding an immediate and unconditional surrender of the town. Gen. John G. Foster, who was in com- mand of the place, returned the answer : "Say to General Hill, if he wants Wash- ington, come and take it. If another flag of truce appears before my lines I shall fire upon it." General Hill looked wistfully at the prize eighteen days, and then in disgust left it untouched. RECOLLECTIONS OF A.sr ^ARMT • NURSE. MRS. M. M. C. RICHARDS. UCH zeal and linen T '^ were wast- ed in the early days of have- locks and lint- scraping-, and many yards of cotton expended in fashion- ing shirts and drawers so large that no Yankee soldier could pos- sibly fill one, ex- cept he were / measured by his courage and en- durance. One pair fell into our hands, measuring eight feet in length and wide in proportion. These were laid aside at the sug- gestion of a Bos- ton surgeon for mush poultice bags into which the patient should be slipped and tied up. The first volunteer hospital was opened to the sick men of the 19th Ind. Regt. in the unfinished wing of the United States patent office, by the action of Caleb Smith, Secre- tary of the Interior. This was in its beginning a rude affair, and when we entered with Mrs. Almira Fales into the rough, comfortless wards we were dismayed. Bat her cheerful order, "Go to work, girls, wash their faces, comb their hair, do what you can," — and her salutation to the men, " Now, boys, I guess you'll get well; I've brought some young ladies to see you," — lent an atmosphere of cheer to the scene, for the moment at least. The sick boys were lying on rough boards, or on tiles placed against the walls, with or without mattresses (37) 38 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. as it happened. Surgeons and hospital stewards and women worked in a confused way without order or direction. But from disorder and discomfort gradually came a well ordered hospital, which was opened to patients from all regiments, but still called the Indiana hospital. But that was in the summer of '61, and we could smile at the wants of wounded men then. Later on came pathetic scenes at which we did not smile — one when Tyler, of Michigan, was brought in, accidentally shot through both knees while gather- ing wood for a camp-fire. The surgeon trying to save both limbs waited too long, and one sorrowful day the nurse found the usually cheerful fellow crying like a child at the decision of the surgeon just made known to him. " My leg has got to be amputated to-morrow; I wish it could be done to-day if it has got to come off " — and then the thought of going home crippled, it was almost better not to go at all. "But you'll stay by me, won't you?" On the promise given in response to this he relied. The next day, stretched upon the rude amputating table, he looked about for the nurse, and taking her hand said, "Now let me go to sleep," and so seemed content till the blessed chloroform deadened all thought or care. Though the opera- tion was successful, and all the first conditions good, a second- ary hemorrhage occurred after the first dressing, and we could only sit by the poor fellow as his life ebbed away. In the winter, small-pox appeared and many of the boys were sent to Kalorama, to the government pest-house. The first case I re- member to have been a red-headed man who begged to have his hair brushed to ease the pain in his head. He presently remarked that he guessed that "brush would take the hide off." The surgeon passing by stopped to examine the pustules that appeared, and hastily advised no more brushing. The man was at once removed to an outer hall, and the ambulance car- ried him away. The summer of 'G3 found better hospital accommodations for the army, and the Indiana hospital was closed. Now came a chance to go "to the front." All the world was crying " On to Richmond," and on to Richmond we essayed to go. Mrs. Almira Fales had already made an expedition to the army at Savage Station, and there distributed to the soldiers bountiful supplies furnished generously from the North. She had returned to Washington to replenish her stores, and BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 39 now proposed a second journey. She remarked that " those boys had been fed on Unt and bandages long enough; I'm going to take them some goodies." The writer was, to her great delight, allowed to accompany Mrs. Fales as her assistant, and, armed with passes from the Secretary of War, we went to Fortress Monroe, only to learn that no farther could we go at present. We were ordered to proceed to the James river, casting anchor about dark alongside the gun-boat Port Royal. A little boat's crew came to visit us and the crowd on deck are electrified by the news we hear from them. " Mc- Clellan cut to pieces, the left wing twenty-three miles back, and the whole army on the skedaddle." The captain of the Port Royal gives the parting advice to Captain Woods of the Daniel Webster to " hurry up in the morning, keep all the ladies below, and don't be surprised to see a shot across your bows any time." July 1, I wake early to find ourselves steaming rapidly up the James river. Reach Harrison's Landing at seven o'clock. Find crowds of sick, wounded, and worn-out men engaged in the recent battles. It is not long before Mrs. Fales and I are among them. None of these were very seriously wounded, but all were seriously hungry and demolished the rations with the skill of veterans. Mrs. Fales's supplies furnish all the pro- visions we have for the sick, and she deals them out lavishly all day long, forgetting even to eat any dinner herself. For my own part I am busy helping here and there. Some wounds I wash and bandage. One shattered finger I wash and leave covered till a surgeon comes. He takes out his knife and before I know it the finger is left there for me to pick up and throw away! One man was struggling in vain to dress a wound on his shoulder. Offering to help him I found him so in need of cleaning up generally that I proposed that he should wash his face first. "Wash my face," said he, as if the idea were new, " why I haven't washed my face since the 24th of June!" " Well," said I; "would you like to try it for a change?" "I guess so." he answered; "you see we hadn't any water to spare for our faces down on the Chickahominy; we drank water that we wouldn't give to a dog at home." I brought him a basin of water, soap, towel, and a clean shirt and left him to these luxuries. You should have heard him laugh when I came again to find him. " Don't know me now, I'm so clean, 40 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. do you?" This story is good to tell to those who are fond of quoting that other story of the young lady who went one morn- ing into a city hospital and proposed to bathe the head of a sick soldier. The soldier declined her offer with thanks, but she insisted, saying, " Let me bathe your head, I want so much to be useful." " Well," he sighed, "you can if you want to so bad, but you are the fourteenth one as has done it this morning." CONIPLKXELY UNNERVED. ^">^5HE follo\ying comes from a iL O (^^I'^iid Army man iu Maine : — It was at the battle of <^' ' Gettysliurg, when the bullets were falling like hail, and the shells were shrieking and bursting over our heads in a way to make the bravest heart tremble, that a private dropped out of the ranks and skulked back toward the rear. He was well under way, when, unfortunately for him, he was met by General Slocum coming to the front. " ' What are you doing here ? Get back to your post ! ' the General shouted. '' The poor fellow stopped still and trembled like a leaf, but made no reply. " ' Get back to your post, you misera- ble coward ! Aren't you ashamed of yourself to be skulking back here when you should be in front with your brave comrades ? ' " Still the man made no reply, but commenced to cry like a year-old in- fant. " ' You infamous, sneaking coward! ' , shouted the infuriated Genei'al, ' get back to your post ! I'll ride you down like a dog. Why, you are nothing but a baby.' " ' I-T-I'll t-t-tell you what, General,' said the blubbering fellow, ' I'd g-g-give anything just now if I was a b-b-baby; and i-i-if I had my choice I'd rather be a female b-b-baby.' " SHERIDAN'S OPINION OF GRANT. If SAW General Grant for the first 11 time on the battle field at Shiloh. General McPherson, whose picture liangs there, was with him at the time. Although we had belonged to the same regiment we had never met before. After the Mississippi campaign I met General Grant a second time, and after- ward I was thrown with him more or less. When he became lieutenant gen- eral, he placed me in charge of the cavalry service of the Army of the Po- tomac. I accompanied him to Florida and to Mexico, and our acquaintance was not only intimate, but almost lovable. He was a far greater man than people thought him. He was always able, no matter how situated, to do more than was expected of him. That has always been my opinion of General Grant. I have the greatest admiration for him, both as a man and as a counnander. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 41 GAPTaREB * BY ^^ A ^^ GIRL. A Confederate who talked Love to the Wrong Person and was Punished. CORPORAL TUCKER, OF MO. >lfT was on Price's first scouting raid time or two, and she said she was afraid into Missouri. We were pushing tlie Yanks pretty hard, and I and 1^ a couijle of Missouri boys were sent out to take a turn tlirough Hickory county way. Price wanted horses pretty bad, and we was on a tour of observa- tion like. Well, we had ridden along about three days, puttin' up at night at houses where the women folks were all right, and we finally put up with a widow named Alibone. The men with me knew she had a son in the Federal army, but they knew her and we put up there anyhow. She treated us very nice, gave us corn pone and sow-belly, and all she asked of us was to make as little noise as possible, 'cos her daugh- ter Lindy was not feelin' well, and had gone to sleep. Lindy was in the next room — up in Missouri they don't have more than two rooms in a house, — and the beds all bein' together the old lady and the girl slept together. We hadn't turned in and were sittin' by the hearth when Lindy got up and dressed and came in. She was a pretty big girl, but good looking, and she had a hood on. Well, sir. she sat right up to me, makin' fun of our army, but doin' it in a nice way, and the other fellows went to bed, leavin' us there. It was a bright moonlight night and she said she'd like to take a stroll, so we strolled. Well, pretty soon I had my arm around her waist and kissed her a we Confederate officers was a set of gay deceivers. All this time we were gettin' away from the house and to- ward the horse pond. I remember Lindy sliowin' me how the moonlight sparkled on the ripples of the horse pond, and telliu' me that she thought that was the sort of a bridge we'd go up to heaven on when we came to die. I was just going to say suthing appro- priate when suthin struck me right straight in the mouth and chin, and keeled me over. When I came to, Lindy was sittin' on me, with pretty near all of her apron stuffed down my throat, and she was tearin' her dress, which she had taken off, into long strips. You needn't look shocked, fel- lows, she had a nice suit of soldier clothes on underneath. Fact is, she wasn't a she at all, but a lie of the worst kind. Well, young Alibone bound me up with those calico rags, took our horses out of the stable, helped me on to one and tied my feet under- neath, and started with me to the Federal camp, about ten miles away. I wouldn't have minded it so nuich, but every once in a while he would turn around and scratch me under the chin with his finger, and call me " honey " and " ducky," and then he'd go on about the rifts in the clouds, and the stars shining, until it made me sick. At Gettysburg'. — The list of casualties among general and field officers at Gettysburg exceeded that of any other contest in which the Army of the Poto- mac ever participated. BArri2E 0F PEA RIBGE. March 7, 1862. A TKRRIKIC STRUaOLE KOR VICTORY. (BY ONE WHO WAS THERE.) HE battle opened by an attack upon the right of the Union line near Elkhorn Tavern, where the r^ 24th Missouri was stationed. Colonel Carr at once ip^ advanced to the relief of this outpost, which movement brought on the battle. Curtis's gallant divi- sion moved into position under fire, and Davis was or- dered to sup- port it, but a sudden attack on the left changed t li e direction of the latter to steadv lines. i%^^>i /< ^\ the relief of O s t e r h a u s. General Curtis says: " The battle raged in the center with terrible fury. Colonel Davis held the posi- t i o n against fearful num- bers and our troops stood or charged in The fate of the battle depended on success against this flank movement of the enemy, and here, near Leetown, was the place to break it down. The fall of Generals McCulloch, Mcintosh, and other officers of the enemy, who fell early in the day, aided us in our final success at this most critical point; and the steady courage of officers and men in our lines chilled and broke down the hordes of Indians, cavalry, and infantry that were arrayed against us. AVhile the battle raged in the center the right wing was sorely pressed, and the dead and wounded were scattered over the field.' Colonel Carr sent for (42) . BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 43 re-enforcements and I sent a few cavalry and my body guard, with the little mountain howitzers, under Major Bowen. These did good service at a most critical period. I urged Colonel Carr to stand firm — that more force could be expected soon. Subse- quently Colonel Carr sent me word that he could not hold his position much longer. I could then only reply by the order 'persevere.' He did persevere, and the sad havoc in the 9th and 4th Iowa and Phelps's Missouri and Major Weston's 24th Missouri, and all the troops in that division, will show how earnest and continuous was their perseverance." Sigel, detecting McCulloch's movement to join forces with Price, attempted to intercept it with cavalry and three pieces of artillery. By a vigorous onslaught of the Indian cavalry our guns were captured, the cavalry routed, and the way opened for McCuUoch to obtain for his infantry the cover of a dense wood, on the west of which was a large open field. Here ensued a protracted and fearful struggle between McCulloch and the forces under Osterhaus, who, by hard fighting, held his position until the arrival of Davis with his division, when, by a gallantly executed charge, the Confederates were driven from the field. In the crisis of the struggle McCulloch dashed for- wa,rd to reconnoiter, and fell a victim to his rashness. Almost at the same moment Mcintosh fell while leading a cavalry charge upon a Union battery. Deprived of these two favorite generals the shattered forces of the enemy retired in dismay to rally on Price's corps. The conflict raged with unremitting fury on the right and center, where Price, in a determined attempt to carry that posi- tion, had pushed his troops into the fight regardless of loss. At 3 P. M. General Curtis ordered Sigel to re-enforce the 3d and 4th Divisions. Colonel Carr, covered with blood from three wounds, with one arm disabled, was falling slowly back, contesting the ground step by step. Many of his field officers had fallen; and the ground in his front, covered with wounded and dying, told how stubborn had been the resistance of the heroic 4th Division. The 4th Iowa, falling back for ammunition, dressing on its colors in perfect line, was met by General Curtis, who ordered the regiment to face about and hold its position until re-enforcements should arrive. Colonel Dodge rode forward and explained that his men were out of car- 44 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. tridges. "Charge with the bayonet, then," said Curtis. The men faced about at the order, and, with a ciieer, pressed for- ward. The enemy, not liking the glittering steel, fell back, and the lost ground was won. Arboth planted his artillery in the road and opened on the enemy. The 2d Missouri deployed and pressed forward. The shades of night were falling, but the fight raged with increasing vehemence. Colonel Osterhaus had moved to the support of General Davis, who, with a portion of his division, was still engaged on Carr's left; but it was too late when he got into position to open fire, and his weary troops bivouacked upon the field. On the right the firing continued until the batteries ran out of ammunition (the Confederates firing the last shot), when the two divisions arrayed along the edge of a piece of timber with fields in front, sought rest in sleep. The loss on Curtis's right had been compensated by victory on his left. The discipline of Carr's division prevented anything like panic. They had been forced back by superior numbers, but had held together, and, in proportion to numbers, the divi- sion was as strong for service as before the conflict began. Van Dorn's headquarters were at Elkhorn Tavern, where Curtis had been the previous morning. Each army held its opponent's line of retreat. There was no recourse but to fight for their communications with their respective bases. It is said that several officers' of the Union army met at the headquarters of a division commander, and sending for the colonel of a cavalry regiment, directed him, in case of defeat, to hold his men in readiness to escort them to the open country in the rear of the Confederate lines. They were, however, prevented from rivaling the exploit of Floyd and Pillow, by a timely return of reason and the dawn of day. The fight of the following morning was brief, but was hotly contested. With the rising sun the Union troops renewed the con- test with Price. Davis's division opened the fight from one of his batteries, which was replied to with terrible correctness by three of the Confederate batteries posted where they would do the most execution. The entire Union line now advanced. The dark blue line of the 36th Illinois in front steadily rose from base to summit of the rido:e whence the Confederate bat- BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 45 teries had dealt death and destruction to the Union ranks. The 12th Missouri also rushed into the enemy's lines, bearing off a flag and two pieces of artillery. The roar of artillery was deafening, for every gun continued firing until it was captured or driven back. When Van Dorn determined to withdraw from the field, he left Col. Henry Little, with a Missouri brigade, to hold the field as long as possible. For two hours this command held their position in support of several batteries. Unshaken by the tremendous artillery fire converged upon them, they remained until their ranks were decimated, their artillery horses killed, and their guns dismounted by the terrible fire. Then onward crept the skirmish line, and behind them the artillery. The range short- ened, no charge by the Confederates could save them now. A sudden rush and rapid firing by the skirmishers drove them to the shelter of the woods, whence they were dislodged by a charge all along the Union line, and the retreat of Van Dorn's army was revealed to the astonished gaze of the Union troops. Van Dorn retired with his beaten army south of the Boston Mountains, where Curtis could not follow him, THE HEROIC McCOOK FAMILY. I^HE venerable mother of that dis- ^m tinguished family of soldiers, the " fighting McCooks," of Ohio, has been laid to rest with her group of heroes in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. She had twelve children, nine of them sons, and eight of the sous were at some time during the War of the Re- bellion engaged in the military service under the Union flag. One who was educated at West Point became a major general, two who joined the volunteer army from civil life became brigadier generals. Three of her sons and her husband were killed by the enemy. Charles Morris McCook, a private, was killed in the first Bull Run battle, 21st July, 1861. Brig.-Gen. Robert L. Mc- Cook was murdered by guerrillas in Tennessee, having gone in his ambu- lance, to which he was confined by sickness, a short distance ahead of his brigade. When Morgan made his raid into Ohio, ISIaj. Daniel McCook, al- though sixty-seven years old, white haired, and not connected with the army, joined the forces that pursued him, and received a moi'tal wound in the fight on Buffington Island, July 21, 1863. Brig.-Gen. Daniel McCook w'as killed in the attack on Kenesaw Mount- ain, June 27, 1864. The other five soldier sons survived the perils of that war, but one of them afterward fell in an Indian fight. Of Mrs. JNIcCook's twelve children, but two sons and two daughters survived theii' mother. JUST 5-^(I(^^^-3^:=$^.- Battles ^ ^esFies ^ at ^ §EifoE. April 6,. 7, 1S62. A Day of Southern Success, followed by a Day of Disaster. HOW OENERAZ JOHNSTOJfFELL.—BEAUItEGARD'S APPEAJRANCE AMONG THE YELLOW JACKETS. By B. F. sawyer, Colonel 24TH Alabama Regiment. T was a beautiful Sabbath morning at Shiloh. The air was fresh and balmy as a morning in June. Our forces consisted of General Polk's 1st, General Bragg's 2d, General Hardee's 3d, and General Breckinridge's reserved corps, with the cav- alry division of General Gardner, mak- ing a total ef- fective force of some 4 0,000 men. General Johnston's plan of battle con- sisted of three lines in the fol- lowing order: General Har- d e e 's corps, s t r e n gthened b y Gladden's brigade of Bragg's corps, constituted the first line, ex- tending from Owl Creek on the left to Lick Creek on the right. This line fell per- pendicular to and across the Corinth road, a distance of three miles. The second line, consisting of the remainder of Bragg's corps, was drawn out parallel with, and two hundred yards to the rear of the first, and was to conform its movements to the first. The third line was similarly disposed, i. e., five hundred yards in the rear of the second, and was to conform to its move- ments. This line consisted of Polk's corps. Breckinridge's corps was massed in the rear of the center of Polk's, and was (52) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 53 to move forward in column, ready to be deployed when and wherever support should be needed. The woods in the immediate front of our brigaJe and through which we had to pass to reach the enemy, were a tangle of swamp, bushes, and brambles, and exceedingly diffi- cult to penetrate. Now and then a small patch of cleared ground around a cabin relieved the toilsome scramble through the chaparral. At sunrise we were ordered to move forward. We had not proceeded far before the roll of musketry in front told that the work of death had begun. Then came the pecul- iar sharp ringing report of the twelve pound Parrotts, and soon another and another, each greeted by a yell of defiance by our eager and thoroughly aroused men. Ascending a little slope we encountered General Beauregard and his staff. The general had a magnificent coach and four — a la Napoleon — drawn out on the hillside. Captain Dewberry was a good fighter, but he had supreme contempt for the finesse drill; and their obstruction, stretch- ing the full front of his company, filled him with perplexity. Had it been a four-gun battery confronting him and his yellow jackets, he would have been at no loss for action, but that gaudy coach, with its caparisoned team, flanked too by the general and his staff in all the glory of gold lace and feathers, was more than his "tactics" had ever provided for. Without knowing how to flank it he marched his company squarely against it, when perforce the men halted and looked around in confusion. The regiment was aligning upon the colors, and of course the sudden halt of Co. C, confused the entire line. "Move forward. Captain Dewberry," thundered Colonel Blythe, mortified at the ignoble confusion of his line under the very eyes of General Beauregard. But how was Captain Dewberry to move forward with that formidable ob- struction before him? At length, he turned to one of the tinsel- bedecked aide-de-camps and roared out: " Take that damned old stage out o' the way or I'll tumble it down the hill." The battle in front had become general. All along that fear- ful three mile line the rattle of musketry and the roar of artil- lery was deafening the air. Soon the ambulances, toiling under their loads of wounded and dying, came groaning by, and with them straggling soldiers telling horrible tales of bloody work, "just over the hill." One little hero, a mere 54 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. child, — who ought in decency to have been with his mother, — who belonged to Co. D, 16th Miss., came up and reported his regiment cut up, and requested permission to fall in with us. He was given a place in the line, and throughout that bloody day the little fellow fought like a man. We had now reached a point opposite the Iowa camps, di- rectly in front of the enemy's right center. Before us lay an almost impenetrable thicket of brambles and briers. Having cleared a "jungle" we crossed at a double-quick the little field beyond, when, rising to the crest of a sharp hill, we were brought face to face with the battle. Never shall I forget the grandeur of that sight. The enemy's camps lay before us, spreading far and wide, dotting the well cleared slope. McClernand's division was in our front. Dark masses of men clothed in blue were moving in soldierly pre- cision before us; some wheeling into line, others deploying, and others recumbent on the ground, awaiting in tiger-like stillness our approach, to hurl death in our faces; the deafening roar of the guns; the unearthly shriek of the shells; the rattle of mus- ketry; the venomous "pringe" of the bullet, all conspired to make it a scene the grandest ever mortal eye beheld. Then came the order, thrilling every heart — " By the left of companies, forward into line; double quick, march." No order was ever more handsomely executed. Each company filed into line as deliberately as if that long line of sullen blue that lay scarcely three hundred yards in front was a line of friends in- stead of foes. Co. A, Captain Sharp, had scarcely attained posi- tion before the enemy opened fire; like a simoom's breath, it hissed through our ranks; our line moved forward until, within one hundred paces of the line of blue, and then we were lost in the blaze, the thunder, and frenzy of battle. The entire day was one of repeated and hard-earned triumph. After each fierce shock the Federal lines were formed, only to be broken and hurled back again. It was a fearful carnage, and none but heroes could have formed and reformed as the Federals did that day. A foeman, less worthy, would have been swept from the field by the first triumphant onslaught. By noon we had driven McClernand from his tents, and by 3 p. M. the entire Federal force was broken. A ball struck and pierced the calf of General Johnston's left leg. Undisturbed by a flesh wound he continued to give BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 55 orders to his staff. Soon, however, the profuse hemorrhage attracted the attention of his friends, when it was discovered — too late — that an artery had been cut. But, glorious as was that Sunday of battle, its honors were bought at a fearful price. Co. I carried into the battle thirty men — of these six were killed and seventeen wounded. The bal- ance of the regiment suffered in proportion. Our gallant Colonel Blythe was killed and Lieutenant-Colonel Herron mortally wounded; Captains Humphries and Dewberry — brave old Dewberry! — Lieutenant McEachim, Lieutenant Hall, and Lieu- tenant Allen, with eighty men, were killed, and 120 were wounded out of an effective force of 330 rank and file. A mus- ket ball through the right knee tripped me up as the enemy's line was broken. A captured gun, one of Burrows's 14th Ohio Battery, served as an excellent ambulance, and thrown astride its grimy back I rode out of that terrible fight as proudly as ever rode a Roman conqueror of old. That night our army lay upon the field. So complete did they consider the victory that but little thought was given to the morrow. The night was given to plundering, and richly were those camps furnished. Such a lavish abundance of good things had never been spread before unrestrained hands. At length the morning came, not as the morning before, but dark, gloomy, and chill. The sun of Austerlitz had set; it was the sun of Waterloo struggling through the gloomy mist of the morn. The clouds hung dark with threatening rain. The very air seemed weighted with gloomy forebodings. It was nearly nine o'clock before the roll of musketry and the roar of artillery was heard. And when it did come it had not that animated ring which characterized the struggle of the day before. Our troops, demoralized by the night's revel, were hastily thrown to- gether in mixed commands. All day I lay upon my back, unable to move a single muscle without a painful effort, and listened to that sham of a battle. At length about three o'clock in the afternoon the firing ceased. Then a courier came and ordered the provost guard to move off with the prisoners. Soon an- other came ordering all the wounded who could walk or be removed to leave, as the army was about to retreat to Corinth. The last battle fought by the 2d | battle of Boydtown Plank Road, Octo- Corps, under General Hancock, was the | ber 27, 1864. 56 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. GENERAL BUTLER AND THE (UNION) SCHOOL BOYS. WHEN this noted soldier was in command at New Orleans, two Union boys called on him at head- quarters to make a complaint. The last day of school was approaching, and all the boys in their class had been compelled to prepare essays. The Union boys had discovered that the teacher, who was a violent secessionist, had been assisting the sons of Con- federate parents, and had given them the cold shoulder. Having stated the cause of their grievance, the great and good man turned his blind eye toward them and said : — "And what would you have nie to do, my fine lads ? " " Whatever you think best," was the reply, " we came for your advice." " Well, don't you think it would be possible for you to hook the little rebel boys' manuscript at the last moment, and thus leave them several miles be- hind the band wagon ? " " We could try," they both exclaimed. " That's well said, my children," ob- served the great captain. " Never take anything away with you that you can- not carry. Do your best, and if you get into trouble send for me." The boys did get away with the essays, and received much applause themselves, while their associates were publicly rep- rimanded for their carelessness in mis- laying their valuable effusions. THE BENEFITS DP THE CIVIL WAR. RELATED BY GENERAL GRANT. Mjf^HERE was no time during the re- (p bellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South was more to be benefited by defeat than the North. The latter had the people, the institutions, and the territory to make a great and prosperous nation. The former was burdened with an insti- tution abhorrent to all civilized peoples not brought up under it, and one which degraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class. With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not have extended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, nor allowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becoining degraded, and those who did were denominated " poor white trash." The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. The non-slave- holders would have left the country, and the small slaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbors. Soon the slaves would have outnumbered the masters, and not being in sympathy with them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was expensive to the South as well as the North, both in blood and treas- ure ; but it was worth all it cost. JACKSON ON THE MARCH. August, 186S. A Three Days' Ride with "STONEWALL."— How he was Cheered in Pantomime. BY BK. W. BITJI»GH»r. ►N August 22, 1862, quite a sharp artiUery fight took place at Freeman's ford, with some loss to both sides. The Fed- ^ ^^ Gaines' barn, and eral batteries JPs'^? ^^^^^ shell killed succeeded in Jfe««»^\j^^^ two men and throwing a shell \^W^-Jr^h. wounded sixteen, into the head of El well's col- t^ ^ A^ One of the wound- umn just after it had passed ^^^^^^^&~ ed I dressed, and left with little hope of ever seeing him alive again. He had three holes in his right side, a portion of the liver had been torn out and one of his ribs had been broken. Besides all these wounds, the cartridge box he wore had exploded and made a large bruised and burned place on his back. His clothing was torn to shreds. I did my best to dress his wounds and laid him tenderly under the shade of a dogwood tree by the roadside, as I believed, to die. But he did not die; he fell into the hands of some noble women, got well and went to the front again. When the war was ended he returned and married his nurse — a noble girl, who had watched and tended him through his terrible sufferings. As we rode past Mrs. McDonald's that day there were several ladies in the yard who had come up from houses near the river for protection from the cannonade. A cavalryman, brother of one of the ladies, was evidently pointing us out. We distinctly heard one of the ladies inquire: " Which is General Jackson?" He answered: " There, riding right in front. The lady replied in a loud tone of disappointment. " That's not General Jackson; (57) 58 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. that's Dr. Hudgin! don't I know Dr. Hudgin?" Both the Gen- eral and myself burst out laughing, and I said, "General, you will have to show yourself, for everybody in this neighborhood has heard of 'Stonewall Jackson.'" At this he turned his head and taking off his cap, made a bow that for modesty and diffidence would have done credit to a school boy. When this little incident occurred General Jackson was telling me the object of his movement and what he expected to do. He said, " I am making a rapid flank movement to get into Pope's rear, at or near Bealton Station, where, I understand, the ground is admirably adapted for a sudden debouche. You notice that our men are marching very quietly. You hear no noise. I issued strict orders last night for all noise to be suppressed. No drums or bugles are to sound, no flags be displayed, nor cheering by the men be allowed, and that is why you saw that rather amus- ing pantomime just now." We had passed a regiment halted in the woods, who took off their caps, waving them in the air and going through all the motions of vociferous cheering, but which he had silently ac- knowledged by doffing his old gray cap. The enthusiasm among the men wherever he went was marvelous. A few days after when the occasion for silence was over, I noticed an oc- casional cheer, and asking what it meant, was told by some wag: "Oh, it's only General Jackson or a rabbit, both of which generally 'bring down the house' whenever they turn up." As we rode along I told General Jackson of seeing Sigel's corps pass through Jeffersonton on the Wednesday previous. This seemed to interest him, and he quickly said, "I will give $500 in gold to a reliable man who will cross the river to-night and find out which road he took ^fter passing the springs." I re- plied: "General, I believe I can get you that information, but I will not put my life in jeopardy for money; I promise you shall know all you wish before sunrise to-morrow." When I promised, I had no idea that I should be so fortunate as to be able to give him that information before sunset that evening. As a fact Sigel had moved in the direction of Bealton Station, but had gone by RulFs hill toward Rappahannock Sta- tion. It was the artillery of his command that we engaged at Freeman's ford, and he was following up General Jackson's movements so closely that he was actually in the same field with us then, and only about three hundred yards off at the very time BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 59 we stopped for lunch that day. I went to General Jackson at Beaver Dam creek and reported what I had found out about the Federal movements. The high water broke up General Jackson's plans, and dur- ing the first part of Saturday I knew he was very uneasy about Early's brigade. He withdrew all the troops from the north of the Rappahannock on Saturday evening. The Federals moved up in front of us that night and on Sunday morning, a little after daylight, they opened fire near Dr. Scott's house. I was sitting on horseback talking to General Ewell, when the first shot was fired, and so well had they taken our range that the first shot threw dirt all over the whole party. We got out of the way in a hurry and a furious cannonade was opened which lasted through the greater part of the day. I went during the day near to Hart's mill to see if the enemy had occupied Poney Mountain. After this, with many expressions of kindness and good wishes for myself, we parted and never met again. A SILENT TRIBUTE TO GENERAL GRANT. "jack" ADAMS, SERG,-OF-ARMS, STATE HOUSE, BOSTON. IN the rotunda of the State Capitol in Bo.ston the tattered battle-flag.s ^ of the Massachusetts regiments have been preserved ever since the war. They were arranged in stands and re- tained in position by silken cords. When the news of Genei'al Grant's death was received in Boston, minute guns were fired on the Common, di- rectly in front of the State House. The vibratory jar of the firing loosened the silken cords already rotten from age, and as the first gun boomed forth its melancholy tidings, the few persons who were in the State House rotunda at the time were awe-stricken to see a sudden movement among the old battle- flags. With one motion they all tilted forward as though giving a marching salute to the memory of the dead hero. A Terrific Battle.— The battle of i Allatoona, Ga., Oct. 5, 1864, is said to € have been, for the number of troops I engaged, the most terrific of the war. Union Paper. — The Memphis jBw/Ze^m was the only Union paper published in the seceded states. It was edited by Wm. M. €onnelly, who died in 1884. R Battle Scarred Veteran. FORTY^EIOHX WOUNDS AX GETTYSBURG! BY GENERAL BLACK, PENSION COMMISSIONER. i»^4, yoHN F. CHASE went into the civil war from I Augusta, Me. He was a rugged farmer's boy •^ eighteen years of age, when, prompted by a sense of loyalty, he rallied to his country's defense. He was the fifth to enlist in this state under the first call for troops in 1861. Four brothers of his also en- listed, two of whom were killed and two were wounded. He took part in all the battles of the Potomac, from Bull Run to Gettysburg. During his entire term of service the post of duty and of danger always found him present. This is the testimony of his captain, which has often been expressed. He never aspired to rank, not even to the chevrons of a corporal. He was content in simply being cannoneer No. 1 of the 5th Maine Battery. For nearly three years Private Chase went through every arduous and trying campaign of his battery without a scratch, to be at last battered and broken by a rebel shell on the bloody field of Gettysburg. He bears forty-eight wounds as the mementos of that battle. It scarcely seems credible that one could have passed through such a fearful baptism of blood and still survive. The story may be told in a few words: — " The 5th Maine Battery was attached to the 1st Corps under General Reynolds. It was the third day of the fight, and the battery was posted on Seminary Hill. The rebel General Pickett was making his famous charge on our left center, and a terri- ble artillery duel was in progress. The battery was in a hard place, being between cross fires. The air was full of missiles of death. The heroic Chase, with his shirt sleeves rolled up and his face black with powder and smoke, was in the act of ramming home a cartridge when a rebel shell fell about three (60) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 61 feet from him and burst. The fragments flew in all directions. Chase was thrown nearly a rod from his gun and fell insensi- ble. His clothes were literally stripped from his body. His right arm was blown off, his left eye literally torn from its socket, while his breast and shoulders were gashed with wounds. He was carried to the rear. Two days after, when the dead were buried, he was being conveyed with others to the grave. A groan from him attracted attention, and he was dis- covered to be alive. Upon recovering consciousness, the first words that came from his lips were, ' Did we win the battle?' Private Chase's pluck at Chancellorsville received the com- mendation of General Hooker. His battery was facing a most destructive fire from the enemy's batteries. All the officers and men of his battery being either killed or wounded, he, with an- other brave comrade, fired his gun seven times after the other guns of the battery had ceased work. Then, the horses having been shot or disabled, the gun was dragged off by the two, to prevent its capture by the enemy, who shortly afterwards occupied the position that had been vacated by our retreating forces." Private Chase talks with enthusiastic earnestness about the splendid record of the 5th Maine Battery, but in his modesty rarely if ever alludes to the gallant part he bore in its many sanguinary contests. HowLD Up. -.^OLOiVTEL DAST, of Georgia, an their companies, and as we were shoot- officer in the Confederate Army, ing away, they, seeing that unless they ^^^ relates the following : " I have surrendered, they were certain of anni- '^a''^ always had a great respect for hilation, showed the white flag. Unfor- the valor of the Massachusetts tunately, this was not seen by my entire troops and particularly the 9th command, and several shots were fired Regt., which fought us like after I had given the order to cease. In tigers. It so happened that dur- the midst of this desultory firing there ing several engagements we were pitted came a strong Hibernian voice from against each other, and there was much out of the bushes : — desperate wort, I can assure you. " ' Howld up, yez scoundrels ! We During one of our encounters, we were have suri-indered, and yer killiu' Dim- fortunate enouah to surround one of micrats.' " Shooting ''Provost Guards at new-berne, n. c. W. p. DERBY, 27th MASS. ^^URING the summer of 18G2 the 23d Mass. served a part of the time on "provost duty" in New- Berne, N. C. While in the discharge of such 't duty four members of that regiment had been \f^ wounded by being fired upon by inmates of houses in the city. At 9.30 P. M., July 25th, a fifth man was seriously wounded in the groin. The house was immediately surrounded by two companies of the 23d Regt. and six men and one woman were made prisoners. The following morning the regiment appeared before the house — a large, square, two-story building — and knocking out the underpinning attached strong ropes to the purlin plates and, after a deal of pulling, drew it over upon its side, when the whole house collapsed into a mass of debris. As the house fell over, the band struck up the inspiriting tune, "Bully for you! Bully for you!" The fence met a fate similar to the house, and then the grounds were stripped of tree and shrubbery. The gardens, too, met a most desperate pruning, and when the regiment marched back to its quarters, a more perfect picture of desolation could hardly be found. After this affair the "provost guards" at New-Berne suffered no farther harm. -«^ ^■H ^^ NOT ENOUGH TREES. MISSIONARY RIDGE. jp SOLDIER, telling his mother of I^^SS the terrible fire at Chickamauga, r was asked by her why he did not get behind a tree. " Trees ! " said he ; •' there wasn't enough for the officers." The battle of Missionary Ridge, Tenn., Nov. 25, 1863, says Major Wright, of the 36th Alabama, " resulted in such a rout as had never been pre- viously known of a Confederate Army." (62) Running Forts Jackson and St. Phillip. A.PRII:. 34, 1863. The Enemy's Blazing Fire-Raft Matched by Farragut. GEN. B. F. BUTLER. the spring of '63, one tropical night, so calm and still that a low mist hung clingingly to the shores and across the wide rolling waters of the Mississippi, in two divisions up and down the stream lay the Federal fleet; the flag- ship Hartford, two miles below Fort Jackson, a casemated work, armed also with guns eyi barbette. Sheltered by the edge of the forest which grew down into the water, lay twenty-one schooners, each having a thirteen inch mortar on her deck, which for nearly eight days had been throwing a shell at the fort every twenty minutes. The second division of the fleet, under command of Cap- tain Bailey, lay parallel to Farragut's division, nearer the left bank of the river on which was Fort St. Phillip, a strong but not a casemated work. Both these forts were fully armed with eight and ten inch Columbiads and six inch rifles, the heaviest ordnance then known. The only sailing ship, the sloop of war Portsmouth, had been towed into position in the early nightfall and moored where her batteries could command the water battery of Fort Jackson. Every preparation had been made for silencing the enemy's guns as the fleet passed the forts. The port guns of the first division were loaded with grape and canister and their muzzles depressed so as to reach the embrasures of the casemates of the fort, which lie just above the water which flows by its base. The guns on the right side of that division were left unloaded because Bailey's division would be between them and Fort St. (63) 64 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. Phillip. In his division the reverse was done; the right guns were loaded with grape and canister, and the left guns, next Farragut's division, were unloaded to prevent accident. Between the fleet and the forts lay the remains of the enor- mous chains floated on schooners which had been anchored across the river forming, as the commanders of the forts thought, an impassable barrier to navigation. By a daring reconnoissance this chain had been cut and the cables of the schooners slipped, so that the chains on both sides were floated down parallel to the line of tlie shore, and instead of an obstruc- tion, the chains became a guide to the channel on either hand. It is now two o'clock in the morning. The mortars for hours had ceased their play. The forts are silent. Nothing is seen but the lights of the fleet. A red light goes to the truck of the top gallant mizzen-mast of the Hartford, the signal to make sail. The clanking of windlasses only are heard to the music of the boatswain's whistle. In almost the time in which it can be told, the two divisions of the fleet were steadily steaming up the river against a four-knot current at a speed of eight knots. The minutes seemed almost hours before a single gun flashing from Fort Jackson showed that the movement was known. Twenty mortars burst forth together, sending their heavy shells flying through the air in parabolas of nearly two miles, light- ing up the heavens with their blazing fuses, which began to rain down in broken fragments upon the fort. At the same moment the Portsmouth opened upon Fort Jackson with her starboard battery, keeping up a rapid and continuous fire until the last vessel had passed. Fort St. Pliillip opened fire upon Bailey's division, followed by all the guns of Fort Jackson opening fire upon Farragut's divi- sion, which he boldly steers within three hundred yards of its walls; and as each ship came within short range, the guns were served with the utmost quickness of fire, so that the booming cannon made one continuous deafening roar; the rolling smoke in the misty night wrapped everything in darkness impenetra- ble, save as the flashes flamed out like lightnings from a low- hanging summer cloud. Eleven shells from the mortar-boats were seen flying high in the air, at one time, thence rolling down a stream of flre and shot upon the ill-fated cannoneers of the fort. Bravely they stand to and serve their guns amid death-shot falling thick and fast on every hand. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 65 Under the fire of Bailey's division, that of Fort St. Phillip has been nearly silenced, and his division was passing her guns in safety. Protected by casemates, the gunners of Fort Jackson did not give Farragut's division so easy success. The fire of Fort Jackson is incessantly kept up vi^ith precision, so that it seemed impossible that the Hartford, a wooden ship, could live while passing through that volcano of fire. See! The heavens light up with something different from the flashing red of artillery. A new danger threatens the daring Farragut. A fire-raft comes sweeping along the current at four miles an hour. What is a fire-raft? A flatboat some two hundred feet long by sixty wide, filled high with cotton picked open, saturated with rosin, pitch, and turpentine, intermingled so as to burn the more hotly, and interlaced with cross-piled sticks of light wood, all ablaze, fiercely burning, fanned by the light wind. Such a fire-raft is sent broadside upon the Hartford, so well directed that it engages her bows and the hot flames set fire to her fore-rigging and are burning the foremost sails of the flag-ship. This new enemy is met; and while the crew of the port guns ply their batteries upon the foe, the rest of the men, organized as a fire-brigade, fight the fire on the blaz- ing spars of their ship. Boats are lowered and manned, grap- nels thrown on board the burning raft, which is towed away to float harmlessly down the river, as the Hartford passes up be- yond the range of fire of the forts. Two of the Federal gun- boats only of the whole fleet came drifting down disabled, which told those below that the others had passed the forts in safety. Hardly had the fire been extinguished when a new peril met the Federal fleet. The iron-clad ram Manassas came tearing down from above, forced by current and steam, upon the fleet. She is nearest the steamer Mississippi, for whose side she is mak- ing with her fearful prow. The Yankee commander, Melanc- thon Smith, was equal to the occasion. He calls out: "Flag officer, I can ram as well as she; shall I ram her?" "Go for her," is the answer, and the stem of the Mississippi struck the iron-clad under the full momentum given by her powerful screw; the ram is disabled, and a few shot crash through her armor and set her on fire and she drifts down a useless hulk. But this is but an episode, for there is a fleet of the enemy's gunboats quite equal in number although not the equal in G6 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. strength of the Federal force, lying in wait above the forts to renew the conflict. The fight is of short duration. Thirteen of the enemy's vessels were sunk or disabled, and the others fled up the river to New Orleans. The morning wind sprang up and rolled away the smoke, and as the sun rose up in the heavens the fleet was seen lying at anchor above the forts with flags of rejoicing flying from every mast-head. a^S^-^1 ^^Ss9 ORIGIN OF THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE-FLAG. By GENERAL JOE JOHNSTON. ^T the battle of Bull Run the stars and bars proved a failure because they were so much like the Union colors. Indeed, both armies mistook their enemies for friends, and vice versa. After the battle I had resolved to dis- card this flag, and called for each regiment to procure its state colors. This they were not able to do, and I ^ MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM. I^N" officer of the Union army re- lates that on one occasion after a charge upon the enemy's ^)>v works, a fierce encounter, and a J fall back for re-enforcement, a bright young Irish soldier was found to have a rebel flag capt- ured from the foe. Approaching him he said : " I'll send that to the rear as one of our trophies ; give me the flag." " Sure, I'll not give it ye," said Pat ; '•if ye are wanting one, there's plinty av 'em behind that ridge over beyant, where I got this. Sure ye can go and get one for yerself." asked tlie array for new designs. Among those presented one by General Beaure- gard was chosen, and I altered this only in making it square instead of ob- long. This flag was afterward adopted by the Confederate armies. It was a Greek cross of blue on a red field, with white stars on the blue bars, and was designed by Colonel Walton of Louisiana. :i^ PICKET IINE EXCHANGES. ,HAT regiment do you belong to? "asked a Union picket of a rebel picket. " The 14th North Carolina," answered the Johnny. " And yours, Yank ? " " The 1 14th Rhode Island." " You're a liar, there isn't that many people in the State," returned the Johnny. SAVED THE ARMY. It was General George H. Thomas who saved the Army of the Cumber- land at the battle of Chick amauga. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. C? ANEGDeTES 0r L0GAN, GENERAL STOiME. j^N one of the important charges of the war, General Logan was in ad- vance, and had just reached the crest of a hill, when a bullet came spinning along and scooped a handful of wadding from the breast of Gen- eral Logan's coat, the uniforms being heavily wadded in those days. " There's a coat which cost nie seventy-five dol- lars, and I suppose it's ruined," was the General's cool comment when he had time to look over the situation. A very interesting anecdote of how General Logan disobeyed ordei\s at At- lanta was given. Logan's command was among the reserves. The fighting was all along the line, and the attack imme- diately in front of Logan was so sudden and furious that the forces were driven back. No time was left for a formal call to arms. The first that General Stone saw was General Logan riding up furiously, shouting, " Fall in, fall in ! forward ! " The men sprang up singly and by squads, picking up what- ever arms were nearest at hand, while the General continued to shout with all his might, " Forward, forward, and yell like h — 1 ! " " Where's our regi- ment?" the men were asking, but the General called out, " Never mind your regiment ; never mind your commands ; forward, and yell like ! " General Stone had cut tlie bridle of the near- est horse, and was in the saddle riding at his utmost speed, with the men rushing up on the double-quick, but still Logan wjfs ahead, shouting, " For- ward, forward, faster ! Yell like the , hoys, and take those lines." The Confederates, dazed and surprised by the impetuous attack, fell back like a flock of turkeys, and the man who knew how to take responsibility when to hesitate was disaster, occupied the front with his reserves. GEXERAL LOGAX ANT) THE BATTEHY- iMAN. It was on this same field of Atlanta that an incident occurred which caused much laughter among the boys. A Confederate batteryman, plucky to the last, w'as coming forward with his guns to take position, when Genei'al Logan, who was without his pistol, borrowed one from General Stone, and riding up to the commander, said in imperative tones, " If you move one foot further, I'll blow your brains out," and aimed the pistol directly at the officer's head. It was too much for the batteryman and the warrior turned in an instant. The batteryman did not observe what the boys did, that the cylinder from the pistol had dropped out just as the Gen- eral took aim. Youngest General.— Gen. W. P. Roberts, of N. C, was the youngest brigadier general in the Confederate Army. Originality. — Farragut's method of attack in capturing New Orleans was as original in conception as it was brill- iant in execution. 8i*Klegg*on«Drill. Work with the Awkward Squad of Company Q. PAINFUL TRIBULATIONS. ^HEN Si Klegg went into active service with Com- pany Q of the 200th Ind., his ideas of drill and tactics were exceedingly vague. He knew that a " drill " was something to ntiake holes with, and he understood that he had been sent down South to make holes through people. He handled his mus- ket very much as he would a hoe. A "platoon" might be something to eat, for all he knew. He had a notion that a " wheel " was something that went around, and he thought a "file" was a screeching thing used (once a year) to sharpen up the old buck saw. The fact was that Si and his companions hardly had a fair shake, and entered the field at a decided disadvantage. It had been customary for a regiment to drill a month or two in camp before being sent to the front; but the 200th was rushed off to Kentucky the very day it was mustered. Cold chills were run- ning up and down the backs of the people in the North on account of the invasion by Bragg's army. The regiment pushed after the fleeing rebels, but wherever Buell's army halted to take breath, " Fall in for drill! " was shouted through its camp three or four times a day. It was liable to be called into action at any moment, and it was indispensable to begin at once the process of making soldiers of those tender-footed Hoosiers. Most of the officers of the 200th were as green as the men, though some of them had seen service in other regiments; so, at first, officers and non-commissioned officers who had been in the field a few months and were considered veterans, and who knew, or thought they knew, all about tactics that (68) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 69 was worth knowing, were detailed from the old regiments to put the boys through a course of sprouts in company and squad drill. One morning after leaving Louisville, word was passed around that the regiment would not move that day, and the boys were so glad at the prospect of a day of rest that they wanted to get right up and yell. Si was sitting on a log, with his shoes off, rubbing his aching limbs and nursing his blisters, when the orderly came along. '"Company Q, be ready in ten minutes to fall in for drill. Stir around, you men, and get your traps on. Klegg, put on them gunboats, and be lively about it." " Orderly," said Si, looking as if he hadn't a friend on earth, " just look at them blisters; I can't drill to-day." " You'll have to, or go to the guard house," was the reply. "You'd better hustle yourself, too! " Si couldn't think of anything to say that would do justice to his feelings; and so, with a few muttered words that he didn't learn in Sunday-school, he got ready to take his place. As a general collision of the armies of Buell and Bragg was hourly expected, it was thought best for the 200th to learn something about shooting. If called suddenly into action it was believed the boys could " git thar," though they had not mastered company and battalion evolutions. Company Q was divided into squads of eight for exercise in the manual of arms. The man who took Si's squad was a grizzled sergeant, who had been "lugging knapsack, box, and gun" for a year. He realized his responsible functions as instructor of innocent youths, having at the same time contempt for their ignorance. "Attention, squad!" and they all looked at him in a way that meant business. " Load in nine times — load! " Si couldn't quite understand what the "w" meant, but he had always been handy with a shotgun, to the terror of the squirrels and coons, and he thought he would show the ser- geant how spry he was. So he rammed in a cartridge, put on a cap, held up his musket, blazed away, and then went to load- ing again, as if his life depended upon his activity. For an instant the sergeant was speechless with amazement. At length his tongue was loosened, and he roared out: — 70 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. " What in the name of General Jackson are you doing, you measly idiot! Who ordered you to load and fire your piece? " " I — I th — thought you did," said Si, trembling as if he had the Wabash ague. " You said for us to load nine times. I thought nine loads would fill 'er chuck full and bust 'er, and I didn't see any way but to shute 'em off as fast as I got 'em in." " No, sir! I gave the command according to Hardee, ' Load — in — nine — times'; and ef yer hadn't bin in sich a hurry you'd 'a' found out what that means. Yer'll git along a good deal faster ef you'll go slower. Yer ought ter be made ter carry a big rail for two hours." Si protested that he was sorry, and wouldn't do so again, and the drill went on. The master went through all the nine ' ' times " of "Handle — cartridge!" "Draw — rammer!" etc., each with its two or three " motions," It seemed like nonsense to Si. " Boss," said he, " I kin git 'er loaded in just half the time ef yer'll let me do it my own way! " "Silence!" thundered the sergeant. "If you speak another word I'll have ye gagged 'n' tied up by the thumbs! " Si had always been used to speaking right out when he had anything to say, and had not got his "unruly member" under thorough subjection. He saw that it wouldn't do to fool with the drill sergeant, however, and he held his peace. But Si kept thinking that if he got into a fight he would ram in the cart- ridges and fire them out as fast as he could, without bothering his head about the " one time and three motions." "Order — arms!" commanded the sergeant, after he had ex- plained how it was to be done. Si brought his gun down along with the rest like a pile driver. " Ou-ou-ouch!" exclaimed the victim of Si's inexperience. "Didn't do it a-purpose, pard," said Si, compassionately, " 'pon my word I didn't. I'll be more keerful after this." His suffering comrade urged upon Si the propriety of exercis- ing a little more care, but he determined that he would manage to get some other fellow to stand next to Si after that. " Shoulder — arms! " ordered the sergeant, and the guns came straggling up into position. Then after a few words of instruc- tion, " Right shoulder shift — arms! " " Don't you know your right shoulder? " said the sergeant, with a good deal of vinegar in his tone, to Si, who had his gun on the " larboard " side, as a sailor would say. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 71 "Beg yer parcVn," said Si; ''I always was left-handed. I'll learn if yer only giinme a show." " Silence! " again roared the sergeant. "One more word, sir, and I icill tie ye up, fer a fact! " The sergeant got his squad down to an "order arms " again, and then, after showing them how, he gave the order, " Fix — bayonet!" There was the usual clicking and clattering, during which Si dexterously managed to stick his bayonet into the eye of his comrade, whose toes were still aching from the blow of Si's musket. Si assured him he was sorry, and that it was all a mistake, but his comrade thought the limit of patience had been passed. So he confidentially informed Si that as soon as drill was over he was going to "pound the stuffin' " out of him, and there wouldn't be any mistake about it, either. When the hour was up the captain of the company came around to see how the boys were getting along. The upshot of it was that poor Si was immediately organized into an " awkward squad " all by himself, and drilled an extra hour. " We'll see, Mr. Klegg," said the captain, " if you can't learn to handle your arms without mashing the toes and stabbing the eyes out of the rest of the company." SOUTHKRN CURRENCY. WM GLANCE at the market quota- ^^ tions in a Mobile paper of Marcli Jj[ 11, 1865, shows that apples, in the Confederate currency, were sixty and seventy dollars a bushel ; bacon was four dollars a pound, and butter six to eight dollars ; Shelby coal was two hun- dred dollars a ton, and Confederate candles w^ere ten dollars a pound ; coffee was sixty dollars a pound, and calico twenty dollars a yard ; corn meal was twelve dollars a bushel, cow peas were sixteen dollars, while flour ranged from one dollar and thirty cents to two dol- lars a pound, and wheat was thirty dollars a bushel ; fresh beef was two dollars and fifty cents a pound, and fresh pork two dollars ; lard was three dollars and fifty cents, and tallow five dollars; quinine was two hundred dol- lars an ounce, and morphine three hun- dred and fifty dollars ; onions were seventy dollars a bushel, and Irish po- tatoes ninety dollars, while salt was thirty-two dollars a bushel, and whisky was quoted at from sixty-five to one hundred and fifty dollars a gallon, ac- cording to quality. 72 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. GENERAL CUSTER'S FAREWELL ORDER. Headquarters 3d Cavalry Division, Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9, 1865. Soldiers of the 3d Cavalry Division : /^^V, ^ '^ITII profound gratitude to- ^"C^Jl^V/ ward the God of Battles, (r-^^^J^) by whose blessings our ^ enemies have been humbled and our arms rendered triumphant, your commanding general avails him- self of this, his first opportunity, to ex- press to you his admiration of the heroic manner in which you have passed through the series of battles which to- day resulted in the surrender of the enemy's entire army. The record established by your in- domitable courage is unparalleled in the annals of war. Your prowess has won for you even the respect and admira- tion of your enemies. During the past six months, although in most instances confronted by superior numbers, you have captured from the enemy, in open battle, one hundred and eleven pieces of field artillery, sixty-five battle-flags, and upwards of ten thousand prisoners of war, including seven general officers. Within the past ten days, and included in the above, you have captured forty- six pieces of field artillery, and thirty- seven battle-flags. You have never lost a gun, never lost a color, and have never been defeated; and notwitlistand- ing the numerous engagements in which you have borne a prominent part, in- cluding those memorable battles of the Shenandoah, you have captured every piece of artillery which the enemy has dared to open upon you. The near ap- proach of peace renders it improbable that you will again be called upon to undergo the fatigues of the toilsome march or the exposure of the battle field ; but should the assistance of keen blades, wielded by your steady arms, be required to hasten the coming of that glorious peace for which we have been so long contending, the general commanding is proudly confident that, in the future as in the past, every de- mand will meet with a hearty and will- ing response. Let us hojje that our work is done, and that, blessed with the comforts of peace, we may be permitted to enjoy the pleasures of home and friends. For our comrades wlio have fallen, let us cherish grateful remembrance ; to the wounded, and to those who lan- guished in Southern prisons, let our heartfelt sympathy be tendered. And now, speaking for myself alone, when the war is ended and the task of the historian begins — when those deeds of daring which have rendered the name and fame of the 3d Cavalry Divi- sion imj^erishable are inscribed upon the bright pages of our country's his- tory, I only ask that my name may be written as that of the commander of the 3d Cavalry Division. G. A. Custer, Brevet Majoi'-General Commanding. Official : L. W. Baunhart, Captain and A. A, A. G. Peace Proposition. — The boldest and most significant peace proposi- tions that appeared up to November. 1864. were offered in the Rebel Congress by Mr Leach, of N. C. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 73 MENDING THE OLD FLAG, WILL CARLETON. fN the silent gloom of a garret room, With cobwebs romid it creeping, From day to day the old flag lay — A veteran worn and sleeping. Dingily old, each wrinkled fold By the dust of years was shaded ; Wouiids of the storm were upon its form ; The crimson stripes were faded. 'Twas a mournful sight in the day twi- light. This thing of humble seeming. That once so proud o'er the cheering crowd. Had carried its colors gleaming ; Stained with mold were the braids of gold That had flashed in the sun's rays' kissing ; Of faded hue was its field of blue. And some of the stars were missing. Three Northern maids and three from glades Where dreams the southland weather, With glances kind and their arms en- twined. Came up the stairs together. They gazed awhile with a thoughtful smile At the crouching form before them ; With clinging hold they grasped its folds, And out of the darkness bore them. They healed its scars, they found its star*. And brought them all together, (Three Northern maids and three from glades Where smiles the southland weather ;) They mended away through the sum- mer day, Made glad by an inspiration To fling it high at the summer sky On the birthday of our Nation. In the brilliant glare of the summer air, With a brisk breeze round it creeping. Newly bright through the glistening light. The flag went gladly sweeping ; Gleaming and bold were its braids of gold And flashed in the sun's rays' kissing ; Red, white, and blue were of deepest hue, And none of the stars were missing. MINE EXPLOSION. CAVALRY FIGHT. General John W. Turner is said to have been the only divi- sion commander who led his men on the day of the mine ex- plosion, or Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864. The most important cavalry fight of the war, says the Con- federate Colonel Ball, of the 1 1th Virginia Regiment, was at Tervillan, where General Rosser's dash saved the day. RKCOLLKCTIONS OF (leHerar (B^st^r €it IDij^efieste^r. SEPT. 19, 1864. A LIVELY FIGHT IN WHICH HUNDREDS OF BRAVE MEN FELL. Inspiring Charge of Five Mag-niflcent Brigades. (BY ONE WHO WAS THERE.) [N the morning of September 19, 1864, the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, coiximanded by General Custer, con- sisting of the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th Mich. Regts. and the 35th ]Sr. Y., was aroused from slumber at two o'clock, near Summit Point, Va. "Boots and saddles" had been sounded and soon active preparations were made to break camp. Horses were fed and sad- dled, a hasty meal partaken of, and in about half an hour the brigade was waiting for the word "forward." Soon the headquarters tent comes down, the gene- ral and staff mount, the bugler sounds "forward," and the brigade is again on the tramp. Away we go, across the country, through cornfields, into a patch of woods, another field, another patch of woods, up blind roads, a sudden turn to the right, across a large clearing, and entering a compara- tively open piece of woodland. We are now in the vicinity of the Opequan and it is not yet daylight. The brigade is massed in a piece of woods and is awaiting orders from the division commander. After a short time we move forward about a mile and a half and are again (74) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 75 massed in a belt of woods and in rear of a range of hills over- looking the Opequan. Presently we hear the crack! crack! of the Spencers, and a cavalryman conies in wounded in the arm. "Sharpshooters," he says, as he passes us. Soon other wounded men begin to come in and we know that there has been warm work in front. We are about half a mile from Burns' ford, on the Opequan. Beyond is an open field, and beyond that runs the creek, and rising from its brink on the south side is a high bluff lined with rifle-pits, filled with sharpshooters. On the left of the field runs a road leading to the ford, and on the left of the road a railroad embankment twenty feet high. Custer has ordered two regiments to charge over and dislodge the enemy. Down to the ford they move steadily, supported by a regiment which has been dismounted in the open field. But they do not suc- ceed. A terrible fire from the sharpshooters on the bluff opposite greets them, and they are forced to return. They are repulsed, but not defeated. As quickly as possible the brigade is re-formed, and while the attention of the enemy is engaged by a regiment of dismounted men, the 1st Mich. Cavalry Regt. is given the task to accomplish what two regiments had failed to do. "Follow that regiment, and when you see me wave my sword give 'em some music," is the order. Forward! By some blunder the band gets sandwiched in between two squadrons, and can't get out. "What are you blowers doing here?" says an officer. "No place for you. Custer ought to — " The sentence is not finished, for a shower of bullets sing through the air. A yell from the 6th Mich, on the right, and we look up and see the general waving his sword as they charged across the open field. We play a national air and make a break for a large opening in the railroad embankment, where we valiantly remained until the firing has ceased. In the mean time the 1st Mich, has crossed the creek, swarmed up the bluff, and the rifle-pits are ours, with a consid- erable number of prisoners. The entire command crosses the creek and takes the position just vacated by the enemy, who has retreated about a mile in the direction of Winchester and taken position behind earth- 76 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. works. A splendid charge from the Michigan njen dislodges them, and forward we go. Then we advance and meet with no opposition until within two miles of Stevenson's depot when we run against a division of Confederate cavalry. In a moment the whole Michigan brigade makes a gallant charge right into them, and still again and although greatly outnumbering us, the fierceness of our onslaught dismays them. Looking to the left an inspiring scene meets the eye. Five brigades are moving forward in parallel lines, their bright sabers glistening in the sun, the bands playing, and the national colors and battle flags flying in the breeze. Ahead of us the enemy's cavalry have formed across the pike, about three miles from Winchester. We could also see the battle raging be- tween the lines of opposing infantry on the left. The rebel cavalry skirmishers now advance and drive in our own. A gallant charge by the Michigan men forces them back, and the short struggle is ended by the retreat of the enemy. About a mile further on they again rally. Custer sounds the charge and away goes the brigade again, and again the enemy's cavalry is driven and takes refuge behind his line of infantry. Now the Confederates make their last stand. We are near enough for them to use their batteries, a circumstance which they are not slow to improve. But the Confederate line is wavering and Custer knows it. Watching closely he sees the enemy about to make a retrograde movement, and instantly grasping the situation he ordered a charge by the whole brigade. Away they go with a rush and a yell, using the saber almost exclusively. The fierce rush was too much for the but- ternut men, and they melt and vanish before it. A gallant charge, brave Michigan men! Push on! But see, right in front springs up a fresh line of the foe! Stand firm! Now, charge again! And again this new obstacle melts away, and many prisoners are ours. Over to the right stands a little log house which shelters a host of the enemy. They are very annoying. They must be dislodged. Some Michigan troopers do the work, and they do it thoroughly. A sudden rush of horses, yelling men with gleam- ing sabers, and the thing is done. A Confederate regiment throw down their arms and are prisoners. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 77 But see the gallant Custer! He is in the midst of a throng of the enemy, slashing right and left. A Confederate infantry- man presents his musket full at Custer's heart and is about to pull the trigger. Quick as lightning the general detects the movement. With a sharp pull he causes his horse to rear upon its haunches, and the ball passes, just grazing the general's leg below the thigh. Then a terrible sword stroke descends upon the infantryman's head, and he sinks to the ground a lifeless corpse. Now our boys are ready for more work. Another charge, the enemy falter, the lines waver, they break and run. Push for- ward, gallant men! Keep them going! And they do. Suddenly the artillery on Bunker Hill withholds its fire, the reports of small arms from the enemy cease, the smoke of battle clears away and we see that the hill is evacuated, the enemy in full retreat. Forward! forward! and away go our Michigan boys in hot pursuit. They have got them on the run. They fill the streets of Winchester, and the Wolverines are at their heels. On! on! through the town and miles beyond the surging mass is driven and the victory is won. THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. HAD two brothers once. Warm-hearted, bold, and gay, »' They left my side — one wore the blue, The other wore the gray. One rode with Stonewall and his men, And joined his fate to Lee ; The otlier followed Sherman's march Triumphant to the sea. Both fought for what they deemed the right. And died with sword in hand ; One sleeps amid Virginia's hills, And one in Georgia's sand. The same sun shines upon their graves, My love for them must stay ; And so upon my bosom lies This knot of blue and gray. M4RCH TO THE BATTLE FIELD. By (iEO. H. Williams, Co. II., Fifth Iowa Cavaliy. ^ ARC II to the battle field, ;^-' p\V^ The foe is now before us ; ^ Each heart is freedom's shield, And freedom's flag is o'er us. No link remains of galling chains That once our land degraded ; Our flag yet flies. In starry guise. With not one glory faded. Who from his country's cause Would ever shrink or falter ? Who fears to guard her laws, Or die before her altar ? If one there be, W^hose servile knee Would crouch to freedom's foeman. May sudden doom His life consume. And heaven avert the omen. Written just before the hattle of ^Tashville. 78 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. HORACE GREELEY AT NEW ORLEANS. DOfJ'T JUDgg HASTILY. Buttermilk with His Soup. By GENERAL SHERIDAN. GEN. J. L. CHAMBERLAIN OF ME. ^ WAS stationed at New Orleans ^ wlien ]\Ir. Greeley came there on his I tour when a candidate for the Presi- dency. The old Creole residents gave him a dinner, and to make it as fine an affair as pos.sible, each of the many hosts was laid under contribution for some of the rarest wines in his cellar. When dinner was announced, and the half-shell oysters had disappeared, the waiter appeared at Mr. Greeley's seat with a plate of beautiful shrimps. " You can take them away," he said to the waiter, and then he added apolo- getically to the horrified old Creole gentleman who presided : " I never eat insects of any kind." Later on a soup was served, and at the same time a glass of delicious white wine was placed at Mr. Greeley's right hand. He pushed it aside quietly, but not unobserved by the chief host. " Do you not drink wine?" he asked. "No," answered Mr. Greeley, " I never drink any liquors." " Is there anything you would live to drink with your soup ? " the host asked, a little disappointed. "If you've got it," answered Mr. Greeley, " and it isn't any trouble, I'd like to have a glass of fresh butter- milk." " Mon Dieu ! " said the host afterwards in his broken English, " ze idea of electing to ze Presidency a man vot drink buttermilk vis his soup ! " IJ^^XE of the saddest things I know of jW^ is that epitaiih which the Viroinia 2|« father, gathering up the remnant left him after the ravages of war, and settling himself as best he could into the new situation, placed upon a stone he raised as a memorial of his old home. On one face of it he inscribed these words : " To the sacred memory of my eldest boy, who fell fighting for the stars and stripes." On the opposite side he wrote, " To the sacred memory of my youngest boy, who fell fighting for the lost cause." And between them on the third face, " (Jod only knows which was right ! " I pity that man's sor- row and dark perplexity. But there is a double question there as to the " right," of which he dai'ed not judge. The mo- tive in the young men's minds was one thing, and the justice of the cause was another. God alone knows the heart, and he alone can judge men's motives. It is one of the strange facts of life that the best of feelings are sometimes enlisted in the worst of causes, and the worst of feelings in the best of causes. You cannot always judge the moral value of an act merely from its surface, nor can you judge it mei-ely from its motive. But men are responsible for their motives which they have allowed to control them, and for their use of the light they might have had if they would open their eyes to it. -*••*■ General Grant says in his book : " The most anxious period of the war to me, was during the time the Army of the Tennessee was guarding the territory acquired by the fall of Corinth and Memphis, and before I was sufficientlv re-enforced to take the offensive." BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 79 SlvIQHTIvY IVIlSTAKKN. HOW THE NEWS OF LEE'S SUKRENDER WAS RECEIVED IN A CONFEDERATE BATTERY. .HILE Generals Grant and Lee were in conference, arranging the conditions of tlie latter's sur- render, "Ward's battery from Mississippi occupied such an ad- vanced position in the Confederate line as not to know what was going on at army headquarters, and having received no orders to cease firing, consequently its guns were opened upon the Federals, whenever they were in sight or range, notwithstanding the latter called to them to cease firing, and also waved handkerchiefs at them. The officers of the battery thought it quite strange that firing had ceased everywhei'e else, and, after a consultation, dispatched a lieutenant to Major Pogue, who com- manded the battalion of artillery, for orders. As the lieutenant rode along lie noticed an unusual number of blue coats within the lines, and saw groups of Confederate and Federal officers in conversation, and said the thought took possession of him tliat the Con- federates had won the day and captured a terrible big lot of prisoners. Finally, he reached Major Pogue's tent, and after saluting him, announced that his battery had cleaned out the enemy in its front, and that the captain was waiting instructions to move further to the front, and had sent him for orders. "Orders!" exclaimed the major, " why, the jig's up ! " "It is?" said the lieutenant. " Yes ! the surrender occurred more than an hour ago," continued the major, but before he could finish the lieutenant wheeled his horse, and, giv- ing a big hurrah, stuck his spurs to him and went dashing back to his comrades. As he reached them he whooped and yelled louder than ever. " Hurrah ! boys, the jig's up. We've scooped them in. Old Grant 's surren- dered to Marse Bob, and his fellows and our fellows are all up the road there, a shaking hands, and a swapping greenbacks and Confederate money for war relics. I swear it's a fact. I saw it with my own eyes, and Major Pogue told me so." At that time the majorcame galloping up and the lieutenant exclaimed :— " There he comes now. He'll tell you all about it." Before the major could speak the lieutenant asked, " Hasn't the surrender taken place, major?" " Yes," said he, and again the lieu- tenant whooped and yelled. " I told you so. Hurrah for our side ! " and the officers and men joined in and yelled till their throats were sore. All this time the major, who was still in his saddle, was trying to get in a word or two, but all in vain. Great tears were coursing down his cheeks, and when the lieutenant noticed this he called out : — " By granny, boys, the news is so good, see, the major is actually crying." At last there was a lull, when the captain remarked : — " Tell me all the particulars, major." The major, with some effort, and in a husky voice, complied ; but when he told them General Lee had surrendered to General Grant, his eyes were not the only ones that were filled with tears. The lieutenant look confounded, then bursting into tears, said : — " Well, boys, I don't believe it was ever intended for us to win." 80 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. MEMDRIEB DF THE WAR. By KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD. ^incjHENEVER I hear the fife and y>y^U%K the drum, ^^ And the bugle wildly play, My heart is stirred like a frightened bird, And struggles to break away ; For the tramp of the volunteers I hear, And the captain's sharp command, " Left ! Left ! Left ! " He is near. And drilling his eager band. For the women and men were as one that day In a purpose grand and great ; But the men are away in a stormy fray, And the women must watch and wait. And some were as brown as the tawny South, And some like the dawn were fair ; And here was the lad with his girlish mouth. And there was the beard of care. But whether from farm or fold they drew. From the shop or the school boy's seat. Each shouldered his musket and donned the blue, And the time with his brogans beat. And the mother put motherly fears to flight. And the wife hid her tears away; For men nmst fight while their cause is right. While the women in patience pray. And now 'tis the discipline hard and sore, Of the camp, and the march, and the chase, And now 'tis the flash, and the crash, and the roar. As the battle creeps on apace. O, God ! it is hard when a comrade falls, With his head at your very feet, AVhile " Forward ! " the voice of your captain calls, And the enemy beats retreat. And O, for the mother or wife who must see, When the news of the battle is known, " Killed, Private C, of Company G," While she sits in her grief like a stone. Here, the pitiless siege, and the hunger that mocks ; There, the hell of Resaca waits ; And the crash of the shells on the Geor- gia rocks. As you beat on Atlanta's gates, jriiere are dreams of a peace that is slow to dawn. Of the furloughs that never come ; There are tidings of grief from a letter drawn. And the silence of lips grown dumb. The words of your messmate you write from the crag Where he breathed his life away : " Oh say to my darling T died for the flag She blessed when we marched that day." There are chevroned sleeves for some who may go. And a captain's straps for a few. And the scars of the hero that some may show. When is sounded the last tattoo ; BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 81 But the upturned face on the enemy's And O for the scenes that they loved so side, well, With its cold and ghastly stare, That haunted their dying day — Is all that is left of the poinji and the For a draught from the well that will pride Of some who the conflict share. And lo, when the enemy lifts the dead, And rifles his breast, I ween There's a woman's face and the dainty grace Of the babe he never lias seen ; And O for the famine, and O for the woe, Of the comrades in prison pen ! For the hunger and thirst, and the fever slow. And the torturing, homesick sense ! never swell. And a breath of the new-mown hay I Ah, well, there are few who are left, we know, Of the many who marched away ; And the children who clung to our skirts, I trow. Are as tall and as strong as they. There are unmarked graves in the lonely South, There are sjjecters that walk at will ; But the flag that you saved at the can- non's mouth Is the flag that is over you still ; And O for the phantoms that walk by The flag thro' the shot and the shell that night, you bore, And the phantoms that walk by day ! And wrapped in your blouses blue, And the whirl of the brain in the hope- The flag that you swore to defend ever- less fight, more. With the demons that gloat and prey ! Is the flag of the Union, too. A FLAG WITH A HISTORY. fNDREW ROBERTS, of East Hartford, Conn., is in possession of a flag that has an eventful history. It was flung to the breeze for the first time when the tidings of the election of Abraham Lincoln flashed through the country. It was next raised to welcome the arrival of the 6 th Mass. Vols, in Washington, after their bloody passage through Baltimore. From that time on it was raised at the 6 tidings of every Union victory until the close of the war. It greeted the second election of Lincoln, and hung heavily draped in crape from the day of his assassination until his burial. Since the war it has been raised at every Republican success in the country. It was presented to Mr. Roberts by his brother, the late J. H. Roberts, foreman of the government bindery at Wash- ington. The 33d New Tork, AND * ITS * GALLANT* BEHAVIOR * AT -:^ THE * BATTLE * OF * WILLIAMSBURG. A Brave Charoe. MAY 5, 1862. BENJ. MEPHAM, Corp. Co. B, 33d N. Y. S. V. I. FTER crossing King's Creek on a high dam, the three left companies were or- dered forward and took possession of the first fort. General Hancock continued to move forward, and having advanced half a mile to the left, halted a short distance from the enemy, near by an abandoned redoubt. Lieutenant-Colonel Corning was there ordered to take the three right companies and regimental colors and color- guard, and occupy and hold the fort. A few moments later Colonel Taylor proceeded with the other four companies to a body of woods, to the right and front, and deployed as skirmish- ers. Wheeler's and Cowan's batteries moved forward five hundred yards, directly in front of the redoubt, and com- menced shelling Fort Magruder; they were supported by the 5th Wis. Regt., whose skirmishers connected with the 33d N. Y. on the right, and the 6th Me. and the 49th Penn. on the left. From the redoubt, occupied by Co.'s A, D, and F, the ground descended slightly for a few rods and then became a level plain, extending to Fort Magruder and presenting but few ob- stacles to the advance of infantry. Our artillery kept up a vigorous fire until two o'clock in the afternoon, and then ceased in accordance with orders from General McClellan, who had arrived on the opposite side of the creek. No other troops had (82) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 83 offered to re-enforce Hancock, and he held his position on the enemy's left all day with the small force designated. Night was now approaching, and the men began to consider what further dispositions would be made of them when, suddenly, the rebels were discovered approaching from the direction of Williamsburg, and rapidly formed two lines of battle, which extended entirely across the plain in front. With their over- whelming numbers they expected to press down our small force and capture it entire, or drive it pell mell into the creek. Gen- eral Hancock immediately sent word to the batteries and infantry supports to fall back, which they did, engaging the enemy as they retired. The three companies of the 33d were ordered out of the redoubt into line of battle, but the color- sergeant and guard remained to defend and keep unfurled the banner. The 7th Me. was likewise posted in line of battle at the right. On came the swarthy rebels, shouting "Bull Run," and "Ball's Bluff," their lines firm and unbroken; while the 5th Wis., 6th Me., and 49th Penn. hastily fell back, forming on the left of the 33d. Shot and shell fell all around the redoubt. It was a most trying situation. The foe was steadily bearing down and no re-enforcements could cross the narrow dam in time to render assistance. Still the men faltered not, but nerved themselves for the shock, determined that the enemy should bite the dust ere they would surrender. As the rebels drew nearer, the men fired rapidly, but failed to make any impression on their lines, which swept over the plain in perfect order. They had now arrived within seventy yards of the redoubt, and our lieu- tenant — Brown — and many other brave fellows had fallen. The cannoneers, with their guns, and many members of other regiments, were hurrying back to the dam to escape, both the right and left of the line were wavering, and it seemed as if all was lost. At this critical juncture, the lieutenant-colonel, turning to Colonel Taylor, who had just arrived from the skir- mish line, remarked: "Nothing but a charge can check them." "A charge it shall be," he replied, and instantly waving his sword in the air, shouted: "Forward, men!" "Charge bay- onets," added Lieutenant-Colonel Corning, and the brave men sprang forward on the double-quick, and were soon lost in the smoke which enveloped the plain. Incited by this gallant ex- ample of the 33d, other regiments followed, and, alarmed at 84 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. this sudden counter-charge, the enemy broke and ran in con- fusion. In vain the commanding officer tried to rally them. They had started on the retreat, and would not rally. When the 33d was close upon them it discharged volleys into their re- treating lines. The other regiments joined us, and for several moments a murderous fire was poured upon the enemy, who never stopped till they reached their entrenchments. Some tumbled on their backs and feigned death, while others ran to- wards us with uplifted hands, imploring us to spare their lives. More than two hundred lay dead and wounded on the field, among them the lieutenant-colonel and major of the 24th Va., and a captain on Magruder's staff. It was a most daring and brilliant exploit, deciding the fortunes of the day and turning what was to this time a defeat on the left into a substantial victory. Thus terminated the battle of Williamsburg. The o'.kl captured alone one hundred and fifty prisoners, and won the plaudits of the whole army for its gallant charge. On the evening of May 7, General McClellan rode into camp on his bay charger. The 33d being drawn up in line, he ad- dressed us as follows: " Officers and men of the 33d, I have come to thank you in person for your gallant conduct on the field of battle on the 5th inst. I will say to you what I have said to other regiments engaged with you; all did well — did all I could expect, — but you did more. You behaved like veterans — you are veterans. Veterans of a hundred battles could not have done better. Those on your left fought well; but you won the day. You were at the right point, did the right thing, and at the right time. You shall have Williamsburg inscribed on your banner." As " Little Mac" rode away, followed by his staff, cheer after cheer rent the air. A FIGHTING BATTERY. PRESS AND PEOPLE. Battery D, 1st New York >"togM" Gen. Grant said in Nov., 1885 : "If the Artillery, participated in a aBG^^^I'V same license had been allowed the people greater number of battles ^^?4Jr^s^^ and the press of the South that was al- to Nov., 1864, than any other battery in lowed in the North, Chattanooga would the 5th Corps. It took part in twenty- probablyhavebeen the last battle fought two engagements. for the preservation of the Union." BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 85 •-^SHOT BY A COMRABE.^- HOW A DESPERATELY WOUNDED SOLDIER WAS PUT OUT OF MISERY. 3ENRY J, SAVAGE of the HEN the army reached White House Landing, on its way up the Peninsula, my regiment (the 13th N. Y. Vols., of Martindale's brigade), with the 5th N. Y. (Duryea's), 1st Conn, heavy artillery (acting as infantry), Rush's Lancers (6th Penn. cavalry), and Weeden's battery (Co. C, 1st R. I.), was formed into a provisional brigade, under command of Colonel (afterwards General) Warren. We marched to Old Church, on the Pamunkey, near which place we barely missed capturing Lee, and, on the morning of May 27, started for Hanover. It had been raining incessantly for two days, nor did it cease until about 11 a. m. The roads were in a fearful condition, and when the clouds rolled away the sun came out so intensely hot that many of the men were nearly prostrated. It was about noon, I should judge, when we heard the sound of artillery ahead, and our march was hastened to the utter- most possible extent. About two o'clock, we reached the field where the action had been fought, and learned that the foe were retreating. We were immediately ordered in pursuit. and passing Dr. Kinney's house, struck the pike leading to- wards Richmond, or Ashland — I forget which. We had gone about two miles, when heavy firing in our rear attracted attention. Presently General Porter came rid- ing from the head of the column, and as he came opposite he (91.) 92 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. was met by a staff officer, who informed him that our men who had been left behind on the field were being hard pressed by strong re-enforcements from Richmond, sent to assist Branch. The loth N. Y. happened to be the hindmost regiment, and General Porter, turning to Marshall, our colonel, ordered him to reach the scene of action at the earliest possible moment. We did not wait to countermarcli, but about-faced, and as soon as we had passed Weeden's battery, started upon the double-quick. By the time we reached Dr. Kinney's I felt like the broadside of a barn with an ache all over it. The knee-high clover, in a large field near Dr. Kinney's, came near finishing all of us. It was wet, and clung to our feet and legs, and it was only by the utmost exertion that we succeeded in "double-quicking." We were hardly in condition to walk. We passed to the eastward of the mansion, and turned our head of column to the right, in rear of the line formed and forming under Martindale, who as he saw us approaching rode up and assumed command. He ordered us to the extreme left to anticipate a movement of the enemy down the railroad. Again it was "double-quick," until we had reached a piece of timber on a line with the woods occupied by our comrades. There we faced to the right bringing us fronting the railroad and on an alignment with the rest of Martindale's command. We passed into the woods a distance of, perhaps, three hundred yards, and then suddenly emerged in line of battle upon the edge of a field of growing wheat that came nearly to our knees. On the opposite side of this field was a rail fence, parallel to our front, and less than three hundred yards away; upon our right (with an interval of cleared country between), timber, and timber upon our left and left front. Towards our right front, which I judge to have been in a westerly direction, the country was open ; and at a distance of from one-half to three- fourths of a mile away stood a house from which floated a yellow flag. It was the Confederate hospital. As we came out into the wheat-field, the sun dazzled our eyes; but we dis- covered a body of men marching by the flank across our front from right to left, behind and partly concealed by the fence in- closing the wheat. We could not exactly make out whether they were friends or foes, and several of us sang out to our own color-bearer: "Shake her out, Jack, shake her out, and let's see who they are." BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 93 The flag was given to the breeze, and as its folds gently spread, aided by the swaying of the hands that held it, the passing column halted, coming to a front by a "left-face," and, before we had time to think, delivered a tremendous volley full at us. As we saw the movement of leveling the muskets every man of us dropped to earth, and the storm of lead passed harmlessly over our heads. Then kneeling, with the visors of our caps pulled low to shut out the glare of the sun, we opened by volley, and kept it up as rapidly as possible. The enemy shot wildly, whereas, judging from the way the splinters flew from the fence and the confusion in their ranks, our Reming- tons were making their position too uncomfortable to hold. After perhaps twenty minutes they began to waver, and we were ordered to charge. Ahead we went, but they did not await our coming. Away they flew to the rear, a majority of them seeking the friendly shadows of the woods adjacent. Reaching the fence we found it nearly dismantled by our fire. Behind it lay numerous dead and wounded, and to our right, hidden from our sight by the woods, we discovered the place where the enemy had evidently been preparing dinner. Fires were burning, cups of water steaming, hard-tack, meal, and bacon lay scattered about, and in one instance a dish of batter, out of which some of us had excellent griddle-cakes that night. Close by, in two long, systematic rows, just as they had been laid down, were the well-filled knapsacks of the 18th and 28th North Carolina, of Branch's division — nearly 1,500 of them. We gobbled them, and fine pickings we had, too. I secured an elegant dress suit, with "biled" shirts, collars, and cuffs, two pairs of silk stockings, and a villainous looking bowie- knife with a blade about eleven inches in length. I do not now remember the loss sustained by my regiment, but it was quite small — our manner of fighting had saved us. From the enemy, in addition to those disabled, we took many prisoners. Three members of my company, who went on a scout after we made camp, brought in thirteen Confederates with their arms and equipments. Besides, we captured their wagon containing hospital, surgical, and medical stores, am- bulances and teams, and when the rest of our brigade joined us we were resting on the field we had won. =*->5'^fI^^$<->^^^" 94 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. A War Ron/ianck. i^ N 1864 and 1865 the Macon, Ga., City Ilall and the old market house were used as a hospital for wounded and sick Confederate soldiers. The ladies of the town con- stituted themselves nurses, and perhaps in no other hospital in the Confederacy did the patients fare so well. One day a lady went to the hospital to visit " her soldier." She was accompanied by a very handsome married lady, a refugee from New Orleans. AVhen they reached the cot upon which the soldier lay M^rithiug with pain, caused by the recent amputation of his left arm, they ministered to his wants and then sat by and cheered him with gentle words of comfort. As they were leaving the sol- dier requested the New Orleans lady to Q-'ive him a small Confederate flag which she wore upon her breast. She gave him the flag, first writing her name on the white bar. The soldier re- covered, the war ended, and he returned to his home in Alabama. As something not to be forgotten, it should be men- tioned that at the time he was in the hospital he was unmarried, and contin- ued so after the war. In 1 885 the sol- dier had occasion to visit New Orleans. He remembered the lady that gave him the flag, and made inquiries about her. He discovered that her husband died soon after the war, and that she, a widow, was still living in New Orleans. He called on her, then called again ; in fact he called many times. A few days ago there was a wedding in New Orleans, in which he and the lady fig- ured as principals. -^ • • *- THE BLUE, THE GRAY, AND GRANT, Q^riEY sat together side by side, 4\r^ In the shade of an orange tree ; 2^ One had followed the flag of Grant, The other had fought with Lee. " My leader lives " — the boy in blue Spoke low and with a sigh — " But all the country waits in fear That he to-day may die." The boy in blue had an empty sleeve, A crutch had the boy in gray. They talked of the long and dreary march. They talked of the bloody fray. " God bless our Grant ! " the vet'ran said. And dropped a tear, and then In heartfelt tones the answer came, For the rebel said — "Amen ! " " My chief is dead," the Johnny said, " A leader brave was he ; And sheathed fore'er at Lexington Doth hang the sword of Lee." DRAWING LOTS FOR DEATH. 'APT. HENRY W. SAWYER, of New Jersey, once passed through a very perilous adventure. He was among the Federal prisoners in Libby Prison at the time when the Confederate government determined to retaliate in kind the execution of two rebel officers by one of our Western ^^ jg^ at that time was a kind- generals. Mr. Sawyer %X^ ^M^ hearted and agree- was at that time a jM^KX m\\ ^^^® man, and was re- captain in the 1st N. /HH^^M/'li garded by them with J. cavalry, and was ^^^^^^Bi^m, feelings of gratitude of the grade of officers ^^^^P JHll ^^^ affection. On the from whom selections ^P||^i|f iMjjf morning in question were to be made for lO/z/I JKU this officer entered the room where the prisoners were con- '^ fined, and told all the officers to walk out the victims to Confed- erate vengeance. The officer who was in charge of the prisoners into another room. This order was obeyed with particular alacrity, as the prisoners were daily expecting to be exchanged, and it was supposed that the order had arrived, and that they were about to exchange their prison quarters for home and freedom. After they had all gathered in the room, their counte- nances lighted up with this agreeable hope, the officer came in among them, and with a very grave face took a paper out of his pocket and told them that he had a very melancholy duty to perform, the purport of which would be better understood by the reading of the order he held in his hand, which he had just received from the War Department. He then proceeded to read to the amazed and horrified group an order for the immediate execution of two of their number, in retaliation for the hanging of two Confederate officers. As the reader ceased the men looked at each other with blanched faces and a silence like death prevailed for some minutes in the room. The Confeder- (95) 06 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. ate officer then suggested that perhaps the better way would be to place a number of slips of paper equal to the whole num- ber of officers from whom the victims were to be selected, in a box, with the word "death" written on two of them, and the rest blank — the two who drew the fatal slips to be the doomed men. This plan was adopted, and a chaplain was appointed to prepare the slips. The drawing then commenced, the men advancing and taking out a slip, and, if it proved to be a blank, taking their places in another part of the room. The drawing had proceeded for some time, and fully a third of the officers had exchanged gloomy looks of apprehension for a relieved as- pect they could not avoid showing, after escape from such terrible peril, before a fatal death slip had been drawn. At the end of about this period, however, the first slip was drawn, and the name of "Capt. Henry W. Sawyer of the 1st N. J. Cavalry " was called out as the unfortunate man. The captain was, of course, deeply agitated, but did not lose his self- possession. He immediately began revolving in his mind some plan for averting, or at least postponing, the immediate carry- ing out of the sanguinary edict of the rebel government, and by the time he was joined by his companion in misfortune, who turned out to be a Captain Flynn of an Indiana regiment, he had resolved upon his course. The officer in command, as soon as the drawing was completed, ordered the two men to be taken out and immediately executed. Captain Sawyer, however, demanded, as a request that no civilized nation could refuse under such circumstances, that he should have permis- sion to write to his wife, to inform her of the terrible fate that awaited him, and to have her come on and bid him an eternal farewell. Respite for a day or two was thus obtained, and Sawyer subsequently obtained an interview with the rebel Secretary of War, and secured permission to write to his wife, which he did. His object in writing to her was principally for our government to be made acquainted with the predicament in which the officers were placed, and to secure hostages and threaten retaliation should the order of the rebels be carried out. It turned out precisely as Sawyer hoped and expected. Our government was informed of the condition of affairs, and promptly seized a son of General Lee and one of some other prominent rebel, and threatened to hang them if the Union officers were executed, Bv this means the lives of the two BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 97 doomed men were saved, as the Confederate government did not dare to carry out their threats. After a few months more confinement, Captain Sawyer was exchanged. Captain Flynn, his companion in misfortune, came out of the ordeal with his hair as white as snow; turned gray by the mental sufferings he endured. Captain Sawyer served through the war. GRANT WAS RESPONSIBLE. A Time When Secretary Stanton Wanted to Raise Somebody's Scalp. /^ RANT had no fear of responsi- ^^ bility ; no fear of Secretary Stan- •^ ton. I never knew him to show any fear of anything. Tn September, 1861, while at Harper's Ferry, retm-ning from a visit to Sheridan, he learned that Wade Hampton had slipped in, in the rear of the left flank of the Army of the Potomac, and carried off our entire beef herd — 2600 head ! When Secretary Stanton heard of the loss of the cattle, he wanted somebody's scalp, and telegraphed, " Who is responsible for the loss of the cattle herd?" To which General Grant replied, " I am." There was no " hair raised " that time. For several days afterward the " rebs," with much "mooing" and "lowing," frequently called out, " Hello, Yanks, don't you want some beef ? " While this was going on the " old man '* would jokingly say, " I have the best commis- sary in the army ; he not only feeds my army, but that of the enemy also." It was only a few months after this that he directed the same officer at Appo- mattox to feed General Lee's famishing army. When shortly after this loss Sheridan made a big haul in " the val- ley," Grant felt better. Though the animals were not so large nor in such good condition as ours, they were in such numbers and of such size as to stop Johnny Reb's mouth. A READY ANSWER. GALLANT CONDUCT. tNE day when the traveling was tough, a teamster with broken wagon and mules tangled up, using language he thought hardly equal to his surroundings, was approached by a quiet man who said, "Are you a sol- dier ? " He replied, " No, sir, I am a teamster — by brevet." 7 tENERAL DUANE, at one time Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, was, perhaps, the only officer who received a brevet for "highly distinguished pro- fessional services." He was also fre- quently breveted for " gallant and meri- torious conduct " in the field. M0THER*BlCKERDIKE. One of the Grandest Women of the War. By BENJ. WOODWARD, Surg. 22d 111. WAS a surgeon in the army and was so situated as to preclude my witnessing many feats of valor in the field, but I can bear testimony to the uncom- plaining endurance of our soldiery in camp and hospital. I came also into constant contact with a group of noble women so heroic, so saint- like, so devoted to the poor sufferers as to raise them to the very pinnacle of woman- hood. I refer to the army nurses as I found them in camp and hospital. At home they were often maligned and de- spised, for it is a sad truth that in the first years of the war, if a woman gave herself to the nation as a nurse she was looked down upon as one who debased herself. In the army they were accepted as angels of mercy. While I might speak of many of these choice spirits, I choose one as my heroine; a woman rough, uncultivated, even ig- norant, but a diamond in the rough. I knew this woman before the war as well as through it. I refer to Mrs. Bickerdike, known in camp, field, or hospital as Mother Bickerdike. She was a widow before the war, with a family of young children, and so poor that she supported her family by going out as a hired nurse. Let me describe my heroine: A large, heavy woman, about forty-five years of age, strong as a man, muscles of iron, nerves of finest (98) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 99 steel — sensitive, but self-reliant, kind and tender, seeking all for others, for herself, nothing. Men of the Army of the Cum- berland, or of the Tennessee, knew her; they remember that old sun-bonnet and the old white mule she rode, and when she rode into our camp or came into the dreaded field hospital, how the shouts went up, " Hurrah for Mother Bickerdike! " In the fall of 1861, I was ordered to the charge of the general hospital, at Cairo, 111., a large, three-story brick building, in- tended for a hotel. The walls were rough, unplastered, and the third story had only loose rough boards for a floor. Gath- ered into that place were about 300 sick men — camp diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid fever, and measles. No ice to be had, the water just out of the foul Mississippi river; no nurses but men from the ranks, all unused to the care of the sick; no changes of underclothes; no convenience for bathing; no nice cooking for the sick. In the midst of such suffering and disorder nothing but the warm heart and willing hand of woman could bring order out of chaos. I went to Major Timmons, the medical director, for aid. He was willing to try a woman, but feared General Grant, who commanded the post, would not consent; but on laying the matter before him and showing how impera- tive was the necessity, he consented, if the right woman could be found. Mrs. Bickerdike was written for, and as the ladies of Galesburg (which was her home and mine) charged them- , selves with the care of her children, she came to Cairo, bring- ing with her a good supply of hospital clothing and delicacies for the sick. At first the men ridiculed her, but her cheerful temper took no offense, for she knew she was right; but woe to the man who insulted her. Her first requisition was for bath- ing-tubs; these were made from half -hogsheads and barrels. She organized the nurses, saw that all the sick were cleaned, and, as far as possible, given clean underclothes. A special diet-kitchen was established, and a great change for the better was soon seen in the patients. As a rule she hated officers, looking on them as natural enemies of the privates. This, no doubt, she got from her husband, who had been a musician in the regular army. " Them pesky ossifers," as she always called them, soon saw her worth and esteemed her, but she would bear no fooling. One day she caught a young lieutenant, who had been sick a few days before but who had now recovered, around with a hos- 100 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. pital shirt on, and to which he had no right. With a few , withering words she grabbed him and stripped the shirt over his liead, and turned him out of the room amidst the laughter of thirty or forty men. As she went with the army to New Madrid, Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, and up to Corinth, every man knew her and always hailed her as Mother Bickerdike; and she was a mother to the men. Grant and Sherman highly esteemed her, and the latter gave her a large white mule, saddle and bridle, and as it was not a side-saddle she had it so altered that she could ride on it. Her pertinacity was such that when, in Southern Tennessee, sanitary goods were needed at the front, but no quartermaster would give her transportation, she, in the night, loaded a car and had it pushed to a train. The quartermaster, seeing Gene- pal Sherman told him what she had done. '* Well," said the general, " she ranks me. You will have to let it go, I guess." So this woman labored, month by month and year by year, till peace came. She had saved a little money, and friends helped her to go to Kansas, and at Abilene, I think it was, the railroad allowed her to build a house as an eating station, giv- ing her the promise of a deed to the land. She did well, but no deed came. A change in the railroad management turned her out, not even paying her for the house. Where she now is, is more than I know, but this I do know, that she is entitled to as good a pension as is the widow of any general. This paper is too long now, or I would like to tell of those ministering angels, Mrs. Wittenmyer, and Mrs. Hays. The latter took care of me like a sister when sick in Camp Big Springs. Of these and many other well known women who gave time and labor for the disabled, much might be said. So, too, of the Sisters of Charity, who worked in hospitals, doing great good. But none of them, so far as came under my ob- servation, followed the men to the field. Such work seemed to be left for the women who came from the homes of the North. But upon all who thus labored, whether in hospital, garrison, or field, I believe the Great Master has set his seal, and in the day when lives are accounted for, he will say, " Well done, gQod and faithful servants; what you did for the least of my friends, ye did it unto me. Take your crown of reward." BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS, And the Behavior of the Eighty- Fifth New York in that Bloody Contest, May 81, 1862. E. B. STILLMAN, 85th N. 1 VET. VOLUNTEERS. HE 85tli N, Y. Regt. was encamped to the left of the Williamsburg road, and about one hundred yards to the left and rear of e redoubt, and was the support of the bat- ry of Napoleon guns, three of which were in e redoubt and three at the left, a few rods in f our rifle-pits, and were attached to Palmer's e, Casey's division. had nearly completed a line of rifle-pits he redoubt to the left — of sufficient length to cover the regiment. Front of our works and for about four hun- dred yards was a level field covered with green wheat; then came a rail fence and one-fourth of a mile of slashed timber; then the woods, in which our pickets were posted. About noon of the 31st of May, three cannons were fired by the rebels, the shots falling a short distance in the rear of our camp. We fell in and advanced to the rifle-pits. Picket firing soon commenced, and the 103d Pennsylvania was sent out on the Williamsburg road to support the pickets; then the 92d New York was posted along the fence, next to the slashing in our front. In a short time a heavy volley of musketry was heard where the 103d Pennsylvania had gone and in a few minutes the Pennsyl- vanians and pickets came pouring back in a perfect panic. I don't think they stopped till well to the rear of Couch's division, three-quarters of a mile in the rear, no doubt giving rise to the rumor that Casey's men had been "surprised and had retreated in disorder." (101) 102 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. We could see the rebel battle-flags above the slashing as the rebel troops advanced. The battery near the redoubt opened on them, but without effect. They fired wildly, throwing some of their shells into the ranks of the 92d New York, causing their retreat. There was now no force between us and the Con- federates, a brigade strong, who dressed their lines at the edge of the wheat field, and recommenced their advance. Our bat- tery fired one or two rounds of canister and then the men stood not on the order of going, but went as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving cannon, ammunition, horses and all, and the 85th Regt. to hold the position unaided. We had taken position in the rifle-pits — standing in water from ankle to knee-deep. The Johnnies were in good shape, the field-officers, mounted, following close in rear of their line of battle. Our colonel and major had disappeared; our lieuten- ant-colonel was wounded, leaving the command to Capt. W. W. Clarke, of Co. B, who, cool as a cucumber and brave as a lion, ordered us to fire low and take good aim. The rebels ad- vanced slowly, loading and firing as they came, and on the green field in our front presented a splendid mark. In a short time our fire had dismounted their officers and was having a ter- rible effect on their ranks. They began to find it very difficult to carry their colors, and when within about one hundred yards of us they began to break up and lie down. In firing at a rest over the wet, soft bank of the pits, our guns had cut a channel that bore directly on the rebels, and with little pains we could make every shot tell. They were in fine range and not firing at us, for it was too hot for human endurance. They soon com- menced running back, and pluckily tried to take their colors and battle-flags, but it was sure death to touch a staff, and they gave it up — leaving every flag on the field and seemingly two- thirds of their number. We remained there over two hours, and no other force ap- peared in our front while we staid in the rifle-pits, but we could see a heavy rebel column just out of range on our left, march- ing with arms at a right shoulder-shift, to take us and our forces in flank. We expected re-enforcements from Couch's division to hold our lines, but none came, and we were ordered out and retreated as far as our camps, and were then ordered back to the rifle-pits again. By this time all the battery horses had been shot down as they stood hitched to the limbers; the rebels BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 103 had broken our lines to our right and were some distance to the rear and right of us. At the same time there appeared to be no end of the Johnnies flanking on our left, the head of the column being far to the rear of our line. No re-enforcements coming, we were again ordered to the rear — every man for himself — and that ended the organized fighting of the 85th for that day. We got back to Couch's line as best we could, but we saw no fighting there except at extremely long range. The writer was near the right of the 10th Massachusetts when they received the heavy fire in fiank from the troops that had flanked us out of our position. >Be l^tfi ^eteram ©orpg. J. WA.RD CHILDS. Air — "Joe Bowers." [^E brave, immortal veterans, Ye gallant sons o£ Mars, Who've borne through many a battle Our glorious Stripes and Stars, Come listen to a soldier While he his song shall pour In honor of the veterans Of the gallant Fifteenth Corps. The heroes of New England Stood well the bloody test. But none won brighter laurels Than the veterans of the West. Where blushed the vales the deepest With streams of human gore. And where the slain lay thickest. There fought the Fifteenth Corps. Led on by gallant Sherman, The idol of the land, The noblest of our generals, And the bravest in command. We marched through the rebellion, A terror to the foe, And driving all before us. We struck the final blow. They call us Sherman's " bummers," And, doubtless we are " some," For marching down through Dixie, We went on many a " bum " ; We " bummed " it at Atlanta, And at Savannah, too, And all the way to Bentonville, Where we put the Johnnies through. And now the war is over. The rebellion is no more. The Union re-established. And our bloody fighting o'er, We'll fill to General Sherman, While loud, from shore to shore, Shall ring the parting tribute Of the Fifteenth Veteran Corps. Casey's Division. Its Gallant Behavior at the Battle of Fair Oaks. l>jl.a.y 31, less. HARD FIGHTING ON BOTH SIDES.-GENERAL HOOKER'S COOL CHARGE FORCING THE ENEMY TO RETREAT. GEORGE H. JOHNSTON, A. A. G., Naglee's Brigade. SHALL speak of the 2d and 3d Brigades in a general way only, but of Naglee's brigade in particular. This brigade was composed of 104th Penn., Col. W. H, H. Davis; 11th Me., Lieut.-Col. H. F. Plaisted; 5Gth N. Y., Col. C. H. Van Wyck; 52d Penn., Col. J. C. Dodge; and 100th N. Y., Col. J. M. Brown. On the 24:th of May General McClellan ordered General ^JT Naglee to make a reconnais- sance from the "chimneys" near Bottom's Bridge by way of Williamsburg road, and, if possible, to advance to the Seven Pines, and to hold that point if practicable. Accord- .^ ingly, Naglee's brigade, with ^^C the addition of two batteries of the 1st N. Y. Artillery and Gregg's regiment of Penn. cavalry, pushed forward, but not without stubborn re- sistance. They gained a little from day to day, till on the 28th General Casey's division was about one mile beyond Seven Pines on the Williamsburg road. Our right extended to the railroad and beyond, crossing it at right angles between the fifth and sixth mile-post from Richmond. From the left of (104) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 105 the Williamsburg turnpike to the White Oak Swamp, Naglee's brigade was on the right, Wessel's in the center, and Palmer's on the left. This was the position of the division the day of the commencement of the battle — at least one-half rnile nearer Richmond than was again reached during the Peninsular cam- paign. The fight opened on the 31st of May, 12 m. The first notice we had was the explosion of two shells in our camp — evidently their signal to advance. The attack was sudden, but not a surprise, for cars had been running all night on the Rich- mond end of the railroad, and Lieutenant Washington, A. D. C. on General Johnston's staff, had been captured the day be- fore; these, with other suspicious circumstances, kept all, from General Casey down, constantly on the alert. We felt that some one had blundered in placing this small division of less than 5,000 men in such a critical position. It was like a finger thrust forward into the fire to test its endurance. The enemy moved down the Williamsburg turnpike in solid columns, our pickets falling back till within a quarter of a mile from the first line of rifle-pits, where Spratt's battery of four pieces was posted, supported by the lOith Penn. Vols., 11th Me., lOOth N. Y. (of Naglee's brigade), and the 92d N. Y. (of Palmer's brigade). Here some of the hardest fighting ever known took place. General Casey says in his report it was the most terrific fire of musketry that he had ever witnessed. General Naglee says, "The air at this time was literally filled with iron and lead." It was here that the bayonet charge was made by the four reg- iments last mentioned, led by General Naglee; so close were the combatants that Sergeant Potter, of the 104th Penn., was struck on the head by a musket in the hands of a Confederate, and two or three men of the 11th Me. were bayoneted. Receiving no re-enforcements these regiments, with Spratt's battery, retired to the first line of rifie-pits. Here was posted the balance of Casey's 2d and 3d Brigades, and the battle was renewed with great fury; the four batteries of 1st N, Y. Artil- lery, viz., Lieutenant Hart's, Regan's, Spratt's, and Fitch's — per- formed splendid service. At every discharge wide gaps were opened in the enemy's ranks. We could have held them at this place had it not been for the fact that the enemy had flanked us on the left, and their sharpshooters were picking off our oflicers and men, and had succeeded in killing three or four 106 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. horses attached to every team of the batteries. Here fell many a gallant soldier — Col. G. I). Bailey, 1st N. Y. Artillery, who was shot in the head while attempting to spike some of his guns in the redoubt; Major Van Valkenberg, and Adjutant Hart, of the same regiment; Colonel Brown, 100th N. Y. ; the major, 104th Penn., and Colonel Davis, of the same regiment, with many others severely wounded. Not a field-officer was left of Naglee's brigade. Disputing every inch of ground, we re- treated toward the second line, Regan's battery firing up the Williamsburg turnpike at the advancing enemy, his guns be- ing hauled by prolongs, all his horses having been killed. It was a close spot for Regan, but he succeeded in saving his bat- tery. Here was stationed General Couch's division, and, with the assistance of one brigade from General Kearney, which had just arrived, an attempt was made to regain the lost ground, but it proved a failure, and the troops, by order of General Heintzelman, retreated to the third line. The 56th N, Y. and 52d Penn., with a detachment of the 11th Me., were on the extreme right of Naglee's brigade, near the railroad, at the commencement of the battle, where they suf- fered heavy loss, their position having been flanked. By an order of General Naglee, what was left of the 56th N. Y. and a detachment of 11th Me. joined the balance of the brigade, near the second line, and fought with them through the re- mainder of the battle. When the order to retreat was given to Colonel Dodge, of the 52d Penn., he begged to be allowed to re- main and fight it out on that line, as he did not wish to fall back, leaving his dead upon the field. For some time after he remained fighting against fearful odds until their retreat was cut off, and they escaped by passing through the wood to the left and rear, where they rejoined their comrades of the 1st Brigade, and retreated with them to the third line, the regiment being reduced to a little over 100 men. Naglee's brigade went into action with eighty-four officers and 1,670 men; of this number thirty-five officers and 603 men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Up to this time, although large re-enforce- ments had arrived, the enemy had not been repulsed. They were first successfully checked by the " White Diamond " boys, under General Hooker, who marched up the Williamsburg road, deploying to the right and left in the field, in advance of us, as coolly as if on parade. They moved into the woods in BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 107 line of battle, driving the enemy before them, and, much to our relief, we saw no more of "Johnny Reb" after that charge. We have thus hastily sketched what came under our own ob- servation — the part taken by General Casey's division, particu- larly Naglee's brigade, in the celebrated battle of Fair Oaks. General Casey was in the thickest of the fight, Hatless, liis gray hair exposed to the breeze, it seemed a miracle he wasn't killed. Naglee was struck four times, had one horse killed under him and another wounded. General Wessels was wounded and his horse killed. Some few of the men anticipat- ing, perhaps, McClellan's strategical movement, fell back. It could not be called retreating, but a " change of base," as Mc- Clellan styled the same kind of strategy a week or two after. A HOUSEFUL OF NORTHERN GENERALS. THE SILENT MAN. RELATED BY A VIRGINIA CLERGYMAN. It^ Y house was full of Northern I generals one night during the Virginia campaign. There was Sheridan, Hum- phreys, Meade, Custer, Ord, and quite a number of others, and they were a lively set and full of fun, with the ex- ception of one officer whom I noticed sitting in a corner smoking, and taking but little part in the sports in which the rest were engaged. They all went out of the house but this solitary, silent man, and as I was going out he asked me where the pump was, as he would like to get a drink. On offering to get him some water, he said : " No, sir, I am a younger man than you, I will go myself," and as I passed out he came up behind me. When in about the middle of the hall my little gi'anddaughter came running toward me, but the silent man, spreading out both arms, caught her, taking her up, fairly smothered with kisses, said : " This reminds me of my little girl at home, and makes me home- sick." In response to the question where is your home, he replied : " Galena, 111., but I have my family at City Point, and am anxious to get back to them." I said, " Will you permit me to ask your name, sir ? " " Certainly, my name is Grant." " Grant," exclaimed I, " Gen- eral Grant ? " and I stood there awe stricken and paralyzed with astonish- ment, while my heart went out after this man, I thought to myself, here is a man whose name is now in the mouth of man, woman, and child throughout the civilized world, and yet withal he exhibits no emotion and seems uncon- cerned and unmoved until the little child reminds him of his loved ones at home, and I" fairly broke down, as General Grant had been pictured out to us as a bloody butcher, and I had looked for a man looking as savage as a Co- manche Indian. To say that I was agreeably disappointed when I saw Grant but feebly expresses my feel- FEEDING AN ARMT. STARTLING QUANTITIES OF FOOD CONSUMED. HENRY C. DWIGHT, Commissary 2d Div. i8th Corps. IDEA of the quantity of food necessary for the troops in camp and field may interest the friends of the veterans; the veterans them- selves know well what they had and how they got it. As captain of a company the duty was easily attended to. The rations were drawn usually by a sergeant or the company cook of the quartermaster of the regiment, upon requisition of the commanding officer of the company, usually for five days at a time, the variety depending on the point of distribution. Meat, bread, coffee, and sugar were the princi- pal items of the bill of fare, varied with that hated vegetable, rice; beans were always appreciated; potatoes, dessicated veg- etables, split peas and other articles were issued spasmodically. The bread was soft bread or hard bread as most convenient, but hard bread was the great staple. Salt, pepper, vinegar, and candles filled out the bill. RATION ALLOWANCES. The meat ration was varied by giving pork, bacon, or salt or fresh beef. The pork and salt beef were generally good, the bacon and fresh beef fair. The coffee was of superior quality, much better than that sold by grocers generally. The ration was as follows: Twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or twenty ounces of salt or fresh beef, twenty-two ounces of flour or soft bread or sixteen ounces of hard bread per day for each man; and to every one hundred men per day fifteen pounds of beans (108) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 109 and ten pounds of rice, eight pounds of ground coffee, or one and one-half pounds of tea, fifteen pounds of sugar, four quarts of vinegar, thirty pounds of potatoes, four pounds of soap, three and three-fourths pounds of salt, one-fourth pound of pepper, one and one-fourth pounds of candle. COOKING THE RATIONS. The cooking of the rations was an item of interest, and growl- ing of the men was sure to follow any shortcoming, and woe betide any cook who disregarded this thermometer of public sentiment. On receiving orders to march with say five days' cooked rations, the meat was prepared, and haversacks filled with meat, bread, coffee, and sugar. The coffee and sugar were mixed together and each man distributed his proportion — so many spoonfuls — which was put into a cloth bag or wrapped in paper, and the men were ready for the trip. In camp the com- pany cook made the coffee, but on the march each man made his own, and they were all experts. Each man, as the halt was called, made a fire and putting the coffee in his cup nearly full of water, waited patiently for it to boil. Hard bread and raw salt pork were not very bad and the appetite made it exceed- ingly good. DUTIES OF A POST COMMISSARY. A post commissary was usually located in the vicinity of any large number of troops; his duties were to issue rations to detached troops who did not belong to any brigade or division, to hospitals, sell stores to officers, etc. This was the best posi- tion in the subsistence department. Officers did not draw rations, but bought their supplies for their mess. Officers cer- tified in writing that the stores wanted were for their own use and cash was paid for each purchase. Every month prices at which sales could be made were given by the chief com- missary. It was quite necessary to have post commissaries as the demand for stores was large and supplies could not be readily obtained elsewhere, except of the sutlers, and govern- ment prices were much less than theirs. THE DIVISION COMMISSARY. The division commissary's position was one of great responsi- bility, but his duties were limited to issuing to the brigade commissaries. He issued in original packages, to the brigade 110 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. commissaries, who in turn issued to regiments, batteries, etc., of his brigade, the quartermaster of each regiment issuing to the companies of his regiment. Night and day the mules were hitched to or near the wagons, as the orders might come at any hour to move. This wagon train was quite an army of itself. The great quantity of food that an army required can be imagined from the fact that it took thirty-nine six-mule teams for my own division. There were three divisions in this corps and usually this number in all corps. The wagons had the corps badge on the covers— the first division red, the second white, and the third blue. The wagon train was managed by the head teamster, who was a man of untiring energy and usually of profanity enough for the 200 to 300 mules in his charge. Every wagon had one teamster, and it was marvelous how they could drive in and over roads that surpass any you can conceive of for ine- quality and mud. During August and September, 1864, the supply of fresh bread was made at Norfolk, Va. , for my divi- sion, brought by steamer up the James and Appomattox rivers to Point of Rocks, Va., or Bermuda Hundred. Fresh bread was issued two days in five, hard bread the other three; but one brigade at a time could be served. This bread was very good and the quantity, one loaf for each man, amply suffi- cient. My colored boy, Joe Gray, was told by his mistress that the Yankees were awful people, had nails in their bread, etc. Joe ran away and came into Washington, N. C. He saw a soldier eating his supper and asked him to give him some bread. The soldier throw him a "hard-tack." Joe bit into it and there was a nail in the first bite. "Aha," says Joe, "the old ooman was right, Yankees have nails in the bread, sure nuf." The hard bread which was packed in boxes of eighty pounds each, had different marks or brands. Some were marked " B. C." The boys said they knew some of it was old, but they could not comprehend why it had been kept so long on hand, and asked for some marked "Anno Domini." My endeavors to feed the troops with the full ration, varied as much as possible. I was ably seconded by those with whom I was associated and the division under my charge were as well fed as any in the army. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. Ill The list given will show what the 2d Div. under my charge had to eat in August, 1864: — Pork, 448 barrels, Bacon, 13,109 barrels. Ham, 1,434 barrels, Salt beef, 76 barrels. Fresh beef, 51,155 pounds. Flour (soft bread) 5'28 barrels. Dried apples, 4,611 pounds. Coffee, 13,510 pounds. Tea, 1,392 pounds. Brown sugar, 42,469 pounds, White sugar, . . .• 7,333 pounds. Vinegar, 1,975 gallons. Salt fish, 15,205 pounds, Candles, 3,075 pounds, Potatoes, 69,066 pounds. Hard bread, 144,883 pounds, Onions, 25,063 pounds, Beets, 5,251 pounds, Beans, 30,772 pounds, Salt, 10,962 pounds, Kice, 3,619 pounds, Whisky, 4,198 gallons, Besides pepper, peas, soap, and other lesser supplies. Whisky was an extra ration, issued generally day by day as occasion might require, the season of the year and the duty required having more or less to do with it. The ration was one gill per day to each man. The ration of whisky did not always satisfy the wants of some of the boys, and they resorted to many ways to get some. My clerk was frequently offered twenty-five dollars for a can- teen full (about a quart) and in one instance he was offered fifty dollars. All such bids were declined, as it could be sold only to officers who made written requisition for it, certifying it was for their own use. Sometimes the officer's signature was forged, but this was exceptional; 1 remember but one instance. In this case an officer very pompously made known his griev- ance, and expatiated at length on the lack of intelligence of the commissary. Orders were given to decline any orders with his name attached, and the officer said all right. In a few moments he came back and asked, "What am I to do when I want some myself?" "Go without it," I said. He replied, "Never mind the possibility of orders being forged, go on as you have been doing; I take it all back, I want some ray- 112 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. self." One man having indulged too freely in whisky was reprimanded and he said, " You must not expect all the moral virtues for sixteen dollars a month." The Sanitary Commission had its representative about the several hospitals to see about the distribution of the supplies so generously sent to the soldiers and the boys invented many ex- cuses to get hold of the good things. These representatives, however, were wide-awake and seldom failed to understand the tricks. One day, three officers, being " dry as a fish," thought well of applying to the Sanitary Commission for some stores. They deputized one of their servants to wait upon Sanitary and present their claim. This duty fell upon "Tip," who at once went and made known his wants. Sanitary said. " What do you want? " Tip was rather taken back by so direct an inquiry and looking around saw so much stuff he could hardly fix upon any article, but finally said, " Canned peaches." "What is the matter with your sick friend," said Sanitary. "Chronic diarrhoea," said Tip. "Chronic diarrhoeal " said Sani- tary; "canned peaches are the worst thing he could have." Tip went out and returned to his comrades, telling them of his failure. Their actions were clouded by words we will not repeat. Thus the veteran of 1861 to 1865 fared for food. There were no luxuries, but there was little grumbling on that account. The articles furnished were as a rule the best to be obtained. Brave old souls! they fought well, and nobly did they win. Many are still with us to-day. In every town, city, and village they live. They walk your streets and visit your homes. Be- neath a plain exterior and a figure perhaps poorly or plainly clad, there beats the heart of as brave a soldier as the world ever knew; and though perhaps it may be only a private, cor- poral, or sergeant, yet he did his part, he fought the fight as well as any one ever did or could— and that is enough for any man. GAINES' MILL POPULAR GOVERNMENT. The battle of Gaines' Mill was the The test of popular government on beginning of the disasters of the army trial, which was applied to us at the under McClellan, and it raised the only time of the Presidential election of formidable siege made to Richmond 1864, was such as had never before been during the war. applied to any nation on earth. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 113 I THK BATTLK KLAOS, MOSES G. OWEN, BATH, ME. j^ OTHTNG but flags— but simple flags, in rags ; And we walk beneath them with care- less tread, Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead Who have marched ifeneath them in days gone by With a burning cheek and a kindling eye, And have bathed their folds in their young life's tide. And dying blessed them, and blessing died. Nothing but flags — yet methinks at night They tell each other their tales of fright ; And dim specters come, and their thin arms twine Round each standard torn as they stand in line, And the word is given, — they charge 1 they form ! And the dim hall rings with the battle storm, And once again through the smoke and strife Those colors lead to a Nation's life. Nothing but flags — yet they're bathed in tears ; They tell of triumphs, of hopes, of fears ; Of a mother's prayers, of a boy away ; Of a serpent crushed, of the coming day ! Silent they speak, yet the tears will stai't As we stand beneath them with throb- bing heart, And think of those who are ne'er forgot ; Their flags come home — why come they not? Nothing but flags — yet we hold our breath And gaze with awe at those types of death. Nothing but flags, yet the thought will come, The heart must pray, though the lips be dumb ! They are sacred, pure, and we see no stain On those dear loved flags, come home again ; Baptized in blood, our purest, best. Tattered and torn, they're now at rest. A Shot Fired at the Wrons Time. NOBOBY DIB iT. FIRST INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL SHERMAN, By GEISr. GEO. K. I^^cGINNIS. BOUT eight o'clock a. m., April 8, 18G2, the morning after the second day's fight at Shiloh, while quietly seated at my head- quarters, which was the butt end of a tree, close to the road and about three hundred yards in advance of Shiloh meeting house, my attention was attracted by a solitary horseman com- ing in my direction. He was dressed in citizens' clothes which would not improperly have been called " misfit." He was lean and lank, with sandy complexion, hair, and beard, the latter looking as though it had not been cut for a week or ten days. I concluded from his general appearance that he was an honest old farmer who had a son in the army, and, being anxious about him, had left home, without preparation, as soon as he got news of the battle, to look after and care for that son in case he should find him killed or wounded. As soon as my supposed farmer came within speaking distance, the following conversa- tion took place: — J^" Good morning, sir." He—" Good morning. What regiment is this?" J—" The 11th Indiana, sir." He—" Who is the colonel? " J—" McGinnis." i?e—" Where is McGinnis?" I — " I'm the man, sir." He — (Looking at me with astonishment, and apparently amazed that such a looking chap as I was should be intrusted (114) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 115 with the command of a regiment of men) " I am General Sher- man." I — (My turn to be astonished, and for the moment dum- founded, and without thinking of the enormity of the offense) " The — (revised edition) you are!" He — (Seeing the point, and taking in the situation, smilingly) " Yes." There had been an alarm in camp that morning; the men on picket duty had deserted their posts and came tearing through our quarters as though the rebel army was at their heels. I succeeded in persuading a big lieutenant to stop long enough to tell me that they had been driven in by the rebels. I couldn't get another word. He was the worst scared man I ever saw. There was not a word of truth in his story, as the rebel army was miles away, making the best of their way to Corinth. The alarm was caused by several of our regiments discharging their pieces. This was done without authority and without notice to any one, and for a few minutes led many to believe that another battle was on. This affair riled General Sherman ter- ribly. He put on his war paint and started out to give orders in person. After the above introduction, the general asked in- formation in relation to any disturbance in our front, and re- ceived all I could give him. He then delivered a short oration, and closed with an order to arrest any man who was caught in the act of firing a gun or pistol. Send him under guard to his headquarters, and he would have him shot. I assured General Sherman his order should be obeyed. He was assured that no man in the 11th Regt. had discharged a gun that morning, and that all the men were then engaged in cleaning their arms. The general, satisfied that his orders would be obeyed, with a pleasant good morning, passed on up the road, and I reoccupied my headquarters. A message was immediately sent to com- pany officers to caution their men in regard to firing, and in- forming them of Sherman's orders. Sherman had certainly not gone more than one hundred yards, when " bang" went a musket right on the left of my regiment. I knew it was in Company K. I looked up the road, saw Sherman stop and look back; jumped to my feet and started toward the left, just as Sherman turned his horse to come back. I got to K quarters but a minute after my message had been delivered, and asked, " Who fired that gun?" The answer came back from a dozen 116 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. throats, " It was over in that regiment on the left, colonel." O, but the private soldiers were sharp. Said I, "Are you sure it was not fired by a Company K man?" Every man was sure. Said I: " There is General Sherman ready to have the man who fired that gun shot, if he can be found. Are you still sure as to where that shot was fired?" Every man was willing to swear and stick to it that the shot was fired by the regiment on our left, and they were so earnest about it that I wanted to believe them. In fact, I was so anxious and determined to save my boys from being shot, that I did believe them, and reported to Sher- man, who was waiting for me, that I had thought at first the shot was fired in my regiment, but after a hasty investigation I was fully satisfied that it was in the next regiment beyond, and doubtless accidental. He looked a little queer, asked some very direct questions, acted as though he didn't believe me any more than I believed the boys, and with the caution, " Tell the boys to be careful or somebody will get hurt," rode away. This was my first introduction to General Sherman. A SUROICAL WONDKR. By DR. HUNTER McGTJIRE, Chief Surgeon on "Stonewall" Jackson's Staff. THE ONLY MAN ON RECORD WHO HAS SEEN HIS OWN LIVER. FTER one of the battles in the want is for some one to do something valley of Virginia I was riding for me." y^ along a dusty road one hot day Although the case appeared a hope- I when I saw a Confederate officer less one, I procured a tub of water \ lying upon the ground desperately and washed the wound, then handed ^ wounded. Upon an examination I him a mirror and in it he saw reflected discovered that he had received a his own liver. Upon an examina- wound in the abdomen. His intestines tion, I discovered that the walls of were protruding several inches, and the stomach had not been injured, covered with dust. I expressed my The wound was sewed up and the regret at being unable to do anything officer rapidly recovered. The case is for the sufferer. He was in good spirits, one of the most remarkable ones that and replied : " Two or three other doc- have ever come to the knowledge of the tors have said the same thing. What I medical profession. "Johnny Shiloh." (JOHN L. CLENl.) •e: ©rammer ^©^ of ©fiicufiamaHga. WONDERFUL CAREER OF A TEN-YEAR OLD BOY. ^^''^HIS lad went into the [U Being refused as a ^ train which carried front, determined to possible, but to go anyhow, the 22d Mich., but though fof his indomitable spirit he that organization. Young duties and movements of he gained the goal of his listed as a drummer. This the battle of Shiloh of eleven years covered [ji He went in as a volun- deadly shower of shot himself a man. With |§ swinging between his marched up the bloody beating the charge paid to beat. The by an exploding shell, then felled to earth by trudged along, advanc- the command with- army in '61, a boy of ten. drummer, he boarded the the 3d Ohio Regt. to the go as an enlisted man if He next offered himself to refused, out of admiration was permitted to accompany Clem participated in the this regiment until '62, when ambition by being duly en- was not, however, until after In that fight this boy his name with glory, teer and under the and shell he bore a regulation drum youthful legs he hill from the river that others were drum was smashed but the boy, now and the falling branches ingand receding, as stood or wavered un- der the scorching fire of the rebels. That this fire was deadly was evidenced by the corpses so thickly strewn that one could (117) 118 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. almost step from body to body at a single stride. Had he been a man, at the close of that engagement he would have been rewarded with a commission. As it was, they enlisted him as a drummer, and gave him the right to wear the blue. From then he was known as "Johnny Shiloh." At Chickamauga he distinguished himself still more grandly, and won the imperishable name of " The Drummer Boy of Chicka- mauga." This stripling was not satisfied with a drum. He wanted to fight. Full of pluck and that courage which makes heroes, he demanded a musket. To comply with his desire a gun had to be cut down to his diminutive size, so that he could load it. On the 23d of September, 1863, armed with this shortened musket and seated on the caisson of a light battery, he was whirled to the front of battle once more, and permitted to take his place as a soldier in the ranks. In the midst of the leaden hail that followed he worked his little musket for all it was worth. His command was in a tight place and was forced back toward Chattanooga. The brigade attempted to make a stand and was surrounded by the enemy. Little Johnny had not been able to get back as fast as the men, and in the advancing line of rebels rode a rebel colonel. The latter, sword in air, called to the boy to surrender, applying a foul epithet to him. Johnny had that morning told his comrades that he would never surrender, and he hadn't changed his mind it seems, for he pulled up the short- ened musket and sent a bullet througli the rebel heart. As the colonel tumbled from his saddle they charged over little Johnny's prostrate body, horse, foot, and dragoons. This was a good thing for little Johnny, though he probably didn't ap- preciate it at the moment. While the rest of his command were killed or captured he got up after nightfall and made his way to Chattanooga. He got tli||ee bullet holes through his cap that day. General Rosecrans made him a sergeant and placed him on the roll of honor for that day's work. He was now but twelve years of age and had participated in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Nashville, and every important operation of the Army of the Cumberland. He was captured shortly after the battle of Chickamauga, and was paroled in sixty days and sent to Camp Chase for exchange. When he reached the Union lines he found Pop Thomas in command. The latter made him an BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 119 orderly sergeant and attached him to his staff. At Atlanta, while delivering a dispatch to General Logan, his pony was shot under him and a bullet took effect in Johnny's shoulder. His lack of education and age alone stood between young Clem and a commission. At the close of the war he went to Indian- apolis and began to qualify himself for a cadetship. To this Grant afterward appointed him. But he failed at West Point. While other boys had been at school, Johnny had been fighting in the field. He was appointed to the army from civil life, has served in the field on the frontier since and has been promoted to captain and assistant quartermaster. He is still boyish- looking, small of stature, and, in spite of the flattery and honors heaped upon him, as modest a young man as ever wore regimentals. FIRST WAR MEETING AT GALENA, ILL PRESIDED OVER BV GRANT. Related by His Townsman and Neighbor, E. B. Washburn. WALKED home with General Grant from the first war meeting which was held at Galena, and over which the general presided. He said to me : " I am going into this thing. I am going to begin at the foot of the ladder. I am acquainted with the governor of Ohio, and I am going to write to him to-night and ask him to give me a commission." I asked him why he did not apply to Governor Yates. He replied that he knew Ohio's gov- ernor and should write to him. Before his application was answered I was in Springfield, and Governor Yates said to me : " We have got men enough and money enough, but we have no one here to organize ; we need a military man here." To which I replied : " We have got just the very man up at Galena that you want." " Who is he ? " " Captain Grant." " Wlio is Captain Grant?" I explained that he was a graduate of West Point and had seen service in the Mexican war. " Send Captain Grant down here," was the reply. While Grant was at work at the duty assigned him the colonel of a regiment came in one day and said that he could do nothing with his men and offered to resign in Grant's favor if he would take command of it. Grant went out to see the regiment, and, being satisfied that the men were full of fight and would make good soldiers, accepted the command. Instead of taking his soldiers from Springfield to Quincy by rail, he marched them on foot, and by the time they reached their destination they knew they had no militia colonel to deal with. Then followed Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, and those other vic- tories which have placed Grant's name with the highest of the world's heroes. BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. Sept. 17, 1862. A CRITICAL MOMENT FOR THE CONFEDERATES, By QENERAIv LO NO ST RE EX. |HE Federals fought with wonderful bravery and the Confederates clung to their ground with heroic courage as, hour after hour, they were mown down like grass. The fresh troops of McClellan literally tore into shreds the already ragged army of Lee, but the Confederates never gave back. I remember at one time they were surging up against us with fearful numbers. I was occupying the left over by Hood, whose ammunition gave out. He retired to get a fresh supply. Soon after, the Federals moved up against us in great masses. We were under the crest of a hill, occupying a position that ought to have been held by from four to six brigades. The only troops there were Cooke's regiment of North Carolina In- fantry, without a cartridge. As I rode along the line with my staff, I saw two pieces of the Washington Artillery (Miller's Battery), but there were not enough men to man them. The gunners had been either killed or wounded. This was a fear- ful situation for the Confederate center. I put my staff-officers to the guns while I held their horses. It was easy to see that if the Federals broke through our line there, the Confederate army would be cut in two and probably destroyed, for we were already badly whipped and were only holding our ground from sheer desperation. Cooke sent me word that his ammunition was out. I replied that he must hold his position as long as he had a man left. He responded that he would show his colors as long as there was a man alive to hold them up. We loaded up our little guns with canister and sent a rattle of hail into the Federals as they came up over tbe crest of the hill. (120) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 121 There was more business to the square inch in that little bat- tery than in any I ever saw, and it shot harder and faster and with a sort of human energy as it seemed to realize that it was to hold the thousands of Federals at bay or the battle was lost. So warm was the reception we gave them that they dodged back behind the crest of the hill. V/e sought to make them be- lieve we had many batteries before them instead of only two little guns. As the Federals would come up they would see the colors of the North Carolina regiment waving placidly, and then would receive a shower of canister. We made it lively while it lasted. In the mean time General Chilton, General Lee's chief of staff, made his way to me and asked, ''Where are the troops you are holding your line with?" I pointed to my two pieces and to Cooke's regiment, and replied, '' There they are; but that regiment hasn't a cartridge." Chilton's eyes popped as though they would come out of his head, he struck spurs to his horse and away he went to General Lee. I suppose he made some remarkable report, although I did not see General Lee again until night. Sheridan's Kox Hunt. ADAM BADEAU. ^URING the winter General Sher- hounds. A pack of hounds was found idan remained near Winchester, and a day set for the chase. The ^gi but as soon as the roads and the hounds were brought into Winchester, x^Ciii rains allowed, Grant directed the horses were shod, and all the talk ^ him to push once more u]j the val- of the country around was of Sheri- ley — this time not to return. lie dan's hunt. On the appointed day the was to advance in the direction of whole neighborhood came to the meet, Richmond, destroying the railroads in the general and his staff conspicuous, every direction, as well as all stores The start was made and the run was that could possibly be of use to the good, but the general and staff went enemy. In order to conceal his pu)- further than the Virginians, and the pose, Sheridan resorted to one of those army followed. They rode after the ingenious devices in which he was un- enemy and never returned. The strat- rivaled since the days of Hannibal, agem had kept all the news of He learned that the people of the Sheridan's intentions secret, as all his neighborhood were fond of hunting, preparations were attributed to the and encouraged his staff to make their hunt, and he was far on his way before acquaintance and talk of foxes and the wile was discovered. The Battle of Antietam. iSGS. The Fearless Hooker.— Burnside and the 9th Corps Immortalized.— Sumner Invincible.- McClellan Hesitates. By REV. THEO. OERRISH, SOth Nlaine. "^^ '^PON the morning of September 17, 1803, the rebels before Antietam had brilliant expec- tations. The delay of our commanding gene- ral in not pressing battle has enabled General Lee to add the victorious column of Jackson and Lawton, from Harper's Ferry to his army, so that he confronted the Union forces with 100,000 men. His left wing is commanded by Jackson, his right by Longstreet, and his center by A. P. Hill. He has position in his favor, for, to reach them, the Union army under McClellan must cross the deep Antietam creek and storm the heights beyond. There are no means of crossing possible save by three bridges, which are heavily enfiladed by rebel artillery and infantry. General Hooker had carried the upper bridge near Hagerstown the afternoon before, and now after sleeping on his arms his gal- lant men with moving column and waving banners early open the fray. Two batteries supported by strong lines of infantry, advance from the woods into the cornfield, and the enemy at- tempt to seize the guns. It is a bloody reception. Back and forth the lines advance and recede; first one and then the other, victor. Whole lines melt away in the terrible carnage. A full hour the conflict rages, and then the rebel lines fall back amid the cheer of Union troops. Stonewall Jackson has found in Joe Hooker his match for desperate daring. Hooker's tall form, mounted upon his gray steed, had been for an hour in the thickest of the fight. General Meade's Penn. Reserves now move forward to follow up the advantage. They charge across (122) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 123 the field, slippery with blood, to the woods where the rebels had disappeared. Great God, what a reception ! The forest seemed to yawn and vomit forth a volcano of leaden fire; they reel and stagger under that fearful tempest. Brigades are reduced to regiments in a moment, and soon the re-enforced enemy charge back and hurl Meade from the field. It is a critical moment; a staff officer dashes to Doubleday with the order, " Send me your best brigade instantly," and Hartsuff' s brigade, composed mostly of Massachusetts troops, double quick to the field, and in a wild and fearless manner charge upon the exultant foe. They struck the rebel line, seemingly five-fold stronger than they, with terrific force and it recoiled before them. They threw themselves upon the ground and for thirty minutes held the rebels at bay; then with exhausted ammunition, Hartsuff's line springs to its feet and rolls the enemy back to the woods from which they had assaulted the column of General Meade. 'Tis now 10 A. M., and, with four hours of carnage, no advan- tage has been gained by either side. Hooker's entire command is now moving for a grand and desperate effort. Hooker is at the front I Regiments, brigades, and divisions swing into line at the double quick. The hillside flames with fire. A terrific roar fills the air. Clouds of sulphurous smoke cover the scene and the ground shakes as with the agony of a great struggle. Hooker is wounded and borne from the field, and the enemy, re-enforced from the center, is crowding hard. General Sumner at an op- portune moment assumes command, and in the thickest of the fight leads bravely on. The enemy meets shock after shock with invincible daring and soon the wavering Union lines give up the field. It is now past noon, and while Sumner is invincible to attack his force is too much reduced for assault. Just then the welcome sight of troops moving from the Hagerstown bridge greets the commander's eye, and a few moments later General Franklin's corps is there to his support. Smith's Maine and Vermont brigade retake the ground and like a holocaust sweep everything from the field and the woods before them. It is done and well done; a glorious victory, in which all must share. Down on the left the gallant Burnside had been doing noble work also. The 9th Corps had slept on the ridge overlooking the stone bridge, and at 9 a. m. , Burnside in person led the as- sault. It was fearful. They reached the bridge amidst hun- dreds of bursting shells, while 20,000 muskets poured in their 124 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. fire of death. They cross; deploy; form line of battle; dash up the hill; retreat, surge back and forth; join in a hand to hand conflict, and though the enemy have all the advantage, his first line is at length carried at the point of the bayonet. There is another terrific struggle; another death embrace, and at length another tumultuous yell rolls up the line and tells that Burnside's men have carried the heights. Again bursts forth a terrific fire at the right, but it soon dies out before the victorious Union host; but the lifeless form of the brave Mansfield is carried to the rear. Lee seeing his right to be the point of greatest danger, orders A. P. Hill there; but he arrives too late to save Longstreet from defeat. That position must be regained at any cost is the word from Lee. Burnside sees the gathering host, and a foaming steed dashes to McClellan v^itli the v^ord, " send me men and guns, and I will sweep all before me, but I cannot hold this position without re-enforcements." Fitz John Porter, with 20,000 men who as yet have only smelt the pow- der, stands ready for the order. To give it means the over- throw of Longstreet and Hill; the seizure of the Potomac fords, and the capture of Lee's army. McClellan hesitates. Oh, for one hour of Grant or the dashing Phil Sheridan! Rise, Mc- Clellan, to the greatness of your opportunity, and hurl the traitor army to the wall. Alas! too timid, and too weak! The word goes back, "Tell Burnside to hold on; it is the greatest battle of the war; I have no infantry to send; if he is driven back, he must hold the bridge, for if we lose that we lose all. 'Tis a fatal mistake, Burnside is overpowered and slowly but obstinately relinquishes the field. He holds the bridge and darkness ends the conflict. Lee sees the handwriting upon the wall; and what he cannot gain by fighting, he gains by cunning. An armistice must be had to bury the dead, and while this progresses the defeated rebel army skulks away and gain the fords of the Potomac, and the Union army curses the powers that be which after a sacrifice of 2,010 killed, and 9,416 wounded, robs them of the blood bought fruits of their victory. Lee Troubled by Meade.— General Cheapest Victory.— The cheapest Lee said that General Meade had given victory ever won on the battle field him as much or more trouble than any was the battle of Darbeytown Road, other general. Oct. 7, 1864. The Artillery Duel at Antietam. SEPT. 17, 1862. H. H. BOWLES, CO. C, 6tti IMaine. NE of the most fearful artillery duels at short range that I ever witnessed occurred at the immediate right of the cornfield at Antietam on the morning of September 17, 1862. In that giant struggle for the mastery on that fearful field in the long ago, when division after division of the Union army was swept away in rapid suc- cession by fighting at close quarters, when charge was met by counter charge, where Mansfield, Hooker, and Richardson were killed or wounded ere the sun had scarce risen, and Sedgwick's division in turn was sent hustling back in wild disorder, — it was just at this time that our brigade (Hancock's) came in on the double quick, meeting Sedgwick's division falling back. We were composed of the Gth Me., 5th Wis., 43d N. Y., and 49th Penn. It was a fearfully hot day, and we had been running all the morning to get on the field, and as we came up upon the double quick through a piece of timber, to the east of the cornfield, by the right fiank, we saw abundant evidence of the rout or disaster of Sedgwick's division. The woods and fields were full of stragglers and wounded men. Cannon shot and shell were flying in all directions. It seemed as though the air was alive with missiles of destruction. Gen- eral Sumner came riding up, bare-headed, his long, white hair streaming in the wind, his tall form erect, and gave some orders in a clear, distinct voice. Our brigade formed quickly into line and advanced to the edge of the cornfield and lay down, where the ground fell off considerably, so that we were partially covered, expecting every moment to be ordered to charge. As we came out of the field we passed Captain Frank's N. Y. battery on our immediate right in position, and " bellow- (125) 126 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. ing like mad." They were five-inch Napoleon guns. The can- noneers, many of them, were working with their sleeves rolled up, and some of them bare to the skin to their waist, and were black and grim with powder and smoke. The guns were vom- iting forth grape and canister, double shotted at every dis- charge, and fairly leaped from their position at every shot. They were making a perfect hell of every inch of ground in front and on either flank. I never witnessed such rapid firing or saw guns worked as they were. Captain Frank was riding back and forth calling for supports for his battery, for, as we came up, his battery was wholly unsupported. In our immedi- ate front the ground was literally covered with dead and dying. The gray coats of the Confederates were thickly mingled with the blue of the Union dead. The green coats of the U. S. sharp- shooters and the red trousers and embroidered jackets of the 14th Brooklyn lay thickly among the corn hills, and along by the rail fence were whole windrows of dead of both blue and gray. The sunken road was filled with dead and dying. Way over by the edge of the field nearest the Union lines, by the east wood, lay the body of a rebel colonel shot all to pieces. The rebel sharpshooters were posted in the tree-tops in the west woods, and were picking off our men one by one. Little Charlie King — a bright eyed, dark-haired drummer boy of the 49tli Penn., about twelve years of age, and the favorite of his regiment — was standing behind me, when a minie ball pierced his breast and he fell into my arms calling the name of his mother. The wound did not cause death at the time so we took him to the rear and gave him in charge of the surgeon. But we could not wait and leaving him in gentle hands we hurried back to the front with our comrades. The deep boom- ing of cannon went on, and hilltop answered hilltop with thunder, flame, and smoke. As I watched the working of these batteries, the rapid firing, the wonderful precision of their shots, I could but think of Marshal Ney at Waterloo, when assault- ing the English squares, struck with admiration for the English batteries in his front, he paused and gave them the military salute. The day wore on and gradually the firing ceased as by m.utual consent, and the enemy were again compelled to retreat into Virginia and to their old lines across the Rappahan- nock. Night on the Field of Fredericksburg. GEN. J. L. CHAMBERLAIN, LL. D., Ex. -President Bowdoin College, Me. NWARD time moves. Many years have passed since " Fredericksburg." Of what then was not much is left but memory. Faces and forms of men and things that then were have changed — perchance to dust. New Hfe has covered some; the rest look but lin- gering farewells. But, whatever changes may beautify those storm-swept and barren slopes, there is one character from which they can never pass. Death-gardens, haunted by glorious ghosts, they must abide. No bloom can there unfold which does not wear the rich token of the inheritance of heroic blood; no breeze be wafted that does not bear the breath of the immortal life there breathed away. Of all that splendid but unavailing valor no one has told the story; nor can I. The pen has no wing to follow where that sacrifice and devotion sped their flight. But memory may rest down on some night-scenes, too quiet and somber with shadow to be vividly depicted, and yet which have their interest from very contrast with the tangled and lurid lights of battle. The desperate charge was over. We had not reached the enemy's fortifications, but only that fatal crest where we had seen five lines of battle mount but to be cut to earth as by a sword-swoop of fire. We had that costly honor which some- times falls to the " reserve " — to go in when all is havoc and confusion, through storm and slaughter, to cover the broken and depleted ranks of comrades and take the battle from their hands. Thus we had replaced the gallant few still struggling (127) 128 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. on the crest, and received that withering fire, which nothing could withstand, by throwing ourselves flat in a slight hollow of the ground, within pistol shot of the enemy's works; and, mingled with the dead and dying that strewed -the field, we re- turned the fire till it reddened into night, and at last fell away through darkness into silence. But out of that silence from the battle's crash and roar rose new sounds more appalling still; rose or fell, you knew not which, or whether from the earth or air; a strange ventrilo- quism, of which you could not locate the source, a smothered moan that seemed to come from distances beyond reach of the natural sense, a wail so far and deep and wide, as if a thousand discords were flowing together into a key-note weird, unearthly, terrible to hear and bear, yet startling with its nearness; the writhing concord broken by cries for help, pierced by shrieks of paroxysm; some begging for a drop of water; some calling on God for pity; and some on friendly hands to finish what the enemy had so horribly begun; some with delirious, dreamy voices murmuring loved names, as if the dearest were bending over them; some gathering their last strength to fire a musket to call attention to them where they lay helpless and deserted; and underneath, all the time, that deep bass note from closed lips too hopeless or too heroic to articulate their agony. Who could sleep, or who would? Our position was isolated and exposed. Officers must be on the alert with their com- mand. But the human took the mastery of the official; sym- pathy of soldiership. Command could be devolved; but pity, not. So with a staff officer I sallied forth to see what we could do where the helpers seemed so few. Taking some observa- tions in order not to lose the bearing of our own position, we guided our steps by the most piteous of the cries. Our part was but little; to relieve a painful posture; to give a cooling draught to fevered lips; to compress a severed artery, as we had learned to do, though in bungling fashion; to apply a |-ude bandage, which yet might prolong the life to saving; to take a token or farewell message for some stricken home; it was but little, yet it was an endless task. We had moved towards the right and rear of our own position — the part of the field immediately above the city. The farther we went the more the need deepened, and the calls multiplied. Numbers half wakening from the lethargy of death, or of despair, by sounds of succor, BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 129 begged us to take them quickly to a surgeon; and when we could not do that, imploring us to do the next most merciful service and give them quick dispatch out of their misery. Right glad were we when, after midnight, the shadowy ambu- lances came, gliding along,^ and the kindly hospital stewards, with stretchers and soothing appliances, let us feel that we might return to our proper duty. And now we were aware of other figures wandering, ghost- like, over the field. Some on errands like our own, drawn by compelling appeals; some seeking a lost comrade, with uncer- tain steps amidst the unknown, and ever and anon bending down to scan the pale visage closer, or, it may be, by the light of a brief match, whose blue, flickering flame scarcely can give the features a more recognizable or more human look; some man, desperately wounded, yet seeking, with faltering step, before his fast ebbing blood shall have left him too v/eak to move, some quiet or sheltered spot out of sound of the terrible appeals he could neither answer nor endure, or out of reach of the raging battle coming with the morning; one creeping, yet scarcely moving, from one lifeless form to another, if, per- chance, he might find a swallow of water in the canteen still swung from the dead soldier's side; or another, as with just re- turning or just remaining consciousness, vainly striving to rise from a mangled heap, that he may not be burled with them while yet alive; or some man, yet sound of body, but pacing feverishly his ground because in such a bivouac his spirit could not sleep. And so we picked our way back, amidst the stark, upturned faces, to our little living line. The night chill had now woven a misty veil over the field. Fortunately, a picket fence we had encountered in our charge from the town had compelled us to abandon our horses, and so had saved our lives on the crest; but our overcoats had been strapped to the saddles, and we missed them now. Most of the men, however, had their overcoats or blankets — we were glad of that. Except the few sentries along the front, the men had fallen asleep — the living with the dead. At last, outwearied and depressed with the desolate scene, my own strength sunk, and I moved two dead men a little and lay down between them, making a pillow of the breast of a third. The skirt of his over- coat drawn over my face helped also to shield me from the bleak winds. There was some comfort even in this companion- 130 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. ship. But it was broken sleep. The deepening chill drove many forth to take the garments of those who could no longer need them, that they might keep themselves alive. More than once I was startled from my unrest by some one turning back the coat-skirt from my face, peering, half vampire-like, to my fancy, through the darkness, to discover if it too were of the silent and unresisting; turning away more disconcerted at my living word than if a voice had spoken from the dead. Having held our places all the night, we had to keep to them all the more closely the next day, for it would be certain death to attempt to move away. As it was, it was only by making breastworks and barricades of the dead men that covered the field that we saved any alive. We did what we could to take a record of these men. A testament that had fallen from the breast pocket of the soldier who had been my pillow, I sent soon after to his home — he was not of my command — and it proved to be the only clue his parents ever had to his fate. The next midnight, after thirty-six hours of this harrowing work, we were bidden to withdraw into the town for refresh- ment and rest. But neither rest nor motion was to be thought of till we had paid fitting honor to our dead. We laid them on the spot which they had won, on the sheltered edge of the crest, and committed their noble forms to the earth, and their story to their country's keeping. We buried them darkly, at dead of night, The sod with our bayonets turning. Splinters of boards torn by shot and shell from the fences we had crossed served as headstones, each name hurriedly carved under brief match lights, anxiously hidden from the foe. It was a strange scene around that silent and shadowy sepulture. " We will give them a starlight burial," it was said; but heaven ordained a more sublime illumination. As we bore them in dark and sad procession, their own loved North took up the escort, and lifting all her glorious lights led the triumphal march over the bridge that spans the worlds — an aurora borealis of marvelous majesty! fiery lances and banners of blood and flame, columns of pearly light, garlands and wreaths of gold, all pointing upward and beckoning on. Who would not pass on as they did, dead for their country's life, and lighted to burial by the meteor splendors of their native sky? The * Last * Night * Dt ^^ FrederiGbburg, GEN. J. L. CHAMBERLAIN, LL. D., EX.-PRES. BOWDOIN COLLEGE. •^5=3-x->$-^M(^^-* ^=^' '^'^p -T^viFTER a day of what was isv. called rest from the stress of battle, but really of confusion and solicitude, a broken bivouac on the pave- ment in the town, amidst the e n e m y's shells crashing through the roofs and walls, by turns dreaming or wakefully expecting that Lee would take advantage of our situation to strike our right flank and drive us into the river, we had man- aged at dark to sink into a dismal sort of sleep. But suddenly we were sum- moned — three regiments — to move forth to some unknown service. Picking our way amidst the terrible relics of the battle up to that fatal front again, we found here, mingled with the thick-strewn dead, and scarcely to be distin- guished from them, a thin line of our troops, lying flat on their faces and fairly shivering with apprehension. And with reason. For it was not sol- dierly qualities alone that were tested by that experience. So far out beyond support, with only the ghastly lines of the dead behind, and the half- disembodied horrors around, scarcely more than a hundred yards from the enemy's fortifi- cations, the rifle-pits of their picket - line close in front, strange, stealthy movements heard at intervals, then lost in dismal gusts of wind, and the murky darkness wrapping all as with a shroud, a sense of strange defenselessness might naturally seize the mind, a feeling of lurking evil against (131) 132 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. which all mortal weapons are vain. To be creeping about amidst these emblems of the satanic power to hurt, sure only that every living human being before you and perhaps around you is an enemy whose one object it is to compass your destruction — this is a situation and a business wherein the man of stoutest physical courage and the soldier of highest discipline may find that he has something of himself yet to learn. We knew now that our business was to picket the front above the town. Of the rest we knew nothing. The troops whom we relieved informed us with the extreme of frankness that just after dusk a whole brigade of ours had been " rushed off " from that spot, and the enemy had planted a battery so as to enfilade the position and sweep away the whole line at the first dawn; and also had been pushing up their picket-line and rifle- pits all the night close upon our own. Our friends bade us a significant good-by — a curious mingling of emotion, half glad for themselves, half sad for us — and filed away silently down the slope. " Hold this ground at all hazards, and to the very last." This was the only order or instruction we received. It was a long stretch for us, and the men had to be stationed by the rule of few and far between. Groping cautiously about, we got hold of some picks and spades that were scattered around, and each man went to work with a will to settle himself into the ground; that seemed about the surest way to "hold it." Each few or each alone threw up a little earthwork covering their front and right, as a man would protect his head from a blow by raising his right elbow. It was the right especially that must be made strong, to guard against the expected shelling from that quar- ter, so that a shot striking in the line would not be likely to kill more than the men in any one pit. We worked in silence, speaking only in whisper, and with the least possible movement that might expose the person in relief against the sky, for, dark as it was, such a disclosure was sure to bring a shot. Often we were interrupted by vague alarms; the men would drop their spades, seize their muskets and sink on their knees, ready for the conjectured blow. We were anxious that the men should keep their true bear- ings, so as to throw the earth on the angle needing protection. My over-anxiety for this brought some sharp and unexpected warnings. Feeling along what I believed to be my line, I came BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 133 upon a man settling himself into his pit with what seemed to me more diligence than judgment, " Throw to the other side, my man; that's where the trouble is," my undertone braced with the confidence of superior wisdom. " Don't ye s'pose I know where them Yanks be? They're right on to us now!" was the imperturbable answer of the man, who, I was thankful to find, was thinking more of his own business than of mine. " Dig away then, and keep a sharp lookout for 'em!" was the somewhat rapidly enunciated reply, which advice I proceeded to put into prompt execution myself, after a figurative inter- pretation. The men had now got themselves pretty well secured when a sudden clatter came up from the left, and a voice called out, " Where is the officer commanding this line?" He was excited and evidently not enjoying his mission. " The whole army is across the river. Get out of this as quick as God will let you! " was his highly condensed message. "Who are you, sir?" I asked with severity not wholly feigned. He gave his name and rank on the staff. "Report yourself to your general in arrest!" was my return to him for this intelligence. "You're crazy," he rejoins: " you've got all you can do not to be gobbled up as it is!" The men who heard this were scrambling out of their pits. " Steady as you are, my men, this is a stampeding coward." Some of the officers came running up. "Arrest this man for a spy, and hold fast your lines," was my word to them. Order being restored in the line, I took the staff-officer aside for mutual explanation. He was wrought up to a high pitch by the strain of the long effort to find us, along that dark and per- ilous front. Repeating that our army was already across the river, and that he had been sent to direct us to the remaining pontoon bridge, he apologized for his rashness in delivering his message, on the plea that he did not know the enemy's pickets were so near; and in turn I explained the necessity of my rough treatment of him, to seem to contradict and countermand him, that the men on both sides, who must have distinctly heard him, might be kept in their places; that ours especially, should not huddle in confusion out of the shelter of their pits, and draw the enemy's fire, and perhaps an overwhelming attack upon us. With a manner intended to reassure their justly troubled minds, the situation of things a'nd the plan of proper retiring 134 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. were made known to the men. The movement was quickly or- ganized and executed. Each alternate man was to stay fast in his pit and dig more demonstratively than ever, while the others, each company in charge of its second officer, should noiselessly retire to the nearest advantageous ground and form in extended order faced to the front, and there stand until the remaining line should in like manner have taken position in their rear, when they in turn were to retire behind this second line. In that way we could at least prevent the enemy from following us up too recklessly and could come off the field in good order. Those who were the last to evacuate the rifle-pits had to use caution, trailing their pieces, and with anything but the sol- dier's erect bearing. We had fallen back but a few yards when the black flying clouds broke apart in rifts, and the moonlight struck us into full view and the gleam of the musket barrels made us for the moment a shining mark. "To the ground, every man of you," and they fell flat and motionless at the word. From that time we had to watch the favoring obscurity of the flying clouds. We, too, had caught a glimpse of the enemy creeping forward from their rifle-pits and were aware tliat they were following us, though perhaps in their ignorance of the field and of the meaning of our movements, quite as scared as we were; and possibly not wholly callous to the appalling images of havoc through which we had to pass. Mangled forms, rent and tossed as if the maddened beasts of the arena had run riot among them; limbs flung from their bodies and half trampled into the bloody mire; grim faces, stark and stiff, into which the light of the waning moon struck a more than deadly pallor — a phantom light as of something neither dead nor living, with a fixedness that was more than stillness: open eyes that saw not, but seemed to see more than human; hands that still grasped their muskets with a clutch no living strength could loosen; the ghostly gleam of the scattered musket barrels weaving an unearthly web, or a bright sword- blade flashing back as if still swung by the valorous arm that had given it life for its deadly stroke. Phantasmal martyr- pyres, the heaped, incongruous ruins of a lost battery— horses, cannoneers, dismounted guns, splintered ammunition chests, crushed wheels, overturned carriages, the tongue erect in air, the pole-yokes swinging gibbet-like on high, looming suddenly BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 135 on you with a shuddering light, then vanishing as from the earth, when the swift dragon-cloud smites the face of the moon, and blackened night swallows up the hideous scene. All save where on the far edge of the field some solitary lantern sways and sails, like the weird, hovering will-o'-the-wisp, while un- wearying love seeks still the living lost among the dead. Midway in our course we passed a house around which terri- ble slaughter had raged, the wrecks still lying where they fell. I remember but too well how the night wind shrieked and howled about the desolate walls and rooms, — a voice as of in- numerable spirits that could not rise, — while some swinging door or blind sounded like the flapping wings of the demon of doom. I do not think there has^ever been a moment in my life since when the sound of that wind has been out of my ears. We were able by our orderly movement, however hurried, to bring off such of the wounded as we encountered on the aban- doned field. At the bridge-head we gathered and waited a little for all that should pass over before us; and lingered still, as if loath to turn away, held back by a sigh of the night wind, like the last wail of the stricken field, that took the breath from our bosoms and the strength from our limbs. But the rain fell now in torrents; the bridge-boats creaked as the swelling current rushed by; the narrow plank way, bedded with earth to deaden sound, stretched out into the darkness, beckoning us to noiseless passage, as from world to world. For a little while it swayed beneath our tread; men stood by the anchor lines, a few lingered at the further fastenings. ' ' Cut the guys! " the last order fell; the great pontoons swung to the hither shore, and the river ran, cold and dark, between us and our dead that had died in vain. GREATEST LOSS. PLUCK AT STONE RIVER. H*/ The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery It was Gen. Wm. B. Hazen's g Regiment lost more men in killed command that saved the army and died of wounds than any and the day at the battle of other regiment, 18.8 per cent., the 2d Stone River or Murfreesboro', Dec. 31, Wisconsin comes next with 17.5 per 1862. His brigade was the only one cent., and the 140th Pennsylvania next that held its position unchanged dur- with 16.1 per cent. ing the fight. Life at Chattanooga During the Siege. KUN IN CAMP. B. S. BATCHELOR, Company I, 2d Minnesota. W^V^WXV.Vv^^^fC^V^'V.'^E i i J VWVW-VvXXWXWVWXSWvWt N the fall of 1864, not long after the battle of Chickamauga, the 2d Minn, was camped on a small rise of ground near the four large hospitals that were built by the Confederacy and afterward occupied by our army. The rebels had a piece of artillery planted on Look- out Mountain, which they had named the Lady Davis, and it made it lively for us a good many times. If there were a group of men collected, the Lady Davis would be pretty sure to pay her compliments by way of a shot or a shell. As a number of the comrades of my company were playing marbles, quite a number of the boys gathered around and became interested in the game, when a souvenir in the shape of a solid shot came from the mountain without any warning. It passed just above our heads, and made a flying visit to a small camp-fire just back of us, where a German of our company was making a cup of coffee of two days' rations, which consisted of about two table- spoonfuls, and all he would get until the next issue. The ball struck in the fire under the coffee-kettle. That coffee-kettle shot up in the air like a sky-rocket, and the little camp-fire was no more. But there stood the German covered with dirt and ashes, and so mad that he did not know what his name was. He soon recovered and swore in three different languages at the same time. He was angry enough to go up on old Lookout (136) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 137 Mountain and throw that gun into the Tennessee river. But, as time is a great soother, he got over his passion and laughed with the rest of us, and was thankful that no greater damage was done. The kettle came down with the smell of coffee yet lingering about its precious sides. As our communications between Nashville and Chattanooga at that time were often interrupted, our rations were very small, and soap was a luxury almost unknown. When general inspection was ordered, how to present clean faces and hands without soap was a problem hard to solve. At ten o'clock on one morning of inspection the boys fell into line with guns and equipments in splendid condition, but I cannot say as much of our clothes and faces. Comrade Claude Pritchard must have lovingly caressed the camp-kettle before falling in; for one side of his face was as black as possible, while the other side was comparatively clean. As the order was given, "Right dress!" Sergeant Bending said, "What nigger is that in our company?" And as he presented the black side of his face to the front, the captain said, "Pritchard, go and wash your face." Pritchard disappears with alacrity into his tent. In a very short space of time his head reappears from his tent with his face as black as ever, and very distinctly says, "Captain, have you got any soap?" The inspecting officer took one look and laughed aloud. The laugh was contagious, and we were soon all in a roar. The captain said, " Sergeant Bending, take that man to the guard-house!" and this ended the fun for that day. Pritchard was a faithful soldier, and I hope he fares now better than he did then. GREAT TURNING POINT. GLOOMY DAYS. John E. Cooke (Confederate). 1^111 E long struggle culminating at O^ RAMP— Are you a Grand Army |M| Gettysburg ended as completely . V^, man? '^^ as if Lee had laid down his arms S^ Gentleman — Yes. there. After the repulse at Cemetery Ti-amp — Could you help a poor fellow Ilill the event of the war was decided, who lost his leg during the war ? and any commander of respectable Gentleman (giving him ten cents) — ability might have achieved the results What regiment did you belong to ? of 1864 and 1865. Gettysburg was the Tra^np— Not any, sir. I was run great turning point of the war, and the down by a beer wagon a day or two commander of the Federal forces there, after the battle of Fair Oaks. Those General Meade, was a soldier indeed. were gloomy days, sir. FISRING aP TORPEDOES PLANTED BY THE REBELS IN RED RIVER. Fearful Explosion isliicli Hurled the Plcker-Up Two Hundred Feet. — J By S. E. R, S — -H-^ .^=.1 |-E^»-o #■— 5<" WAS among others detailed from the Federal steamer " Monoiiga- 3[^[ hela," to search the Red river be- tween the Tensar and the Missis- sippi, for the torpedoes which had been planted by the Confederates. These torpedoes wei"e of all makes, shapes, and sizes, from a pork barrel half-full of powder, to be fired by electricity from the shore, to a glass demijohn holding ten pounds, to be exploded by contact. Some were on the surface, some just under it, and some on the bottom. We went out in fours to hunt for these terrifiers, each boat being provided with grapnels, nets, boat-hooks, and whatever else was needed for fishing up the monsters. We had to exercise great caution, for the channel was tortuous and no one could guess at what point we would come across a tor- pedo. The woods were shelled two or three times a day by our gunboats, but the Confederate swamp-cats were by no means driven out. They had every chance to secrete themselves, and we realized that if we came upon an elec- tric torpedo we ran every risk of being blown sky-high. We had been at work three or four days and had fished up seven or eight ugly-looking fellows, when we got into a part of the channel which ran within fifty feet of the right bank. A colored man who had been lying in the swamps for several weeks waiting for deliver- ance, informed us that he had observed men planting something in this bend two weeks before. He thought there were wires leading to the swamp, but we scouted about for a couple of hours without being able to find that such was the case. The bank was a dense jungle in which one thousand men could have concealed themselves. About an hour after dinner we moved uj) and began grappling in the bend. The boat turned her bow down stream, threw over her grapnels, and two men used the oars to give her headway. We had not pulled fifty feet when the irons took hold, and I drew the boat back to the spot by means of the rope. Then, standing on the seat in the stern, I lifted at the obstruction, and it came slowly up. It had just appeared suffi- cient for me to make out that it was a boiler-iron torpedo, when there came an (138) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 139 awful explosion. The same instant our boat was lifted high in air and bi'oken to pieces, and I scarcely com- prehended what had occurred until I found myself in the water two hundred feet below the point of explosion. My hair, whiskers, and eyebrows were badly singed, and my clothing on fire, as I came down after the flight. While I had escaped, the other three were killed outright, and the wave created swamped a boat working a few hundred feet below us and drowned one of her crew. While swimming for this capsized boat, a man stood on the bank of the river and fired four shots at me from a revolver, and with the fifth he killed the colored man who had given the in- formation. The victim stood upon the bank, about midway between the two boats, and was shot through the head. The torpedo was no doubt exploded by electricity, and the man who fired the shots was the operator who ex- ploded it. A PRKMONITION KILLED AT SAVAGE'S STATION. S. C. Gallup, 3d Vt. ^ NE day, while encamped near the Chickahominy river, a member of our company earnestly de- clared in the presence of sev- eral comrades that he would be killed in the next battle. I cannot recall his name, though I remember distinctly his countenance and general appear- ance. On this day, the 29th, we rested near Savage's Station, on the railroad by which we had received our army supplies. The day was clear and hot. Exposed to a scorching sun, we waited, ready to fall in at a moment's notice. Within a few feet of our company was a large pile of ammunition, burning and exploding. Some of the bullets and grape-shot were hurled within dan- gerous proximity to our regiment. As this pile was the property of our gov- ernment, it was an unpleasant reminder of the fact that our army was retreat- ing before an enemy eager to destroy us. On the other side of a cleared field in which we were resting were the tents of the general hospital, which were filled with our sick and wounded. Through a painful necessity, such of these as could not march would, in a few hours, fall into the hands of the enemy. Our division was left at Savage's Sta- tion to check the enemy. It was begin- ning to grow dark, when, according to orders, we fell in, faced to the rear, and advanced rapidly into a pine foi-est, and there formed line of battle. It was so dark that we could not see the rebel force which was approaching through the thick timber within mus- ket range. Suddenly there burst upon our view a long line of bright flashes, followed by a ter]-ible roar of musketry and a shower of bullets, which came pouring into our lines. Our brigade held its position firmly, and gave the rebels such a warm reception that they soon ceased firing, and fell back. Thus ended the battle of Savage's Station. In this battle a member of our company was killed, and he was the soldier who had said that he would be killed in the next battle. BATTLE OF lUKA AID GORIITH. Sept. 21, 1862. How Rosecrans met the Confederates.— A Storm of Cannon Balls and Bullets. By p. C. FERGUSON, Lieut. Co. I, 43d Ohio. HE 21st of September, 1862, found Rosecrans in camp at Clear Creek, near Corinth, Mississippi. We had been there some time, battling with yellow jamidice and typhoid fever, when the Con- federate army, under Price, Van Dorn, and Lovell, made their appearance near Bear Creek. One bright Sabbath morning we struck tents, and started out on the Jacinto road, seven miles dis- tant from Corinth and about the same distance from luka Springs. General Grant was in command on the Bern- ville road, about the saine distance from luka. The order from General Grant was to move up to within three miles of luka and bivouac for the night, but the enemy would not allow us in such close proximity. We were not far out of Jacinto when we encountered the enemy's pickets, and where we thought to camp for the night, we found the ground bitterly disputed. Van Dorn threw his division against us with so much fury that we wavered and fell back for a short distance. We rallied, and the ball opened in good earnest, the enemy being in turn driven back. The battle became fierce. A brass battery of the 1st Ohio had hardly gotten into position before the Confederates charged it. The men stood by their guns until they had not a horse and but few men left. At this in- stant the 11th Mo. Infantry came to their rescue and saved the battery. The possession of this battery seemed to be what (140) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 141 both sides were fighting for, as it was taken and retaken several times. For unknown reasons Grant did not move up on the right and we stood our ground about three hours before night stopped the carnage. The loss was about equal on each side. The following morning the brigade moved in line of battle, momentarily expecting to be engaged, but the enemy had fled leaving tents, camp equipage, and all. The following Friday, they began to drive the Union forces in on Corinth. The latter now consisted of the 16th Army Corps, under Gen. W. S. Rosecrans. The enemy drove General Palmer's division all day Friday and Saturday, and gradually pushed us back to- wards our forts. Saturday, October 1, found the Union army disposed as follows: Palmer's division on the right, Stone's division on the left, with Davis in reserve, the Ohio brigade in support of Battery Robinet, a line of field guns, reaching almost from Battery Robinet to Fort Williams on the right, and still another small fort on the right of the railroad. Early on Sunday morning, before it was light, the enemy ran a battery up the road to within a short distance of Fort Robinet and began firing, I was on the picket line, a few rods in front of the fort. They made it warm for a short time, but when the sun came up clear and bright, the heavy artillery in the fort opened on the battery and disabled it in a twinkling. We went forward and pulled it in. All this time the enemy were evidently preparing for some bold move. About nine o'clock they emerged from the woods in solid column, and led by Colonel Rogers, of the 3d Texas Rangers, made a desperate charge on Fort Robinet. The artillery played havoc in their ranks, but on they came. By some mistake they were taken for our own men, and our brigade lay flat upon the ground until the enemy were actually within the fort, when the word was: "Fix bayonets, double quick, charge!" The Ohio brigade sprang to their feet and in a minute the fort was cleared and the enemy sent flying in all directions. Some few prisoners were taken and a great many more of the Confederates never returned to their comrades. The enemy next moved on our right and attacked Fort Williams. They made the grandest charge at that point that I ever witnessed, the charging column consisting of a brigade of Mississippi troops. They emerged from the roads in solid 142 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. column, but our forts had a cross fire on them and mowed them down like grain before the sickle. Nevertheless, they closed up and moved on until they reached the fort. The fort was supported by Palmer's men, who failed to check them in the least. On they went right through the line of our artillery and men, right up to the town. Just when the day looked th© brightest for the enemy, Davis's division, thus far held in re- serve, came down on them like an avalanche, and swept every- thing back. None escaped the steel of Davis's gallant men, who drove them right past the fort they had captured but a few moments before. On they went until they reached the wood, when they came to a halt and gradually fell back to our line. All this time General Rosecrans was watching the proceedings with intense interest and giving orders as circumstances re- quired. About four of that memorable day he came along the lines with his staff. Cheer after '^heer went up from the men as General Rosecrans said, "Boys, the day is ours and the enemy is flying." IvOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. B. F. TAYLOR. |G-^ESPASTAN'S royal edifice •" ^^%/o Whose world of ruin nursed ^*^ his name, Would be a vestibule to this Great amphitheater of fame. Upon its parquet's rugged floors Lie cities of the noiseless doors. White drifts of camps like flocks of sheep I see artillery asleep ; The six in hands of muleteers Behind a picket fence of ears ; I see gray swarms along the hills ; I hear the bayonet coffee mills, A snare drum snarling to itself, A catch of song, a blue coat joke, I smell the sweet red cedar smoke. No sign of storm or anything. The very standards droop and cling. QENERAIv HANCOCK'S HUNIOR. fENERAL HANCOCK was not much given to humorous declara- tions, but he said one exceedingly good thing in that line at Gettysburg. At a certain stage of that great battle it happened that some subordinate officer, acting upon his own responsibility, dis- regarded ordinary military rules and caused a decided advantage to be gained where, according to West Point philoso- phy, a disaster should have ensued. Hancock was both provoked and de- lighted. " If I knew the fool who ordered that movement," he exclaimed, "I would have him brevetted ! " Thk Assault on Kort Robinet. OCTOBER 3, 4, 1862. A 63d OHIO MAN'S RECOLLECTIONS. [URING the early part of September, 18G2, a part of Stanley's division, to which Fuller's Ohio brigade was attached, occupied luka, Miss. We received orders to evac- uate the place on the night of the 13th, leaving the 8th Wis., un- der Colonel Murphy, behind, with orders to destroy the govern- ment property, of which there was an immense amount; but that order Colonel Murphy failed to obey for reasons known only to himself, and the property fell into the hands of Generals Price and Van Dorn, We encamped near Cedar Creek, a few miles from Corinth, on the 14th, and unceremoniously received orders on the night of the 17th to fall in, taking the back track for luka. The ad- vance of Gen. W. S. Rosecrans's army drove in the outpost of the enemy about noon, September 19, at a farm house called Barnett's Cross-roads, from which point General Rosecrans sent a courier to General Grant, at Burnsville, eight miles from luka, informing him of the fact, and that he expected to meet the rebels in force that afternoon. The messenger failed to reach General Grant, having lost the road before the real battle of luka commenced; conse- quently General Rosecrans had to fight alone against immense odds, and he won the field, after a desperate engagement. I picked up General Lytle's sword after the battle. I had charge of a detail burying the dead the next day, and examining our (143) 144 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. own men I came across a soldier of the 48th Ind., who had been hit in three places, one ball going clear through his body and lodging in a small Bible in his knapsack. He was about twenty years old, with red hair, and I think his name was Williams. After luka we went back near to Corinth, and while on this march an incident happened not very pleasing to our division commander, General Stanley. My regiment had its proportion of stragglers, and among them was one noted for his foraging propensities. At a farm house near which we halted was a lot of bee-hives, and this fellow wanted some honey. While getting it General Stanley came out of the house, which scared the fellow so that he dropped the hive and ran, and the bees went for the general. I presume the general has not for- gotten the fact, or the licking he gave the fellow with one of the teamster's whips. After lying a few days near the Tuscumbia river we got orders again on the night of October 2d, and crossing the Tuscumbia at sunrise the 3d, Colonel Sprague told us to fill all our canteens and take a big drink, as we would be likely to have a fight before we saw any more water, which was a fact, although we did not get into an engagement that day. In the afternoon of that day, the canteens being nearly empty, a call was made by company commanders for two volunteers to take the canteens and look for water, but I had been saving with mine and it was half full. That evening we took position near Fort Robinet, and Co. B of our regiment did picket duty on the Chewalla road, to the left of Robinet. It was just before daylight on the 4th of October, that we captured the rebel Captain Tobin and his bugler. We were lying on each side of the road, a few rods from Robinet, when the rebel captain and the bugler came along in advance of his battery, and with perfect assurance, as they thought our army had evacuated the place, everything was so still. The r§bel batteries opened before daylight, but our artillery did not take any notice of them until broad day, which accounted for Captain Tobin's thinking we had evacuated. Shortly after sunrise we received the first rebel assault, and it was in their second assault, but a short time after, that Colonel Rogers, of the Texas Legion, was killed. We captured a handsome brass James rifle, made in En- gland. It was taken before either rebel assaults, and the 1st BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 145 U. S. Inf. had the cheek to lay claim to the prize. A year after, while I was an ordnance officer, I recognized the same gun, with this inscription: " Captured at Corinth, Miss., October 4, 1863, by 1st U. S. Inf." Immediately in the rear of Robinet was Fort Williams, and to their guns, as much as any, were the rebels indebted for their defeat, as a perfect storm of shot and shell fell upon them. Fort Madison, an inside earthwork mounting heavy guns, was manned by part of Co. D, 63d Ohio, and did good execution. SOLDIER'S DEATH-BED HYMN, Mrs NANNIE I. MILLER. fET me go where saints are going, To the mansions of the blest ; ' ^ Let me go where my Redeemer Has prepared his people's rest. I would gain the realms of brightness. Where they dwell forevermore ; I would join the friends that wait nie Over on the other shore. Let me go ; why should I tarry, What has earth to bind me here ? What but cares, and toils, and sorrow, What but pain, and death, and fear ' Let me go, for hopes most cherished Blasted 'round me often lie ; Oh ! I've gathered brightest flowers But to see them fade and die. Let me go where none are weary, Where is raised no wail of woe ; Let me go and bathe my spirit In the raptures angels know. Let me go, for bliss eternal Lures my soul away, away. And the victors' song triumphant Thrills my heart ; I cannot stay. Let me go where tears and sighing Are forevermore unknown ; Where the joyous song of glory Calls me to a happier home. Let me go, I fear not dying, I would gain life's fairer plains, I would join the myriad harpers, I would chant the rapturous strains. Let me go, there is a glory That my soul has longed to know ; I am thirsting for the waters That from ci-ystal fountains flow ! There is where the angels tarry, There the blest forever throng, There the brightness wearies never. There we'll sing Redemption's song. 10 leSmamGs of IDdr ^e^rders. OEO. K. \7VILLIAIVlS. M|T VERY general of prominence had beginning of his military career. Logan, A'^ a nickname bestowed upon him with his long black hair and dark com- ^K by his troops. Some of these e^^ names were sarcastic, but usually they indicated the confidence of the men in their leaders. General Grant was commonly known in the Army of the Potomac as "Old United States," from the initials of his name, but some- times he was called " Old Three Stars," that number indicating his rank as lieutenant-general, McClellan was en- deared to liis army as " Little Mac." INIeade, who wore spectacles, was de- lighted to hear that the soldiers had named him " Four-eyed George," for he knew it was not intended as a reproach. Burnside, the colonel of the 1st R. I. Regt., rose to the dignity of " Rhody " when he became a general. Hooker never liked the sobriquet of " Fighting Joe," though he always lived up to it on the field. Pope was saddled with the title of " Saddle-bag John," in memory of his famous order about headquarters being on horseback. His men used to say that their headquarters moved pretty rapidly at times. Sigel, the German general, was known in the corps as " Uutchy." Hancock won the brevet of " Superb," from a remark made by General Meade at Gettysburg tvhen th€ Second Corps repulsed Long- Street's men. Humphrey, being a dis- tinguished engineer, was invariably ttyled " Old INIathematics." The Penn- sylvania Reserves used to call Crawford "Physics," he being a surgeon at the plexion, was " Black Jack." Sheridan, the cavalry leader, was " Little Phil," and Sherman's troops spoke of him as " Old Tecumseh." The sterling nature and steadfast purpose of Thomas earned for him the significant name of " Old Reliable." Alexander McDowell Mc- Cook, like Hooker, was called " Fight- ing McCook." The New York City regiments in the 5th Corps changed Sykes to " Syksey." Halleck was de- risively named " Old Brains," and Rose- crans had his name shortened to " Rosy." Lew Wallace was " Louisa " to the soldiers under his command ; he was a great favorite for his fighting qualities, and the soldiers adopted that inappropriate name for want of a better. Kearney, who had left an arm in Mex- ico, was invariably known in the ranks as " One-armed Phil." Butler was styled " Cock-eye " for obvious reasons. Kilpatrick was nicknamed " Kill," while Custer was called " Ringlets " on ac- count of his long, flowing curls ; and so the catalogue might be prolonged in- definitely. Among the Confederates, familiar nicknames were not as common as with the Federals. The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia usually spoke of General Lee as "Bob Lee." Little INIahone was best known as " Skin and Bones." Early was called " Bad Old Man," and Jackson will live in history as "Stonewall." (U6) A FIGHTING CHAPLAIN. EXPERIENCE AT THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN.-FIERCE MORTAR DUELS. By REV. GEORGE G. SMITH, Chaplain in the Phillips Georgia Legion. N^NWNNV, » -w F you will permit, I will tell you about the afternoon at South Mountain, in 1862, when I received a bullet through my neck, and when night alone saved General Lee's army from capture. A year before I had been the pastor of a charming little church in a beautiful valley in upper Georgia, I was just married, and ought to have been content to have staid at home, but in my veins was the blood of those who had fought in the Revolution, and when I saw my parishioners going to the front I went too, as the chaplain of the Phillips Legion. We had fifteen com- panies — nine of infantry, five of cavalry, and one of artil- lery — commanded by Col. William Phillips. We had had our share of hard work, but until the summer of 1862, we had no serious fighting. On the Sunday morning (September 14) on which the battle of South Mountain began, we were in camp at Hagerstown. We were expecting quite a time of repose when the order came to return towards Boonsboro'. I had not the remotest dream of any hot work, nor do I think any of us had, for we had no idea that the army of the Potomac could be re- organized and mobilized so soon. We thought the assault upon our lines was merely a feint of cavalry. This was evidently General Lee's opinion, or else he would not have allowed Jack- son to have crossed the Potomac; but it was soon evident from the rapid motion of the artillery and infantry that hot work (117) 148 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. was before us. My regiment had gone and I ambled off as rapidly as I could toward the front. Somehow I got the name of the ''fighting chaplain," and candidly I did not like it, for it was neither just nor compli- mentary. I did not go to the army to fight; I did not fight after I got there. I had as little stomach for fighting as Falstaff had. I went to the army as a chaplain, and as a chap- lain I did my work, and yet that day I got a bullet through my neck. I ought not to have gone where the bullets were flying, but I did go and I got hit, and this is how it came about. I found Generals Lee, Longstreet, and Jones, standing at the base of the pass, and with them was one of the staff officers of our brigade. Captain Young. Inquiring of him for my regi- ment, he told me that it was behind a stone fence on the right of the Boonsboro' and Frederick pike, and I immediately re- paired to that place. A battery of light artillery was firing overhead and "we lay quietly looking toward the south. Sud- denly the order came to change front. We were now to face towards the west. The turnpike was narrow, and the enemy were upon us. The change of position called for a change from line of battle to column, and then from column into line. My own regiment did beautifully and for a moment we looked to the woods expecting the Federals to charge upon us, but in- stead we were ordered to leave the protection of the stone wall and to charge into the woods. As we entered the woods I saw a poor fellow fall and heard him say, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." I went to him and said, "My friend, that's a good prayer, I hope you feel it." He answered, " Stranger, I am not afraid to die; I made my peace with God over thirty years ago." Just at that moment I heard Cook, our commander, say in a loud voice, " For God's sake don't fire; we are friends!" I turned and saw a body of our troops about ready to fire. I said, " I will go back, colonel, and stop them," As I ran back to the fence, I looked down the very road we had left, and saw a body of Federals moving on us. Something must be done, and I ran to General Drayton, our commander, and told him the position. A feint certainly must be made; if the Federals should know that the stone fence was abandoned, they would sweep upon the fence and thus capture the last man. Major Gest, when he saw how matters were, placed the few men he had in position; and I started for my regiment. As I came to BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 149 the pike, I saw a soldier shooting towards the east. It took but a moment for me to see that the Federals were east, south, and west of us. The firing was now fierce, but I felt that my regiment must be brought out of that pocket at all hazards, and I started to warn it, when I found it retreating. Poor Ellis, a Welchman, had run the gantlet and given them warning, and the regi- ment was now retreating in a broken and confused manner. One of the boys, Gus Tomlinson, in tears, said: " Parson, we've been whipped; the regiment is retreating." "And none too soon either," said I, "for we are surrounded on all sides but one." Just then I felt a strange dizziness and fell, my arm dropping lifeless by my side. I knew that I was hit, and I thought mortally wounded. But where was I hit? Was my arm torn off by a shell? No, here that is. Was I shot through the breast? or — yes, here it was — blood was gurgling from my throat. The dear boys rushed to me, laid me on a blanket and bore me off the field. I thought I was mortally wounded; so did they. " Yes, parson," said they, "it's all up with you." The ball had entered my neck, and ranging downward, came out near my spine, paralyzing my arin. How does a man feel under such circumstances? Well, one thing I felt, and that was, that it's a good thing in such an hour to have faith in Christ and love toward all men. I had been in battle but there was not one of the soldiers in the Federal ranks for whom I had any feeling other than love. As we came out Hood's division went in, but it was the caution of the Federals and the cover of the night that saved our army that day from a worse defeat and from capture. THE ANGLE. A WORD FROM GEN. PORTER. •0 '--'a g r— • c» . «■ — ^ a ' o» At the battle of Spottsylvania Court Colonel James McQuade, of the House, called " The Angle," it is claimed 14th New York Volunteers, was the that there were more dead men found only regimental commander of Grif- on the ground than in any other battle fin's brigade who escaped death during of modern times to the same number the Seven Days' Battles on the Penin- of acres. sula. IP BLiCpATER NilYJlL GOpEST. SEPTEMBER 27, 1862. A Brave and Daring Act of the Gallant Commodore, C. W. Flusser. W. F*. DERBY, srth JMass. •^»^NV^xc^^\x\\v^.x\w\\■v\w^ m ENERAL DIX desired the naval forces in the North Carolina waters to co-operate with him in an attack upon the enemy at the Blackwater river, and six o'clock, Sept. 27, 1862, was the hour fixed for the attack. The Commodore Perry, under the gallant com- mander, C. W. Flusser, and the Hunchback, under the " old reliable " Captain Calhoun, were ordered to this duty. General Dix sent to have a later date fixed for the attack, but before his messenger arrived our vessels were far on their way up the Chowan. At six o'clock, our vessels were at the assigned point and fired the signal gun. They cautiously ascended the Black- water until the stream was so narrow that a desperate foe might board them from either bank. Suddenly a musketry fire raked the Perry and cut down her flag. Everything was ready for close action, and for four hours these vessels kept up the unequal contest with grape shrapnel and half-sec- ond shells, hoping each moment to hear the sound of friendly arms to their relief. Twice Commodore Flusser sent forward a man to raise his flag, each of whom fell lifeless at the foot of the flag-staff. He then went and raised it himself amidst a storm of bullets, and returned, his clothes riddled by shot but himself unharmed. He then went to a gunner, saying, "I'll show you how to cut a fuse," and suiting action to his word stooped and cut the fuse close to the shell. As he did so a ball passed over him and pierced his gunner's heart. Their ammunition was running low, and failing to hear from General Dix, they reversed their engines to drop down the (150) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 151 river. Fortunately the two vessels were armed ferry boats and could move with equal facility in either direction, as they could not turn if they would. But a new difficulty now beset them. During the engagement the enemy had felled trees from both banks in the river below, completely obstructing the channel. These men were not the men to be caught in such a trap. Chaining the two steamers stern to stern the engine of the fore- most was stopped, and with a full head of steam at the rear they ploughed their way through the obstruction. Huge guns meantime thundered forth storms of iron in answer to the in- cessant musketry from the shore. These two vessels had been the terror of the North Carolina waters, and now that they were seemingly within their grasp the enemy were determined to make sure of them. The shock of heavy guns answered to shock and the roll of small arms told of the desperate determi- nation of the contestants. At length the vessels reached clear sailing and the sullen enemy quickly retreated from the reach of their guns. It was well done. Just like Flusser! and when any one challenged Captain Calhoun he was sure to get a " Hunchback." e^&^-^l ^^^^ A SOLDIKR'S ORAVK. lONE L. JONES. U RUDE wooden cross 'mid a tangle of grasses — cJ Poverty's tribute of love ; I would that I knew who lies 'neath the wild masses, Swaying in silence above." Then she dropped a white rose 'mid the shadows and masses, And passed with her burden of flowers. Alas ! 'neath the weeds that the fra- grant breeze tosses Sleepeth, thro' sunshine and showers, The form of a soldier, beloved and be- lieving, Borne from the battle field dead ; And the hands ql a maiden whose heart broke with grieving Placed the rude cross at his head. MY ESCAPE FROM THE REBELS. Tale t of ^ Prison-Pen ^ and i Stockade. HOW COLUMBIA, S. C, CAME TO BE BURNED.— TWENTY DAYS WITH SHERMAN'S "BUMMERS." CAPT. IRA B. SAMPSON, 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery. FTER a few weeks' stay at Savannah, the move- ments of General Sherman necessitated the removal of prisoners to a place of greater safety. We were therefore taken to Charleston, S. C, and quarters assigned us at the jail and contiguous yard. We were here within range of the Union guns of Morris Island, and such exposure was a specimen of rebel barbarity seldom paralleled. Toppled steeples and chimneys, yawning house walls and grass-grown streets were graphic witnesses of the effective work of "Gill- more's swamp angels " — or as they were more familiarly called by the prisoners, ''Gillmore's morning reports." For weeks I slept beneath the old gallows within the jail-yard, and though it was grimly suggestive it furnished me protection and comfort others would have been glad to secure. The waning heat of summer brought with it the dreaded scourge, yellow fever. Reaching Columbia at night we lay upon the ground in a soaking rain,— a bath we much enjoyed. The next morning we were removed to " Camp Sorghum," an old cotton field near the Congaree river, a short distance above the city. Having no stockade, it was surrounded with a cordon of guards and equipped with the usual number of blood-hounds, the former with instructions to shoot any one approaching the dead line. (152) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 153 At first our supply of wood was obtained by a loop guard thrown out in the timber, but later a daily parole was substi- tuted. Some broke their parole and endeavored to escape, but most of us were too reduced in strength to make such an at- tempt. There were some 1500 officers confined in the field, liv- ing in holes in the ground and in booths made of sticks and leaves until quite late in the fall, when with the aid of a few axes some rude huts were constructed. Late in December the weather and insufficiency of clothing forced the removal of the camp to a stockade near the city. This inclosed two acres of the state insane asylum grounds and was therefore styled "Asylum camp." Within the inclosure were two buildings used as hospitals. These hospitals were provided with nurses from our numbers while occasional visits of a Confederate surgeon supplied us with a scanty amount of medicines. Our rations were inadequate in quantity and quality. We slept during the day in the sun and walked the camp at night to keep warm. Believing our forces were surely pressing toward us, we ex- pected the enemy would attempt a removal of the prisoners, and hence our leisure moments had been spent in devising " retreats" in which to seclude ourselves when marching orders were received. Lieut. R. B. Sinclair, Co. G, 2d Regt. Mass. heavy artillery, had been acting as nurse in the larger hospital and had his bunk at the front of the second upper hall. Along the front of this building was a piazza wainscoted overhead, and he conceived the idea of hiding between the ceiling and roof. Using a case-knife with notches for a saw a hole was cut dur- ing the nights underneath his bunk into this space. The boards were replaced, the cracks filled with soap, and we waited events. On the night of February 13, 18G5, we received orders to move. Nine of us stowed ourselves within the hiding place, filling it to its utmost capacity. A comrade outside generously re- placed the boards, refilling the cracks with soap and then left us to our fate. Our party now consisted of Major Reynolds, 14th N. Y. artillery, Lieuts. R. B. Sinclair and William Hamil- ton, 2d Mass. heavy artillery, Lieutenants Devine and Byers with three others, now unknown, besides myself. The drums beat, the line was formed, and the prisoners moved out of the pen to the cars and started for North Carolina. This was about one o'clock at night. 154 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. During the rest of the night the rebel guards searched the grounds for prisoners, and in the morning we saw them through the cracks form a line across the camp and march slowly to the other side, testing every inch of its surface with their ramrods and bayonets. Some fifty or more comrades were exhumed, for it was an old trick and fully understood by the rebels. Guards came within the building where we were concealed, searching every nook and corner except where we were, and their conversation showed that we were overlooked. Our quarters allowed no room for movement, and no utterance above a whisper was thought of. The rebel guard withdrew during the night of the 14th. On whispered consultation, we determined to break our seclusion that night before nine o'clock, as citizens at that hour were required to be within their homes. It was scarcely more than eight o'clock when we emerged from our hiding place, and after a reconnoiter it was decided that each man should shift for himself. Entering the deserted grounds, now still as death, our own breath and footfall startled us with a strange nervousness. The entrance was closed, but by the aid of a stick I was enabled to climb the stockade and stand within a sentry-box recently occupied by one of our guards. I could see nothing but the glimmer of lights in the suburbs of the city, and guided by these I soon found myself on a street leading into a thickly settled portion. Having the utmost confidence in the blacks, who had always proved faithful in the protection of escaped prisoners, I deter- mined to throw myself upon their generosity. I found myself near a cabin not far from a city mansion, and thought it must be the servants' quarters. My knock at the door was answered by an old " aunty," who looking at me in astonishment, grasped my hand and, drawing me into the house, exclaimed, " I know you!" The only other occupant was an old colored man, who beckoned me to follow him. He took me to a barn, and from a scaffold I worked my way around two sides of the barn under the hay and made a cozy nest— a safe hiding place— from which I could watch operations without. It is needless to add that I was at once supplied with an abun- dance of food. On the morning of the 16th I found my position to be on the east side of the city and nearly opposite to where the Union army afterwards entered. The day passed. My faithful keepers gave me from time to time the flying rumors BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 155 as to Massa Sherman's whereabouts and supposed intentions. First he was certainly crossing the river above, and then below, "for shure, massa." Out of it all I was certain the blue coats were coming and the hour of deliverance was at hand. There were ominous sounds of hurrying troops and the distant peal and reverberation of cannon, which gathered strength as the day wore away. My strength increased with the boom of the cannon, and for once I found myself thriving on the enemy's misfortunes. The morning of the 17th of February opened with the hasty evacuation and attempt to burn the city of Columbia by the enemy. It was hardly more than ten o'clock before a body of Wheeler's rebel cavalry issued from the city a quarter of a mile distant, firing several buildings, including the railroad depot and warehouses, filled with grain and other stores, and then passed across the fields on the outskirts of the city and disap- peared. There was no chance of a mistake as to who they were or what their intention was in firing the buildings. I was well satisfied that the evacuation had begun. This was some little time before the appearance of General Sherman. My colored friends had been instructed to watch events and bring me the first blue-coat which entered the city. A little before noon I was summoned to appear. Never was order obeyed more eagerly as I jumped from the scaffold and was presented to an officer of one of Iowa's brave regiments. With one bound I was in his arms and beyond that I never knew or felt little responsibility for what happened. I have been told that the prisoners as they met acted more like crazy men than rational beings. In passing into the city it was noticed that the streets were lined with broken bales of cotton, and from the amount con- sumed there was no escape from the conclusion that it must have been fired some time previous to the coming of the Union forces by the rebels before their retreat. It was so stated to me by a number of citizens. The fire from the first had been urged on by a high wind, but during the excitement attending the evacuation of the enemy and occupation by the Union army, little attention had been paid to the progress of the flames. It soon became evident that it would require energetic work to stop the conflagration. The Iowa brigade aided by others battled bravely against its ad- 156 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. vance, but the strong wind carried the burning brands far and wide with destructive effect. It was plain that the fire was be- yond control, and but for the presence of an army of disciplined men there could hardly have been a building left to mark its former site. I never worked harder than that night in saving life and property, and yet it was in sight of the hated stock- ade where but a few hours previous I had been confined as an outlaw. When the morning of the 18th dawned the fire was stayed, but five hundred houses, five churches and a convent lay in ruins. As we were about to leave Columbia, Captain Greble and my- self were invited to look after a party of refugees— ladies and children desiring to go North. We confiscated a family car- riage with a good team and took turns as gallants for three or four days; but this was too monotonous for such ex- citing times, so we secured a colored "brudder" for this duty and joined in the more satisfactory work of Sherman's bum- mers. On reaching Fayetteville, N. C, we found a Union tug-boat which had come up the Cape Fear river to meet our forces. The tug had met with considerable opposition in ascending the river. I offered my services as artillerist to take charge of the guns on the return to Wilmington. Bidding adieu to my com- rades and an army unequaled for endurance and bravery, the tug turned its prow down the river, reaching Wilmington in a single night without opposition. A few days later I reported at Washington and received thirty days' leave of absence for having made "an escape." Not many hours later I rejoined the loved ones at home in "God's country." BAND OK HEROKS. flHE most remarkable instance, per- and Chaplain Newhall, of General Mi^ haps, of a small band of heroes, Mcintosh's staff. a| ''^^ successfully opposing a vastly su- This little band were every one ■**■ perior force, occurred at the very close killed or disabled, but they succeeded of the battle of Gettysburg. "The in delaying the enemy nntil General enemy were temporarily checked," says Custer came up with the 7th Michigan General Doubleday in his history of regiment." The gallant Treichel (now the battle, "by a desperate charge on Colonel) still lives, and is the effi- their flanks made by only sixteen men cient auditor of the New York Custom under Captains Treichel and Rogers, House. DECENIBER, 1862. HOW IT WAS DONE.-A GREAT SURPRISE, N December, 1862, six companies of the Mass. 27th, under Maj. W. G. Bartholomew, were the garrison of Plymouth, N. C. Learning the whereabouts of a de- tachment of Walker's Cavalry Rangers, Lieutenant Pliny Wood, with three non-commissioned officers and twenty privates, left Plymouth at night for " up country." In spite of darkness, rain, and snags, they toiled up the river and through branches and creeks until three o'clock in the morning of the 21st, when they had made a distance of twenty-five miles. After landing, they marched four and a half miles through woods and swamps to the Williamston road, a mile above, and to the rear of Shiloh church, where the "rangers" were quartered. After a full understanding of what was to be done, Lieutenant Wood divided his force into four squads and advanced, a squad taking position upon each side of the church. It was gray of dawn and quite difficult to distinguish objects. Lieutenant Wood now shouted, " First Division, halt! Front! Ready!" which was responded to on the other sides of the church. "Second, Third and Fourth Divisions, halt! Front! Ready!" Lieutenant Wood's squad marched to the front door and in the name of General Wood demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender. Sixteen men came out and surren- dered, while the other squads came up and secured their arms and the horses tethered close by. At length the rebel sergeant asked, "Wherein h — 1 are you uns mens?" and when told to " see them " angrily exclaimed: " Is that all? If we had known that, you uns would have had a merry fight, by ; but you (157) 158 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. uns ain't got the pickets yet." The countersign was extorted from one of the prisoners, when a detail was made to relieve the pickets, and soon after the detail returned with four addi- tional prisoners and their horses. The party arrived at Ply- mouth about noon with twenty prisoners and their arms and equipments, twenty-five horses, twelve mules, and forty con- trabands; all without the firing of a gun. ANIKRICA'S ANSWBR. H. BERNARD CARPENTER. 1861-1885. /OW twice twelve years ago, When we, thro' fields of woe, Weeping, went forth to sow Our blood's bright seed, We cried to the old-world land: " These fresh wounds crave your hand ; Help us to balm and band In our sore need." Then back their message ran : " Renounce your cloud-born plan, Deeming that man with man Can live thus free ; Unbind your lictor's rod, Teach old disdain to nod. Throne custom for your God And — live as WE." Those twice twelve years are gone, War's harvest work is done, All our stars sing as one From sea to sea, While far across the main Their skies grow black with rain. Where the old world cries in pain, "Your help need we." Back flies our answering word : " Free your soil, sheathe your sword. Live ye in love's accord As men ; be free ; Be one — till peace creates, High above gods and fates, A World's United States, And— live as WE." BATTERY D. iO »■ B(5 • 0. The most daring and desperate act of the war by any battery has been credited by both Union and Confederate authoi'- ity to Battery D, 5th U. S. Artillery, Lieut. Ritterhouse, and occurred at the battle of Spottsylvania, May 13, 1864. GREATEST NUMBER OF BATTLES. .0 "■ — ' S'S: — ' o. The 85th Pennsylvania participated in a gi-eater number of battles (up to Nov., 1864,) than any other regiment in the 5th Corps. It took part in twenty-five, next came the 1st Michigan, twenty-four, and then the 16th Michigan, twenty-two. Cupture of Fort HindmDn, lihm^ Post. A DESPERATE ARTILLERY DUEL A BRILLIANT SUCCESS FOR THE FEDERAL ARMY. JANUARY 11, 1863. JOHN W. FRY, Company H, 42d Ohio. CTANUARY 11 was 2A such a day as in the •L/ latitude of Ohio comes sometimes to break the gloom of No- vember. The Confeder- ate reveille was blown, clear and shrill, at dawn. The Federal bugles took up the strain, and the eventful day was opened with as tuneful a morning call as ever woke an army to battle. The rebels were at their posts as soon as the growing light made their position visible. Through the center of the isthmus of solid ground, between the swamp and the river, upon which Fort Hindman and the earthworks were built, ran a road. Sherman's corps was ordered to take the right of this, Morgan's corps the left. Admiral Porter with the gunboats was to assail the fort from the river, while the troops should drive the rebels into the forti- fications and carry the works by storm. DeCourcy's brigade was early astir. It had lost more than a third of its numbers at Chickasaw bayou, and General Morgan decided to hold it in reserve that day. General Morgan, with the remainder of his corps, pushed up to the front. He had A. J. Smith's division of two brigades, and Lightburn's brigade of Osterhaus's divis- ion, the other brigade of Osterhaus's division (DeCourcy's) being left to watch the White River road and guard the boats. (159) 160 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. Smith's division was on Morgan's right, joining the left of Sherman's corps, and to the left of Smith, Lindsay, whose line reached to the river. McClernand felt sure of his game and did not force the fighting. He could afford to take the fort scientifically and spare his men. It was preferable to disable the casemate guns, and give the garrison a healthful morning's work before making the assault. All being ready at eleven o'clock, the gunboats engaged the fort at short range. They fired rapidly and with such effect that before noon the nine-inch barbette gun was split and broken away nearly back to the trunnions. Two twenty-pounder Parrotts of Foster's battery were run up behind a large sycamore log on the river bank, three hundred yards from the fort, and sent shells into the em- brasures of the casemates. These two guns were fired with the deliberate accuracy of a sharpshooter, and dismounted and cap- sized a twelve-pounder iron gun during the morning. The other batteries of Morgan and Sherman engaged the field guns behind the parapet, and after a sharp duel, pretty effectually silenced them. An hour of sharp fighting drove the enemy within his works. The assailants were so near also that no further advance could be made without a direct assault. The gunboats were directly under the fort — so near, in fact, that they actually passed and opened a reverse fire upon it. Gen- eral Sherman extended his attack so far around to the right that his line was weakened on the left, and he called for re-en- forcements. Morgan sent him three regiments of Smith's divi- sion, and dispatched a courier to bring up DeCourcy. This veteran brigade on receiving the summons hurried forward and was soon to the front. It was put between Lindsay's brigade and Smith's division. While this was taking place a fierce artillery fire opened from the point across the river. At first it was thought to be a hostile re-enforcement from Little Rock; and Lindsay's guns were trained upon it; but just as they were about to fire, it was discovered that their guns were firing into the fort and along its west front, enfilading the rebel out- works with terrible effect. It was Foster, who had been sent above the night before to intercept any re-enforcements from up the river, and who, after watching the battle some hours, had come down on his own responsibility to take a hand in the finish. His fire set fire to buildings hitherto sheltered by the fort, swept the plain in its rear, and hastened the surrender. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 161 DeCourcy's assaulting column moved rapidly forward through the brush across the open space in front of the works. The fire that met this advance was vigorous and rapid, but the enemy aimed wildly. They saw the storming column coming from all directions, and knew that further resistance was useless. Suddenly a white flag was run up at the northeastern angle of the fort. The firing suddenly ceased, and DeCourcy's men be- gan to cheer. Then the white fiag was pulled down, and a thin scattering volley sputtered along the rebel line. The flag had been unauthorized. The whole Federal line poured in a final broadside, and this proved the finishing stroke of that day's work. Instantly the signals of surrender appeared all along the enemy's line. White handkerchiefs, tufts of cotton, and gray hats were held up on ramrods and bayonets from behind their parapet. The command "Cease firing! " was given, and in a moment all was hushed excepting a few irregular shots far round to the right. The rebels stood up behind their works, and the victorious army gave round after round of such cheers as we hear but once in a lifetime. Five thousand men, with all that was left of the fort and its armament, were unconditionally surrendered after a gallant re- sistance against overwhelming numbers. Soon after dusk, when everything had become quiet, two Confederate regiments, a re-enforcement from Pine Bluff, came marching in and found themselves prisoners of war. They piled their guns and were marched to the river bank, venting their wrath, meanwhile, in the hard and picturesque swearing for which Texas civiliza- tion is distinguished. UNION PRESERVED. FIRST CHECK DRAWN. !|ffIRST order that the Union must and TJP'HE first check drawn to send troops sliall be preserved. — It was in 1833 forward in defense of tire Union that President AndreV Jackson issued in 1861 was given by Hon. Edward the memorable order, " The Union — It Learned, of Greenfield, Mass. Mr. Must and Shall be Preserved"; and it Learned was at the time visiting the was Admiral Farragut who was sent to Chamber of Commerce of New York, South Carolina by the President to sup- and it was while there that his check port his mandate. for one thousand dollars was given. U THE BATTLE OF IRISH BEND. UP THE TECHE WITH GEJVEBAL BANKS. SHARP FIGHTING, WITH SUNDRY PERSONAL EPISODES OF THE CAMPAIGN. APRIL 14, 1863. Prof. H. M. WHITNEY, Beloit, Wis., Sergeant- Major S2d Mass. Volunteers. Before them Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya. On the banks of the Teche are the towns of St. Maur and St. Martin. . Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit-trees. •. . They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana. — [Evangeline — Part IL, section 3. 0-DAY, April 14, amends are to be made, for the time lost. Miserably wet, weary, and hungry, we throng the road, and stop only to find ourselves the reserve and "^ spectators in a sharp action that has already begun. A bullet occasionally reaches here and hits a man. The enemy are strongly posted in dense woods and cane-brake before us, and pro- tected by a fence, while our men have to charge across rough open corn-fields for half a mile. With faculties benumbed by the hardships of the past few days, we try to make out what is going on. It soon appears that the 3d Brigade are trying to dislodge the enemy from the woods. The Texas sharpshooters, of whose marksmanship we had so uncomfortable an experience before Port Hudson the following June, would seem to be represented here, for the loss is heavy among the officers; the 159th N. Y. loses its colonel, its lieutenant-colonel, its adjutant and other officers. A lieutenant of the 25th Conn., after having a bullet through his blouse and another through his cap, takes a (162) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 163 wounded man upon his back to carry him to the field-hospital, but lays him down again because another bullet has struck the poor fellow, inflicting a second and mortal wound. The firing on both sides is sharp and continuous, with frequent yelps from the field-pieces throwing shells over the 3d Brigade into the edge of the woods. The surgeons choose their location at a neighboring sugar-house, and are soon at work — you can tell where, by the direction taken by those who carry the wounded, perhaps dying, men. Some limp unaided in the same direction, their heads bleeding, or their clothes dripping blood. Now you hear a sudden crash of musketry; the enemy saved their fire till a body of our men almost reached them, and then mowed them down, as the British were served at Bunker Hill. Rebel prisoners in considerable numbers are marched to the rear or stay to identify their dead. The 3d Brigade seemed to be spent; in that little time they have lost 320 men. They are withdrawn, and the 1st Brigade takes the brunt of the action. The 2d Brigade essays to protect their right flank and does so; but the 52d gets tangled in a tall, thick, and thorny blackberry hedge that no Confederate force could pass, and sheds more blood in that way than in fighting with men. They are about to follow the 1st Brigade into action, when the firing slackens. The enemy have attained their object of protecting the fiank of their main army, which is now in full retreat before Emory and Weitzel; so they give way before us and are gone. Our cavalry pursues them; the artillery whip after them and shell them; the infantry remain for that dreadful gleaning which has to follow so stiff a fight. Explosion after explosion is heard, near and far, as the rebels blow up their fieet on the Teche; the Newsboy, the Gossamer, the Era No. 2, and the gun-boat Diana are burned in this part of the Teche; the Cornie, a most valuable boat, is captured full of wounded men. Later, near New Iberia, four transports and the gunboat Hart are burned and the Cricket is sunk further up. Immense stores of food and ammunition are destroyed. Our little battle is known among the men as "Irish Bend," It does not make much of a figure in history because only a division was present and not all of that fully engaged, but it was sharp, obstinate, and bloody, was skillfully handled, and was as truly a battle as Gettysburg or Shiloh. The enemy were com- manded by "Dick" Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor. TV^HAT TV^AS It? A «WONDERFUL*MYSTERY* UNEXPLAINED. By CAPT. J. W. DENNY, 25th Mass. jN marching to Bache- lor's Creek the col- ^^ umn was halted a short time for a rest. It was far beyond the hour of mid- night, and therefore, the wonted time had passed when churchyards are supposed to be haunted by all sorts of spirits, and the air is said to be filled with the harmonious music of the spheres. It is not to be supposed that the men forming the 25th Mass., edu- cated as they were in the schools of Nev/ England, and possessing all the general in- telligence marking the New England character, had gone down to North Carolina to be frightened by ghosts, owls, or live rebels, or that they would be inclined to believe in stories about ghosts, fairies, witches, and apparitions. We say this while we well remember that so great a poet as Robert Burns said," Though no one can be more skeptical than I am in such matters, yet it often takes an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle fears." But if poor Betty Davison had con- centrated all her ghost stories upon the 25th Mass. Regt., as it was halted in the woods upon the darkest of nights, the terror could not have exceeded that occasioned by the swift passage of the apparition, the phantom rider, the frightened deer, or whatever else it was or might be supposed to be. Briefly, while the battalion stood halted in the road, some- thing struck the flank of Co. K, which had the advance. It came like the rushing of a mighty wind, and, suddenly, the regiment opened to the right and left, and just as sud- denly the men were heaped in either ditch, without any order or regard to rank — captains (164) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 165 and lieutenants, sergeants and corporals, men of the front rank and men of the rear rank, indiscriminately piled to- gether like the pying of a printer's form, while each man's hair upon his head stood erect like quills upon a fretted porcupine. The 46th Mass. Regt., which followed at the time, met the same experi- ence. "^ *->$'^ fI(^-*^-V ^ A COMRADE'S MOTHER'S SONG. ENEATH the hot midsummer ' sun <^ The men had marched all day ; And now beside a rippling stream Upon the grass they lay. Tiring of games and idle jests, A^ swept the hours along, They called to one who mused apart, " Come, friend, give us a song." " I fear I cannot please," he said ; " The only songs I know Are those my mother used to sing For me long years ago." " Sing one of those," a rough voice cried, " There's none but true men here ; To every mother's son of us A mother's songs are dear." Then sweetly rose the singer's voice Amid unwonted calm, "Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb ? "And shall I fear to own his cause — " The very stream was stilled, And hearts that never throbbed with fear With tender thouo-hts were filled. Ended the song, the singer said. As to his feet he rose, " Thanks to you all, my friends, good night, God grant us sweet repose." " Sing us some more," the captain begged, The soldier bowed his head, Then glancing 'round with smiling lip:*, " You'll join with me," he said. "We'll sing that old familiar air, Sweet as the bugle call, 'All hail the power of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall.' " Ah ! wondrous was the old tune's spell As on the singer sang ; Man after man fell into line. And loud the voices rang. The songs are done, the camp is still, Naught but the stream is heard ; But ah ! the depths of every soul By those old hymns are stirred. And up from many a bearded lip, In whispers soft and low, Rises the prayer the mother taught The boy long years ago. TllE STOPING OF MARIE'S \im^ A Tornado of Shot and Shell. QALIvANT SCENKS OK HEROISM. LIVING WALLS SINK BENEATH THE TEBBIBLE FIBE. A DESPERATE STRUGGLE.— A GRAND VICTORY. MAY 3, 1863. H. H. BOWLES, Co. C, 6tli Regiment Maine Volunteers. ^\X\\XX\X\\V^VX\\X\\X\S>NNX\\X\\X\\X\NV\\X\N'VVCV\ E = 5;lliiii= X\\X\\X\\X\\X\\X\\X\\XXNXNNX\\X\\X\\XX\X\\X\\X\VX lURING the winter of 1863 there was organized in the Gth Corps what was known as the "light brigade." It was composed of the Gth Me., 5th Wis., 31st and 43d N. Y., and 61st Penn. — all volunteer regiments. These regiments were put under the command of Brig. -Gen. C. L. Pratt, of New York. Their badge was a "green cross," worn upon the cap. On the afternoon of April 29 it was under- stood that we were soon to move, and that evening we broke camp and started for the Rappahannock river. All night long we made pack mules of ourselves, lugging pontoons down to the river, and so quietly was this done, that when we had launched the pontoons no intimation of our doings had reached the enemy across the river. A detachment of our regiment and details from other regiments were ferried across, and captured the rebel pickets on the south bank of the river before they knew what was up. This was about two miles below the city of Fredericksburg. The next morning. May 3, dawned bright and clear, and the thunder of guns told us the battle was on. Our heavy batteries on Stafford Heights commenced shelling the rebel works in a steady and deliberate manner, and, ever and (166) BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 167 anon, shells burst within our own lines. The light brigade marched, by the right flank, up the river and took position di- rectly in the rear of the city, and under Marye's Heights. To the surprise of all, came the news that General Pratt had re- signed and the command of the light brigade had devolved upon Col. Hiram Burnham, of the 6th Me., and that we were soon to assault the heights. Everything was got in read- iness, and that calm which precedes a storm rested for a few moments over the scene. The brigade was formed, as my memory serves me, 5th Wis., Colonel Allen, in advance, with five companies of this regiment as a double line of skirmishers; following the 5th Wis. came the 6th Me., under command of Lieut.-Col. B. F. Harris; on the right was, if I mistake not, the 43d N. Y., and the 31st N. Y., while farther to the right was the 61st Penn., Colonel Spear. Between ten and eleven o'clock the order was given to advance. The gallant Burnham, dis- daining the bugle call, rode down the line, and in stentorian voice gave the order: "Forward!" The command of Colonel Harris to the 6th Me. was: " Boys, we're going to charge those heights yonder, and we're going to take them, too. Arms aport, double quick, march!" And no grander sight was ever seen in the battles of the Army of the Potomac. Steadily the lines swept on over the beautiful green grass, soon to be reddened with the blood of so many of my comrades. The shot and shell flew like missiles from a tornado. The grape and canister hurled through the ranks, cutting great gaps in the living walls. Orders were: "Close up; steady, boys!" and the next time another voice gave the command. A case-shot or shrapnel had exploded at the head of the 6 1st Penn. regiment, killing Colonel Spear and fifteen men, and for a time throwing the regiment into confusion. We were now on the very ground where the brave Meagher and his noble Irishmen were so fearfully cut up on December 13, 1862. Of the 6th Me., Major Haycock had fallen, shot through the heart, and Captains Gray, Young, Ballenger, Buck, and Roach were down. We had reached the first line of rifle-pits, and the 6th Me. and the 5th Wis. wildly broke over the rifle-pits, carrying all before them, the rebels in this line throwing down their arms and marching to the rear. A few rods further on, just at the foot of the hill, we came to the second line of rifle-pits. Here the fighting was desperate. The Johnnies would not yield a 168 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. foot of ground, and our boys would not turn back. Our line was intact and firm. Although nearly every commissioned officer was killed or wounded, and companies were commanded by sergeants and corporals, the best of discipline prevailed, and the men fought with the courage of despair, maddened by their heavy loss, and the perfidy of the rebels who had surrendered in the first line, and, seeing us temporarily checked, attempted to shoot us from the rear. Men became fiends. The lumber men of Maine and Wisconsin, who had handled pick and spike all their lives on the rivers and log-jams, used their guns in the same manner, Mike Carey, a stalwart Irishman from the town of Topsfield, Me., when he saw the Johnnies breaking, cried out: " Hang Palfrey, boys! hang! boom 'em, damn 'em! boom 'em!" and jumping upon the earthworks he kicked a giant Confederate to the ground and drove his bayonet to the hilt in his breast. Corporal Brown used his gun as a club, and, like a mad demon, brained five men. A wiry little Frenchman, Willet by name, bayoneted man after man, and when implored by a rebel to spare him, for God's sake, cried: " Me know no God; you kill me, me kill 3'ou!" And above all this bellowed the guns above our heads, so near now that they could do but little harm. The line swept on, and now up the steep hill and over the escarpment of the stone wall pell-mell. Sergeant Gray, the color sergeant of the 6th, was knocked down and the colors badly shattered and torn. Sergeant Hill, of Co. C, Gth Me., grasped the flag, and springing upon the parapet just as a can- non was discharged, the smoke of which blackened his face, planted the standard firmly in the earth, and the stars and stripes floated gloriously from Marye's Heights, and the day was won. The Washington Battery was captured, and in our immediate front seven hundred men of Barksdale's brigade. The courage and heroism of the 5th Wisconsin in this action was not surpassed by that of any regiment in the field. Colo- nel Allen, badly wounded in the hand, fought like a tiger. Springing through an embrasure, sword in hand, he sabered a gunner at his post and mounted the gun in triumph. The other regiments in the brigade did equally well; and I must not pass by unmentioned the 7th Mass. on our right, under command of the heroic Colonel Johns, who led his men so well. The loss of the Gth Me. was one hundred and thirty-five officers and men, BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 169 and that of the 5th Wis. about the same. Colonel Burnham, Colonel Allen, and Lieutenant-Colonel Harris went with their men up the heights, and were among the first to enter the enemy's works. Comrades, this was the storming of Marye's Heights as I saw it. All honor to you of the 7th Mass., and the Green Mountain boys on our left; but bear in mind tliis fact: The 6th Me. flag was the first one planted upon the Heights of St. Marye. OUR BRAVKS. By COL. CHAS. CLARKE. {Mzisic, Keller''! American Hymn.) LEST be the ground where our Valiant the heroes of our army grand ! braves are at rest, Comrades, advance and make sacred Honored each shrine where our this rite, martyrs repose. Twine your fresh laurel wreaths over On through the ages to come shall be the land, bless'd. Hallow this day charg'd with mem'ries Those who defended our land from its so bright. foes ; Guarded our land from its traitorous foes. Bless thou our nation, thou God of the Comrades, advance in the East and the free, West ! Vouchsafe that liberty our Fathers Scatter fresh garlands where martyrs gave ; repose, Guard thou our country from sea unto Plant the old flag where our braves are sea — at rest ! Soil which our heroes long struggled to save, Blest be this day bringing mem'ries so Land of our sires, and redeemed by the bright, brave. Throughout the length and the breadth Comrades, this trust keep for millions of our land. to be. Stout were these hearts who fought Ages to come will remember each stern for the right, grave, Brave were the deeds of this strong Cost of our nation so dear, yet so patriot band. free ! BATTUE eF RAYfflONB. MAY 12, 1863. How Gregg's Brigade Fought the Advance of Grant's Army in Mississippi. By WILLIAM E. CUNNINGHAM, Captain Company F, 41st Tennessee. ^y $ '^ ' '^* ""he morning of December 11, 1863, was bright and pleasant. Our men after a march of two hundred miles from Port Hudson, La., were scattered about our camp one mile north of Jackson, Miss. Our march had been tedious, as Grierson's raid a short time before had played sad havoc with the railroad to New Orleans, leaving nothing for fifty miles but the hacked road-bed. The men were in groups about camp or enjoying a cool plunge in the waters of Pearl river, which ran close by. Many were the surmises as to our destination and as to the ob- ject of our march. Many an eye gleamed and brightened as some comrade ventured the prophecy that we were bound for Tennessee, for, with one exception, our brigade was composed of Tennessee regiments. These surmises were cut short by the sharp bugle blast which sounded the assembly. In a few min- utes we were ready, and a short march brought us to a hill overlooking Jackson. Halting to form, we began the march through the city. The 41st Tenn., Colonel Farquhasson, was followed by the 3d Tenn., Colonel Walker; then came the 10th Tenn. (Irish). Colonel McGavock; the 30th, Colonel Head; the 50th, Colonel Sugg; and the 1st Tenn. Battery, Major Combs. The rear was brought up by Colonel Granbury, 7th Tex., all (170) ' BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 171 under command of that lamented soldier and gentleman, Gen- eral John Gregg, of Texas. As we moved down the wide road to the strains of "The Girl I Left Behind Me," I glanced back with a feeling of pride in the splendid array of gallant men, nearly all of whom I knew personally or by regiment. The streets and windows were crowded as we marched along, until we passed the depot and took the Raymond road. Raymond is the county seat, although Jackson is the state capital, both being in the same county. We soon met straggling cavalry, who stopped long enough to tell us of a cavalry raid up from Grand Gulf. We had been itching for a fight and could not have been suited better than to meet the raiders. The country was green with growing grain and presented a peaceful, happy, and contented appearance. The citizens met us kindly and wonderingly. No sound of strife had yet reached that retired spot. Early on the morning of the 12th, the town was overrun with soldiers, having what we called a " high old time." In the midst of fun and feasting the long roll sounded and every man answered promptly. As General Gregg moved through the town, hundreds of people eagerly watched him, little dreaming of the carnage so soon to follow. He formed his command with the right, composed of the 41st Tenn., overlook- ing the Edwards depot road, and at intervals of fifty or one hundred yards successively, with Captain Graves' three-gun battery in the center, on the Grand Gulf road. This battery was supported by the 10th. We were expecting nothing but cavalry, which we felt we could whip. Skirmishers were ad- vanced in the thick black copse, and almost instantly the quiet was broken by the crack of the rifle, answered by the first big gun in our center. Suddenly the sound of the skirmisher's rifle was lost in the roar of musketry, while our three pieces belched defiance at the six gun battery of the enemy on the hill opposite. The force of the enemy was developed suddenly, for from right to left along our front of a mile, the battle opened at close range. At this junction, Colonel McGavock advanced to charge the battery, supported by the 3d. We all saw him as with gallant bearing he led his men forward, capturing four guns. This , was as gallant a charge as was ever made against terrible odds. In the moment of success, McGavock fell, shot through the heart. Major Grace took command only to fall from a severe 172 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. wound. The fighting around the battery was bloody in the ex- treme. The 3d moved up in support, and in ten minutes 190 of the 500 men, comprising their number, were killed or wounded. By this time the battle along the whole line was raging with incredible fury. At the one hundred and thirteenth round one of Bledsoe's guns burst. Still we held our ground and had pos- session of the captured guns. General Gregg believed that we had encountered something heavier than cavalry, and by ex- amining captured prisoners found that they represented eight- een different regiments. A whole corps was in our front. There was a choice of two things left us — to retreat in the face of such numbers or to wait until we were entirely surrounded. He decided upon a retreat and this we accomplished success- fully, even moving our shattered guns to Mississippi Springs, six miles from the battle-field, where we bivouacked for the night. On our retreat through Rajanond, we saw ladies with quilts and bandages tenderly caring for our wounded. They would not leave even after the enemy's shells were flying and crashing through the streets and houses. Mournfully we took up our line of retreat, carrying off our slightly wounded pris- oners to the number of 280. With GOOO men, Gregg had met the advance of Grant's army and had resisted him in a regular battle of eight hours. Our loss was over ten per cent., or 650 men killed and wounded. The history of the war furnishes few instances where the heroic gallantry of Southern soldiers showed to better advantage. After the lapse of years, the memory of Raymond, fought by a single brigade of Confederates against fearful odds, stands out as one of the most remarkable and hard fought battles of the war. Not one of the regimental commanders are now alive, and Gregg himself fought his last fight in front of Petersburg and sleeps with the rest. This fight proved to be the second act in Pemberton's grand drama of the " Fall of Vicksburg." In the Wilderness. — The battle of Remarkable Record. — Company H, the Wilderness was brought on by Gen- 4th Wisconsin, numbering nearly two eral Griffin advancing two brigades, hundred men, served for five years, and Ayres's and Bartlett's, and those two only lost three men by disease, a record brigades first grappled with the brigade said by the Surgeon-General to be with- of rebels under General Heath. out parallel in this or any other war. The Episode of Patrick Connolly. By REV. JOHN F. MOORS, 52d Massachusetts Regiment. FTER we had been in "^^ camp several weeks at Baton Rouge, and had N(^xy received several mails from home, I saw a little Irish fellow, Pat Connolly, looking sad and disconsolate, while the others were reading their freshly received letters. I asked him if he had not re- ceived any letters. He replied: '' No. There is no one to write to me. I never had a letter in my life." " Have you no rela- tives?" I asked. "No," he said, " not one." I learned his story, and took care ever after- ward to have a kind word for him whenever I met him, which he repaid with the af- fection of a warm and gener- ous nature. If when on guard or picket he was able to secure a canteen of milk or some fresh eggs, he was careful to see that the chaplain had a share. On the night after the battle at Irish Bend I secured a length of rail fence for my own use, while the rest was speedily turned into kindling- wood, to cook the coffee. I took off the top rails and laid them over the bottom ones to secure a shelter for the night. When thus employed Pat came up and said he was looking for me, as he had heard I was sick and without any blanket. I was a good deal used up, and my blanket and horse had been left behind and would not be up for a day or two. Pat at once offered to share his blanket with me. I declined, as kindly as I could. Pat was not neat, and I knew that if I accepted his offer to share his blanket, I should have more bed-fellows than I wanted. As I crawled from under the rails next morning, Pat stood by, waiting to offer to carry my haversack. He had his own gun, cartridge-box, knapsack, and haversack to carry. I (173) 174 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. told him we were to have a forced march that day and he must look out for himself. I had nothing but my empty haversack. It was a hard march. At night our horses came up, and I had a blanket to wrap about me as we lay in an open field. The next day I found Pat, as our straggling line made its way over the broad plains of western Louisiana. He had confiscated a horse, which he was leading by a rope; too un- selfish to ride, he had piled as many knapsacks of Co. B men as he could upon the horse, and thus relieved the tired and footsore men of a portion of their burden. At night Pat's horse and the chaplain's were tied side by side, and shared their rations between them, Pat close by as guard to both. The next day came an order to have all confiscated horses turned over to the quar- termaster. I was eager to save Pat's horse for the good he was doing the company in carry- ing their knapsacks. While I was meditating how we could save the horse, the quarter- master rode up and ordered the knapsacks off, and the horse turned over to him. Some one near me called out, "That is the lieutenant- colonel's horse, sir." "Well, let him go then," replied the quartermaster. It was a stretch of the truth, but it was not the only time the truth was stretched all it would bear dur- ing the war. Pat kept his horse through all that long march, and then turned him over to the quartermaster. All went well with Pat till the siege of Port Hudson. On the day before the assault of the 14th of June, Pat was made happy by the arrival of two letters which I had caused to be written to him. one by my wife. He showed them to me with great delight. He passed unscathed through the fierce battle of June 14. The next day as he lay behind a log, near the enemy's works, he thought he saw a head he could hit; he fired, and, in the excitement, popped up his own head to see if he had "hit. A dozen bullets flew at him and one struck him in the forehead and killed him instantly. The following night two men crept in to where the body lay. They found in his pockets the cher- ished letters. That was all. They threw a few shovels of earth over the dead body, and that was the last of the good- natured, affectionate, unself- ish, friendless Irish boy, Pat Connolly. There was no one at home to mourn his death. I shall always cherish his mem- ory with tender affection. A SUROKON'S FIRST AND LAST SIGHT OF A BEAUTIFUL SILKEN BANNER. A ^ Braye * Lover * Buried ^ with * tbe ^i^ Flag ^^ Upon * His * Breast. JITLY 4, 1863. DR. H. L. RUSSELL, Surgeon Alabama Regiment. . -^^T^^^. OLONEL ALTON," said a fair young Alabama lady, ' 'in behalf of the ladies of this village and vicinity, allow me to present to the regiment, through you, this silken emblem of our country, made by our own hands, a fitting tribute to the valor displayed in the uprising of the regi- ment to protect our homes." "Ladies," responded the colonel, " in behalf of the regiment I thank you. Trust me, the flag will be held sacred by us all, and we will protect it with our lives, ever looking forward hopefully to the time when, our mission accomplished, we can with honor bring it back again to Alabama." " Now," said the colonel, "who among us considers this flag worth his life and will volunteer to carry it?" It seemed as if there was a forward movement of the whole regiment, but like a flash of light, in front of all stepped a young man, the finest type of Southern manly beauty that I ever saw. " Colonel Alton," he exclaimed, " let me carry the flag." The young lady stepped quickly forward and touched the colonel lightly on the arm. "Please let Louis have it," she pleaded; "I know he will be worthy of the trust." " Well, so be it," replied the colonel, as taking Louis Peyton's musket he returned in its place the staff of the beautiful banner. Engagement followed engagement, but no man looked in vain for his colors. Always at the front, cool and determined, stood our color-bearer, and as one after another of the color- (175) 176 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. guard were brought back I began to think that Louis Peyton bore a charmed hfe. July 4, 1863. What a day for history! Vicksburg, Gettys- burg, Helena, the first of a downward grade of disaster, the end of which was Appomattox. It was extremely necessary, owing to the fact that Vicksburg and Port Hudson were doomed, that some other point on the Mississippi should be held by the Confederates or else the Confederacy would be cut in twain. So we were marching to attack Helena, a fortified position on the west bank of the Mississippi, held by about 4,500 Federals under General Prentiss, while the Confederate commands un- der Generals Price and Holmes were considerably above that number. Anticipating an easy victory, as our scouts had re- ported the river free from gunboats, we pressed close to the Federal position on the night of the 3d, and at daybreak, the 4th, commenced the attack. A fog had formed in the night, shutting the river from our view, but it gradually disappeared, and we beheld upon the stream one of our most powerful enemies, the famous gunboat Taylor, whose terrible rain of shot and shell forced the Confed- erate reserves froin the field, and destroyed Beauregard's great charge in the first day's fight at Shiloh. She roared this day, and every roar of her guns meant death in our ranks ; 650 shots in two hours and a half she poured into the ranks of the gray. Neither iron nor steel, let alone flesh and blood, could stand that terrible fire. . After several unsuccessful attempts to hold captured posi- tions on the left, my regiment, with others, were ordered to charge a battery situated upon a hill, the key of the Federal position, in hopes to turn the guns against the boat. The men advanced quickly out on the grassy clearing, which sloped gently downward into a narrow valley, then rose again to the battery. As with wild cheers they went, the fire of every available point was brought to bear upon them. Boom! boom! whiz-z, bl-bloop, the terrible shells from the gunboat tear through the ranks of gray, but still they go on. The air is filled with shrapnel from bursting shells. The gunboat's sides fairly blaze with fire; still the gray ranks waver not. They have reached the valley, are ascending the hill; once within the BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 177 battery they are secure from the gunboat's shells, and they press grimly on. I watched the scene with fearful interest, and noted how steadily the colors moved, and I thought of Louis Peyton, and felt grateful that his anxious lover in Alabama could not see him there. A moment more and I beheld him at the parapet, and in spite of all the endeavors to prevent it I saw the colors pass over the wall, and then there came to my ears the curses, yells, and cheers of a hand-to-hand fight. I noticed the Stars and Stripes fall to the ground, but only for a moment. Through the rift of smoke I saw it again held aloft by its brave defenders, who rallied around their beautiful banner and fought on. A regiment of Federal cavalry, stationed close to the river, dismounted and leaving their horses to the care of a few, started up a steep, narrow path, leading to the battery, and with surprising coolness entered the battery, and were soon engaged in the death grapple. It was but a few moments until the Confederates broke over the parapet in retreat. As the mass reached the open space again, I saw the colors of our regiment, but in an instant they vanished. Boom, boom, boom, the terrible shells crash through struggling mass of gray, and in the intervals between the bursting of the shells I heard the bursting of the grapeshot and saw the dead fall in windrows, obstructing the living. In that terrible scene our colors re- appeared for an instant and then went down. In the maddening rush that followed I was carried from the field. Being in the rear, I soon found myself a prisoner to the Fed- eral cavalry, and in looking up to the officer, was agreeably surprised to hear my name spoken, and to recognize an old college friend. A quick grasp of the hand, a few kind words, and I started for the Federal lines under escort. I asked per- mission to go upon the field to assist in alleviating the suffer- ing of the wounded, which request was granted. With little difficulty I reached the " Valley of Death," finding to my in- tense satisfaction a number of Confederate surgeons, like my- self, bent on aiding suffering humanity. Stumbling along, looking for those to help, I heard my name called by a brother surgeon. I hastened to his side. "Here is your color-bearer!" he exclaimed, pointing to a prostrate form, which I instantly recognized as Louis Peyton. 178 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. But what a change! The silken flag he had so proudly carried lay upon his hreast, torn into such small strips a finger would cover any one of them. A burly dead Confederate soldier lay across his limbs, which we found were both shattered by grape- shot. A quick examination revealed a slight movement of the heart, and quick as thought I put my brandy flask to his lips. His eyes opened, slowly, wearily; looking at me the old light seemed to spring to their orbits again. He struggled to speak, and bending low I listened. " Doc— Doc — the colors — Doc," he hoarsely whispered. "Yes, Louis, the colors are here," I replied. " Don't— let— them— take it— Doc." " No, Louis, they will not take it," I answered. " I — tore it — Doc — tell— the girls — that — I — I — " and with a smile he closed his eyes on this world, and the grim ranks of death had taken in our color-bearer. In a short time I found my friend, the Federal officer, and taking him to the body, I told him the story of the flag. Leav- ing me abruptly, he soon returned with a burial party, and although they were burying the Confederate dead in the trenches, they gave our color-bearer single burial, leaving his flag upon his breast as they found it, excepting two pieces that I sent home to Alabama. DKCORATION DAY. CjpLOWERS for the feet of Peace, Q^ Sweet rose and^ily white, °^5^ As she retreads the road. The blood-red road of fight ; The waving corn and wheat For the long, hot lanes of war : For bastions fringed with flame, The light of Freedom's star. Flowers for the resting brave ! So every grave shall be An altar fresh and green Sacred to Liberty, An altar green and sweet For the true heart beneath — For each the rose of love. For each the laurel wreath. Peace, peace, and sweetest fame O'er all the land to-day ! No anger and no blame Between the Blue and Gray. To you, heroic dead. Resting in dreamless calm, We bring the rose of love, The victor's stainless palm. LiBBY's Bright Side. A Silver Lining in the Darl< Cloud of Prison Life. A Reduced Fac-Simile Hand Bill of a Famous Christmas Entertainment. Pastimes and Amusements. By FRANK E. MORAN, Captain 73d N. Y. Volunteers. *HE popular belief concerning Libby prison is, that it A\^ was a gloomy dungeon, where social pleasure never en- nl^^^ tered, and where horrors accumulated upon horror's head. A full and fair investigation will establish the fact that this popular conception is erroneous to a considerable degree, and it is my present purpose to bring to light a few of the pleasures of the place. I shall not attempt to present them in symmetrical order, but to give them as they arise in memory, after the lapse of years. If what I shall recall partakes somewhat after the nature of a personal recollection, it must be remembered that every prisoner had a personal experience that materially dif- fered from that of his comrade. It was my misfortune to fall wounded into the hands of the Confederates in the battle of Gettysburg, and to remain a prisoner for twenty months. The first part of the time was spent in Libby prison and the remainder of the time in Macon, Ga., and at Charleston and Columbia, S. C. Having been captured the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, I witnessed the final struggle from behind the Confederate line, and was directly in the rear of Pickett's division when its mag- nificent charge was made to break the Union left center. A column of prisoners accompanied the retreat of the Confeder- ate army, crossing the swollen Potomac at William sport in a torrent of rain. Our route toward Richmond was through the (179) 180 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. devastated valley of the Shenandoah, our journey on foot being not much less than two hundred miles. The column arrived in Richmond on July 18, 1863, and we were conducted under guard toward the southeastern border of the city, followed by a boisterous mob of men, women, and children. We halted in front of an antiquated building, over the office of which there creaked upon rusty hinges a small weather-beaten sign, bearing the inscription, " Libby & Sons, Ship Chandlers and Grocers." The man Libby was a native of Maine, who, prior to the war, owned and occupied the premises, never dreaming that the modest sign — scarcely larger than a washboard — would be the means of linking his name forever with the most noted of military prisons, and withal the most interesting landmark of the rebellion. The building had a frontage from east to west of 145 feet, and a depth from north to south of 105 feet. It stood isolated from other buildings, with streets passing its front, rear, and west ends, and with a vacant space on the east of about sixty feet in width. The portion of the building devoted to the use of the prisoners consisted of nine rooms, each 102 feet in length by forty-five feet in breadth. The ceil- ing was eight feet high, except in the upper rooms, which were higher, better lighted, and better ventilated, owing to the pitch of the roof. Rickety, unbanistered stairs led from the lower to the upper rooms, and all the rooms of the upper floors were connected by doors, leaving free access from one to the other. With the exception of a few rude bunks and tables in the upper and lower west rooms, which were respectively termed "Streight's room" and " Milroy's room," and four long tables in the lower middle or "kitchen room," there. was no furniture in the prison. The north windows commanded a partial view of the hilly portion of the city. From the east the prisoners could look off toward the Rocketts and City Point. The south windows looked out upon the canal and James river, with Man- chester opposite and Belle Isle, while from the windows of the upper west room could be seen Castle Thunder, Jefferson Davis's mansion, and the Confederate capital. Libby prison was a vast museum of human character, where the chances of war had brought into close communion every type and temperament; where military rank was wholly ig- nored, and all shared a common lot. At the time referred to, • BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 181 there were about 1200 Union officers there, of all ranks, and representing every loyal state. They were not men who would have sought each other's society from natural or social affinity, but men who had been involuntarily forced together by the fortunes of war, which, like politics, often " makes strange bed- fellows." There were men of all sizes and nationalities. Youth and age, and titled men of Europe, who had enlisted in our cause, might be found among the captives. There were about thirty doctors, as many ministers, a score of journalists and lawyers, a few actors, and a proportionate representation from all trades and professions that engage men in civil life. Among them were travelers and scholars, who had seen the world, and could entertain audiences for hours with narratives of their journeyings; indeed, among the attractions of the prison was the pleasure derived by intimate association with men of bright and cultured minds; men who had often led their squadrons on the tough edge of battle and who in their history presented the best types of modern chivalry. It was indeed a remarkable gathering and the circumstances are not likely to arise that will reassemble its counterpart again in this generation. All in all, Libby prison, from the vast mixture of its inmates, and from all its peculiar surroundings, was doubt- less the best school of human nature ever seen in this country. It will not seem strange, therefore, that men of such varied talents, tastes, and dispositions, shipwrecked in this peculiar manner, should begin to devise ways and means to turn the tedious hours of prison life to some account. To this end meet- ings and consultations were held to set on foot amusements and instruction for the prisoners. A minstrel troupe was organized, and its talent would com- pare favorably with some professional companies of to-day. A number of musical instruments were purchased, forming a re- spectable orchestra. Refreshing music often enlivened the place when the weary- souled prisoner had laid down for the night. If there ever was a time and place when that old melody, '' Home Sweet Home," touched the tenderest chords of the soldier's heart, it was on Christmas Eve of 1863, behind the barred windows of Libby prison. Chess, checkers, cards, or such other games occupied much of our time. Some busied themselves with making bone rings or ornaments, many of them carved with exquisite skill. 182 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. In the upper east room General Di Cesnola — then colonel of the 4th N. Y. Cavalry — instructed a class of officers in the school of the battalion. In the upper east room Colonel Cavuda, of the 114th Penn., wrote his book afterwards published and widely read, entitled " Libby Life." The dream of his life was to free his native island from Spanish rule. At every hour of the day learned linguists taught classes in French, German, Spanish, and all popular languages. Phonography was taught as well as grammar, arithmetic, and other branches. A book in Libby was the object of immeasurable envy, and I remem- ber on seeing an officer with Hugo's " Les Miserables," I sought out the owner, put my name down on his list of applicants to borrow it, and my turn came six months afterwards. Dancing was among the accomplishments taught, and it was truly refreshing to see grave colonels tripping the "light fantastic." Under the ministers daily and nightly prayer meetings were held. It was not infrequent to see a lively breakdown at one end of the room and a prayer meeting at the other; to hear the loud tum of the banjo mingling with the solemn melody of the doxology. The doctors endeavored to enlighten audiences by occasional lectures on "Gunshot Wounds," "Amputation," "The effect of starvation on the human system," and other cheerful topics. Gen. Neal Dow, of Maine, eloquently warned his fellow pris- oners against the blighting evils of intemperance. While the general was a prisoner his cotton mill at Portland was burned, and one of the Richmond papers copying the news substituted for "mills" the word "distillery," a cruel joke on the earnest general. A debating society was formed, and all manner of subjects were discussed, bringing to light a goodly number of eloquent speakers, who have since achieved fortune and dis- tinction throughout the country. A form of amusement at night when the lights were out was what was termed the "catechism," which consisted of loud questions and answers, mimicries and cries, which when combined and in full blast, made a pandemonium, compared with which a madhouse or a boiler foundry would have been a peaceful refuge. Such cries as " Tea^, of Reading!" "Pack up!" "Who broke the big rope?" "Who stole Mosby's hash?" and "Who shaved the nigger of the truck?" were as intelligible as Choctaw to the uninitiated, but plain enough to those who BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 183 used them, alluding as they did to events and persons of the prison. At night the prisoners covered the floor completely, lying in straight rows like prostrate lines of battle, and when one rolled over all must necessarily do the same. It was inevitable that among such large numbers there should appear the usual inflic- tion of snorers, whose discord at times drew a terrific broadside of boots, tin cans, and other convenient missiles, which invari- ably struck the wrong man. Among our number was one officer whose habit of grinding his teeth secured hiin a larger share of room at night than was commonly allowed to a pris- oner, and his comrades hoped that a special exchange might restore him to his family; for certainly he was a man that would be missed wherever he had lodged. On a memorable night when this gentleman was entertaining us with his "tooth solo," one comrade who had been kept awake for the three previous nights, after repeatedly shouting to the nocturnal minstrel to "shut up," arose in wrath, and, picking his steps in the dark among his prostrate comrades, arrived at last near a form which he felt certain was that of the disturber of the peace. With one mighty effort, he bestowed a kick in the ribs of the victim, and hurriedly retreated to his place. Then arose the kicked officer, who was not the grinder at all, and made an address to his invisible assailant, employing terms and vigorous adjectives not seen in the New Testament, vehemently declar- ing in a brilliant peroration that it was enough to be com- pelled to spend wakeful nights beside a man who made nights hideous with serenades, without being kicked for him. He resumed his bed amid thunderous applause, during which the grinder was awakened and was for the first time made aware of the cause of the enthusiasm. The spirit of Yankee enterprise was well illustrated by the publication of a newspaper by the energetic chaplain of a New York regiment. It was entitled The Libby Prison Chronicle. True, there were no printing facilities at hand, but, undaunted by this difficulty, the editor obtained and distributed quantities of manuscript paper among the prisoners who were leaders in their several professions, so that there was soon organized an extensive corps of able correspondents, local reporters, poets, punsters, and witty paragraphers, that gave the chronicle a pronounced success. Pursuant to previous announcement, the 184 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. " editor " on a stated day each week, would take up his posi- tion in the center of the upper east room, and, surrounded by an audience limited only by the available space, would read the articles contributed during the week. " The Prison Minstrels" were deservedly popular. The troupe was organized and governed by strictly professional rules. Nothing but the possession and display of positive musical or dramatic talent could com- mand prominence, and as a natural consequence it was a common occurrence to see a second lieutenant carrying off the honors of the play, and the colonel of his regiment carry- ing off the chairs as a " supe." Our elephant, by the way, de- serves especial mention, not only because of his peculiar construction, but because both intellectually and physically he differed from all elephants we had previously seen. The animal was composed of four United States officers, which certainly gave him unusual rank. One leg was a major, a second a naval officer, a third a captain of cavalry, and the last leg was by the happy thought of the astute manager an army surgeon. A quantity of straw formed the body; the tusks and trunk were impro- vised from the meager re- HBBI FE1.S0I MINSTRELS! JIanager, - . - - Lt. G. W. Chandler Treasiker, - - . . Capt. H. W. Sawyer CoSTiMER, - ... - Lt. J. P. Jones Scenic Artist, Lt. Fentress Captain of the Supers, - - - Lt. Bristow THURSDAY EVENING, DEC. 24thi 1863, program: N4E. PART FIRST. Overture— "Norma" TRorpE Opening riionrs— "Ernnni" Troupe Song— Who will care lor Jlother now . Capt. Schell Song— O'-afted m the Aniiy . Lievt. Kendall SoK(i— When the liloom is on the Kye . Adjt. Lombard Song— Barn-yard Imitations . . . ('apt. Mass Song— Oo they think of me at Home Adjt. Jones Chorus— Phantom Troupe PART SECOND. Ditet— Violin and Flnte— Serenade from "Lnoia." Lieuis. Chandler au>eiper MASQUERADE mm Manager Adjt. Jones Door-Keeper Capt. .Mass Musician Lt. Chandler Member of the Press Lt. Ryan JIosE . Lt. AVelsh Black Swan Lt. Moran Broadway Swell Lt«15ennett Richard III Capt. McWilliams THE WHOLE TO CONCLUDE WITH A ■rformance to commence at 6 o'clock.^so FREE-CMlilren in Arms Not Aflmittefl, Adjt. K. C. KNACGS, Business Agent. BATTLE-FIELD ECHOES. 185 sources of our "property room." The whole was covered in- geniously by five army blankets. Indeed the elephant, seen by the ••footlights" (four candles set in bottles), was pronounced by the critics of The Lihhy Prison Chronicle "a masterpiece of stage mechanism," It happened one evening when it was determined to compli- ment the efficient management with a rousing benefit, that two officers, whose duty it was to impersonate the hind legs of the elephant, were unable to appear on account of sudden illness, and their places had to be filled at the last moment by two other officers, who volunteered for the emergency. This was an acknowledged kindness on the part of the volunteers, but their acceptance of the parts without sufficient rehearsal proved exceedingly embarrassing to the management and positively disastrous to the elephant himself, or, to speak more accurately, to themselves. At the appointed time the elephant appeared, his entree being greeted with the usual round of applause. In spite of the lack of preparation the wonderful tricks of the animal were very creditably performed and enthusiastically recognized by the crowded house. The anxious nmanager was happy as he gave the signal at last for exit. Most unfortunately at this vital moment certain strange convulsive actions of the animal revealed the painful fact that a positive difference of opinion existed between the fore and hind legs of the animal as at which side of the stage the exit should be made. In vain the perspiring manager hissed from the wings: "To the right, gen- tlemen! For God's sake, go to the right! " A murmur of excite- ment ran through the audience, the convulsions of the animal grew more and more violent, and excited people in the audience shouted loudly: "The elephant's got a fit!" "The monster is poisoned!" "Play the hose on him!" "Down in front!" "Police!" A perfect babel ensued, in the midst of which the seams of the blanket gave way and the shrieking audience witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of an elephant walking off in four different directions, each leg fiercely gesticulating at the other and exchanging epithets more pungent than par- liamentary. The despairing manager had no alternative but to ring down the curtain, but in his excitement he pulled the wrong rope, the sky fell down on the heads of the orchestra, and the show ended for the evening. The stage was at the northern end of the kitchen, and was formed by joining four 186 CAMP-FIRE SKETCHES. long tables. The curtain was made of army blankets sewed together, and was suspended by small rings to a horizontal wire over the heads of the orchestra. It could be drawn to- gether and apart at the manager's signal bell. One of the best performances given was on Christmas Eve, 1863. That night the room was crowded with men who felt a homesickness that needed some mental physic such as we pro- posed to give. It was a time for thoughts of wives, children, and sweethearts at the North, and perhaps our play did them good. Programmes, neatly printed in the prison, from which a reduced fac-siraile has been made, were freely circulated. The most exciting event in the prison's history was the famous tunnel escape, February, 1864, by which 110 of the prisoners gained their liberty — or rather about lialf of them — fifty of the number being retaken outside the Richmond works, the writer being one of those recaptured. The tunnel was certainly an ingenious and perilous work, projected and completed under the direction of Col. Thomas E. Rose, of the 77th Penn. Regt., who escaped through it, but was unfortunately retaken. Considerable excitement was caused by the arrival of a woman at Libby in the uniform of a Union soldier, she having been discovered among the prisoners on Belle Isle in an almost frozen and famished condition. Inquiry revealed the fact that she had in this garb enlisted in a Western cavalry regiment in order to follow the fortunes of her lover, who was an officer in another company of the same command. In a skirmish in East Tennessee she had the ill luck to be made a prisoner. Her case naturally awakened active sympa- thy amongst her fellow prisoners, and a collection of money was made by them to procure her a supply of clothing, so that she might be sent home by the next flag of truce. It would fill an interesting volume to sketch briefly the lives and experience of the men who have been within the walls of Libby or to trace their career since. Many have since fallen upon the battle field, and a sad number have died from the effects of their long imprisonment. Some have since become the governors of states and some have held seats in the Cabinet. Their voices have been heard in Congress, at the bar, and in the pulpit, and their names will remain a proud heritage to their children and their country. Battle of Yicksburg. MAY 22, 1863. MINIE, GRAPE, CANISTER, AND SHELL.— A SCORCHING SHEET OF FLAME. C. D. aiORlilS, Company E, 33d Illinois. ^ <^ 'jC^ -K^ •^ ^SlN- '-4^^ '4^ ^Jint, ^-^A ^-i^^^