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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Rapidan to Richmond and the
+Spottsylvania Campaign, by William Meade Dame
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign
+       A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw
+
+
+Author: William Meade Dame
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 7, 2010  [eBook #31192]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND
+THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 31192-h.htm or 31192-h.zip:
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+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31192/31192-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
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+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_.
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs appeared as sidenotes in the
+      original (=sidenote=).
+
+
+
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM MEADE DAME
+
+               PRIVATE FIRST COMPANY OF RICHMOND HOWITZERS
+
+               1864]
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+AND
+
+THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
+
+A Sketch in Personal Narrative of the Scenes a Soldier Saw
+
+by
+
+WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.
+Private, First Company
+Richmond Howitzers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Baltimore
+Green-Lucas Company
+1920
+
+Copyright, 1920, by Harry B. Green
+
+
+
+  TO
+  MY COMRADES OF THE ARMY
+  OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.
+
+               RECTOR MEMORIAL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH
+
+               BALTIMORE, MD.
+
+               1920]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+By
+
+Thomas Nelson Page
+
+
+"The land where I was born" was, in my childhood, a great battleground.
+War--as we then thought the vastest of all wars, not only that had been,
+but that could ever be--swept over it. I never knew in those days a man
+who had not been in the war. So, "The War" was the main subject in every
+discussion and it was discussed with wonderful acumen. Later it took on
+a different relation to the new life that sprung up and it bore its part
+in every gathering much as the stories of Troy might have done in the
+land where Homer sang. To survive, however, in these reunions as a
+narrator one had to be a real contributor to the knowledge of his
+hearers. And the first requisite was that he should have been an actor
+in the scenes he depicted; secondly, that he should know how to depict
+them. Nothing less served. His hearers themselves all had experience and
+demanded at least not less than their own. As the time grew more distant
+they demanded that it should be preserved in more definite form and the
+details of the life grew more precious.
+
+Among those whom I knew in those days as a delightful narrator of
+experiences and observations--not of strategy nor even of tactics in
+battle; but of the life in the midst of the battles in the momentous
+campaign in which the war was eventually fought out, was a kinsman of
+mine--the author of this book. A delightful raconteur because he had
+seen and felt himself what he related, he told his story without
+conscious art, but with that best kind of art: simplicity. Also with
+perennial freshness; because he told it from his journals written on the
+spot.
+
+Thus, it came about that I promised that when he should be ready to
+publish his reminiscences I would write the introduction for them. My
+introduction is for a story told from journals and reminiscent of a time
+in the fierce Sixties when, if passion had free rein, the virtues were
+strengthened by that strife to contribute so greatly a half century
+later to rescue the world and make it "safe for Democracy."
+
+It was the war--our Civil War--that over a half century later brought
+ten million of the American youth to enroll themselves in one day to
+fight for America. It was the work in "the Wilderness" and in those long
+campaigns, on both sides, which gave fibre to clear the Belleau Wood. It
+was the spirit of the armies of Lee and Grant which enabled Pershing's
+army to sweep through the Argonne.
+
+_Rome_, March 27, 1919.
+
+
+
+
+WOLSELEY'S TRIBUTE TO LEE
+
+
+_The following tribute to Robert E. Lee was written by Lord Wolseley
+when commander-in-chief of the armies of Great Britain, an office which
+he held until succeeded by Lord Roberts._
+
+_Lord Wolseley had visited General Lee at his headquarters during the
+progress of the great American conflict. Some time thereafter Wolseley
+wrote:_
+
+"The fierce light which beats upon the throne is as a rushlight in
+comparison with the electric glare which our newspapers now focus upon
+the public man in Lee's position. His character has been subjected to
+that ordeal, and who can point to a spot upon it? His clear, sound
+judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, absolute
+devotion to his State, mark him out as a public man, as a patriot to be
+forever remembered by all Americans. His amiability of disposition, deep
+sympathy with those in pain or sorrow, his love for children, nice sense
+of personal honor and generous courtesy, endeared him to all his
+friends. I shall never forget his sweet, winning smile, nor his clean,
+honest eyes that seemed to look into your heart while they searched your
+brain. I have met with many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone
+impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who
+was cast in a grander mold and made of different and finer metal than
+all other men. He is stamped upon my memory as being apart and superior
+to all others in every way, a man with whom none I ever knew and few of
+whom I have read are worthy to be classed. When all the angry feelings
+aroused by the secession are buried with those that existed when the
+American Declaration of Independence was written; when Americans can
+review the history of their last great war with calm impartiality, I
+believe all will admit that General Lee towered far above all men on
+either side in that struggle. I believe he will be regarded not only as
+the most prominent figure of the Confederacy, but as the greatest
+American of the nineteenth century, whose statue is well worthy to stand
+on an equal pedestal with that of Washington and whose memory is equally
+worthy to be enshrined in the hearts of all his countrymen.
+
+"WOLSELEY."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                     1
+
+The cause of conflict and the call to arms--Those who
+answered the call--An army of volunteers--Our great
+leader--The call comes home--First Company Richmond
+Howitzers--Back to civil life--Origin of this narrative.
+
+
+I. SKETCH OF CAMP LIFE THE WINTER BEFORE THE SPOTTSYLVANIA
+CAMPAIGN                                                        17
+
+Morton's Ford--Building camp quarters--"Housewarming"
+on parched corn, persimmons and water--Camp duties--Camp
+recreations--A special entertainment--Confederate soldier
+rations--A fresh egg--When fiction became fact--Confederate
+fashion plates--A surprise attack--Wedding bells and a
+visit home--The soldiers' profession of faith--The example
+of Lee, Jackson and Stuart--Spring sprouts and a "tar heel"
+story.
+
+
+II. BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS                                    63
+
+"Marse Robert" calls to arms--The spirit of the soldiers
+of the South--Peace fare and fighting ration--Marse
+Robert's way of making one equal to three--An infantry
+battle--Arrival of the First Corps--The love that Lee
+inspired in the men he led--"Windrows" of Federal dead.
+
+
+III. BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE                       96
+
+Stuart's four thousand cavalry--Greetings on the field
+of battle--"Jeb" Stuart assigns "a little job"--Wounding
+of Robert Fulton Moore--A useful discovery--Barksdale's
+Mississippi Creeper--Kershaw's South Carolina
+"rice-birds"--Feeling pulses--Where the fight was
+hottest--Against heavy odds at "Fort Dodge"--"Sticky" mud
+and yet more "sticky" men--Gregg's Texans to the front--
+Breakfastless but "ready for customers"--Parrott's reply
+to Napoleon's twenty to two--The narrow escape of an
+entire company--Successive attacks by Federal infantry--
+Eggleston's heroic death--"Texas will never forget
+Virginia"--Contrast in losses and the reasons
+therefore--Why Captain Hunter failed to rally his men--
+Having "a cannon handy"--Grant's neglect of Federal
+wounded.
+
+
+IV. COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND                    189
+
+The last march of our Howitzer Captain--The bloodiest
+fifteen minutes of the war--Federal troops refuse to
+be slaughtered--Dr. Carter "apologizes for getting
+shot"--Death of Captain McCarthy--A Summary.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+=The Cause of Conflict and the Call to Arms=
+
+In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the South. The world knows
+how the men of the South answered that call. Dropping everything, they
+came from mountains, valleys and plains--from Maryland to Texas, they
+eagerly crowded to the front, and stood to arms. What for? What moved
+them? What was in their minds?
+
+Shallow-minded writers have tried hard to make it appear that slavery
+was the cause of that war; that the Southern men fought to keep their
+slaves. They utterly miss the point, or purposely pervert the truth.
+
+In days gone by, the theological schoolmen held hot contention over the
+question as to the kind of wood the Cross of Calvary was made from. In
+their zeal over this trivial matter, they lost sight of the great thing
+that did matter; the mighty transaction, and purpose displayed upon that
+Cross.
+
+In the causes of that war, slavery was only a detail and an occasion.
+Back of that lay an immensely greater thing; the defense of their
+rights--the most sacred cause given men on earth, to maintain at every
+cost. It is the cause of humanity. Through ages it has been,
+pre-eminently, the cause of the Anglo-Saxon race, for which countless
+heroes have died. With those men it was to defend the rights of their
+States to control their own affairs, without dictation from anybody
+outside; a right not _given_, but _guaranteed_ by the Constitution,
+which those States accepted, most distinctly, under that condition.
+
+It was for that these men came. This was just what they had in their
+minds; to uphold that solemnly guaranteed constitutional right,
+distinctly binding all the parties to that compact. The South pleaded
+with the other parties to the Constitution to observe their guarantee;
+when they refused, and talked of force, then the men of the South got
+their guns and came to see about it.
+
+They were Anglo-Saxons. What could you expect? Their fathers had fought
+and died on exactly this issue--they could do no less. As their noble
+fathers, so their noble sons pledged their lives, and their sacred honor
+to uphold the same great cause--peaceably if they could; forcibly if
+they must.
+
+=Those Who Answered the Call=
+
+So the men of the South came together. They came from every rank and
+calling of life--clergymen, bishops, doctors, lawyers, statesmen,
+governors of states, judges, editors, merchants, mechanics, farmers. One
+bishop became a lieutenant general; one clergyman, chief of artillery,
+Army of Northern Virginia. In one artillery battalion three clergymen
+were cannoneers at the guns. All the students of one Theological
+Seminary volunteered, and three fell in battle, and all but one were
+wounded. They came of every age. I personally know of six men over sixty
+years who volunteered, and served in the ranks, throughout the war; and
+in the Army of Northern Virginia, more than ten thousand men were under
+eighteen years of age, many of them sixteen years.
+
+They came of every social condition of life: some of them were the most
+prominent men in the professional, social, and political life of their
+States; owners of great estates, employing many slaves; and thousands of
+them, horny-handed sons of toil, earning their daily bread by their
+daily labor, who never owned a slave and never would.
+
+There came men of every degree of intellectual equipment--some of them
+could hardly read, and per contra, in my battery, at the mock burial of
+a pet crow, there were delivered an original Greek ode, an original
+Latin oration, and two brilliant eulogies in English--all in honor of
+that crow; very high obsequies had that bird.
+
+Men who served as cannoneers of that same battery, in after life came to
+fill the highest positions of trust and influence--from governors and
+professors of universities, downward; and one became Speaker of the
+House of Representatives in the United States Congress. Also, it is to
+be noted that twenty-one men who served in the ranks of the Confederate
+Army became Bishops of the Episcopal Church after the war.
+
+Of the men who thus gathered from all the Southern land, the first
+raised regiments were drawn to Virginia, and there organized into an
+army whose duty it was to cover Richmond, the Capital of the
+Confederacy--just one hundred miles from Washington, which would
+naturally be the center of military activities of the hostile armies.
+
+=An Army of Volunteers=
+
+The body, thus organized, was composed _entirely of volunteers_. Every
+man in it was there because he wanted to come as his solemn duty. It was
+made up of regiments from every State in the South--Maryland, Virginia,
+North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. Each State had its quota, and
+there were many individual volunteers from Kentucky, Missouri and
+elsewhere. That army was baptized by a name that was to become immortal
+in the annals of war--"The Army of Northern Virginia."
+
+What memories cluster around that name! Great soldiers, and military
+critics of all nations of Christendom, including even the men who fought
+it, have voiced their opinion of that army, and given it high praise.
+Many of them, duly considering its spirit, and recorded deeds, and the
+tremendous odds against which it fought, have claimed for it the highest
+place on the roll of honor, and in the Hall of Fame, among all the
+armies of history.
+
+Truly it deserves high place! when you think that after four years of
+heroic courage, devotion, and endurance, never more than half fed,
+poorly supplied with clothes, often scant of ammunition, holding the
+field after every battle, that it fought, till the end, worn out at
+last, it disbanded at Appomattox, when only eight thousand hungry men
+remained with arms in their hands, and they, defiant, and fighting
+still, when the white flags began to pass. They surrendered then only
+because General Lee said they must, because he would not vainly
+sacrifice another man; and they wept like broken-hearted children when
+they heard his orders. They would have fought on till the last man
+dropped, but General Lee said: "No, you, my men, go home and serve your
+country in peace as you have done in war."
+
+=Our Great Leader=
+
+They did as General Lee told them to do, and it was the indomitable
+courage of those men and of the women of their land, who were just as
+brave, at home, as the men were, at the front, which has made the South
+rise from its ruins and blossom as the rose as it does this day.
+
+Thus "yielding to overwhelming numbers and resources," the Army of
+Northern Virginia died. But its _glory_ has not died, and the splendor
+of its deeds has not, and will not grow dim.
+
+As, in vision, I look across the long years that have pressed their
+length between the now and then, I can see that Army of Northern
+Virginia on the march. At its head rides one august and knightly figure,
+Robert E. Lee, the knightliest gentleman, and the saintliest hero that
+our race has bred. He is on old "Traveler," almost as famous as his
+master. On his right rides that thunderbolt of war, Stonewall Jackson,
+on "Little Sorrel," with whose fame the world was ringing when he fell.
+On Lee's left, on his beautiful mare, "Lady Annie," the bright, flashing
+cavalier, "Jeb" Stuart, the darling of the Army.
+
+Behind these three, in their swinging stride, tramp the long columns of
+infantry, artillery, and cavalry of the army. As we gaze upon that
+spectacle, we say, and nothing better can be said, "Those chiefs were
+worthy to lead those soldiers; those soldiers were worthy to follow
+Robert Lee."
+
+In this order, The Army of Northern Virginia, General Lee in front, has
+come marching down the road of history, and shall march on, and all
+brave souls of the generations stand at "Salute," and do them homage as
+they pass. Noble Army of Northern Virginia!
+
+All true men will understand and none, least of all the brave men who
+faced it in battle, will deny to the old Confederate the just right to
+be proud that he was comrade to those men and marched in their ranks,
+and was with their leader to the end. Of that army, I had, thank God!
+the honor to be a soldier. It came about in this way.
+
+=The Call Comes Home=
+
+When the war began I was a school boy attending the Military Academy in
+Danville, Virginia, where I was born and reared. At once the school
+broke up. The teachers, and all the boys who were old enough went into
+the army. I was just sixteen years old, and small for my age, and I can
+understand now, but could not then, how my parents looked upon the
+desire of a boy like that to go to the war, as out of the question. I
+did not think so. I was a strong, well-knit fellow, and it seemed to me
+that what you required in a soldier was a man who could shoot, and would
+stay there and do it. I knew I could shoot, and I thought I could stay
+there and do it, so I was sure I could be a soldier, and I was crazy to
+go, but my parents could not see it so, and I was very miserable. All my
+classmates in school had gone or were going, and I pictured to myself
+the boys coming back from the war, as soldiers who had been in battle,
+and all the honors that would be showered upon them--and I would be out
+of it all. The thought that I had not done a manly part in this great
+crisis would make me feel disgraced all my life. It was horrible.
+
+My father, the honored and beloved minister of the Episcopal Church in
+Danville, and my mother, the daughter and grand-daughter of two
+Revolutionary soldiers, said they wanted me to go, and would let me go,
+when I was older--I was too young and small as yet. But I was afraid it
+would be all over before I got in, and I would lay awake at night, sad
+and wretched with this fear. I need not have been afraid of that. There
+was going to be plenty to go around, but I did not know that then, and I
+was low in mind. I suppose that my very strong feeling on the subject
+was natural. It was the inherited microbe in the blood. Though I was
+only a school boy in a back country town, my forebears had always been
+around when there was any fighting to be done. My great-grandfather,
+General Thomas Nelson, and my grandfather, Major Carter Page, and all
+their kin of the time had fought through the Revolutionary War. My
+people had fought in the war of 1812, and the Mexican War, and the
+Indian Wars. Whenever anybody was fighting our country, some of my
+people were in it, and back of that, Lord Nelson of Trafalgar, was a
+second cousin of my great-grandfather, Thomas Nelson; and, still farther
+back of that, my ancestor, Thomas Randolph, in command of a division of
+the Scottish Army under King Robert Bruce, was the man who, by his
+furious charge, broke the English line at "Bannockburn" and won the
+Independence of Scotland.
+
+You see that a boy, with all that back of him, in his family, had the
+virus in his blood, and could not help being wretched when his country
+was invaded, and fighting, and he not in it. He would feel that he was
+dishonoring the traditions of his race, and untrue to the memory of his
+fathers. However, that schoolboy brooding over the situation was mighty
+miserable. When my parents realized my feelings, they, at last, gave up
+their opposition, and I went into the army with their consent, and
+blessing.
+
+=First Company Richmond Howitzers=
+
+While this matter was hanging fire, having been at a military academy, I
+was trying to do some little service by helping to drill some of the raw
+companies which were being rapidly raised, in and around Danville. The
+minute I was free, off I went. Circumstances led me to enlist in a
+battery made up in Richmond, known as the "First Company of Richmond
+Howitzers," and I was thus associated with as fine a body of men as ever
+lived--who were to be my comrades in arms, and the most loved, and
+valued friends of my after life.
+
+This battery was attached to "Cabell's Battalion" and formed part of the
+field artillery of Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. It was
+a "crack" battery, and was always put in when anything was going on. It
+served with great credit, and was several times mentioned in General
+Orders, as having rendered signal service to the army. It was in all the
+campaigns, and in action in every battle of the Army of Northern
+Virginia. It fought at Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days'
+Battle around Richmond in 1862, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Harpers
+Ferry, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Morton's Ford, The
+Wilderness, The Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Pole
+Green Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House.
+Every one of the cannoneers, who had not been killed or wounded, was at
+his gun in its last fight. The very last thing it did was to help "wipe
+up the ground" with some of Sheridan's Cavalry, which attacked and tried
+to ride us down, but was cut to pieces by our cannister fire, and went
+off as hard as their horses could run--as if the devil was after them.
+Then the surrender closed our service.
+
+=Back to Civil Life=
+
+My comrades, as the rest of the army, scattered to their homes. I went
+to my home in Danville, and had to walk 180 miles to get there. After a
+few days, which I chiefly employed in trying to get rid of the sensation
+of starving, I went to work--got a place in the railroad service.
+
+After eighteen months of this, I proceeded to carry out a purpose that I
+had in mind since the closing days of the war. I had been through that
+long and bloody conflict; I had been at my gun every time it went into
+action, except once when I was lying ill of typhoid fever; I had been in
+the path of death many times, and though hit several times, had never
+been seriously wounded, or hurt badly enough to have to leave my
+gun--and here I was at the end of all this--alive, and well and strong,
+and twenty years of age. As I thought of God's merciful protection
+through all those years of hardship and danger, a wish and purpose was
+born, and got fixed in my mind and heart, to devote my life to the
+service of God in the completest way I could as a thanksgiving to Him.
+Naturally, my thoughts turned to the ministry of the Gospel, and I
+decided to enter the seminary and train for that service as soon as the
+way was open.
+
+While I was in the railroad train work, I studied hard in the scraps of
+time to get some preparation, and in September, 1866, I entered the
+Virginia Theological Seminary along with twenty-five other students--all
+of whom were Confederate soldiers. I here tackled a job that was much
+more trying than working my old twelve-pounder brass Napoleon gun in a
+fight. I would willingly have swapped jobs, if it had been all the same,
+but I worked away, the best I could, at the Hebrew, and Greek, and
+"Theology," and all the rest, for three years.
+
+Somehow I got through, and graduated, and was ordained by Bishop Johns
+of Virginia, the twenty-sixth of June, 1869. Thus the old cannoneer was
+transformed into a parson, who intended to try to be as faithful to
+duty, as a parson, as the old cannoneer had been. He has carried that
+purpose through life ever since. How far he has realized it, others will
+have to judge.
+
+After serving for nine years in several parishes in Virginia, I came to
+Baltimore as rector of Memorial Church, and have been here ever since.
+Hence I have served in the ministry for fifty years--forty-one of which
+I have spent serving the Memorial Church, and having, as a side line,
+been Chaplain of the "Fifth Regiment Maryland National Guard" for
+thirty-odd years. When one is bitten by the military "bee" in his youth,
+he never gets over it--the sight of a line of soldiers, and the sound
+of martial music stirs me still, as it always did, and I have had the
+keenest interest and pleasure in my association with that splendid
+regiment, and my dear friends and comrades in it.
+
+So, through the changes and chances of this mortal life, I have come
+thus far, and by the blessing of God, and the patience of my people, at
+the age of seventy-four I am still in full work among the people, whom I
+have served so long, and loved so well--still at my post where I hope to
+stay till the Great Captain orders me off to service in the only place I
+know of, that is better than the congregation of Memorial Church, and
+the community of Baltimore--and that is the everlasting Kingdom of
+Heaven.
+
+=Origin of This Narrative=
+
+Now, what I have been writing here is intended to lead up to the
+narrative set forth in the pages of this volume. Sam Weller once said to
+Mr. Pickwick, when invited to eat a veal pie, "Weal pies is werry good,
+providin' you knows the lady as makes 'em, and is sure that they _is
+weal_ and not _cats_." The remark applies here: a narrative is "werry
+good providin' you knows" the man as makes it, and are sure that it is
+facts, and not fancy tales. You want to be satisfied that the writer was
+a personal witness of the things he writes about, and is one who can be
+trusted to tell you things as he actually saw them. I hope both these
+conditions are fulfilled in this narrative.
+
+But some one might say, "How about this narrative that you are about to
+impose on a suffering public, who never did you any harm? What do you do
+it for?"
+
+Well, I did not do it of malice aforethought. It came about in this way.
+Young as I was when I went into the war, and never having seen anything
+of the world outside the ordinary life of a boy, in a quiet country
+town, the scenes of that soldier life made a deep impression on my mind,
+and I have carried a very clear recollection of them--everyone--in my
+memory ever since. As I have looked back, and thought upon the events,
+and especially the spirit, and character, and record, of my old comrades
+in that army, my admiration, and estimate of their high worth as
+soldiers has grown ever greater, and I felt a very natural desire that
+others should know them as I knew them--and put them in their rightful
+rank as soldiers. The only way to do this is for those who know to tell
+people about them; what manner of warriors they were.
+
+Now mark how one glides into mischief unintentionally. Years ago, I was
+beguiled into making, at various times, places, and occasions, certain,
+what might be called, "Camp Fire Talks" descriptive of Soldier Life in
+the Army of Northern Virginia. Weakly led on by the kindly expressed
+opinions of those who heard these talks, and urged by old friends, and
+comrades, and others, I ventured on a more connected narrative of our
+observations and experiences, as soldiers in that army. I wrote a
+sketch, in that vein, of the "Spottsylvania Campaign"--in 1864--fought
+between General Lee and General Grant. It was a tremendous struggle of
+the two armies for thirty days--almost without a break. It was a
+thrilling period of the war, and brought out the high quality of both
+the Commander and the fighting men of the Army of Northern Virginia.
+
+It was the bloodiest struggle known to history, up to that time. As one
+item, at Cold Harbor, General Grant, in fifteen minutes, by the watch,
+lost 13,723 men, killed and wounded, irrespective of many
+prisoners--more men in a quarter of an hour than the British Army lost
+in the whole battle of Waterloo. That gives an idea of the terrible
+intensity of that campaign--one incident of it the bloodiest quarter of
+an hour in all the history of war.
+
+I took as a title for my sketch "From the Rapidan to Richmond" or "The
+Bloody War Path of 1864"--"The Scenes One Soldier Saw."
+
+As a guarantee of its accuracy, I took that narrative to Richmond, and
+in the presence of fifteen of my old comrades of the First Howitzers,
+every man of whom had been along with me through all the incidents of
+which I wrote, and therefore had personal knowledge of all the facts, I
+read it, and we freely discussed it. What resulted has the approval, and
+endorsement of all those personal witnesses, and may be counted on as
+accurate--in every statement and impression made in this story, and may
+be safely accepted by the reader as a true narration of facts.
+
+I am urged to put the narrative in such form that its contents may be
+more widely known, and I am glad to do it. I do want as many as possible
+to know my old comrades as I knew them, and value them at their true
+worth. My narrative is a true account of that soldier life, and
+illustrates the stuff of which those men of the Army of Northern
+Virginia were made. The story illustrates this in a graphic and
+impressive way, because it is a simple and homely story of how they
+lived, and what they did--showing what they were. It is an honorable
+testimony to the character, and worth, as patriot soldiers, of my old
+comrades--borne by one who saw them display their courage, and
+endurance, and devotion in heroic conduct, in every possible way,
+through the long strain, and stress of war--to the end.
+
+I believe there is interest and value, to the true understanding of
+history, in such narratives of personal witnesses to the men, and
+things, and conditions of that past, which reflected so much glory on
+the manhood of our American race; which sterling quality, of high
+soldierly worth, has just been shown again, in the present generation of
+our race, when American soldiers, drawn from the North, South, East and
+West have stood, shoulder to shoulder, in the one American line, under
+the Star-Spangled Banner, and fighting for the freedom of the world. Our
+splendid American men of today are what they are, and have done what
+they did, because the blood of their sires runs in them; because they
+are "the same breed of dogs" with the American soldiers, who, on both
+sides, in the bloody struggle of the Civil War, bore them so bravely in
+the days gone by.
+
+This narrative only paints the picture, and gives a sample of the
+Anglo-Saxon American soldier of the generation just gone; it shed lustre
+upon our race. This generation has done the same--all honor to both!
+
+=A Summary=
+
+Let us Americans, at all cost, keep pure the Anglo-Saxon blood, to which
+this America belongs, of right; let us as a nation, Americans all, work
+and dwell together in true comradeship, and let our nation walk in just
+and right ways, for our country. Then, indeed, our heart's aspiration
+shall be fulfilled.
+
+  "And the Star-Spangled Banner _forever_ shall wave
+   O'er the land of the free--and the home of the brave."
+
+As a preface to the sketch of the active campaign, I have given some
+account of our life in the winter quarters camp, the winter before, from
+which we marched to battle when the Spottsylvania Campaign opened.
+
+
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SKETCH OF CAMP LIFE THE WINTER BEFORE THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
+
+
+=Morton's Ford=
+
+From Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running northeast into
+Culpeper crosses Morton's Ford of the Rapidan River, which, in December,
+1863, lay between the "Federal Army of the Potomac" and the "Confederate
+Army of Northern Virginia." The Ford is nineteen miles from Orange Court
+House.
+
+Just after the battle of Mine Run, November 26 to 28, our Battery left
+its bivouac near the Court House, and marched to the Ford. As the road
+reaches a point within three-quarters of a mile of the river, it rises
+over a sharp hill and thence winds its way down the hill to the Ford. On
+the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the Battery,
+First Company of Richmond Howitzers, were placed in position, commanding
+the Ford, and the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the
+pine woods just back of the ridge. We had been sent here to help the
+Infantry pickets to watch the enemy, and guard the Ford. Orders were
+that we should remain in this position all winter, and were to make
+ourselves as comfortable as we could, with a view to this long stay. We
+got there December 2 and 3, and, in fact, did stay there until the
+opening of the spring campaign, May 3, 1864.
+
+=Building Camp Quarters=
+
+With these instructions, as soon as we placed our guns in battery on the
+hill, we went promptly to work to fix up winter quarters in the shelter
+of the pines down the hill just a few rods back of the guns. It was
+getting very cold, and rough weather threatened, so we pitched in and
+worked hard to get ready for it.
+
+Each group of tent mates chose their own site and thereon built such a
+house as suited their energy, and judgment, or fancy. Some few of the
+lazy ones stayed under canvas all winter, but most of us constructed
+better quarters. In my group, four of us lived together, and we built
+after this manner. On our selected site, we marked off a space about ten
+feet square. We dug to the line all around, and to a depth of three or
+four feet in the ground--this going below the surface of the ground gave
+a better protection against wind and cold than any wall one could
+build--and on that bleak hill you wanted all the shield from wind that
+you could get. Having dug a hole ten feet square and three feet deep, we
+went into the woods and cut, squared, and carried on our shoulders logs,
+twelve or eighteen inches thick, and twelve feet long--enough to build
+around three sides of that hole a wall four feet high. Half of the
+fourth side was taken up by the chimney, which was built of short logs
+split in half and covered well inside with mud. With such suitable
+stones as we could pick up, we lined the fire place immediately around
+the fire, and as far above as we had rocks to do it with. The other half
+of the fourth side was left for the door, over which was hung any old
+blanket or other cloth that we could beg, borrow or steal.
+
+The log walls done, we dug a deep hole, loosened up the clay at the
+bottom, poured in water and mixed up a lot of mud with which we chinked
+up the interstices between the logs and covered the wood in the chimney.
+The earth that had been thrown up in digging the hole, we now banked up
+against the log wall all around, which made it wind proof; and then over
+this gem of architecture we stretched our fly. We had no closed
+tents--only a fly, a straight piece of tent cloth all open at the sides.
+Our fly, supported by a rude pole, and drawn down and firmly fastened to
+the top of the log wall, made the roof of the house.
+
+="Housewarming" on Parched Corn, Persimmons and Water=
+
+Then we went out and cut small poles and made a bunk, to lift us off the
+ground. Over the expanse of springy poles we spread sprigs of cedar--and
+this made a pretty good spring mattress. Last of all, we dug a ditch all
+around our house to keep the water from draining down into our room and
+driving us out. Then we went in, built a fire in our fireplace, called
+in our friends, and had a house-warming. The refreshments were parched
+corn, persimmons (which two of us walked two miles to get) and water.
+Of the latter, we had plenty in canteens borrowed from the boys. We had
+a bully time, and we kept it up late. Then we went to bed in our cosy
+bunk and slept like graven images till reveille next morning. Thus we
+were housed for the winter--"under our own vine and fig tree," so to
+speak.
+
+Most of the other houses were built after the same general style. We
+bragged that we had the best house in camp, and were very chesty about
+it. Others did likewise.
+
+The men's quarters ready, we at once set to work on stables for the
+horses, of which there were about seventy, belonging to the Battery. All
+hands were called in to do this work. We scattered through the woods,
+cut logs and carried them on our shoulders to the spot selected. We
+built up walls around three sides, leaving the fourth or sunny side
+open. Then we cut logs into three or four foot lengths and split them
+into slabs, and with these slabs, as a rough sort of shingle, covered
+the roof and weighted them down, in place, with long, heavy logs laid
+across each row of slabs. Then we mixed mud and stopped up the cracks in
+the log walls. Altogether, we had a good, strong wind and rain-proof
+building, which was an effective shelter for the horses and in which
+they kept dry and comfortable through the winter--which was a cold and
+stormy one. All the men worked hard, and we soon had the stable
+finished, and the horses housed. Thus our building work was done, and
+we settled into the regular routine of camp life.
+
+=Camp Duties=
+
+Perhaps a little sketch of our life in winter quarters, how we lived,
+how we employed ourselves, and what we did to pass away the time, may be
+interesting. I will try to give you some account of all that.
+
+Of course, we all had our military duties to attend to regularly. The
+drivers had to clean, feed, water, and exercise the horses, and keep the
+stables in order. The "cannoneers" had to keep the guns clean, bright,
+and ready for service any minute--also they had to stand guard at the
+guns on the hill all the time, and over the camp, at night, to guard the
+forage, and look after things generally. We had to drill some every
+day--police the camp and keep the roads near the camp in order. To this
+day's work we were called, every morning at six o'clock, by the bugler
+blowing the reveille. I may mention the fact that Prof. Francis Nicholas
+Crouch, the composer of the famous and beautiful song, "Kathleen
+Mavourneen," was the bugler of our Battery, and he was the heartless
+wretch who used to persecute us that way. To be waked up and hauled out
+about day dawn on a cold, wet, dismal morning, and to have to hustle out
+and stand shivering at roll call, was about the most exasperating item
+of the soldier's life. The boys had a song very expressive of a
+soldier's feelings when nestling in his warm blankets, he heard the
+malicious bray of that bugle. It went like this:
+
+  "Oh, how I hate to get up in the morning;
+      Oh, how I'd like to remain in bed.
+  But the saddest blow of all is to hear the bugler call,
+      'You've got to get up, you've got to get up,
+  You've got to get up this morning!'
+
+  "Some day I'm going to murder that bugler;
+      Some day they're going to find him dead.
+  I'll amputate his reveille,
+  And stamp upon it heavily,
+      And spend the rest of my life in bed!"
+
+We didn't kill old Crouch--I don't know why, except that he was
+protected by a special providence, which sometimes permits such evil
+deeds to go unpunished. We used to hope that he would blow his own
+brains out, through his bugle, but he didn't--he lived many years after
+the war.
+
+=Camp Recreations=
+
+In between our stated duties, we had some time in which we could amuse
+ourselves as we chose, and we had many means of entertainment. We had a
+chessboard and men--a set of quoits, dominoes, and cards; and there was
+the highly intellectual game of "push pin" open to all comers. Some very
+skillful chess players were discovered in the company. When the weather
+served, we had games of ball, and other athletic games, such as foot
+races, jumping, boxing, wrestling, lifting heavy weights, etc. At night
+we would gather in congenial groups around the camp fires and talk and
+smoke and "swap lies," as the boys expressed it.
+
+There was one thing from which we got a great deal of fun. We got up an
+organization amongst the youngsters which was called the "Independent
+Battalion of Fusiliers." The basal principle of this kind of heroes was,
+"In an advance, always in the rear--in a retreat, always in front. Never
+do anything that you can help. The chief aim of life is to rest. If you
+should get to a gate, don't go to the exertion of opening it. Sit down
+and wait until somebody comes along and opens it for you."
+
+After the first organizers, no one applied for admission into the
+Battalion--they were elected into it, without their consent. The way we
+kept the ranks full was this: Whenever any man in the Battery did any
+specially trifling, and good-for-nothing thing, or was guilty of any
+particularly asinine conduct, or did any fool trick, or expressed any
+idiotic opinion, he was marked out as a desirable recruit for the
+Fusiliers. We elected him, went and got him and made him march with us
+in parade of the Battalion, and solemnly invested him with the honor.
+This was not always a peaceable performance. Sometimes the candidate,
+not appreciating his privilege, had to be held by force, and was
+struggling violently, and saying many bad words, during the address of
+welcome by the C. O.
+
+I grieve to say that an election into this notable corps was treated as
+an insult, and responded to by hot and unbecoming language. One fellow,
+when informed of his election, flew into a rage, and said bad words, and
+offered to lick the whole Battalion. But what would they have? We were
+obliged to fill up the ranks.
+
+After a while it did come to be better understood, and was treated as a
+joke, and some of the more sober men entered into the fun, and would go
+out on parade, and take part in the ceremony. We paraded with a band
+composed of men beating tin buckets, frying pans, and canteens, with
+sticks, and whistling military music. It made a noisy and impressive
+procession. It attracted much attention and furnished much amusement to
+the camp.
+
+=A Special Entertainment=
+
+On proper occasions, promotions to higher rank were made for
+distinguished merit in our line. An instance will illustrate. One night,
+late, I was passing along when I saw this sight. The sentinel on guard
+in camp was lying down on a pile of bags of corn at the forage
+pile--sound asleep. He was lying on his left side. One of the long tails
+of his coat was hanging loose from his body and dangling down alongside
+the pile of bags. A half-grown cow had noiselessly sneaked up to the
+forage pile, and been attracted by that piece of cloth hanging
+loose--and, as calves will do, took the end of it into her mouth and
+was chewing it with great satisfaction. I called several of the fellows,
+and we watched the proceedings. The calf got more and more of the coat
+tail into her mouth. At length, with her mouth full of the cloth, and
+perhaps with the purpose of swallowing what she had been chewing she
+gave a hard jerk. The cloth was old, the seams rotten--that jerk pulled
+the whole of that tail loose from the body of the coat. The sleeping
+guard never moved. We rescued the cloth from the calf, and hid it. When
+the sleeper awoke, to his surprise, one whole tail of his coat was gone,
+and he was left with only one of the long tails. Our watching group,
+highly delighted at the show of a sentinel sleeping, while a calf was
+browsing on him, told him what had happened and that the calf had
+carried off the other coat tail. He was inconsolable. He was the only
+private in the company who had a long-tailed coat and it was the pride
+of his heart. There was no way of repairing the loss, and he had to go
+around for days, sad and dejected, shorn of his glory--with only one
+tail to his coat.
+
+All this was represented to the "Battalion of Fusiliers." Charges were
+preferred, and the Court Martial set. The witnesses testified to the
+facts--also said that if we had not driven off the calf it would have
+gone on, after getting the coat tail, and chewed up the sentinel, too.
+The findings of the Court Martial were nicely adjusted to the merits of
+the case. It was, that the witnesses were sentenced to punishment for
+driving off the calf, and not letting her eat up the sentinel.
+
+For the sentinel, who appeared before the Court with the one tail to his
+coat, it was decreed that his conduct was the very limit. No one could
+ever hope to find a more thorough Fusilier than the man who went to
+sleep on guard and let a calf eat his clothes off. Such conduct deserved
+most distinguished regard, as an encouragement to the Fusiliers. He was
+promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Battalion, the highest
+rank in our corps. After a while the lost coat tail was produced, and
+sewed on again.
+
+=Confederate Soldier Rations=
+
+The one thing that we suffered most from, the hardship hardest to bear,
+was hunger. The scantiness of the rations was something fierce. We never
+got a square meal that winter. We were always hungry. Even when we were
+getting full rations the issue was one-quarter pound of bacon, or
+one-half pound of beef, and little over a pint of flour or cornmeal,
+ground with the cob on it, we used to think--no stated ration of
+vegetables or sugar and coffee--just bread and meat. Some days we had
+the bread, but no meat; some days the meat, but no bread. Two days we
+had nothing, neither bread nor meat--and it was a solemn and empty
+crowd. Now and then, at long intervals, they gave us some dried peas.
+Occasionally, a little sugar--about an ounce to a man for a three days'
+ration. The Orderly of the mess would spread the whole amount on the
+back of a tin plate, and mark off thirteen portions, and put each man's
+share into his hand--three days' rations, this was. One time, in a burst
+of generosity, the Commissary Department stunned us by issuing coffee.
+We made "coffee" out of most anything--parched corn, wheat or rye--when
+we could get it. Anything for a hot drink at breakfast! But this was
+_coffee_--"sure enough" coffee--we called it. They issued this three
+times. The first time, when counted out to the consumer, by the Orderly,
+each man had 27 grains. He made a cup--drank it. The next time the issue
+was 16 grains to the man--again he made a cup and drank it. The third
+issue gave nine grains to the man. Each of these issues was for three
+days' rations. By now it had got down to being a joke, so we agreed to
+put the whole amount together, and draw for which one of the mess should
+have it all--with the condition, that the winner should make a pot of
+coffee, and drink it, and let the rest of us see him do it. This was
+done. Ben Lambert won--made the pot of coffee--sat on the ground, with
+us twelve, like a coroner's jury, sitting around watching him, and drank
+every drop. How he could do it, under the gaze of twelve hungry men, who
+had no coffee, it is hard to see, but Ben was capable of very difficult
+feats. He drank that pot of coffee--all the same!
+
+After this, there was no more issue of coffee. Even a Commissary began
+to be dimly conscious that nine grains given a man for a three days'
+rations was like joking with a serious subject, so they quit it, and
+during that winter we had mostly just bread and meat--very little of
+that, and that little not to be counted on.
+
+This hunger was much the hardest trial we had to bear. We didn't much
+mind getting wet and cold; working hard, standing guard at night; and
+fighting when required--we were seasoned to all that--but you don't
+season to hunger. Going along all day with a gnawing at your insides, of
+which you were always conscious, was not pleasant. We had more appetite
+than anything else, and never got enough to satisfy it--even for a time.
+
+Under this very strict regime, eating was like to become a lost art and
+our digestive organs had very little to do. We had very little use for
+them, in these days. A story went around the camp to this effect: One of
+the men got sick--said he had a pain in his stomach and sent for the
+surgeon. The doctor, trying to find the trouble, felt the patient's
+abdomen, and punched it, here and there. After a while he felt a hard
+lump, which ought not to be there. The doctor wondered what it could
+be--then feeling about, he found another hard lump, and then another,
+and another. Then the doctor was perfectly mystified by all those hard
+places in a man's insides. At last, the explanation came to him: he was
+feeling the vertebræ of the fellow's back-bone--right through his
+stomach!
+
+I do not vouch for the exact accuracy of all the details of the story,
+but it illustrates the situation. We all felt that our stomachs had
+dwindled away for want of use and exercise.
+
+=A Fresh Egg=
+
+Another incident, that I can vouch for, showing the strenuous time the
+whole army had about food that winter: One day Major-Quartermaster John
+Ludlow, of Norfolk, met a Captain of Artillery from his own town of
+Norfolk--Capt. Charles Grandy, of the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues. The
+Major invited the Captain to dine with him on a certain day. He did not
+expect anything very much, but there was a seductive sound in the word
+"dining" and he accepted. Grandy told the story of his experience on
+that festive occasion. He walked two miles to Major Ludlow's quarters,
+and was met with friendly cordiality by his old fellow-townsman, and
+ushered into his hut where a bright fire was burning. After a time spent
+in conversation, the Major began to prepare for dinner. He reached up on
+a shelf, and took down a cake of bread, cut it into two pieces, and put
+them in a frying pan on the fire to heat. Then he reached up on the
+shelf and got down a piece of bacon--not very large--cut it into two
+pieces, and put them in another pan on the fire to fry. Down in the
+ashes by the fire was a tin cup covered over--its contents not visible.
+The dining table was an old door, taken from some barn and set up on
+skids.
+
+When the bread and meat were ready, the Major put it on the table and
+with a courtly wave of his hand said, "D-d-draw up, Charley." They
+seated themselves. The Major gave a piece of bread and a piece of bacon
+to his guest, and took the other piece, of each, for himself. After he
+had eaten a while--the Major got up, went to the fireplace and took up
+the tin cup. He poured off the water, and, behold, one egg came to view.
+This egg, the Major put on a plate and, coming to the table, handed it
+to Grandy--"Ch-Ch-Charley, take an egg," as if there were a dish full.
+Charley, having been brought up to think it not good manners to take the
+last thing on the dish, declined to take the only egg in sight--said he
+didn't care specially for eggs! though he said he would have given a
+heap for that egg, as he hadn't tasted one since he had been in the
+army. "But," urged the Major, "Ch-Ch-Charley, I insist that you take an
+egg. You must take one--there is going to be plenty--do take it." Under
+this encouragement, Grandy took the egg--while he was greatly enjoying
+it, suddenly there was a flutter in the corner of the hut. An old hen
+flew up from behind a box in the corner, lit on the side of the box and
+began to cackle loudly. The Major turned to Grandy and said, "I-I
+t-t-told you there was going to be a plenty. I invited you to dinner
+today because this was the day for the hen to lay." He went over and got
+the fresh egg from behind the box, cooked and ate it. So each of the
+diners had an egg. The incident was suggestive of the situation. Here
+was a Quartermaster appointing a day for dining a friend--depending for
+part of the feast on his confidence that his hen would come to time. The
+picture of that formal dinner in the winter quarters on the Rapidan is
+worth drawing. It was a fair sign of the times, and of life in the Army
+of Northern Virginia; when it came to a Quartermaster giving to an
+honored, and specially invited guest, a dinner like that--it indicates a
+general scarceness.
+
+=When Fiction Became Fact=
+
+One bright spot in that "winter of our discontent"--lives in my memory.
+It was on the Christmas Day of 1863. That was a day specially hard to
+get through. The rations were very short indeed that day--only a little
+bread, no meat. As we went, so hungry, about our work, and remembered
+the good and abundant cheer always belonging to Christmas time; as we
+thought of "joys we had tasted in past years" that did _not_ "return" to
+us, now, and felt the woeful difference in our insides--it made us sad.
+It was harder to starve on Christmas Day than any day of the winter.
+
+When the long day was over and night had come, some twelve or fifteen of
+us, congenial comrades, had gathered in a group, and were sitting out of
+doors around a big camp fire, talking about Christmas, and trying to
+keep warm and cheer ourselves up.
+
+One fellow proposed what he called a _game_, and it was at once taken
+up--though it was a silly thing to do, as it only made us hungrier than
+ever. The game was this--we were to work our fancy, and imagine that we
+were around the table at "Pizzini's," in Richmond. Pizzini was the
+famous restauranteur who was able to keep up a wonderful eating house
+all through the war, even when the rest of Richmond was nearly starving.
+Well--in reality, now, we were all seated on the ground around that
+fire, and very hungry. In imagination we were all gathered 'round
+Pizzini's with unlimited credit and free to call for just what we
+wished. One fellow tied a towel on him, and acted as the waiter--with
+pencil and paper in hand going from guest to guest taking orders--all
+with the utmost gravity. "Well, sir, what will you have?" he said to the
+first man. He thought for a moment and then said (I recall that first
+order, it was monumental) "I will have, let me see--a four-pound steak,
+a turkey, a jowl and turnip tops, a peck of potatoes, six dozen
+biscuits, plenty of butter, a large pot of coffee, a gallon of milk and
+six pies--three lemon and three mince--and hurry up, waiter--that will
+do for a start; see 'bout the rest later."
+
+This was an order for one, mind you. The next several were like unto it.
+Then, one guest said, "I will take a large saddle of mountain mutton,
+with a gallon of crabapple jelly to eat with it, and as much as you can
+tote of other things."
+
+This, specially the crabapple jelly, quite struck the next man. He said,
+"I will take just the same as this gentleman." So the next, and the
+next. All the rest of the guests took the mountain mutton and jelly.
+
+All this absurd performance was gone through with all
+seriousness--making us wild with suggestions of good things to eat and
+plenty of it.
+
+The waiter took all the orders and carefully wrote them down, and read
+them out to the guest to be sure he had them right.
+
+Just as we were nearly through with this Barmecide feast, one of the
+boys, coming past us from the Commissary tent, called out to me, "Billy,
+old Tuck is just in (Tucker drove the Commissary wagon and went up to
+Orange for rations) and I think there is a box, or something, for you
+down at the tent."
+
+I got one of our crowd to go with me on the jump. Sure enough, there was
+a great big box for me--from home. We got it on our shoulders and
+trotted back up to the fire. The fellows gathered around, the top was
+off that box in a jiffy, and there, right on top, the first thing we
+came to--funny to tell, after what had just occurred--was the biggest
+saddle of mountain mutton, and a two-gallon jar of crabapple jelly to
+eat with it. The box was packed with all good, solid things to
+eat--about a bushel of biscuits and butter and sausage and pies, etc.,
+etc.
+
+We all pitched in with a whoop. In ten minutes after the top was off,
+there was not a thing left in that box except one skin of sausage which
+I saved for our mess next morning. You can imagine how the boys did
+enjoy it. It was a bully way to end up that hungry Christmas Day.
+
+I wrote my thanks and the thanks of all the boys to my mother and
+sisters, who had packed that box, and I described the scene as I have
+here described it, which made them realize how welcome and acceptable
+their kind present was--and what comfort and pleasure it gave--all the
+more that it came to us on Christmas Day, and made it a joyful one--at
+the end, at least.
+
+In regard to all this low diet from which we suffered so much hunger
+that winter--it is well worthy of remark that the health of the army was
+never better. At one time that winter there were only 300 men in
+hospital from the whole Army of Northern Virginia--which seems to
+suggest that humans don't need as much to eat as they think they do.
+That army was very hungry, but it was very healthy! It looks like cause
+and effect! But it was a very painful way of keeping healthy. I fear we
+would not have taken that tonic, if we could have helped it, but we
+couldn't! Maybe it was best as it was. Let us hope so!
+
+Well, the winter wore on in this regular way until the 3d or 4th of
+February, when our quiet was suddenly disturbed in a most unexpected
+manner. Right in the dead of a stormy winter, when nobody looked for any
+military move--we had a fight. The enemy got "funny" and we had to bring
+him to a more serious state of mind, and teach him how wrong it was to
+disturb the repose of gentlemen when they were not looking for it, and
+not doing anything to anybody--just trying to be happy, and peaceable if
+they could get a chance.
+
+=Confederate Fashion Plates=
+
+Leading up to an account of this, I may mention some circumstances in
+the way of the boys in the camp. Living the hard life, we were--one
+would suppose that fashion was not in all our thoughts; but even then,
+we felt the call of fashion and followed it in such lines, as were open
+to us. The instinct to "do as the other fellow does" is implanted in
+humans by nature; this blind impulse explains many things that otherwise
+were inexplicable. With the ladies it makes many of them wear hats and
+dresses that make them look like hoboes and guys, and shoes that make
+them walk about as gracefully as a cow in a blanket, instead of looking,
+and moving like the young, graceful gazelles--that nature meant, and men
+want them to look like. Taste and grace and modesty go for nothing--when
+fashion calls.
+
+Well, the blind impulse that affects the ladies so--moved us in regard
+to the patches put on the seats of our pants. This was the only
+particular in which we could depart from the monotony of our quiet,
+simple, gray uniform--which consisted of a jacket, and pants and did not
+lend itself to much variety; but fashion found a way.
+
+There must always be a leader of fashion. We had one--"The glass of
+fashion and the mould of form" in our gang was Ben Lambert. He could
+look like a tombstone, but was full of fun, and inventive genius.
+
+Our uniform was a short jacket coming down only to the waist, hence a
+hole in the seat of the pants was conspicuous, and was regarded as not
+suited to the dignity and soldierly appearance of a Howitzer. For one to
+go around with such a hole showing--any longer than he could help
+it--was considered a want of respect to his comrades. Public opinion
+demanded that these holes be stopped up as soon as possible. Sitting
+about on rough surfaces--as stumps, logs, rocks, and the ground--made
+many breaks in the integrity of pants, and caused need of frequent
+repairs, for ours was not as those of the ancient Hebrews to whom Moses
+said, "Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee"--ours waxed very old, before
+we could get another pair, and were easily rubbed through. The more
+sedate men were content with a plain, unpretentious patch, but this did
+not satisfy the youngsters, whose æsthetic souls yearned for "they know
+not what," until Ben Lambert showed them. One morning he appeared at
+roll call with a large patch in the shape of a heart transfixed with an
+arrow, done out of red flannel. This at once won the admiration and envy
+of the soldiers. They now saw what they wished, in the way of a patch,
+and proceeded to get it. Each one set his ingenuity to work to devise
+something unique. Soon the results began to appear. Upon the seats of
+one, and another, and another, were displayed figures of birds, beasts
+and men--a spread eagle, a cow, a horse, a cannon. One artist depicted a
+"Cupid" with his bow, and just across on the other hip a heart pierced
+with an arrow from Cupid's bow--all wrought out of red flannel and sewed
+on as patches to cover the holes in the pants, and, at the same time,
+present a pleasing appearance. By and by these devices increased in
+number, and when the company was fallen in for roll call the line, seen
+from the rear, presented a very gay and festive effect.
+
+One morning, a General, who happened in camp--the gallant soldier, and
+merry Irishman, General Pat Finnegan, was standing, with our Captain, in
+front of the line, hearing the roll call.
+
+That done, the Orderly Sergeant gave the order, "'Bout face!" The rear
+of the line was thus turned toward General Finnegan. When that art
+gallery--in red flannel--was suddenly displayed to his delighted eyes
+the General nearly laughed himself into a fit.
+
+"Oh, boys," he cried out, "don't ever turn your backs upon the enemy.
+Sure they'll git ye--red makes a divil of a good target. But I wouldn't
+have missed this for the world."
+
+The effect, as seen from the rear, was impressive. It could have been
+seen a mile off--bright red patches on dull gray cloth. Anyhow it was
+better than the holes and it made a ruddy glow in camp. Also it gave the
+men much to amuse them.
+
+Ben set the fashion in one other particular--viz., in hair cuts. He
+would come to roll call with his hair cut in some peculiar way, and
+stand in rank perfectly solemn. Ranks broken, the boys would gather
+eagerly about him, and he would announce the name of that "cut." They
+would, as soon as they could, get their hair cut in the same style.
+
+One morning, he stood in rank with every particle of his hair cut off,
+as if shaved, and his head as bare as a door knob. "What style is that,
+Ben?" the boys asked. "The 'horse thief' cut," he gravely announced.
+Their one ambition now, was to acquire the "horse-thief cut."
+
+There was only one man in the Battery who could cut hair--Sergeant Van
+McCreery--and he had the only pair of scissors that could cut hair. So
+every aspirant to this fashionable cut tried to make interest with Van
+to fix him up; and Van, who was very good natured, would, as he had time
+and opportunity, accommodate the applicant, and trim him close. Several
+of us had gone under the transforming hands of this tonsorial artist,
+when Bob McIntosh got his turn. Bob was a handsome boy with a luxuriant
+growth of hair. He had raven black, kinky hair that stuck up from his
+head in a bushy mass, and he hadn't had his hair cut for a good while,
+and it was very long and seemed longer than it was because it stuck out
+so from his head. Now, it was all to go, and a crowd of the boys
+gathered 'round to see the fun. The modus operandi was simple, but
+sufficient. The candidate sat on a stump with a towel tied 'round his
+neck, and he held up the corners making a receptacle to catch the hair
+as it was cut. Why this--I don't know; force of habit I reckon. When we
+were boys and our mothers cut our hair, we had to hold up a towel so. We
+were told it was to keep the hair from getting on the floor and to stuff
+pincushions with. Here was the whole County of Orange to throw the hair
+on, and we were not making any pincushions--still Bob had to hold the
+towel that way. Van stood behind Bob and began over his right ear. He
+took the hair off clean, as he went, working from right to left over his
+head; the crowd around--jeering the victim and making comments on his
+ever-changing appearance as the scissors progressed, making a clean
+sweep at every cut. We were thus making much noise with our fun at Bob's
+expense, until the shears had moved up to the top of his head, leaving
+the whole right half of the head as clean of hair as the palm of your
+hand, while the other half was still covered with this long, kinky, jet
+black hair, which in the absence of the departed locks looked twice as
+long as before--and Bob did present a spectacle that would make a dog
+laugh. It was just as funny as it could be.
+
+=A Surprise Attack=
+
+Just at that moment, in the midst of all this hilarity, suddenly we
+heard a man yell out something as he came running down the hill from the
+guns. We could not hear what he said. The next moment, he burst
+excitedly into our midst, and shouted out, "For God's sake, men, get
+your guns. The Yankees are across the river and making for the guns.
+They will capture them before you get there, if you don't hurry up."
+
+This was a bolt out of a clear sky--but we jumped to the call. Everybody
+instantly forgot everything else and raced for the guns. I saw McCreery
+running with the scissors in his hand; he forgot that he had them--but
+it was funny to see a soldier going to war with a pair of scissors! I
+found myself running beside Bob McIntosh, with his hat off, his head
+half shaved and that towel, still tied round his neck, streaming out
+behind him in the wind.
+
+Just before we got to the guns, Bob suddenly halted and said, "Good
+Heavens, Billy, it has just come to me what a devil of a fix I am in
+with my head in this condition. I tell you now that if the Yankees get
+too close to the guns, I am going to run. If they got me, or found me
+dead, they would say that General Lee was bringing up the convicts from
+the Penitentiary in Richmond to fight them. I wouldn't be caught dead
+with my head looking like this."
+
+We got to the guns on the hill top and looked to the front. Things were
+not as bad as that excited messenger had said, but they were bad enough.
+One brigade of the enemy was across the river and moving on us; another
+brigade was fording the river; and we could see another brigade moving
+down to the river bank on the other side. Things were serious, because
+the situation was this: an Infantry Brigade from Ewell's Corps, lying in
+winter quarters in the country behind us, was kept posted at the front,
+whose duty it was to picket the river bank. It was relieved at regular
+times by another Brigade which took over that duty.
+
+It so chanced that this was the morning for that relieving Brigade to
+come. Expecting them to arrive any minute, the Brigade on duty, by way
+of saving time, gathered in its pickets and moved off back toward camp.
+The other Brigade had not come up--careless work, perhaps, but here in
+the dead of winter nobody dreamed of the enemy starting anything.
+
+So it was, that, with one brigade gone; the other not up; the pickets
+withdrawn, at this moment there was nobody whatsoever on the front
+except our Battery--and, here was the enemy across the river, moving on
+us and no supports.
+
+In the meantime, the enemy guns across the river opened on us and the
+shells were flying about us in lively fashion. It was rather a sudden
+transition from peace to war, but we had been at this business before;
+the sound of the shells was not unfamiliar--so we were not unduly
+disturbed. We quickly got the guns loaded, and opened on that Infantry,
+advancing up the hill. We worked rapidly, for the case was urgent, and
+we made it as lively for those fellows as we possibly could. In a few
+minutes a pretty neat little battle was making the welkin ring. The
+sound of our guns crashing over the country behind us made our people,
+in the camp back there, sit up and take notice. In a few minutes we
+heard the sound of a horse's feet running at full speed, and Gen. Dick
+Ewell, commanding the Second Corps, came dashing up much excited. As he
+drew near the guns he yelled out, "What on earth is the matter here?"
+When he got far enough up the hill to look over the crest, he saw the
+enemy advancing from the river, "Aha, I see," he exclaimed. Then he
+galloped up to us and shouted, "Boys, keep them back ten minutes and
+I'll have men enough here to eat them up--without salt!" So saying, he
+whirled his horse, and tore off back down the road.
+
+In a few minutes we heard the tap of a drum and the relieving Brigade,
+which had been delayed, came up at a rapid double quick, and deployed to
+the right of our guns; they had heard the sound of our firing and struck
+a trot. A few minutes more, and the Brigade that had left, that morning,
+came rushing up and deployed to our left. They had heard our guns and
+halted and came back to see what was up.
+
+With a whoop and a yell, those two Brigades went at the enemy who had
+been halted by our fire. In a short time said enemy changed their minds
+about wanting to stay on our side, and went back over the river a good
+deal faster than they came. They left some prisoners and about 300 dead
+and wounded--for us to remember them by.
+
+The battle ceased, the picket line was restored along the river bank,
+and all was quiet again. Bob McIntosh was more put out by all this
+business than anybody else--it had interrupted his hair cut. When we
+first got the guns into action, everybody was too busy to notice Bob's
+head. After we got settled down to work, I caught sight of that
+half-shaved head and it was the funniest object you ever saw. Bob was
+No. 1 at his gun, which was next to mine, and had to swab and ram the
+gun. This necessitated his constantly turning from side to side,
+displaying first this, and then the other side of his head. One side was
+perfectly white and bare; the other side covered by a mop of kinky, jet
+black hair; but when you caught sight of his front elevation, the effect
+was indescribable. While Bob was unconsciously making this absurd
+exhibition, it was too much to stand, even in a fight. I said to the
+boys around my gun, "Look at Bob." They looked and they could hardly
+work the gun for laughing.
+
+Of course, when the fight was over McCreery lost that pair of scissors,
+or _said_ he did. There was not another pair in camp, so Bob had to go
+about with his head in that condition for about a week--and he wearied
+of life. One day in his desperation, he said he wanted to get some of
+that hair off his head so much that he would resort to any means. He had
+tried to cut some off with his knife. One of the boys, Hunter Dupuy, was
+standing by chopping on the level top of a stump with a hatchet. Hunter
+said, "All right, Bob, put your head on this stump and I'll chop off
+some of your hair." The blade was dull, and it only forced a quantity of
+the hair down into the wood, where it stuck, and held Bob's hair fast to
+the stump, besides pulling out a lot by the roots, and hurting Bob very
+much. He tried to pull loose and couldn't. Then he began to call Hunter
+all the names he could think of, and threatened what he was going to do
+to him when he got loose. Hunter, much hurt by such ungracious return
+for what he had done at Bob's request, said, "Why, Bob, you couldn't
+expect me to cut your hair with a hatchet without hurting some"--which
+seemed reasonable. We made Bob promise to keep the peace, on pain of
+leaving him tied to the stump--then we cut him loose with our knives.
+
+After some days, when we had had our fun, Van found the scissors and
+trimmed off the other side of his head to match--Bob was happy.
+
+=Wedding Bells and a Visit Home=
+
+A few days after this I had the very great pleasure of a little visit to
+my home. My sister, to whom I was devotedly attached, was to be married.
+The marriage was to take place on a certain Monday. I had applied for a
+short leave of absence and thought, if granted, to have it come to me
+some days before the date of the wedding, so that I could easily get
+home in time. But there was some delay, and the official paper did not
+get into my hands until fifteen minutes before one o'clock on
+Sunday--the day before the wedding. The last train by which I could
+possibly reach home in time was to leave Orange Court House for Richmond
+at six o'clock that evening, and the Court House was nineteen miles off.
+It seemed pretty desperate, but I was bound to make it. I had had a very
+slim breakfast that morning; I swapped my share of dinner that evening
+with a fellow for two crackers, which he happened to have, and lit out
+for the train.
+
+A word about that trip, as a mark of the times, may be worth while. I
+got the furlough at 12.45. I was on the road at one, and I made that
+nineteen miles in five hours--some fast travel, that! I got to the depot
+about two minutes after six; the train actually started when I was still
+ten steps off. I jumped like a kangaroo, but the end of the train had
+just passed me when I reached the track. I had to chase the train twenty
+steps alongside the track, and at last, getting up with the back
+platform of the rear car, I made a big jump, and managed to land. It was
+a close shave, but with that nineteen-mile walk behind, and that wedding
+in front, I would have caught that train if I had to chase it to
+Gordonsville--"What do you take me for that I should let a little thing
+like that make me miss the party?"
+
+Well, anyhow, I got on. The cars were crowded--not a vacant seat on the
+train. We left Orange Court House at six o'clock P. M.--we reached
+Richmond at seven o'clock the next morning--traveled all
+night--thirteen hours for the trip, which now takes two and a half
+hours--and all that long night, there was not a seat for me to sit
+on--except the floor, and that was unsitable. When I got too tired to
+stand up any longer, I would climb up and sit on the flat top of the
+water cooler, which was up so near the sloping top of the car that I
+could not sit up straight. My back would soon get so cramped that I
+could not bear it any longer--then I crawled down and stood on the floor
+again. So I changed from the floor to the water cooler and back again,
+for change of position, all through the night in that hot, crowded car,
+and I was very tired when we got to Richmond.
+
+We arrived at seven o'clock and the train--Richmond and Danville
+Railroad--was to start for Danville at eight. I got out and walked about
+to limber up a little for the rest of the trip. I had a discussion with
+myself which I found it rather hard to decide. I had only half a dollar
+in my pocket. The furlough furnished the transportation on the train,
+and the question was this--with this I could get a little something to
+eat, or I could get a clean shave. On the one hand I was very hungry. I
+had not eaten anything since early morning of the day before, and since
+then had walked nineteen miles and spent that weary night on the train
+without a wink of sleep. Moreover, there was no chance of anything to
+eat until we got to Danville that night--another day of fasting--strong
+reasons for spending that half dollar in _food_. On the other hand, I
+was going to a wedding party where I would meet a lot of girls, and
+above all, was to "wait" with the prettiest girl in the State of
+Virginia. In those days, the wedding customs were somewhat different
+from those now in vogue. Instead of a "best man" to act as "bottle
+holder" to the groom, and a "best girl" to stand by the bride and pull
+off her glove, and fix her veil, and see that her train hangs right,
+when she starts back down the aisle with her victim--the custom was to
+have a number of couples of "waiters" chosen by the bride and groom from
+among their special friends, who would march up in procession, ahead of
+the bride and groom, who followed them arm in arm to the chancel.
+
+The "first waiters" did the office of "best" man and girl, as it is now.
+I have been at a wedding where fourteen couples of waiters marched in
+the procession.
+
+Well, I was going into such company, and had to escort up the aisle that
+beautiful cousin, that I was telling you about--naturally I wanted to
+look my best, and the more I thought about that girl, the more I wanted
+to, so I at last decided to spend that only fifty cents for a clean
+shave--and got it. My heart and my conscience approved of this decision,
+but I suffered many pangs in other quarters, owing to that long fasting
+day. However, virtue is its own reward, and that night when I got home,
+and that lovely cousin was the first who came out of the door to greet
+me, dressed in a--well, white swiss muslin--I reckon--and looking like
+an angel, I felt glad that I had a clean face.
+
+And after the rough life of camp, what a delicious pleasure it was to be
+with the people I loved best on earth, and to see the fresh faces of my
+girl friends, and the kind faces of our old friends and neighbors! I
+cannot express how delightful it was to be at home--the joy of it sank
+into my soul. Also, I might say, that at the wedding supper, I made a
+brilliant reputation as an expert with a knife and fork, that lived in
+the memory of my friends for a long time. My courage and endurance in
+that cuisine commanded the wonder, and admiration, of the spectators. It
+was good to have enough to eat once more. I had almost forgotten how it
+felt--not to be hungry; and it was the more pleasant to note how much
+pleasure it gave your friends to see you do it, and not have a lot of
+hungry fellows sitting around with a wistful look in their eyes.
+
+Well, I spent a few happy days with the dear home folks in the dear old
+home. This was the home where I had lived all my life, in the sweetest
+home life a boy ever had. Everything, and every person in and around it,
+was associated with all the memories of a happy childhood and youth. It
+was a home to love; a home to defend; a home to die for--the dearest
+spot on earth to me. It was an inexpressible delight to be under its
+roof--once more. I enjoyed it with all my heart for those _few short
+days_--then, with what cheerfulness I could--hied me back to camp--to
+rejoin my comrades, who were fighting to protect homes that were as dear
+to them as this was to me.
+
+I made another long drawn-out railroad trip, winding up with that same
+old nineteen miles from Orange to the camp, and I got there all right,
+and found the boys well and jolly, but still hungry. They went wild over
+my graphic description of the wedding supper. The picture was very
+trying to their feelings, because the original was so far out of reach.
+
+=The Soldiers' Profession of Faith=
+
+In this account of our life in that winter camp, it remains for me to
+record the most important occurrence of all. About this time there came
+into the life of the men of the Battery an experience more deeply
+impressive, and of more vital consequence to them than anything that had
+ever happened, or ever could happen in their whole life, as soldiers,
+and as men. The outward beginning of it was very quiet, and simple. We
+had built a little log church, or meeting house, and the fellows who
+chose had gotten into the way of gathering here every afternoon for a
+very simple prayer meeting. We had no chaplain and there were only a few
+Christians among the men. At these meetings one of the young fellows
+would read a passage of Scripture, and offer a prayer, and all joined in
+singing a hymn or two. We began to notice an increase of interest, and a
+larger attendance of the men. A feature of our meeting was a time given
+for talk, when it was understood that if any fellow had anything to say
+appropriate to the occasion, he was at liberty to say it. Now and then
+one of the boys did have a few simple words to offer his comrades in
+connection, perhaps, with the Scripture reading.
+
+One day John Wise, one of the best, and bravest men in the Battery,
+loved and respected by everybody, quietly stood up and said, "I think it
+honest and right to say to my comrades that I have resolved to be a
+Christian. I here declare myself a believer in Christ. I want to be
+counted as such, and by the help of God, will try to live as such."
+
+This was entirely unexpected. He sat down amidst intense silence. A
+spirit of deep seriousness seemed fallen upon all present. A hymn was
+sung, and they quietly dispersed. Some of us shook hands with Wise and
+expressed our pleasure at what he had said, and done.
+
+This incident produced a profound impression among the men. It brought
+out the feelings about religion that had lain unexpressed in other
+minds. The thoughts of many hearts were revealed. The interest spread
+rapidly; the fervor of our prayer meetings grew. We had no chaplain to
+handle this situation, but men would seek out their comrades who were
+Christians, and talk on this great subject with them, and accept such
+guidance in truth, and duty as they could give. And now from day to day
+at the prayer meetings men would get up in the quiet way John Wise had
+done, and in simple words declare themselves Christians in the presence
+of their comrades. Most of them were among the manliest and best men of
+the company; they were dead in earnest, and their actions commanded the
+respect and sympathy of the whole camp.
+
+This movement went quietly on, without any fuss or excitement, until
+some sixty-five men, two-thirds of our whole number, had confessed their
+faith, and taken their stand, and in conduct and spirit, as well as in
+word, were living consistent Christian lives. They carried that faith,
+and that life, and character, home when they went back after the
+war--and they carried them through their lives. In the various
+communities where they lived their lives, and did their work, they were
+known as strong, stalwart Christian men, and towers of strength to the
+several churches to which they became attached. Of that number twelve or
+fourteen men went into the ministry of different churches, and served
+faithfully to their life's end.
+
+What I have described as going on in our Battery off there by itself at
+Morton's Ford, was going on very widely in the Army at large. There was
+a deep spiritual interest and strong revival of religion throughout the
+whole Army of Northern Virginia during that winter. Thousands and
+thousands of those splendid soldiers of the South, became just as
+devoted soldiers, and servants of Jesus Christ, and took their places in
+His ranks, and manfully fought under His banner, and were not ashamed
+to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and to stand for His cause.
+
+The effect of all this was very far-reaching. What these men carried
+back home with them wrought a great change in the South--a change in the
+attitude of the men of the South toward Christ's religion. There was a
+great change in that attitude, from before the war, and afterward,
+produced by the war.
+
+I will try to explain what I mean: Before the war, in the South, as I
+knew it--in the country neighborhoods, and in the villages, and small
+towns--you would find a group of men, often made up of the most
+influential, respected, educated, efficient men of that community, who
+were not members of any church or professed Christians. These were men
+of honor and integrity, respected by all, valuable citizens. They
+respected religion, went to church regularly, as became a gentleman, and
+gave their money liberally to support the church as a valuable
+institution of society. That was, their attitude toward
+religion--respectful tolerance, but no personal interest--no need of it.
+Their thought, generally unspoken but sometimes expressed, was that
+religion was all right for women, and children, and sick or weak men,
+but strong men could take care of themselves and had no need of it. And,
+of course, the young men coming on were influenced by their example and
+thought it manly to follow their example. The argument was specious.
+"There is Mr. Blank; he is an upright, good man, and no man stands
+higher in the community; he is just as good a man and citizen as any
+member of the church. He gets along all right without religion--I won't
+bother about it." So he let it alone and went his way. The very virtues
+of that group of men were a baleful influence in that community--led
+young men into the dreadful mistake that men do not need religion--that
+religion is not a manly thing. A good man who is not a Christian does
+ten-fold more harm, in a community, to the cause of Christ, and to the
+lives of men than the worst, and lowest man in it; so it was here!
+
+When the call to war came, these very men were the first to go. As a
+rule they were the leaders, in thought and action, of their
+fellow-citizens, and they were high spirited, intensely patriotic, and
+quick to resent the invasion of their rights, and their State. In
+whole-hearted devotion to the cause, they went in a spirit that would
+make them thorough soldiers.
+
+=The Example of Lee, Jackson and Stuart=
+
+Now when these men got into the army the "esprit de corps" took
+possession of them. They got shaken down to _soldier_ thoughts, and
+judgments. They began to estimate men by their personal value to the
+cause that was their supreme concern. In that army, three men held the
+highest place in the heart and mind, of every soldier in it--they were
+General Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart--each the highest in his
+line. All the army had, for these three men, reverent honor,
+enthusiastic admiration, and absolute confidence. We looked up to them
+as the highest types of manhood--in noble character, superb genius, and
+consummate ability. They were by eminence the heroes--the beloved
+leaders of the army. There were many other able, and brilliant leaders,
+whom we honored, but these were set apart. In the thoughts, and hearts
+of all the army, and the country as well, these three were the noblest
+and highest representatives of our cause; and every man did homage to
+them, and was proud to do it. But, as was known, with all their high
+qualities of genius, and personal character, and superb manhood, each
+one of these three men was a devout member of Christ's Church; a sincere
+and humble disciple of Jesus Christ; and in his daily life and all his
+actions and relations in life, was a consistent Christian man. All his
+brilliant service to his country was done as duty to his God, and all
+his plans and purposes were "referred to God, and His approval and
+blessing invoked upon them, as the only assurance of their success." All
+who were personally associated with these men came to know that this was
+the spirit of their lives; and many times, in religious services, in
+camp, these men, so idolized by the army, and so great in all human eyes
+but their own, could be seen bowing humbly down beside the private
+soldiers to receive the holy sacrament of the Blessed Body and Blood of
+Christ.
+
+Now, when the men, who had been so indifferent to religion at home, as
+so unnecessary for them, came up against this fact, and came to look up
+to these three men as their highest ideals of manhood, they got an eye
+opener. If men like Lee, and Jackson, and Stuart, and others, felt the
+need of religion for themselves, the thought would come, "Maybe I need
+it, too. No man can look down on the manhood of these men; if they
+esteem religion as the crown of their manhood, it is not a thing to be
+despised, or neglected, or treated with indifference. It is a thing to
+be sought, and found and taken into my life." And this train of thought
+arrested the attention, and got the interest and stirred to truer
+thoughts, and finally brought them to Christ. Thousands of these men
+were led to become devout Christians, and earnest members of the church
+through the influence of the three great Christian leaders, and other
+Christian comrades in the army.
+
+Now, when these men got back home after the war and the survivors of
+those groups got settled back in their various communities, there was a
+great difference in the religious situation, from what it had been
+before the war. There had taken place a complete change in these men, in
+their attitude toward religion, and this wrought a great change in this
+respect in their communities, for the returned soldiers of any community
+were given a place of peculiar honor, and influence. They had their
+record of splendid, and heroic service behind them and they were held
+in affectionate, and tender regard--not only by their own families, and
+friends, but by all their neighbors and fellow-citizens. What that group
+of soldiers thought, and wanted, _went_ in that town, or countryside.
+
+Now, that group of men who set the pace, and made the atmosphere in that
+community were Christians. The serious phase of life; the seasoning of
+hardships; the discipline; the oft facing of death; the stern habit of
+duty at any cost, which they had passed through during the war had made
+them very strong men, and very earnest Christians. What they stood for,
+they stood for boldly, and outspokenly on all proper occasions. They
+were not one whit ashamed of their religion and were ready at all times,
+and about all matters to let the world know just where they stood; to
+declare by word, and deed who they were, and whom they served.
+
+All this set up before the eyes of that community a very strong,
+forcible, manly type of religion. These were not women, and children,
+and they were not sick or weak men--they were the very manliest men in
+that town, and so were taken and accepted by general consent.
+
+Just think of the effect of that situation upon the boys and young men
+growing up in that community. The veteran soldiers, back from the war,
+with all their honors upon them--were heroes to the young fellows. What
+the soldiers said, and did, were patterns for them to imitate; and the
+pattern of Christian life, set up before the youngsters, made religion,
+and church membership most honorable in their eyes. They did not now, as
+aforetime, have to overcome the obstacle in a young man's mind which lay
+in the association of weakness with religion, and which had largely been
+suggested to them by the older men, in the former times.
+
+The old Christian soldiers, whom they now saw, set up in them the idea
+that religion was the manliest thing in the world, and so inclined them
+toward it, and assured the most serious, and respectful consideration of
+it. Religion could not be put aside lightly, or treated with contempt as
+unmanly, for those veteran heroes were living it and stood for it, and
+they were, in their eyes, the manliest men they knew.
+
+Now, this leaven of truer thought about religion was leading society all
+through the South; the Southern men and boys everywhere were feeling its
+influence, and it was having most remarkable effects. The increase in
+the number of men, who after the war were brought into the church by the
+direct influence of the returned soldiers, "who had found their souls"
+through the experiences of their army life, was tremendous. Those
+soldiers did a bigger service to the men of their race by bringing back
+religion to them than they did in fighting for them during the war.
+
+Just after the war, in the far harder trials and soul agony of the
+Reconstruction days, I think that the wonderful patience, and courage
+which resisted humiliation, and won back the control of their States,
+and rebuilt their shattered fortunes and pulled their country
+triumphantly up out of indescribable disaster, can only be thus really
+explained--that those men were "strong and of a good courage" because
+"their minds were staked on God."
+
+The history of the Southern people during that epoch is unmatched by the
+history of any people in all time. The result they achieved, this was
+the reason--beneath the superb "grit" of the Southern people lay deep
+the conviction "God is our refuge and strength" and "The God whom we
+serve. He will deliver us." It was the spiritual vision of the men of
+the South that saved it when it was ready to perish--and let the men of
+the South never forget it! Let them give unceasing recognition and
+thanks to God, for that great deliverance.
+
+If I have made clear my thought--the connection of the religious revival
+in the army with the fortunes of our people at home after the war--I am
+glad! If I haven't, I am sorry! I can't say any fairer than that, and I
+can only make the plea that was stuck up in a church in the West, in the
+old rough days, when a dissatisfied auditor of the sermon, or the
+organist, was likely to express his disapproval with a gun. The notice
+up in front of the choir read like this: "Please don't shoot the
+musician, he's doing his level best"--I make the same request.
+
+But, to return to our muttons! Let us get back to the winter camp at
+Morton's Ford.
+
+=Spring Sprouts and a "Tar Heel" Story=
+
+The winter had now worn away and the spring had come. Vegetation began
+to show signs of life. Its coming bore us one comfort in one way--among
+others. It was not so cold, and we did not have to tote so many logs of
+wood to keep up our fires. Down on the river flats, where vegetation
+showed sooner than it did on the hills, green things began to shoot up.
+Dandelions, sheep sorrel, poke leaves and such, though not used in civil
+life, were welcome to us, for they were much better than no salad at
+all. The men craved something green. The unbroken diet of just bread and
+meat--generally salt meat at that--gave some of the men scurvy. The only
+remedy for that was something acid, or vegetable food. The men needed
+this and craved it--so when the green shoots of any kind appeared we
+would go down on the flats, and gather up all the green stuff we could
+find, and boil it with the little piece of bacon we might have. It
+improved the health of the men very much.
+
+At this time, there was a North Carolina Brigade of Infantry at the
+front furnishing pickets for the river bank. They were camped just back
+of our winter quarters. Those fellows seemed to be very specially strong
+in their yearning for vegetable diet, so much so that they attracted
+our attention. Every day we would see long lines of those men passing
+through our camp. They would walk along, one behind another, in almost
+unending procession, silent and lonesome, never saying a word and never
+two walking together--and all of them meandered along intent on one
+thing--getting down to the flats below "to get some sprouts" as they
+would say when asked where they were going.
+
+Later on, we would see them in the same solemn procession coming back to
+camp--every man with a bunch of something green in his fist.
+
+This daily spectacle of Tar Heels swarming through our camp interested
+us; we watched them mooning along. We tried to talk with them, but all
+we got from them was, "We'uns is going to git some sprouts. Don't
+you'uns love sprouts?"
+
+We did, but we didn't go after them in such a solemn manner. Our
+"sprout" hunts were not so funereal a function; rather more jovial, and
+much more sociable. Also this devotion to the search for the herb of the
+field excited our curiosity. They were all the time craving green stuff,
+and going after it so constantly. We had a story going around which was
+supposed to explain the craving of a Tar Heel's insides for greens.
+
+This was the story:
+
+One of these men got into the hospital. He had something the matter with
+his liver. The doctor tried his best to find out what was the matter,
+and tried all sorts of remedies--no results. At last, in desperation,
+the doctor decided to try heroic treatment. He cut the fellow open, took
+out his liver, fixed it up all right (whatever that consisted in),
+washed it off and hung it on a bush to dry, preparatory to putting it
+back in place. A dog stole the liver, and carried it off. Here was a bad
+state of things--the soldier's liver gone, the doctor was responsible.
+The doctor was up against it. He thought much, and anxiously. At last a
+bright idea struck him. He sent off, got a sheep, killed it, took out
+its liver, got it ready, and sewed it up in that soldier in place of his
+own. The man got well, and about his duties again. One day, soon after,
+the doctor met him and said with much friendly interest, "Well, Jim, how
+are you?"
+
+"Oh, doctor," he replied in a very cheerful tone, "I'm well and strong
+again."
+
+The doctor looked at him, and asked him significantly, "Jim, do you feel
+_all right_?"
+
+Falling into that characteristic whine, Jim said, "Yes, sir, I am well
+and strong, but, Doctor, all the time, now, I feel the strangest
+hankering after grass."
+
+That was the sheep's liver telling. Our theory was that all of those
+fellows had sheep's livers, and that accounted for the insatiable
+"hankering after grass."
+
+I told this story in an after-dinner speech at a banquet some time ago
+to a company of twenty-nine female doctors of medicine--trained, and
+practicing physicians. They made no protest; listened with unbroken
+gravity; accepted it as a narrative of actual occurrence, and looked at
+me with wide-eyed interest. When I finished I thought it best to tell
+them that it was all a joke. Then they laughed themselves into a fit.
+
+Well, this little account of our doings, and our life in the winter camp
+at Morton's Ford--1863-1864--is done. Out of its duties, and
+companionships; its pleasures, and its deeper experiences, we Howitzers
+were laying up pleasant memories of the camp for the years to come. And
+often in after years, when some of us comrades got together we would
+speak of the old camp at Morton's Ford.
+
+The spring was now coming on. We knew that our stay here could not last
+much longer. How, and when, and where we should go from here, we did not
+know. We knew we would go somewhere--that was all. "We would know when
+the time came, and 'Marse Robert' wanted us" he would tell us.
+
+That is the soldier's life--"Go, and he goeth; come, and he cometh; do
+this, and he doeth it." No choice. Wait for orders--then, quick! Go to
+it!
+
+Well we were perfectly willing to trust "Marse Robert" and perfectly
+ready to do just what he said. Meantime we take no anxious thought for
+the morrow; we go on with our work, and our play--we are "prepared to
+move at a moment's warning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+
+Nineteen miles from Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running
+northeast into Culpeper crosses "Morton's Ford" of the Rapidan River,
+which, just now, lay between the Federal "Army of the Potomac" and the
+Confederate "Army of Northern Virginia."
+
+As this road approaches within three-fourths of a mile of the river it
+rises over a sharp hill, and, thence, winds its way down the hill to the
+Ford. On the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the
+"First Richmond Howitzers" were in position, commanding the Ford; and
+the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the pine wood just
+back of the ridge. Here, we had been on picket all the winter, helping
+the infantry pickets to watch the enemy and guard the Ford.
+
+One bright sunny morning, the 2d of May, 1864, a courier rode into the
+Howitzer Camp. We had been expecting him, and knew at once that
+"something was up." The soldier instinct and long experience told us
+that it was about time for something to turn up. The long winter had
+worn away; the sun and winds, of March and April, had made the roads
+firm again. Just across the river lay the great army, which was only
+waiting for this, to make another desperate push for Richmond, and we
+were there for the particular purpose of making that push vain.
+
+For some days we had seen great volumes of smoke rising, in various
+directions, across the river, and heard bands playing, and frequent
+volleys of firearms, over in the Federal Camp. Everybody knew what all
+this meant, so we had been looking for that courier.
+
+Soon after we reached the Captain's tent, orders were given to pack up
+whatever we could not carry on the campaign, and in two hours, a wagon
+would leave, to take all this stuff to Orange Court House; thence it
+would be taken to Richmond and kept for us, until next winter.
+
+This was quickly done! The packing was not done in "Saratoga trunks,"
+nor were the things piles of furs and winter luxuries. The "things"
+consisted of whatever, above absolute necessaries, had been accumulated
+in winter quarters; a fiddle, a chessboard, a set of quoits, an extra
+blanket, or shirt, or pair of shoes, that any favored child of Fortune
+had been able to get hold of during the winter. Everything like this
+must go. It did not take long to roll all the "extras" into bundles,
+strap them up and pitch them into the wagon. And in less than two hours
+after the order was given the wagon was gone, and the men left in
+campaign "trim."
+
+This meant that each man had, left, one blanket, one small haversack,
+one change of underclothes, a canteen, cup and plate, of tin, a knife
+and fork, and the clothes in which he stood. When ready to march, the
+blanket, rolled lengthwise, the ends brought together and strapped, hung
+from left shoulder across under right arm, the haversack,--furnished
+with towel, soap, comb, knife and fork in various pockets, a change of
+underclothes in one main division, and whatever rations we happened to
+have, in the other,--hung on the left hip; the canteen, cup and plate,
+tied together, hung on the right; toothbrush, "at will," stuck in two
+button holes of jacket, or in haversack; tobacco bag hung to a breast
+button, pipe in pocket. In this rig,--into which a fellow could get in
+just two minutes from a state of rest,--the Confederate Soldier
+considered himself all right, and ready for anything; in this he
+marched, and in this he fought. Like the terrapin--"all he had he
+carried on his back"--this _all_ weighed about seven or eight pounds.
+
+The extra baggage gone, all of us knew that the end of our stay here was
+very near, and we were all ready to pick up and go; we were on the eve
+of battle and everybody was on the "qui vive" for decisive orders. They
+quickly came!
+
+="Marse Robert" Calls to Arms=
+
+On the next day but one, the 4th, about 10 o'clock, another courier
+galloped into camp, and, in a few moments, everybody having seen him,
+all the men had swarmed up to the Captain's tent to hear the first news.
+Captain McCarthy came toward us and said, very quietly, "Boys, get
+ready! we leave here in two hours." Then the courier told us that "Grant
+was crossing below us in the wilderness. That everything we had was
+pushing down to meet him; and that Longstreet, lately back from
+Tennessee, was at Gordonsville." The news telling was here interrupted
+by Crouch sounding the familiar bugle call--"Boots and saddles," which,
+to artillery ears, said, "Harness up, hitch up and prepare to move at a
+moment's warning."
+
+The fellows instantly scattered, every man to his quarters, and for a
+few minutes nothing could be seen but the getting down and rolling up of
+"flys" from over the log pens they had covered, rolling up blankets,
+getting together of each man's traps where he could put his hands on
+them. The drivers took their teams up on the hill to bring down the guns
+from their positions. All was quickly ready, and then we waited for
+orders to move.
+
+It was with a feeling of sadness we thought of leaving this spot! It had
+been our home for several months; it was painful to see it dismantled,
+and to think that the place, every part of which had some pleasant
+association with it, would be left silent and lonely, and that we should
+see it no more.
+
+While we waited, after each had bidden a sad "good-bye" to his house,
+and its endeared surroundings, it was suggested that we gather once
+more, for a last meeting in our log church. All felt that this was a
+fitting farewell to the place. To many of us this little log church was
+a sacred place, many a hearty prayer meeting had been held there; many a
+rousing hymn, that almost raised the roof, many a good sermon and many a
+stirring talk had we heard; many a manly confession had been declared,
+many a hearty, impressive service in the solemn Litany of the Church,
+read by us, young Churchmen, in turn. To all the Christians of the
+Battery (they now numbered a large majority) this church was sacred. To
+some, it was very, very sacred, for in it they had been born again unto
+God. Here they had been led to find Christ, and in the assemblies of
+their comrades gathered here, they had, one after another, stood up and,
+simply, bravely, and clearly, witnessed a "good confession" of their
+Lord, and of their faith.
+
+So, we all instantly seized on the motion, to gather in the church. A
+hymn was sung, a prayer offered for God's protection in the perils we
+well knew, we were about to meet. That He would help us to be brave men,
+and faithful unto death, as Southern soldiers; that He would give
+victory to our arms, and peace to our Country. A Scripture passage, the
+91st Psalm, declaring God's defense of those who trust Him, was read.
+And then, our "talk meeting." It was resolved that "during the coming
+campaign, every evening, about sunset, whenever it was at all possible,
+we would keep up our custom, and such of us as could get together,
+_wherever we might be_, should gather for prayer."
+
+And, in passing, I may remark, as a notable fact, that this resolution
+was carried out _almost literally_. Sometimes, a few of the fellows
+would gather in prayer, while the rest of us fought the guns. Several
+times, to my _very lively_ recollection we met _under fire_. Once, I
+remember, a shell burst right by us, and covered us with dust; and,
+once, I recall with _very particular_ distinctness, a Minie bullet
+slapped into a hickory sapling, against which I was sitting, not an inch
+above my head. Scripture was being read at the time, and the fellows
+were sitting around with their eyes open. I had to _look_ as if I had as
+lieve be there, as anywhere else; but I _hadn't_, by a large majority. I
+_could_ not dodge, as I was sitting down, but felt like drawing in my
+back-bone until it telescoped.
+
+But, however circumstanced, in battle, on the battle line, in interims
+of quiet, or otherwise, we held that prayer hour nearly every day, at
+sunset, during the entire campaign. And some of us thought, and _think_
+that the strange exemption our Battery experienced, our little loss, in
+the midst of unnumbered perils, and incessant service, during that awful
+campaign, was, that, in answer to our prayers, "the God of battles
+covered our heads in the day of battle" and was merciful to us, because
+we "called upon Him." If any think this a "fond fancy" _we don't_.
+
+Well! to get back! After another hymn, and a closing prayer, we all
+shook hands, and then, we took a regretful leave of our dear little
+Church, and wended our way, quiet and thoughtful, to the road where we
+found the guns standing, all ready to go. Pretty soon the
+command--"Forward!" rang from the head of the line. We fell in alongside
+our respective guns, and with a ringing cheer of hearty farewell to the
+old Camp, we briskly took the road,--to meet, and to do, what was before
+us.
+
+We tramped along cheerily until about dark, when we bivouacked on the
+side of the road, with orders to start at daylight next morning. As we
+pushed along the road,--what road! gracious only knows, but a country
+road bearing south toward Verdiersville,--brigades, and batteries joined
+our march, from other country roads, by which we found that all our
+people were rapidly pushing in from the camps and positions they had
+occupied during the winter, and the army was swiftly concentrating.
+
+It was very pleasant to us to get into the stir of the moving army
+again, as we had been off, quite by ourselves, during the winter, and
+the greetings and recognitions that flew back and forth as we passed, or
+were passed by, well known brigades or batteries, were hearty and
+vociferous. Such jokes and "chaffing" as went on! As usual, every
+fellow had his remark upon everything and everybody he passed. Any
+peculiarity of dress or appearance marked out a certain victim to the
+witty gibes of the men, which had to be escaped from, or the victim had
+to "grin and bear it." If "Puck" or "Punch" could have marched with a
+Confederate column once, they might have laid in a stock of jokes and
+witticisms,--and first-class ones, too,--for use the rest of their
+lives.
+
+Next morning, at daylight,--the 5th of May,--we promptly pulled out, and
+soon struck the highway, leading from Orange Court House to
+Fredericksburg, turned to the left and went sweeping on toward "The
+Wilderness."
+
+=The Spirit of the Soldiers of the South=
+
+Here we got into the full tide of movement. Before and behind us the
+long gray columns were hurrying on to battle,--and as merry as crickets.
+
+One thing that shone conspicuous here, and always, was the indomitable
+_spirit_ of the "Army of Northern Virginia," their intelligence about
+military movements; their absolute confidence in General Lee, and their
+quiet, matter of course, _certainty of victory_, under him. Here they
+were pushing right to certain battle, the dust in clouds, the sun
+blazing down, hardly anything to eat, and yet, with their arms and
+uniform away, a spectator might have taken them for a lot of "sand-boys
+on a picnic," _if_ there had only been some eatables along, to give
+color to this delusion.
+
+And their intelligence! These men were not parts of a great machine
+moving blindly to their work. Very far from it! Stand on the roadside,
+as they marched by and hear their talk, the expression of their opinions
+about what was going on, you soon found that these men, privates, as
+well as officers, were well aware of what they were doing, and where
+they were going. In a general way, they knew what was going on, and what
+was _going to go on_, with the strangest accuracy. By some quick, and
+wide diffusion of intelligence among the men, they understood affairs,
+and the general situation perfectly well. For instance, as we passed on
+down that road to the fight, we knew,--just _how_ we didn't know,--but
+we _did know_, and it was commonly talked of and discussed, as
+ascertained fact, among us as we marched,--that General Grant had about
+150,000 men moving on us. We knew that Longstreet was near Gordonsville,
+and that one Division of A. P. Hill had not come up. We knew that we
+had, along with us there, only Ewell's Corps and two divisions of A. P.
+Hill's Corps, the cavalry and some of Longstreet's artillery. In short,
+as I well remember, it was a fact, accepted among us, that General Lee
+was pushing, as hard as he could go, for Grant's 150,000 with about
+35,000 men; and yet, knowing all this, these lunatics were sweeping
+along to that appallingly unequal fight, cracking jokes, laughing, and
+with not the least idea in the world of anything else but victory. I
+did not hear a despondent word, nor see a dejected face among the
+thousands I saw and heard that day. I bear witness to this fact, which I
+wondered at then, and wonder at now. It is one of the most stirring and
+touching of my memories of the war. It was the grandest moral exhibition
+I ever saw! For it was simply the absolute confidence in themselves and
+in their adored leader. They had seen "Marse Robert" ride down that
+road, they knew he was at the front, and that was all they _cared_ to
+know. The thing was _bound_ to go right--"Wasn't Lee there?" And the
+devil himself couldn't keep them from going where Lee went, or where he
+wanted them to go. God bless them, living, or dead, for their loyal
+faith, and their heroic devotion!
+
+=Peace Fare and Fighting Rations!=
+
+I have alluded to rations; they were scarce here, as always when any
+fighting was on hand. Even in camp, where all was at its best, we had
+for rations, per day, one and a half pints of flour, or coarse
+cornmeal,--ground with the _cob_ in it we used to think,--and
+one-quarter of a pound of bacon, or "mess pork," or a pound, far more
+often half a pound, of beef.
+
+But, in time of a fight! Ah then, thin was the fare! That small ration
+dwindled until, at times, eating was likely to become a "lost art." I
+have seen a man, Bill Lewis, sit down and eat three days' rations at one
+time. He said "He did not want the trouble of carrying it, _and_ he did
+want _one_ meal occasionally that wasn't an empty form." The idea seemed
+to be that a Confederate soldier would _fight_ exactly in proportion as
+he _didn't eat_. And his _business_ was to _fight_. This theory was put
+into practice on a very close and accurate calculation; with the odds
+that, as a rule, we had against us, in the battles of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, we had to meet two or three to one. Then, each
+Confederate soldier was called upon to be equal to two or three Federal
+soldiers, and, therefore, each Confederate must have but _one-half_ or
+_one-third_ the rations of a Federal soldier. It was easy figuring, and
+so it was arranged in practice.
+
+It was eminently so in this campaign, from the first. When we left camp,
+on the 4th a few crackers and small piece of meat were given us, and
+devoured at once. That evening, and on this day, the 5th, we received
+_none at all_, and in that hard, forced march we became very hungry. An
+incident that occurred will show how hungry we were. As we passed the
+hamlet of Verdiersville, I noticed a little negro boy, black as the "ace
+of spades" and dirty as a pig, standing on the side of the road gazing
+with staring eyes at the troops, and holding in his hand a piece of
+ash-cake, which he was eating. A moment after I passed him, our dear old
+comrade and messmate, Dr. Carter, the cleanest and most particular man
+in the army, came running after us (Carter Page, John Page, George
+Harrison, and myself) with gleeful cries, "Here, fellows, I've got
+something. It isn't much, but it will give us a bite apiece. Here! look
+at this, a piece of bread! let me give you some."
+
+As he came up he held in his hand the identical piece of bread I had
+seen the little darkey munching on. It was a small, wet, half-raw
+fragment of corn ash-cake, and it had moulded on one edge a complete
+cast of that little nigger's mouth, the perfect print of every tooth.
+The Doctor had bought it from him for fifty cents, and now, wanted to
+divide it with us four--a rather heroic thought that was, in a man
+hungry as a wolf. Of course we young fellows flatly refused to divide
+it, as we knew the Doctor, twice our age, needed it more than we. We
+said, "We were not hungry; couldn't eat anything to save us." A lie,
+that I hope the recording Angel, considering the motive, didn't take
+down; or, if he did, I hope he added a note explaining the
+circumstances.
+
+We then began to joke the Doctor about the print of the little darkey's
+teeth on his bread and suggested to him, to break off that part. "No,
+indeed," said the Doctor, gloating over his precious ash-cake, "Bread's
+too scarce, _I_ don't mind about the little nigger's teeth, I can't
+spare a crumb." And when he found he could not force us to take any, he
+ate it all up.
+
+Indifference to the tooth prints was a perfectly reasonable sentiment,
+under the circumstances, and one in which we all would have shared, for
+we were wolfish enough to have eaten the "little nigger" himself. The
+Doctor didn't mind the little chap's tooth marks _then_ but--he did
+_afterwards_. After he had been pacified with a square meal, the idea
+wasn't so pleasant, and though we often recalled the incident,
+afterwards, the Doctor could not remember _this part of it_. He
+remembered the piece of ash-cake, but, somehow, he could not be brought
+to recall the tooth marks in it. Not he!
+
+It was about eleven o'clock when we passed Verdiersville. Soon after, we
+turned down a road, which led over to the plank road on which A. P.
+Hill's column was moving. Hour after hour all the morning, reports had
+come flying back along the columns, that our people, at the front, had
+seen nothing but Federal Cavalry; hadn't been able to unearth any
+infantry at all. An impression began to get about that maybe after all,
+there had been a mistake, and that Grant's army was not in front of us.
+
+About this time, that impression was suddenly and entirely dispelled. A
+distinct rattle of musketry broke sharply on our ears, and we knew, at
+once, that we had found _something_, and, in fact, it was soon clear
+that we had found Federal infantry, enough and to spare.
+
+That sudden outbreak of musketry quickened every pulse, and every step
+too, in our columns. Harder than ever we pushed ahead, and as we
+advanced, the firing grew louder, and the volume heavier till it was a
+long roar. The long-roll beat in our marching columns, and some of the
+infantry brigades broke into the double quick to the front, and we could
+see them heading off, right and left into the woods.
+
+=Marse Robert's Way of Making One Equal to Three=
+
+We had now come to the edge of that forest and thicket-covered district,
+the "Wilderness of Spottsylvania."
+
+Grant had crossed the Rapidan into this tangled chaparral, and it is
+said he was very much surprised that Lee did not dispute the passage of
+the river. But "Ole Marse Robert" had cut too many eye teeth to do
+anything like that. He was far too deep a file, to stop his enemy from
+getting himself into "a fix." He knew that when Grant's great army got
+over there, they would be "entangled in the land, the wilderness would
+shut them in."
+
+In that wilderness, three men were not three times as many as one man.
+No! no! not at all! Quite the reverse! Lee wouldn't lift a finger to
+keep Grant from getting _into_ the wilderness, but quick as a flash he
+was, to keep him from getting out. This, was why he had been marching
+the legs off of us, rations or no rations. This, was why he couldn't
+wait for Longstreet, but tore off with the men he had, to meet Grant and
+fight him, before he could disentangle himself from The Wilderness. We
+had got up in time; and into the chaparral our men plunged to get at the
+enemy, and out of it was now roaring back over our swift columns the
+musketry of the advance. As brigade after brigade dashed into line of
+battle the roar swelled out grander, and more majestic, until it became
+a mighty roll of hoarse thunder, which made the air quiver again, and
+seemed to shake the very ground. The battle of The Wilderness was begun,
+in dead earnest.
+
+The crushing, pealing thunder kept up right along, almost unbroken, hour
+after hour, all through the long noon, and longer evening, until just
+before night, it slackened and died away. It was the most _solemn_ sound
+I ever heard, or ever expect to hear, on earth. I never heard anything
+like it in any other battle. Nothing could be seen, no movements of
+troops, in sight, to distract attention, or rivet one's interest on the
+varying fortunes of a battlefield. Only,--out of the dark woods, which
+covered all from sight, rolled upward heavy clouds of battle-smoke, and
+outward, that earth shaking thunder, now and then fiercely sharpened by
+the "rebel yell,"--the scariest sound that ever split a human ear,--as
+our men sprang to the death grapple.
+
+We had pushed up along with the rest; but by and by our guns were
+ordered to halt, to let the infantry go by. Here, while we waited for
+them to pass, we saw the first effects of the fight. Just off the road
+there was a small open field containing a little farmhouse and garden
+and apple orchard, where the cavalry had been at work, that morning
+before we came up. Around the house and in the orchard lay ten dead
+Federal troops, three of our men, and a number of horses; all lying as
+they had fallen. One of the Federals was lying with one leg under his
+horse, and the other over him; both had, apparently, been instantly
+killed by the same ball, which had gone clear through the heads of both
+man and horse. They had fallen together, the man hardly moved from his
+natural position in the saddle. Another had a sword thrust through his
+body, and two others, in their terribly gashed heads, gave evidence that
+they had gone down under the sabre. The rest of them, and all three of
+our men, had been killed by balls. Not a living thing was seen about the
+place.
+
+We were called away from this ghastly scene by the guns starting again,
+and we moved on rapidly to the front. As we went, at a trot, one of the
+men, John Williams, who was sick with the heat and exhaustion of the
+trying march, and was sitting on the trail of the gun, suddenly fainted,
+and fell forward under the wheel. He was, fortunately, saved from
+instant death by a stone, just in front of which he fell. The ponderous
+wheel, going so rapidly, struck the stone, and was bounded over his
+body, only bruising him a little. It was a close shave, but we were
+spared the loss of a dear comrade, and good soldier.
+
+=An Infantry Battle=
+
+When we got up pretty close to the line of battle, we halted and then
+were ordered to pull out beside the road and wait for orders. Here we
+found a great many batteries parked, and we heard that it was, as yet,
+impossible to get artillery into action where the infantry was fighting.
+In fact, the battle of The Wilderness was almost exclusively an
+_Infantry_ fight. But few cannon shots were heard at all during the day;
+the guns could not be gotten through the thickets. We heard, at the
+time, that we had only been able to put in two guns, and the Federals,
+three, and that our people had taken two of them, and the other was
+withdrawn. Certainly we hardly heard a single shot during most of the
+fight. But we didn't know at the time the exemption we were to enjoy. It
+was a strange and unwonted sight, all those guns, around us, idle, with
+a battle going on. For the way General Lee fought his artillery was a
+caution to cannoneers. He always put them in, everywhere, and made the
+fullest use of them. We always expected, and we always got, our full
+share of any fighting that was going on. And to be idle here, while the
+musketry was rolling, was entirely a novel sensation. We were under a
+dropping fire, and we expected to go in every moment. A position which
+every old soldier will recognize as more trying than being in the thick
+of a fight. It was very far from soothing.
+
+When we had been waiting here a few minutes, Dr. Newton, since the Rev.
+John B. Newton of Monumental Church, Richmond, Va., afterwards Bishop
+Coadjutor of Virginia, but then the surgeon of the 40th Virginia
+Infantry, rode by our guns, and recognizing several of us, boys, his
+kinsmen, stopped to speak to us. After a few kind words, as he shook
+hands with us very warmly at parting, he pointed to his field hospital,
+hard by, and very blandly said, "Boys, I'll be right here, and I will be
+glad to do anything for you in my line." To fellows going, as we
+thought, right into battle, this was about the last kind of talk we
+wanted to hear. A doctor's offer of service in our situation, was full
+of ghastly suggestions. So his well-meaning proffer was met with
+opprobrious epithets, and indignant defiance. It was shouted to him in
+vigorous Anglo-Saxon, what we thought of doctors anyhow, and that if he
+didn't look sharp we'd fix him so he would need a doctor, himself, to
+patch him up. The Doctor rode off laughing at the storm his friendly
+remarks had raised. Never was a kind offer more ungraciously received. I
+suppose, however, if any of us had got hurt just then, we would have
+been glad enough to fall in with the Doctor, and to have his skillful
+care. Fact is, soldiers are very like citizens--set light by the doctor
+when _well_, but mighty glad to see him when anything is the matter.
+
+The Doctor, and all his brother "saw-bones" soon had enough to do for
+other poor fellows, if not for us. Numbers of wounded men streamed past
+us, asking the way to the hospitals, some, limping painfully along,
+some, with arms in a sling, some, with blood streaming down over neck or
+face, some, helped along by a comrade, some, borne on stretchers. It was
+a battered looking procession; and yet, I suppose that people will be
+surprised to hear, it was as _cheerful_ a lot of fellows, as you can
+imagine. Wounded men coming from under fire are, as a rule, cheerful,
+often jolly. Being able to get, honorably, from under fire, with the
+mark of manly service to show, is enough to make a fellow cheerful, even
+with a hole through him. Of course I am speaking now of the wounded who
+can walk, and are not utterly disabled.
+
+Eagerly we stopped those wounded men to ask how the fight was going.
+Their invariable account was that it was all right. They spoke about
+what heavy columns the enemy was putting in, but they said we were
+pressing them back, and every one spoke of the dreadful carnage of the
+Federals. One fellow said, after he was shot in the advancing line, he
+had to come back over a place, over which there had been very stubborn
+fighting, and which our men had carried, like a hurricane at last, and
+as he expressed it, "Dead Yankees were _knee deep_ all over about four
+acres of ground." The blood was running down and dropping, very freely,
+off this man's arm, while he stood in the road and told us this.
+
+These accounts of the wounded men from the line of battle put us in good
+heart, which was not lessened by a long line of Federal prisoners being
+marched to the rear, and the assurance by one of the guard that there
+were "plenty more where these came from."
+
+And so at last this long exciting day wore away. As dark fell the firing
+ceased. We got some wood and made fires, and, pretty soon after, "old
+Tom Armistead," our Commissary Sergeant, rode up. His appearance was
+hailed with delight, as the promise of something to eat. These
+transports were destined to be moderated when Tom told what he had to
+say. He had ridden on from the wagons, far in the rear, and all he could
+get was a few crackers, and a small bag of wet brown sugar. This he had
+brought with him, across his horse.
+
+Each man got two crackers and one handful of sugar. This disappeared in
+a twinkling. And then we sat around the fires discussing the events of
+the day. One subject of general anxiety, I remember, was when Longstreet
+would be up. As well as things had gone this day, we all knew well, how
+much his Corps would be needed for tomorrow's work. It was generally
+regarded as certain that he would get up during the night, and we lay
+down to sleep around our guns confident that all was well for tomorrow.
+
+Next morning we were up early. I don't remember that we had anything to
+eat, and as the getting anything to eat in those days made a deep
+impression on our minds, I infer that we didn't. However we got a
+_wash_, a small one. We did not always enjoy this refreshment; then had
+to be content with a "dry polish" such as Mr. Squeers recommended to
+Nicholas Nickelby at "Dotheboys Hall," when the pump froze. But on this
+occasion we had, with difficulty, secured one canteen of water between
+three of us, wherein we were better off than some of the others. The tin
+pan in which we luxuriated during winter quarters had been relegated to
+the wagon, both as inconvenient to carry, and as requiring too much
+water. It always took two to get a "campaign wash." One fellow poured a
+little water, out of the canteen, into his comrade's hands, with which
+he moistened his countenance, a little more poured over his soaped
+hands, and the deed was done. On this occasion when one canteen had to
+serve for three, and no more water was to be had, our ablutions were
+light; in fact, it was little more than a pantomime, in which we "went
+through the motions" of a wash. But we were afraid to leave the guns a
+minute, after daylight, for fear of a sudden movement to the front, so
+we had to do with what we had.
+
+Soon after this, our cares about all these smaller matters suddenly fell
+out of sight. That fierce musketry broke out again along the lines, in
+the woods, in front. It increased in fury, especially on the right. Very
+soon reports began to float back that the Federals were heavily
+overlapping A. P. Hill's right, and things looked dangerous. Then it was
+rumored that some of Hill's right regiments were beginning to give way,
+under the resistless weight of the columns hurled upon him and round his
+flank. We could quickly perceive this to be true by the sound of the
+firing, which came nearer to us and passed toward the left. This
+immediately threw our crowd into a fever of excitement; the idea of
+lying there, doing nothing, when our men were falling back, was
+intolerable. Every artillery man thought that if _his battery_ could
+only get in, it would be all right. We knew what a difference it would
+instantly make, if all these silent guns could be sweeping the columns
+of the enemy. We would soon stop them, we thought! We just ached for
+orders to come but they did not. Still the news came, "impossible to get
+artillery in;" and loud and deep were the angry complaints of some, and
+curses of others, and great the disgust of all at our forced inaction.
+One fellow near me, voiced the feelings of us all--"If we can't get in
+there, or Longstreet don't get here pretty quick, the devil will be to
+pay."
+
+=Arrival of the First Corps=
+
+In the midst of this anxious and high wrought feeling, an excited voice
+yelled out, "Look out down the road. Here they come!" We were driven
+nearly wild with excited joy, and enthusiasm by the blessed sight of
+Longstreet's advance division coming down the road at a double quick, at
+which pace, after the news of Hill's critical situation reached them,
+they had come for two miles and a half. The instant the head of his
+column was seen the cries resounded on every side, "Here's Longstreet.
+The old war horse is up at last. It's all right now."
+
+On, the swift columns came! Crowding up to the road, on both sides, we
+yelled ourselves nearly dumb to cheer them as they swept by. Hearty were
+the greetings as we recognized acquaintances and friends and old battle
+comrades in the passing columns. Specially did the "Howitzers" make the
+welkin ring when Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade passed. This was the
+brigade to which our battery had long been attached, to which we were
+greatly devoted, with whom we had often fought, and admired as one of
+the most splendid fighting corps in the army. And loud was the cheer the
+gallant Mississippians flung back to the "Howitzers."
+
+Everything broke loose as General Longstreet in person rode past. Like a
+fine lady at a party, Longstreet was often late in his arrival at the
+ball, but he always made a sensation and that of delight, when he _got_
+in, with the grand old First Corps, sweeping behind him, as his train.
+
+This was our own Corps, from which we had been separated for some
+months. The very sight of the gallant old veterans, as they poured on,
+was enough to make all hearts perfectly easy. Our feeling of relief was
+complete and as the Brigades disappeared into the woods in the direction
+of Hill's breaking right, where the thunder of their still heroic
+resistance to overwhelming odds was roaring, we all felt, "Thank God!
+it's all right now! Longstreet is up!"
+
+And it _was_ all right. The first brigades as they got up formed, and
+rushed right in, one after another, to check the advance of the enemy.
+And as they successively went in we could hear the musketry grow more
+angry and fierce. Before very long, a crashing peal of musketry broke
+out with a fury that made what we had been hearing before seem like
+pop-crackers. Our crowd quickly perceived that the sound was receding
+from us; at the same time the bullets,--which had been falling over
+among us entirely too lively to be pleasant to fellows who were not
+shooting any themselves,--stopped coming. We knew what this meant;
+Longstreet was putting his Corps in, and they were driving the enemy.
+Soon, to confirm our ideas, lines of Federal prisoners, from Hancock's
+Corps, they told us, came by, and Longstreet's wounded began to pass.
+These fellows told us that our Corps had gone in like a whirlwind, had
+already recovered Hill's line, gone beyond it, and were forcing the
+Federals back.
+
+They said Hancock's Corps was doubled up, and being torn to pieces and
+they thought we would "bag the whole business."
+
+=The Love that Lee Inspired in the Men He Led=
+
+All this was very nice and we were expressing our delight in the usual
+way. Just then, an officer rode up who told us a bit of news, that made
+us feel more like tears than cheers, and put every fellow's heart into
+his mouth. He said that just before, General Lee had come in an ace of
+being captured. A body of the enemy had pushed through a gap in our line
+and unexpectedly come right upon the old General, who was quietly
+sitting upon his horse. That, these fellows could with perfect ease have
+taken, or shot him, but that he had quietly ridden off, and the enemy
+not knowing who it was, made no special effort to molest him.
+
+I wish you could have seen the appalled look that fell on the faces of
+the men, as they listened to this. Although the danger was past an hour
+ago, they were as pale and startled and shocked as if it were enacting
+then. The bare idea of anything happening to General Lee was enough to
+make a man sick, and I assure you it took all the starch out of us for a
+few minutes.
+
+I don't know how it was, but somehow, it never occurred to us that
+anything _could_ happen to General Lee. Of course, we knew that he was
+often exposed, like the rest of us. We had seen him often enough under
+hot fire. And, by the way, I believe that the one only thing General Lee
+ever did, that the men in this army thought he _ought not to do_, was
+going under fire. We thought him perfect in motive, deed and judgment;
+he could do no wrong, could make no mistake, but this,--that he was too
+careless in the way he went about a battlefield. Three different times,
+during these very fights, at points of danger, he was urged to leave
+the spot, as it was "not the place for him." At last he said, "I wish I
+knew _where my place is_ on the battlefield; wherever I go some one
+tells me _that_ is not the place for me."
+
+But, he would go! He wanted to see things for himself, and he wished his
+men to know, that he was looking after them, both seeing that they did
+their duty, and _caring_ for them. And certainly, the sight of his
+beloved face was like the sun to his men for cheer and encouragement.
+Every man thought less of personal danger, and no man thought of
+_failure_ after he had seen General Lee riding along the lines. Nobody
+will ever quite understand what that old man was to us, his soldiers!
+What absolute confidence we felt in him! What love and devotion we had,
+what enthusiastic admiration, what filial affection, we cherished for
+him. We loved him like a father, and thought about him as a devout old
+Roman thought of the God of War. Anything happen to him! It would have
+_broken our hearts_, for one thing, and, we could no more think of the
+"Army of Northern Virginia" without General Lee, at its head, than we
+could picture the day without the sun shining in the heavens.
+
+An incident illustrating this feeling was taking place up in the front
+just about the time we were hearing the news of the General's narrow
+escape.
+
+As the Texan Brigade of Longstreet's Corps, just come up, dashed upon
+the heavy ranks of the Federals, they passed General Lee with a rousing
+cheer. The old General, anxious and excited by the critical moment,
+thrilling with sympathy in their gallant bearing, started to ride in,
+with them, to the charge. It was told me the next day by some of the
+Texans, who witnessed it, that the instant the men, unaware of his
+presence with them before, saw the General along with them in that
+furious fire, they cried out in pleading tones--"Go back, General Lee.
+We swear we won't go on, if you don't go back. You shall not stay here
+in this fire! We'll charge clear through the wilderness if you will only
+go back." And they said, numbers of the men crowded about the General,
+and begged him, with tears, to return, and some caught hold of his feet,
+and some his bridle rein, and turned his horse round, and led him back a
+few steps,--all the time pleading with him. And then, the General seeing
+the feelings of his men, and that he was _actually checking the charge_
+by their anxiety for him, said, "I'll go, my men, if you will drive back
+those people," and he rode off, they said, with his head down, and they
+saw tears rolling down his cheeks. And they said, many of the men were
+sobbing aloud, overcome by this touching scene. Then with one yell, and
+the tears on their faces, those noble fellows hurled themselves on the
+masses of the enemy like a thunderbolt. Not only did they stop the
+advance, but their resistless fury swept all before it and they followed
+the broken Federals half a mile. They redeemed their promise to General
+Lee. Eight hundred of them went in, four hundred, only, came out. They
+covered with glory that day, not only themselves, who did such deeds,
+but their leader, who could inspire such feelings at such a moment in
+the hearts of these men. Half their number fell in that splendid charge,
+but--they saved the line, and they gloriously redeemed their promise to
+General Lee--"We'll do all you want, if you will only get out of fire."
+I cannot think of anything stronger than to say that--This General, and
+these soldiers, were worthy of each other. There is no higher praise!
+
+As the Brigades of Field's division, that followed the Texans, went in,
+a little incident took place, which illustrated the irrepressible spirit
+of fun which would break out everywhere, and which we often laughed at
+afterwards. General Anderson's Brigade was ahead, followed hard by
+Benning's Brigade, gallant Georgians all, and led by Brigadiers, of whom
+nothing better can be said, than that they were worthy to lead them.
+Among the men General Anderson had somehow got the soubriquet of "Tige"
+and General Benning enjoyed the equally respectful name of "Old Rock."
+On this occasion, Anderson was ahead, and as he moved out of sight into
+the woods, his men began to yell and shout like everything. One of
+Anderson's men, wounded, blood dropping from his elbow and running down
+his face, was coming out, when he met General Benning, at the head of
+his column, pushing in as hard as he could go. As this fellow passed
+him, taking advantage of his wound to have a little joke, he pointed to
+the woods in front and called out to the General, "Hurry up 'Old Rock,'
+'Tige' has treed a pretty big coon he's got up there; you'd better hurry
+up or you won't get a smell." The brave old Benning, already hurrying
+himself nearly to death, flashed around on the daring speaker, and saw
+at once the streaming blood--"Confound that fellow's impudence," said
+the disgusted General. "I wish he wasn't wounded, if I wouldn't fix
+him." The fellow well knew that he could say what he pleased to anybody
+with that blood-covered face.
+
+I think it was about eleven or twelve o'clock we heard that General
+Longstreet was badly wounded, and soon after he was brought to the rear,
+near our guns. With several of the others I went out and had some words
+with the men who were taking him out. To our grief, we heard them say,
+that his wound was very dangerous, probably fatal. He had fallen, up
+there in the woods, on the battle front, fighting his corps, in the full
+tide of victory. He had broken and doubled up Hancock's Corps, and
+driven it, with great slaughter back upon their works at the Brock road,
+and in such rout and confusion, that, as he said, he thought he had
+another "Bull Run" on them. And if he could have forced on that assault,
+and gotten fixed on the Brock road, it is thought that Grant's army
+would have been in great peril. But, just in the thick of it, he was
+mistaken, while out in front in the woods, for the enemy, and shot, by
+his own men. His fall was in almost every particular just like
+"Stonewall" Jackson's, in that same wilderness, one year before. Both
+were shot by their own men, at a critical moment, in the midst of
+brilliant success, and in both cases their fall saved the enemy from
+irretrievable disaster. Longstreet's fall checked the attack, which
+after an inevitable delay of some hours, was resumed. But the enemy
+seeing his danger had time to recover, and make disposition to meet it.
+
+="Windrows" of Federal Dead=
+
+Again, at four o'clock, after this interval of comparative quiet, the
+thunder of battle crashed and rolled. General Lee, himself, fought
+Longstreet's Corps. The attack was fierce, obstinate, and fearfully
+bloody. Wilkinson, of the Army of the Potomac, an eye-witness of this
+charge, says, in his book, "Recollections of a Private Soldier": "The
+Confederate fire resembled the fury of hell in its intensity, and was
+deadly accurate" and that "the story of this fight could afterwards be
+read by the windrows of dead men." As to its effect he also says: "We
+could not check the Confederate advance and they forced us back, and
+back, and back. The charging Confederates broke through the left of the
+Ninth Corps and would have cut the army in twain, if not caught on the
+flank, and driven back. Massed for the attack on the Sixth Corps, they
+were skillfully launched, and ably led, and they struck with terrific
+violence against Shaler's and Seymour's Brigades, which were routed,
+with a loss of four thousand prisoners. The Confederates came within an
+ace of routing the Sixth Corps. Both their assaults along our line were
+dangerously near being successful." Such was the description of a brave
+enemy, an eye-witness of this assault. At last, as dark fell, the fire
+slackened and died out.
+
+The Battle of the Wilderness was done. Grant was pinned into the
+thickets, hardly able to stand Lee's attack, no thoroughfare to the
+front and twenty odd thousand of his men dead, wounded and gone. That
+was about the situation when dark fell on the 6th of May!
+
+That night we drew off some distance to the right, and lay down,
+supperless, on the ground around our guns; it was very dark and cloudy
+and soon began to rain. There had been too much powder burnt around
+there during the last two days for it to stay clear. And so, as it
+always did, just after heavy firing, the clouds poured down water
+through the dark night. Lying out exposed on the untented ground, with
+only one blanket to cover with, we got soaking wet, and stayed so.
+
+The comfortless night gave way, at last, to a comfortless day--May
+7th--gloomy, lowering, and raining, off and on, till late in the
+evening. During the morning, a little desultory firing was heard in
+front, and then all was quiet and still. We knew enough to know that
+Grant's push was over at this point. Some of us had gone up to look at
+the ground over which Longstreet had driven the enemy yesterday. We knew
+that the Federal troops could never be gotten back over that awful,
+corpse-covered ground to attack the men who had driven them. We knew we
+had to fight somewhere else, but where? By and by, talk began to
+circulate among the men that Spottsylvania, or around near
+Fredericksburg, might be the place. Of one thing we were all satisfied,
+that we would know soon enough.
+
+In this waiting and excited state of mind, the long, long, rainy day
+wore on, and dark fell again. We had managed to conjure up some very
+lonesome looking fires out of the wet wood lying about (fence rails were
+not attainable here in the wilderness), and were engaged in a hot
+dispute about where the next fighting was to be, which warmed and dried
+us more than the fires did, when "the winter of our discontent" was made
+"glorious summer," so to speak, by the news that the wagons had got up,
+and they were going to issue rations. Tom Armistead made this startling
+announcement in as bland, and matter of course a tone as if he were in
+the habit of giving us something to eat _every_ day, which he was not,
+by a great deal. Tom was the dearest fellow in the world, and the best
+Commissary in the army, and we all loved him. Many a time when, in the
+confusion of campaign, the wagon was empty, or was snowed in by an
+avalanche of wagons, far in the rear, he could be seen struggling up to
+the front with a bag of crackers, sugar, meat, anything that he had been
+able to lay hands on, across his horse, so that the boys should not
+starve entirely. Hunting us up through the woods, or along the battle
+line, he would ride in among us with his load, and a beaming face, that
+told how glad he was to have something for us. And when, as too often it
+was, the whole Commissary business was "_dead busted_," our afflicted
+Commissary would tell us there was nothing, with such a rueful visage,
+that it made us sorry we did not have something to give him, and made us
+feel our own emptiness all the more, that it seemed to afflict him so.
+
+The present rations were quickly distributed, and as quickly devoured,
+and not a man was foundered by over-eating! Then we sat around the fires
+and discussed the news that had been gathered from various sources.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE
+
+
+It was just ten o'clock and each man was looking around for the dryest
+spot to spread his blanket on, when a courier rode up, with pressing
+orders for us to get instantly on the march. In a few moments, we were
+tramping rapidly through the darkness, on a road that led, we knew not
+whither. We were, as we found out afterwards, leading the great race,
+that General Lee was making for Spottsylvania Court House to head off
+Grant in his efforts to get out of the Wilderness in his "push for
+Richmond." We were with the vanguard of the skillful movement, by which
+Longstreet's Corps was marched entirely around Grant's left flank, to
+seize the strong line of the hills around Spottsylvania Court House and
+hold it till the other two Corps could come to our aid.
+
+We marched all night, a hard, forced march over muddy roads, through the
+damp, close night. Soon after the start from our bivouac, a brigade of
+infantry had filed into the road ahead of us, and we could hear, behind
+us on the road, though we could not see for the darkness, the sound of
+other troops marching. The Brigade ahead of us, we soon found, to our
+gratification, to be Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, now under command
+of General Humphreys, since the gallant Barksdale fell at the head of
+his storming columns at Gettysburg. This was the Brigade to which we had
+belonged in the earlier organization of the artillery. It was a
+magnificent body of men, one of the most thorough fighting corps in the
+army, as they had showed a hundred times, on the bloodiest fields, and
+were soon, and often to show again. There was a very strong mutual
+attachment between the First Richmond Howitzers and Barksdale's Brigade,
+and we were much pleased to be with them on this march. We mingled with
+them, as we sped rapidly along, and exchanged greetings, and our several
+experiences since we had been separated.
+
+The morning of the 8th of May broke, foggy and lowering, and found us
+still moving swiftly along. The infantry halting for a rest, we passed
+on ahead, and for some time were marching by ourselves. I well recall
+the impressions of the scene around us on that early morning march. Our
+battery seemed all alone on a quiet country road. The birds were singing
+around us, and it seemed, to us, so sweet! Everybody was impressed by
+the music of those birds. As the old soldiers will remember, the note of
+a bird was a sound we rarely heard. The feathered songsters, no doubt,
+were frightened away, and it was often remarked, that we never saw
+birds in the neighborhood of camp. So we specially enjoyed the treat of
+hearing them, now and here, in their own quiet woods, where they had
+never been disturbed. All was quiet and still and peaceful as any rural
+scene could be. It seemed to us wondrous sweet and beautiful! All the
+men were strangely impressed by it. They talked of it to one another. It
+made our hearts soft, it brought to the mind of many of those weary,
+war-worn soldiers, other quiet rural scenes, where lay their homes and
+dear ones, and to which this scene made their hearts go back, in tender
+memory, and loving imagination. All the eyes did not stay dry as we
+passed along that road. We talked of this scene many a time long
+afterwards. And I expect some of the old "Howitzers" still remember that
+quiet Spottsylvania country road, winding through the woods, on that
+early Sunday morning, when the birds sang to us, as we hurried on to
+battle.
+
+Well! the morning wore on, and so did we. By and by, the sun came out
+through the fog and clouds, and began to make it hot for us. The
+dampness of the earth made this an easy job. The sun got higher and
+hotter every minute. The way that close, sultry heat did _roast_ us was
+pitiful. We would have "larded the lean earth as we walked along,"
+except that hard bones and muscles of gaunt men didn't _yield_ any
+"lard" to speak of. The _breakfast_ hour was not observed, _i. e._, not
+with any ceremony. "Cracker nibbling on the fly" was all the visible
+reminder of that time-honored custom. We were not there to eat, but, to
+get to Spottsylvania Court House; and _steps_ were more to that purpose
+than _steaks_, so we omitted the steaks, and put in the steps; and we
+put them in very fast, and were putting in a great many of them, it
+appeared to us. At last, just about twelve o'clock our road wound down
+to a stream, which I think was the _Po_, one of the head waters of the
+Mattaponi River, and then, we went up a very long hill, a bank,
+surmounted by a rail fence on the left side of the road, and the woods
+on the other.
+
+=Stuart's Four Thousand Cavalry=
+
+Just as we got to the top (our Battery happened just then to be ahead of
+all the troops, and was the first of the columns to reach the spot), the
+road came up to the level of the land on the left, which enabled us to
+see, what, though close by us, had been concealed by the high roadside
+bank. A farm gate opened into a field, around a farmhouse and
+outbuildings, and there, covering that field was the whole of Fitz Lee's
+Division of Stuart's cavalry. These heroic fellows had for two days been
+fighting Warren's corps of Federal infantry, which General Grant had
+sent to seize this very line on which _we_ had now arrived. They had
+fought, mostly dismounted, from hill to hill, from fence to fence, from
+tree to tree; and so obstinate was their resistance, and so skillful the
+dispositions of the matchless Stuart, that some thirty thousand men had
+been forced to take about twenty-six hours to get seven or eight miles,
+by about forty-five hundred cavalry. But, it was incomparable cavalry,
+and J. E. B. Stuart was handling it. It was some credit to that Corps to
+have marched any at all! Thanks to the superb conduct of the cavalry,
+General Lee's movement had succeeded! We had beaten the Federal column,
+and were here, before them, on this much-coveted line, and meant to hold
+it, too.
+
+I note here in passing, that this Spottsylvania business was a "white
+day" for the cavalry. When the army came to know of what the cavalry had
+done, and _how they had done it_, there was a general outburst of
+admiration,--the recognition that brave men give to the brave. Stuart
+and his men were written higher than ever on the honor roll, and the
+whole army was ready to take off its hat to salute the cavalry.
+
+And, from that day, there was a marked change in the way the army
+thought and spoke of the cavalry; it took a distinctly different and
+higher position in the respect of the Army, for it had revealed itself
+in a new light; it had shown itself signally possessed of the quality,
+that the infantry and artillery naturally admired most of all
+others--_obstinacy_ in fight.
+
+As was natural, and highly desirable, each arm of the service had a very
+exalted idea of its own importance and merit, as compared with the
+others. In fact the soldier of the "Army of Northern Virginia" filled
+exactly the Duke of Marlborough's description of the spirit of a good
+soldier. "He is a poor soldier," said the Duke, "who does not think
+himself as good and better than any other soldier _of his own army_, and
+_three times as good_ as any man in the army _of the enemy_." That
+fitted our fellows "to a hair;" each Confederate soldier thought that
+way.
+
+It was not an unnatural or unreasonable conceit, _considering the
+facts_. It must be confessed that _modesty_ as to their quality as
+soldiers was not the distinguishing virtue of the men of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, but, it must be considered, in extenuation that their
+experience in war was by no means a good school for humility. An old
+Scotch woman once prayed, "Lord, gie us a gude conceit o' ourselves."
+There was a certain wisdom in the old woman's prayer! The Army of
+Northern Virginia soldiers had this "gude conceit o' themselves,"
+without praying for it; certainly, if they did pray for it, their prayer
+was answered, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running
+over." They had it abundantly! And it was a tremendous element of power
+in their "make up" as soldiers. It made them the terrible fighters, that
+all the world knew they were. It largely explains their recorded deeds,
+and their matchless achievements.
+
+For instance, here at the Wilderness! What was it that made thirty-five
+thousand men knowingly and cheerfully march to attack one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, and stick up to them, and fight them for twenty-four
+hours, without support or reinforcement? It was their good opinion of
+themselves; their superb confidence. They felt _able_ with thirty-five
+thousand men, _and General Lee_, to meet one hundred and fifty thousand
+men, and hold them, till help came; _and didn't they do it_?
+
+Well! they did _that kind of thing so often_ that they couldn't get
+humble, and _they never have been able to get humble since_. They _try
+to_--but--_they can't_!
+
+But I return from this digression to say, that the different Arms of the
+service had something of this same feeling, this good opinion of
+themselves, as compared with one another. Each one had many jokes on the
+others, and whenever they met, all sorts of "chaffing" went on. In all
+this, the infantry and artillery felt closer together, and were rather
+apt, when the occasion offered, to turn their combined guns on the
+cavalry.
+
+The general point of the jokes and gibes at the cavalry was their
+_supposed_ tendency to be "_scarce_" when _big fighting_ was going on.
+
+It wasn't that anybody doubted the _usefulness_ of cavalry, but their
+usefulness was imagined to lie in other respects than fighting back the
+masses of the enemy. And, it wasn't that anybody supposed that the
+cavalry did not have plenty of fight in them, _if they could get a
+chance_. We knew that when they were at home they were the same stock as
+we were, and we believed, that if they were along with us, they would do
+as well; but in the cavalry, well! we didn't know!
+
+The leaders of the cavalry, Stuart, Hampton, Ashby, Fitz Lee and others,
+were heroes and household names to the whole army. Their brilliant
+courage and dare-deviltry, their hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling
+adventures, their feats of skill, and grace were themes of pride and
+delight to us all. These cavaliers were the "darlings of the army."
+_Still_, the army would guy the cavalry every chance they got.
+
+It was said that Gen. D. H. Hill proposed to offer a "reward of Five
+Dollars, to anybody who could find a dead man with spurs on." And Gen.
+Jubal Early once, when impatient at the conduct of certain troops in his
+command threatened "if the cavalry did not do better, he would put them
+_in the army_."
+
+One day, an infantry brigade on the march to Chancellorsville had halted
+to rest on the pike, near where a narrow road turned off. A cavalryman
+was seen approaching, in a fast gallop, plainly, in a great hurry. The
+infantry viewed his approach with great interest, prepared to salute him
+with neat and appropriate remarks as he passed, by way of making him
+lively.
+
+Just before he got to the head of the brigade he reached the narrow road
+and started up it. Instantly a dozen "infants" began to wave their arms
+excitedly, and shout in loud earnest voices--"Mister, stop there! don't
+go a step farther; for heaven's sake _don't_ go up that road." The
+trooper, startled by this appeal, and the warning gestures of the men,
+approaching him, pulled in his fast-going horse, and stopped, very
+impatiently. He said in a sharp tone, "What is the matter, why mustn't I
+go up this road? Say quick, I'm in a big hurry." "Don't go, we beg you;
+you'll never come back alive." "Humph! is that so?" said this trooper
+(who had been near breaking a blood vessel in his impatience at being
+stopped, but cooled off a little, at this ominous remark)--"But what's
+ahead? what's the danger? The road seems quiet?" "Well, Sonny, _that's_
+the danger. Haven't you heard about it?" "Now, Sonny," was a term of
+endearment, which from an "infant" always exasperated the feelings of a
+cavalryman to the last degree; turned the milk of kindness in a
+horseman's breast into the sourest clabber; and it instantly stirred up
+this trooper. "Look here men, don't fool with me. Tell me what is the
+danger up this road," "Well! we thought we ought to let you know, before
+you expose yourself. General Hill has offered a reward of Five Dollars
+for a dead man with spurs on, and if you go up that lonesome road some
+of these here _soldiers_ will shoot you to get the reward." "Oh pshaw!"
+cried the disgusted victim, clapping spurs to his horse, and away he
+rode, leaving the grinning and delighted "infants" behind, and leaving,
+too, his _opinion_ of them, and their joke, in language that needed no
+interpreter.
+
+This sort of thing was going on, all the time. The infantry and
+artillery _would_ do it. With many, particularly the artillery, who knew
+better, it was _only joking_, the soldier-instinct to stir up _any_
+passer-by. But with many, especially the infantry, who were not as much
+"up to snuff" as the artillery, these gibes at the cavalry expressed a
+serious, tho' mistaken idea, they had of them. Upon the advance of the
+enemy, of course, we were accustomed to see cavalrymen hurrying in from
+the outposts to the rear, to report. So the thoughtless infantry, not
+considering that this was "part of the large and general plan," got
+fixed in their minds an association between the two things,--the advance
+of the enemy, and, the rapid hurrying off to the rear of the cavalry,
+until they came to have the fixed idea, that the sight of the enemy
+_always_ made a cavalryman "hungry for solitude." They reasoned that, as
+a mounted man was much better _fixed_ for running away than a footman,
+it was, by so much, natural that he _should_ run away, and was, by so
+much, the more likely to do it.
+
+Also, our orders to move and to go into battle were always brought by
+horsemen; so the horsemen were thought about as _causing others to
+fight_ instead of _doing it themselves_. So, in short, it came to pass,
+that this innocent infantry had a dim sort of notion that the chief end
+of the cavalry was, in battle time, to run away and bring up other
+people to do the fighting, and in quiet time, to "range" for buttermilk
+and other delicacies, which the poor footmen never got. Hence the
+soubriquet of "buttermilk ranger" universally applied to the cavalry by
+the army.
+
+But, I assure you, that all this was dispelled at once, and for good and
+all, at Spottsylvania. Here had these gallants gotten down off their
+horses. They hadn't run _anywhere at all_; didn't want anybody else to
+come, and fight for them. They had jumped into about five or six times
+their number of the flower of the Federal infantry. They met them front
+to front, and muzzle to muzzle. Of course they had to give back; but it
+was slowly, _very slowly_, and they made the enemy pay, in blood, for
+every step they gained. They had worried these Federals into a fever,
+and kept them fooling away nearly twenty-six hours of priceless time;
+and made Grant's plan _fail_, and made General Lee's plan succeed, and
+had secured the strong line for our defence.
+
+It was a piece of regular, obstinate, bloody, "bulldog" work. We knew,
+well as we thought of ourselves, that not the staunchest brigade of our
+veteran "incomparable" infantry, or battery of our canister-shooting
+artillery, could have _fought_ better, _stood_ better, or _achieved
+more_, for the success of the campaign. We felt that General Lee,--that
+the whole army,--"owed the cavalry one," "_several_," in fact. The army,
+even the infantry, had come to know the cavalry, at last. Obstinacy,
+toughness, dogged refusal to be driven, was their test of manhood, and
+this test the cavalry had signally, and _brilliantly_ met. Everybody was
+satisfied, the _cavalry would do, they_ were "all right." We couldn't
+praise them enough, we were proud of them. The remark was even suffered
+to pass, as nothing to his discredit particularly, that our "Magnus
+Apollo," General Lee, himself, had once been in the cavalry, and no one
+resented it _now_. We knew that it was when he was _younger_ than now.
+We, of the "Howitzers," knew very well what arm of the service, and what
+corps of that arm, the experienced old General would join, if he was
+enlisting in the Army of Northern Virginia, now, when he knew more than
+he did. Still! he had been a cavalryman; admit it!
+
+And we all _admired_ the cavalry; _honored_ the cavalry; _shouted_ for
+the cavalry, from that time! Occasionally, from force of habit, the
+infantry (the artillery never) would fall from grace at sight of a
+passing cavalry column, and let fall little attentions, that sounded
+very like the old-time compliments, but they were not _meant that way_.
+It was the soldier-instinct to salute pilgrims. Just as, on a village
+street, if a dog, of any degree, starts to run, every other dog in
+sight, or hearing, tears off after him in pursuit, and if he can catch
+up, instantly attacks him,--not that he has anything against the
+fugitive, but, simply, because he is running by. The act of running past
+makes him the enemy of his kind. So, I think, the Confederate infantry
+assailed, with jokes and gibes, _anybody in motion_ by their camp, or
+column. They had nothing against him; they attacked him because he was
+passing by. "It was their nature to." Of all living men, General Lee,
+_alone_, was sacred to them in this. The cavalry _always_ had their full
+share, and never suffered for want of notice.
+
+This account of the false idea that prevailed, the fun that came of it,
+and the way it was dispelled, is part of the history of the time. It
+went to make up the life in the Army of Northern Virginia; it lives in
+the recollection of that good old time. No record of that old time would
+be complete without it. So I make no apology for falling into it, in
+this informal reminiscence.
+
+At one o'clock on Sunday, the 8th of May, we reached the top of the hill
+near Spottsylvania Court House and suddenly came upon Stuart's cavalry
+massed in the yard and field around a farmhouse. They had finished their
+splendid fight, the van of the army was on the spot to relieve them.
+They had been withdrawn from confronting the enemy, and were now drawn
+up here, preparatory to starting off, to overtake Sheridan's raid toward
+Richmond; which they did, and, at "Yellow Tavern," two days after, many
+of them, the immortal Stuart at their head, died and saved Richmond.
+
+=Greetings on the Field of Battle=
+
+I have lingered at that farmhouse gate, at the top of the hill, in this
+story, very much longer than we did in reality. In fact we didn't linger
+there at all. Didn't have a chance! For, the moment we came in sight, at
+that gate leading into the farmhouse, an officer came dashing out from
+amongst the troops of cavalry, and galloped across the field toward us.
+The instant this horseman got out of the crowd, we recognized him. That
+long waving feather, the long auburn beard, that easy, graceful seat on
+the swift horse,--that was "J. E. B." Stuart, and nobody else! He rode
+up to the foremost group of us, and pulled up his horse. With bright,
+pleasant, smiling face, he returned our hearty salute with a touch of
+his hat, and a cheerful, "Good morning, boys! glad to see you. What
+troops are these?" "Richmond Howitzers, Longstreet's Corps." "_Good!_
+anybody else along?" "Infantry close behind." "Good! Well, boys, I'm
+_very_ glad to see you. I've got a little job for you, right now, all
+waiting for you." Just then the Captain rode up and saluted. "Captain,"
+said the General, saluting pleasantly, "Draw our guns through the gate
+and stop. I'll want you in ten minutes." And, away he galloped, back
+toward the cavalry. The guns pulled in through the gate and halted as
+they were, on the road leading to the house, close by the cavalry.
+
+We seized this sudden chance to see our old friends among the troopers.
+In every direction our fellows might be seen darting in among the
+horses, in search of our friends. Loud and hearty were the shouts of
+greeting as we recognized, or were seen by, those we sought or
+unexpectedly lighted on. Brothers, met and embraced. Friends greeted
+friends. Old schoolmates, who had, three years ago, parted at the
+schoolroom, locked eager, and loving hands, and asked after others, and
+told what they could. It was a delightful and touching scene, that
+meeting there on the edge of a bloody field! they coming out, we going
+in. There were jokes, and laughs, and cheerful words, but, the
+hand-clasps were very tight, the sudden uprising of tender feelings, at
+the sight of faces, and the sound of voices, we had not seen nor heard
+for years, and that we might see and hear no more. The memories of home,
+or school, and boyhood, suddenly brought back, by the faces linked with
+them, made the tears come, and the words very kind, and the tones very
+gentle.
+
+I had several pleasant encounters. Among others, this: I heard a
+familiar voice sing out, "William Dame, my dear boy, what on earth are
+you doing here?" I eagerly turned, and in the figure hasting toward me
+with outstretched hand,--as soon as I could read between the lines of
+mud on him,--I recognized my dear old teacher, Jesse Jones. I loved him
+like an older brother, and was delighted to meet him. I had parted from
+him, that sad day, three years ago, when our school scattered to the
+war. I had seen him last, the quiet gentleman, the thoughtful teacher,
+the pale student, the pink of neatness. Here I find him a dashing
+officer of the Third Virginia Cavalry, girt with saber and pistols,
+covered with mud from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet,
+and just resting from the bloody work of the last two days.
+
+Just here, I had the great pleasure of falling in with my kinsman, and
+almost brother, Lieut. Robert Page, of the Third Virginia Cavalry, the
+older brother of my two comrades, and messmates, Carter and John Page.
+"Bob" was one of the "true blues" who had followed Stuart's feather from
+the start, and was going to follow it to the bitter end. I remember how,
+at the very first, he rode off to the war, from his home, "Locust
+Grove," in Cumberland County, Virginia, on his horse, "Goliath," with
+his company, the Cumberland Troop. He had stuck to the front, been
+always up, and ever at his post, all the way through those three long,
+terrible years. He had deserved, and won his Lieutenancy, and commanded
+his regiment the last days of the war. He made an enviable record as a
+soldier for courage, faithfulness, and honor. None better! At
+Appomattox he was surrendered. And having been forced to cease making
+war on mankind with the saber, he mended his grip, and continued to make
+war, with a far deadlier weapon of destruction, the spatula.
+
+All this was very pleasant, but it was very short. Time was up; ten
+minutes were out! We caught sight of General Stuart cantering across the
+field toward our guns, the bugle rang, and we tumbled out from amidst
+the cavalry, in short order, and took our posts around our respective
+guns.
+
+="Jeb" Stuart Assigns "A Little Job"=
+
+Stuart was in front of the column of guns talking to Captain McCarthy;
+next moment we moved. That is, the "Left Section" moved, the two
+twelve-pounder brass "Napoleons," the "Right Section" had two
+ten-pounder "Parrott" guns and stayed still. We did not rejoin them for
+several days. It was our "Napoleons" that moved off, we took note of
+that! Also, we took very scant gun detachments,--all our men, but just
+enough to work the guns, stayed behind,--we took note of _that_ too!
+These two circumstances meant _business_ to old artillerymen. We
+_remarked_ as much, as we trotted beside the guns. "The little job" that
+General Stuart had alluded to, with his bland and seductive smile, and
+the merry twinkle of his eye, was, plainly, a very _warm_ little job;
+however, away we went, "J. E. B." Stuart riding in front of the guns,
+with the Captain,--apparently enjoying himself; _we reserved our
+opinion_ as to the enjoyableness of the occasion, till we should _see
+more_ and be better able to judge. Two guns of "Callaway's" and two of
+"Carlton's" Batteries of our Battalion,--which had come up while we were
+disporting with our cavalry friends, back there,--had pulled in behind
+our two.
+
+The six guns followed the road which turned around the farmhouse, and
+ran on down toward the back of the farm. There were pine woods about, in
+different directions, the fields lying between. We saw nothing as yet,
+and wondered where we were going. We soon found out! About half a mile
+from the house, the farm road, which here ran along with pine woods on
+the left and a stretch of open field on the right, turned out toward the
+open ground. As we passed out from behind that point of woods, we saw
+"the elephant!" There, about six hundred yards from us were the
+Federals, seeming to cover the fields. There were lines of infantry,
+batteries, wagons, ambulances, ordnance trains massed all across the
+open ground. This was part of Warren's Corps, which had been pushing for
+the Spottsylvania line. They thought they had left the "Army of Northern
+Virginia" back yonder at the "Wilderness," and had nothing before them
+but cavalry, and they were halted, now, resting or eating, intending
+afterwards to advance, and occupy the line, which was back up behind us,
+where we had left the cavalry and our other guns. That line, so coveted,
+so important to them, that they had been marching, and fighting to
+gain, was not a mile off, in sight, in reach, _secure now_, as they
+thought. That thought was not only a _delusion_, it was a _snare_. They
+were never to reach it! and the "snare," I will explain very soon.
+
+As we thus suddenly came upon that sight, we stopped to look at the
+spectacle. It looked very blue, and I dare say, we looked a shade "blue"
+ourselves; for we could not see a Confederate anywhere, and we supposed
+we had no support whatever, though we were better off in this particular
+than we knew. And the idea of pitching into that host, with six
+unsupported guns, was not calming to the mind. Coming out from cover of
+the pines, back of a slight ridge that ran through the field, with a few
+sassafras bushes on it, we were not seen, and the Federals were in
+blissful ignorance of what was about to follow. We pulled diagonally
+across the field to a point, just back of the low ridge, and quietly
+went into position and unlimbered the guns. We pushed them, by hand, up
+so that the muzzles just looked clear over the ridge, which thus acted
+as a low work in our front, and proved a great protection. The field had
+been freshly plowed for corn, the wheels sunk into it, and the minute we
+tried to move the guns, by hand, with our small force, we saw what it
+was going to be, in action, with the sun blazing down.
+
+When all was ready,--guns pointed, limber, and caisson chests
+opened,--General Stuart said, waving his hand toward that swarming field
+of Federals, "Boys, I want you to knock that all to pieces for me. So go
+to work." And this was the last time we ever saw the superb hero. He
+rode, right from our guns, to his death at "Yellow Tavern" a day or two
+after. We have always remembered with the deepest interest, that the
+very last thing that glorious soldier, "J. E. B." Stuart, did in the
+Army of Northern Virginia was to put our guns into position, and give us
+orders; which _we obeyed_, to his entire satisfaction, I know, if he had
+seen it.
+
+The minute General Stuart had given his order, and turned to ride away,
+Captain McCarthy, sitting on his horse, where he sat during the whole
+fight, looking as cool as the sun would let him, and far more
+unconcerned than if he had been going to dinner, sung out, "Section ----
+commence firing." It was ours, the Fourth gun's turn to open the ball.
+We were all waiting around the guns for the word.
+
+The group, as it stood, is before my mind as vividly as then. Dan
+McCarthy, Sergt. Ned Stine, acting gunner (vice Tony Dibrell absent,
+sick, for some time past, who came tearing back, _still sick_, the
+moment he heard we were on the warpath) Ben Lambert, No. 1; Joe Bowen,
+No. 2; Beau Barnes, No. 3; W. M. Dame, No. 4; Bill Hardy, No. 5;
+Charlie Pleasants, No. 6; Sam Vaden, No. 7; Watt Dibbrell, No. 8! The
+three drivers of the limber, six yards back of the gun, dismounted, and
+holding their horses. Ellis, the lead driver, had scooped out the loose
+dirt, with his hands, and lay down, on his back, in the shallow hole,
+holding the reins with his upstretched hands.
+
+The third gun was just to our right, the cannoneers grouped around the
+guns, each man at his post. Travis Moncure, Sergeant, known and loved
+and honored among us as "Monkey," always brave and true and smiling,
+even under fire, Harry Townsend, gunner; Cary Eggleston, No. 1; Pres
+Ellyson, No. 2; ---- Denman, No. 3; Charlie Kinsolving, No. 4;
+Charlie Harrington, No. 5; ----, No. 6; ----, No. 7; ----,
+No. 8; Captain McCarthy sitting his horse, just behind, and between the
+two guns. The other guns were a little to our left.
+
+All was ready; guns loaded and pointed, carefully, every man at his
+post,--feeling right solemn too,--and a dead stillness reigned. The
+Captain's steady voice rang out! As an echo to it, Dan McCarthy sung out
+"Fourth detachment commence firing, fire!" I gave the lanyard a jerk. A
+lurid spout of flame about ten feet long shot from the mouth of the old
+"Napoleon," then, in the dead silence, a ringing, crashing roar, that
+sounded like the heavens were falling, and rolled a wrathful thunder far
+over the fields and echoing woods. Then became distinct, a savage,
+venomous scream, along the track of the shell. This grew fainter,--died
+on our ear! We eagerly watched! Suddenly, right over the heads of the
+enemy, a flash of fire, a puff of snow-white smoke, which hung like a
+little cloud! We gave a yell of delight; our shell had gone right into
+the midst of the Federals, and burst beautifully. The ball was open!
+
+The instant our gun fired we could hear old Moncure sing out, "Third
+detachment, commence firing, fire!" and the Third piece rang out. The
+guns on the left joined in, lustily, and in a moment, those six guns
+were steadily roaring, and hurling a storm of shell upon the enemy.
+
+And now the fun began, and soon "grew fast and furious." Over in the
+Federal lines, taken by surprise, all was confusion, worse confounded.
+We could see men running wildly about, teamsters, jumping into the
+saddle, and frantically lashing their horses,--wagons, ambulances,
+ordnance carts, battery forges, tearing furiously, in every direction.
+Several vehicles upset, and many teams, maddened by the lash, and the
+confusion, and bursting shells, dashing away uncontrollable. We saw
+_one_ wagon, flying like the wind, strike a stump, and thrown, team and
+all, a perfect wreck, on top of a low rail fence, crushing it down, and
+rolling over it.
+
+This was the only time I ever saw a big army wagon, and team, thrown
+over a fence.
+
+All that lively time they were having over among the enemy was very
+amusing to us; we were highly delighted, and enjoyed it very much.
+Laughter, and jocular remarks on the scene were heard all about, as we
+worked the gun, and we did our best to keep up the show.
+
+Meanwhile, we were not deceived for a moment. Wild and furious as was
+the confusion, and running, over the way, we knew, well, it was the
+wagoners and "bomb-proof" people, who were doing the running, and
+stirring up the confusion. We knew they were not _all_ running away. We
+had seen a good deal of artillery in that field, and we knew that we
+should soon hear from them. And we were not mistaken!
+
+In a few minutes the sound of our guns was suddenly varied by a sharp,
+venomous screech, clap of thunder, right over our heads, followed by a
+ripping, tearing, splitting crash, that filled the air; a regular blood
+freezer. We knew _that sound_! It was a bursting Parrott shell from a
+Federal gun! And they had the range.
+
+The enemy had run out about eighteen, or twenty guns, and they let in,
+mad as hornets. Another shell, and another, and another, came screaming
+over us. Then they began to _swarm_; the air seemed full of
+them,--bursting shells, jagged fragments, balls out of case-shot,--it
+sounded like a thousand devils, shrieking in the air all about us. Then,
+the roaring of our guns, the heavy smoke, the sulphurous smell, the
+shaking of the ground under the thunder of the guns,--it was a fit
+place for _devils_ to shriek in.
+
+And how _hot_ it was! Twenty guns, in full fire, can make it hot at the
+foot of the North Pole, and this was _not_ the North Pole! quite the
+reverse. In addition to the battle heat, the sun was pouring down, hot
+as blazes; and the labor of working a rapidly firing "Napoleon" gun,
+with four men, in deeply plowed ground, and the strong excitement of
+battle--altogether, it was the hottest place I ever saw, or hope I shall
+_ever_ see, in this world, or in the world to come. It nearly melted the
+marrow in our bones!
+
+A persimmon sapling stood near our gun. It was trimmed, and chipped
+down, twig by twig, and limb by limb, by pieces of shell, until it was a
+lot of _scraps scattered over the ground_. Sam Vaden, as he passed me,
+with a shell, said "Dame, just look back over this field behind us. A
+mosquito couldn't fly across that field without getting hit." It looked
+so! The dirt was being knocked up, wherever you looked, literally, by
+_shower_ of balls, and shell fragments. It had the appearance of hail
+striking on the surface of water, only it wasn't cold.
+
+Well! for three mortal hours this battle raged. They hammered us, and we
+hammered them. Occasionally, we saw a Federal caisson blown up, which
+refreshed us, and several of their guns ceased firing--disabled or
+cannoneers cleared out, we thought--and _this_ refreshed us. We wished
+they would _all_ blow up, and stop shooting.
+
+After we had been under fire sometime, with nobody hurt as yet, a
+case-shot burst in front of us, and Hardy, who had just brought up a
+shell, and was standing right by me, said, in his usual deliberate way,
+"Dame, I'm hit, and hit very hard, I am afraid." "Where are you hit?" I
+asked. He said, "I'm shot through the thigh, and the leg is numbed." I
+fired the gun, and jumped down to see what I could do for him. I found
+the place, and it looked ugly. There was a clean-cut hole right through
+his pants, to the thickest part of the thigh. I put my finger into the
+hole, and tore away the cloth to get at the wound, and found to my
+great, and his _greater_ delight, that the ball had struck, and glanced.
+It had made a long black bruise and the pain was much greater than if it
+had gone through the leg. It had struck the great mass of muscle on the
+outer thigh, and the leg was, for the time, paralyzed and stiff as a
+poker. He was completely disabled. I said, "Bill, you must get right
+away from here." "But I _can't_ walk a step." "Well crawl off on your
+hands and your good foot, not a man could leave the gun, to help you,
+and go out to the side so as to get soonest from under fire." So the
+poor fellow hobbled off, as best he could, all alone, amidst the
+laughter of the fellows at his novel locomotion. We could see the
+bullets knocking up the dirt all around him, as he went slowly "hopping
+the clods" across the plowed fields. But he got off all right. Shortly
+after Hardy was struck, Charley Pleasants, of Richmond No. ------, at
+the Third gun, was shot through the thigh. A long and tedious wound
+which kept him disabled some months. Bill Hardy was back to duty in a
+day or so. One of the horses, the off horse of the wheel team of our
+limber, was hit, also. A piece of shell went into his head, between the
+right eye and ear, cutting the brow band of the bridle. The old horse, a
+character in the Battery, didn't seem to mind it; and he wore that piece
+of shell, in his head, until the end of the war.
+
+And, strange as it seemed, these were all our casualties, under that hot
+fire; one man, seriously, and one slightly wounded and a horse slightly
+hurt.
+
+=Wounding of Robert Fulton Moore=
+
+No! I forgot! There was one other casualty,--Robert Fulton Moore was
+mortally wounded, _in the hat brim_. And this gave rise to a most
+amusing scene. Robert Fulton was a driver to the limber of the third
+gun. He was a large, soft, man, and was, by no means, characterized by
+soldierly bearing, or warlike sentiments. On the contrary, he was
+something of a "butt," and was always desperately unhappy under fire. He
+could dodge lower off the back of a horse at sound of a shell, than any
+man living. His miraculous feats, in this performance, afforded much
+diversion, whenever the guns went under fire, to us all, except his
+Sergeant, Moncure, who was very much ashamed of it. Still, in a
+general, feeble sort of way Robert Fulton had managed to keep up without
+any flagrant act of flinching from his post. On this occasion he had
+stood up better than usual. He stood holding his horses, and we noticed,
+with pleasure, that he was behaving very well under fire. But, it seems,
+his courage was only "hanging by the eyelids" so to speak.
+
+Presently a piece of shell came whizzing very close to his head. It cut
+away part of his hat brim, and alas! this was too much! Poor Robert
+Fulton went all to pieces, instantly. Completely demoralized,
+panic-stricken and frantic with terror, he dropped his reins, and struck
+out wildly. It seems, he had seen Ellis, our lead driver, scooping out
+the hole that has been referred to, and as this was the only hole of any
+kind in reach, he instinctively struck for it. Ellis was lying down in
+it, flat on his back, with his arms stretched upward, holding his
+horses. Robert Fulton rounded the limber, and threw himself down with
+all his weight, right upon, and completely covering up, Ellis, and stuck
+his face in the dirt over Ellis' shoulder, effectually pinning him down.
+Ellis was a fiery, ugly-tempered fellow, but as brave as Julius Cæsar,
+and of all men in the battery he had the greatest contempt for Moore,
+and especially for his present conduct. Ellis, upon finding Moore on top
+of him, was in a perfect blaze of fury. The breath was nearly knocked
+out of him by Moore's weight, and he was mashed into the narrow hole,
+and embarrassed by the reins of his horses. He tried to throw Moore off,
+and couldn't. Then he broke loose! He yelled, and swore, and bit, and
+pulled Moore's hair, and socked his spurs into him, with both feet. He
+would have broken a blood vessel if McCarthy, assisted by Moncure, who
+had come to look after his driver, had not pulled Moore off, and taken
+him back to his post.
+
+Our attention was drawn to this scene by the noise. The terrific combat
+going on in that hole, the sight of Ellis' legs and arms, tossing wildly
+in the air, Moore not moving a muscle, but lying still, on top, the dust
+kicked up by the fray,--it was more than flesh and blood could stand,
+even under such a fire, and we could hardly work the guns for laughing.
+After the fight, when Moore had time to look into his injuries, he found
+that Ellis had nearly skinned him with his spurs. Some days after, we
+heard Robert Fulton exhibiting his torn hat brim to some passing
+acquaintance from his own neighborhood, as a trophy of his prowess in
+this fight. No doubt he preserves it as a sacred relic yet.
+
+=A Useful Discovery=
+
+In this fight, necessity, the mother of invention, put us up to a device
+that served us well here, and that we made fullest use of, in every
+fight we had afterwards. When we had kept up that rapid fire, with a
+scant gun detachment, in plowed ground, and under a hot sun, for an
+hour, we were nearly exhausted. After Hardy was wounded, and left us, it
+was still worse. The hardest labor, and what took most time, was running
+up the guns from the recoil. We had stopped a moment to rest, and let
+the gun cool a little, and were discussing the difficulties, when the
+idea occurred to us. There was an old rail fence near by. Somebody said
+"let's get some rails and chock the wheels to keep them from running
+back." This struck us all as good, and in an instant we had piled up
+rails behind the wheels as high as the trail would allow. The effect
+was, that when the gun fired it simply jerked back against this rail
+pile, and rested in its place, and so we were saved all the time and
+labor of running up. We found that we could fire three or four times as
+rapidly, in this way. So that a chocked gun was equal to four in a
+fight. We found this simple device of immense service! We were told by
+the knowing ones that we ran the greatest possible danger. The ordnance
+people said that if a gun was not allowed to recoil it would certainly
+burst. But we didn't mind! A device that saved so much labor, and
+enabled us to deliver such an extraordinarily effective fire on the
+battlefield, we were bound to try. We found it acted beautifully. We
+then _knew_ the guns _wouldn't_ burst for we had tried it.
+
+We used it afterward in every fight. The instant we were ordered into
+position, two or three cannoneers would rush off and get rails, or a
+log or two, to chock the guns. And on two or three very desperate
+emergencies, during this campaign, this device enabled us to render very
+important service. It made a battery equal to a battalion, and a good
+many other batteries took it up, and used it. I believe it added greatly
+to the effectiveness of our artillery in the close-range fighting of
+this campaign.
+
+Well! even with this relief, the labor of working our guns in this
+furious and prolonged fight was fearful! At last the welcome order,
+"Section cease firing" was given. We limbered up, and drew the guns a
+short distance to the side, out of the line of fire, and utterly
+exhausted, we cannoneers, threw ourselves right down on the plowed
+ground beside the guns, and slept like the dead.
+
+In the meantime, while we had been fighting out in that field, events
+were taking place near us, of which we, absorbed in the work before us
+and deafened by the roar of our guns, had taken little notice at the
+time. As had been described, there was a body of woods some distance off
+to our right, and another, to our left. When we went into position we
+had not seen any of our troops, and did not know of the presence of any,
+near us. We thought we were without support, but as I intimated some
+time back, we were better off than we knew.
+
+=Barksdale's Mississippi Creeper=
+
+It seems, that before we came on the ground, Barksdale's Mississippi
+Brigade, which had been marching behind us, had filed off the road, and
+while we were up on the hill with the cavalry, had quietly, and silently
+passed into that body of woods to our right, unseen by the enemy. Along
+the front edge of that wood ran an old rail fence, covered all over with
+the luxuriant vine known as "Virginia Creeper." Wide open fields
+extending in front. Soon, the ground behind that fence was covered with
+another sort of "creeper," not as good a "runner" as that on the fence,
+nor as "green," but just as tough of fibre, and as hard to "hold on"
+when it had once fixed itself,--the "_Mississippi_ Creeper." Silently,
+as ghosts, the Brigade glided in behind that fence, and lay low, and
+waited. Right here, was where the Federals' idea of _quietly_ occupying
+the Spottsylvania line was going to prove a snare. They had not the
+dimmest suspicion that we were ahead of them, and between them and that
+line. They came on, with guileless confidence, and walked right into
+trouble. Presently, a line of battle with columns of troops behind came
+marching across the fields upon the concealed Mississippians. Nearer and
+nearer they came, unsuspecting any danger, till they got nearly up to
+the fence. One man had actually thrown his leg over the rail to mount.
+Suddenly! as lightning out of a clear sky, a blinding sheet of flame
+flashed into their very faces. Then, after one volley, swiftly came the
+dreadful, venomous roll of musketry, the Mississippians loading and
+firing "at will," every man as fast as he could. It was just as if "the
+angel of death spread his wings to the blast and breathed in the face of
+the foe as he passed."
+
+That withering fire tore the ranks of that Division to pieces. It didn't
+take those fellows half a second to decide what to do. With yells of
+dismay, they charged back, out of that hornet's nest, as if the devil
+was after them. In headlong rout, they rushed wildly back across the
+fields, and disappeared in the woods beyond.
+
+They left four hundred and two of their number in front of that fence,
+and before the fugitives got out of range, their General of Division,
+General Robinson, was seriously wounded.
+
+Some of our men went out among the Federal wounded to do what they could
+for their relief. An officer of a Mississippi Regiment came upon a
+Federal Colonel who lay to all appearance mortally wounded, and gave him
+a drink of water, and did what else he could for his comfort. The
+Federal took out a fine gold watch, and said, "Here is a watch that I
+value very highly. You have been very kind to me, and I would like you
+to have it, as I am going to die. If I should get over this, and send to
+you for it you will let me have it, if not, I want you to keep it. But,"
+he said sadly, "my wound is mortal, I am obliged to die." The
+Mississippian left him, and went back to his post, supposing him dead.
+
+Many years after the war, the Mississippi officer was in Baltimore at
+Barnum's Hotel. One day, he got into casual talk with a gentleman, at
+dinner, and, as he seemed to be a good fellow, they smoked their cigars
+together after dinner, and continued their conversation. By and by they
+got on the war. It came out, that both of them had served, and on
+opposite sides. Finally, in telling some particular incidents of his
+experience, the Federal soldier described this very fight, his being, as
+he thought mortally wounded, the kindness shown him by a Confederate
+officer, and his gift to him, of his watch. The Southern man said, "What
+is your name?" "Col. ----, of Robinson's Division," he replied. "Can
+you be the man? Have I struck you at last?" cried the ex-Confederate.
+"_I've_ got your watch, and here it is, with your name engraved in it."
+
+=Kershaw's South Carolina "Rice Birds"=
+
+It was a singular incident, that these two should meet again so! The
+meeting was most cordial; the Federal was delighted to get his watch
+again, made doubly valuable by so strange a history.
+
+While this bloody episode was enacting by the Mississippi Brigade, in
+the woods to our right, an almost exactly similar scene was going on, in
+the woods to our left. A portion of Kershaw's South Carolina Brigade was
+unwittingly stumbled upon by "Griffin's" Division in the pines. Another
+complete ambuscade! The South Carolinians suddenly sprang up before the
+Federals, let them have it, broke and routed them, and killed, and
+wounded eighty-seven of them. Our loss was one man. Things were so
+sudden, so close here, that one of Kershaw's men killed a Federal
+soldier, and wounded another with an axe he happened to have in his
+hand.
+
+These first efforts of "Warren's" Corps that had gotten up near the
+Spottsylvania line, "just in time to be too late," are thus described by
+Swinton, the admirable historian of the "Army of the Potomac."
+(Swinton's "Army of the Potomac," p. 443):
+
+"Finally," he says, "the column (Warren's) emerged from the woods into a
+clearing, two miles north of Spottsylvania Court House. Forming in line,
+Robinson's Division advanced over the plain. Thus far, only Stuart's
+dismounted troops had been encountered, and no other opposition was
+anticipated; but when half way across the field, and on the point of
+rising the crest, the troops were met by a savage musketry fire from
+infantry. Owing to their severe experience in the Wilderness, and the
+night march, without rest, the men were in an excited, and almost
+frightened, condition, and the tendency to _stampede_ was so great that
+General Warren had been compelled to go in front of the leading Brigade.
+When, therefore, they received a fire in front, from the redoubtable foe
+they had left in the Wilderness, the line wavered, and fell back in some
+confusion. General Robinson was at the same time severely wounded,
+which left the troops without their commander at a critical moment, and
+they were with some difficulty rallied and reformed in the woods back of
+the open plain. Griffin's Division, which advanced on the right of
+Robinson, soon afterward received the same fire with a like result."
+
+It seems then, that it was Robinson's Division that the little
+Mississippi Brigade sent to the right about, and it was Griffin's
+Division, who scared themselves nearly into fits, by flushing Kershaw's
+"rice-birds," in the pines. It was a little hard on these "excited and
+almost frightened" men of Warren's. The memory of the fearful shaking up
+they had got, day before yesterday, was so fresh in their minds that
+"General Warren himself, the _Corps Commander_, had to go in front of
+the leading Brigade" to quiet their nerves, even when they thought they
+were advancing upon a few dismounted troops. They thought,--a little
+comfort in this,--that, at least, all those terrible fellows of the Army
+of Northern Virginia were far behind them. And--to meet them _here_,
+still, in front! It must be confessed it was hard! It was a very sad
+surprise.
+
+It is said that General Grant's strained relations with General Warren
+came of Warren's conduct of this move, to seize the Spottsylvania line.
+He found great fault with his failure. But, perhaps he was a little hard
+on Warren. What could Warren do? His men were demoralized, "excited,
+almost frightened, tending to stampede, needing the Corps General to go
+in front," and stopping to dine, instead of pushing on to seize the
+line. They had to meet men who were not _particularly excited_, were not
+_at all frightened_ and had not _the least tendency to stampede_; in
+fact, were in the best of spirits, perfectly confident of victory, and
+did not need _a corporal to go in front of them_, gaunt, hungry, cool
+fellows, who never counted noses--in a fight!
+
+It was too much to expect Warren, with men like his, to go anywhere, or
+take anything, when men like these others were in the way. Grant was too
+hard on Warren! If it took a _Corps Commander_, going in front, to
+encourage them along to advance upon _a few troopers_. I hardly think
+that Generals Grant and Meade, and President Lincoln, and Secretary
+Stanton, _all together_,--going in front, could have got them up, _if
+they had known who was actually ahead_.
+
+However that may be, the object of our rapid all-night march, and of our
+venturesome stand, out here, in front of the Spottsylvania line, was
+accomplished! The stir up we gave them with that long artillery fire,
+and the savage and bloody repulses of two of their divisions made them
+more nervous than they were before. They spent some time considering who
+it could be in their front, and considering what to do. Later on, two
+more Divisions advanced, and our two Brigades and our guns retired.
+
+Our work was done! While we had been out in front amusing the enemy, and
+keeping them easy, the Brigades of Longstreet's Corps had been rapidly
+coming up, and taking position on the all-important line. We now had a
+_sure enough line of battle_ holding it. And night was falling; the
+enemy out in front had stopped, and gone to intrenching, instead of
+pushing on. We knew that during that night our people, Ewell and Hill,
+would be up. All were safe! We slept the sleep of the weary. So ended
+the 8th of May. It was a pretty full day for us!
+
+I don't remember anything at all about the early morning of the next
+day, the 9th. We were dreadfully tired, and I suppose we slept late, and
+then lounged about, with nothing to do, yet, in a listless, stupid
+state. Everything was quiet around us, and nothing to attract attention,
+or fix it in mind. About mid-day, I recollect noticing bodies of troops,
+a regiment, a brigade, or two, moving about, here and there, in various
+directions. We heard that Ewell's and Hill's Corps had come up, and
+these troops we saw, were taking their way leisurely, along, to the
+various position on the line of battle.
+
+In the afternoon, about four or five o'clock, our guns, the "Napoleon"
+Section, moved off to take our destined position on the line. We
+followed a farm road, off toward the left, and presently came down into
+quite a decided hollow, through which ran a little stream of water.
+Here we halted! The ground before us rose into a low short hill. Along
+the ridge of that hill ran the proposed line of battle, and there was
+the position for which we were making. There was quite a lively picket
+fire going on, in different directions, and right over the hill, behind
+which we were, an occasional shell could be heard screeching about, here
+and there. Several passed over us, high above our heads, and away to the
+rear. Federal Artillery lazily feeling about to provoke a reply, and
+find out where somebody was. They felt lonesome, perhaps! It was a calm,
+sweet sunlit May evening.
+
+=Feeling Pulses=
+
+In order not to expose us longer than necessary to this fire of the
+pickets, Lieutenant Anderson, commanding this "Section," went up on the
+hill, to select _exact_ position for the guns, so that they might be
+promptly placed, when we went up. While he was up there reconnoitering,
+we lay down on the ground, and waited, and talked. The bullets dropped
+over, near, and among us, now and then, and we knew, that the moment we
+went up a few steps, on the hill, we would be a mark for sharp-shooters,
+a particularly unpleasant situation for artillery. But we tried to
+forget all this, and be as happy and _seem_ as careless as we could. And
+we would have gotten along very well if let alone. But, there was a
+dreadful, dirty, snuffy, spectacled old Irishman, named Robert Close, a
+driver, who took this interval to amuse himself. He would ask us "how we
+felt," and he came around to most of us, young fellows, and asked us to
+let him feel our pulse, and see if we were at all excited, or scared;
+and he would put his hand on our hearts, to see if they were beating
+regularly enough. And he would call out the result of his investigation
+in each case,--the other fellows all sitting around, and eagerly waiting
+his report. Nobody can tell what a dreadful trial this simple thing was!
+When just going under fire--and indeed _already_ under some fire--to
+have your heart and your pulse felt, and reported on to a waiting crowd
+of comrades! But, all of us youngsters had to undergo it! That cruel,
+old scoundrel went round to every one of the youngsters. It was an
+unspeakable humiliation for a _cannoneer_ to be thus fingered by _a
+driver_, but what could we do? Not a thing!
+
+We would _have liked_ to knock the old rascal's head off, but, not one
+of us would have dared to object to that pulse feeling, and we in turn
+meekly held out our wrists, and _tried_ to look happy and amused--and
+made a dismal failure of it. Old Close was as brave, himself, as a lion.
+_He_ had as soon go in a fight as not; a little sooner! When balls
+swarmed around, he didn't care a bit. He was in a position to do this
+thing. But it was suffering to us. Each man waited, with anxious heart,
+for his turn to come, for old Close to "pass upon his condition." Those
+whom he approved, were pleased to death, and those whom he didn't, hated
+him from that time.
+
+I honestly believe that old Irishman gave me the worst scare I had in
+that campaign, and I am sure that a compliment, on the field, from
+General Longstreet himself, would not have pleased me more, than that
+snuffy old fellow's verdict, after feeling my pulse that I "would do all
+right." It was quite a curious scene altogether!
+
+=Where the Fight Was Hottest=
+
+In a few minutes Lieutenant Anderson came down and ordered us forward.
+He told us "the sharp-shooters were making it a little warm" up there.
+When the guns got to the top of the rise, they must go at a trot to
+their positions, the sooner to get the horses from under fire. Twenty or
+thirty steps brought us to the top of the sharp little ascent. Here we
+found a few of our sharp-shooters exchanging compliments with the enemy,
+and the balls were knocking up the dirt, and whistling around. I was
+interested in watching one of our fellows. He was squatting down,
+holding his rifle ready. A Federal sharp-shooter, whom we could not see,
+was cracking at him. Three times a ball struck right by him, and came
+whizzing by us. He kept still, and patiently bided his time. Suddenly,
+he threw up his rifle and fired, and then exclaimed "Well! I got _you_
+anyhow." The balls stopped coming. This man said that the concealed
+Federal sharp-shooter had been shooting at him for some time and he had
+been waiting for him. At last, catching sight of a head rising from
+behind a bush, he got his chance, as we saw, and dropped his man. Our
+guns were placed in their position, selected for them on the line, and
+the horses sent back to the rear.
+
+Our position here was right on the infantry line of battle. That is, on
+that line the infantry afterwards took. For when we got on the spot,
+there was no infantry there,--nothing except the sharp-shooters, already
+referred to. The line was traced by a continuous pile of dirt thrown up,
+I don't know by whom, before we got on the ground. I suppose the
+engineers had it done as a guide to the troops, in taking position.
+
+The position our guns now took, grew to be very familiar ground to us,
+and remains very memorable. On this spot we stayed, and fought our part
+in the Spottsylvania battles. On this spot we saw many bloody sights,
+and witnessed many heroic scenes, and had many thrilling experiences.
+The incidents of those days spent there, in nearly all their details,
+are indelibly impressed on my memory, and are as fresh as if they
+happened yesterday.
+
+We stood on a low ridge which rose gradually to the right. To the left,
+after running level for fifty yards, the ground fell rapidly away, until
+it sank down into the valley of a little brook, one hundred and fifty
+yards from us. Off to the left, in front, stretched a large body of
+woods. To the right, in front, stood a body of thick pines coming up to
+within two or three hundred yards of us, its edge running along to the
+right about that distance parallel with our line. Directly in front of
+us, the ground,--cleared fields about three or four hundred yards
+wide,--sloped gently away down to a stream, and beyond, sloped gently
+upward to the top of the hill, on which stood a farmhouse, and
+buildings. That hill was considerably higher than our position, and
+commanded it. That hill-top was about one-half to three-quarters of a
+mile from us.
+
+All along our front, in the bottom, ran a little stream; the ground, on
+either side, in our immediate front, was swampy, and thickly covered
+with low swamp growth. That soft ground saved us a good many hard knocks
+we had plenty as it was! Behind us, our cleared ground ran back, very
+gently sloping, almost level, some thirty or forty yards, and then, the
+hill fell sharply down, some twenty yards to the little brook, which ran
+along the hollow! This sharp bank, facing away from the enemy, and this
+stream, protected by it, and so near us, proved a great comfort to us.
+It also was of great service as a covered way, by which troops and
+supplies (_ammunition_, while there, it did not seem to be considered
+necessary for us to have any other supplies) were able to approach the
+line. Once it proved of vital use as a cover behind which a broken
+Brigade was able to rally, and save the line.
+
+Exactly back of us, forty yards off, and covering that steep bank at
+this one point, stood a body of large, tall trees,--pines and
+others,--occupying half an acre. And in that wood, under the bank, some
+of the fellows dug holes, and in them they built fires which, by one or
+another, were kept up all the time. At these fires,--quite effectually
+protected from shot and shell and bullets, though within forty yards of
+the line of battle, a fellow could cook anything he happened, by
+accident, to have, or slip back from the works, now and then, when not
+engaged at the guns, warm himself and stand up straight, and stretch his
+legs and back, without the imminent risk of being bored by a
+sharp-shooter; which makes a stretch unsatisfactory.
+
+Just at the point where we were posted, the line left the ridge, and
+dipping a little, on the front face of the slope, ran along about
+parallel with the ridge. My gun, "Number Four," stood exactly at the
+point where the line declined in front of the ridge, and so, was exactly
+in the infantry line. The "3d gun" was some ten yards to our left, on
+the ridge seven or eight yards back of the line, and could fire over it
+to the front. It had its own separate work.
+
+It was about sunset when we got to our position. We unlimbered our guns,
+and ran them up close to the bank of dirt, about two feet high, which we
+found there, thinking that in case of a row, that would be some little
+protection. However, things seemed quiet. We couldn't see any enemy from
+where we stood, didn't know whether any force was near us. And after we
+placed our guns, we strolled around, and looked about us, and were
+disposing ourselves for a quiet night, and a good sleep, which we needed
+badly.
+
+Just then somebody, I think it was Lieutenant Anderson, who had walked
+to the left, some distance, where he could see around the point of pine
+woods to our right, up on the hill, came back with some news very
+interesting to us, if not to our advantage. He said that, just beyond
+these woods up on the hill, not over five or six hundred yards from us,
+there was a lot of Federal artillery. He saw them plainly. They were in
+position. He counted twelve guns, and was sure there were others,
+farther around, which he could not see for the woods. At least six of
+those, in sight, he was certain were twenty-pounder Parrotts. These
+guns, he said, commanded our position, and while the enemy had not yet
+seen us, for the treetops between, they soon would; and _anyhow_, the
+moment we fired a shot, and disclosed our position, we would catch it.
+There were enough heavy guns bearing down on us to sweep us off the face
+of the earth, unless we were protected. If daylight found us unfortified
+we couldn't stay there, so we had better go to throwing dirt.
+
+=Against Heavy Odds at "Fort Dodge"=
+
+Here was nice news! Our two Napoleons, right under the muzzles of twelve
+or more rifled cannon, and six twenty-pounder Parrotts, and with no
+works! This was pleasant advice to tired and sleepy men, who wanted to
+go to bed. But such were the facts, and as we never had left a position
+under fire, and had come to stay, and were _certainly going_ to stay,
+we _went_ to throwing dirt.
+
+We went to work, to raise and thicken the little bank already there, in
+front of our gun, and to build a short "traverse" to the right, for
+protection from enfilade fire. We worked all night, six of us, and by
+morning we had a slight and rough artillery work, with an embrasure for
+the gun; the whole thing about four feet high, and two and one-half feet
+thick, at the top. It was the best that could be done by six, tired, and
+hungry fellows, all young boys, working with two picks and three shovels
+through a short night. Such as it was, we fought behind it, all through
+the Spottsylvania battles, and it stood some heavy battering. This gem
+of engineering skill,--by reason of the pretty constant courtesies we
+felt it polite to pay to the unceasing attentions of our friends, the
+enemy, for the next six days, in the shape of shells and bullets, we
+called "Fort _Dodge_."
+
+Just here, I take occasion to correct a very wrong impression about the
+field works, the "Army of Northern Virginia" fought behind, in this
+campaign. All the Federal writers who have written about these battles,
+speak of our works as "formidable earthworks," "powerful
+fortifications," "impregnable lines;" such works as _no troops_ could be
+expected _to take_, and any troops could be expected _to hold_.
+
+Now about the parts of the line distant from us, I couldn't speak so
+certainly, though I am sure they were all very much the same, but about
+the works all along _our part_ of the line I can speak with exactness
+and certainty. I saw them, I helped, with my own hands, to make them. I
+fought behind them. I was often on top of them, and both sides of them.
+I know all about them. I got a good deal of the mud off them on
+me,--(not for purposes of personal fortification, however).
+
+Our "works" were, a single line of earth, about four feet high, and
+three to five feet thick. It had no ditch or obstructions in front. It
+was nothing more than a little heavier line of "rifle pits." There was
+no physical difficulty in men walking right over that bank! I did it
+often myself, saw many others do it, and twice, saw a line of Federal
+troops walk over it, and then saw them walk _back_ over it, with the
+greatest ease, at the rate of forty miles an hour; _i. e._, except those
+whom we had persuaded to stay with us, and those whom the angels were
+carrying to Abraham's bosom, at a still swifter rate. Works they could
+go over like that couldn't have been much obstacle! They couldn't have
+made better time on a dead level.
+
+="Sticky" Mud and Yet More "Sticky" Men=
+
+Such were our works _actually_! And still, they seemed to "loom largely"
+to the people in front. I wonder what could have given them such an
+exaggerated idea of the strength of those modest little works? I wonder
+if it could have been the _men_ behind them? There were not a great many
+of these men. It was a very thin gray line along there, back of a thin,
+red line of clay. But these lines stuck together very hard, and were
+very hard indeed to separate. The red clay was "sticky" and the men were
+just as "sticky." And, as the two lines stuck together so closely, it
+made the whole very strong indeed. Certainly, it seems they gave to
+those who tried to force them apart, an impression of great strength!
+
+Yes, it must have been the _men_. A story in point, comes to my aid
+here. A handsome, well-dressed lady sweeps with a great air, past two
+street boys. They are much struck. "My eye, Jim, but ain't that a
+stunning dress?" Says Jim, with a superior air, "Oh get out, Bill, the
+dress ain't no great shakes; it's the _woman_ in it that makes it so
+'killing.'" That was the way with our Spottsylvania earthworks. The
+works "wa'n't no great shakes." It was the _men_ in 'em, that made them
+so "killing."
+
+The men behind those works, such as they were, had perfect confidence in
+their own ability to hold them. And this happy combination of "faith"
+and "works" proved as strong against the world and the flesh, here, as
+it does against the devil. It was perfectly effectual! It withstood all
+assaults!
+
+This day, May 10th, to whose dawn we have now come, broke dark, and
+lowering, very typical of the heavy cloud of war that was impending, and
+soon burst upon us, in a fierce tempest, that was going to thunder, and
+howl, and beat upon us, all day, and for days to come. This day was to
+be an eventful, and memorable day to us,--crowded full of incident.
+
+Some time during the night, while we were working like beavers on "Fort
+Dodge," infantry had come in, on the line. Soon as they got there they
+set in to do what we were doing, to raise, and thicken the line against
+the coming of day, and the equally certain coming of battle. When the
+day came they also, were ready.
+
+=Gregg's Texans to the Front=
+
+We had been too busy to think about them, at the time, but when we had
+gotten done,--and had a little time to look about us, and day had
+broken, and the fighting time, as we knew, was drawing near,--we took an
+interest in that infantry. Artillerymen are always concerned in their
+"supports," in a fight, and we wanted to know who these fellows were, on
+whom we had to depend, as battle comrades, in the approaching struggle.
+Our minds were quickly made perfectly easy on that score. We found we
+had alongside of us "Gregg's" Texas Brigade,--the gallant, dashing,
+stubborn fellows who had, as they jocularly said, "put General Lee under
+arrest and sent him to the rear," and then, had so brilliantly, and
+effectually, stopped Hancock's assault on Hill's right, at the
+Wilderness. Better fellows to have at your back, in a fight, couldn't be
+found! We knew _that part_ of the line was safe! We mingled together,
+and chatted, and got acquainted, and swapped yarns about our several
+adventures. We told them how particularly glad we were to have _them_
+there, and our personal relations soon grew as cordial as possible.
+
+Our service together on this spot, and our esteem of one another's
+conduct in battle, made the Texans and the "Howitzers" ardent mutual
+admirers, and fast friends, to the end. Never afterwards did we pass
+each other, during the campaign, without hearty cheers, each, for the
+other, and friendly greetings and complimentary references to the
+"Spottsylvania lines." Gregg's Texans! Noble fellows! Better soldiers
+never trod a battlefield. I saw them fight; I saw their mettle tried, as
+by fire. They live in my memory as "the bravest of the brave." I hope
+Texas is growing more like them!
+
+=Breakfastless, But "Ready for Customers"=
+
+Having got our Fort in shape, and refreshed ourselves a little with a
+wash, at the stream back of us, and thinking how nice some breakfast
+would be, if we had it, (which we _didn't_, not a crumb!) we got ready
+for the business of the day. We sloped the ground downward to the works,
+so that the guns would run easily; placed the gun, and saw that it could
+poke its muzzle well over the dirt, and look around comfortably in every
+direction; got some rails, and chocked her tight, so that she couldn't
+run back. Then we got a lot of cartridges, and piled them down safely
+behind the works, and in front of the guns, so that we could do very
+rapid firing. Lieutenant Anderson called attention to the fact of these
+pine woods, in front, which came up to within two or three hundred
+yards, and that the enemy could get up very near us, under cover, before
+they started to charge, and we would have to put in our work while they
+were charging across the narrow open ground. "So," he said, "Have plenty
+of 'canister' by your guns. Break loose some canisters from the powder,
+so you can double-shot; you'll need it." We cannoneers had already
+thought of this; the edge of that wood was in canister range, and we had
+put little else but this short range missile in our pile; only a few
+case-shots to make it lively for them in the woods before they came out,
+and to follow them into the woods, when they were broken, and keep them
+going. We were now all ready and waited for customers. They soon came!
+
+It was still early in the morning, about five or six o'clock, and, as
+yet, all was quiet in our front; we hadn't even seen a Federal soldier.
+Suddenly! out of the woods to our right, just about five hundred yards
+in front, appeared the heads of three heavy blue columns, about fifty
+yards apart, marching across the open field toward our left. Here was
+impudence! Infantry trying to cross our front! _That's_ the way it
+seemed to strike our fellows. I don't know whether they knew our guns
+were there, but we took it for an insult, and it was with a great deal
+of personal feeling, we instantly jumped to our guns and loaded with
+case-shot. Lieutenant Anderson said, "Wait till they get half way across
+the field. You'll have more chance at them before they can get back
+into those woods." We waited, and soon they were stretched out to the
+middle of the field. It was a beautiful mark! Three, heavy well closed
+up columns, fifty yards apart, on ground gently sloped upward from us,
+lovely for ricochet shots,--with their flanks to us, and in easy range.
+Dan McCarthy went up to Ned Stine, our acting gunner, who was very deaf,
+and yelled in his ear, loud enough for the Federals to hear, "Ned, aim
+at the nearest column, the ricochet pieces of shell will strike the
+columns beyond." "All right," he bawled back, with his head on one side,
+"sighting" the gun. "I've got sight on that column, now. Ain't it time
+to shoot?" This instant Anderson sung out, "Section commence firing! and
+get in as many shots as you can before they get away." "Yes," shouted
+Dan, "Fire!" "Eh?" said Ned, putting his hand up to his ear, "What did
+you say?" "I said Fire! you deaf old fool--Fire!" the last, in a tone
+calculated for a mile and a half. This fetched him. Ned threw up his
+hands (the gunner's signal to fire) and we let drive. All Ned wanted was
+a start, he was only slow in hearing. He jumped in now, and we kept that
+gun blazing almost continuously. It was the first time Stine had acted
+gunner, and he did splendidly here, and until Dibbrell, our gunner, got
+back.
+
+Our first shot struck right in the nearest column, and burst, and we
+instantly saw a line opened through all three columns, and a great deal
+of confusion. The shot from the "Third Piece" struck at another point,
+and burst, just right for effect. I am sure not a single shot missed in
+that crowd, and we drove them in just as fast as we could. The columns
+were pretty badly broken, and in two minutes, they were rapidly crossing
+back into that woods, out of which they had come, and disappeared. The
+Texans were greatly pleased with this performance. Having nothing to do,
+as the enemy was out of effective rifle range, they stood around, and
+watched us work the guns, and noticed, with keen interest, the effect of
+our shots upon the blue columns, and they made the welkin ring, when the
+Federals turned to retire.
+
+=Parrott's Reply to Napoleon's Twenty to Two=
+
+In a minute or two we received notice of our work from another quarter.
+That artillery, up there on the hill, beyond the woods, woke up. They
+got mad at our treatment of their infantry friends, furiously mad.
+"Boom" went a loud report, over the way, and, the same instant, a savage
+shriek right over our heads, of a twenty pounder Parrott shell. Another
+followed, another, and another. They began to rain over. We could detect
+the sound of different shells, three inch rifle, ten pounder Parrott,
+and twenty pounder Parrott.
+
+Some fifteen or twenty guns joined in, and they hammered away most
+savagely. Most fortunately the treetops of that wood, out in our front,
+came up just high enough to conceal us from the enemy. They could see
+our smoke, and knew just _about_ our position, but they could not
+_exactly see us_, and correct their aim by the smoke of their shells. So
+they could not get the _exact_ range. And that makes a great difference,
+in artillery firing, as it does in a great many other things. To know
+_just about_ and to know _exactly_, are two very different things in
+effect, and in satisfaction to the worker. If those people could have
+_seen_ our two guns, I suppose they could have smashed them both, and
+killed, or wounded every man of us, and their columns could have moved
+across our front, in peace, and accomplished this movement they were
+trying to get across them for, and about which they seemed very anxious.
+As it was, neither man, nor gun, of ours, was touched, though it was hot
+as pepper all around there; and our guns stuck there a thorn in their
+sides, and broke up that movement altogether.
+
+It seems that those columns were a part of Warren's Corps, and were
+trying to push into an interval between our Corps, and A. P. Hill's
+Corps, which, under command of General Jubal Early (Hill being very
+sick) began just on our left, our position being on the left of
+Longstreet's line, near its junction with Hill's. This infantry was
+pushing across our front to get into that gap, and make it hot for "Old
+Jubal" over there in the woods. But, in order to get to that gap, they
+were forced to pass close to us, and across that open field.
+
+Now, at once, to insult us, and to hurt our friends, was a move that we
+didn't at all approve, and were not going to stand. And as soon as we
+discovered the meaning of this move, we were very earnest to stop it.
+
+Well! we had stopped it once, and driven back the Federal columns of
+attack. It remained to see what they were going to do about it. The
+Federal artillery thundered at us through the trees. We quietly sat and
+waited to see.
+
+In about half an hour, (I suppose they thought we were pulverized by the
+fire their guns had been pouring upon us,) we saw those three infantry
+columns pouring out of the woods again, at a quick step. We manned the
+guns, and waited as before, till they reached the middle of the field.
+Then we began to plow up the columns with shrapnel. This time some of
+our infantry tried and found it in range for their muskets and they
+adjusted their rifle sights and took careful aim, with a rest on the top
+of the works. Soon, the columns faltered, then stopped, then broke, and
+made good time back to their woods. We could see their officers trying
+to rally them, but they refused to hear "the voice of the charmer." Soon
+they disappeared!
+
+Then the artillery began to pour in their shells on us more furiously
+than ever! The air around us was kept in a blaze, and a roar of bursting
+shells, and the ground, all about, was furrowed and torn. We quietly
+sat behind our works, and interchanged our individual observations on
+what had just taken place, and waited for further developments.
+
+The two rifled pieces of our Battery, and the other rifled guns of our
+Battalion, "Cabells," had been laced in position, on a hill half a mile
+back of, and higher, than the low hill on which we were. The plan was
+for these long range guns to fire over our heads, at the enemy. We
+suspected that when that Federal infantry next tried to pass us, they
+would try to make a rush. So Lieutenant Anderson sent back to the other
+guns, calling attention to this probability, and suggesting that they
+should be on the lookout, and reinforce our fire, and try, also, to
+divert the Federal artillery, a little. We thought that with eight or
+ten rifled guns, added to the fire of ours, and what the infantry could
+do, we could sicken that Federal infantry of the effort to get by.
+
+Presently we noticed the fire of the Federal guns increase in violence
+to a marked degree. At this savage outburst, Lieutenant Anderson said,
+"Boys, get to your guns, that infantry will try to get across under
+cover of this." We sprang to the guns, and sure enough, in a minute,
+those blue columns burst out of the woods at a double quick. "Open on
+them at once men. We can't let them get a start this time," shouted
+Anderson. Both guns instantly began to drive at the head of their
+columns.
+
+The sound of our guns started our rifle guns on the hill behind. They
+opened furiously, and we could hear their shells screeching over our
+heads, on into this enemy's columns. We did our best, and the Texans did
+what musket fire they could. The enemy still advanced at a run, but this
+storm was too much for them. Their columns were torn to pieces, were
+thrown into hopeless confusion. They had, by this time, gotten half way
+or more across the field, and they made a gallant effort to keep on, but
+torn and storm-beaten as they were, they could not stand. The crowd
+broke and parted. A few ran on across to the farther woods, and were
+captured by Hill's men. The rest, routed and scattered, ran madly back
+to the cover they had left. This gave them enough! They gave up the
+attempt, and tried it no more.
+
+We thought that Hill's Corps "owed us one" for this job. We certainly
+saved them a lot of trouble by thus protecting their flank. They had to
+stand a heavy assault by Hancock's Corps, and had very hot work as it
+was. If these strong columns, that we were taking care of, had gotten
+into that gap, and taken them at disadvantage, they would have had a
+hard time, to say the least. Our work left them to deal with Hancock's
+Corps alone, which they did to their credit, and with entire success, as
+will appear.
+
+That little scheme of our long-range guns on the hill behind, firing
+over our heads at the enemy acted very well, for a while. It came to
+have its very decided inconvenience to _us_, as well as to the enemy.
+When the Federal infantry had retired, those guns turned their fire on
+the Federal artillery which was hammering us. They meant to divert their
+attention, and do us a good turn. They had better have left us to "the
+ills we had." Their line of fire, at that artillery, was exactly over
+our position. Very soon their shells got tired travelling over, and
+began to stop _with us_. Our Confederate shells were often very badly
+made, the weight in the conical shells not well balanced. And so, very
+often, instead of going quietly, point foremost, like decent shells,
+where they were _aimed_, they would get to _tumbling_, that is, going
+end over end, or "swappin' ends" as the Tar Heels used to describe it,
+and _then_, there was no telling _where_ they would go, except that they
+would _certainly go wrong_. And, they went very wrong, indeed, on this
+occasion, in our opinion.
+
+The sound of a tumbling Parrott shell in full flight, is the most
+horrible noise that ever was heard!--a wild, venomous, fiendish scream,
+that makes every fellow, in half a mile of it, feel that it is looking
+for _him particularly_, and _certain_ that it's _going to get him_. I
+believe it would have made Julius Cæsar, himself, "go for a tree," or
+want to, anyhow!
+
+Well! these blood-curdlers came crashing into us, from the rear,
+knocking up clouds of dirt, digging great holes, bursting, and raining
+fragments around us in the field. We were not firing, and had leisure
+to realize the fix we were in. With the enemy hotly shelling us from the
+front, and our friends from the rear, obliged to stay by our guns,
+expecting an infantry assault every minute, we certainly were in a
+pretty tight fix, "'Tween the devil and the deep sea."
+
+It was the only time I ever saw Lieutenant Anderson excited under fire,
+but he was excited _now_, and mad too. He said to one of the fellows,
+"Go back under the hill, get on a horse, ride as hard as you can, and
+tell those men on the hill, what confounded work they are doing, and if
+they fire any more shells, here, I will open on them immediately." In a
+few minutes it was stopped, with many regrets on the part of our
+friends.
+
+=The Narrow Escape of an Entire Company=
+
+In the midst of all this, an incident took place that created a great
+deal of amusement. Along the line, just back of and somewhat protected
+by the works, the Texans had pitched several of the little "shelter
+tents" we used to capture from the enemy, and found such a convenience.
+One of these stood apart. It had a piece of cloth, buttoned on the back,
+and closing that end up to about eighteen inches from the top, leaving
+thus, a triangular hole just under the ridge pole. In this little tent
+sat four men, a captain and three privates, all that were left of a
+Company in this Texan Brigade. These fellows were playing "Seven-up"
+and, despite the confusion around, were having a good time. Suddenly,
+one of the shells from the hill behind, struck, tumbled over once or
+twice, and stopped, right in the mouth of that tent, the fuse still
+burning. The game stopped! The players were up, instantly. The next
+moment, one fellow came diving headforemost out of that triangular hole
+at the back, followed fast by the other three--the captain last. It only
+took "one time and one motion" to get out of that. Soon as they could
+pick themselves up, they, all four, jumped behind a tree that stood
+there; and then, the fuse went out, and the shell didn't burst.
+Everybody had seen the shell fall, and were horror stricken at the
+apparently certain fate of those four men. Now, the absurdity of the
+scene struck us all, and there were shouts of laughter at their expense.
+Despite their sudden, hasty retreat through that narrow hole everyone of
+the scamps had held on to his "hand," and they promptly kicked the shell
+aside, crawled into the tent again, and continued their little game;
+interrupted, however, by jokes from all sides. It was very funny! The
+smoking shell, in front, and those fellows shooting through that hole at
+the back, and alighting all in a heap, and then the scramble for that
+tree. As the shell went out, it was a roaring farce. If it hadn't, it
+would have been a tragedy. The Captain said that these three men were
+his whole company, and when that lighted shell struck, he thought that
+his company was "gone up" for good and all.
+
+Such was about the size to which some of the companies of this Texan
+Brigade was reduced.
+
+Well! after we got rid of those shells from the rear we didn't so much
+mind the artillery fire from the front, which kept up more or less
+through the morning.
+
+What with the wet, cheerless weather, and the mental discomfort of
+staying in a place where they were "shooting cannons" at us, and other
+kind of shooting might soon be expected, two of our men got sick, and
+went back to the position of our guns on the hill in the rear. The
+Captain appealed to them to go back, but their health was bad, and they
+didn't think the place where we were, _a health resort_. So Captain
+McCarthy called for volunteers to take their places, and instantly John
+W. Page, and George B. Harrison, of the First Detachment, offered, and
+came over to us.
+
+=Successive Attacks by Federal Infantry=
+
+Up to this time we had seen no infantry since their columns had tried to
+cross our front. No attack had been made on us and all seemed quiet out
+in front, except that artillery. But, out of our sight, over behind the
+woods, the enemy was conspiring to break up our quiet in the most
+decided manner. About ten o'clock we suddenly caught sight of a confused
+appearance down through the woods on our right front. It quickly defined
+itself as a line of battle, rapidly advancing. Our pickets fired upon
+it, then ran back over the works into our line. The Texans sprang into
+rank, we jumped to our guns, and sent a case-shot tearing down through
+the woods. Next instant, the Federal line dashed, cheering, out of the
+edge of the woods, and came charging at us. As they dashed out, they
+were met by a furious storm of bullets, and cannister, which at two
+hundred yards tore their ranks. They got about a hundred yards under
+that fire, then began to falter, then stopped, tried to stand for a
+moment, then with their battle line shot all to pieces, they turned and
+broke for the woods in headlong rout. We did our best to help them
+along, shooting at them with case-shot as long as we could catch any
+glimpse of them, moving back through the trees. Then that Federal
+artillery got savage again. We lay low and waited for some more
+infantry.
+
+Very soon, here they came again! another line charging on, only to meet
+the same fate; shattered lines, hapless disorder, bloody repulse, and
+rapid retreat. Several times they tried to reach our lines, and every
+time failed, then gave it up for the time.
+
+These various assaults took up the time, I should say from ten-thirty to
+twelve o'clock. When they were over, the field, and wood in front of us
+displayed a most dreadful scene. The field was thickly strewn with the
+dead, and wounded. And just along the edge of the wood, where the
+advancing lines generally first met our full fire, in the several
+assaults, the dead lay so thick and in such regular order, that it
+looked to us like a line of battle, lying down. And the poor wounded
+fellows lying thickly about! It was frightful to see and to hear them.
+It was a bloody business, their oft-repeated effort to take our line.
+Their loss was very severe, ours was almost nothing. The Texan Brigade
+in all their assaults had several wounded, none killed; at our guns not
+a man was hurt.
+
+One thing that struck me in that fighting was the utter coolness of the
+Texan infantry. I watched the soldier next to my gun, and can never
+forget his bearing. The whizzing bullets, the heavy storming columns
+pouring upon us, the yells and cries of the combatants were enough to
+excite anybody, but this fellow was just as easy and deliberate as if he
+had been shooting at a mark. He would drop the butt of his musket on the
+ground and ram down a cartridge, raise the piece to his hip, put on a
+cap, cock the hammer, and then, slowly draw the gun up to his eye, and
+shoot. I really don't think that Texan fired a shot that day until the
+sight on his gun covered a Federal soldier, and I think it likely he hit
+a man every time he shot. It was this sort of shooting that made the
+carnage in front so terrible.
+
+And what a confident lot they were! After one or two of these lines had
+been repulsed, as the enemy were advancing again, you could hear the men
+in the line calling one to another, "Say, boys, don't shoot so quick
+this time! Let them get up closer. Too many of them get away, when you
+start so soon." Truly they were the unterrified! Our line was so thin;
+those storming lines of blue as they came storming on seemed _heavy_
+enough to roll over us like a tidal wave. Yet it never seemed to occur
+to these fellows that they might be run over. Their only thought was to
+"let them get up closer next time." Their only concern was that "too
+many of them were getting away." Good men, they were, to hold a line!
+
+_At last_, this furious attempt, by Warren and Hancock, to force our
+position ceased. And as we saw, out in front, the heavy losses of the
+enemy, and still had every one of our men ready for duty, we thought
+"_we_ could stand this sort of thing, if _they_ could, and just as long
+as they chose to keep on." They lost in dead and wounded about twelve
+hundred men to about four of ours. Certainly, we could stand it! So we
+piled some more canister in front of our guns, and watched to see what
+they would do next.
+
+The long hours crept on until three o'clock,--when the warming up of the
+Federal artillery fire warned us of another attack. Soon came another
+stubborn assault by Warren's Corps. Same result. Line after line pushed
+out from the woods, only to be hurled back, bleeding and torn, leaving
+on the field large additions to the sad load of dead, and wounded, with
+which it was already encumbered. They effected nothing! Very little loss
+to us, heavy loss to them. We were using double shot of canister nearly
+every time, on masses of men at short range; the infantry fire was rapid
+and deadly. Our fire soon swept the front clear of the enemy. We piled
+up more canister, and waited again.
+
+There was now an interval of comparative quiet. We could walk around,
+and talk, and look about us, a little. Now and then a bullet struck the
+ground close to us, and presently one of the infantry was struck
+slightly. It was plain that a concealed sharp-shooter had our range, and
+we began to watch for him. Soon one of us caught a glimpse of him; he
+was up a tree some distance out in front, and he would cautiously edge
+around the trunk and fire, dodging back behind the trunk to load again.
+One of the Texans went over the works, and stole from stump to stump off
+toward the left, and for some time was out of our sight. Presently, we
+saw that sharp-shooter slyly stealing around the tree, and raise his
+rifle. The next instant, we saw a puff of smoke from a bush, off to the
+left, and that sharp-shooter came plunging down, headforemost out of the
+tree, dead as Hector. Our man had crept round so that when the Federal
+slid around the tree, he exposed his body, and the Texan shot him.
+
+Robert Stiles, the Adjutant of the Battalion, who had been, until
+lately, a member of our Battery, and was very devoted to it, and his
+comrades in it, had come to the lines to see how we were getting on, and
+gave us news of other parts of the line. He, Beau Barnes, and others of
+us were standing by our guns, talking, when a twenty pounder Parrott
+shell came grazing just over our guns, passed on, and about forty yards
+behind us struck a pine tree, about two and a half to three feet in
+diameter. The shell had turned. It struck that big tree sideways, and
+cut it entirely off, and threw it from the stump. It fell in an upright
+position, struck the ground, stood, for an instant, and then, came
+crashing down. It was a very creepy suggestion of what that shell might
+have done to one of us. A few moments after another struck the ground
+right by us and ricochetted. After it passed us, as was frequently the
+case, we caught sight of it, and followed its upward flight until it
+seemed to be going straight up to the sky. Stiles said "There it goes as
+though flung by the hand of a giant." Beau Barnes, who was _not_
+poetical, exclaimed, "Giant be darned; there ain't any giant can fling
+'em like that." He was right!
+
+Strange how the most trivial incidents keep their place in the memory,
+along with the great events, amidst which they occurred! I remember the
+fall of that tree, and the remark about that shell, and a small piece of
+pork which an Arkansas soldier gave me, and which, in jumping to the
+guns, I dropped into a mudhole, and never found again, though I fished
+for it diligently in the muddy water, and a _pig_, which was calmly
+rooting around near our guns, under fire, and which we watched, hoping
+he would be hit, so that we could get his meat, before the infantry did,
+to satisfy our wolfish hunger, just as distinctly as the several fierce
+battles which were fought that day.
+
+About five o'clock the Federal guns on the hill in our front broke out
+again into a furious fire. It was a warning! We knew it meant that the
+infantry were about to charge again. We got to our guns, and the Texans
+stood to their arms. It seems that the balance of Hancock's Corps had
+got up, and now, with Warren's, and part of Sedgwick's Corps, formed in
+our front, Grant was going to make the supreme effort of the day, to
+break our line.
+
+_What we saw_ was that far down in the woods, heavy columns of men were
+moving; the woods seemed to be full of them. The pickets, and our guns
+opened on them at once. The next moment they appeared, three heavy lines
+one close behind the other. As they reached the edge of the woods, our
+lines were blazing with fire. But on they came! The first line was cut
+to pieces, only to have its place taken by the next, and then, the next.
+Closer and closer to our guns they pressed their bloody way, until they
+were within fifty yards of us. Heavens! how those men did strive, and
+strain to make their way against that tempest of bullets and canister!
+It was too much for man to do! They stopped and stayed there, and fired
+and shouted, under our withering fire. The carnage was fearful. Their
+men were being butchered! Their lines had all fallen into utter
+confusion. They could not come on! Despair suddenly seized them! The
+next moment a panic stricken cloud of fugitives was fast vanishing from
+our view, and the ground over which they had charged was blue with
+corpses, and red with blood.
+
+=Eggleston's Heroic Death=
+
+Just here, we of the "Howitzer" suffered our first, and only, loss in
+this day's fighting. Cary Eggleston, "No. 1" at third gun, had his arm
+shattered, and almost cut away from his body, by a fragment of shell. He
+quietly handed his rammer to John Ayres, who that instant came up to the
+gun, and said, "Here Johnny, you take it and go ahead!" Then, gripping
+his arm with his other hand, partly to stop the fast flowing blood, he
+turned to his comrades, and said in his jocular way, "Boys, I can never
+handle a sponge-staff any more. I reckon I'll have to go to teaching
+school." Then he stood a while, looking at the men working the gun. They
+urged him to go to the rear; he would not for a while. When he consented
+to go, they wanted to send a man with him, but he refused, and walked
+off by himself. As he passed back an infantry officer, seeing what an
+awful wound he had, and the streaming blood, insisted that one of the
+men should go and help him to the hospital. "No," he said; "I'm all
+right, and you haven't got any men to spare from here." So, holding his
+own arm, and compressing the artery with his thumb, he got to the
+hospital.
+
+His arm was amputated, and a few days after, as the battery passed
+through Spottsylvania Court House, we went by the Court House building,
+used as a hospital, where he lay on the floor, and bade him "good-bye."
+He was just as cheerful, and bright, as ever, and full of eager interest
+in all that was going on. Said "Since he had time to think about it, he
+believed he _could_ handle a sponge-staff _with one hand_; was going to
+practice it soon as he could get up, and would be back at his post
+_before long_." The next day, the brave young fellow died. The
+"Howitzers" will always remember him tenderly. No braver, cooler warrior
+ever lived! Always bright, full of fun in camp, and on the march, he was
+at the gun in action, the best "No. 1" I ever saw. One of the few men I
+ever knew who really seemed to enjoy a fight. His bearing, when he was
+wounded, was simply _heroic_. No wounded knight ever passed off his last
+battlefield in nobler sort. All honor to his memory!
+
+John Ayres, the fellow to whom Cary Eggleston handed his rammer, was at
+his home in Buckingham County, Virginia, on furlough, when we started on
+the campaign. Off in the remote country, he didn't hear of our movements
+for several days. The moment he heard it, off he started, walked
+thirteen miles to the James River Canal boat; got to Richmond, came up
+to Louisa County on the Central Railroad, got off and walked
+twenty-three miles across country, guided by the sound of the battle,
+and reached his gun just in time to take Eggleston's place as "No. 1"
+and finish the fight.
+
+When the enemy had thus broken in such utter rout, and with such fearful
+losses, we did hope they would let us alone, for this day at least. We
+were wet, and hungry, and nearly worn out working the gun, off and on
+all day, and it was late in the afternoon. For an hour or more things
+were quiet; the woods in front seemed deserted and still; the Texans
+were lying stretched out on the ground, all along the line; many of them
+asleep. We cannoneers were wearily sitting about the guns, wishing to
+gracious we had something to eat, and could go to bed, even if the _bed
+were_ only one blanket, on the wet ground.
+
+Our rifled guns had just been firing at a Federal battery which we could
+see, up on the hill in front of us. Watching the effect of the shots, we
+saw one of the caissons blown up, and a gun disabled, and soon
+confusion. Somebody remarked, "how easy it would be to take that
+battery, if any of our infantry were in reach." Just then, we heard loud
+cheering, which sounded to us, to be up in the woods, on our left, where
+Hill's men were. Someone instantly cried out, "There it goes now! Hill's
+men are going to take those guns." We eagerly gathered at the works,
+some distance to the left of our guns, where we could see better, and
+stood gazing up at the edge of the field, expecting every moment to see
+Hill's troops burst out of the woods, and rush upon these guns. Our
+attention was absorbed, off there, when, all of a sudden, one of our
+fellows who happened to glance the other way, yelled, "Good heavens!
+look out on the right." We all looked! There, pouring out of the woods,
+yelling like mad men, came the Federal infantry, fast as they could run,
+rushing straight upon our line. The whole field was blue with them! When
+we first saw them, the foremost were already within one hundred yards of
+our works, and aiming for a point about two hundred yards to our right.
+The breath was about knocked out of us by the suddenness of the
+surprise! It was not Hill's men charging _them_, but these fellows
+charging us,--whose yells we had heard, and here they were, right upon
+us! In two jumps we were at our gun. We had to turn it more to the
+right, and, with the first shot, blow away a light traverse, which was
+higher than the level of the gun, before we could bear on their columns.
+We sent two or three canisters tearing through their ranks; the Texans
+were blazing away, but, they had got too close to be stopped. The next
+instant, they surged over our works like a great blue wave, and were
+inside.
+
+="Texas Will Never Forget Virginia"=
+
+So sudden was the surprise that they bayonetted two of the Texan
+infantry, asleep upon the ground. Soon as they got over they turned, and
+began to sweep down the works, on the inside, upon our guns. As the
+Texans forced to retire streamed past our guns, leaving us all alone
+and unsupported to face the enemy, Lieutenant Anderson said, "Men, the
+road is only a little way back of us; we must stay here, and stop these
+people, or the Army is cut in two. Run the guns back and open on them.
+We can hold them until help comes." We turned the guns round so as to
+command the approaching enemy, and chocked them with rails; several men
+snatched up the pile of ammunition, and piled it down before the guns in
+their new place, then we opened, with double canister.
+
+If ever two guns were worked for all they were worth, those were! I
+don't believe any two guns, in the same time, ever fired as many shots
+as those two "Napoleons" did. We kept them just _spouting canister_!
+Several times _three canisters_ were fired. Billy White, "No. 2," had
+only to reach down for them, and he would have loaded the guns _to the
+muzzle_ if "No. 1" had given him time. The gun got so hot that, once, in
+jumping in to put in the friction primer, the back of my left hand
+touched it, and the skin was nearly taken off. The sponge was entirely
+worn off the rammer, so "No. 1" stopped sponging out the gun, and only
+rammed shot home. We fired so fast that the powder did not have time to
+ignite in the gun. After firing the gun, "No. 4" could hardly get the
+"primer" in before the gun was loaded, and ready to fire again. So it
+went on! It was fast and furious work! And the bullets sounded like bees
+buzzing above our heads.
+
+I felt a sharp pain, then a numbness in my right hand. I glanced at it,
+and saw that the back of it was cut open, and bleeding. I had to pull
+the lanyard with my left hand the rest of the fight. I supposed a bullet
+had done it, but was disgusted to see blood on one of the rails, which
+chocked our gun, and find that this rail had worked loose, and, when
+struck by the recoiling gun wheel, had flown round and struck my hand,
+and disabled it. So, it was not an "honorable" wound, even though
+received in battle, as it was not done by a missile of the enemy.
+
+Minute after minute, this hot work went on. The enemy, in coming over
+our works, and sweeping around, was thrown into disorder, so that they
+advanced on us in a confused mass.
+
+In this mass our canister was doing deadly work, cutting lanes in every
+direction. Still on they came; getting slower in their advance as the
+canister constantly swept away the foremost men. The men in front began
+to flinch, they were within thirty yards of us,--firing wildly now. One
+good rush! and their bayonets would have silenced our guns! But they
+could not face that hail of death any longer; they could not make that
+rush! They began to give back from our muzzles.
+
+At that moment, the Texans having rallied under the bank, forty yards to
+our right, and rear, came leaping like tigers upon their flank. The
+Texans were perfectly furious! It was the first time during the whole
+war that they had been forced from a position, under fire, and they were
+mad enough to eat those people up. A screaming yell burst out, a
+terrific outbreak of musketry, a rush, with the bayonets, and the inside
+of our work was clear of all, save the many dead, and wounded, and six
+hundred prisoners.
+
+We ran our gun instantly back to its place, in the works, and got
+several shots into the flying mob, outside.
+
+Then all was gone, and we were ready to drop in our tracks, with the
+exhausting work of the ten minutes that we had held the foe at bay.
+
+General Gregg came up to our gun. With strong emotion he shook hands
+with each of us; he then took off his hat, and said, "Boys, Texas will
+never forget Virginia for this! Your heroic stand saved the line, and
+enabled my brigade to rally, and redeem its honor. It is the first time
+it ever left a position under fire, and it was only forced out, now, by
+surprise, and overwhelming weight. But it could not have rallied except
+for you. God bless you!" This moment Bob Stiles came up at a run. He had
+left the guns a few moments before the attack came, and hearing our guns
+so busy came back.
+
+When General Gregg told him in a very enthusiastic way what we had done,
+he just rushed up to each cannoneer, and hugged him with a grip, strong
+enough to crush in his ribs, and vowed he was going to resign his
+Adjutancy at once, and come back to the guns.
+
+Pretty soon Major-General Field, commanding part of the line, came
+dashing up on his horse, and leaped off. He went round shaking hands
+with us, and saying very civil things. He was red hot! He had witnessed
+the whole thing from his position, on a hill near by. He said, "When he
+saw the Federals roll over our works, and the Texans fall back, he was
+at his wits' end. He did not have a man to send us, and thought the line
+was hopelessly broken." Then he saw us turn our two guns down inside the
+works. He said to his courier, "It isn't possible these fellows will
+even attempt to keep their guns there. The enemy will be over them in
+two minutes." But as our guns roared, and the enemy slowed down, he
+swung his hat, as the courier told us, and yelled out, "By George, they
+will do it!" and clapping spurs into his horse he came tearing over to
+find the Texans in their line, all solid again. He said to us, "Men, it
+was perfectly magnificent, and I have to say that your splendid stand
+saved the Army from disaster. If the line had been broken here I don't
+know what we should have done."
+
+Of course all this was very nice to hear. We tried to _look_ as if we
+were _used to this sort of thing all the time_. But, it was something
+for us, young chaps, to have our hands shaken nearly off, by
+enthusiastic admirers, in the shape of Brigadier and Major-Generals,
+especially as they were such heroic old veterans as Field and Gregg,
+and to have the breath hugged out of us by an old comrade. All this
+glory was only to be divided up among _nine men_, so there was a big
+share for each one. I must confess, it was very pleasant indeed to hear
+that men, who were judges, thought we had done a fine thing; and when in
+General Orders next day our little performance was mentioned to the
+whole army in most complimentary terms, and we knew that the folks at
+home would hear it, I am free to say, that we would _not_ have "taken a
+penny for our thoughts."
+
+=Contrast in Losses and the Reasons Therefor=
+
+The fight was over, just about as dusk was closing in. In this, and the
+fight at five o'clock, the enemy lost about six thousand men, killed and
+wounded. In the assaults, at _ten_, _eleven_ and at _three_ o'clock,
+they certainly lost between two and three thousand in killed and
+wounded, so this day's work cost them about seven or eight thousand in
+killed and wounded, besides prisoners.
+
+Our loss was very small. On our immediate part of the line, almost
+nothing. In the battery, we had one man wounded at five o'clock. In this
+furious close up fight with infantry, with the awful mauling our guns
+gave them, strange to say, we had not a man touched. The only blood shed
+that day, at the "4th" gun, was caused by that rail striking my hand.
+And our battle line was just as it was, in the morning, save for the
+hecatomb of dead and dying in front of it, and six hundred prisoners we
+held inside.
+
+About these prisoners: Numbers of these men were drunk, and officers
+too. One Colonel was so drunk that he did not know he was captured, or
+what had happened. The explanation of this fact, I do not profess to
+know, but _this_ was what _the men themselves told us_, "That before they
+charged, heavy rations of whiskey were issued, and the men made to drink
+it. I know that indignant denial has been made of this charge, that the
+Federal soldiers were _made drunk_ to send them in, but _this_ I do
+_certainly know_, as an eye witness, and hundreds of our men know it
+too, that here, on the Spottsylvania line, and at Cold Harbor, and other
+times in this campaign, we captured numbers of the men, assaulting our
+lines, who were very drunk, and said they were made to drink. And this
+fact is one reason for the carnage among them, and the light loss they
+inflicted upon us. It made their men shoot wildly, and the moment our
+men saw this, they could, with the cooler aim, send death into their
+ranks. These hundreds of men going, _drunk_, to face death was a
+horrible sight; it is a horrible thought, but _it was a fact_.
+
+=Why Captain Hunter Failed to Rally His Men=
+
+In the quiet time, just before that sudden rush which swept over the
+works, Captain Hunter, of the Texans, was frying some pieces of fat
+bacon in a frying pan, over a little fire just by our gun. In a flash,
+the enemy was over the work, and we were in the thick of battle, and
+confusion. The Captain glanced from his frying bacon, to see his company
+falling back from the works, and the enemy pouring over. The sudden
+sight instantly drove him wild with excitement! He utterly forgot what
+he was doing. With a loud yell, he swung that frying pan round and round
+his head,--the hot grease flying in all directions,--and rushed to his
+men, and tried to rally them. (Having _lost the meat_, he _failed_! With
+a frying pan full of meat he could have rallied the regiment!) Back he
+fell with the brigade, and disappeared under the hill.
+
+When the rallied Brigade came whooping back upon the enemy, ten minutes
+after, who should be in front tearing up the hill, leading the charge,
+but the gallant Captain, yelling like everything, and still waving that
+frying pan, to cheer on his men. More gallant charge was never led, with
+gleaming sword, than was this, led with that Texas frying pan.
+
+At the time we were getting our guns around to fire upon the enemy
+inside the works, as the retiring Texans were falling back past us, Dr.
+Carter stepped quickly out, and in his courteous manner, called out to
+them, "Gentlemen, dear gentlemen, I hope that you are not running." A
+passing infantryman, a gaunt, unwashed, ragged chap, replied, "Never you
+mind, old fellow! We are just dropping back to get to 'em." "I beg your
+pardon," retorted the Doctor, "but if you want to _get to them_, you
+ought to _turn round_; they are not the way you are going." They passed
+on, and the fight took place. When it was over we noticed that the
+Doctor was very much vexed about something. We asked what was the
+matter? He said, "Never mind!" We insisted on his saying what disturbed
+him so. At last, he said "Well, I don't see why, because men are in the
+army, they should not observe the amenities customary among gentlemen."
+"Well," we said, "that is all right; but why do you say it?" "Why!" he
+warmly said; "did you hear that dirty, ragged infantryman call me an old
+fellow? A most disrespectful way to address a gentleman!"
+
+All the row of the fight had not put it out of the Doctor's mind, and he
+brooded over it for some time. He never did get used to the lack of
+"amenities" and he always had an humble opinion of that unknown Texan,
+who did not observe the form of address customary among gentlemen. The
+Doctor himself always followed his own rule; he was as courteous in
+manner, and civil in speech, as "observant of the amenities" in the
+thick of a fight, as in his own parlor.
+
+This was the first battle the Doctor was in, having lately joined us. As
+we ceased firing, one of us exclaimed, as we were apt to do, when a
+fight was over, "Well! that was a hot place." The Doctor turned on him
+and eagerly said, "Did I understand you to say that was a hot place?" "I
+did, indeed, and it was." The Doctor turned to another, and another,
+with the same eager question, "Did _you_ think that was a hot place?"
+"Yes," we all agreed, "it was about as hot a one as we ever saw, or
+cared to see." "Well," said the Doctor, in a very relieved tone, "I am
+very glad to hear you gentlemen, who have had experience, say so. I
+hesitated a long time about coming into the army, because I did not want
+to disgrace my family, and I was afraid I should run, at the first fire;
+but, if you call _that_ a hot place I think I can stand it." The
+Doctor's distrust of himself was very funny to us; for he was so utterly
+fearless, and reckless of danger, that some of the men thought, and
+said, that he tried to get himself shot. And once, the Captain
+threatened to put him under arrest, and send him to the rear, if he did
+not stop wantonly exposing his life. He had very little cause to
+distrust his courage, or fear that he would "disgrace his family" in
+_this_, or _any other way_.
+
+When the fight was over, we promptly went among the Federal wounded, who
+lay thickly strewn on the inside of our lines, to see what we could do
+for their comfort and relief. Curious how one could, one minute, shoot a
+man down, and the next minute go and minister to him like a brother; so
+it was! The moment an enemy was wounded he ceased to be thought of as an
+enemy, and was just a suffering fellow man.
+
+We did what we could for these wounded men, giving water to some;
+disposing the bodies of some in a more comfortable position, cheering
+them all up with the promise of prompt aid from the surgeons.
+
+Among many others, we came to one man, mortally wounded and dying. His
+life was fast ebbing way; he was perfectly aware of his condition. He
+earnestly entreated that some one of us would pray for him. The request
+was passed on to Robert Stiles, who was still at our guns.
+
+He came at once! Taking the hand of the poor dying fellow tenderly in
+his own, Stiles knelt right down by him on that wet, bloody ground, and,
+in a fervent prayer commended his soul to God. Then, as a brother might,
+stayed by him, saying what he could to comfort the troubled soul, and
+fix his thoughts upon the Saviour of men, and have him ready to meet his
+God.
+
+Some of us looked reverently on with hearts full of sympathy in the
+scene. It was a sight I wish the men of both armies could have looked
+upon. Right on the bloody battlefield, surrounded by the dead and dying,
+that Confederate soldier kneeling over that dying Federal soldier
+praying for him.
+
+Well! the long weary day of battle was closing and the fighting was
+done, at last. This 10th of May was a day filled up with fun, and
+fasting, and furious fighting; simple description, but _correct_.
+Thirteen to sixteen lines of infantry we had broken, and repulsed,
+during that day; and what between infantry and artillery we were under
+fire all day from five A. M. to nine o'clock that night; had toiled all
+night long, the night before; not a morsel had passed our lips all day,
+but one small crustless corn cake, taken out of a wet bag that had lain
+for hours, in the rain. A tired lot, we lay down that night on the wet
+ground to sleep, and be ready for the morrow. We fell asleep with the
+artillery still roaring on the lines, and shells still screaming about
+in the dark, and slept a sound dreamless sleep all through the night.
+
+The next day, _the 11th_, was, for the most part, quiet and uneventful!
+The bloody and disastrous repulse of every effort of the enemy to force
+our line, had, as it well might, discouraged any further attempt along
+our front. From time to time we could hear the Federal artillery, on our
+front or other parts of the line, feeling our position, with an
+occasional reply from our guns.
+
+The sharp-shooters of both sides were keeping up their own peculiar fun.
+At every point of vantage, on a hill, or behind a stump, or up a leafy
+tree, one of these marksmen was concealed, and would try his globe-sight
+rifle on any convenient mark, in the way of a man, which offered on the
+opposite line. Any fellow who exposed himself soon heard a bullet
+whistle past his ear, too close for comfort. Several of us had narrow
+escapes, but the only casualty we suffered was Cornelius Coyle. Coyle
+was from North Carolina and it seems that the jokes we were wont to
+indulge in at the expense of the "Tar Heels" had gotten him sore on the
+subject. In order to show us that a "Tar Heel" was as careless of danger
+as anybody else, he exposed himself, very unnecessarily, by standing on
+the works and on the guns, while the rest of us were "roosting low," and
+about two o'clock he got a bullet in the thigh, which disabled him, I
+believe, for the rest of the war. It was bad judgment! The jokes on the
+"Tar Heels" were only meant in fun. Nobody ever doubted the courage and
+gallantry of the North Carolinians. They had proved it too often, and
+were proving it every day! It did not need for Coyle to expose himself
+to prove it to us, and by his mistake we lost a good soldier.
+
+The coming of night found all quiet on the lines. In the late afternoon,
+and early night, we could plainly hear the sound of,--what we took to
+be,--wagon trains and artillery, over in the enemy's lines, passing off
+to our right. We got therefrom the impression that the Federals were
+leaving our front and that by morning they would all be gone. So we were
+not surprised when a courier came with the orders from headquarters that
+we should get our guns out of the works, limber up, and be ready to move
+at daylight.
+
+=Having "A Cannon Handy"=
+
+We drew our gun from its place at the works, up the little incline we
+had made for its more easy running forward, hitched its trail to the
+pintle-hook of the limber, chocked the wheels, and left it there until
+we should move. The men picked out the least wet spots they could find,
+and lay down to sleep. Everybody was very tired, nearly worn out with
+the incessant work, and marching, and watching, and fighting, of the
+last seven or eight days and nights. This was the first really quiet
+night we had known for a week! The quiet and the assurance that the
+enemy was gone from our front, and that there was no need to bother
+about them, lulled the men into deep slumber. The infantry was all
+stretched out along the lines sleeping, and even the pickets out in
+front were, I am sure, sound asleep.
+
+Every soul of our cannoneers was asleep, except Sergt. Dan. McCarthy,
+Beau Barnes, Jack Booker, and myself. We sat together, by the gun,
+talking and smoking until midnight. Then Jack said he would go to bed,
+and did. We three, McCarthy, Barnes and I, continued our conversation
+for some time longer, for no special reason, except perhaps, that we
+were too tired to move, and we sat there, in the dark, listening to the
+rumbling of heavy wheels over in the Federal lines, and talking about
+the events of the last few days, speculating about what was to come.
+Then our thoughts ran on other days, and scenes, and the folks at home,
+and we talked about these until we became quite sentimental.
+
+Several times it was suggested that we had better go to sleep, but we
+talked ourselves wide awake. About two o'clock it was again suggested,
+but Dan said he did wish we had something to eat first. This was a most
+agreeable thought, and in discussing the same it was discovered that I
+had a corncake, Dan had some coffee, and Beau some sugar. So we
+resolved, before lying down, to go back under the hill, some fifty yards
+behind the works, where a fire was kept burning or smoldering all the
+time, and have a little supper of bread and coffee, which we proceeded
+to do. We made up the fire, got water from the branch, warmed our
+corncake, boiled the coffee, got out our tin cups, and sat around the
+fire having a fine time. It was now about time for daybreak, though
+still very dark. Dan proposed that we stroll up to the guns, and lie
+down awhile. We walked slowly up! When we got to the guns all was still,
+and quiet, as when we left, and I really believe we three were the only
+men awake on that part of the line.
+
+Before lying down Dan and I stepped to where our gun had been, and stood
+a moment looking out through the dim light, which had hardly begun, of a
+dark cloudy morning.
+
+We had no object in this outlook, it was the instinct of a soldier to
+look around him before going to sleep. It was, I think, the Providence
+of God to an important result. For most fortunate indeed was it that we
+took that glance out toward the front.
+
+As our eye rested upon the edge of the wood out to our right front, we
+caught a vague glimpse of movement among the trees. We called Barnes,
+and stood together, watching keenly. Presently the air lightened a
+little, and we could discern the dim figures of men moving about, just
+within the woods. "Who are those men?" Dan asked. "Did either of you see
+any of the troops pass out of the lines during the night?" "No, we had
+not." "Then," he said, "I don't like this. Who can they be?" Just then
+the cloud seemed to lift a little, more light shot into the landscape,
+and, to our dismay, we clearly saw a line of men. Yes! no doubt now!
+That was a battle line of Federals, formed there in the edge of the
+woods, and just beginning to advance,--as silently as so many ghosts.
+There they were, two hundred yards off marching swiftly for our line,
+and everybody fast asleep in that line!
+
+The horror of the situation flashed on us. The enemy would be
+bayonetting our sleeping, helpless comrades, and the line be taken in
+two minutes! What could we do to save them? Wake them up? No time to get
+a dozen men roused up before the fatal peril would be upon us. Suddenly!
+the same thought seemed to flash into our minds. Fire the gun! that will
+wake up the line instantly. Come boys! There was a case-shot in the gun.
+I remembered I had not fired it out, and I had my friction primer box
+on, and a primer hooked to the lanyard. We jerked the trail loose from
+the limber, and let the gun run to its place! Before it stopped, I
+think, I had the primer in, while Dan pulled the trail round to get the
+aim. He sprung aside as I let drive.
+
+The crash of that Napoleon, and the scream of the shell there, in the
+deep stillness of day-dawn, sounded as if it might be heard all over
+Virginia! The effect was instant! You ought to have seen the boys, lying
+all about, "tumble up." They flirted up from the ground like snap bugs!
+"Gabriel's trumpet" couldn't have jerked them to their feet quicker.
+
+Ned Barnes had lain down right where the gun had been, at the work. When
+we ran it back to its place, in our excitement, we did not notice him.
+Fortunately the wheels went on either side of him. He was lying flat on
+his back, and right under the gun, when it fired. Ned went on like a
+chicken with its head off. There was a scuffle, a yell, the whack of a
+bumped head under the gun. Ned came tumbling out, all in a heap,
+perfectly dazed, and wanting to know, in indignant tones, "What in the
+thunder we were doing that way _for_?"
+
+Before the sound of our gun had died away the whole line was up,
+shooting like mad, and both guns were going hard. A few minutes of this
+sent that sneaking line back to the woods, with a good deal more noise,
+and faster, than it came. We learnt, afterwards, that the idea was to
+surprise us, if possible. If so, to take, and sweep our line. If not,
+_not_ to press the attack. The "surprise" was all they could have
+wished. Not a picket fired on them. They were in one hundred and fifty
+yards of our sleeping men, and could have simply walked over them, and
+captured the whole line at that point. And, _if they had_--fixed as our
+Army was, a half hour later--it would, I am sure, have meant disaster.
+The only thing that averted it was, _humanly_ speaking, the _accident_
+that three young "Howitzers" sat up talking all night, and, happened to
+look over at that wood at the break of day,--and _had a cannon handy_!
+
+I think the Texans "owed us another one" for this, and the Army of
+Northern Virginia "owed us one" too. Major-General Field _said so_ in
+his report of this incident.
+
+The very same thing which _would have happened here was happening_ five
+minutes later up the line to our right, where the Federal troops came
+right over our works, and caught our exhausted soldiers asleep in their
+blankets--the start of the bloody business of the Bloody Angle.
+
+Yes! the bloody work which was to go on all day long, this dreadful 12th
+of May, was already beginning, up there in the woods.
+
+The little firing on our part of the line was scarcely over, before we
+heard the sound of musketry come rolling down the line from the right.
+Soon the big guns joined in, and we knew that a furious fight was going
+on, off there. In a few moments we got the news, called from man to man
+down along the lines, "The Yankees have taken the Salient on Ewell's
+front, and captured Ed. Johnson's Division, and twenty guns. Pass it
+down the lines!"
+
+So it was! In overwhelming masses the Federals had poured out of the
+woods, over the Salient Angle, where the men were asleep, and from which
+the cannon had been withdrawn. And General Lee was trying to drive them
+out, and retake our works.
+
+This was the great business of the 12th of May. A very cyclone of battle
+raged round that Salient. The Federals trying to hold it, our men trying
+to retake it. We heard that the two Parrott guns of our "Right Section"
+had gone over there to help, and they were in the thick of that awful
+row. We heard it all going on, artillery and musketry, rolling and
+crashing away, all day long.
+
+Our part of the line was comparatively quiet, after the fight of the
+early morning. Several times infantry was seen moving about, down in the
+woods, in our front, and we would send a few shells into the woods just
+to let them know that we were watchful, and ready. Harry Sublett was
+wounded by a stray ball on this day. But no real attack was made, only
+the sound of the sharp-shooter's rifle, and the sound of their bullets
+enlivened the time.
+
+This went on for several days. The idea of breaking our line, here, had
+been given up as a hopeless job, and no other attempt was made on it.
+Assaults were made on other points, and we could hear fighting, here and
+there, but we were left alone.
+
+At last, we got orders to move, about the 18th or 19th. Our pickets had
+advanced through the woods, and reported that the enemy had left our
+front.
+
+While waiting for the horses to be brought up to take off the guns, an
+infantryman told me that a cow had been killed, between the lines, and
+was lying down there in the woods, in front.
+
+We had had an awful time about food, for the last week, and were hungry
+as wolves. This news about the cow was news indeed. I told several of
+the boys, and off we started to get some of that cow! We found it lying
+just in the edge of the woods. It was a hideous place to go for a
+beefsteak! All around, the ground was covered with dead Federal
+soldiers, many in an advanced stage of decay. The woods had been on
+fire, and many of these bodies were burned; some with the clothing, and
+nearly all the flesh consumed! The carcass of that cow was _touching
+five dead bodies_,--which will give an idea of how thick the dead were
+lying. Many of their wounded had perished in the flames, which had swept
+over the ground.
+
+=Grant's Neglect of Federal Wounded=
+
+We had witnessed all these horrors, with our own eyes, days before, from
+our lines, and had been helpless to do anything for them. Hundreds of
+wounded Federal soldiers lay between the lines, day after day, and
+perished for want of help. Several of us, unable to bear the sight of
+their suffering, went out one day to carry them food and water, and the
+Federals fired upon us, and wounded one of our men, then we had to leave
+them alone. They could not or would not care for their wounded, and
+would not let us do it. It _was stated_ among us that General Lee had
+sent an offer to General Grant to permit him to send, and care for his
+wounded, near our lines; and he refused. And then General Lee offered,
+if Grant would suspend hostilities for some hours, that _we_ would care
+for his wounded rather than see them suffer, and die, before our eyes;
+Grant refused that proposal too!
+
+Certain it is, these poor fellows were left to their fate and perished,
+miserably, by wounds and famine, and fire. Their many dead, in our
+front, lay unburied until the odor from them was so dreadful that we
+could hardly stay in our works. It may be that General Grant had this in
+mind, and was determined that, if his _live_ soldiers couldn't drive us
+out of the works, his _dead_ ones should. Well! he had his way of making
+war! And on account of his inhumanity to his wounded, his _own men_
+thought as _ours did_, that his way was very brutal! I heard his own men
+curse him bitterly. They called him "The Butcher" in those days. The
+feeling of his army to him was widely different from our feeling for our
+General.
+
+All those dead soldiers along a line of five miles lay rotting on the
+ground, until we had gone away, and the people of the country
+neighborhood had to collect them from the fields, and thickets, and bury
+them, for fear of pestilence. And when one remembers that from Thursday,
+the 5th of May, to Thursday, the 12th of May, General Grant had lost
+40,000 in killed and wounded, the dread sight of death and suffering we
+looked upon, can be imagined! The thronging lines of unburied dead,--it
+was a shocking and appalling spectacle!
+
+But we could not just then, mind the sights we saw! We got our beef, all
+the same! We were the first to get to that cow, and we had to take our
+knives and cut through the skin, on the rump, and flay it up, and then
+cut out hunks of the flesh, as best we could, and get back to the guns.
+
+As I got back, carrying my big piece of meat, in my hands, Col. H. C.
+Cabell, commanding our Battalion, met me. He said, "My dear boy, where
+on earth did you get that meat?" I told him. "Well," he said, "I am
+almost starved; _could_ you give me a little piece?" I cut off a chunk
+as big as my fist, stuck it on a sharp stick, held it a few minutes in a
+fire, close by, and handed it up to the Colonel, sitting on his horse.
+He took it off the stick, and ate it ravenously. He said it was the best
+morsel he ever tasted! It was scant times when a Colonel of artillery
+was as famished as he was! I cut up the rest of the beef, and divided
+among several of us, and we cooked it on a stick, the only cooking
+utensil we had at hand, and ate it, with a keenness of enjoyment that
+terrapin, canvass back duck, and Lynnhaven oysters could not provoke me
+to now. _My dear!_ but that hot meat was good, to palates accustomed,
+mostly, to _nothing_, and _no salt on that_, for about a week. The only
+meat we had now,--when we had any at all.--was fat mess pork, and we ate
+that _raw_. Hot beef was a delicious change!
+
+Meanwhile the hours had worn on. We limbered up the guns, and moved
+several miles off, toward the right, passing through Spottsylvania Court
+House. It was here we went by to see Cary Eggleston for the last time.
+He died next day.
+
+We halted in a broom-sedge field, some distance beyond the Court House,
+and parked our guns, along with some other artillery, already there. And
+here we stayed a day or two.
+
+The only thing I particularly recall of the stay here, was a trivial
+circumstance. One of the batteries we found in this field, belonged to
+the "Reserve Artillery" of which the "_un_reserved artillery" had a very
+humble opinion indeed,--just at that time.
+
+These fellows had not fired a shot, through all the late fighting, and
+their guns were as bright, and clean as possible; which ours were not.
+One day a blue bird started to build her nest in the muzzle of one of
+their guns. Some of the sentimental fellows took this as an augury. "A
+sweet gentle little bird building her nest in the muzzle of a cannon!
+What _could_ that mean but, that peace was about to be made, and these
+cannon useless?"
+
+The rest of us scouted this fancy, and took it as a rare good joke on
+that "Reserve Artillery." We said "their guns were not of any use anyhow
+_except_ for birds' nests; the birds knew they would be perfectly safe
+to build their nest, and live in _those_ guns. _They_ would not be
+disturbed!" We "chaffed" the officers and men of that battery most
+unmercifully. The whole field was on the _grin_, about that birds' nest.
+The poor fellows were blazing mad, and much mortified; so _disgusted_
+that they took their nice, clean guns, and went off to a distant part of
+the field, to get rid of us. We were _sorry_ to lose them! They afforded
+_us_ a great deal of fun, if they didn't have any themselves. That blue
+bird story got all over our part of the Army, and those "Reserve
+Artillerists" were "sorry that they were living."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND
+
+
+About the 20th or 21st we started from Spottsylvania battlefields for
+others. The Army was on the move, and we went along. For a day or two we
+were constantly marching, not knowing where we were going, and along
+roads that I remember very little about. At last, about the 22d, we
+crossed the North Anna River, and struck the Central Railroad (now "the
+Chesapeake and Ohio") and marched along it, till we halted near Hanover
+Junction.
+
+Our Army had crossed and stopped on the south bank of the North Anna,
+two or three miles in front of the Junction, and was taking the river
+for a new line of defence. Presently the Federal Army came up pushing
+on, for the same point, and found us, already ahead, in front, and
+across their track! Then they went at the same old game of trying to
+break through us. They got across the river on our right, and on our
+left. General Lee then threw back both wings of his army, clinging with
+his centre to the river bank. Thus check-mating Grant in a way to make
+his head swim! Grant after crossing the river, on both our right and
+left, suddenly found he had got his army cut in two, and he _got out of
+that_, just as quickly as he could, and gave the North Anna line up as a
+bad job.
+
+We were moving in one direction, or another, about the Junction, for
+seven or eight days. This North Anna business was far more a matter of
+brains between the Generals, than brawn between the men. Some sharp
+fighting, on points right and left, but that was all! General Lee simply
+"horn swaggled" General Grant, and that was the end of it! We were out
+one day on the "Doswell Farm," and got under a pretty sharp infantry
+fire, and fired a few shots, then General Rodes' skirmishers charged,
+and drove them off, and we saw no more of them.
+
+Along about the 29th or 30th of May, we got on the march again; this
+time through the "Slashes of Hanover." It was an all-night march, and a
+most uncomfortable one. The rain had been pouring, and long sections of
+the road were under water. I think we waded for miles, that dark night,
+through water from an inch to a foot deep. And the mud holes! after a
+time our gun wheels went up to the hub, and we had to turn to, there in
+the dark, and prize our guns out; nearly lift them bodily out of the
+mud. I suppose we did not go more than five or six miles, in that
+all-night march, and by the time day dawned we were as wet, and muddy,
+as the roads, and felt as _flat_, and were tired to death. We halted for
+an hour or two to rest; then pushed on, all day.
+
+In the late afternoon (this I think was May 31st) we took our guns into
+position, on the far edge of a flat, open field. Two hundred yards in
+front of us, in the edge of a wood, was a white frame Church, which,
+some of the fellows, who knew this neighborhood, told us was "Pole Green
+Church." They also told us that the Pamunkey River was about a mile in
+front of us. We heard artillery in various directions, but saw no enemy,
+and did not know anything of what was going on, except where we were. It
+was quiet there; so we went to sleep, and were undisturbed during the
+night.
+
+The next morning, we found that infantry had formed right and left of
+us, and we were in a line of battle stretching across this extensive
+field. About eleven o'clock skirmishers began to appear, in the woods,
+in front of us. They thickened up, and opened on us quite a lively fire.
+We stood this awhile until those skirmishers made a rush from the woods,
+and tried to gain the cover of the church building. Some of them did,
+and as this was crowding us a little too close, we took to our guns, and
+so dosed them with canister, as they ran out, that they retired, out of
+range, into the woods. Soon after some infantry began to form in the
+edge of the woods as if they were about to charge us. We opened on them.
+They advanced a little, then broke in some confusion, and disappeared.
+The rest of this day, June 1st, along where we were, there was lively
+sharp-shooting going on, up and down the line, and once a battery fired
+a few shots at us, but no special attack was made.
+
+In the afternoon, taking advantage of the quiet, our negro mess cooks
+came into the line, to bring us something to eat. Each fellow had the
+cooked meat, and bread, for his mess, in a bag, swung over his shoulder.
+They came on across the field until within a hundred yards of the line,
+when a shell struck, in the field, not far from them. The darkies
+scattered, like a covey of birds! Some ran one way, and some another.
+Some ran back to the rear, and a few ran on to us. Our cook, Ephraim,
+came tearing on with long leaps, and tumbled over among us crying out,
+"De Lord have mercy upon us." "Ephraim," we said, "what is the matter?
+what did you run for?" All in a tremble, he thrust out the bag towards
+us, and exclaimed, "Here, Marse George, take your vituals, and let me
+git away from here. De Lord forgive me for being such a fool as to come
+to sich a place as dis _anyhow_."
+
+"But, Ephraim," we said, "there was no danger! That shell didn't hit
+anywhere near you." "De ain't no use in telling me dat! Don't nobody
+know whar dem things goin'! Sound to me like it was bout to hit me side
+my head, and bust my brains out, every minit; and if it had a hit me,
+dem other cooks would all a run away, and left me lying out dar, like a
+poor creeter." "But, my dear Ephraim," we said, "it mortifies us to see
+the 'Howitzer' cooks running so, with all the men looking on." "Don't
+keer who looking! When dem things come any whar bout me, I _bleeged_ to
+run. Dis ain't no place for cooks, nohow. Here gentlemen! take your
+rations; I got to get away from here!" We emptied the bag, he threw it
+over his back, and streaked with it to the rear.
+
+Another night in line here! Next morning, June 2d, orders came to move.
+We got on a road running along, just back of our position, and marched
+off toward the right. The road ran, for some distance, nearly parallel
+to our lines, and then bore away toward the rear. For a time we met, or
+passed bodies of troops and wagon teams on the roadside, soldiers
+single, or in groups. Further on, all these reminders of the presence of
+the Army were left behind, and we found ourselves marching on quiet
+lonely country roads, through woods and fields of a peaceful rural
+landscape. We had not the least idea where we were going; or what we
+were going to do, or see when we got there. But we had got out of the
+habit of caring for that.
+
+=The Last March of Our Howitzer Captain=
+
+It was a calm, sweet June evening! quiet country farms, and homes lay
+all about us. The whole scene spoke of peace. It was such a restful
+change to us from the din and smoke and crowd we had been in the midst
+of so long. We gave ourselves up to the influences of the hour, and a
+very pleasant evening we cannoneers had strolling along, in front of the
+column of guns, and talking together.
+
+Captain McCarthy was on foot, in the midst of us, as we marched. I
+remember being particularly struck with what a stalwart, martial figure
+he was, as he strode along that road. He was much more silent, and quiet
+than usual! He was generally so bright and cheerful, that this was
+noticed, and remarked on by several of us.
+
+It was afterwards, that perhaps a presentiment was given him that this
+was his last march, with the battery, he had fought so often, and loved
+so much; and _this_ saddened, and softened his usually bold, soldierly
+spirit, and bearing. I walked and talked with him a good deal that
+afternoon, and certainly I was struck by a quietness of manner, and a
+gentleness of speech, not at all usual with him. But we did not know
+what it meant _then_! So we cheerily swung along that silent road, to
+meet what was coming to him, and to us, in the unseen way ahead.
+
+About five o'clock we pulled out of the road we had been travelling, and
+followed a narrow farm road, across a wide, open field, toward a
+farmhouse, on its farther edge. Beyond the house was a large pine wood,
+which stopped all view in that direction. As we passed across that
+field, we saw some other artillery, coming from another direction, and
+converging with us upon that farmhouse. When we drew close together, we
+discovered that these fellows were the Second and Third Companies of the
+"Richmond Howitzers." Our Company, the First, had been separated from
+them at the beginning of the war, and they had never met, before now. A
+little while after, at this spot, the three batteries, "First," "Second"
+and "Third Richmond Howitzers" went into battle side by side, for the
+first, and _only_ time, during the war. There was great interest felt by
+the boys that we should go into one fight _together_; but before we went
+in, the Battalion was broken up again, and scattered, to different parts
+of the line.
+
+When we got near this farmhouse, all was quiet! We had not seen, or
+heard of any enemy for many hours, and we did not know where anybody
+was; didn't even know "where we were _at_" _ourselves_. The farm road
+ran past the house, round the barn and on toward that pine woods behind
+the house.
+
+We halted just by the house, and got some water, at the well, and stood
+around and wondered what we were here for. There were some cherry trees,
+with ripe cherries on them, and up them the boys swarmed, Leigh
+Robinson gallantly leading the way, to enjoy the fruit.
+
+We were thus engaged, when the deep quiet of this rural scene was
+suddenly, and rudely broken! Over beyond that wood just by us, there
+burst out a terrific roar of musketry! It was like a clap of thunder out
+of a clear sky! We did not know any troops were near us, and had no idea
+that the enemy was in ten miles of us.
+
+But there right through those pines the musketry was rolling, and
+cracking now! A few cannon shots joined in, and the Confederate "yell"
+rose up out of the thunder of battle. And the bullets began to sing
+around us. The cherry trees were quickly deserted by all, but Leigh
+Robinson. He stayed up there with balls whizzing close to him, and
+calmly picked and ate cherries,--as if these were humming birds sporting
+about him,--until he had enough, or more likely, the cherries gave out.
+Not knowing who was fighting beyond the woods, or what might come of it,
+we got the guns into battery, facing the woods, to be ready for what
+might be.
+
+In a few minutes we saw Colonel Goggin, of Kershaw's staff, dash out of
+the woods, and gallop toward us. He told us that it was Kershaw's
+Division over there. They had been attacked by heavy lines of the enemy;
+that our line was broken, and captured at one point, and that Kershaw
+wanted some guns, just as quick as they could get to him. Our two
+"Napoleons" were ordered in. Goggin said "for heaven's sake come at
+double quick;" the need was very urgent. We cannoneers of the Left
+Section had the guns limbered up, and into the woods, in about a minute;
+we, double-quicking alongside. We went by a narrow wood road, which
+entering the woods straight ahead of us, went obliquely to the left down
+a deep ravine, crossed a little stream, and up the hill, into the open
+field beyond.
+
+Passing through that pine wood was a mean job! The Minie balls were
+slapping the pines all about us, with that venomous sound, with which a
+Minie crashes into green pine wood. It is a mean piece of work anyhow,
+to go from the rear up to a fighting line! But, away we went, excited
+and eager to get through, and see what was going on. The road, cut
+through the steep banks down to the stream, was so very narrow that it
+barely admitted our wheels, and when they went farther down the cut, our
+hubs stuck in the bank, on both sides, and the gun was held fast. From
+this point the road ran straight up to the edge of the wood. We could
+see men running about, and yelling, and shooting in the open ground. We
+could not tell whether they were our men or the enemy, and the fear
+seized us that the enemy might be pressing our people back, and would
+catch us, helpless and useless, in this ridiculous fix.
+
+Gracious! how the driver did whip, and spur! and how the cannoneers did
+strain, and tug at those wheels! Captain McCarthy jumped off his horse,
+and put his powerful strength to the wheel. The men from the other guns
+joined us, and, at last, when we were nearly wild with excitement, we
+gave one tremendous jerk, all together, and lifted the whole thing
+bodily out of that rut, and over the bank. The horses, as excited now,
+as we were, snatched the gun over the bank, across the stream, nearly
+upsetting it, and then went tearing, at a full gallop, up the hill; we
+running at top speed to keep up. The third gun following. At this pace,
+we dashed into the open field, and were upon the battle ground. We ran
+the guns into the line of battle, along a slight work Kershaw's men had
+hurriedly thrown up, just to the left of the part of the line which the
+Federals had taken, and were still holding. We pushed up, until we got
+an enfilade fire upon their lines. A few case-shots screaming down their
+line sent them flying out of that, and our line was restored.
+
+The Colonel of one of their regiments, captured by our men, said that
+his regiment was lying down behind our captured line, and one of our
+shells cut down a large pine tree and threw it on his line, and about
+finished up what was left of his regiment. The shell burst just as it
+struck the tree, and the shell fragments, and falling tree together,
+killed twelve or fifteen men, and wounded a number of others.
+
+The fighting was dying down now, and soon ceased. Our line restored, the
+enemy made no further effort to take it. The rest of the time, till
+dark, was taken up with sharp-shooting, and artillery fire. A farmhouse
+and outbuildings and barn stood right behind our position, and, I
+remember, the barn swallows in large numbers were skimming and
+twittering all around, through the sweet, bright air, while shells and
+balls were singing a very different sort of song. I never saw that sight
+during the war but this once,--birds flying about in the midst of a
+battle. But here, those dear little swallows circled round, and round
+that barn, and the adjoining field, for hours, while the air was full of
+flying missiles. They did not seem to mind it. Perhaps they wondered
+what on earth was going on. It was a curious scene!
+
+During the night we made some little addition to the slight earth work,
+which the infantry had thrown up, in front of our two guns. Infantry
+began to pile into the line on both sides of our guns; we learned that
+this was the Twentieth South Carolina Regiment, Colonel Keitt, who had
+been killed, in a fight the Regiment had been in, that afternoon.
+
+This regiment, at this time when some Brigades in the Army of Northern
+Virginia had not more than one thousand or twelve hundred men, came
+among us with seventeen hundred men ready for duty. The regiment had
+been stationed at Fort Sumter; had seen nothing of war except the siege
+of a Fort, and their idea of the chief duty of a soldier was,--to get as
+much earth between him and the enemy as possible. When they came into
+line this night, and saw this slight bank of dirt,--about two feet
+thick, and three feet high,--and learned that we expected, certainly, to
+fight behind it in the morning, they were perfectly aghast! They pitched
+in, and began to "throw dirt." They kept it up all night, and by morning
+had a wall of earth in front of them, in many places eight feet high,
+and six to seven feet thick.
+
+How much higher, and thicker they would have got it, if the enemy had
+not interrupted them, gracious only knows! Of course they couldn't begin
+to shoot over it, except at _the sky_; perhaps they thought _anything
+blue_ would do to shoot at and the sky was blue. But it was a fact, that
+when the enemy advanced next morning, this big regiment was positively
+"Hors du Combat."
+
+It is true, that when we woke up at daylight, and found what they had
+done, we jeered, and laughed at them, and showed them the impossibility
+of fighting from behind that wall, until some of them got ashamed, and
+began to shovel down the top, a little. Captain McCarthy sent to let
+General Kershaw know the absurd situation we were in,--supported by
+infantry that could not fire a shot, and warning him, that if the enemy
+charged, they would certainly take the line, unless our two guns alone
+could hold it. General Kershaw sent orders to them "to shovel that
+thing down to a proper height," but they didn't have time to do it. When
+the fight began some of them had cut out a shelf on the inside of the
+bank, and some of them had gotten boxes and logs and a number stood up
+on them, and did some shooting, and behaved gallantly; but many of them
+seeming to think that a man should be "rewarded according to his works"
+laid closely down behind that wall, and never stirred.
+
+The next night General Lee took them out of the lines, and gave them
+picks, and shovels, and made a "sapping and mining corps" of them,--the
+military service they were most fitted for, and they _were_ rewarded
+according to their works.
+
+While these beavers were gallantly wielding the pick and shovel, we,
+satisfied with our little bank of dirt, were getting ready for next
+day's work, by a good sound sleep. One of our boys did have misgiving
+about the strength of our defences. He went in the night, and woke up
+Sergeant Moncure and said, "Monkey, don't you think these works are very
+thin?" "Yes, Tom, they are," he replied. "You just get a spade, and go
+and make them just as thick as you think they ought to be; Good night!"
+He resumed his slumbers, and Tom, not an overly energetic person, walked
+away grumbling that "the work _was_ too thin, but he would be derned if
+_he_ was going out there, in the dark to work on them, all by himself,"
+which he didn't.
+
+Somehow when we lay down this night we had gotten the impression that
+things were going to be rough, in the morning. They were!
+
+Just as the day dawn was struggling through the clouds, we were roused
+by the sound of several guns, fired in quick succession. We were on our
+feet instantly, and saw that all was ready for action. Shells came
+howling at us from batteries that we could discern in the dim light. We
+could see the light of their burning fuses, as they started out of their
+guns, and could trace their flight toward us by that. Some of them would
+strike the ground in front, and ricochet over us; some would crash into
+our work, with a terrific _thud_, and some went screaming over our
+heads,--very close, too, and went on to the rear to look after our Right
+Section guns, which were still by that farmhouse, where we had left
+them, the evening before. They knocked down several of the shelter tents
+our boys were sleeping under, and several of our fellows, there, had the
+narrowest kind of an escape. One shell "caromed" over three of the men,
+who were sleeping side by side, touching the very blanket that was over
+them. The Right Section boys needed no reveille that morning to get them
+out! They tumbled up with great promptness and moved round out of the
+line of fire. Fortunately none of them were actually hurt, just here.
+One fellow was sleeping with several canteens of water hanging right
+over his head. A bullet went through them. He was nearly drowned!
+
+=The Bloodiest Fifteen Minutes of the War=
+
+In our front, this artillery fire kept up for a while, then it stopped!
+The next moment, there was an awful rush! From every quarter their
+infantry came pouring on over the fields, and through the woods, yelling
+and firing, and coming at a run. Their columns seemed unending! Enough
+people to sweep our thin lines from the face of the earth! Up and down
+our battle line, the fierce musketry broke out. To right and left it
+ran, crashing and rolling like the sound of a heavy hail on a tin roof,
+magnified a thousand times, with the cannon pealing out in the midst of
+it like claps of thunder. Our line, far as the eye could reach, was
+ablaze with fire; and into that furious storm of death, the blue columns
+were swiftly urging their way.
+
+Straight in our front one mass was advancing on us and we were hurling
+case-shot through their ranks,--when, suddenly! glancing to the right,
+we saw another column, which had rushed out of the woods on our right
+front, by the flank, almost upon us, not forty-five yards outside our
+line. Instantly we turned our guns upon them with double canister! Two
+or three shots doubled up the head of that column. It resolved itself
+into a formless crowd, that still stood stubbornly there, but could not
+get one step farther. And then, for three or four minutes, at short
+pistol range, the infantry and our Napoleon guns tore them to pieces. It
+was deadly, and bloody work! They were a helpless mob, now; a swarming
+multitude of confused men! They were falling by scores, hundreds! The
+mass was simply melting away under the fury of our fire. Then, they
+broke in panic, and headlong rout!
+
+Many fearing to retreat under that deadly fire, dropped down behind the
+stumps near our line, and when the others had gone, we ordered them to
+come in. Several hundred prisoners were captured in this way. To show
+what our works were,--I saw one tall fellow jump up from behind a stump,
+run to our work, and with "a hop, skip, and a jump," he leaped entirely
+over it, and landed inside our line. And a foolish looking fellow he
+was, when he picked himself up!
+
+Just as the enemy broke, Ben Lambert, "No. 1" at "4th" gun, was severely
+wounded, in the right arm, just as he raised it to swab his gun. One of
+the boys took his place, and the fire kept on.
+
+The great assault was over and had failed! Only ten or fifteen minutes
+was its fury raging! In that ten minutes, thirteen thousand Federal
+soldiers lay stricken, with death, or wounds. In those few moments,
+Grant lost nearly as many men as the whole British Army lost in the
+entire battle of Waterloo.
+
+Just to our right the enemy got over our works, and the guns right and
+left of the break were turned on them. We heard a "yell" behind us, and
+round a piece of pines came Eppa Hunton's Brigade of Virginians, at a
+run; General Eppa on horse-back leading them in, at a gallop. The
+Virginians delivered their volley at the Federals inside our lines, then
+sprang on them like tigers. Next minute the few, left of them, were
+flying back over the works.
+
+In the thick of the fight, Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, now
+commanded by General Humphreys, to which our Battery had been attached,
+being unengaged just at that time, heard that the infantry supporting us
+was not effective, and that the "Howitzers" were in danger of being run
+over. They requested permission to come to our help, and two Regiments
+came tearing down the lines to our position, manned the line by us, and
+went to work. What work these splendid fellows could do in a fight! We
+had been very uneasy about our supports, and were delighted to see the
+Mississippians, especially, as they had voluntarily come to our help, in
+such a handsome manner.
+
+The spectacle in front of our line was simply _sickening_! The horrible
+heaps of dead lay so ghastly, and the wounded were so thickly strewn all
+over the field. To right, and to left, out in front, along our line, as
+far as we could see, this dreadful array of the dead and wounded
+stretched! It was pitiful to see the wounded writhing, and to hear their
+cries of agony. And here _again_, as at Spottsylvania, these wounded
+were left between the lines, to perish miserably, of hunger and thirst,
+and mortifying wounds.
+
+=Federal Troops Refuse to Be Slaughtered=
+
+When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after them they were nearly
+all dead. What they must have suffered before death came! But none of
+their own people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help
+them,--when they might have been saved. I wonder who will have to answer
+for the _unnecessary waste of life_ and suffering in the "Army of the
+Potomac?" For the untold agony and death that _need never have been_! It
+was awful! We used to think it was _brutal_! And the _Federal soldiers_
+thought so too!
+
+Some hours after this assault we saw the enemy massing for another.
+Their columns advanced a little way, and then stopped. We could see
+there was some "hitch," and sent a few shells over there, just to
+encourage any little reluctance they might have about coming on. These
+lines stood still, and came no further.
+
+We learned, afterwards, that perfectly demoralized, and disheartened by
+the bloody repulse of the morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by
+General Grant to storm our line again, _mutinied in line of battle_, and
+_in the face of the enemy and refused to go forward_. I witnessed that
+performance, but did not understand at the time, just what was going on.
+The grave meaning of it was, that the enemy's soldiers had distinctly
+quailed before our lines and declared their utter inability to take
+them. And _this_ was the verdict--at the end--of General Grant's Army
+upon General Grant's campaign! Their heads were more level than their
+General's. They were tired of being slaughtered for nothing!
+
+The moment the morning assault was over, the Federal artillery opened
+furiously, all along the line, and all day long, we were under a
+constant fire of cannon, and sharp-shooters.
+
+Fifty yards behind our guns was a farmhouse, outbuildings, and yard full
+of trees. Shells aimed at us, rained into those premises all day. The
+house was riddled like a sieve, the trees were cut down, and the
+outbuildings, barn, stables, sheds, etc., were reduced to a heap of
+kindling wood.
+
+A pig was in a pen, in the yard! Everything else on the place had been
+hit, and we watched with interest the fate of that pig. He escaped all
+day! Just after dark, a shell skimmed just over our gun, went screaming
+back into that yard, burst,--and--we heard the pig squeal. Some of the
+men, at once, started for the yard, and came back with the pig. Said "he
+was mortally wounded, and they were going to carry him to the hospital."
+I fear he did not survive to get there! We disposed of his remains in
+the usual way.
+
+About noon we heard that our Right Section had been ordered into
+position, on the lines, some distance to our right, and that John
+Moseley, No. 8 at 1st gun, while with his caisson, back of the lines,
+had been killed. A stray bullet had pierced his brain. No one was with
+him at the time. He was found dead, in the woods.
+
+=Dr. Carter "Apologizes for Getting Shot"=
+
+The sharp-shooters swept all the ground about us, making it dangerous
+for any man to expose himself an instant. Dr. Carter took some canteens,
+and his cup, and went round under the hill behind us, to bring some
+water. With filled canteens, and tin cup, filled to the brim, carried in
+his right hand, he recklessly came back across the field, in rear of the
+line. Just before he got to us, a bullet struck his right thumb, and
+shattered it. He did not drop the cup or spill the water! He came right
+on, as if nothing had happened, offered us a drink of water out of the
+cup, and then courteously apologized to the captain for getting shot;
+who accepted his apology, and sent him off to the hospital, to have his
+thumb amputated; which he did, and was back at his post, the first
+moment his wound permitted. When we condoled with him for the loss of
+his thumb, he said "_He_ didn't care anything about the _thumb_; he
+could _roll cigarettes just as well with the stump_, as he ever could
+with the whole thumb. That seemed about all the use he had for his
+thumb,--to roll cigarettes. He was an artist at that!
+
+In the afternoon three or four of us were standing in a group talking
+when one of the numberless shells that were howling by all day long,
+burst in our very faces. I distinctly felt the heat of the explosion on
+my skin, and grains of powder out of the bursting shell struck our
+faces, and drew blood. The concussion was terrific! It was a pretty
+"close call" to all three of us!
+
+The stream of shells fired at our guns gradually cut away the top of our
+work, until it was so low that it did not sufficiently protect our gun.
+We feared that some of the shells would strike our gun, and disable it.
+To avert this, for many hours that day, from time to time, we had to
+take turns, and, with shovels, throw sand from the inside on the top of
+the work. In this way we managed to keep our defences up, but it was
+weary work, and we grew very tired. Still, there was nothing for it, but
+to keep on, and _we kept_ on!
+
+=Death of Captain McCarthy=
+
+About six o'clock, there fell the saddest loss, to the battery, that it
+had yet been called to bear. Captain McCarthy stood up at the work to
+watch what was going on in front. One moment, I saw him, standing
+there;--the next instant, I heard a sharp crash, the familiar sound of a
+bullet striking, and McCarthy was lying, flat on his back, and
+motionless. We jumped to his side! Nothing to be done! A long bullet
+from a "globe sight" rifle had struck him, two inches over his right
+eye, and crashed straight through his brain. He lay without motion two
+or three minutes, then his chest rose, and fell, gently, once or twice,
+and he was still, in death.
+
+And there, on that red field of war, with shells, and bullets whistling
+all about, over his dead face, dropped the tears of brave men, who loved
+him well, and had fought with and followed him long! We had seen his
+superb courage in battle; his patient bearing of hardship, his
+unfaltering devotion to duty always; his kind, cordial comradeship! We
+knew him to be a soldier, every inch, and a patriot to his heart's core!
+
+We knew, and said, that among all her sons, Virginia had no braver son,
+than this one, who had died for her. Sadly we lamented--"What shall we
+do, in battle, and in camp, and on march, his form and face missing from
+among us?" There was not a sadder group of hearts along that
+blood-drenched line that evening, than ours, who bowed deeply sorrowing
+over the form of our dead captain. We took his body in our arms, and
+bore it to where we could place it in an ambulance.
+
+It was sent to his home, and family, in Richmond, and buried in "Shockoe
+Cemetery." And now,--after thirty-two years have passed, we, the old
+"Howitzers," still carry the name of "Ned McCarthy" in our hearts! We
+keep his memory green; we think of him, and rank him as a typical
+Confederate Soldier. One who by his splendid courage and devotion shed
+luster upon the name.
+
+His stalwart form has gone to dust. The light of his bright, brave face
+has long gone from our eyes; the soul-stirring war time--when we were
+with him--has long passed away. The changes and chances of this mortal
+life have brought many experiences to us who survived him. Our feet have
+wandered far, into many paths. We have toiled, and thought, and
+suffered, and enjoyed much, in the long years, since we last looked upon
+his form dead on the red field of "Cold Harbor." "The strong hours have
+conquered us" in many things. But--the noble memory of this man! as a
+patriot and a hero!
+
+Ah! that lives in our hearts! The hearts of his comrades who, with their
+own eyes, saw him live and bear, and fight and die--for _Virginia_--and
+the South.
+
+The battle of Cold Harbor ended Grant's direct advance on Richmond. He
+drew off in confessed defeat and inability to go on--afterwards, he
+advanced by way of Petersburg.
+
+The operations on that line resolved themselves into a siege. That siege
+lasted through the fall and winter and early spring of '65, with many
+attempts to break our lines, which always failed.
+
+On the second day of April, 1865, according to General Lee's own
+statement to General Meade, just after the surrender, the Army of
+Northern Virginia stood, with 27,000 men, holding a line thirty-two
+miles long; facing an army of 150,000 men. On that day our line was
+broken, and the retreat began.
+
+Under the circumstances, the disentanglement of our army from that long
+line, and getting it on the march, with the enemy's powerful army close
+in their front, was a supreme display of, at once, the consummate
+generalship of General Lee, and the unshakable morale of the Southern
+troops.
+
+The retreat continued for one week; we started from Petersburg Sunday,
+April 2, and reached Appomattox, Saturday, April 8th. On that day, after
+the hunger, exhaustion, and losses in the many fights along the way,
+the Army stood at Appomattox, ninety miles from Petersburg, with 8,000
+men with arms in their hands; and they were as "game" as ever. On that
+morning of April 9th, when General Gordon surrendered his little force
+of 1,300 men, he had to surrender 1,700 Federal soldiers, and fourteen
+pieces of artillery, which he had just captured from the enemy, while
+driving back their encircling line more than a mile.
+
+Then General Lee, unwilling for useless sacrifice, surrendered the army,
+because it was "compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and
+resources"--and that Army of Northern Virginia, when it was surrendered,
+had behind it this remarkable, and proud record, that, in the many
+battles it fought during the war, it was never once driven from the
+field of battle; and it was as defiant, and ready to fight at Appomattox
+as it was at Manassas, the first battle four years before.
+
+As we turn from that closing scene, let us take a parting glance at the
+facts which, duly considered, enable us to form a true estimate of the
+fight the South made in that struggle of the Civil War.
+
+The history of that war may be briefly, but accurately comprehended in
+this short statement. During the four years, '61 to '65, the North put
+into the field two million, eight hundred thousand (2,800,000) men. They
+were well armed, well equipped, and well fed--also, it had a Navy.
+
+During those four years, the South put into the field less than six
+hundred thousand (600,000) men. They were poorly armed, poorly equipped,
+and poorly fed--much of the time, very poorly indeed! And it had no
+Navy.
+
+It took those 2,800,000 men, with the Navy, four years to overcome those
+600,000 men. In doing so they lost the lives of one million (1,000,000)
+men--nearly double the whole number of men the South put into the field.
+
+What these facts mean, the world will judge--the world has judged! And
+the world has off its hat to the race who made that heroic fight!
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Two quotes are opened with a double quotation mark but are not
+closed. These are presented as they appear in the original text.
+
+The following misprints have been corrected:
+  "comand" corrected to "command" (page 8)
+  "setled" corrected to "settled" (page 21)
+  "muttton" corrected to "mutton" (page 33)
+  "proceded" corrected to "proceeded" (page 36)
+  "felows" corrected to "fellows" (page 41)
+  "semed" corrected to "seemed" (page 44)
+  "nineteeen" corrected to "nineteen" (page 45)
+  "Hil's" corrected to "Hill's" (page 75)
+  "gettinge" corrected to "getting" (page 76)
+  "at" corrected to "a" (page 79)
+  "aound" corrected to "arround" (page 121)
+  "Fedtral" corrected to "Federal" (page 127)
+  "Warrren" corrected to "Warren" (page 130)
+  "atention" corrected to "attention" (page 132)
+  "iminent" corrected to "imminent" (page 138)
+  "bags" corrected to "bugs" (page 181)
+  "sharp-shooters's" corrected to "sharp-shooter's" (page 183)
+  "hostilites" corrected to "hostilities" (page 185)
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND THE
+SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN***
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign, by William Meade Dame</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;}
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Rapidan to Richmond and the
+Spottsylvania Campaign, by William Meade Dame</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign</p>
+<p>       A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw</p>
+<p>Author: William Meade Dame</p>
+<p>Release Date: February 7, 2010  [eBook #31192]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by<br />
+    the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/American Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/fromrapidantoric00damerich">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fromrapidantoric00damerich</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>From The Rapidan to Richmond</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i003.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><b>WILLIAM MEADE DAME</b><br />PRIVATE FIRST COMPANY OF RICHMOND HOWITZERS<br />1864</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<h1>FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND</h1>
+<h3>AND</h3>
+<h1>THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>A Sketch in Personal Narrative of the<br />Scenes a Soldier Saw</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>By</h3>
+<h2>WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.</h2>
+<h4>Private, First Company<br />
+Richmond Howitzers</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h5>Baltimore<br />Green-Lucas Company<br />1920</h5>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h5>Copyright, 1920, by Harry B. Green</h5>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">To</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">My Comrades of the Army</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">of Northern Virginia</span></h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i011.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><b>WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.</b><br />RECTOR MEMORIAL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH<br />BALTIMORE, MD.<br />1920</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+<h4>By</h4>
+<h3>Thomas Nelson Page</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;The land where I was born&#8221; was, in my childhood, a great battleground.
+War&mdash;as we then thought the vastest of all wars, not only that had been,
+but that could ever be&mdash;swept over it. I never knew in those days a man
+who had not been in the war. So, &#8220;The War&#8221; was the main subject in every
+discussion and it was discussed with wonderful acumen. Later it took on
+a different relation to the new life that sprung up and it bore its part
+in every gathering much as the stories of Troy might have done in the
+land where Homer sang. To survive, however, in these reunions as a
+narrator one had to be a real contributor to the knowledge of his
+hearers. And the first requisite was that he should have been an actor
+in the scenes he depicted; secondly, that he should know how to depict
+them. Nothing less served. His hearers themselves all had experience and
+demanded at least not less than their own. As the time grew more distant
+they demanded that it should be preserved in more definite form and the
+details of the life grew more precious.</p>
+
+<p>Among those whom I knew in those days as a delightful narrator of
+experiences and observations&mdash;not of strategy nor even of tactics in
+battle; but of the life in the midst of the battles in the momentous
+campaign in which the war was eventually fought out, was a kinsman of
+mine&mdash;the author of this book. A delightful raconteur because he had
+seen and felt himself what he related, he told his story without
+conscious art,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> but with that best kind of art: simplicity. Also with
+perennial freshness; because he told it from his journals written on the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, it came about that I promised that when he should be ready to
+publish his reminiscences I would write the introduction for them. My
+introduction is for a story told from journals and reminiscent of a time
+in the fierce Sixties when, if passion had free rein, the virtues were
+strengthened by that strife to contribute so greatly a half century
+later to rescue the world and make it &#8220;safe for Democracy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was the war&mdash;our Civil War&mdash;that over a half century later brought
+ten million of the American youth to enroll themselves in one day to
+fight for America. It was the work in &#8220;the Wilderness&#8221; and in those long
+campaigns, on both sides, which gave fibre to clear the Belleau Wood. It
+was the spirit of the armies of Lee and Grant which enabled Pershing&#8217;s
+army to sweep through the Argonne.</p>
+
+<p><i>Rome</i>, March 27, 1919.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></p>
+<h2>WOLSELEY&#8217;S TRIBUTE TO LEE</h2>
+
+<p><i>The following tribute to Robert E. Lee was written by Lord Wolseley
+when commander-in-chief of the armies of Great Britain, an office which
+he held until succeeded by Lord Roberts.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Lord Wolseley had visited General Lee at his headquarters during the
+progress of the great American conflict. Some time thereafter Wolseley
+wrote:</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The fierce light which beats upon the throne is as a rushlight in
+comparison with the electric glare which our newspapers now focus upon
+the public man in Lee&#8217;s position. His character has been subjected to
+that ordeal, and who can point to a spot upon it? His clear, sound
+judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, absolute
+devotion to his State, mark him out as a public man, as a patriot to be
+forever remembered by all Americans. His amiability of disposition, deep
+sympathy with those in pain or sorrow, his love for children, nice sense
+of personal honor and generous courtesy, endeared him to all his
+friends. I shall never forget his sweet, winning smile, nor his clean,
+honest eyes that seemed to look into your heart while they searched your
+brain. I have met with many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone
+impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who
+was cast in a grander mold and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> made of different and finer metal than
+all other men. He is stamped upon my memory as being apart and superior
+to all others in every way, a man with whom none I ever knew and few of
+whom I have read are worthy to be classed. When all the angry feelings
+aroused by the secession are buried with those that existed when the
+American Declaration of Independence was written; when Americans can
+review the history of their last great war with calm impartiality, I
+believe all will admit that General Lee towered far above all men on
+either side in that struggle. I believe he will be regarded not only as
+the most prominent figure of the Confederacy, but as the greatest
+American of the nineteenth century, whose statue is well worthy to stand
+on an equal pedestal with that of Washington and whose memory is equally
+worthy to be enshrined in the hearts of all his countrymen.</p>
+
+<p class="right">&#8220;WOLSELEY.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i017.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><b>GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE</b></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table width="75%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="xxx">
+<tr><td><b><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></b></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The cause of conflict and the call to arms&mdash;Those who
+answered the call&mdash;An army of volunteers&mdash;Our great leader&mdash;The
+call comes home&mdash;First Company Richmond Howitzers&mdash;Back to civil life&mdash;Origin of this narrative.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>I. <span class="smcap">Sketch of Camp Life the Winter Before the Spottsylvania Campaign</span></b></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Morton&#8217;s Ford&mdash;Building camp quarters&mdash;&#8220;Housewarming&#8221; on
+parched corn, persimmons and water&mdash;Camp duties&mdash;Camp recreations&mdash;A special entertainment&mdash;Confederate soldier
+rations&mdash;A fresh egg&mdash;When fiction became fact&mdash;Confederate fashion plates&mdash;A surprise attack&mdash;Wedding bells and a visit
+home&mdash;The soldiers&#8217; profession of faith&mdash;The example of Lee, Jackson and Stuart&mdash;Spring sprouts and a &#8220;tar heel&#8221; story.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>II. <span class="smcap">Battle of the Wilderness</span></b></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&#8220;Marse Robert&#8221; calls to arms&mdash;The spirit of the soldiers of
+the South&mdash;Peace fare and fighting ration&mdash;Marse Robert&#8217;s way of making one equal to three&mdash;An infantry battle&mdash;Arrival
+of the First Corps&mdash;The love that Lee inspired in the men he led&mdash;&#8220;Windrows&#8221; of Federal dead.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>III. <span class="smcap">Battles of Spottsylvania Court House</span></b></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Stuart&#8217;s four thousand cavalry&mdash;Greetings on the field of
+battle&mdash;&#8220;Jeb&#8221; Stuart assigns &#8220;a little job&#8221;&mdash;Wounding of
+Robert Fulton Moore&mdash;A useful discovery&mdash;Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi
+Creeper&mdash;Kershaw&#8217;s South Carolina &#8220;rice-birds&#8221;&mdash;Feeling
+pulses&mdash;Where the fight was hottest&mdash;Against heavy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>odds at &#8220;Fort Dodge&#8221;&mdash;&#8220;Sticky&#8221; mud and yet more &#8220;sticky&#8221;
+men&mdash;Gregg&#8217;s Texans to the front&mdash;Breakfastless but &#8220;ready
+for customers&#8221;&mdash;Parrott&#8217;s reply to Napoleon&#8217;s twenty to two&mdash;The
+narrow escape of an entire company&mdash;Successive attacks by Federal infantry&mdash;Eggleston&#8217;s heroic death&mdash;&#8220;Texas will
+never forget Virginia&#8221;&mdash;Contrast in losses and the reasons therefore&mdash;Why Captain Hunter failed to rally his men&mdash;Having
+&#8220;a cannon handy&#8221;&mdash;Grant&#8217;s neglect of Federal wounded.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>IV. <span class="smcap">Cold Harbor and the Defense of Richmond</span></b></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The last march of our Howitzer Captain&mdash;The bloodiest
+fifteen minutes of the war&mdash;Federal troops refuse to be slaughtered&mdash;Dr. Carter &#8220;apologizes for getting shot&#8221;&mdash;Death
+of Captain McCarthy&mdash;A Summary.</td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>INTRODUCTORY</h2>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Cause of Conflict and the Call to Arms</div>
+
+<p>In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the South. The world knows
+how the men of the South answered that call. Dropping everything, they
+came from mountains, valleys and plains&mdash;from Maryland to Texas, they
+eagerly crowded to the front, and stood to arms. What for? What moved
+them? What was in their minds?</p>
+
+<p>Shallow-minded writers have tried hard to make it appear that slavery
+was the cause of that war; that the Southern men fought to keep their
+slaves. They utterly miss the point, or purposely pervert the truth.</p>
+
+<p>In days gone by, the theological schoolmen held hot contention over the
+question as to the kind of wood the Cross of Calvary was made from. In
+their zeal over this trivial matter, they lost sight of the great thing
+that did matter; the mighty transaction, and purpose displayed upon that
+Cross.</p>
+
+<p>In the causes of that war, slavery was only a detail and an occasion.
+Back of that lay an immensely greater thing; the defense of their
+rights&mdash;the most sacred cause given men on earth, to maintain at every
+cost. It is the cause of humanity. Through ages it has been,
+pre-eminently, the cause of the Anglo-Saxon race, for which countless
+heroes have died. With those men it was to defend the rights of their
+States to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> control their own affairs, without dictation from anybody
+outside; a right not <i>given</i>, but <i>guaranteed</i> by the Constitution,
+which those States accepted, most distinctly, under that condition.</p>
+
+<p>It was for that these men came. This was just what they had in their
+minds; to uphold that solemnly guaranteed constitutional right,
+distinctly binding all the parties to that compact. The South pleaded
+with the other parties to the Constitution to observe their guarantee;
+when they refused, and talked of force, then the men of the South got
+their guns and came to see about it.</p>
+
+<p>They were Anglo-Saxons. What could you expect? Their fathers had fought
+and died on exactly this issue&mdash;they could do no less. As their noble
+fathers, so their noble sons pledged their lives, and their sacred honor
+to uphold the same great cause&mdash;peaceably if they could; forcibly if
+they must.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Those Who Answered the Call</div>
+
+<p>So the men of the South came together. They came from every rank and
+calling of life&mdash;clergymen, bishops, doctors, lawyers, statesmen,
+governors of states, judges, editors, merchants, mechanics, farmers. One
+bishop became a lieutenant general; one clergyman, chief of artillery,
+Army of Northern Virginia. In one artillery battalion three clergymen
+were cannoneers at the guns. All the students of one Theological
+Seminary volunteered, and three fell in battle, and all but one were
+wounded. They came of every age. I personally know of six men over sixty
+years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> who volunteered, and served in the ranks, throughout the war; and
+in the Army of Northern Virginia, more than ten thousand men were under
+eighteen years of age, many of them sixteen years.</p>
+
+<p>They came of every social condition of life: some of them were the most
+prominent men in the professional, social, and political life of their
+States; owners of great estates, employing many slaves; and thousands of
+them, horny-handed sons of toil, earning their daily bread by their
+daily labor, who never owned a slave and never would.</p>
+
+<p>There came men of every degree of intellectual equipment&mdash;some of them
+could hardly read, and per contra, in my battery, at the mock burial of
+a pet crow, there were delivered an original Greek ode, an original
+Latin oration, and two brilliant eulogies in English&mdash;all in honor of
+that crow; very high obsequies had that bird.</p>
+
+<p>Men who served as cannoneers of that same battery, in after life came to
+fill the highest positions of trust and influence&mdash;from governors and
+professors of universities, downward; and one became Speaker of the
+House of Representatives in the United States Congress. Also, it is to
+be noted that twenty-one men who served in the ranks of the Confederate
+Army became Bishops of the Episcopal Church after the war.</p>
+
+<p>Of the men who thus gathered from all the Southern land, the first
+raised regiments were drawn to Virginia, and there organized into an
+army whose duty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> it was to cover Richmond, the Capital of the
+Confederacy&mdash;just one hundred miles from Washington, which would
+naturally be the center of military activities of the hostile armies.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">An Army of Volunteers</div>
+
+<p>The body, thus organized, was composed <i>entirely of volunteers</i>. Every
+man in it was there because he wanted to come as his solemn duty. It was
+made up of regiments from every State in the South&mdash;Maryland, Virginia,
+North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. Each State had its quota, and
+there were many individual volunteers from Kentucky, Missouri and
+elsewhere. That army was baptized by a name that was to become immortal
+in the annals of war&mdash;&#8220;The Army of Northern Virginia.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>What memories cluster around that name! Great soldiers, and military
+critics of all nations of Christendom, including even the men who fought
+it, have voiced their opinion of that army, and given it high praise.
+Many of them, duly considering its spirit, and recorded deeds, and the
+tremendous odds against which it fought, have claimed for it the highest
+place on the roll of honor, and in the Hall of Fame, among all the
+armies of history.</p>
+
+<p>Truly it deserves high place! when you think that after four years of
+heroic courage, devotion, and endurance, never more than half fed,
+poorly supplied with clothes, often scant of ammunition, holding the
+field after every battle, that it fought, till the end,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> worn out at
+last, it disbanded at Appomattox, when only eight thousand hungry men
+remained with arms in their hands, and they, defiant, and fighting
+still, when the white flags began to pass. They surrendered then only
+because General Lee said they must, because he would not vainly
+sacrifice another man; and they wept like broken-hearted children when
+they heard his orders. They would have fought on till the last man
+dropped, but General Lee said: &#8220;No, you, my men, go home and serve your
+country in peace as you have done in war.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Our Great Leader</div>
+
+<p>They did as General Lee told them to do, and it was the indomitable
+courage of those men and of the women of their land, who were just as
+brave, at home, as the men were, at the front, which has made the South
+rise from its ruins and blossom as the rose as it does this day.</p>
+
+<p>Thus &#8220;yielding to overwhelming numbers and resources,&#8221; the Army of
+Northern Virginia died. But its <i>glory</i> has not died, and the splendor
+of its deeds has not, and will not grow dim.</p>
+
+<p>As, in vision, I look across the long years that have pressed their
+length between the now and then, I can see that Army of Northern
+Virginia on the march. At its head rides one august and knightly figure,
+Robert E. Lee, the knightliest gentleman, and the saintliest hero that
+our race has bred. He is on old &#8220;Traveler,&#8221; almost as famous as his
+master. On his right rides that thunderbolt of war, Stonewall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> Jackson,
+on &#8220;Little Sorrel,&#8221; with whose fame the world was ringing when he fell.
+On Lee&#8217;s left, on his beautiful mare, &#8220;Lady Annie,&#8221; the bright, flashing
+cavalier, &#8220;Jeb&#8221; Stuart, the darling of the Army.</p>
+
+<p>Behind these three, in their swinging stride, tramp the long columns of
+infantry, artillery, and cavalry of the army. As we gaze upon that
+spectacle, we say, and nothing better can be said, &#8220;Those chiefs were
+worthy to lead those soldiers; those soldiers were worthy to follow
+Robert Lee.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In this order, The Army of Northern Virginia, General Lee in front, has
+come marching down the road of history, and shall march on, and all
+brave souls of the generations stand at &#8220;Salute,&#8221; and do them homage as
+they pass. Noble Army of Northern Virginia!</p>
+
+<p>All true men will understand and none, least of all the brave men who
+faced it in battle, will deny to the old Confederate the just right to
+be proud that he was comrade to those men and marched in their ranks,
+and was with their leader to the end. Of that army, I had, thank God!
+the honor to be a soldier. It came about in this way.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Call Comes Home</div>
+
+<p>When the war began I was a school boy attending the Military Academy in
+Danville, Virginia, where I was born and reared. At once the school
+broke up. The teachers, and all the boys who were old enough went into
+the army. I was just sixteen years old, and small for my age, and I can
+understand now, but could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> not then, how my parents looked upon the
+desire of a boy like that to go to the war, as out of the question. I
+did not think so. I was a strong, well-knit fellow, and it seemed to me
+that what you required in a soldier was a man who could shoot, and would
+stay there and do it. I knew I could shoot, and I thought I could stay
+there and do it, so I was sure I could be a soldier, and I was crazy to
+go, but my parents could not see it so, and I was very miserable. All my
+classmates in school had gone or were going, and I pictured to myself
+the boys coming back from the war, as soldiers who had been in battle,
+and all the honors that would be showered upon them&mdash;and I would be out
+of it all. The thought that I had not done a manly part in this great
+crisis would make me feel disgraced all my life. It was horrible.</p>
+
+<p>My father, the honored and beloved minister of the Episcopal Church in
+Danville, and my mother, the daughter and grand-daughter of two
+Revolutionary soldiers, said they wanted me to go, and would let me go,
+when I was older&mdash;I was too young and small as yet. But I was afraid it
+would be all over before I got in, and I would lay awake at night, sad
+and wretched with this fear. I need not have been afraid of that. There
+was going to be plenty to go around, but I did not know that then, and I
+was low in mind. I suppose that my very strong feeling on the subject
+was natural. It was the inherited microbe in the blood. Though I was
+only a school boy in a back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> country town, my forebears had always been
+around when there was any fighting to be done. My great-grandfather,
+General Thomas Nelson, and my grandfather, Major Carter Page, and all
+their kin of the time had fought through the Revolutionary War. My
+people had fought in the war of 1812, and the Mexican War, and the
+Indian Wars. Whenever anybody was fighting our country, some of my
+people were in it, and back of that, Lord Nelson of Trafalgar, was a
+second cousin of my great-grandfather, Thomas Nelson; and, still farther
+back of that, my ancestor, Thomas Randolph, in <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'comand'">command</ins> of a division of
+the Scottish Army under King Robert Bruce, was the man who, by his
+furious charge, broke the English line at &#8220;Bannockburn&#8221; and won the
+Independence of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>You see that a boy, with all that back of him, in his family, had the
+virus in his blood, and could not help being wretched when his country
+was invaded, and fighting, and he not in it. He would feel that he was
+dishonoring the traditions of his race, and untrue to the memory of his
+fathers. However, that schoolboy brooding over the situation was mighty
+miserable. When my parents realized my feelings, they, at last, gave up
+their opposition, and I went into the army with their consent, and
+blessing.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">First Company Richmond Howitzers</div>
+
+<p>While this matter was hanging fire, having been at a military academy, I
+was trying to do some little service by helping to drill some of the raw
+companies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> which were being rapidly raised, in and around Danville. The
+minute I was free, off I went. Circumstances led me to enlist in a
+battery made up in Richmond, known as the &#8220;First Company of Richmond
+Howitzers,&#8221; and I was thus associated with as fine a body of men as ever
+lived&mdash;who were to be my comrades in arms, and the most loved, and
+valued friends of my after life.</p>
+
+<p>This battery was attached to &#8220;Cabell&#8217;s Battalion&#8221; and formed part of the
+field artillery of Longstreet&#8217;s Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. It was
+a &#8220;crack&#8221; battery, and was always put in when anything was going on. It
+served with great credit, and was several times mentioned in General
+Orders, as having rendered signal service to the army. It was in all the
+campaigns, and in action in every battle of the Army of Northern
+
+Virginia. It fought at Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days&#8217;
+Battle around Richmond in 1862, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Harpers
+Ferry, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Morton&#8217;s Ford, The
+Wilderness, The Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Pole
+Green Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House.
+Every one of the cannoneers, who had not been killed or wounded, was at
+his gun in its last fight. The very last thing it did was to help &#8220;wipe
+up the ground&#8221; with some of Sheridan&#8217;s Cavalry, which attacked and tried
+to ride us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> down, but was cut to pieces by our cannister fire, and went
+off as hard as their horses could run&mdash;as if the devil was after them.
+Then the surrender closed our service.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Back to Civil Life</div>
+
+<p>My comrades, as the rest of the army, scattered to their homes. I went
+to my home in Danville, and had to walk 180 miles to get there. After a
+few days, which I chiefly employed in trying to get rid of the sensation
+of starving, I went to work&mdash;got a place in the railroad service.</p>
+
+<p>After eighteen months of this, I proceeded to carry out a purpose that I
+had in mind since the closing days of the war. I had been through that
+long and bloody conflict; I had been at my gun every time it went into
+action, except once when I was lying ill of typhoid fever; I had been in
+the path of death many times, and though hit several times, had never
+been seriously wounded, or hurt badly enough to have to leave my
+gun&mdash;and here I was at the end of all this&mdash;alive, and well and strong,
+and twenty years of age. As I thought of God&#8217;s merciful protection
+through all those years of hardship and danger, a wish and purpose was
+born, and got fixed in my mind and heart, to devote my life to the
+service of God in the completest way I could as a thanksgiving to Him.
+Naturally, my thoughts turned to the ministry of the Gospel, and I
+decided to enter the seminary and train for that service as soon as the
+way was open.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>While I was in the railroad train work, I studied hard in the scraps of
+time to get some preparation, and in September, 1866, I entered the
+Virginia Theological Seminary along with twenty-five other students&mdash;all
+of whom were Confederate soldiers. I here tackled a job that was much
+more trying than working my old twelve-pounder brass Napoleon gun in a
+fight. I would willingly have swapped jobs, if it had been all the same,
+but I worked away, the best I could, at the Hebrew, and Greek, and
+&#8220;Theology,&#8221; and all the rest, for three years.</p>
+
+<p>Somehow I got through, and graduated, and was ordained by Bishop Johns
+of Virginia, the twenty-sixth of June, 1869. Thus the old cannoneer was
+transformed into a parson, who intended to try to be as faithful to
+duty, as a parson, as the old cannoneer had been. He has carried that
+purpose through life ever since. How far he has realized it, others will
+have to judge.</p>
+
+<p>After serving for nine years in several parishes in Virginia, I came to
+Baltimore as rector of Memorial Church, and have been here ever since.
+Hence I have served in the ministry for fifty years&mdash;forty-one of which
+I have spent serving the Memorial Church, and having, as a side line,
+been Chaplain of the &#8220;Fifth Regiment Maryland National Guard&#8221; for
+thirty-odd years. When one is bitten by the military &#8220;bee&#8221; in his youth,
+he never gets over it&mdash;the sight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> of a line of soldiers, and the sound
+of martial music stirs me still, as it always did, and I have had the
+keenest interest and pleasure in my association with that splendid
+regiment, and my dear friends and comrades in it.</p>
+
+<p>So, through the changes and chances of this mortal life, I have come
+thus far, and by the blessing of God, and the patience of my people, at
+the age of seventy-four I am still in full work among the people, whom I
+have served so long, and loved so well&mdash;still at my post where I hope to
+stay till the Great Captain orders me off to service in the only place I
+know of, that is better than the congregation of Memorial Church, and
+the community of Baltimore&mdash;and that is the everlasting Kingdom of
+Heaven.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Origin of This Narrative</div>
+
+<p>Now, what I have been writing here is intended to lead up to the
+narrative set forth in the pages of this volume. Sam Weller once said to
+Mr. Pickwick, when invited to eat a veal pie, &#8220;Weal pies is werry good,
+providin&#8217; you knows the lady as makes &#8217;em, and is sure that they <i>is
+weal</i> and not <i>cats</i>.&#8221; The remark applies here: a narrative is &#8220;werry
+good providin&#8217; you knows&#8221; the man as makes it, and are sure that it is
+facts, and not fancy tales. You want to be satisfied that the writer was
+a personal witness of the things he writes about, and is one who can be
+trusted to tell you things as he actually saw them. I hope both these
+conditions are fulfilled in this narrative.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>But some one might say, &#8220;How about this narrative that you are about to
+impose on a suffering public, who never did you any harm? What do you do
+it for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Well, I did not do it of malice aforethought. It came about in this way.
+Young as I was when I went into the war, and never having seen anything
+of the world outside the ordinary life of a boy, in a quiet country
+town, the scenes of that soldier life made a deep impression on my mind,
+and I have carried a very clear recollection of them&mdash;everyone&mdash;in my
+memory ever since. As I have looked back, and thought upon the events,
+and especially the spirit, and character, and record, of my old comrades
+in that army, my admiration, and estimate of their high worth as
+soldiers has grown ever greater, and I felt a very natural desire that
+others should know them as I knew them&mdash;and put them in their rightful
+rank as soldiers. The only way to do this is for those who know to tell
+people about them; what manner of warriors they were.</p>
+
+<p>Now mark how one glides into mischief unintentionally. Years ago, I was
+beguiled into making, at various times, places, and occasions, certain,
+what might be called, &#8220;Camp Fire Talks&#8221; descriptive of Soldier Life in
+the Army of Northern Virginia. Weakly led on by the kindly expressed
+opinions of those who heard these talks, and urged by old friends,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> and
+comrades, and others, I ventured on a more connected narrative of our
+observations and experiences, as soldiers in that army. I wrote a
+sketch, in that vein, of the &#8220;Spottsylvania Campaign&#8221;&mdash;in 1864&mdash;fought
+between General Lee and General Grant. It was a tremendous struggle of
+the two armies for thirty days&mdash;almost without a break. It was a
+thrilling period of the war, and brought out the high quality of both
+the Commander and the fighting men of the Army of Northern Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>It was the bloodiest struggle known to history, up to that time. As one
+item, at Cold Harbor, General Grant, in fifteen minutes, by the watch,
+lost 13,723 men, killed and wounded, irrespective of many
+prisoners&mdash;more men in a quarter of an hour than the British Army lost
+in the whole battle of Waterloo. That gives an idea of the terrible
+intensity of that campaign&mdash;one incident of it the bloodiest quarter of
+an hour in all the history of war.</p>
+
+<p>I took as a title for my sketch &#8220;From the Rapidan to Richmond&#8221; or &#8220;The
+Bloody War Path of 1864&#8221;&mdash;&#8220;The Scenes One Soldier Saw.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As a guarantee of its accuracy, I took that narrative to Richmond, and
+in the presence of fifteen of my old comrades of the First Howitzers,
+every man of whom had been along with me through all the incidents of
+which I wrote, and therefore had personal knowledge of all the facts, I
+read it, and we freely discussed it. What resulted has the approval, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>endorsement of all those personal witnesses, and may be counted on as
+accurate&mdash;in every statement and impression made in this story, and may
+be safely accepted by the reader as a true narration of facts.</p>
+
+<p>I am urged to put the narrative in such form that its contents may be
+more widely known, and I am glad to do it. I do want as many as possible
+to know my old comrades as I knew them, and value them at their true
+worth. My narrative is a true account of that soldier life, and
+illustrates the stuff of which those men of the Army of Northern
+Virginia were made. The story illustrates this in a graphic and
+impressive way, because it is a simple and homely story of how they
+lived, and what they did&mdash;showing what they were. It is an honorable
+testimony to the character, and worth, as patriot soldiers, of my old
+comrades&mdash;borne by one who saw them display their courage, and
+endurance, and devotion in heroic conduct, in every possible way,
+through the long strain, and stress of war&mdash;to the end.</p>
+
+<p>I believe there is interest and value, to the true understanding of
+history, in such narratives of personal witnesses to the men, and
+things, and conditions of that past, which reflected so much glory on
+the manhood of our American race; which sterling quality, of high
+soldierly worth, has just been shown again, in the present generation of
+our race, when American soldiers, drawn from the North, South, East and
+West have stood, shoulder to shoulder, in the one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> American line, under
+the Star-Spangled Banner, and fighting for the freedom of the world. Our
+splendid American men of today are what they are, and have done what
+they did, because the blood of their sires runs in them; because they
+are &#8220;the same breed of dogs&#8221; with the American soldiers, who, on both
+sides, in the bloody struggle of the Civil War, bore them so bravely in
+the days gone by.</p>
+
+<p>This narrative only paints the picture, and gives a sample of the
+Anglo-Saxon American soldier of the generation just gone; it shed lustre
+upon our race. This generation has done the same&mdash;all honor to both!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Summary</div>
+
+<p>Let us Americans, at all cost, keep pure the Anglo-Saxon blood, to which
+this America belongs, of right; let us as a nation, Americans all, work
+and dwell together in true comradeship, and let our nation walk in just
+and right ways, for our country. Then, indeed, our heart&#8217;s aspiration
+shall be fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;And the Star-Spangled Banner <i>forever</i> shall wave<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O&#8217;er the land of the free&mdash;and the home of the brave.&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>As a preface to the sketch of the active campaign, I have given some
+account of our life in the winter quarters camp, the winter before, from
+which we marched to battle when the Spottsylvania Campaign opened.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+<h2>FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>SKETCH OF CAMP LIFE THE WINTER BEFORE THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Morton&#8217;s Ford</div>
+
+<p>From Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running northeast into
+Culpeper crosses Morton&#8217;s Ford of the Rapidan River, which, in December,
+1863, lay between the &#8220;Federal Army of the Potomac&#8221; and the &#8220;Confederate
+Army of Northern Virginia.&#8221; The Ford is nineteen miles from Orange Court
+House.</p>
+
+<p>Just after the battle of Mine Run, November 26 to 28, our Battery left
+its bivouac near the Court House, and marched to the Ford. As the road
+reaches a point within three-quarters of a mile of the river, it rises
+over a sharp hill and thence winds its way down the hill to the Ford. On
+the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the Battery,
+First Company of Richmond Howitzers, were placed in position, commanding
+the Ford, and the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the
+pine woods just back of the ridge. We had been sent here to help the
+Infantry pickets to watch the enemy, and guard the Ford.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Orders were
+that we should remain in this position all winter, and were to make
+ourselves as comfortable as we could, with a view to this long stay. We
+got there December 2 and 3, and, in fact, did stay there until the
+opening of the spring campaign, May 3, 1864.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Building Camp Quarters</div>
+
+<p>With these instructions, as soon as we placed our guns in battery on the
+hill, we went promptly to work to fix up winter quarters in the shelter
+of the pines down the hill just a few rods back of the guns. It was
+getting very cold, and rough weather threatened, so we pitched in and
+worked hard to get ready for it.</p>
+
+<p>Each group of tent mates chose their own site and thereon built such a
+house as suited their energy, and judgment, or fancy. Some few of the
+lazy ones stayed under canvas all winter, but most of us constructed
+better quarters. In my group, four of us lived together, and we built
+after this manner. On our selected site, we marked off a space about ten
+feet square. We dug to the line all around, and to a depth of three or
+four feet in the ground&mdash;this going below the surface of the ground gave
+a better protection against wind and cold than any wall one could
+build&mdash;and on that bleak hill you wanted all the shield from wind that
+you could get. Having dug a hole ten feet square and three feet deep, we
+went into the woods and cut, squared, and carried on our shoulders logs,
+twelve or eighteen inches thick, and twelve feet long&mdash;enough to build
+around three sides of that hole a wall four feet high. Half of the
+fourth side was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> taken up by the chimney, which was built of short logs
+split in half and covered well inside with mud. With such suitable
+stones as we could pick up, we lined the fire place immediately around
+the fire, and as far above as we had rocks to do it with. The other half
+of the fourth side was left for the door, over which was hung any old
+blanket or other cloth that we could beg, borrow or steal.</p>
+
+<p>The log walls done, we dug a deep hole, loosened up the clay at the
+bottom, poured in water and mixed up a lot of mud with which we chinked
+up the interstices between the logs and covered the wood in the chimney.
+The earth that had been thrown up in digging the hole, we now banked up
+against the log wall all around, which made it wind proof; and then over
+this gem of architecture we stretched our fly. We had no closed
+tents&mdash;only a fly, a straight piece of tent cloth all open at the sides.
+Our fly, supported by a rude pole, and drawn down and firmly fastened to
+the top of the log wall, made the roof of the house.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Housewarming&#8221; on Parched Corn, Persimmons and Water</div>
+
+<p>Then we went out and cut small poles and made a bunk, to lift us off the
+ground. Over the expanse of springy poles we spread sprigs of cedar&mdash;and
+this made a pretty good spring mattress. Last of all, we dug a ditch all
+around our house to keep the water from draining down into our room and
+driving us out. Then we went in, built a fire in our fireplace, called
+in our friends, and had a house-warming. The refreshments were parched
+corn, persimmons (which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> two of us walked two miles to get) and water.
+Of the latter, we had plenty in canteens borrowed from the boys. We had
+a bully time, and we kept it up late. Then we went to bed in our cosy
+bunk and slept like graven images till reveille next morning. Thus we
+were housed for the winter&mdash;&#8220;under our own vine and fig tree,&#8221; so to
+speak.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the other houses were built after the same general style. We
+bragged that we had the best house in camp, and were very chesty about
+it. Others did likewise.</p>
+
+<p>The men&#8217;s quarters ready, we at once set to work on stables for the
+horses, of which there were about seventy, belonging to the Battery. All
+hands were called in to do this work. We scattered through the woods,
+cut logs and carried them on our shoulders to the spot selected. We
+built up walls around three sides, leaving the fourth or sunny side
+open. Then we cut logs into three or four foot lengths and split them
+into slabs, and with these slabs, as a rough sort of shingle, covered
+the roof and weighted them down, in place, with long, heavy logs laid
+across each row of slabs. Then we mixed mud and stopped up the cracks in
+the log walls. Altogether, we had a good, strong wind and rain-proof
+building, which was an effective shelter for the horses and in which
+they kept dry and comfortable through the winter&mdash;which was a cold and
+stormy one. All the men worked hard, and we soon had the stable
+finished, and the horses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> housed. Thus our building work was done, and
+we <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'setled'">settled</ins> into the regular routine of camp life.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Camp Duties</div>
+
+<p>Perhaps a little sketch of our life in winter quarters, how we lived,
+how we employed ourselves, and what we did to pass away the time, may be
+interesting. I will try to give you some account of all that.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, we all had our military duties to attend to regularly. The
+drivers had to clean, feed, water, and exercise the horses, and keep the
+stables in order. The &#8220;cannoneers&#8221; had to keep the guns clean, bright,
+and ready for service any minute&mdash;also they had to stand guard at the
+guns on the hill all the time, and over the camp, at night, to guard the
+forage, and look after things generally. We had to drill some every
+day&mdash;police the camp and keep the roads near the camp in order. To this
+day&#8217;s work we were called, every morning at six o&#8217;clock, by the bugler
+blowing the reveille. I may mention the fact that Prof. Francis Nicholas
+Crouch, the composer of the famous and beautiful song, &#8220;Kathleen
+Mavourneen,&#8221; was the bugler of our Battery, and he was the heartless
+wretch who used to persecute us that way. To be waked up and hauled out
+about day dawn on a cold, wet, dismal morning, and to have to hustle out
+and stand shivering at roll call, was about the most exasperating item
+of the soldier&#8217;s life. The boys had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> song very expressive of a
+soldier&#8217;s feelings when nestling in his warm blankets, he heard the
+malicious bray of that bugle. It went like this:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Oh, how I hate to get up in the morning;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, how I&#8217;d like to remain in bed.</span><br />
+But the saddest blow of all is to hear the bugler call,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">&#8216;You&#8217;ve got to get up, you&#8217;ve got to get up,</span><br />
+You&#8217;ve got to get up this morning!&#8217;<br />
+<br />
+&#8220;Some day I&#8217;m going to murder that bugler;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Some day they&#8217;re going to find him dead.</span><br />
+I&#8217;ll amputate his reveille,<br />
+And stamp upon it heavily,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And spend the rest of my life in bed!&#8221;</span></p>
+
+<p>We didn&#8217;t kill old Crouch&mdash;I don&#8217;t know why, except that he was
+protected by a special providence, which sometimes permits such evil
+deeds to go unpunished. We used to hope that he would blow his own
+brains out, through his bugle, but he didn&#8217;t&mdash;he lived many years after
+the war.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Camp Recreations</div>
+
+<p>In between our stated duties, we had some time in which we could amuse
+ourselves as we chose, and we had many means of entertainment. We had a
+chessboard and men&mdash;a set of quoits, dominoes, and cards; and there was
+the highly intellectual game of &#8220;push pin&#8221; open to all comers. Some very
+skillful chess players were discovered in the company. When the weather
+served, we had games of ball, and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> athletic games, such as foot
+races, jumping, boxing, wrestling, lifting heavy weights, etc. At night
+we would gather in congenial groups around the camp fires and talk and
+smoke and &#8220;swap lies,&#8221; as the boys expressed it.</p>
+
+<p>There was one thing from which we got a great deal of fun. We got up an
+organization amongst the youngsters which was called the &#8220;Independent
+Battalion of Fusiliers.&#8221; The basal principle of this kind of heroes was,
+&#8220;In an advance, always in the rear&mdash;in a retreat, always in front. Never
+do anything that you can help. The chief aim of life is to rest. If you
+should get to a gate, don&#8217;t go to the exertion of opening it. Sit down
+and wait until somebody comes along and opens it for you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>After the first organizers, no one applied for admission into the
+Battalion&mdash;they were elected into it, without their consent. The way we
+kept the ranks full was this: Whenever any man in the Battery did any
+specially trifling, and good-for-nothing thing, or was guilty of any
+particularly asinine conduct, or did any fool trick, or expressed any
+idiotic opinion, he was marked out as a desirable recruit for the
+Fusiliers. We elected him, went and got him and made him march with us
+in parade of the Battalion, and solemnly invested him with the honor.
+This was not always a peaceable performance. Sometimes the candidate,
+not appreciating his privilege, had to be held by force, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> was
+struggling violently, and saying many bad words, during the address of
+welcome by the C. O.</p>
+
+<p>I grieve to say that an election into this notable corps was treated as
+an insult, and responded to by hot and unbecoming language. One fellow,
+when informed of his election, flew into a rage, and said bad words, and
+offered to lick the whole Battalion. But what would they have? We were
+obliged to fill up the ranks.</p>
+
+<p>After a while it did come to be better understood, and was treated as a
+joke, and some of the more sober men entered into the fun, and would go
+out on parade, and take part in the ceremony. We paraded with a band
+composed of men beating tin buckets, frying pans, and canteens, with
+sticks, and whistling military music. It made a noisy and impressive
+procession. It attracted much attention and furnished much amusement to
+the camp.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Special Entertainment</div>
+
+<p>On proper occasions, promotions to higher rank were made for
+distinguished merit in our line. An instance will illustrate. One night,
+late, I was passing along when I saw this sight. The sentinel on guard
+in camp was lying down on a pile of bags of corn at the forage
+pile&mdash;sound asleep. He was lying on his left side. One of the long tails
+of his coat was hanging loose from his body and dangling down alongside
+the pile of bags. A half-grown cow had noiselessly sneaked up to the
+forage pile, and been attracted by that piece of cloth hanging
+loose&mdash;and, as calves will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> do, took the end of it into her mouth and
+was chewing it with great satisfaction. I called several of the fellows,
+and we watched the proceedings. The calf got more and more of the coat
+tail into her mouth. At length, with her mouth full of the cloth, and
+perhaps with the purpose of swallowing what she had been chewing she
+gave a hard jerk. The cloth was old, the seams rotten&mdash;that jerk pulled
+the whole of that tail loose from the body of the coat. The sleeping
+guard never moved. We rescued the cloth from the calf, and hid it. When
+the sleeper awoke, to his surprise, one whole tail of his coat was gone,
+and he was left with only one of the long tails. Our watching group,
+highly delighted at the show of a sentinel sleeping, while a calf was
+browsing on him, told him what had happened and that the calf had
+carried off the other coat tail. He was inconsolable. He was the only
+private in the company who had a long-tailed coat and it was the pride
+of his heart. There was no way of repairing the loss, and he had to go
+around for days, sad and dejected, shorn of his glory&mdash;with only one
+tail to his coat.</p>
+
+<p>All this was represented to the &#8220;Battalion of Fusiliers.&#8221; Charges were
+preferred, and the Court Martial set. The witnesses testified to the
+facts&mdash;also said that if we had not driven off the calf it would have
+gone on, after getting the coat tail, and chewed up the sentinel, too.
+The findings of the Court Martial were nicely adjusted to the merits of
+the case. It was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> that the witnesses were sentenced to punishment for
+driving off the calf, and not letting her eat up the sentinel.</p>
+
+<p>For the sentinel, who appeared before the Court with the one tail to his
+coat, it was decreed that his conduct was the very limit. No one could
+ever hope to find a more thorough Fusilier than the man who went to
+sleep on guard and let a calf eat his clothes off. Such conduct deserved
+most distinguished regard, as an encouragement to the Fusiliers. He was
+promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Battalion, the highest
+rank in our corps. After a while the lost coat tail was produced, and
+sewed on again.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Confederate Soldier Rations</div>
+
+<p>The one thing that we suffered most from, the hardship hardest to bear,
+was hunger. The scantiness of the rations was something fierce. We never
+got a square meal that winter. We were always hungry. Even when we were
+getting full rations the issue was one-quarter pound of bacon, or
+one-half pound of beef, and little over a pint of flour or cornmeal,
+ground with the cob on it, we used to think&mdash;no stated ration of
+vegetables or sugar and coffee&mdash;just bread and meat. Some days we had
+the bread, but no meat; some days the meat, but no bread. Two days we
+had nothing, neither bread nor meat&mdash;and it was a solemn and empty
+crowd. Now and then, at long intervals, they gave us some dried peas.
+Occasionally, a little sugar&mdash;about an ounce to a man for a three days&#8217;
+ration. The Orderly of the mess would spread the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> whole amount on the
+back of a tin plate, and mark off thirteen portions, and put each man&#8217;s
+share into his hand&mdash;three days&#8217; rations, this was. One time, in a burst
+of generosity, the Commissary Department stunned us by issuing coffee.
+We made &#8220;coffee&#8221; out of most anything&mdash;parched corn, wheat or rye&mdash;when
+we could get it. Anything for a hot drink at breakfast! But this was
+<i>coffee</i>&mdash;&#8220;sure enough&#8221; coffee&mdash;we called it. They issued this three
+times. The first time, when counted out to the consumer, by the Orderly,
+each man had 27 grains. He made a cup&mdash;drank it. The next time the issue
+was 16 grains to the man&mdash;again he made a cup and drank it. The third
+issue gave nine grains to the man. Each of these issues was for three
+days&#8217; rations. By now it had got down to being a joke, so we agreed to
+put the whole amount together, and draw for which one of the mess should
+have it all&mdash;with the condition, that the winner should make a pot of
+coffee, and drink it, and let the rest of us see him do it. This was
+done. Ben Lambert won&mdash;made the pot of coffee&mdash;sat on the ground, with
+us twelve, like a coroner&#8217;s jury, sitting around watching him, and drank
+every drop. How he could do it, under the gaze of twelve hungry men, who
+had no coffee, it is hard to see, but Ben was capable of very difficult
+feats. He drank that pot of coffee&mdash;all the same!</p>
+
+<p>After this, there was no more issue of coffee. Even a Commissary began
+to be dimly conscious that nine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> grains given a man for a three days&#8217;
+rations was like joking with a serious subject, so they quit it, and
+during that winter we had mostly just bread and meat&mdash;very little of
+that, and that little not to be counted on.</p>
+
+<p>This hunger was much the hardest trial we had to bear. We didn&#8217;t much
+mind getting wet and cold; working hard, standing guard at night; and
+fighting when required&mdash;we were seasoned to all that&mdash;but you don&#8217;t
+season to hunger. Going along all day with a gnawing at your insides, of
+which you were always conscious, was not pleasant. We had more appetite
+than anything else, and never got enough to satisfy it&mdash;even for a time.</p>
+
+<p>Under this very strict regime, eating was like to become a lost art and
+our digestive organs had very little to do. We had very little use for
+them, in these days. A story went around the camp to this effect: One of
+the men got sick&mdash;said he had a pain in his stomach and sent for the
+surgeon. The doctor, trying to find the trouble, felt the patient&#8217;s
+abdomen, and punched it, here and there. After a while he felt a hard
+lump, which ought not to be there. The doctor wondered what it could
+be&mdash;then feeling about, he found another hard lump, and then another,
+and another. Then the doctor was perfectly mystified by all those hard
+places in a man&#8217;s insides. At last, the explanation came to him: he was
+feeling the vertebr&aelig; of the fellow&#8217;s back-bone&mdash;right through his
+stomach!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>I do not vouch for the exact accuracy of all the details of the story,
+but it illustrates the situation. We all felt that our stomachs had
+dwindled away for want of use and exercise.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Fresh Egg</div>
+
+<p>Another incident, that I can vouch for, showing the strenuous time the
+whole army had about food that winter: One day Major-Quartermaster John
+Ludlow, of Norfolk, met a Captain of Artillery from his own town of
+Norfolk&mdash;Capt. Charles Grandy, of the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues. The
+Major invited the Captain to dine with him on a certain day. He did not
+expect anything very much, but there was a seductive sound in the word
+&#8220;dining&#8221; and he accepted. Grandy told the story of his experience on
+that festive occasion. He walked two miles to Major Ludlow&#8217;s quarters,
+and was met with friendly cordiality by his old fellow-townsman, and
+ushered into his hut where a bright fire was burning. After a time spent
+in conversation, the Major began to prepare for dinner. He reached up on
+a shelf, and took down a cake of bread, cut it into two pieces, and put
+them in a frying pan on the fire to heat. Then he reached up on the
+shelf and got down a piece of bacon&mdash;not very large&mdash;cut it into two
+pieces, and put them in another pan on the fire to fry. Down in the
+ashes by the fire was a tin cup covered over&mdash;its contents not visible.
+The dining table was an old door, taken from some barn and set up on
+skids.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>When the bread and meat were ready, the Major put it on the table and
+with a courtly wave of his hand said, &#8220;D-d-draw up, Charley.&#8221; They
+seated themselves. The Major gave a piece of bread and a piece of bacon
+to his guest, and took the other piece, of each, for himself. After he
+had eaten a while&mdash;the Major got up, went to the fireplace and took up
+the tin cup. He poured off the water, and, behold, one egg came to view.
+This egg, the Major put on a plate and, coming to the table, handed it
+to Grandy&mdash;&#8220;Ch-Ch-Charley, take an egg,&#8221; as if there were a dish full.
+Charley, having been brought up to think it not good manners to take the
+last thing on the dish, declined to take the only egg in sight&mdash;said he
+didn&#8217;t care specially for eggs! though he said he would have given a
+heap for that egg, as he hadn&#8217;t tasted one since he had been in the
+army. &#8220;But,&#8221; urged the Major, &#8220;Ch-Ch-Charley, I insist that you take an
+egg. You must take one&mdash;there is going to be plenty&mdash;do take it.&#8221; Under
+this encouragement, Grandy took the egg&mdash;while he was greatly enjoying
+it, suddenly there was a flutter in the corner of the hut. An old hen
+flew up from behind a box in the corner, lit on the side of the box and
+began to cackle loudly. The Major turned to Grandy and said, &#8220;I-I
+t-t-told you there was going to be a plenty. I invited you to dinner
+today because this was the day for the hen to lay.&#8221; He went over and got
+the fresh egg from behind the box, cooked and ate it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> So each of the
+diners had an egg. The incident was suggestive of the situation. Here
+was a Quartermaster appointing a day for dining a friend&mdash;depending for
+part of the feast on his confidence that his hen would come to time. The
+picture of that formal dinner in the winter quarters on the Rapidan is
+worth drawing. It was a fair sign of the times, and of life in the Army
+of Northern Virginia; when it came to a Quartermaster giving to an
+honored, and specially invited guest, a dinner like that&mdash;it indicates a
+general scarceness.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">When Fiction Became Fact</div>
+
+<p>One bright spot in that &#8220;winter of our discontent&#8221;&mdash;lives in my memory.
+It was on the Christmas Day of 1863. That was a day specially hard to
+get through. The rations were very short indeed that day&mdash;only a little
+bread, no meat. As we went, so hungry, about our work, and remembered
+the good and abundant cheer always belonging to Christmas time; as we
+thought of &#8220;joys we had tasted in past years&#8221; that did <i>not</i> &#8220;return&#8221; to
+us, now, and felt the woeful difference in our insides&mdash;it made us sad.
+It was harder to starve on Christmas Day than any day of the winter.</p>
+
+<p>When the long day was over and night had come, some twelve or fifteen of
+us, congenial comrades, had gathered in a group, and were sitting out of
+doors around a big camp fire, talking about Christmas, and trying to
+keep warm and cheer ourselves up.</p>
+
+<p>One fellow proposed what he called a <i>game</i>, and it was at once taken
+up&mdash;though it was a silly thing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> to do, as it only made us hungrier than
+ever. The game was this&mdash;we were to work our fancy, and imagine that we
+were around the table at &#8220;Pizzini&#8217;s,&#8221; in Richmond. Pizzini was the
+famous restauranteur who was able to keep up a wonderful eating house
+all through the war, even when the rest of Richmond was nearly starving.
+Well&mdash;in reality, now, we were all seated on the ground around that
+fire, and very hungry. In imagination we were all gathered &#8217;round
+Pizzini&#8217;s with unlimited credit and free to call for just what we
+wished. One fellow tied a towel on him, and acted as the waiter&mdash;with
+pencil and paper in hand going from guest to guest taking orders&mdash;all
+with the utmost gravity. &#8220;Well, sir, what will you have?&#8221; he said to the
+first man. He thought for a moment and then said (I recall that first
+order, it was monumental) &#8220;I will have, let me see&mdash;a four-pound steak,
+a turkey, a jowl and turnip tops, a peck of potatoes, six dozen
+biscuits, plenty of butter, a large pot of coffee, a gallon of milk and
+six pies&mdash;three lemon and three mince&mdash;and hurry up, waiter&mdash;that will
+do for a start; see &#8217;bout the rest later.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This was an order for one, mind you. The next several were like unto it.
+Then, one guest said, &#8220;I will take a large saddle of mountain mutton,
+with a gallon of crabapple jelly to eat with it, and as much as you can
+tote of other things.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This, specially the crabapple jelly, quite struck the next man. He said,
+&#8220;I will take just the same as this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> gentleman.&#8221; So the next, and the
+next. All the rest of the guests took the mountain <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'muton'">mutton</ins> and jelly.</p>
+
+<p>All this absurd performance was gone through with all
+seriousness&mdash;making us wild with suggestions of good things to eat and
+plenty of it.</p>
+
+<p>The waiter took all the orders and carefully wrote them down, and read
+them out to the guest to be sure he had them right.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were nearly through with this Barmecide feast, one of the
+boys, coming past us from the Commissary tent, called out to me, &#8220;Billy,
+old Tuck is just in (Tucker drove the Commissary wagon and went up to
+Orange for rations) and I think there is a box, or something, for you
+down at the tent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I got one of our crowd to go with me on the jump. Sure enough, there was
+a great big box for me&mdash;from home. We got it on our shoulders and
+trotted back up to the fire. The fellows gathered around, the top was
+off that box in a jiffy, and there, right on top, the first thing we
+came to&mdash;funny to tell, after what had just occurred&mdash;was the biggest
+saddle of mountain mutton, and a two-gallon jar of crabapple jelly to
+eat with it. The box was packed with all good, solid things to
+eat&mdash;about a bushel of biscuits and butter and sausage and pies, etc.,
+etc.</p>
+
+<p>We all pitched in with a whoop. In ten minutes after the top was off,
+there was not a thing left in that box except one skin of sausage which
+I saved for our mess next morning. You can imagine how the boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> did
+enjoy it. It was a bully way to end up that hungry Christmas Day.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote my thanks and the thanks of all the boys to my mother and
+sisters, who had packed that box, and I described the scene as I have
+here described it, which made them realize how welcome and acceptable
+their kind present was&mdash;and what comfort and pleasure it gave&mdash;all the
+more that it came to us on Christmas Day, and made it a joyful one&mdash;at
+the end, at least.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to all this low diet from which we suffered so much hunger
+that winter&mdash;it is well worthy of remark that the health of the army was
+never better. At one time that winter there were only 300 men in
+hospital from the whole Army of Northern Virginia&mdash;which seems to
+suggest that humans don&#8217;t need as much to eat as they think they do.
+That army was very hungry, but it was very healthy! It looks like cause
+and effect! But it was a very painful way of keeping healthy. I fear we
+would not have taken that tonic, if we could have helped it, but we
+couldn&#8217;t! Maybe it was best as it was. Let us hope so!</p>
+
+<p>Well, the winter wore on in this regular way until the 3d or 4th of
+February, when our quiet was suddenly disturbed in a most unexpected
+manner. Right in the dead of a stormy winter, when nobody looked for any
+military move&mdash;we had a fight. The enemy got &#8220;funny&#8221; and we had to bring
+him to a more serious state of mind, and teach him how wrong it was to
+disturb the repose of gentlemen when they were not looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> for it, and
+not doing anything to anybody&mdash;just trying to be happy, and peaceable if
+they could get a chance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Confederate Fashion Plates</div>
+
+<p>Leading up to an account of this, I may mention some circumstances in
+the way of the boys in the camp. Living the hard life, we were&mdash;one
+would suppose that fashion was not in all our thoughts; but even then,
+we felt the call of fashion and followed it in such lines, as were open
+to us. The instinct to &#8220;do as the other fellow does&#8221; is implanted in
+humans by nature; this blind impulse explains many things that otherwise
+were inexplicable. With the ladies it makes many of them wear hats and
+dresses that make them look like hoboes and guys, and shoes that make
+them walk about as gracefully as a cow in a blanket, instead of looking,
+and moving like the young, graceful gazelles&mdash;that nature meant, and men
+want them to look like. Taste and grace and modesty go for nothing&mdash;when
+fashion calls.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the blind impulse that affects the ladies so&mdash;moved us in regard
+to the patches put on the seats of our pants. This was the only
+particular in which we could depart from the monotony of our quiet,
+simple, gray uniform&mdash;which consisted of a jacket, and pants and did not
+lend itself to much variety; but fashion found a way.</p>
+
+<p>There must always be a leader of fashion. We had one&mdash;&#8220;The glass of
+fashion and the mould of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> form&#8221; in our gang was Ben Lambert. He could
+look like a tombstone, but was full of fun, and inventive genius.</p>
+
+<p>Our uniform was a short jacket coming down only to the waist, hence a
+hole in the seat of the pants was conspicuous, and was regarded as not
+suited to the dignity and soldierly appearance of a Howitzer. For one to
+go around with such a hole showing&mdash;any longer than he could help
+it&mdash;was considered a want of respect to his comrades. Public opinion
+demanded that these holes be stopped up as soon as possible. Sitting
+about on rough surfaces&mdash;as stumps, logs, rocks, and the ground&mdash;made
+many breaks in the integrity of pants, and caused need of frequent
+repairs, for ours was not as those of the ancient Hebrews to whom Moses
+said, &#8220;Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee&#8221;&mdash;ours waxed very old, before
+we could get another pair, and were easily rubbed through. The more
+sedate men were content with a plain, unpretentious patch, but this did
+not satisfy the youngsters, whose &aelig;sthetic souls yearned for &#8220;they know
+not what,&#8221; until Ben Lambert showed them. One morning he appeared at
+roll call with a large patch in the shape of a heart transfixed with an
+arrow, done out of red flannel. This at once won the admiration and envy
+of the soldiers. They now saw what they wished, in the way of a patch,
+and <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'proceded'">proceeded</ins> to get it. Each one set his ingenuity to work to devise
+something unique. Soon the results began to appear. Upon the seats of
+one, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> another, and another, were displayed figures of birds, beasts
+and men&mdash;a spread eagle, a cow, a horse, a cannon. One artist depicted a
+&#8220;Cupid&#8221; with his bow, and just across on the other hip a heart pierced
+with an arrow from Cupid&#8217;s bow&mdash;all wrought out of red flannel and sewed
+on as patches to cover the holes in the pants, and, at the same time,
+present a pleasing appearance. By and by these devices increased in
+number, and when the company was fallen in for roll call the line, seen
+from the rear, presented a very gay and festive effect.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, a General, who happened in camp&mdash;the gallant soldier, and
+merry Irishman, General Pat Finnegan, was standing, with our Captain, in
+front of the line, hearing the roll call.</p>
+
+<p>That done, the Orderly Sergeant gave the order, &#8220;&#8217;Bout face!&#8221; The rear
+of the line was thus turned toward General Finnegan. When that art
+gallery&mdash;in red flannel&mdash;was suddenly displayed to his delighted eyes
+the General nearly laughed himself into a fit.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, boys,&#8221; he cried out, &#8220;don&#8217;t ever turn your backs upon the enemy.
+Sure they&#8217;ll git ye&mdash;red makes a divil of a good target. But I wouldn&#8217;t
+have missed this for the world.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The effect, as seen from the rear, was impressive. It could have been
+seen a mile off&mdash;bright red patches on dull gray cloth. Anyhow it was
+better than the holes and it made a ruddy glow in camp. Also it gave the
+men much to amuse them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>Ben set the fashion in one other particular&mdash;viz., in hair cuts. He
+would come to roll call with his hair cut in some peculiar way, and
+stand in rank perfectly solemn. Ranks broken, the boys would gather
+eagerly about him, and he would announce the name of that &#8220;cut.&#8221; They
+would, as soon as they could, get their hair cut in the same style.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, he stood in rank with every particle of his hair cut off,
+as if shaved, and his head as bare as a door knob. &#8220;What style is that,
+Ben?&#8221; the boys asked. &#8220;The &#8216;horse thief&#8217; cut,&#8221; he gravely announced.
+Their one ambition now, was to acquire the &#8220;horse-thief cut.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was only one man in the Battery who could cut hair&mdash;Sergeant Van
+McCreery&mdash;and he had the only pair of scissors that could cut hair. So
+every aspirant to this fashionable cut tried to make interest with Van
+to fix him up; and Van, who was very good natured, would, as he had time
+and opportunity, accommodate the applicant, and trim him close. Several
+of us had gone under the transforming hands of this tonsorial artist,
+when Bob McIntosh got his turn. Bob was a handsome boy with a luxuriant
+growth of hair. He had raven black, kinky hair that stuck up from his
+head in a bushy mass, and he hadn&#8217;t had his hair cut for a good while,
+and it was very long and seemed longer than it was because it stuck out
+so from his head. Now, it was all to go, and a crowd of the boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+gathered &#8217;round to see the fun. The modus operandi was simple, but
+sufficient. The candidate sat on a stump with a towel tied &#8217;round his
+neck, and he held up the corners making a receptacle to catch the hair
+as it was cut. Why this&mdash;I don&#8217;t know; force of habit I reckon. When we
+were boys and our mothers cut our hair, we had to hold up a towel so. We
+were told it was to keep the hair from getting on the floor and to stuff
+pincushions with. Here was the whole County of Orange to throw the hair
+on, and we were not making any pincushions&mdash;still Bob had to hold the
+towel that way. Van stood behind Bob and began over his right ear. He
+took the hair off clean, as he went, working from right to left over his
+head; the crowd around&mdash;jeering the victim and making comments on his
+ever-changing appearance as the scissors progressed, making a clean
+sweep at every cut. We were thus making much noise with our fun at Bob&#8217;s
+expense, until the shears had moved up to the top of his head, leaving
+the whole right half of the head as clean of hair as the palm of your
+hand, while the other half was still covered with this long, kinky, jet
+black hair, which in the absence of the departed locks looked twice as
+long as before&mdash;and Bob did present a spectacle that would make a dog
+laugh. It was just as funny as it could be.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Surprise Attack</div>
+
+<p>Just at that moment, in the midst of all this hilarity, suddenly we
+heard a man yell out something as he came running down the hill from the
+guns. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> could not hear what he said. The next moment, he burst
+excitedly into our midst, and shouted out, &#8220;For God&#8217;s sake, men, get
+your guns. The Yankees are across the river and making for the guns.
+They will capture them before you get there, if you don&#8217;t hurry up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This was a bolt out of a clear sky&mdash;but we jumped to the call. Everybody
+instantly forgot everything else and raced for the guns. I saw McCreery
+running with the scissors in his hand; he forgot that he had them&mdash;but
+it was funny to see a soldier going to war with a pair of scissors! I
+found myself running beside Bob McIntosh, with his hat off, his head
+half shaved and that towel, still tied round his neck, streaming out
+behind him in the wind.</p>
+
+<p>Just before we got to the guns, Bob suddenly halted and said, &#8220;Good
+Heavens, Billy, it has just come to me what a devil of a fix I am in
+with my head in this condition. I tell you now that if the Yankees get
+too close to the guns, I am going to run. If they got me, or found me
+dead, they would say that General Lee was bringing up the convicts from
+the Penitentiary in Richmond to fight them. I wouldn&#8217;t be caught dead
+with my head looking like this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We got to the guns on the hill top and looked to the front. Things were
+not as bad as that excited messenger had said, but they were bad enough.
+One brigade of the enemy was across the river and moving on us; another
+brigade was fording the river; and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> could see another brigade moving
+down to the river bank on the other side. Things were serious, because
+the situation was this: an Infantry Brigade from Ewell&#8217;s Corps, lying in
+winter quarters in the country behind us, was kept posted at the front,
+whose duty it was to picket the river bank. It was relieved at regular
+times by another Brigade which took over that duty.</p>
+
+<p>It so chanced that this was the morning for that relieving Brigade to
+come. Expecting them to arrive any minute, the Brigade on duty, by way
+of saving time, gathered in its pickets and moved off back toward camp.
+The other Brigade had not come up&mdash;careless work, perhaps, but here in
+the dead of winter nobody dreamed of the enemy starting anything.</p>
+
+<p>So it was, that, with one brigade gone; the other not up; the pickets
+withdrawn, at this moment there was nobody whatsoever on the front
+except our Battery&mdash;and, here was the enemy across the river, moving on
+us and no supports.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the enemy guns across the river opened on us and the
+shells were flying about us in lively fashion. It was rather a sudden
+transition from peace to war, but we had been at this business before;
+the sound of the shells was not unfamiliar&mdash;so we were not unduly
+disturbed. We quickly got the guns loaded, and opened on that Infantry,
+advancing up the hill. We worked rapidly, for the case was urgent, and
+we made it as lively for those <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'felows'">fellows</ins> as we possibly could. In a few
+minutes a pretty neat little battle was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> making the welkin ring. The
+sound of our guns crashing over the country behind us made our people,
+in the camp back there, sit up and take notice. In a few minutes we
+heard the sound of a horse&#8217;s feet running at full speed, and Gen. Dick
+Ewell, commanding the Second Corps, came dashing up much excited. As he
+drew near the guns he yelled out, &#8220;What on earth is the matter here?&#8221;
+When he got far enough up the hill to look over the crest, he saw the
+enemy advancing from the river, &#8220;Aha, I see,&#8221; he exclaimed. Then he
+galloped up to us and shouted, &#8220;Boys, keep them back ten minutes and
+I&#8217;ll have men enough here to eat them up&mdash;without salt!&#8221; So saying, he
+whirled his horse, and tore off back down the road.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes we heard the tap of a drum and the relieving Brigade,
+which had been delayed, came up at a rapid double quick, and deployed to
+the right of our guns; they had heard the sound of our firing and struck
+a trot. A few minutes more, and the Brigade that had left, that morning,
+came rushing up and deployed to our left. They had heard our guns and
+halted and came back to see what was up.</p>
+
+<p>With a whoop and a yell, those two Brigades went at the enemy who had
+been halted by our fire. In a short time said enemy changed their minds
+about wanting to stay on our side, and went back over the river a good
+deal faster than they came. They left some prisoners and about 300 dead
+and wounded&mdash;for us to remember them by.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>The battle ceased, the picket line was restored along the river bank,
+and all was quiet again. Bob McIntosh was more put out by all this
+business than anybody else&mdash;it had interrupted his hair cut. When we
+first got the guns into action, everybody was too busy to notice Bob&#8217;s
+head. After we got settled down to work, I caught sight of that
+half-shaved head and it was the funniest object you ever saw. Bob was
+No. 1 at his gun, which was next to mine, and had to swab and ram the
+gun. This necessitated his constantly turning from side to side,
+displaying first this, and then the other side of his head. One side was
+perfectly white and bare; the other side covered by a mop of kinky, jet
+black hair; but when you caught sight of his front elevation, the effect
+was indescribable. While Bob was unconsciously making this absurd
+exhibition, it was too much to stand, even in a fight. I said to the
+boys around my gun, &#8220;Look at Bob.&#8221; They looked and they could hardly
+work the gun for laughing.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, when the fight was over McCreery lost that pair of scissors,
+or <i>said</i> he did. There was not another pair in camp, so Bob had to go
+about with his head in that condition for about a week&mdash;and he wearied
+of life. One day in his desperation, he said he wanted to get some of
+that hair off his head so much that he would resort to any means. He had
+tried to cut some off with his knife. One of the boys, Hunter Dupuy, was
+standing by chopping on the level<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> top of a stump with a hatchet. Hunter
+said, &#8220;All right, Bob, put your head on this stump and I&#8217;ll chop off
+some of your hair.&#8221; The blade was dull, and it only forced a quantity of
+the hair down into the wood, where it stuck, and held Bob&#8217;s hair fast to
+the stump, besides pulling out a lot by the roots, and hurting Bob very
+much. He tried to pull loose and couldn&#8217;t. Then he began to call Hunter
+all the names he could think of, and threatened what he was going to do
+to him when he got loose. Hunter, much hurt by such ungracious return
+for what he had done at Bob&#8217;s request, said, &#8220;Why, Bob, you couldn&#8217;t
+expect me to cut your hair with a hatchet without hurting some&#8221;&mdash;which
+<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'semed'">seemed</ins> reasonable. We made Bob promise to keep the peace, on pain of
+leaving him tied to the stump&mdash;then we cut him loose with our knives.</p>
+
+<p>After some days, when we had had our fun, Van found the scissors and
+trimmed off the other side of his head to match&mdash;Bob was happy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Wedding Bells and a Visit Home</div>
+
+<p>A few days after this I had the very great pleasure of a little visit to
+my home. My sister, to whom I was devotedly attached, was to be married.
+The marriage was to take place on a certain Monday. I had applied for a
+short leave of absence and thought, if granted, to have it come to me
+some days before the date of the wedding, so that I could easily get
+home in time. But there was some delay, and the official paper did not
+get into my hands until fifteen minutes before one o&#8217;clock on
+Sunday&mdash;the day before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> wedding. The last train by which I could
+possibly reach home in time was to leave Orange Court House for Richmond
+at six o&#8217;clock that evening, and the Court House was <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'nineteeen'">nineteen</ins> miles off.
+It seemed pretty desperate, but I was bound to make it. I had had a very
+slim breakfast that morning; I swapped my share of dinner that evening
+with a fellow for two crackers, which he happened to have, and lit out
+for the train.</p>
+
+<p>A word about that trip, as a mark of the times, may be worth while. I
+got the furlough at 12.45. I was on the road at one, and I made that
+nineteen miles in five hours&mdash;some fast travel, that! I got to the depot
+about two minutes after six; the train actually started when I was still
+ten steps off. I jumped like a kangaroo, but the end of the train had
+just passed me when I reached the track. I had to chase the train twenty
+steps alongside the track, and at last, getting up with the back
+platform of the rear car, I made a big jump, and managed to land. It was
+a close shave, but with that nineteen-mile walk behind, and that wedding
+in front, I would have caught that train if I had to chase it to
+Gordonsville&mdash;&#8220;What do you take me for that I should let a little thing
+like that make me miss the party?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Well, anyhow, I got on. The cars were crowded&mdash;not a vacant seat on the
+train. We left Orange Court House at six o&#8217;clock P. M.&mdash;we reached
+Richmond at seven o&#8217;clock the next morning&mdash;traveled all
+night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>&mdash;thirteen hours for the trip, which now takes two and a half
+hours&mdash;and all that long night, there was not a seat for me to sit
+on&mdash;except the floor, and that was unsitable. When I got too tired to
+stand up any longer, I would climb up and sit on the flat top of the
+water cooler, which was up so near the sloping top of the car that I
+could not sit up straight. My back would soon get so cramped that I
+could not bear it any longer&mdash;then I crawled down and stood on the floor
+again. So I changed from the floor to the water cooler and back again,
+for change of position, all through the night in that hot, crowded car,
+and I was very tired when we got to Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived at seven o&#8217;clock and the train&mdash;Richmond and Danville
+Railroad&mdash;was to start for Danville at eight. I got out and walked about
+to limber up a little for the rest of the trip. I had a discussion with
+myself which I found it rather hard to decide. I had only half a dollar
+in my pocket. The furlough furnished the transportation on the train,
+and the question was this&mdash;with this I could get a little something to
+eat, or I could get a clean shave. On the one hand I was very hungry. I
+had not eaten anything since early morning of the day before, and since
+then had walked nineteen miles and spent that weary night on the train
+without a wink of sleep. Moreover, there was no chance of anything to
+eat until we got to Danville that night&mdash;another day of fasting&mdash;strong
+reasons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> for spending that half dollar in <i>food</i>. On the other hand, I
+was going to a wedding party where I would meet a lot of girls, and
+above all, was to &#8220;wait&#8221; with the prettiest girl in the State of
+Virginia. In those days, the wedding customs were somewhat different
+from those now in vogue. Instead of a &#8220;best man&#8221; to act as &#8220;bottle
+holder&#8221; to the groom, and a &#8220;best girl&#8221; to stand by the bride and pull
+off her glove, and fix her veil, and see that her train hangs right,
+when she starts back down the aisle with her victim&mdash;the custom was to
+have a number of couples of &#8220;waiters&#8221; chosen by the bride and groom from
+among their special friends, who would march up in procession, ahead of
+the bride and groom, who followed them arm in arm to the chancel.</p>
+
+<p>The &#8220;first waiters&#8221; did the office of &#8220;best&#8221; man and girl, as it is now.
+I have been at a wedding where fourteen couples of waiters marched in
+the procession.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I was going into such company, and had to escort up the aisle that
+beautiful cousin, that I was telling you about&mdash;naturally I wanted to
+look my best, and the more I thought about that girl, the more I wanted
+to, so I at last decided to spend that only fifty cents for a clean
+shave&mdash;and got it. My heart and my conscience approved of this decision,
+but I suffered many pangs in other quarters, owing to that long fasting
+day. However, virtue is its own reward, and that night when I got home,
+and that lovely cousin was the first who came out of the door to greet
+me, dressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> in a&mdash;well, white swiss muslin&mdash;I reckon&mdash;and looking like
+an angel, I felt glad that I had a clean face.</p>
+
+<p>And after the rough life of camp, what a delicious pleasure it was to be
+with the people I loved best on earth, and to see the fresh faces of my
+girl friends, and the kind faces of our old friends and neighbors! I
+cannot express how delightful it was to be at home&mdash;the joy of it sank
+into my soul. Also, I might say, that at the wedding supper, I made a
+brilliant reputation as an expert with a knife and fork, that lived in
+the memory of my friends for a long time. My courage and endurance in
+that cuisine commanded the wonder, and admiration, of the spectators. It
+was good to have enough to eat once more. I had almost forgotten how it
+felt&mdash;not to be hungry; and it was the more pleasant to note how much
+pleasure it gave your friends to see you do it, and not have a lot of
+hungry fellows sitting around with a wistful look in their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I spent a few happy days with the dear home folks in the dear old
+home. This was the home where I had lived all my life, in the sweetest
+home life a boy ever had. Everything, and every person in and around it,
+was associated with all the memories of a happy childhood and youth. It
+was a home to love; a home to defend; a home to die for&mdash;the dearest
+spot on earth to me. It was an inexpressible delight to be under its
+roof&mdash;once more. I enjoyed it with all my heart for those <i>few short
+days</i>&mdash;then, with what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> cheerfulness I could&mdash;hied me back to camp&mdash;to
+rejoin my comrades, who were fighting to protect homes that were as dear
+to them as this was to me.</p>
+
+<p>I made another long drawn-out railroad trip, winding up with that same
+old nineteen miles from Orange to the camp, and I got there all right,
+and found the boys well and jolly, but still hungry. They went wild over
+my graphic description of the wedding supper. The picture was very
+trying to their feelings, because the original was so far out of reach.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Soldiers&#8217; Profession of Faith</div>
+
+<p>In this account of our life in that winter camp, it remains for me to
+record the most important occurrence of all. About this time there came
+into the life of the men of the Battery an experience more deeply
+impressive, and of more vital consequence to them than anything that had
+ever happened, or ever could happen in their whole life, as soldiers,
+and as men. The outward beginning of it was very quiet, and simple. We
+had built a little log church, or meeting house, and the fellows who
+chose had gotten into the way of gathering here every afternoon for a
+very simple prayer meeting. We had no chaplain and there were only a few
+Christians among the men. At these meetings one of the young fellows
+would read a passage of Scripture, and offer a prayer, and all joined in
+singing a hymn or two. We began to notice an increase of interest, and a
+larger attendance of the men. A feature of our meeting was a time given
+for talk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> when it was understood that if any fellow had anything to say
+appropriate to the occasion, he was at liberty to say it. Now and then
+one of the boys did have a few simple words to offer his comrades in
+connection, perhaps, with the Scripture reading.</p>
+
+<p>One day John Wise, one of the best, and bravest men in the Battery,
+loved and respected by everybody, quietly stood up and said, &#8220;I think it
+honest and right to say to my comrades that I have resolved to be a
+Christian. I here declare myself a believer in Christ. I want to be
+counted as such, and by the help of God, will try to live as such.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This was entirely unexpected. He sat down amidst intense silence. A
+spirit of deep seriousness seemed fallen upon all present. A hymn was
+sung, and they quietly dispersed. Some of us shook hands with Wise and
+expressed our pleasure at what he had said, and done.</p>
+
+<p>This incident produced a profound impression among the men. It brought
+out the feelings about religion that had lain unexpressed in other
+minds. The thoughts of many hearts were revealed. The interest spread
+rapidly; the fervor of our prayer meetings grew. We had no chaplain to
+handle this situation, but men would seek out their comrades who were
+Christians, and talk on this great subject with them, and accept such
+guidance in truth, and duty as they could give. And now from day to day
+at the prayer meetings men would get up in the quiet way John Wise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> had
+done, and in simple words declare themselves Christians in the presence
+of their comrades. Most of them were among the manliest and best men of
+the company; they were dead in earnest, and their actions commanded the
+respect and sympathy of the whole camp.</p>
+
+<p>This movement went quietly on, without any fuss or excitement, until
+some sixty-five men, two-thirds of our whole number, had confessed their
+faith, and taken their stand, and in conduct and spirit, as well as in
+word, were living consistent Christian lives. They carried that faith,
+and that life, and character, home when they went back after the
+war&mdash;and they carried them through their lives. In the various
+communities where they lived their lives, and did their work, they were
+known as strong, stalwart Christian men, and towers of strength to the
+several churches to which they became attached. Of that number twelve or
+fourteen men went into the ministry of different churches, and served
+faithfully to their life&#8217;s end.</p>
+
+<p>What I have described as going on in our Battery off there by itself at
+Morton&#8217;s Ford, was going on very widely in the Army at large. There was
+a deep spiritual interest and strong revival of religion throughout the
+whole Army of Northern Virginia during that winter. Thousands and
+thousands of those splendid soldiers of the South, became just as
+devoted soldiers, and servants of Jesus Christ, and took their places in
+His ranks, and manfully fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> under His banner, and were not ashamed
+to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and to stand for His cause.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of all this was very far-reaching. What these men carried
+back home with them wrought a great change in the South&mdash;a change in the
+attitude of the men of the South toward Christ&#8217;s religion. There was a
+great change in that attitude, from before the war, and afterward,
+produced by the war.</p>
+
+<p>I will try to explain what I mean: Before the war, in the South, as I
+knew it&mdash;in the country neighborhoods, and in the villages, and small
+towns&mdash;you would find a group of men, often made up of the most
+influential, respected, educated, efficient men of that community, who
+were not members of any church or professed Christians. These were men
+of honor and integrity, respected by all, valuable citizens. They
+respected religion, went to church regularly, as became a gentleman, and
+gave their money liberally to support the church as a valuable
+institution of society. That was, their attitude toward
+religion&mdash;respectful tolerance, but no personal interest&mdash;no need of it.
+Their thought, generally unspoken but sometimes expressed, was that
+religion was all right for women, and children, and sick or weak men,
+but strong men could take care of themselves and had no need of it. And,
+of course, the young men coming on were influenced by their example and
+thought it manly to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> follow their example. The argument was specious.
+&#8220;There is Mr. Blank; he is an upright, good man, and no man stands
+higher in the community; he is just as good a man and citizen as any
+member of the church. He gets along all right without religion&mdash;I won&#8217;t
+bother about it.&#8221; So he let it alone and went his way. The very virtues
+of that group of men were a baleful influence in that community&mdash;led
+young men into the dreadful mistake that men do not need religion&mdash;that
+religion is not a manly thing. A good man who is not a Christian does
+ten-fold more harm, in a community, to the cause of Christ, and to the
+lives of men than the worst, and lowest man in it; so it was here!</p>
+
+<p>When the call to war came, these very men were the first to go. As a
+rule they were the leaders, in thought and action, of their
+fellow-citizens, and they were high spirited, intensely patriotic, and
+quick to resent the invasion of their rights, and their State. In
+whole-hearted devotion to the cause, they went in a spirit that would
+make them thorough soldiers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Example of Lee, Jackson and Stuart</div>
+
+<p>Now when these men got into the army the &#8220;esprit de corps&#8221; took
+possession of them. They got shaken down to <i>soldier</i> thoughts, and
+judgments. They began to estimate men by their personal value to the
+cause that was their supreme concern. In that army, three men held the
+highest place in the heart and mind, of every soldier in it&mdash;they were
+General Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart&mdash;each the highest in his
+line.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> All the army had, for these three men, reverent honor,
+enthusiastic admiration, and absolute confidence. We looked up to them
+as the highest types of manhood&mdash;in noble character, superb genius, and
+consummate ability. They were by eminence the heroes&mdash;the beloved
+leaders of the army. There were many other able, and brilliant leaders,
+whom we honored, but these were set apart. In the thoughts, and hearts
+of all the army, and the country as well, these three were the noblest
+and highest representatives of our cause; and every man did homage to
+them, and was proud to do it. But, as was known, with all their high
+qualities of genius, and personal character, and superb manhood, each
+one of these three men was a devout member of Christ&#8217;s Church; a sincere
+and humble disciple of Jesus Christ; and in his daily life and all his
+actions and relations in life, was a consistent Christian man. All his
+brilliant service to his country was done as duty to his God, and all
+his plans and purposes were &#8220;referred to God, and His approval and
+blessing invoked upon them, as the only assurance of their success.&#8221; All
+who were personally associated with these men came to know that this was
+the spirit of their lives; and many times, in religious services, in
+camp, these men, so idolized by the army, and so great in all human eyes
+but their own, could be seen bowing humbly down beside the private
+soldiers to receive the holy sacrament of the Blessed Body and Blood of
+Christ.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>Now, when the men, who had been so indifferent to religion at home, as
+so unnecessary for them, came up against this fact, and came to look up
+to these three men as their highest ideals of manhood, they got an eye
+opener. If men like Lee, and Jackson, and Stuart, and others, felt the
+need of religion for themselves, the thought would come, &#8220;Maybe I need
+it, too. No man can look down on the manhood of these men; if they
+esteem religion as the crown of their manhood, it is not a thing to be
+despised, or neglected, or treated with indifference. It is a thing to
+be sought, and found and taken into my life.&#8221; And this train of thought
+arrested the attention, and got the interest and stirred to truer
+thoughts, and finally brought them to Christ. Thousands of these men
+were led to become devout Christians, and earnest members of the church
+through the influence of the three great Christian leaders, and other
+Christian comrades in the army.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when these men got back home after the war and the survivors of
+those groups got settled back in their various communities, there was a
+great difference in the religious situation, from what it had been
+before the war. There had taken place a complete change in these men, in
+their attitude toward religion, and this wrought a great change in this
+respect in their communities, for the returned soldiers of any community
+were given a place of peculiar honor, and influence. They had their
+record of splendid, and heroic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> service behind them and they were held
+in affectionate, and tender regard&mdash;not only by their own families, and
+friends, but by all their neighbors and fellow-citizens. What that group
+of soldiers thought, and wanted, <i>went</i> in that town, or countryside.</p>
+
+<p>Now, that group of men who set the pace, and made the atmosphere in that
+community were Christians. The serious phase of life; the seasoning of
+hardships; the discipline; the oft facing of death; the stern habit of
+duty at any cost, which they had passed through during the war had made
+them very strong men, and very earnest Christians. What they stood for,
+they stood for boldly, and outspokenly on all proper occasions. They
+were not one whit ashamed of their religion and were ready at all times,
+and about all matters to let the world know just where they stood; to
+declare by word, and deed who they were, and whom they served.</p>
+
+<p>All this set up before the eyes of that community a very strong,
+forcible, manly type of religion. These were not women, and children,
+and they were not sick or weak men&mdash;they were the very manliest men in
+that town, and so were taken and accepted by general consent.</p>
+
+<p>Just think of the effect of that situation upon the boys and young men
+growing up in that community. The veteran soldiers, back from the war,
+with all their honors upon them&mdash;were heroes to the young fellows.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> What
+the soldiers said, and did, were patterns for them to imitate; and the
+pattern of Christian life, set up before the youngsters, made religion,
+and church membership most honorable in their eyes. They did not now, as
+aforetime, have to overcome the obstacle in a young man&#8217;s mind which lay
+in the association of weakness with religion, and which had largely been
+suggested to them by the older men, in the former times.</p>
+
+<p>The old Christian soldiers, whom they now saw, set up in them the idea
+that religion was the manliest thing in the world, and so inclined them
+toward it, and assured the most serious, and respectful consideration of
+it. Religion could not be put aside lightly, or treated with contempt as
+unmanly, for those veteran heroes were living it and stood for it, and
+they were, in their eyes, the manliest men they knew.</p>
+
+<p>Now, this leaven of truer thought about religion was leading society all
+through the South; the Southern men and boys everywhere were feeling its
+influence, and it was having most remarkable effects. The increase in
+the number of men, who after the war were brought into the church by the
+direct influence of the returned soldiers, &#8220;who had found their souls&#8221;
+through the experiences of their army life, was tremendous. Those
+soldiers did a bigger service to the men of their race by bringing back
+religion to them than they did in fighting for them during the war.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>Just after the war, in the far harder trials and soul agony of the
+Reconstruction days, I think that the wonderful patience, and courage
+which resisted humiliation, and won back the control of their States,
+and rebuilt their shattered fortunes and pulled their country
+triumphantly up out of indescribable disaster, can only be thus really
+explained&mdash;that those men were &#8220;strong and of a good courage&#8221; because
+&#8220;their minds were staked on God.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The history of the Southern people during that epoch is unmatched by the
+history of any people in all time. The result they achieved, this was
+the reason&mdash;beneath the superb &#8220;grit&#8221; of the Southern people lay deep
+the conviction &#8220;God is our refuge and strength&#8221; and &#8220;The God whom we
+serve. He will deliver us.&#8221; It was the spiritual vision of the men of
+the South that saved it when it was ready to perish&mdash;and let the men of
+the South never forget it! Let them give unceasing recognition and
+thanks to God, for that great deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>If I have made clear my thought&mdash;the connection of the religious revival
+in the army with the fortunes of our people at home after the war&mdash;I am
+glad! If I haven&#8217;t, I am sorry! I can&#8217;t say any fairer than that, and I
+can only make the plea that was stuck up in a church in the West, in the
+old rough days, when a dissatisfied auditor of the sermon, or the
+organist, was likely to express his disapproval with a gun. The notice
+up in front of the choir read like this: &#8220;Please<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> don&#8217;t shoot the
+musician, he&#8217;s doing his level best&#8221;&mdash;I make the same request.</p>
+
+<p>But, to return to our muttons! Let us get back to the winter camp at
+Morton&#8217;s Ford.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Spring Sprouts and a &#8220;Tar Heel&#8221; Story</div>
+
+<p>The winter had now worn away and the spring had come. Vegetation began
+to show signs of life. Its coming bore us one comfort in one way&mdash;among
+others. It was not so cold, and we did not have to tote so many logs of
+wood to keep up our fires. Down on the river flats, where vegetation
+showed sooner than it did on the hills, green things began to shoot up.
+Dandelions, sheep sorrel, poke leaves and such, though not used in civil
+life, were welcome to us, for they were much better than no salad at
+all. The men craved something green. The unbroken diet of just bread and
+meat&mdash;generally salt meat at that&mdash;gave some of the men scurvy. The only
+remedy for that was something acid, or vegetable food. The men needed
+this and craved it&mdash;so when the green shoots of any kind appeared we
+would go down on the flats, and gather up all the green stuff we could
+find, and boil it with the little piece of bacon we might have. It
+improved the health of the men very much.</p>
+
+<p>At this time, there was a North Carolina Brigade of Infantry at the
+front furnishing pickets for the river bank. They were camped just back
+of our winter quarters. Those fellows seemed to be very specially strong
+in their yearning for vegetable diet, so much so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> that they attracted
+our attention. Every day we would see long lines of those men passing
+through our camp. They would walk along, one behind another, in almost
+unending procession, silent and lonesome, never saying a word and never
+two walking together&mdash;and all of them meandered along intent on one
+thing&mdash;getting down to the flats below &#8220;to get some sprouts&#8221; as they
+would say when asked where they were going.</p>
+
+<p>Later on, we would see them in the same solemn procession coming back to
+camp&mdash;every man with a bunch of something green in his fist.</p>
+
+<p>This daily spectacle of Tar Heels swarming through our camp interested
+us; we watched them mooning along. We tried to talk with them, but all
+we got from them was, &#8220;We&#8217;uns is going to git some sprouts. Don&#8217;t
+you&#8217;uns love sprouts?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We did, but we didn&#8217;t go after them in such a solemn manner. Our
+&#8220;sprout&#8221; hunts were not so funereal a function; rather more jovial, and
+much more sociable. Also this devotion to the search for the herb of the
+field excited our curiosity. They were all the time craving green stuff,
+and going after it so constantly. We had a story going around which was
+supposed to explain the craving of a Tar Heel&#8217;s insides for greens.</p>
+
+<p>This was the story:</p>
+
+<p>One of these men got into the hospital. He had something the matter with
+his liver. The doctor tried his best to find out what was the matter,
+and tried all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> sorts of remedies&mdash;no results. At last, in desperation,
+the doctor decided to try heroic treatment. He cut the fellow open, took
+out his liver, fixed it up all right (whatever that consisted in),
+washed it off and hung it on a bush to dry, preparatory to putting it
+back in place. A dog stole the liver, and carried it off. Here was a bad
+state of things&mdash;the soldier&#8217;s liver gone, the doctor was responsible.
+The doctor was up against it. He thought much, and anxiously. At last a
+bright idea struck him. He sent off, got a sheep, killed it, took out
+its liver, got it ready, and sewed it up in that soldier in place of his
+own. The man got well, and about his duties again. One day, soon after,
+the doctor met him and said with much friendly interest, &#8220;Well, Jim, how
+are you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, doctor,&#8221; he replied in a very cheerful tone, &#8220;I&#8217;m well and strong
+again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The doctor looked at him, and asked him significantly, &#8220;Jim, do you feel
+<i>all right</i>?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Falling into that characteristic whine, Jim said, &#8220;Yes, sir, I am well
+and strong, but, Doctor, all the time, now, I feel the strangest
+hankering after grass.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That was the sheep&#8217;s liver telling. Our theory was that all of those
+fellows had sheep&#8217;s livers, and that accounted for the insatiable
+&#8220;hankering after grass.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I told this story in an after-dinner speech at a banquet some time ago
+to a company of twenty-nine female doctors of medicine&mdash;trained, and
+practicing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> physicians. They made no protest; listened with unbroken
+gravity; accepted it as a narrative of actual occurrence, and looked at
+me with wide-eyed interest. When I finished I thought it best to tell
+them that it was all a joke. Then they laughed themselves into a fit.</p>
+
+<p>Well, this little account of our doings, and our life in the winter camp
+at Morton&#8217;s Ford&mdash;1863-1864&mdash;is done. Out of its duties, and
+companionships; its pleasures, and its deeper experiences, we Howitzers
+were laying up pleasant memories of the camp for the years to come. And
+often in after years, when some of us comrades got together we would
+speak of the old camp at Morton&#8217;s Ford.</p>
+
+<p>The spring was now coming on. We knew that our stay here could not last
+much longer. How, and when, and where we should go from here, we did not
+know. We knew we would go somewhere&mdash;that was all. &#8220;We would know when
+the time came, and &#8216;Marse Robert&#8217; wanted us&#8221; he would tell us.</p>
+
+<p>That is the soldier&#8217;s life&mdash;&#8220;Go, and he goeth; come, and he cometh; do
+this, and he doeth it.&#8221; No choice. Wait for orders&mdash;then, quick! Go to
+it!</p>
+
+<p>Well we were perfectly willing to trust &#8220;Marse Robert&#8221; and perfectly
+ready to do just what he said. Meantime we take no anxious thought for
+the morrow; we go on with our work, and our play&mdash;we are &#8220;prepared to
+move at a moment&#8217;s warning.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS</h3>
+
+<p>Nineteen miles from Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running
+northeast into Culpeper crosses &#8220;Morton&#8217;s Ford&#8221; of the Rapidan River,
+which, just now, lay between the Federal &#8220;Army of the Potomac&#8221; and the
+Confederate &#8220;Army of Northern Virginia.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As this road approaches within three-fourths of a mile of the river it
+rises over a sharp hill, and, thence, winds its way down the hill to the
+Ford. On the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the
+&#8220;First Richmond Howitzers&#8221; were in position, commanding the Ford; and
+the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the pine wood just
+back of the ridge. Here, we had been on picket all the winter, helping
+the infantry pickets to watch the enemy and guard the Ford.</p>
+
+<p>One bright sunny morning, the 2d of May, 1864, a courier rode into the
+Howitzer Camp. We had been expecting him, and knew at once that
+&#8220;something was up.&#8221; The soldier instinct and long experience told us
+that it was about time for something to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> turn up. The long winter had
+worn away; the sun and winds, of March and April, had made the roads
+firm again. Just across the river lay the great army, which was only
+waiting for this, to make another desperate push for Richmond, and we
+were there for the particular purpose of making that push vain.</p>
+
+<p>For some days we had seen great volumes of smoke rising, in various
+directions, across the river, and heard bands playing, and frequent
+volleys of firearms, over in the Federal Camp. Everybody knew what all
+this meant, so we had been looking for that courier.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after we reached the Captain&#8217;s tent, orders were given to pack up
+whatever we could not carry on the campaign, and in two hours, a wagon
+would leave, to take all this stuff to Orange Court House; thence it
+would be taken to Richmond and kept for us, until next winter.</p>
+
+<p>This was quickly done! The packing was not done in &#8220;Saratoga trunks,&#8221;
+nor were the things piles of furs and winter luxuries. The &#8220;things&#8221;
+consisted of whatever, above absolute necessaries, had been accumulated
+in winter quarters; a fiddle, a chessboard, a set of quoits, an extra
+blanket, or shirt, or pair of shoes, that any favored child of Fortune
+had been able to get hold of during the winter. Everything like this
+must go. It did not take long to roll all the &#8220;extras&#8221; into bundles,
+strap them up and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> pitch them into the wagon. And in less than two hours
+after the order was given the wagon was gone, and the men left in
+campaign &#8220;trim.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This meant that each man had, left, one blanket, one small haversack,
+one change of underclothes, a canteen, cup and plate, of tin, a knife
+and fork, and the clothes in which he stood. When ready to march, the
+blanket, rolled lengthwise, the ends brought together and strapped, hung
+from left shoulder across under right arm, the haversack,&mdash;furnished
+with towel, soap, comb, knife and fork in various pockets, a change of
+underclothes in one main division, and whatever rations we happened to
+have, in the other,&mdash;hung on the left hip; the canteen, cup and plate,
+tied together, hung on the right; toothbrush, &#8220;at will,&#8221; stuck in two
+button holes of jacket, or in haversack; tobacco bag hung to a breast
+button, pipe in pocket. In this rig,&mdash;into which a fellow could get in
+just two minutes from a state of rest,&mdash;the Confederate Soldier
+considered himself all right, and ready for anything; in this he
+marched, and in this he fought. Like the terrapin&mdash;&#8220;all he had he
+carried on his back&#8221;&mdash;this <i>all</i> weighed about seven or eight pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The extra baggage gone, all of us knew that the end of our stay here was
+very near, and we were all ready to pick up and go; we were on the eve
+of battle and everybody was on the &#8220;qui vive&#8221; for decisive orders. They
+quickly came!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Marse Robert&#8221; Calls to Arms</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>On the next day but one, the 4th, about 10 o&#8217;clock, another courier
+galloped into camp, and, in a few moments, everybody having seen him,
+all the men had swarmed up to the Captain&#8217;s tent to hear the first news.
+Captain McCarthy came toward us and said, very quietly, &#8220;Boys, get
+ready! we leave here in two hours.&#8221; Then the courier told us that &#8220;Grant
+was crossing below us in the wilderness. That everything we had was
+pushing down to meet him; and that Longstreet, lately back from
+Tennessee, was at Gordonsville.&#8221; The news telling was here interrupted
+by Crouch sounding the familiar bugle call&mdash;&#8220;Boots and saddles,&#8221; which,
+to artillery ears, said, &#8220;Harness up, hitch up and prepare to move at a
+moment&#8217;s warning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The fellows instantly scattered, every man to his quarters, and for a
+few minutes nothing could be seen but the getting down and rolling up of
+&#8220;flys&#8221; from over the log pens they had covered, rolling up blankets,
+getting together of each man&#8217;s traps where he could put his hands on
+them. The drivers took their teams up on the hill to bring down the guns
+from their positions. All was quickly ready, and then we waited for
+orders to move.</p>
+
+<p>It was with a feeling of sadness we thought of leaving this spot! It had
+been our home for several months; it was painful to see it dismantled,
+and to think that the place, every part of which had some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> pleasant
+association with it, would be left silent and lonely, and that we should
+see it no more.</p>
+
+<p>While we waited, after each had bidden a sad &#8220;good-bye&#8221; to his house,
+and its endeared surroundings, it was suggested that we gather once
+more, for a last meeting in our log church. All felt that this was a
+fitting farewell to the place. To many of us this little log church was
+a sacred place, many a hearty prayer meeting had been held there; many a
+rousing hymn, that almost raised the roof, many a good sermon and many a
+stirring talk had we heard; many a manly confession had been declared,
+many a hearty, impressive service in the solemn Litany of the Church,
+read by us, young Churchmen, in turn. To all the Christians of the
+Battery (they now numbered a large majority) this church was sacred. To
+some, it was very, very sacred, for in it they had been born again unto
+God. Here they had been led to find Christ, and in the assemblies of
+their comrades gathered here, they had, one after another, stood up and,
+simply, bravely, and clearly, witnessed a &#8220;good confession&#8221; of their
+Lord, and of their faith.</p>
+
+<p>So, we all instantly seized on the motion, to gather in the church. A
+hymn was sung, a prayer offered for God&#8217;s protection in the perils we
+well knew, we were about to meet. That He would help us to be brave men,
+and faithful unto death, as Southern soldiers; that He would give
+victory to our arms, and peace to our Country. A Scripture passage, the
+91st<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Psalm, declaring God&#8217;s defense of those who trust Him, was read.
+And then, our &#8220;talk meeting.&#8221; It was resolved that &#8220;during the coming
+campaign, every evening, about sunset, whenever it was at all possible,
+we would keep up our custom, and such of us as could get together,
+<i>wherever we might be</i>, should gather for prayer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And, in passing, I may remark, as a notable fact, that this resolution
+was carried out <i>almost literally</i>. Sometimes, a few of the fellows
+would gather in prayer, while the rest of us fought the guns. Several
+times, to my <i>very lively</i> recollection we met <i>under fire</i>. Once, I
+remember, a shell burst right by us, and covered us with dust; and,
+once, I recall with <i>very particular</i> distinctness, a Minie bullet
+slapped into a hickory sapling, against which I was sitting, not an inch
+above my head. Scripture was being read at the time, and the fellows
+were sitting around with their eyes open. I had to <i>look</i> as if I had as
+lieve be there, as anywhere else; but I <i>hadn&#8217;t</i>, by a large majority. I
+<i>could</i> not dodge, as I was sitting down, but felt like drawing in my
+back-bone until it telescoped.</p>
+
+<p>But, however circumstanced, in battle, on the battle line, in interims
+of quiet, or otherwise, we held that prayer hour nearly every day, at
+sunset, during the entire campaign. And some of us thought, and <i>think</i>
+that the strange exemption our Battery experienced, our little loss, in
+the midst of unnumbered perils, and incessant service, during that awful
+campaign, was, that, in answer to our prayers, &#8220;the God of battles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+covered our heads in the day of battle&#8221; and was merciful to us, because
+we &#8220;called upon Him.&#8221; If any think this a &#8220;fond fancy&#8221; <i>we don&#8217;t</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Well! to get back! After another hymn, and a closing prayer, we all
+shook hands, and then, we took a regretful leave of our dear little
+Church, and wended our way, quiet and thoughtful, to the road where we
+found the guns standing, all ready to go. Pretty soon the
+command&mdash;&#8220;Forward!&#8221; rang from the head of the line. We fell in alongside
+our respective guns, and with a ringing cheer of hearty farewell to the
+old Camp, we briskly took the road,&mdash;to meet, and to do, what was before
+us.</p>
+
+<p>We tramped along cheerily until about dark, when we bivouacked on the
+side of the road, with orders to start at daylight next morning. As we
+pushed along the road,&mdash;what road! gracious only knows, but a country
+road bearing south toward Verdiersville,&mdash;brigades, and batteries joined
+our march, from other country roads, by which we found that all our
+people were rapidly pushing in from the camps and positions they had
+occupied during the winter, and the army was swiftly concentrating.</p>
+
+<p>It was very pleasant to us to get into the stir of the moving army
+again, as we had been off, quite by ourselves, during the winter, and
+the greetings and recognitions that flew back and forth as we passed, or
+were passed by, well known brigades or batteries, were hearty and
+vociferous. Such jokes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> &#8220;chaffing&#8221; as went on! As usual, every
+fellow had his remark upon everything and everybody he passed. Any
+peculiarity of dress or appearance marked out a certain victim to the
+witty gibes of the men, which had to be escaped from, or the victim had
+to &#8220;grin and bear it.&#8221; If &#8220;Puck&#8221; or &#8220;Punch&#8221; could have marched with a
+Confederate column once, they might have laid in a stock of jokes and
+witticisms,&mdash;and first-class ones, too,&mdash;for use the rest of their
+lives.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, at daylight,&mdash;the 5th of May,&mdash;we promptly pulled out, and
+soon struck the highway, leading from Orange Court House to
+Fredericksburg, turned to the left and went sweeping on toward &#8220;The
+Wilderness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Spirit of the Soldiers of the South</div>
+
+<p>Here we got into the full tide of movement. Before and behind us the
+long gray columns were hurrying on to battle,&mdash;and as merry as crickets.</p>
+
+<p>One thing that shone conspicuous here, and always, was the indomitable
+<i>spirit</i> of the &#8220;Army of Northern Virginia,&#8221; their intelligence about
+military movements; their absolute confidence in General Lee, and their
+quiet, matter of course, <i>certainty of victory</i>, under him. Here they
+were pushing right to certain battle, the dust in clouds, the sun
+blazing down, hardly anything to eat, and yet, with their arms and
+uniform away, a spectator might have taken them for a lot of &#8220;sand-boys
+on a picnic,&#8221; <i>if</i> there had only been some eatables along, to give
+color to this delusion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>And their intelligence! These men were not parts of a great machine
+moving blindly to their work. Very far from it! Stand on the roadside,
+as they marched by and hear their talk, the expression of their opinions
+about what was going on, you soon found that these men, privates, as
+well as officers, were well aware of what they were doing, and where
+they were going. In a general way, they knew what was going on, and what
+was <i>going to go on</i>, with the strangest accuracy. By some quick, and
+wide diffusion of intelligence among the men, they understood affairs,
+and the general situation perfectly well. For instance, as we passed on
+down that road to the fight, we knew,&mdash;just <i>how</i> we didn&#8217;t know,&mdash;but
+we <i>did know</i>, and it was commonly talked of and discussed, as
+ascertained fact, among us as we marched,&mdash;that General Grant had about
+150,000 men moving on us. We knew that Longstreet was near Gordonsville,
+and that one Division of A. P. Hill had not come up. We knew that we
+had, along with us there, only Ewell&#8217;s Corps and two divisions of A. P.
+Hill&#8217;s Corps, the cavalry and some of Longstreet&#8217;s artillery. In short,
+as I well remember, it was a fact, accepted among us, that General Lee
+was pushing, as hard as he could go, for Grant&#8217;s 150,000 with about
+35,000 men; and yet, knowing all this, these lunatics were sweeping
+along to that appallingly unequal fight, cracking jokes, laughing, and
+with not the least idea in the world of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> anything else but victory. I
+did not hear a despondent word, nor see a dejected face among the
+thousands I saw and heard that day. I bear witness to this fact, which I
+wondered at then, and wonder at now. It is one of the most stirring and
+touching of my memories of the war. It was the grandest moral exhibition
+I ever saw! For it was simply the absolute confidence in themselves and
+in their adored leader. They had seen &#8220;Marse Robert&#8221; ride down that
+road, they knew he was at the front, and that was all they <i>cared</i> to
+know. The thing was <i>bound</i> to go right&mdash;&#8220;Wasn&#8217;t Lee there?&#8221; And the
+devil himself couldn&#8217;t keep them from going where Lee went, or where he
+wanted them to go. God bless them, living, or dead, for their loyal
+faith, and their heroic devotion!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Peace Fare and Fighting Rations!</div>
+
+<p>I have alluded to rations; they were scarce here, as always when any
+fighting was on hand. Even in camp, where all was at its best, we had
+for rations, per day, one and a half pints of flour, or coarse
+cornmeal,&mdash;ground with the <i>cob</i> in it we used to think,&mdash;and
+one-quarter of a pound of bacon, or &#8220;mess pork,&#8221; or a pound, far more
+often half a pound, of beef.</p>
+
+<p>But, in time of a fight! Ah then, thin was the fare! That small ration
+dwindled until, at times, eating was likely to become a &#8220;lost art.&#8221; I
+have seen a man, Bill Lewis, sit down and eat three days&#8217; rations at one
+time. He said &#8220;He did not want the trouble of carrying it, <i>and</i> he did
+want <i>one</i> meal occasionally that wasn&#8217;t an empty form.&#8221; The idea seemed
+to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> that a Confederate soldier would <i>fight</i> exactly in proportion as
+he <i>didn&#8217;t eat</i>. And his <i>business</i> was to <i>fight</i>. This theory was put
+into practice on a very close and accurate calculation; with the odds
+that, as a rule, we had against us, in the battles of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, we had to meet two or three to one. Then, each
+Confederate soldier was called upon to be equal to two or three Federal
+soldiers, and, therefore, each Confederate must have but <i>one-half</i> or
+<i>one-third</i> the rations of a Federal soldier. It was easy figuring, and
+so it was arranged in practice.</p>
+
+<p>It was eminently so in this campaign, from the first. When we left camp,
+on the 4th a few crackers and small piece of meat were given us, and
+devoured at once. That evening, and on this day, the 5th, we received
+<i>none at all</i>, and in that hard, forced march we became very hungry. An
+incident that occurred will show how hungry we were. As we passed the
+hamlet of Verdiersville, I noticed a little negro boy, black as the &#8220;ace
+of spades&#8221; and dirty as a pig, standing on the side of the road gazing
+with staring eyes at the troops, and holding in his hand a piece of
+ash-cake, which he was eating. A moment after I passed him, our dear old
+comrade and messmate, Dr. Carter, the cleanest and most particular man
+in the army, came running after us (Carter Page, John Page, George
+Harrison, and myself) with gleeful cries, &#8220;Here, fellows, I&#8217;ve got
+something. It isn&#8217;t much,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> but it will give us a bite apiece. Here! look
+at this, a piece of bread! let me give you some.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he came up he held in his hand the identical piece of bread I had
+seen the little darkey munching on. It was a small, wet, half-raw
+fragment of corn ash-cake, and it had moulded on one edge a complete
+cast of that little nigger&#8217;s mouth, the perfect print of every tooth.
+The Doctor had bought it from him for fifty cents, and now, wanted to
+divide it with us four&mdash;a rather heroic thought that was, in a man
+hungry as a wolf. Of course we young fellows flatly refused to divide
+it, as we knew the Doctor, twice our age, needed it more than we. We
+said, &#8220;We were not hungry; couldn&#8217;t eat anything to save us.&#8221; A lie,
+that I hope the recording Angel, considering the motive, didn&#8217;t take
+down; or, if he did, I hope he added a note explaining the
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>We then began to joke the Doctor about the print of the little darkey&#8217;s
+teeth on his bread and suggested to him, to break off that part. &#8220;No,
+indeed,&#8221; said the Doctor, gloating over his precious ash-cake, &#8220;Bread&#8217;s
+too scarce, <i>I</i> don&#8217;t mind about the little nigger&#8217;s teeth, I can&#8217;t
+spare a crumb.&#8221; And when he found he could not force us to take any, he
+ate it all up.</p>
+
+<p>Indifference to the tooth prints was a perfectly reasonable sentiment,
+under the circumstances, and one in which we all would have shared, for
+we were wolfish enough to have eaten the &#8220;little nigger&#8221; himself. The
+Doctor didn&#8217;t mind the little chap&#8217;s tooth marks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> <i>then</i> but&mdash;he did
+<i>afterwards</i>. After he had been pacified with a square meal, the idea
+wasn&#8217;t so pleasant, and though we often recalled the incident,
+afterwards, the Doctor could not remember <i>this part of it</i>. He
+remembered the piece of ash-cake, but, somehow, he could not be brought
+to recall the tooth marks in it. Not he!</p>
+
+<p>It was about eleven o&#8217;clock when we passed Verdiersville. Soon after, we
+turned down a road, which led over to the plank road on which A. P.
+<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Hil'">Hill</ins>&#8217;s column was moving. Hour after hour all the morning, reports had
+come flying back along the columns, that our people, at the front, had
+seen nothing but Federal Cavalry; hadn&#8217;t been able to unearth any
+infantry at all. An impression began to get about that maybe after all,
+there had been a mistake, and that Grant&#8217;s army was not in front of us.</p>
+
+<p>About this time, that impression was suddenly and entirely dispelled. A
+distinct rattle of musketry broke sharply on our ears, and we knew, at
+once, that we had found <i>something</i>, and, in fact, it was soon clear
+that we had found Federal infantry, enough and to spare.</p>
+
+<p>That sudden outbreak of musketry quickened every pulse, and every step
+too, in our columns. Harder than ever we pushed ahead, and as we
+advanced, the firing grew louder, and the volume heavier till it was a
+long roar. The long-roll beat in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> our marching columns, and some of the
+infantry brigades broke into the double quick to the front, and we could
+see them heading off, right and left into the woods.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Marse Robert&#8217;s Way of Making One Equal to Three</div>
+
+<p>We had now come to the edge of that forest and thicket-covered district,
+the &#8220;Wilderness of Spottsylvania.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Grant had crossed the Rapidan into this tangled chaparral, and it is
+said he was very much surprised that Lee did not dispute the passage of
+the river. But &#8220;Ole Marse Robert&#8221; had cut too many eye teeth to do
+anything like that. He was far too deep a file, to stop his enemy from
+getting himself into &#8220;a fix.&#8221; He knew that when Grant&#8217;s great army got
+over there, they would be &#8220;entangled in the land, the wilderness would
+shut them in.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In that wilderness, three men were not three times as many as one man.
+No! no! not at all! Quite the reverse! Lee wouldn&#8217;t lift a finger to
+keep Grant from <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'gettinge'">getting</ins> <i>into</i> the wilderness, but quick as a flash he
+was, to keep him from getting out. This, was why he had been marching
+the legs off of us, rations or no rations. This, was why he couldn&#8217;t
+wait for Longstreet, but tore off with the men he had, to meet Grant and
+fight him, before he could disentangle himself from The Wilderness. We
+had got up in time; and into the chaparral our men plunged to get at the
+enemy, and out of it was now roaring back over our swift columns the
+musketry of the advance. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> brigade after brigade dashed into line of
+battle the roar swelled out grander, and more majestic, until it became
+a mighty roll of hoarse thunder, which made the air quiver again, and
+seemed to shake the very ground. The battle of The Wilderness was begun,
+in dead earnest.</p>
+
+<p>The crushing, pealing thunder kept up right along, almost unbroken, hour
+after hour, all through the long noon, and longer evening, until just
+before night, it slackened and died away. It was the most <i>solemn</i> sound
+I ever heard, or ever expect to hear, on earth. I never heard anything
+like it in any other battle. Nothing could be seen, no movements of
+troops, in sight, to distract attention, or rivet one&#8217;s interest on the
+varying fortunes of a battlefield. Only,&mdash;out of the dark woods, which
+covered all from sight, rolled upward heavy clouds of battle-smoke, and
+outward, that earth shaking thunder, now and then fiercely sharpened by
+the &#8220;rebel yell,&#8221;&mdash;the scariest sound that ever split a human ear,&mdash;as
+our men sprang to the death grapple.</p>
+
+<p>We had pushed up along with the rest; but by and by our guns were
+ordered to halt, to let the infantry go by. Here, while we waited for
+them to pass, we saw the first effects of the fight. Just off the road
+there was a small open field containing a little farmhouse and garden
+and apple orchard, where the cavalry had been at work, that morning
+before we came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> up. Around the house and in the orchard lay ten dead
+Federal troops, three of our men, and a number of horses; all lying as
+they had fallen. One of the Federals was lying with one leg under his
+horse, and the other over him; both had, apparently, been instantly
+killed by the same ball, which had gone clear through the heads of both
+man and horse. They had fallen together, the man hardly moved from his
+natural position in the saddle. Another had a sword thrust through his
+body, and two others, in their terribly gashed heads, gave evidence that
+they had gone down under the sabre. The rest of them, and all three of
+our men, had been killed by balls. Not a living thing was seen about the
+place.</p>
+
+<p>We were called away from this ghastly scene by the guns starting again,
+and we moved on rapidly to the front. As we went, at a trot, one of the
+men, John Williams, who was sick with the heat and exhaustion of the
+trying march, and was sitting on the trail of the gun, suddenly fainted,
+and fell forward under the wheel. He was, fortunately, saved from
+instant death by a stone, just in front of which he fell. The ponderous
+wheel, going so rapidly, struck the stone, and was bounded over his
+body, only bruising him a little. It was a close shave, but we were
+spared the loss of a dear comrade, and good soldier.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">An Infantry Battle</div>
+
+<p>When we got up pretty close to the line of battle, we halted and then
+were ordered to pull out beside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the road and wait for orders. Here we
+found a great many batteries parked, and we heard that it was, as yet,
+impossible to get artillery into action where the infantry was fighting.
+In fact, the battle of The Wilderness was almost exclusively an
+<i>Infantry</i> fight. But few cannon shots were heard at all during the day;
+the guns could not be gotten through the thickets. We heard, at the
+time, that we had only been able to put in two guns, and the Federals,
+three, and that our people had taken two of them, and the other was
+withdrawn. Certainly we hardly heard <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'at'">a</ins> single shot during most of the
+fight. But we didn&#8217;t know at the time the exemption we were to enjoy. It
+was a strange and unwonted sight, all those guns, around us, idle, with
+a battle going on. For the way General Lee fought his artillery was a
+caution to cannoneers. He always put them in, everywhere, and made the
+fullest use of them. We always expected, and we always got, our full
+share of any fighting that was going on. And to be idle here, while the
+musketry was rolling, was entirely a novel sensation. We were under a
+dropping fire, and we expected to go in every moment. A position which
+every old soldier will recognize as more trying than being in the thick
+of a fight. It was very far from soothing.</p>
+
+<p>When we had been waiting here a few minutes, Dr. Newton, since the Rev.
+John B. Newton of Monumental Church, Richmond, Va., afterwards Bishop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+Coadjutor of Virginia, but then the surgeon of the 40th Virginia
+Infantry, rode by our guns, and recognizing several of us, boys, his
+kinsmen, stopped to speak to us. After a few kind words, as he shook
+hands with us very warmly at parting, he pointed to his field hospital,
+hard by, and very blandly said, &#8220;Boys, I&#8217;ll be right here, and I will be
+glad to do anything for you in my line.&#8221; To fellows going, as we
+thought, right into battle, this was about the last kind of talk we
+wanted to hear. A doctor&#8217;s offer of service in our situation, was full
+of ghastly suggestions. So his well-meaning proffer was met with
+opprobrious epithets, and indignant defiance. It was shouted to him in
+vigorous Anglo-Saxon, what we thought of doctors anyhow, and that if he
+didn&#8217;t look sharp we&#8217;d fix him so he would need a doctor, himself, to
+patch him up. The Doctor rode off laughing at the storm his friendly
+remarks had raised. Never was a kind offer more ungraciously received. I
+suppose, however, if any of us had got hurt just then, we would have
+been glad enough to fall in with the Doctor, and to have his skillful
+care. Fact is, soldiers are very like citizens&mdash;set light by the doctor
+when <i>well</i>, but mighty glad to see him when anything is the matter.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor, and all his brother &#8220;saw-bones&#8221; soon had enough to do for
+other poor fellows, if not for us. Numbers of wounded men streamed past
+us, asking the way to the hospitals, some, limping painfully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> along,
+some, with arms in a sling, some, with blood streaming down over neck or
+face, some, helped along by a comrade, some, borne on stretchers. It was
+a battered looking procession; and yet, I suppose that people will be
+surprised to hear, it was as <i>cheerful</i> a lot of fellows, as you can
+imagine. Wounded men coming from under fire are, as a rule, cheerful,
+often jolly. Being able to get, honorably, from under fire, with the
+mark of manly service to show, is enough to make a fellow cheerful, even
+with a hole through him. Of course I am speaking now of the wounded who
+can walk, and are not utterly disabled.</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly we stopped those wounded men to ask how the fight was going.
+Their invariable account was that it was all right. They spoke about
+what heavy columns the enemy was putting in, but they said we were
+pressing them back, and every one spoke of the dreadful carnage of the
+Federals. One fellow said, after he was shot in the advancing line, he
+had to come back over a place, over which there had been very stubborn
+fighting, and which our men had carried, like a hurricane at last, and
+as he expressed it, &#8220;Dead Yankees were <i>knee deep</i> all over about four
+acres of ground.&#8221; The blood was running down and dropping, very freely,
+off this man&#8217;s arm, while he stood in the road and told us this.</p>
+
+<p>These accounts of the wounded men from the line of battle put us in good
+heart, which was not lessened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> by a long line of Federal prisoners being
+marched to the rear, and the assurance by one of the guard that there
+were &#8220;plenty more where these came from.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And so at last this long exciting day wore away. As dark fell the firing
+ceased. We got some wood and made fires, and, pretty soon after, &#8220;old
+Tom Armistead,&#8221; our Commissary Sergeant, rode up. His appearance was
+hailed with delight, as the promise of something to eat. These
+transports were destined to be moderated when Tom told what he had to
+say. He had ridden on from the wagons, far in the rear, and all he could
+get was a few crackers, and a small bag of wet brown sugar. This he had
+brought with him, across his horse.</p>
+
+<p>Each man got two crackers and one handful of sugar. This disappeared in
+a twinkling. And then we sat around the fires discussing the events of
+the day. One subject of general anxiety, I remember, was when Longstreet
+would be up. As well as things had gone this day, we all knew well, how
+much his Corps would be needed for tomorrow&#8217;s work. It was generally
+regarded as certain that he would get up during the night, and we lay
+down to sleep around our guns confident that all was well for tomorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning we were up early. I don&#8217;t remember that we had anything to
+eat, and as the getting anything to eat in those days made a deep
+impression on our minds, I infer that we didn&#8217;t. However we got a
+<i>wash</i>, a small one. We did not always enjoy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> this refreshment; then had
+to be content with a &#8220;dry polish&#8221; such as Mr. Squeers recommended to
+Nicholas Nickelby at &#8220;Dotheboys Hall,&#8221; when the pump froze. But on this
+occasion we had, with difficulty, secured one canteen of water between
+three of us, wherein we were better off than some of the others. The tin
+pan in which we luxuriated during winter quarters had been relegated to
+the wagon, both as inconvenient to carry, and as requiring too much
+water. It always took two to get a &#8220;campaign wash.&#8221; One fellow poured a
+little water, out of the canteen, into his comrade&#8217;s hands, with which
+he moistened his countenance, a little more poured over his soaped
+hands, and the deed was done. On this occasion when one canteen had to
+serve for three, and no more water was to be had, our ablutions were
+light; in fact, it was little more than a pantomime, in which we &#8220;went
+through the motions&#8221; of a wash. But we were afraid to leave the guns a
+minute, after daylight, for fear of a sudden movement to the front, so
+we had to do with what we had.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this, our cares about all these smaller matters suddenly fell
+out of sight. That fierce musketry broke out again along the lines, in
+the woods, in front. It increased in fury, especially on the right. Very
+soon reports began to float back that the Federals were heavily
+overlapping A. P. Hill&#8217;s right, and things looked dangerous. Then it was
+rumored that some of Hill&#8217;s right regiments were beginning to give way,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+under the resistless weight of the columns hurled upon him and round his
+flank. We could quickly perceive this to be true by the sound of the
+firing, which came nearer to us and passed toward the left. This
+immediately threw our crowd into a fever of excitement; the idea of
+lying there, doing nothing, when our men were falling back, was
+intolerable. Every artillery man thought that if <i>his battery</i> could
+only get in, it would be all right. We knew what a difference it would
+instantly make, if all these silent guns could be sweeping the columns
+of the enemy. We would soon stop them, we thought! We just ached for
+orders to come but they did not. Still the news came, &#8220;impossible to get
+artillery in;&#8221; and loud and deep were the angry complaints of some, and
+curses of others, and great the disgust of all at our forced inaction.
+One fellow near me, voiced the feelings of us all&mdash;&#8220;If we can&#8217;t get in
+there, or Longstreet don&#8217;t get here pretty quick, the devil will be to
+pay.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Arrival of the First Corps</div>
+
+<p>In the midst of this anxious and high wrought feeling, an excited voice
+yelled out, &#8220;Look out down the road. Here they come!&#8221; We were driven
+nearly wild with excited joy, and enthusiasm by the blessed sight of
+Longstreet&#8217;s advance division coming down the road at a double quick, at
+which pace, after the news of Hill&#8217;s critical situation reached them,
+they had come for two miles and a half. The instant the head of his
+column was seen the cries resounded on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> every side, &#8220;Here&#8217;s Longstreet.
+The old war horse is up at last. It&#8217;s all right now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>On, the swift columns came! Crowding up to the road, on both sides, we
+yelled ourselves nearly dumb to cheer them as they swept by. Hearty were
+the greetings as we recognized acquaintances and friends and old battle
+comrades in the passing columns. Specially did the &#8220;Howitzers&#8221; make the
+welkin ring when Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi Brigade passed. This was the
+brigade to which our battery had long been attached, to which we were
+greatly devoted, with whom we had often fought, and admired as one of
+the most splendid fighting corps in the army. And loud was the cheer the
+gallant Mississippians flung back to the &#8220;Howitzers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Everything broke loose as General Longstreet in person rode past. Like a
+fine lady at a party, Longstreet was often late in his arrival at the
+ball, but he always made a sensation and that of delight, when he <i>got</i>
+in, with the grand old First Corps, sweeping behind him, as his train.</p>
+
+<p>This was our own Corps, from which we had been separated for some
+months. The very sight of the gallant old veterans, as they poured on,
+was enough to make all hearts perfectly easy. Our feeling of relief was
+complete and as the Brigades disappeared into the woods in the direction
+of Hill&#8217;s breaking right, where the thunder of their still heroic
+resistance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> to overwhelming odds was roaring, we all felt, &#8220;Thank God!
+it&#8217;s all right now! Longstreet is up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And it <i>was</i> all right. The first brigades as they got up formed, and
+rushed right in, one after another, to check the advance of the enemy.
+And as they successively went in we could hear the musketry grow more
+angry and fierce. Before very long, a crashing peal of musketry broke
+out with a fury that made what we had been hearing before seem like
+pop-crackers. Our crowd quickly perceived that the sound was receding
+from us; at the same time the bullets,&mdash;which had been falling over
+among us entirely too lively to be pleasant to fellows who were not
+shooting any themselves,&mdash;stopped coming. We knew what this meant;
+Longstreet was putting his Corps in, and they were driving the enemy.
+Soon, to confirm our ideas, lines of Federal prisoners, from Hancock&#8217;s
+Corps, they told us, came by, and Longstreet&#8217;s wounded began to pass.
+These fellows told us that our Corps had gone in like a whirlwind, had
+already recovered Hill&#8217;s line, gone beyond it, and were forcing the
+Federals back.</p>
+
+<p>They said Hancock&#8217;s Corps was doubled up, and being torn to pieces and
+they thought we would &#8220;bag the whole business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Love that Lee Inspired in the Men He Led</div>
+
+<p>All this was very nice and we were expressing our delight in the usual
+way. Just then, an officer rode up who told us a bit of news, that made
+us feel more like tears than cheers, and put every fellow&#8217;s heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> into
+his mouth. He said that just before, General Lee had come in an ace of
+being captured. A body of the enemy had pushed through a gap in our line
+and unexpectedly come right upon the old General, who was quietly
+sitting upon his horse. That, these fellows could with perfect ease have
+taken, or shot him, but that he had quietly ridden off, and the enemy
+not knowing who it was, made no special effort to molest him.</p>
+
+<p>I wish you could have seen the appalled look that fell on the faces of
+the men, as they listened to this. Although the danger was past an hour
+ago, they were as pale and startled and shocked as if it were enacting
+then. The bare idea of anything happening to General Lee was enough to
+make a man sick, and I assure you it took all the starch out of us for a
+few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>I don&#8217;t know how it was, but somehow, it never occurred to us that
+anything <i>could</i> happen to General Lee. Of course, we knew that he was
+often exposed, like the rest of us. We had seen him often enough under
+hot fire. And, by the way, I believe that the one only thing General Lee
+ever did, that the men in this army thought he <i>ought not to do</i>, was
+going under fire. We thought him perfect in motive, deed and judgment;
+he could do no wrong, could make no mistake, but this,&mdash;that he was too
+careless in the way he went about a battlefield. Three different times,
+during these very fights, at points of danger, he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> urged to leave
+the spot, as it was &#8220;not the place for him.&#8221; At last he said, &#8220;I wish I
+knew <i>where my place is</i> on the battlefield; wherever I go some one
+tells me <i>that</i> is not the place for me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But, he would go! He wanted to see things for himself, and he wished his
+men to know, that he was looking after them, both seeing that they did
+their duty, and <i>caring</i> for them. And certainly, the sight of his
+beloved face was like the sun to his men for cheer and encouragement.
+Every man thought less of personal danger, and no man thought of
+<i>failure</i> after he had seen General Lee riding along the lines. Nobody
+will ever quite understand what that old man was to us, his soldiers!
+What absolute confidence we felt in him! What love and devotion we had,
+what enthusiastic admiration, what filial affection, we cherished for
+him. We loved him like a father, and thought about him as a devout old
+Roman thought of the God of War. Anything happen to him! It would have
+<i>broken our hearts</i>, for one thing, and, we could no more think of the
+&#8220;Army of Northern Virginia&#8221; without General Lee, at its head, than we
+could picture the day without the sun shining in the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>An incident illustrating this feeling was taking place up in the front
+just about the time we were hearing the news of the General&#8217;s narrow
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>As the Texan Brigade of Longstreet&#8217;s Corps, just come up, dashed upon
+the heavy ranks of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> Federals, they passed General Lee with a rousing
+cheer. The old General, anxious and excited by the critical moment,
+thrilling with sympathy in their gallant bearing, started to ride in,
+with them, to the charge. It was told me the next day by some of the
+Texans, who witnessed it, that the instant the men, unaware of his
+presence with them before, saw the General along with them in that
+furious fire, they cried out in pleading tones&mdash;&#8220;Go back, General Lee.
+We swear we won&#8217;t go on, if you don&#8217;t go back. You shall not stay here
+in this fire! We&#8217;ll charge clear through the wilderness if you will only
+go back.&#8221; And they said, numbers of the men crowded about the General,
+and begged him, with tears, to return, and some caught hold of his feet,
+and some his bridle rein, and turned his horse round, and led him back a
+few steps,&mdash;all the time pleading with him. And then, the General seeing
+the feelings of his men, and that he was <i>actually checking the charge</i>
+by their anxiety for him, said, &#8220;I&#8217;ll go, my men, if you will drive back
+those people,&#8221; and he rode off, they said, with his head down, and they
+saw tears rolling down his cheeks. And they said, many of the men were
+sobbing aloud, overcome by this touching scene. Then with one yell, and
+the tears on their faces, those noble fellows hurled themselves on the
+masses of the enemy like a thunderbolt. Not only did they stop the
+advance, but their resistless fury swept all before it and they followed
+the broken Federals half a mile. They redeemed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> promise to General
+Lee. Eight hundred of them went in, four hundred, only, came out. They
+covered with glory that day, not only themselves, who did such deeds,
+but their leader, who could inspire such feelings at such a moment in
+the hearts of these men. Half their number fell in that splendid charge,
+but&mdash;they saved the line, and they gloriously redeemed their promise to
+General Lee&mdash;&#8220;We&#8217;ll do all you want, if you will only get out of fire.&#8221;
+I cannot think of anything stronger than to say that&mdash;This General, and
+these soldiers, were worthy of each other. There is no higher praise!</p>
+
+<p>As the Brigades of Field&#8217;s division, that followed the Texans, went in,
+a little incident took place, which illustrated the irrepressible spirit
+of fun which would break out everywhere, and which we often laughed at
+afterwards. General Anderson&#8217;s Brigade was ahead, followed hard by
+Benning&#8217;s Brigade, gallant Georgians all, and led by Brigadiers, of whom
+nothing better can be said, than that they were worthy to lead them.
+Among the men General Anderson had somehow got the soubriquet of &#8220;Tige&#8221;
+and General Benning enjoyed the equally respectful name of &#8220;Old Rock.&#8221;
+On this occasion, Anderson was ahead, and as he moved out of sight into
+the woods, his men began to yell and shout like everything. One of
+Anderson&#8217;s men, wounded, blood dropping from his elbow and running down
+his face, was coming out, when he met General Benning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> at the head of
+his column, pushing in as hard as he could go. As this fellow passed
+him, taking advantage of his wound to have a little joke, he pointed to
+the woods in front and called out to the General, &#8220;Hurry up &#8216;Old Rock,&#8217;
+&#8216;Tige&#8217; has treed a pretty big coon he&#8217;s got up there; you&#8217;d better hurry
+up or you won&#8217;t get a smell.&#8221; The brave old Benning, already hurrying
+himself nearly to death, flashed around on the daring speaker, and saw
+at once the streaming blood&mdash;&#8220;Confound that fellow&#8217;s impudence,&#8221; said
+the disgusted General. &#8220;I wish he wasn&#8217;t wounded, if I wouldn&#8217;t fix
+him.&#8221; The fellow well knew that he could say what he pleased to anybody
+with that blood-covered face.</p>
+
+<p>I think it was about eleven or twelve o&#8217;clock we heard that General
+Longstreet was badly wounded, and soon after he was brought to the rear,
+near our guns. With several of the others I went out and had some words
+with the men who were taking him out. To our grief, we heard them say,
+that his wound was very dangerous, probably fatal. He had fallen, up
+there in the woods, on the battle front, fighting his corps, in the full
+tide of victory. He had broken and doubled up Hancock&#8217;s Corps, and
+driven it, with great slaughter back upon their works at the Brock road,
+and in such rout and confusion, that, as he said, he thought he had
+another &#8220;Bull Run&#8221; on them. And if he could have forced on that assault,
+and gotten fixed on the Brock road, it is thought that Grant&#8217;s army<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+would have been in great peril. But, just in the thick of it, he was
+mistaken, while out in front in the woods, for the enemy, and shot, by
+his own men. His fall was in almost every particular just like
+&#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson&#8217;s, in that same wilderness, one year before. Both
+were shot by their own men, at a critical moment, in the midst of
+brilliant success, and in both cases their fall saved the enemy from
+irretrievable disaster. Longstreet&#8217;s fall checked the attack, which
+after an inevitable delay of some hours, was resumed. But the enemy
+seeing his danger had time to recover, and make disposition to meet it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Windrows&#8221; of Federal Dead</div>
+
+<p>Again, at four o&#8217;clock, after this interval of comparative quiet, the
+thunder of battle crashed and rolled. General Lee, himself, fought
+Longstreet&#8217;s Corps. The attack was fierce, obstinate, and fearfully
+bloody. Wilkinson, of the Army of the Potomac, an eye-witness of this
+charge, says, in his book, &#8220;Recollections of a Private Soldier&#8221;: &#8220;The
+Confederate fire resembled the fury of hell in its intensity, and was
+deadly accurate&#8221; and that &#8220;the story of this fight could afterwards be
+read by the windrows of dead men.&#8221; As to its effect he also says: &#8220;We
+could not check the Confederate advance and they forced us back, and
+back, and back. The charging Confederates broke through the left of the
+Ninth Corps and would have cut the army in twain, if not caught on the
+flank, and driven back. Massed for the attack on the Sixth Corps, they
+were skillfully launched, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> ably led, and they struck with terrific
+violence against Shaler&#8217;s and Seymour&#8217;s Brigades, which were routed,
+with a loss of four thousand prisoners. The Confederates came within an
+ace of routing the Sixth Corps. Both their assaults along our line were
+dangerously near being successful.&#8221; Such was the description of a brave
+enemy, an eye-witness of this assault. At last, as dark fell, the fire
+slackened and died out.</p>
+
+<p>The Battle of the Wilderness was done. Grant was pinned into the
+thickets, hardly able to stand Lee&#8217;s attack, no thoroughfare to the
+front and twenty odd thousand of his men dead, wounded and gone. That
+was about the situation when dark fell on the 6th of May!</p>
+
+<p>That night we drew off some distance to the right, and lay down,
+supperless, on the ground around our guns; it was very dark and cloudy
+and soon began to rain. There had been too much powder burnt around
+there during the last two days for it to stay clear. And so, as it
+always did, just after heavy firing, the clouds poured down water
+through the dark night. Lying out exposed on the untented ground, with
+only one blanket to cover with, we got soaking wet, and stayed so.</p>
+
+<p>The comfortless night gave way, at last, to a comfortless day&mdash;May
+7th&mdash;gloomy, lowering, and raining, off and on, till late in the
+evening. During the morning, a little desultory firing was heard in
+front, and then all was quiet and still. We knew enough to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> know that
+Grant&#8217;s push was over at this point. Some of us had gone up to look at
+the ground over which Longstreet had driven the enemy yesterday. We knew
+that the Federal troops could never be gotten back over that awful,
+corpse-covered ground to attack the men who had driven them. We knew we
+had to fight somewhere else, but where? By and by, talk began to
+circulate among the men that Spottsylvania, or around near
+Fredericksburg, might be the place. Of one thing we were all satisfied,
+that we would know soon enough.</p>
+
+<p>In this waiting and excited state of mind, the long, long, rainy day
+wore on, and dark fell again. We had managed to conjure up some very
+lonesome looking fires out of the wet wood lying about (fence rails were
+not attainable here in the wilderness), and were engaged in a hot
+dispute about where the next fighting was to be, which warmed and dried
+us more than the fires did, when &#8220;the winter of our discontent&#8221; was made
+&#8220;glorious summer,&#8221; so to speak, by the news that the wagons had got up,
+and they were going to issue rations. Tom Armistead made this startling
+announcement in as bland, and matter of course a tone as if he were in
+the habit of giving us something to eat <i>every</i> day, which he was not,
+by a great deal. Tom was the dearest fellow in the world, and the best
+Commissary in the army, and we all loved him. Many a time when, in the
+confusion of campaign, the wagon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> was empty, or was snowed in by an
+avalanche of wagons, far in the rear, he could be seen struggling up to
+the front with a bag of crackers, sugar, meat, anything that he had been
+able to lay hands on, across his horse, so that the boys should not
+starve entirely. Hunting us up through the woods, or along the battle
+line, he would ride in among us with his load, and a beaming face, that
+told how glad he was to have something for us. And when, as too often it
+was, the whole Commissary business was &#8220;<i>dead busted</i>,&#8221; our afflicted
+Commissary would tell us there was nothing, with such a rueful visage,
+that it made us sorry we did not have something to give him, and made us
+feel our own emptiness all the more, that it seemed to afflict him so.</p>
+
+<p>The present rations were quickly distributed, and as quickly devoured,
+and not a man was foundered by over-eating! Then we sat around the fires
+and discussed the news that had been gathered from various sources.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE</h3>
+
+<p>It was just ten o&#8217;clock and each man was looking around for the dryest
+spot to spread his blanket on, when a courier rode up, with pressing
+orders for us to get instantly on the march. In a few moments, we were
+tramping rapidly through the darkness, on a road that led, we knew not
+whither. We were, as we found out afterwards, leading the great race,
+that General Lee was making for Spottsylvania Court House to head off
+Grant in his efforts to get out of the Wilderness in his &#8220;push for
+Richmond.&#8221; We were with the vanguard of the skillful movement, by which
+Longstreet&#8217;s Corps was marched entirely around Grant&#8217;s left flank, to
+seize the strong line of the hills around Spottsylvania Court House and
+hold it till the other two Corps could come to our aid.</p>
+
+<p>We marched all night, a hard, forced march over muddy roads, through the
+damp, close night. Soon after the start from our bivouac, a brigade of
+infantry had filed into the road ahead of us, and we could hear, behind
+us on the road, though we could not see for the darkness, the sound of
+other troops marching.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> The Brigade ahead of us, we soon found, to our
+gratification, to be Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi Brigade, now under command
+of General Humphreys, since the gallant Barksdale fell at the head of
+his storming columns at Gettysburg. This was the Brigade to which we had
+belonged in the earlier organization of the artillery. It was a
+magnificent body of men, one of the most thorough fighting corps in the
+army, as they had showed a hundred times, on the bloodiest fields, and
+were soon, and often to show again. There was a very strong mutual
+attachment between the First Richmond Howitzers and Barksdale&#8217;s Brigade,
+and we were much pleased to be with them on this march. We mingled with
+them, as we sped rapidly along, and exchanged greetings, and our several
+experiences since we had been separated.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of the 8th of May broke, foggy and lowering, and found us
+still moving swiftly along. The infantry halting for a rest, we passed
+on ahead, and for some time were marching by ourselves. I well recall
+the impressions of the scene around us on that early morning march. Our
+battery seemed all alone on a quiet country road. The birds were singing
+around us, and it seemed, to us, so sweet! Everybody was impressed by
+the music of those birds. As the old soldiers will remember, the note of
+a bird was a sound we rarely heard. The feathered songsters, no doubt,
+were frightened away, and it was often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> remarked, that we never saw
+birds in the neighborhood of camp. So we specially enjoyed the treat of
+hearing them, now and here, in their own quiet woods, where they had
+never been disturbed. All was quiet and still and peaceful as any rural
+scene could be. It seemed to us wondrous sweet and beautiful! All the
+men were strangely impressed by it. They talked of it to one another. It
+made our hearts soft, it brought to the mind of many of those weary,
+war-worn soldiers, other quiet rural scenes, where lay their homes and
+dear ones, and to which this scene made their hearts go back, in tender
+memory, and loving imagination. All the eyes did not stay dry as we
+passed along that road. We talked of this scene many a time long
+afterwards. And I expect some of the old &#8220;Howitzers&#8221; still remember that
+quiet Spottsylvania country road, winding through the woods, on that
+early Sunday morning, when the birds sang to us, as we hurried on to
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>Well! the morning wore on, and so did we. By and by, the sun came out
+through the fog and clouds, and began to make it hot for us. The
+dampness of the earth made this an easy job. The sun got higher and
+hotter every minute. The way that close, sultry heat did <i>roast</i> us was
+pitiful. We would have &#8220;larded the lean earth as we walked along,&#8221;
+except that hard bones and muscles of gaunt men didn&#8217;t <i>yield</i> any
+&#8220;lard&#8221; to speak of. The <i>breakfast</i> hour was not observed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> <i>i. e.</i>, not
+with any ceremony. &#8220;Cracker nibbling on the fly&#8221; was all the visible
+reminder of that time-honored custom. We were not there to eat, but, to
+get to Spottsylvania Court House; and <i>steps</i> were more to that purpose
+than <i>steaks</i>, so we omitted the steaks, and put in the steps; and we
+put them in very fast, and were putting in a great many of them, it
+appeared to us. At last, just about twelve o&#8217;clock our road wound down
+to a stream, which I think was the <i>Po</i>, one of the head waters of the
+Mattaponi River, and then, we went up a very long hill, a bank,
+surmounted by a rail fence on the left side of the road, and the woods
+on the other.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Stuart&#8217;s Four Thousand Cavalry</div>
+
+<p>Just as we got to the top (our Battery happened just then to be ahead of
+all the troops, and was the first of the columns to reach the spot), the
+road came up to the level of the land on the left, which enabled us to
+see, what, though close by us, had been concealed by the high roadside
+bank. A farm gate opened into a field, around a farmhouse and
+outbuildings, and there, covering that field was the whole of Fitz Lee&#8217;s
+Division of Stuart&#8217;s cavalry. These heroic fellows had for two days been
+fighting Warren&#8217;s corps of Federal infantry, which General Grant had
+sent to seize this very line on which <i>we</i> had now arrived. They had
+fought, mostly dismounted, from hill to hill, from fence to fence, from
+tree to tree; and so obstinate was their resistance, and so skillful the
+dispositions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> of the matchless Stuart, that some thirty thousand men had
+been forced to take about twenty-six hours to get seven or eight miles,
+by about forty-five hundred cavalry. But, it was incomparable cavalry,
+and J. E. B. Stuart was handling it. It was some credit to that Corps to
+have marched any at all! Thanks to the superb conduct of the cavalry,
+General Lee&#8217;s movement had succeeded! We had beaten the Federal column,
+and were here, before them, on this much-coveted line, and meant to hold
+it, too.</p>
+
+<p>I note here in passing, that this Spottsylvania business was a &#8220;white
+day&#8221; for the cavalry. When the army came to know of what the cavalry had
+done, and <i>how they had done it</i>, there was a general outburst of
+admiration,&mdash;the recognition that brave men give to the brave. Stuart
+and his men were written higher than ever on the honor roll, and the
+whole army was ready to take off its hat to salute the cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>And, from that day, there was a marked change in the way the army
+thought and spoke of the cavalry; it took a distinctly different and
+higher position in the respect of the Army, for it had revealed itself
+in a new light; it had shown itself signally possessed of the quality,
+that the infantry and artillery naturally admired most of all
+others&mdash;<i>obstinacy</i> in fight.</p>
+
+<p>As was natural, and highly desirable, each arm of the service had a very
+exalted idea of its own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> importance and merit, as compared with the
+others. In fact the soldier of the &#8220;Army of Northern Virginia&#8221; filled
+exactly the Duke of Marlborough&#8217;s description of the spirit of a good
+soldier. &#8220;He is a poor soldier,&#8221; said the Duke, &#8220;who does not think
+himself as good and better than any other soldier <i>of his own army</i>, and
+<i>three times as good</i> as any man in the army <i>of the enemy</i>.&#8221; That
+fitted our fellows &#8220;to a hair;&#8221; each Confederate soldier thought that
+way.</p>
+
+<p>It was not an unnatural or unreasonable conceit, <i>considering the
+facts</i>. It must be confessed that <i>modesty</i> as to their quality as
+soldiers was not the distinguishing virtue of the men of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, but, it must be considered, in extenuation that their
+experience in war was by no means a good school for humility. An old
+Scotch woman once prayed, &#8220;Lord, gie us a gude conceit o&#8217; ourselves.&#8221;
+There was a certain wisdom in the old woman&#8217;s prayer! The Army of
+Northern Virginia soldiers had this &#8220;gude conceit o&#8217; themselves,&#8221;
+without praying for it; certainly, if they did pray for it, their prayer
+was answered, &#8220;good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running
+over.&#8221; They had it abundantly! And it was a tremendous element of power
+in their &#8220;make up&#8221; as soldiers. It made them the terrible fighters, that
+all the world knew they were. It largely explains their recorded deeds,
+and their matchless achievements.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>For instance, here at the Wilderness! What was it that made thirty-five
+thousand men knowingly and cheerfully march to attack one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, and stick up to them, and fight them for twenty-four
+hours, without support or reinforcement? It was their good opinion of
+themselves; their superb confidence. They felt <i>able</i> with thirty-five
+thousand men, <i>and General Lee</i>, to meet one hundred and fifty thousand
+men, and hold them, till help came; <i>and didn&#8217;t they do it</i>?</p>
+
+<p>Well! they did <i>that kind of thing so often</i> that they couldn&#8217;t get
+humble, and <i>they never have been able to get humble since</i>. They <i>try
+to</i>&mdash;but&mdash;<i>they can&#8217;t</i>!</p>
+
+<p>But I return from this digression to say, that the different Arms of the
+service had something of this same feeling, this good opinion of
+themselves, as compared with one another. Each one had many jokes on the
+others, and whenever they met, all sorts of &#8220;chaffing&#8221; went on. In all
+this, the infantry and artillery felt closer together, and were rather
+apt, when the occasion offered, to turn their combined guns on the
+cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>The general point of the jokes and gibes at the cavalry was their
+<i>supposed</i> tendency to be &#8220;<i>scarce</i>&#8221; when <i>big fighting</i> was going on.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn&#8217;t that anybody doubted the <i>usefulness</i> of cavalry, but their
+usefulness was imagined to lie in other respects than fighting back the
+masses of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> enemy. And, it wasn&#8217;t that anybody supposed that the
+cavalry did not have plenty of fight in them, <i>if they could get a
+chance</i>. We knew that when they were at home they were the same stock as
+we were, and we believed, that if they were along with us, they would do
+as well; but in the cavalry, well! we didn&#8217;t know!</p>
+
+<p>The leaders of the cavalry, Stuart, Hampton, Ashby, Fitz Lee and others,
+were heroes and household names to the whole army. Their brilliant
+courage and dare-deviltry, their hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling
+adventures, their feats of skill, and grace were themes of pride and
+delight to us all. These cavaliers were the &#8220;darlings of the army.&#8221;
+<i>Still</i>, the army would guy the cavalry every chance they got.</p>
+
+<p>It was said that Gen. D. H. Hill proposed to offer a &#8220;reward of Five
+Dollars, to anybody who could find a dead man with spurs on.&#8221; And Gen.
+Jubal Early once, when impatient at the conduct of certain troops in his
+command threatened &#8220;if the cavalry did not do better, he would put them
+<i>in the army</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>One day, an infantry brigade on the march to Chancellorsville had halted
+to rest on the pike, near where a narrow road turned off. A cavalryman
+was seen approaching, in a fast gallop, plainly, in a great hurry. The
+infantry viewed his approach with great interest, prepared to salute him
+with neat and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> appropriate remarks as he passed, by way of making him
+lively.</p>
+
+<p>Just before he got to the head of the brigade he reached the narrow road
+and started up it. Instantly a dozen &#8220;infants&#8221; began to wave their arms
+excitedly, and shout in loud earnest voices&mdash;&#8220;Mister, stop there! don&#8217;t
+go a step farther; for heaven&#8217;s sake <i>don&#8217;t</i> go up that road.&#8221; The
+trooper, startled by this appeal, and the warning gestures of the men,
+approaching him, pulled in his fast-going horse, and stopped, very
+impatiently. He said in a sharp tone, &#8220;What is the matter, why mustn&#8217;t I
+go up this road? Say quick, I&#8217;m in a big hurry.&#8221; &#8220;Don&#8217;t go, we beg you;
+you&#8217;ll never come back alive.&#8221; &#8220;Humph! is that so?&#8221; said this trooper
+(who had been near breaking a blood vessel in his impatience at being
+stopped, but cooled off a little, at this ominous remark)&mdash;&#8220;But what&#8217;s
+ahead? what&#8217;s the danger? The road seems quiet?&#8221; &#8220;Well, Sonny, <i>that&#8217;s</i>
+the danger. Haven&#8217;t you heard about it?&#8221; &#8220;Now, Sonny,&#8221; was a term of
+endearment, which from an &#8220;infant&#8221; always exasperated the feelings of a
+cavalryman to the last degree; turned the milk of kindness in a
+horseman&#8217;s breast into the sourest clabber; and it instantly stirred up
+this trooper. &#8220;Look here men, don&#8217;t fool with me. Tell me what is the
+danger up this road,&#8221; &#8220;Well! we thought we ought to let you know, before
+you expose yourself. General Hill has offered a reward of Five Dollars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+for a dead man with spurs on, and if you go up that lonesome road some
+of these here <i>soldiers</i> will shoot you to get the reward.&#8221; &#8220;Oh pshaw!&#8221;
+cried the disgusted victim, clapping spurs to his horse, and away he
+rode, leaving the grinning and delighted &#8220;infants&#8221; behind, and leaving,
+too, his <i>opinion</i> of them, and their joke, in language that needed no
+interpreter.</p>
+
+<p>This sort of thing was going on, all the time. The infantry and
+artillery <i>would</i> do it. With many, particularly the artillery, who knew
+better, it was <i>only joking</i>, the soldier-instinct to stir up <i>any</i>
+passer-by. But with many, especially the infantry, who were not as much
+&#8220;up to snuff&#8221; as the artillery, these gibes at the cavalry expressed a
+serious, tho&#8217; mistaken idea, they had of them. Upon the advance of the
+enemy, of course, we were accustomed to see cavalrymen hurrying in from
+the outposts to the rear, to report. So the thoughtless infantry, not
+considering that this was &#8220;part of the large and general plan,&#8221; got
+fixed in their minds an association between the two things,&mdash;the advance
+of the enemy, and, the rapid hurrying off to the rear of the cavalry,
+until they came to have the fixed idea, that the sight of the enemy
+<i>always</i> made a cavalryman &#8220;hungry for solitude.&#8221; They reasoned that, as
+a mounted man was much better <i>fixed</i> for running away than a footman,
+it was, by so much, natural that he <i>should</i> run away, and was, by so
+much, the more likely to do it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Also, our orders to move and to go into battle were always brought by
+horsemen; so the horsemen were thought about as <i>causing others to
+fight</i> instead of <i>doing it themselves</i>. So, in short, it came to pass,
+that this innocent infantry had a dim sort of notion that the chief end
+of the cavalry was, in battle time, to run away and bring up other
+people to do the fighting, and in quiet time, to &#8220;range&#8221; for buttermilk
+and other delicacies, which the poor footmen never got. Hence the
+soubriquet of &#8220;buttermilk ranger&#8221; universally applied to the cavalry by
+the army.</p>
+
+<p>But, I assure you, that all this was dispelled at once, and for good and
+all, at Spottsylvania. Here had these gallants gotten down off their
+horses. They hadn&#8217;t run <i>anywhere at all</i>; didn&#8217;t want anybody else to
+come, and fight for them. They had jumped into about five or six times
+their number of the flower of the Federal infantry. They met them front
+to front, and muzzle to muzzle. Of course they had to give back; but it
+was slowly, <i>very slowly</i>, and they made the enemy pay, in blood, for
+every step they gained. They had worried these Federals into a fever,
+and kept them fooling away nearly twenty-six hours of priceless time;
+and made Grant&#8217;s plan <i>fail</i>, and made General Lee&#8217;s plan succeed, and
+had secured the strong line for our defence.</p>
+
+<p>It was a piece of regular, obstinate, bloody, &#8220;bulldog&#8221; work. We knew,
+well as we thought of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> ourselves, that not the staunchest brigade of our
+veteran &#8220;incomparable&#8221; infantry, or battery of our canister-shooting
+artillery, could have <i>fought</i> better, <i>stood</i> better, or <i>achieved
+more</i>, for the success of the campaign. We felt that General Lee,&mdash;that
+the whole army,&mdash;&#8220;owed the cavalry one,&#8221; &#8220;<i>several</i>,&#8221; in fact. The army,
+even the infantry, had come to know the cavalry, at last. Obstinacy,
+toughness, dogged refusal to be driven, was their test of manhood, and
+this test the cavalry had signally, and <i>brilliantly</i> met. Everybody was
+satisfied, the <i>cavalry would do, they</i> were &#8220;all right.&#8221; We couldn&#8217;t
+praise them enough, we were proud of them. The remark was even suffered
+to pass, as nothing to his discredit particularly, that our &#8220;Magnus
+Apollo,&#8221; General Lee, himself, had once been in the cavalry, and no one
+resented it <i>now</i>. We knew that it was when he was <i>younger</i> than now.
+We, of the &#8220;Howitzers,&#8221; knew very well what arm of the service, and what
+corps of that arm, the experienced old General would join, if he was
+enlisting in the Army of Northern Virginia, now, when he knew more than
+he did. Still! he had been a cavalryman; admit it!</p>
+
+<p>And we all <i>admired</i> the cavalry; <i>honored</i> the cavalry; <i>shouted</i> for
+the cavalry, from that time! Occasionally, from force of habit, the
+infantry (the artillery never) would fall from grace at sight of a
+passing cavalry column, and let fall little attentions, that sounded
+very like the old-time compliments, but they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> were not <i>meant that way</i>.
+It was the soldier-instinct to salute pilgrims. Just as, on a village
+street, if a dog, of any degree, starts to run, every other dog in
+sight, or hearing, tears off after him in pursuit, and if he can catch
+up, instantly attacks him,&mdash;not that he has anything against the
+fugitive, but, simply, because he is running by. The act of running past
+makes him the enemy of his kind. So, I think, the Confederate infantry
+assailed, with jokes and gibes, <i>anybody in motion</i> by their camp, or
+column. They had nothing against him; they attacked him because he was
+passing by. &#8220;It was their nature to.&#8221; Of all living men, General Lee,
+<i>alone</i>, was sacred to them in this. The cavalry <i>always</i> had their full
+share, and never suffered for want of notice.</p>
+
+<p>This account of the false idea that prevailed, the fun that came of it,
+and the way it was dispelled, is part of the history of the time. It
+went to make up the life in the Army of Northern Virginia; it lives in
+the recollection of that good old time. No record of that old time would
+be complete without it. So I make no apology for falling into it, in
+this informal reminiscence.</p>
+
+<p>At one o&#8217;clock on Sunday, the 8th of May, we reached the top of the hill
+near Spottsylvania Court House and suddenly came upon Stuart&#8217;s cavalry
+massed in the yard and field around a farmhouse. They had finished their
+splendid fight, the van of the army was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> on the spot to relieve them.
+They had been withdrawn from confronting the enemy, and were now drawn
+up here, preparatory to starting off, to overtake Sheridan&#8217;s raid toward
+Richmond; which they did, and, at &#8220;Yellow Tavern,&#8221; two days after, many
+of them, the immortal Stuart at their head, died and saved Richmond.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Greetings on the Field of Battle</div>
+
+<p>I have lingered at that farmhouse gate, at the top of the hill, in this
+story, very much longer than we did in reality. In fact we didn&#8217;t linger
+there at all. Didn&#8217;t have a chance! For, the moment we came in sight, at
+that gate leading into the farmhouse, an officer came dashing out from
+amongst the troops of cavalry, and galloped across the field toward us.
+The instant this horseman got out of the crowd, we recognized him. That
+long waving feather, the long auburn beard, that easy, graceful seat on
+the swift horse,&mdash;that was &#8220;J. E. B.&#8221; Stuart, and nobody else! He rode
+up to the foremost group of us, and pulled up his horse. With bright,
+pleasant, smiling face, he returned our hearty salute with a touch of
+his hat, and a cheerful, &#8220;Good morning, boys! glad to see you. What
+troops are these?&#8221; &#8220;Richmond Howitzers, Longstreet&#8217;s Corps.&#8221; &#8220;<i>Good!</i>
+anybody else along?&#8221; &#8220;Infantry close behind.&#8221; &#8220;Good! Well, boys, I&#8217;m
+<i>very</i> glad to see you. I&#8217;ve got a little job for you, right now, all
+waiting for you.&#8221; Just then the Captain rode up and saluted. &#8220;Captain,&#8221;
+said the General, saluting pleasantly, &#8220;Draw our guns through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> the gate
+and stop. I&#8217;ll want you in ten minutes.&#8221; And, away he galloped, back
+toward the cavalry. The guns pulled in through the gate and halted as
+they were, on the road leading to the house, close by the cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>We seized this sudden chance to see our old friends among the troopers.
+In every direction our fellows might be seen darting in among the
+horses, in search of our friends. Loud and hearty were the shouts of
+greeting as we recognized, or were seen by, those we sought or
+unexpectedly lighted on. Brothers, met and embraced. Friends greeted
+friends. Old schoolmates, who had, three years ago, parted at the
+schoolroom, locked eager, and loving hands, and asked after others, and
+told what they could. It was a delightful and touching scene, that
+meeting there on the edge of a bloody field! they coming out, we going
+in. There were jokes, and laughs, and cheerful words, but, the
+hand-clasps were very tight, the sudden uprising of tender feelings, at
+the sight of faces, and the sound of voices, we had not seen nor heard
+for years, and that we might see and hear no more. The memories of home,
+or school, and boyhood, suddenly brought back, by the faces linked with
+them, made the tears come, and the words very kind, and the tones very
+gentle.</p>
+
+<p>I had several pleasant encounters. Among others, this: I heard a
+familiar voice sing out, &#8220;William Dame, my dear boy, what on earth are
+you doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> here?&#8221; I eagerly turned, and in the figure hasting toward me
+with outstretched hand,&mdash;as soon as I could read between the lines of
+mud on him,&mdash;I recognized my dear old teacher, Jesse Jones. I loved him
+like an older brother, and was delighted to meet him. I had parted from
+him, that sad day, three years ago, when our school scattered to the
+war. I had seen him last, the quiet gentleman, the thoughtful teacher,
+the pale student, the pink of neatness. Here I find him a dashing
+officer of the Third Virginia Cavalry, girt with saber and pistols,
+covered with mud from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet,
+and just resting from the bloody work of the last two days.</p>
+
+<p>Just here, I had the great pleasure of falling in with my kinsman, and
+almost brother, Lieut. Robert Page, of the Third Virginia Cavalry, the
+older brother of my two comrades, and messmates, Carter and John Page.
+&#8220;Bob&#8221; was one of the &#8220;true blues&#8221; who had followed Stuart&#8217;s feather from
+the start, and was going to follow it to the bitter end. I remember how,
+at the very first, he rode off to the war, from his home, &#8220;Locust
+Grove,&#8221; in Cumberland County, Virginia, on his horse, &#8220;Goliath,&#8221; with
+his company, the Cumberland Troop. He had stuck to the front, been
+always up, and ever at his post, all the way through those three long,
+terrible years. He had deserved, and won his Lieutenancy, and commanded
+his regiment the last days of the war. He made an enviable record as a
+soldier for courage, faithfulness, and honor. None<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> better! At
+Appomattox he was surrendered. And having been forced to cease making
+war on mankind with the saber, he mended his grip, and continued to make
+war, with a far deadlier weapon of destruction, the spatula.</p>
+
+<p>All this was very pleasant, but it was very short. Time was up; ten
+minutes were out! We caught sight of General Stuart cantering across the
+field toward our guns, the bugle rang, and we tumbled out from amidst
+the cavalry, in short order, and took our posts around our respective
+guns.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Jeb&#8221; Stuart Assigns &#8220;A Little Job&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>Stuart was in front of the column of guns talking to Captain McCarthy;
+next moment we moved. That is, the &#8220;Left Section&#8221; moved, the two
+twelve-pounder brass &#8220;Napoleons,&#8221; the &#8220;Right Section&#8221; had two
+ten-pounder &#8220;Parrott&#8221; guns and stayed still. We did not rejoin them for
+several days. It was our &#8220;Napoleons&#8221; that moved off, we took note of
+that! Also, we took very scant gun detachments,&mdash;all our men, but just
+enough to work the guns, stayed behind,&mdash;we took note of <i>that</i> too!
+These two circumstances meant <i>business</i> to old artillerymen. We
+<i>remarked</i> as much, as we trotted beside the guns. &#8220;The little job&#8221; that
+General Stuart had alluded to, with his bland and seductive smile, and
+the merry twinkle of his eye, was, plainly, a very <i>warm</i> little job;
+however, away we went, &#8220;J. E. B.&#8221; Stuart riding in front of the guns,
+with the Captain,&mdash;apparently enjoying himself; <i>we</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> <i>reserved our
+opinion</i> as to the enjoyableness of the occasion, till we should <i>see
+more</i> and be better able to judge. Two guns of &#8220;Callaway&#8217;s&#8221; and two of
+&#8220;Carlton&#8217;s&#8221; Batteries of our Battalion,&mdash;which had come up while we were
+disporting with our cavalry friends, back there,&mdash;had pulled in behind
+our two.</p>
+
+<p>The six guns followed the road which turned around the farmhouse, and
+ran on down toward the back of the farm. There were pine woods about, in
+different directions, the fields lying between. We saw nothing as yet,
+and wondered where we were going. We soon found out! About half a mile
+from the house, the farm road, which here ran along with pine woods on
+the left and a stretch of open field on the right, turned out toward the
+open ground. As we passed out from behind that point of woods, we saw
+&#8220;the elephant!&#8221; There, about six hundred yards from us were the
+Federals, seeming to cover the fields. There were lines of infantry,
+batteries, wagons, ambulances, ordnance trains massed all across the
+open ground. This was part of Warren&#8217;s Corps, which had been pushing for
+the Spottsylvania line. They thought they had left the &#8220;Army of Northern
+Virginia&#8221; back yonder at the &#8220;Wilderness,&#8221; and had nothing before them
+but cavalry, and they were halted, now, resting or eating, intending
+afterwards to advance, and occupy the line, which was back up behind us,
+where we had left the cavalry and our other guns. That line, so coveted,
+so important to them, that they had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> marching, and fighting to
+gain, was not a mile off, in sight, in reach, <i>secure now</i>, as they
+thought. That thought was not only a <i>delusion</i>, it was a <i>snare</i>. They
+were never to reach it! and the &#8220;snare,&#8221; I will explain very soon.</p>
+
+<p>As we thus suddenly came upon that sight, we stopped to look at the
+spectacle. It looked very blue, and I dare say, we looked a shade &#8220;blue&#8221;
+ourselves; for we could not see a Confederate anywhere, and we supposed
+we had no support whatever, though we were better off in this particular
+than we knew. And the idea of pitching into that host, with six
+unsupported guns, was not calming to the mind. Coming out from cover of
+the pines, back of a slight ridge that ran through the field, with a few
+sassafras bushes on it, we were not seen, and the Federals were in
+blissful ignorance of what was about to follow. We pulled diagonally
+across the field to a point, just back of the low ridge, and quietly
+went into position and unlimbered the guns. We pushed them, by hand, up
+so that the muzzles just looked clear over the ridge, which thus acted
+as a low work in our front, and proved a great protection. The field had
+been freshly plowed for corn, the wheels sunk into it, and the minute we
+tried to move the guns, by hand, with our small force, we saw what it
+was going to be, in action, with the sun blazing down.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>When all was ready,&mdash;guns pointed, limber, and caisson chests
+opened,&mdash;General Stuart said, waving his hand toward that swarming field
+of Federals, &#8220;Boys, I want you to knock that all to pieces for me. So go
+to work.&#8221; And this was the last time we ever saw the superb hero. He
+rode, right from our guns, to his death at &#8220;Yellow Tavern&#8221; a day or two
+after. We have always remembered with the deepest interest, that the
+very last thing that glorious soldier, &#8220;J. E. B.&#8221; Stuart, did in the
+Army of Northern Virginia was to put our guns into position, and give us
+orders; which <i>we obeyed</i>, to his entire satisfaction, I know, if he had
+seen it.</p>
+
+<p>The minute General Stuart had given his order, and turned to ride away,
+Captain McCarthy, sitting on his horse, where he sat during the whole
+fight, looking as cool as the sun would let him, and far more
+unconcerned than if he had been going to dinner, sung out, &#8220;Section &mdash;&mdash;
+commence firing.&#8221; It was ours, the Fourth gun&#8217;s turn to open the ball.
+We were all waiting around the guns for the word.</p>
+
+<p>The group, as it stood, is before my mind as vividly as then. Dan
+McCarthy, Sergt. Ned Stine, acting gunner (vice Tony Dibrell absent,
+sick, for some time past, who came tearing back, <i>still sick</i>, the
+moment he heard we were on the warpath) Ben Lambert, No. 1; Joe Bowen,
+No. 2; Beau Barnes, No. 3; W. M. Dame, No. 4; Bill Hardy, No. 5;
+Charlie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Pleasants, No. 6; Sam Vaden, No. 7; Watt Dibbrell, No. 8! The
+three drivers of the limber, six yards back of the gun, dismounted, and
+holding their horses. Ellis, the lead driver, had scooped out the loose
+dirt, with his hands, and lay down, on his back, in the shallow hole,
+holding the reins with his upstretched hands.</p>
+
+<p>The third gun was just to our right, the cannoneers grouped around the
+guns, each man at his post. Travis Moncure, Sergeant, known and loved
+and honored among us as &#8220;Monkey,&#8221; always brave and true and smiling,
+even under fire, Harry Townsend, gunner; Cary Eggleston, No. 1; Pres
+Ellyson, No. 2; &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash; Denman, No. 3; Charlie Kinsolving, No. 4;
+Charlie Harrington, No. 5; &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, No. 6; &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, No. 7; &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;,
+No. 8; Captain McCarthy sitting his horse, just behind, and between the
+two guns. The other guns were a little to our left.</p>
+
+<p>All was ready; guns loaded and pointed, carefully, every man at his
+post,&mdash;feeling right solemn too,&mdash;and a dead stillness reigned. The
+Captain&#8217;s steady voice rang out! As an echo to it, Dan McCarthy sung out
+&#8220;Fourth detachment commence firing, fire!&#8221; I gave the lanyard a jerk. A
+lurid spout of flame about ten feet long shot from the mouth of the old
+&#8220;Napoleon,&#8221; then, in the dead silence, a ringing, crashing roar, that
+sounded like the heavens were falling, and rolled a wrathful thunder far
+over the fields and echoing woods. Then became distinct, a savage,
+venomous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> scream, along the track of the shell. This grew fainter,&mdash;died
+on our ear! We eagerly watched! Suddenly, right over the heads of the
+enemy, a flash of fire, a puff of snow-white smoke, which hung like a
+little cloud! We gave a yell of delight; our shell had gone right into
+the midst of the Federals, and burst beautifully. The ball was open!</p>
+
+<p>The instant our gun fired we could hear old Moncure sing out, &#8220;Third
+detachment, commence firing, fire!&#8221; and the Third piece rang out. The
+guns on the left joined in, lustily, and in a moment, those six guns
+were steadily roaring, and hurling a storm of shell upon the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>And now the fun began, and soon &#8220;grew fast and furious.&#8221; Over in the
+Federal lines, taken by surprise, all was confusion, worse confounded.
+We could see men running wildly about, teamsters, jumping into the
+saddle, and frantically lashing their horses,&mdash;wagons, ambulances,
+ordnance carts, battery forges, tearing furiously, in every direction.
+Several vehicles upset, and many teams, maddened by the lash, and the
+confusion, and bursting shells, dashing away uncontrollable. We saw
+<i>one</i> wagon, flying like the wind, strike a stump, and thrown, team and
+all, a perfect wreck, on top of a low rail fence, crushing it down, and
+rolling over it.</p>
+
+<p>This was the only time I ever saw a big army wagon, and team, thrown
+over a fence.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>All that lively time they were having over among the enemy was very
+amusing to us; we were highly delighted, and enjoyed it very much.
+Laughter, and jocular remarks on the scene were heard all about, as we
+worked the gun, and we did our best to keep up the show.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, we were not deceived for a moment. Wild and furious as was
+the confusion, and running, over the way, we knew, well, it was the
+wagoners and &#8220;bomb-proof&#8221; people, who were doing the running, and
+stirring up the confusion. We knew they were not <i>all</i> running away. We
+had seen a good deal of artillery in that field, and we knew that we
+should soon hear from them. And we were not mistaken!</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the sound of our guns was suddenly varied by a sharp,
+venomous screech, clap of thunder, right over our heads, followed by a
+ripping, tearing, splitting crash, that filled the air; a regular blood
+freezer. We knew <i>that sound</i>! It was a bursting Parrott shell from a
+Federal gun! And they had the range.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy had run out about eighteen, or twenty guns, and they let in,
+mad as hornets. Another shell, and another, and another, came screaming
+over us. Then they began to <i>swarm</i>; the air seemed full of
+them,&mdash;bursting shells, jagged fragments, balls out of case-shot,&mdash;it
+sounded like a thousand devils, shrieking in the air all about us. Then,
+the roaring of our guns, the heavy smoke, the sulphurous smell, the
+shaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> of the ground under the thunder of the guns,&mdash;it was a fit
+place for <i>devils</i> to shriek in.</p>
+
+<p>And how <i>hot</i> it was! Twenty guns, in full fire, can make it hot at the
+foot of the North Pole, and this was <i>not</i> the North Pole! quite the
+reverse. In addition to the battle heat, the sun was pouring down, hot
+as blazes; and the labor of working a rapidly firing &#8220;Napoleon&#8221; gun,
+with four men, in deeply plowed ground, and the strong excitement of
+battle&mdash;altogether, it was the hottest place I ever saw, or hope I shall
+<i>ever</i> see, in this world, or in the world to come. It nearly melted the
+marrow in our bones!</p>
+
+<p>A persimmon sapling stood near our gun. It was trimmed, and chipped
+down, twig by twig, and limb by limb, by pieces of shell, until it was a
+lot of <i>scraps scattered over the ground</i>. Sam Vaden, as he passed me,
+with a shell, said &#8220;Dame, just look back over this field behind us. A
+mosquito couldn&#8217;t fly across that field without getting hit.&#8221; It looked
+so! The dirt was being knocked up, wherever you looked, literally, by
+<i>shower</i> of balls, and shell fragments. It had the appearance of hail
+striking on the surface of water, only it wasn&#8217;t cold.</p>
+
+<p>Well! for three mortal hours this battle raged. They hammered us, and we
+hammered them. Occasionally, we saw a Federal caisson blown up, which
+refreshed us, and several of their guns ceased firing&mdash;disabled or
+cannoneers cleared out, we thought&mdash;and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> <i>this</i> refreshed us. We wished
+they would <i>all</i> blow up, and stop shooting.</p>
+
+<p>After we had been under fire sometime, with nobody hurt as yet, a
+case-shot burst in front of us, and Hardy, who had just brought up a
+shell, and was standing right by me, said, in his usual deliberate way,
+&#8220;Dame, I&#8217;m hit, and hit very hard, I am afraid.&#8221; &#8220;Where are you hit?&#8221; I
+asked. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;m shot through the thigh, and the leg is numbed.&#8221; I
+fired the gun, and jumped down to see what I could do for him. I found
+the place, and it looked ugly. There was a clean-cut hole right through
+his pants, to the thickest part of the thigh. I put my finger into the
+hole, and tore away the cloth to get at the wound, and found to my
+great, and his <i>greater</i> delight, that the ball had struck, and glanced.
+It had made a long black bruise and the pain was much greater than if it
+had gone through the leg. It had struck the great mass of muscle on the
+outer thigh, and the leg was, for the time, paralyzed and stiff as a
+poker. He was completely disabled. I said, &#8220;Bill, you must get right
+away from here.&#8221; &#8220;But I <i>can&#8217;t</i> walk a step.&#8221; &#8220;Well crawl off on your
+hands and your good foot, not a man could leave the gun, to help you,
+and go out to the side so as to get soonest from under fire.&#8221; So the
+poor fellow hobbled off, as best he could, all alone, amidst the
+laughter of the fellows at his novel locomotion. We could see the
+bullets knocking up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> the dirt all <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'aound'">around</ins> him, as he went slowly &#8220;hopping
+the clods&#8221; across the plowed fields. But he got off all right. Shortly
+after Hardy was struck, Charley Pleasants, of Richmond No. &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, at
+the Third gun, was shot through the thigh. A long and tedious wound
+which kept him disabled some months. Bill Hardy was back to duty in a
+day or so. One of the horses, the off horse of the wheel team of our
+limber, was hit, also. A piece of shell went into his head, between the
+right eye and ear, cutting the brow band of the bridle. The old horse, a
+character in the Battery, didn&#8217;t seem to mind it; and he wore that piece
+of shell, in his head, until the end of the war.</p>
+
+<p>And, strange as it seemed, these were all our casualties, under that hot
+fire; one man, seriously, and one slightly wounded and a horse slightly
+hurt.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Wounding of Robert Fulton Moore</div>
+
+<p>No! I forgot! There was one other casualty,&mdash;Robert Fulton Moore was
+mortally wounded, <i>in the hat brim</i>. And this gave rise to a most
+amusing scene. Robert Fulton was a driver to the limber of the third
+gun. He was a large, soft, man, and was, by no means, characterized by
+soldierly bearing, or warlike sentiments. On the contrary, he was
+something of a &#8220;butt,&#8221; and was always desperately unhappy under fire. He
+could dodge lower off the back of a horse at sound of a shell, than any
+man living. His miraculous feats, in this performance, afforded much
+diversion, whenever the guns went under fire, to us all, except his
+Sergeant, Moncure, who was very much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> ashamed of it. Still, in a
+general, feeble sort of way Robert Fulton had managed to keep up without
+any flagrant act of flinching from his post. On this occasion he had
+stood up better than usual. He stood holding his horses, and we noticed,
+with pleasure, that he was behaving very well under fire. But, it seems,
+his courage was only &#8220;hanging by the eyelids&#8221; so to speak.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a piece of shell came whizzing very close to his head. It cut
+away part of his hat brim, and alas! this was too much! Poor Robert
+Fulton went all to pieces, instantly. Completely demoralized,
+panic-stricken and frantic with terror, he dropped his reins, and struck
+out wildly. It seems, he had seen Ellis, our lead driver, scooping out
+the hole that has been referred to, and as this was the only hole of any
+kind in reach, he instinctively struck for it. Ellis was lying down in
+it, flat on his back, with his arms stretched upward, holding his
+horses. Robert Fulton rounded the limber, and threw himself down with
+all his weight, right upon, and completely covering up, Ellis, and stuck
+his face in the dirt over Ellis&#8217; shoulder, effectually pinning him down.
+Ellis was a fiery, ugly-tempered fellow, but as brave as Julius C&aelig;sar,
+and of all men in the battery he had the greatest contempt for Moore,
+and especially for his present conduct. Ellis, upon finding Moore on top
+of him, was in a perfect blaze of fury. The breath was nearly knocked
+out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> of him by Moore&#8217;s weight, and he was mashed into the narrow hole,
+and embarrassed by the reins of his horses. He tried to throw Moore off,
+and couldn&#8217;t. Then he broke loose! He yelled, and swore, and bit, and
+pulled Moore&#8217;s hair, and socked his spurs into him, with both feet. He
+would have broken a blood vessel if McCarthy, assisted by Moncure, who
+had come to look after his driver, had not pulled Moore off, and taken
+him back to his post.</p>
+
+<p>Our attention was drawn to this scene by the noise. The terrific combat
+going on in that hole, the sight of Ellis&#8217; legs and arms, tossing wildly
+in the air, Moore not moving a muscle, but lying still, on top, the dust
+kicked up by the fray,&mdash;it was more than flesh and blood could stand,
+even under such a fire, and we could hardly work the guns for laughing.
+After the fight, when Moore had time to look into his injuries, he found
+that Ellis had nearly skinned him with his spurs. Some days after, we
+heard Robert Fulton exhibiting his torn hat brim to some passing
+acquaintance from his own neighborhood, as a trophy of his prowess in
+this fight. No doubt he preserves it as a sacred relic yet.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Useful Discovery</div>
+
+<p>In this fight, necessity, the mother of invention, put us up to a device
+that served us well here, and that we made fullest use of, in every
+fight we had afterwards. When we had kept up that rapid fire, with a
+scant gun detachment, in plowed ground, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> under a hot sun, for an
+hour, we were nearly exhausted. After Hardy was wounded, and left us, it
+was still worse. The hardest labor, and what took most time, was running
+up the guns from the recoil. We had stopped a moment to rest, and let
+the gun cool a little, and were discussing the difficulties, when the
+idea occurred to us. There was an old rail fence near by. Somebody said
+&#8220;let&#8217;s get some rails and chock the wheels to keep them from running
+back.&#8221; This struck us all as good, and in an instant we had piled up
+rails behind the wheels as high as the trail would allow. The effect
+was, that when the gun fired it simply jerked back against this rail
+pile, and rested in its place, and so we were saved all the time and
+labor of running up. We found that we could fire three or four times as
+rapidly, in this way. So that a chocked gun was equal to four in a
+fight. We found this simple device of immense service! We were told by
+the knowing ones that we ran the greatest possible danger. The ordnance
+people said that if a gun was not allowed to recoil it would certainly
+burst. But we didn&#8217;t mind! A device that saved so much labor, and
+enabled us to deliver such an extraordinarily effective fire on the
+battlefield, we were bound to try. We found it acted beautifully. We
+then <i>knew</i> the guns <i>wouldn&#8217;t</i> burst for we had tried it.</p>
+
+<p>We used it afterward in every fight. The instant we were ordered into
+position, two or three cannoneers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> would rush off and get rails, or a
+log or two, to chock the guns. And on two or three very desperate
+emergencies, during this campaign, this device enabled us to render very
+important service. It made a battery equal to a battalion, and a good
+many other batteries took it up, and used it. I believe it added greatly
+to the effectiveness of our artillery in the close-range fighting of
+this campaign.</p>
+
+<p>Well! even with this relief, the labor of working our guns in this
+furious and prolonged fight was fearful! At last the welcome order,
+&#8220;Section cease firing&#8221; was given. We limbered up, and drew the guns a
+short distance to the side, out of the line of fire, and utterly
+exhausted, we cannoneers, threw ourselves right down on the plowed
+ground beside the guns, and slept like the dead.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, while we had been fighting out in that field, events
+were taking place near us, of which we, absorbed in the work before us
+and deafened by the roar of our guns, had taken little notice at the
+time. As had been described, there was a body of woods some distance off
+to our right, and another, to our left. When we went into position we
+had not seen any of our troops, and did not know of the presence of any,
+near us. We thought we were without support, but as I intimated some
+time back, we were better off than we knew.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi Creeper</div>
+
+<p>It seems, that before we came on the ground, Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi
+Brigade, which had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> marching behind us, had filed off the road, and
+while we were up on the hill with the cavalry, had quietly, and silently
+passed into that body of woods to our right, unseen by the enemy. Along
+the front edge of that wood ran an old rail fence, covered all over with
+the luxuriant vine known as &#8220;Virginia Creeper.&#8221; Wide open fields
+extending in front. Soon, the ground behind that fence was covered with
+another sort of &#8220;creeper,&#8221; not as good a &#8220;runner&#8221; as that on the fence,
+nor as &#8220;green,&#8221; but just as tough of fibre, and as hard to &#8220;hold on&#8221;
+when it had once fixed itself,&mdash;the &#8220;<i>Mississippi</i> Creeper.&#8221; Silently,
+as ghosts, the Brigade glided in behind that fence, and lay low, and
+waited. Right here, was where the Federals&#8217; idea of <i>quietly</i> occupying
+the Spottsylvania line was going to prove a snare. They had not the
+dimmest suspicion that we were ahead of them, and between them and that
+line. They came on, with guileless confidence, and walked right into
+trouble. Presently, a line of battle with columns of troops behind came
+marching across the fields upon the concealed Mississippians. Nearer and
+nearer they came, unsuspecting any danger, till they got nearly up to
+the fence. One man had actually thrown his leg over the rail to mount.
+Suddenly! as lightning out of a clear sky, a blinding sheet of flame
+flashed into their very faces. Then, after one volley, swiftly came the
+dreadful, venomous roll of musketry, the Mississippians loading and
+firing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> &#8220;at will,&#8221; every man as fast as he could. It was just as if &#8220;the
+angel of death spread his wings to the blast and breathed in the face of
+the foe as he passed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That withering fire tore the ranks of that Division to pieces. It didn&#8217;t
+take those fellows half a second to decide what to do. With yells of
+dismay, they charged back, out of that hornet&#8217;s nest, as if the devil
+was after them. In headlong rout, they rushed wildly back across the
+fields, and disappeared in the woods beyond.</p>
+
+<p>They left four hundred and two of their number in front of that fence,
+and before the fugitives got out of range, their General of Division,
+General Robinson, was seriously wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Some of our men went out among the Federal wounded to do what they could
+for their relief. An officer of a Mississippi Regiment came upon a
+<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Fedtral'">Federal</ins> Colonel who lay to all appearance mortally wounded, and gave him
+a drink of water, and did what else he could for his comfort. The
+Federal took out a fine gold watch, and said, &#8220;Here is a watch that I
+value very highly. You have been very kind to me, and I would like you
+to have it, as I am going to die. If I should get over this, and send to
+you for it you will let me have it, if not, I want you to keep it. But,&#8221;
+he said sadly, &#8220;my wound is mortal, I am obliged to die.&#8221; The
+Mississippian left him, and went back to his post, supposing him dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Many years after the war, the Mississippi officer was in Baltimore at
+Barnum&#8217;s Hotel. One day, he got into casual talk with a gentleman, at
+dinner, and, as he seemed to be a good fellow, they smoked their cigars
+together after dinner, and continued their conversation. By and by they
+got on the war. It came out, that both of them had served, and on
+opposite sides. Finally, in telling some particular incidents of his
+experience, the Federal soldier described this very fight, his being, as
+he thought mortally wounded, the kindness shown him by a Confederate
+officer, and his gift to him, of his watch. The Southern man said, &#8220;What
+is your name?&#8221; &#8220;Col. &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, of Robinson&#8217;s Division,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Can
+you be the man? Have I struck you at last?&#8221; cried the ex-Confederate.
+&#8220;<i>I&#8217;ve</i> got your watch, and here it is, with your name engraved in it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Kershaw&#8217;s South Carolina &#8220;Rice Birds&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>It was a singular incident, that these two should meet again so! The
+meeting was most cordial; the Federal was delighted to get his watch
+again, made doubly valuable by so strange a history.</p>
+
+<p>While this bloody episode was enacting by the Mississippi Brigade, in
+the woods to our right, an almost exactly similar scene was going on, in
+the woods to our left. A portion of Kershaw&#8217;s South Carolina Brigade was
+unwittingly stumbled upon by &#8220;Griffin&#8217;s&#8221; Division in the pines. Another
+complete ambuscade! The South Carolinians suddenly sprang<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> up before the
+Federals, let them have it, broke and routed them, and killed, and
+wounded eighty-seven of them. Our loss was one man. Things were so
+sudden, so close here, that one of Kershaw&#8217;s men killed a Federal
+soldier, and wounded another with an axe he happened to have in his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>These first efforts of &#8220;Warren&#8217;s&#8221; Corps that had gotten up near the
+Spottsylvania line, &#8220;just in time to be too late,&#8221; are thus described by
+Swinton, the admirable historian of the &#8220;Army of the Potomac.&#8221;
+(Swinton&#8217;s &#8220;Army of the Potomac,&#8221; p. 443):</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Finally,&#8221; he says, &#8220;the column (Warren&#8217;s) emerged from the woods into a
+clearing, two miles north of Spottsylvania Court House. Forming in line,
+Robinson&#8217;s Division advanced over the plain. Thus far, only Stuart&#8217;s
+dismounted troops had been encountered, and no other opposition was
+anticipated; but when half way across the field, and on the point of
+rising the crest, the troops were met by a savage musketry fire from
+infantry. Owing to their severe experience in the Wilderness, and the
+night march, without rest, the men were in an excited, and almost
+frightened, condition, and the tendency to <i>stampede</i> was so great that
+General Warren had been compelled to go in front of the leading Brigade.
+When, therefore, they received a fire in front, from the redoubtable foe
+they had left in the Wilderness, the line wavered, and fell back in some
+confusion. General Robinson was at the same time severely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> wounded,
+which left the troops without their commander at a critical moment, and
+they were with some difficulty rallied and reformed in the woods back of
+the open plain. Griffin&#8217;s Division, which advanced on the right of
+Robinson, soon afterward received the same fire with a like result.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It seems then, that it was Robinson&#8217;s Division that the little
+Mississippi Brigade sent to the right about, and it was Griffin&#8217;s
+Division, who scared themselves nearly into fits, by flushing Kershaw&#8217;s
+&#8220;rice-birds,&#8221; in the pines. It was a little hard on these &#8220;excited and
+almost frightened&#8221; men of Warren&#8217;s. The memory of the fearful shaking up
+they had got, day before yesterday, was so fresh in their minds that
+&#8220;General Warren himself, the <i>Corps Commander</i>, had to go in front of
+the leading Brigade&#8221; to quiet their nerves, even when they thought they
+were advancing upon a few dismounted troops. They thought,&mdash;a little
+comfort in this,&mdash;that, at least, all those terrible fellows of the Army
+of Northern Virginia were far behind them. And&mdash;to meet them <i>here</i>,
+still, in front! It must be confessed it was hard! It was a very sad
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that General Grant&#8217;s strained relations with General Warren
+came of Warren&#8217;s conduct of this move, to seize the Spottsylvania line.
+He found great fault with his failure. But, perhaps he was a little hard
+on <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Warrren'">Warren</ins>. What could Warren do?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> His men were demoralized, &#8220;excited,
+almost frightened, tending to stampede, needing the Corps General to go
+in front,&#8221; and stopping to dine, instead of pushing on to seize the
+line. They had to meet men who were not <i>particularly excited</i>, were not
+<i>at all frightened</i> and had not <i>the least tendency to stampede</i>; in
+fact, were in the best of spirits, perfectly confident of victory, and
+did not need <i>a corporal to go in front of them</i>, gaunt, hungry, cool
+fellows, who never counted noses&mdash;in a fight!</p>
+
+<p>It was too much to expect Warren, with men like his, to go anywhere, or
+take anything, when men like these others were in the way. Grant was too
+hard on Warren! If it took a <i>Corps Commander</i>, going in front, to
+encourage them along to advance upon <i>a few troopers</i>. I hardly think
+that Generals Grant and Meade, and President Lincoln, and Secretary
+Stanton, <i>all together</i>,&mdash;going in front, could have got them up, <i>if
+they had known who was actually ahead</i>.</p>
+
+<p>However that may be, the object of our rapid all-night march, and of our
+venturesome stand, out here, in front of the Spottsylvania line, was
+accomplished! The stir up we gave them with that long artillery fire,
+and the savage and bloody repulses of two of their divisions made them
+more nervous than they were before. They spent some time considering who
+it could be in their front, and considering what to do. Later on, two
+more Divisions advanced, and our two Brigades and our guns retired.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>Our work was done! While we had been out in front amusing the enemy, and
+keeping them easy, the Brigades of Longstreet&#8217;s Corps had been rapidly
+coming up, and taking position on the all-important line. We now had a
+<i>sure enough line of battle</i> holding it. And night was falling; the
+enemy out in front had stopped, and gone to intrenching, instead of
+pushing on. We knew that during that night our people, Ewell and Hill,
+would be up. All were safe! We slept the sleep of the weary. So ended
+the 8th of May. It was a pretty full day for us!</p>
+
+<p>I don&#8217;t remember anything at all about the early morning of the next
+day, the 9th. We were dreadfully tired, and I suppose we slept late, and
+then lounged about, with nothing to do, yet, in a listless, stupid
+state. Everything was quiet around us, and nothing to attract <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'atention'">attention</ins>,
+or fix it in mind. About mid-day, I recollect noticing bodies of troops,
+a regiment, a brigade, or two, moving about, here and there, in various
+directions. We heard that Ewell&#8217;s and Hill&#8217;s Corps had come up, and
+these troops we saw, were taking their way leisurely, along, to the
+various position on the line of battle.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon, about four or five o&#8217;clock, our guns, the &#8220;Napoleon&#8221;
+Section, moved off to take our destined position on the line. We
+followed a farm road, off toward the left, and presently came down into
+quite a decided hollow, through which ran a little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> stream of water.
+Here we halted! The ground before us rose into a low short hill. Along
+the ridge of that hill ran the proposed line of battle, and there was
+the position for which we were making. There was quite a lively picket
+fire going on, in different directions, and right over the hill, behind
+which we were, an occasional shell could be heard screeching about, here
+and there. Several passed over us, high above our heads, and away to the
+rear. Federal Artillery lazily feeling about to provoke a reply, and
+find out where somebody was. They felt lonesome, perhaps! It was a calm,
+sweet sunlit May evening.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Feeling Pulses</div>
+
+<p>In order not to expose us longer than necessary to this fire of the
+pickets, Lieutenant Anderson, commanding this &#8220;Section,&#8221; went up on the
+hill, to select <i>exact</i> position for the guns, so that they might be
+promptly placed, when we went up. While he was up there reconnoitering,
+we lay down on the ground, and waited, and talked. The bullets dropped
+over, near, and among us, now and then, and we knew, that the moment we
+went up a few steps, on the hill, we would be a mark for sharp-shooters,
+a particularly unpleasant situation for artillery. But we tried to
+forget all this, and be as happy and <i>seem</i> as careless as we could. And
+we would have gotten along very well if let alone. But, there was a
+dreadful, dirty, snuffy, spectacled old Irishman, named Robert Close, a
+driver, who took this interval to amuse himself. He would ask us &#8220;how we
+felt,&#8221; and he came around to most of us, young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> fellows, and asked us to
+let him feel our pulse, and see if we were at all excited, or scared;
+and he would put his hand on our hearts, to see if they were beating
+regularly enough. And he would call out the result of his investigation
+in each case,&mdash;the other fellows all sitting around, and eagerly waiting
+his report. Nobody can tell what a dreadful trial this simple thing was!
+When just going under fire&mdash;and indeed <i>already</i> under some fire&mdash;to
+have your heart and your pulse felt, and reported on to a waiting crowd
+of comrades! But, all of us youngsters had to undergo it! That cruel,
+old scoundrel went round to every one of the youngsters. It was an
+unspeakable humiliation for a <i>cannoneer</i> to be thus fingered by <i>a
+driver</i>, but what could we do? Not a thing!</p>
+
+<p>We would <i>have liked</i> to knock the old rascal&#8217;s head off, but, not one
+of us would have dared to object to that pulse feeling, and we in turn
+meekly held out our wrists, and <i>tried</i> to look happy and amused&mdash;and
+made a dismal failure of it. Old Close was as brave, himself, as a lion.
+<i>He</i> had as soon go in a fight as not; a little sooner! When balls
+swarmed around, he didn&#8217;t care a bit. He was in a position to do this
+thing. But it was suffering to us. Each man waited, with anxious heart,
+for his turn to come, for old Close to &#8220;pass upon his condition.&#8221; Those
+whom he approved, were pleased to death, and those whom he didn&#8217;t, hated
+him from that time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>I honestly believe that old Irishman gave me the worst scare I had in
+that campaign, and I am sure that a compliment, on the field, from
+General Longstreet himself, would not have pleased me more, than that
+snuffy old fellow&#8217;s verdict, after feeling my pulse that I &#8220;would do all
+right.&#8221; It was quite a curious scene altogether!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Where the Fight Was Hottest</div>
+
+<p>In a few minutes Lieutenant Anderson came down and ordered us forward.
+He told us &#8220;the sharp-shooters were making it a little warm&#8221; up there.
+When the guns got to the top of the rise, they must go at a trot to
+their positions, the sooner to get the horses from under fire. Twenty or
+thirty steps brought us to the top of the sharp little ascent. Here we
+found a few of our sharp-shooters exchanging compliments with the enemy,
+and the balls were knocking up the dirt, and whistling around. I was
+interested in watching one of our fellows. He was squatting down,
+holding his rifle ready. A Federal sharp-shooter, whom we could not see,
+was cracking at him. Three times a ball struck right by him, and came
+whizzing by us. He kept still, and patiently bided his time. Suddenly,
+he threw up his rifle and fired, and then exclaimed &#8220;Well! I got <i>you</i>
+anyhow.&#8221; The balls stopped coming. This man said that the concealed
+Federal sharp-shooter had been shooting at him for some time and he had
+been waiting for him. At last, catching sight of a head rising from
+behind a bush, he got his chance, as we saw, and dropped his man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> Our
+guns were placed in their position, selected for them on the line, and
+the horses sent back to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Our position here was right on the infantry line of battle. That is, on
+that line the infantry afterwards took. For when we got on the spot,
+there was no infantry there,&mdash;nothing except the sharp-shooters, already
+referred to. The line was traced by a continuous pile of dirt thrown up,
+I don&#8217;t know by whom, before we got on the ground. I suppose the
+engineers had it done as a guide to the troops, in taking position.</p>
+
+<p>The position our guns now took, grew to be very familiar ground to us,
+and remains very memorable. On this spot we stayed, and fought our part
+in the Spottsylvania battles. On this spot we saw many bloody sights,
+and witnessed many heroic scenes, and had many thrilling experiences.
+The incidents of those days spent there, in nearly all their details,
+are indelibly impressed on my memory, and are as fresh as if they
+happened yesterday.</p>
+
+<p>We stood on a low ridge which rose gradually to the right. To the left,
+after running level for fifty yards, the ground fell rapidly away, until
+it sank down into the valley of a little brook, one hundred and fifty
+yards from us. Off to the left, in front, stretched a large body of
+woods. To the right, in front, stood a body of thick pines coming up to
+within two or three hundred yards of us, its edge running along to the
+right about that distance parallel with our line.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Directly in front of
+us, the ground,&mdash;cleared fields about three or four hundred yards
+wide,&mdash;sloped gently away down to a stream, and beyond, sloped gently
+upward to the top of the hill, on which stood a farmhouse, and
+buildings. That hill was considerably higher than our position, and
+commanded it. That hill-top was about one-half to three-quarters of a
+mile from us.</p>
+
+<p>All along our front, in the bottom, ran a little stream; the ground, on
+either side, in our immediate front, was swampy, and thickly covered
+with low swamp growth. That soft ground saved us a good many hard knocks
+we had plenty as it was! Behind us, our cleared ground ran back, very
+gently sloping, almost level, some thirty or forty yards, and then, the
+hill fell sharply down, some twenty yards to the little brook, which ran
+along the hollow! This sharp bank, facing away from the enemy, and this
+stream, protected by it, and so near us, proved a great comfort to us.
+It also was of great service as a covered way, by which troops and
+supplies (<i>ammunition</i>, while there, it did not seem to be considered
+necessary for us to have any other supplies) were able to approach the
+line. Once it proved of vital use as a cover behind which a broken
+Brigade was able to rally, and save the line.</p>
+
+<p>Exactly back of us, forty yards off, and covering that steep bank at
+this one point, stood a body of large, tall trees,&mdash;pines and
+others,&mdash;occupying half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> an acre. And in that wood, under the bank, some
+of the fellows dug holes, and in them they built fires which, by one or
+another, were kept up all the time. At these fires,&mdash;quite effectually
+protected from shot and shell and bullets, though within forty yards of
+the line of battle, a fellow could cook anything he happened, by
+accident, to have, or slip back from the works, now and then, when not
+engaged at the guns, warm himself and stand up straight, and stretch his
+legs and back, without the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'iminent'">imminent</ins> risk of being bored by a
+sharp-shooter; which makes a stretch unsatisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the point where we were posted, the line left the ridge, and
+dipping a little, on the front face of the slope, ran along about
+parallel with the ridge. My gun, &#8220;Number Four,&#8221; stood exactly at the
+point where the line declined in front of the ridge, and so, was exactly
+in the infantry line. The &#8220;3d gun&#8221; was some ten yards to our left, on
+the ridge seven or eight yards back of the line, and could fire over it
+to the front. It had its own separate work.</p>
+
+<p>It was about sunset when we got to our position. We unlimbered our guns,
+and ran them up close to the bank of dirt, about two feet high, which we
+found there, thinking that in case of a row, that would be some little
+protection. However, things seemed quiet. We couldn&#8217;t see any enemy from
+where we stood, didn&#8217;t know whether any force was near us. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> after we
+placed our guns, we strolled around, and looked about us, and were
+disposing ourselves for a quiet night, and a good sleep, which we needed
+badly.</p>
+
+<p>Just then somebody, I think it was Lieutenant Anderson, who had walked
+to the left, some distance, where he could see around the point of pine
+woods to our right, up on the hill, came back with some news very
+interesting to us, if not to our advantage. He said that, just beyond
+these woods up on the hill, not over five or six hundred yards from us,
+there was a lot of Federal artillery. He saw them plainly. They were in
+position. He counted twelve guns, and was sure there were others,
+farther around, which he could not see for the woods. At least six of
+those, in sight, he was certain were twenty-pounder Parrotts. These
+guns, he said, commanded our position, and while the enemy had not yet
+seen us, for the treetops between, they soon would; and <i>anyhow</i>, the
+moment we fired a shot, and disclosed our position, we would catch it.
+There were enough heavy guns bearing down on us to sweep us off the face
+of the earth, unless we were protected. If daylight found us unfortified
+we couldn&#8217;t stay there, so we had better go to throwing dirt.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Against Heavy Odds at &#8220;Fort Dodge&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>Here was nice news! Our two Napoleons, right under the muzzles of twelve
+or more rifled cannon, and six twenty-pounder Parrotts, and with no
+works! This was pleasant advice to tired and sleepy men, who wanted to
+go to bed. But such were the facts, and as we never had left a position
+under fire, and had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> come to stay, and were <i>certainly going</i> to stay,
+we <i>went</i> to throwing dirt.</p>
+
+<p>We went to work, to raise and thicken the little bank already there, in
+front of our gun, and to build a short &#8220;traverse&#8221; to the right, for
+protection from enfilade fire. We worked all night, six of us, and by
+morning we had a slight and rough artillery work, with an embrasure for
+the gun; the whole thing about four feet high, and two and one-half feet
+thick, at the top. It was the best that could be done by six, tired, and
+hungry fellows, all young boys, working with two picks and three shovels
+through a short night. Such as it was, we fought behind it, all through
+the Spottsylvania battles, and it stood some heavy battering. This gem
+of engineering skill,&mdash;by reason of the pretty constant courtesies we
+felt it polite to pay to the unceasing attentions of our friends, the
+enemy, for the next six days, in the shape of shells and bullets, we
+called &#8220;Fort <i>Dodge</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Just here, I take occasion to correct a very wrong impression about the
+field works, the &#8220;Army of Northern Virginia&#8221; fought behind, in this
+campaign. All the Federal writers who have written about these battles,
+speak of our works as &#8220;formidable earthworks,&#8221; &#8220;powerful
+fortifications,&#8221; &#8220;impregnable lines;&#8221; such works as <i>no troops</i> could be
+expected <i>to take</i>, and any troops could be expected <i>to hold</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Now about the parts of the line distant from us, I couldn&#8217;t speak so
+certainly, though I am sure they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> were all very much the same, but about
+the works all along <i>our part</i> of the line I can speak with exactness
+and certainty. I saw them, I helped, with my own hands, to make them. I
+fought behind them. I was often on top of them, and both sides of them.
+I know all about them. I got a good deal of the mud off them on
+me,&mdash;(not for purposes of personal fortification, however).</p>
+
+<p>Our &#8220;works&#8221; were, a single line of earth, about four feet high, and
+three to five feet thick. It had no ditch or obstructions in front. It
+was nothing more than a little heavier line of &#8220;rifle pits.&#8221; There was
+no physical difficulty in men walking right over that bank! I did it
+often myself, saw many others do it, and twice, saw a line of Federal
+troops walk over it, and then saw them walk <i>back</i> over it, with the
+greatest ease, at the rate of forty miles an hour; <i>i. e.</i>, except those
+whom we had persuaded to stay with us, and those whom the angels were
+carrying to Abraham&#8217;s bosom, at a still swifter rate. Works they could
+go over like that couldn&#8217;t have been much obstacle! They couldn&#8217;t have
+made better time on a dead level.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Sticky&#8221; Mud and Yet More &#8220;Sticky&#8221; Men</div>
+
+<p>Such were our works <i>actually</i>! And still, they seemed to &#8220;loom largely&#8221;
+to the people in front. I wonder what could have given them such an
+exaggerated idea of the strength of those modest little works? I wonder
+if it could have been the <i>men</i> behind them? There were not a great many
+of these men. It was a very thin gray line along there, back of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> thin,
+red line of clay. But these lines stuck together very hard, and were
+very hard indeed to separate. The red clay was &#8220;sticky&#8221; and the men were
+just as &#8220;sticky.&#8221; And, as the two lines stuck together so closely, it
+made the whole very strong indeed. Certainly, it seems they gave to
+those who tried to force them apart, an impression of great strength!</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it must have been the <i>men</i>. A story in point, comes to my aid
+here. A handsome, well-dressed lady sweeps with a great air, past two
+street boys. They are much struck. &#8220;My eye, Jim, but ain&#8217;t that a
+stunning dress?&#8221; Says Jim, with a superior air, &#8220;Oh get out, Bill, the
+dress ain&#8217;t no great shakes; it&#8217;s the <i>woman</i> in it that makes it so
+&#8216;killing.&#8217;&#8221; That was the way with our Spottsylvania earthworks. The
+works &#8220;wa&#8217;n&#8217;t no great shakes.&#8221; It was the <i>men</i> in &#8217;em, that made them
+so &#8220;killing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The men behind those works, such as they were, had perfect confidence in
+their own ability to hold them. And this happy combination of &#8220;faith&#8221;
+and &#8220;works&#8221; proved as strong against the world and the flesh, here, as
+it does against the devil. It was perfectly effectual! It withstood all
+assaults!</p>
+
+<p>This day, May 10th, to whose dawn we have now come, broke dark, and
+lowering, very typical of the heavy cloud of war that was impending, and
+soon burst upon us, in a fierce tempest, that was going to thunder, and
+howl, and beat upon us, all day, and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> days to come. This day was to
+be an eventful, and memorable day to us,&mdash;crowded full of incident.</p>
+
+<p>Some time during the night, while we were working like beavers on &#8220;Fort
+Dodge,&#8221; infantry had come in, on the line. Soon as they got there they
+set in to do what we were doing, to raise, and thicken the line against
+the coming of day, and the equally certain coming of battle. When the
+day came they also, were ready.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Gregg&#8217;s Texans to the Front</div>
+
+<p>We had been too busy to think about them, at the time, but when we had
+gotten done,&mdash;and had a little time to look about us, and day had
+broken, and the fighting time, as we knew, was drawing near,&mdash;we took an
+interest in that infantry. Artillerymen are always concerned in their
+&#8220;supports,&#8221; in a fight, and we wanted to know who these fellows were, on
+whom we had to depend, as battle comrades, in the approaching struggle.
+Our minds were quickly made perfectly easy on that score. We found we
+had alongside of us &#8220;Gregg&#8217;s&#8221; Texas Brigade,&mdash;the gallant, dashing,
+stubborn fellows who had, as they jocularly said, &#8220;put General Lee under
+arrest and sent him to the rear,&#8221; and then, had so brilliantly, and
+effectually, stopped Hancock&#8217;s assault on Hill&#8217;s right, at the
+Wilderness. Better fellows to have at your back, in a fight, couldn&#8217;t be
+found! We knew <i>that part</i> of the line was safe! We mingled together,
+and chatted, and got acquainted, and swapped yarns about our several
+adventures. We told them how particularly glad we were to have <i>them</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+there, and our personal relations soon grew as cordial as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Our service together on this spot, and our esteem of one another&#8217;s
+conduct in battle, made the Texans and the &#8220;Howitzers&#8221; ardent mutual
+admirers, and fast friends, to the end. Never afterwards did we pass
+each other, during the campaign, without hearty cheers, each, for the
+other, and friendly greetings and complimentary references to the
+&#8220;Spottsylvania lines.&#8221; Gregg&#8217;s Texans! Noble fellows! Better soldiers
+never trod a battlefield. I saw them fight; I saw their mettle tried, as
+by fire. They live in my memory as &#8220;the bravest of the brave.&#8221; I hope
+Texas is growing more like them!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Breakfastless, But &#8220;Ready for Customers&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>Having got our Fort in shape, and refreshed ourselves a little with a
+wash, at the stream back of us, and thinking how nice some breakfast
+would be, if we had it, (which we <i>didn&#8217;t</i>, not a crumb!) we got ready
+for the business of the day. We sloped the ground downward to the works,
+so that the guns would run easily; placed the gun, and saw that it could
+poke its muzzle well over the dirt, and look around comfortably in every
+direction; got some rails, and chocked her tight, so that she couldn&#8217;t
+run back. Then we got a lot of cartridges, and piled them down safely
+behind the works, and in front of the guns, so that we could do very
+rapid firing. Lieutenant Anderson called attention to the fact of these
+pine woods, in front,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> which came up to within two or three hundred
+yards, and that the enemy could get up very near us, under cover, before
+they started to charge, and we would have to put in our work while they
+were charging across the narrow open ground. &#8220;So,&#8221; he said, &#8220;Have plenty
+of &#8216;canister&#8217; by your guns. Break loose some canisters from the powder,
+so you can double-shot; you&#8217;ll need it.&#8221; We cannoneers had already
+thought of this; the edge of that wood was in canister range, and we had
+put little else but this short range missile in our pile; only a few
+case-shots to make it lively for them in the woods before they came out,
+and to follow them into the woods, when they were broken, and keep them
+going. We were now all ready and waited for customers. They soon came!</p>
+
+<p>It was still early in the morning, about five or six o&#8217;clock, and, as
+yet, all was quiet in our front; we hadn&#8217;t even seen a Federal soldier.
+Suddenly! out of the woods to our right, just about five hundred yards
+in front, appeared the heads of three heavy blue columns, about fifty
+yards apart, marching across the open field toward our left. Here was
+impudence! Infantry trying to cross our front! <i>That&#8217;s</i> the way it
+seemed to strike our fellows. I don&#8217;t know whether they knew our guns
+were there, but we took it for an insult, and it was with a great deal
+of personal feeling, we instantly jumped to our guns and loaded with
+case-shot. Lieutenant Anderson said, &#8220;Wait till they get half way across
+the field. You&#8217;ll have more chance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> at them before they can get back
+into those woods.&#8221; We waited, and soon they were stretched out to the
+middle of the field. It was a beautiful mark! Three, heavy well closed
+up columns, fifty yards apart, on ground gently sloped upward from us,
+lovely for ricochet shots,&mdash;with their flanks to us, and in easy range.
+Dan McCarthy went up to Ned Stine, our acting gunner, who was very deaf,
+and yelled in his ear, loud enough for the Federals to hear, &#8220;Ned, aim
+at the nearest column, the ricochet pieces of shell will strike the
+columns beyond.&#8221; &#8220;All right,&#8221; he bawled back, with his head on one side,
+&#8220;sighting&#8221; the gun. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got sight on that column, now. Ain&#8217;t it time
+to shoot?&#8221; This instant Anderson sung out, &#8220;Section commence firing! and
+get in as many shots as you can before they get away.&#8221; &#8220;Yes,&#8221; shouted
+Dan, &#8220;Fire!&#8221; &#8220;Eh?&#8221; said Ned, putting his hand up to his ear, &#8220;What did
+you say?&#8221; &#8220;I said Fire! you deaf old fool&mdash;Fire!&#8221; the last, in a tone
+calculated for a mile and a half. This fetched him. Ned threw up his
+hands (the gunner&#8217;s signal to fire) and we let drive. All Ned wanted was
+a start, he was only slow in hearing. He jumped in now, and we kept that
+gun blazing almost continuously. It was the first time Stine had acted
+gunner, and he did splendidly here, and until Dibbrell, our gunner, got
+back.</p>
+
+<p>Our first shot struck right in the nearest column, and burst, and we
+instantly saw a line opened through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> all three columns, and a great deal
+of confusion. The shot from the &#8220;Third Piece&#8221; struck at another point,
+and burst, just right for effect. I am sure not a single shot missed in
+that crowd, and we drove them in just as fast as we could. The columns
+were pretty badly broken, and in two minutes, they were rapidly crossing
+back into that woods, out of which they had come, and disappeared. The
+Texans were greatly pleased with this performance. Having nothing to do,
+as the enemy was out of effective rifle range, they stood around, and
+watched us work the guns, and noticed, with keen interest, the effect of
+our shots upon the blue columns, and they made the welkin ring, when the
+Federals turned to retire.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Parrott&#8217;s Reply to Napoleon&#8217;s Twenty to Two</div>
+
+<p>In a minute or two we received notice of our work from another quarter.
+That artillery, up there on the hill, beyond the woods, woke up. They
+got mad at our treatment of their infantry friends, furiously mad.
+&#8220;Boom&#8221; went a loud report, over the way, and, the same instant, a savage
+shriek right over our heads, of a twenty pounder Parrott shell. Another
+followed, another, and another. They began to rain over. We could detect
+the sound of different shells, three inch rifle, ten pounder Parrott,
+and twenty pounder Parrott.</p>
+
+<p>Some fifteen or twenty guns joined in, and they hammered away most
+savagely. Most fortunately the treetops of that wood, out in our front,
+came up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> just high enough to conceal us from the enemy. They could see
+our smoke, and knew just <i>about</i> our position, but they could not
+<i>exactly see us</i>, and correct their aim by the smoke of their shells. So
+they could not get the <i>exact</i> range. And that makes a great difference,
+in artillery firing, as it does in a great many other things. To know
+<i>just about</i> and to know <i>exactly</i>, are two very different things in
+effect, and in satisfaction to the worker. If those people could have
+<i>seen</i> our two guns, I suppose they could have smashed them both, and
+killed, or wounded every man of us, and their columns could have moved
+across our front, in peace, and accomplished this movement they were
+trying to get across them for, and about which they seemed very anxious.
+As it was, neither man, nor gun, of ours, was touched, though it was hot
+as pepper all around there; and our guns stuck there a thorn in their
+sides, and broke up that movement altogether.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that those columns were a part of Warren&#8217;s Corps, and were
+trying to push into an interval between our Corps, and A. P. Hill&#8217;s
+Corps, which, under command of General Jubal Early (Hill being very
+sick) began just on our left, our position being on the left of
+Longstreet&#8217;s line, near its junction with Hill&#8217;s. This infantry was
+pushing across our front to get into that gap, and make it hot for &#8220;Old
+Jubal&#8221; over there in the woods. But, in order to get to that gap, they
+were forced to pass close to us, and across that open field.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>Now, at once, to insult us, and to hurt our friends, was a move that we
+didn&#8217;t at all approve, and were not going to stand. And as soon as we
+discovered the meaning of this move, we were very earnest to stop it.</p>
+
+<p>Well! we had stopped it once, and driven back the Federal columns of
+attack. It remained to see what they were going to do about it. The
+Federal artillery thundered at us through the trees. We quietly sat and
+waited to see.</p>
+
+<p>In about half an hour, (I suppose they thought we were pulverized by the
+fire their guns had been pouring upon us,) we saw those three infantry
+columns pouring out of the woods again, at a quick step. We manned the
+guns, and waited as before, till they reached the middle of the field.
+Then we began to plow up the columns with shrapnel. This time some of
+our infantry tried and found it in range for their muskets and they
+adjusted their rifle sights and took careful aim, with a rest on the top
+of the works. Soon, the columns faltered, then stopped, then broke, and
+made good time back to their woods. We could see their officers trying
+to rally them, but they refused to hear &#8220;the voice of the charmer.&#8221; Soon
+they disappeared!</p>
+
+<p>Then the artillery began to pour in their shells on us more furiously
+than ever! The air around us was kept in a blaze, and a roar of bursting
+shells, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> the ground, all about, was furrowed and torn. We quietly
+sat behind our works, and interchanged our individual observations on
+what had just taken place, and waited for further developments.</p>
+
+<p>The two rifled pieces of our Battery, and the other rifled guns of our
+Battalion, &#8220;Cabells,&#8221; had been laced in position, on a hill half a mile
+back of, and higher, than the low hill on which we were. The plan was
+for these long range guns to fire over our heads, at the enemy. We
+suspected that when that Federal infantry next tried to pass us, they
+would try to make a rush. So Lieutenant Anderson sent back to the other
+guns, calling attention to this probability, and suggesting that they
+should be on the lookout, and reinforce our fire, and try, also, to
+divert the Federal artillery, a little. We thought that with eight or
+ten rifled guns, added to the fire of ours, and what the infantry could
+do, we could sicken that Federal infantry of the effort to get by.</p>
+
+<p>Presently we noticed the fire of the Federal guns increase in violence
+to a marked degree. At this savage outburst, Lieutenant Anderson said,
+&#8220;Boys, get to your guns, that infantry will try to get across under
+cover of this.&#8221; We sprang to the guns, and sure enough, in a minute,
+those blue columns burst out of the woods at a double quick. &#8220;Open on
+them at once men. We can&#8217;t let them get a start this time,&#8221; shouted
+Anderson. Both guns instantly began to drive at the head of their
+columns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>The sound of our guns started our rifle guns on the hill behind. They
+opened furiously, and we could hear their shells screeching over our
+heads, on into this enemy&#8217;s columns. We did our best, and the Texans did
+what musket fire they could. The enemy still advanced at a run, but this
+storm was too much for them. Their columns were torn to pieces, were
+thrown into hopeless confusion. They had, by this time, gotten half way
+or more across the field, and they made a gallant effort to keep on, but
+torn and storm-beaten as they were, they could not stand. The crowd
+broke and parted. A few ran on across to the farther woods, and were
+captured by Hill&#8217;s men. The rest, routed and scattered, ran madly back
+to the cover they had left. This gave them enough! They gave up the
+attempt, and tried it no more.</p>
+
+<p>We thought that Hill&#8217;s Corps &#8220;owed us one&#8221; for this job. We certainly
+saved them a lot of trouble by thus protecting their flank. They had to
+stand a heavy assault by Hancock&#8217;s Corps, and had very hot work as it
+was. If these strong columns, that we were taking care of, had gotten
+into that gap, and taken them at disadvantage, they would have had a
+hard time, to say the least. Our work left them to deal with Hancock&#8217;s
+Corps alone, which they did to their credit, and with entire success, as
+will appear.</p>
+
+<p>That little scheme of our long-range guns on the hill behind, firing
+over our heads at the enemy acted very well, for a while. It came to
+have its very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> decided inconvenience to <i>us</i>, as well as to the enemy.
+When the Federal infantry had retired, those guns turned their fire on
+the Federal artillery which was hammering us. They meant to divert their
+attention, and do us a good turn. They had better have left us to &#8220;the
+ills we had.&#8221; Their line of fire, at that artillery, was exactly over
+our position. Very soon their shells got tired travelling over, and
+began to stop <i>with us</i>. Our Confederate shells were often very badly
+made, the weight in the conical shells not well balanced. And so, very
+often, instead of going quietly, point foremost, like decent shells,
+where they were <i>aimed</i>, they would get to <i>tumbling</i>, that is, going
+end over end, or &#8220;swappin&#8217; ends&#8221; as the Tar Heels used to describe it,
+and <i>then</i>, there was no telling <i>where</i> they would go, except that they
+would <i>certainly go wrong</i>. And, they went very wrong, indeed, on this
+occasion, in our opinion.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of a tumbling Parrott shell in full flight, is the most
+horrible noise that ever was heard!&mdash;a wild, venomous, fiendish scream,
+that makes every fellow, in half a mile of it, feel that it is looking
+for <i>him particularly</i>, and <i>certain</i> that it&#8217;s <i>going to get him</i>. I
+believe it would have made Julius C&aelig;sar, himself, &#8220;go for a tree,&#8221; or
+want to, anyhow!</p>
+
+<p>Well! these blood-curdlers came crashing into us, from the rear,
+knocking up clouds of dirt, digging great holes, bursting, and raining
+fragments around us in the field. We were not firing, and had leisure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+to realize the fix we were in. With the enemy hotly shelling us from the
+front, and our friends from the rear, obliged to stay by our guns,
+expecting an infantry assault every minute, we certainly were in a
+pretty tight fix, &#8220;&#8217;Tween the devil and the deep sea.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was the only time I ever saw Lieutenant Anderson excited under fire,
+but he was excited <i>now</i>, and mad too. He said to one of the fellows,
+&#8220;Go back under the hill, get on a horse, ride as hard as you can, and
+tell those men on the hill, what confounded work they are doing, and if
+they fire any more shells, here, I will open on them immediately.&#8221; In a
+few minutes it was stopped, with many regrets on the part of our
+friends.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Narrow Escape of an Entire Company</div>
+
+<p>In the midst of all this, an incident took place that created a great
+deal of amusement. Along the line, just back of and somewhat protected
+by the works, the Texans had pitched several of the little &#8220;shelter
+tents&#8221; we used to capture from the enemy, and found such a convenience.
+One of these stood apart. It had a piece of cloth, buttoned on the back,
+and closing that end up to about eighteen inches from the top, leaving
+thus, a triangular hole just under the ridge pole. In this little tent
+sat four men, a captain and three privates, all that were left of a
+Company in this Texan Brigade. These fellows were playing &#8220;Seven-up&#8221;
+and, despite the confusion around, were having a good time. Suddenly,
+one of the shells from the hill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> behind, struck, tumbled over once or
+twice, and stopped, right in the mouth of that tent, the fuse still
+burning. The game stopped! The players were up, instantly. The next
+moment, one fellow came diving headforemost out of that triangular hole
+at the back, followed fast by the other three&mdash;the captain last. It only
+took &#8220;one time and one motion&#8221; to get out of that. Soon as they could
+pick themselves up, they, all four, jumped behind a tree that stood
+there; and then, the fuse went out, and the shell didn&#8217;t burst.
+Everybody had seen the shell fall, and were horror stricken at the
+apparently certain fate of those four men. Now, the absurdity of the
+scene struck us all, and there were shouts of laughter at their expense.
+Despite their sudden, hasty retreat through that narrow hole everyone of
+the scamps had held on to his &#8220;hand,&#8221; and they promptly kicked the shell
+aside, crawled into the tent again, and continued their little game;
+interrupted, however, by jokes from all sides. It was very funny! The
+smoking shell, in front, and those fellows shooting through that hole at
+the back, and alighting all in a heap, and then the scramble for that
+tree. As the shell went out, it was a roaring farce. If it hadn&#8217;t, it
+would have been a tragedy. The Captain said that these three men were
+his whole company, and when that lighted shell struck, he thought that
+his company was &#8220;gone up&#8221; for good and all.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>Such was about the size to which some of the companies of this Texan
+Brigade was reduced.</p>
+
+<p>Well! after we got rid of those shells from the rear we didn&#8217;t so much
+mind the artillery fire from the front, which kept up more or less
+through the morning.</p>
+
+<p>What with the wet, cheerless weather, and the mental discomfort of
+staying in a place where they were &#8220;shooting cannons&#8221; at us, and other
+kind of shooting might soon be expected, two of our men got sick, and
+went back to the position of our guns on the hill in the rear. The
+Captain appealed to them to go back, but their health was bad, and they
+didn&#8217;t think the place where we were, <i>a health resort</i>. So Captain
+McCarthy called for volunteers to take their places, and instantly John
+W. Page, and George B. Harrison, of the First Detachment, offered, and
+came over to us.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Successive Attacks by Federal Infantry</div>
+
+<p>Up to this time we had seen no infantry since their columns had tried to
+cross our front. No attack had been made on us and all seemed quiet out
+in front, except that artillery. But, out of our sight, over behind the
+woods, the enemy was conspiring to break up our quiet in the most
+decided manner. About ten o&#8217;clock we suddenly caught sight of a confused
+appearance down through the woods on our right front. It quickly defined
+itself as a line of battle, rapidly advancing. Our pickets fired upon
+it, then ran back over the works into our line. The Texans sprang into
+rank, we jumped to our guns, and sent a case-shot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> tearing down through
+the woods. Next instant, the Federal line dashed, cheering, out of the
+edge of the woods, and came charging at us. As they dashed out, they
+were met by a furious storm of bullets, and cannister, which at two
+hundred yards tore their ranks. They got about a hundred yards under
+that fire, then began to falter, then stopped, tried to stand for a
+moment, then with their battle line shot all to pieces, they turned and
+broke for the woods in headlong rout. We did our best to help them
+along, shooting at them with case-shot as long as we could catch any
+glimpse of them, moving back through the trees. Then that Federal
+artillery got savage again. We lay low and waited for some more
+infantry.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon, here they came again! another line charging on, only to meet
+the same fate; shattered lines, hapless disorder, bloody repulse, and
+rapid retreat. Several times they tried to reach our lines, and every
+time failed, then gave it up for the time.</p>
+
+<p>These various assaults took up the time, I should say from ten-thirty to
+twelve o&#8217;clock. When they were over, the field, and wood in front of us
+displayed a most dreadful scene. The field was thickly strewn with the
+dead, and wounded. And just along the edge of the wood, where the
+advancing lines generally first met our full fire, in the several
+assaults, the dead lay so thick and in such regular order, that it
+looked to us like a line of battle, lying down. And the poor wounded
+fellows lying thickly about! It was frightful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> to see and to hear them.
+It was a bloody business, their oft-repeated effort to take our line.
+Their loss was very severe, ours was almost nothing. The Texan Brigade
+in all their assaults had several wounded, none killed; at our guns not
+a man was hurt.</p>
+
+<p>One thing that struck me in that fighting was the utter coolness of the
+Texan infantry. I watched the soldier next to my gun, and can never
+forget his bearing. The whizzing bullets, the heavy storming columns
+pouring upon us, the yells and cries of the combatants were enough to
+excite anybody, but this fellow was just as easy and deliberate as if he
+had been shooting at a mark. He would drop the butt of his musket on the
+ground and ram down a cartridge, raise the piece to his hip, put on a
+cap, cock the hammer, and then, slowly draw the gun up to his eye, and
+shoot. I really don&#8217;t think that Texan fired a shot that day until the
+sight on his gun covered a Federal soldier, and I think it likely he hit
+a man every time he shot. It was this sort of shooting that made the
+carnage in front so terrible.</p>
+
+<p>And what a confident lot they were! After one or two of these lines had
+been repulsed, as the enemy were advancing again, you could hear the men
+in the line calling one to another, &#8220;Say, boys, don&#8217;t shoot so quick
+this time! Let them get up closer. Too many of them get away, when you
+start so soon.&#8221; Truly they were the unterrified! Our line was so thin;
+those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> storming lines of blue as they came storming on seemed <i>heavy</i>
+enough to roll over us like a tidal wave. Yet it never seemed to occur
+to these fellows that they might be run over. Their only thought was to
+&#8220;let them get up closer next time.&#8221; Their only concern was that &#8220;too
+many of them were getting away.&#8221; Good men, they were, to hold a line!</p>
+
+<p><i>At last</i>, this furious attempt, by Warren and Hancock, to force our
+position ceased. And as we saw, out in front, the heavy losses of the
+enemy, and still had every one of our men ready for duty, we thought
+&#8220;<i>we</i> could stand this sort of thing, if <i>they</i> could, and just as long
+as they chose to keep on.&#8221; They lost in dead and wounded about twelve
+hundred men to about four of ours. Certainly, we could stand it! So we
+piled some more canister in front of our guns, and watched to see what
+they would do next.</p>
+
+<p>The long hours crept on until three o&#8217;clock,&mdash;when the warming up of the
+Federal artillery fire warned us of another attack. Soon came another
+stubborn assault by Warren&#8217;s Corps. Same result. Line after line pushed
+out from the woods, only to be hurled back, bleeding and torn, leaving
+on the field large additions to the sad load of dead, and wounded, with
+which it was already encumbered. They effected nothing! Very little loss
+to us, heavy loss to them. We were using double shot of canister nearly
+every time, on masses of men at short range; the infantry fire was rapid
+and deadly. Our fire soon swept the front<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> clear of the enemy. We piled
+up more canister, and waited again.</p>
+
+<p>There was now an interval of comparative quiet. We could walk around,
+and talk, and look about us, a little. Now and then a bullet struck the
+ground close to us, and presently one of the infantry was struck
+slightly. It was plain that a concealed sharp-shooter had our range, and
+we began to watch for him. Soon one of us caught a glimpse of him; he
+was up a tree some distance out in front, and he would cautiously edge
+around the trunk and fire, dodging back behind the trunk to load again.
+One of the Texans went over the works, and stole from stump to stump off
+toward the left, and for some time was out of our sight. Presently, we
+saw that sharp-shooter slyly stealing around the tree, and raise his
+rifle. The next instant, we saw a puff of smoke from a bush, off to the
+left, and that sharp-shooter came plunging down, headforemost out of the
+tree, dead as Hector. Our man had crept round so that when the Federal
+slid around the tree, he exposed his body, and the Texan shot him.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stiles, the Adjutant of the Battalion, who had been, until
+lately, a member of our Battery, and was very devoted to it, and his
+comrades in it, had come to the lines to see how we were getting on, and
+gave us news of other parts of the line. He, Beau Barnes, and others of
+us were standing by our guns,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> talking, when a twenty pounder Parrott
+shell came grazing just over our guns, passed on, and about forty yards
+behind us struck a pine tree, about two and a half to three feet in
+diameter. The shell had turned. It struck that big tree sideways, and
+cut it entirely off, and threw it from the stump. It fell in an upright
+position, struck the ground, stood, for an instant, and then, came
+crashing down. It was a very creepy suggestion of what that shell might
+have done to one of us. A few moments after another struck the ground
+right by us and ricochetted. After it passed us, as was frequently the
+case, we caught sight of it, and followed its upward flight until it
+seemed to be going straight up to the sky. Stiles said &#8220;There it goes as
+though flung by the hand of a giant.&#8221; Beau Barnes, who was <i>not</i>
+poetical, exclaimed, &#8220;Giant be darned; there ain&#8217;t any giant can fling
+&#8217;em like that.&#8221; He was right!</p>
+
+<p>Strange how the most trivial incidents keep their place in the memory,
+along with the great events, amidst which they occurred! I remember the
+fall of that tree, and the remark about that shell, and a small piece of
+pork which an Arkansas soldier gave me, and which, in jumping to the
+guns, I dropped into a mudhole, and never found again, though I fished
+for it diligently in the muddy water, and a <i>pig</i>, which was calmly
+rooting around near our guns, under fire, and which we watched, hoping
+he would be hit, so that we could get his meat, before the infantry did,
+to satisfy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> our wolfish hunger, just as distinctly as the several fierce
+battles which were fought that day.</p>
+
+<p>About five o&#8217;clock the Federal guns on the hill in our front broke out
+again into a furious fire. It was a warning! We knew it meant that the
+infantry were about to charge again. We got to our guns, and the Texans
+stood to their arms. It seems that the balance of Hancock&#8217;s Corps had
+got up, and now, with Warren&#8217;s, and part of Sedgwick&#8217;s Corps, formed in
+our front, Grant was going to make the supreme effort of the day, to
+break our line.</p>
+
+<p><i>What we saw</i> was that far down in the woods, heavy columns of men were
+moving; the woods seemed to be full of them. The pickets, and our guns
+opened on them at once. The next moment they appeared, three heavy lines
+one close behind the other. As they reached the edge of the woods, our
+lines were blazing with fire. But on they came! The first line was cut
+to pieces, only to have its place taken by the next, and then, the next.
+Closer and closer to our guns they pressed their bloody way, until they
+were within fifty yards of us. Heavens! how those men did strive, and
+strain to make their way against that tempest of bullets and canister!
+It was too much for man to do! They stopped and stayed there, and fired
+and shouted, under our withering fire. The carnage was fearful. Their
+men were being butchered! Their lines had all fallen into utter
+confusion. They could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> not come on! Despair suddenly seized them! The
+next moment a panic stricken cloud of fugitives was fast vanishing from
+our view, and the ground over which they had charged was blue with
+corpses, and red with blood.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Eggleston&#8217;s Heroic Death</div>
+
+<p>Just here, we of the &#8220;Howitzer&#8221; suffered our first, and only, loss in
+this day&#8217;s fighting. Cary Eggleston, &#8220;No. 1&#8221; at third gun, had his arm
+shattered, and almost cut away from his body, by a fragment of shell. He
+quietly handed his rammer to John Ayres, who that instant came up to the
+gun, and said, &#8220;Here Johnny, you take it and go ahead!&#8221; Then, gripping
+his arm with his other hand, partly to stop the fast flowing blood, he
+turned to his comrades, and said in his jocular way, &#8220;Boys, I can never
+handle a sponge-staff any more. I reckon I&#8217;ll have to go to teaching
+school.&#8221; Then he stood a while, looking at the men working the gun. They
+urged him to go to the rear; he would not for a while. When he consented
+to go, they wanted to send a man with him, but he refused, and walked
+off by himself. As he passed back an infantry officer, seeing what an
+awful wound he had, and the streaming blood, insisted that one of the
+men should go and help him to the hospital. &#8220;No,&#8221; he said; &#8220;I&#8217;m all
+right, and you haven&#8217;t got any men to spare from here.&#8221; So, holding his
+own arm, and compressing the artery with his thumb, he got to the
+hospital.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>His arm was amputated, and a few days after, as the battery passed
+through Spottsylvania Court House, we went by the Court House building,
+used as a hospital, where he lay on the floor, and bade him &#8220;good-bye.&#8221;
+He was just as cheerful, and bright, as ever, and full of eager interest
+in all that was going on. Said &#8220;Since he had time to think about it, he
+believed he <i>could</i> handle a sponge-staff <i>with one hand</i>; was going to
+practice it soon as he could get up, and would be back at his post
+<i>before long</i>.&#8221; The next day, the brave young fellow died. The
+&#8220;Howitzers&#8221; will always remember him tenderly. No braver, cooler warrior
+ever lived! Always bright, full of fun in camp, and on the march, he was
+at the gun in action, the best &#8220;No. 1&#8221; I ever saw. One of the few men I
+ever knew who really seemed to enjoy a fight. His bearing, when he was
+wounded, was simply <i>heroic</i>. No wounded knight ever passed off his last
+battlefield in nobler sort. All honor to his memory!</p>
+
+<p>John Ayres, the fellow to whom Cary Eggleston handed his rammer, was at
+his home in Buckingham County, Virginia, on furlough, when we started on
+the campaign. Off in the remote country, he didn&#8217;t hear of our movements
+for several days. The moment he heard it, off he started, walked
+thirteen miles to the James River Canal boat; got to Richmond, came up
+to Louisa County on the Central Railroad, got off and walked
+twenty-three miles across country, guided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> by the sound of the battle,
+and reached his gun just in time to take Eggleston&#8217;s place as &#8220;No. 1&#8221;
+and finish the fight.</p>
+
+<p>When the enemy had thus broken in such utter rout, and with such fearful
+losses, we did hope they would let us alone, for this day at least. We
+were wet, and hungry, and nearly worn out working the gun, off and on
+all day, and it was late in the afternoon. For an hour or more things
+were quiet; the woods in front seemed deserted and still; the Texans
+were lying stretched out on the ground, all along the line; many of them
+asleep. We cannoneers were wearily sitting about the guns, wishing to
+gracious we had something to eat, and could go to bed, even if the <i>bed
+were</i> only one blanket, on the wet ground.</p>
+
+<p>Our rifled guns had just been firing at a Federal battery which we could
+see, up on the hill in front of us. Watching the effect of the shots, we
+saw one of the caissons blown up, and a gun disabled, and soon
+confusion. Somebody remarked, &#8220;how easy it would be to take that
+battery, if any of our infantry were in reach.&#8221; Just then, we heard loud
+cheering, which sounded to us, to be up in the woods, on our left, where
+Hill&#8217;s men were. Someone instantly cried out, &#8220;There it goes now! Hill&#8217;s
+men are going to take those guns.&#8221; We eagerly gathered at the works,
+some distance to the left of our guns, where we could see better, and
+stood gazing up at the edge of the field, expecting every moment to see
+Hill&#8217;s troops burst out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> of the woods, and rush upon these guns. Our
+attention was absorbed, off there, when, all of a sudden, one of our
+fellows who happened to glance the other way, yelled, &#8220;Good heavens!
+look out on the right.&#8221; We all looked! There, pouring out of the woods,
+yelling like mad men, came the Federal infantry, fast as they could run,
+rushing straight upon our line. The whole field was blue with them! When
+we first saw them, the foremost were already within one hundred yards of
+our works, and aiming for a point about two hundred yards to our right.
+The breath was about knocked out of us by the suddenness of the
+surprise! It was not Hill&#8217;s men charging <i>them</i>, but these fellows
+charging us,&mdash;whose yells we had heard, and here they were, right upon
+us! In two jumps we were at our gun. We had to turn it more to the
+right, and, with the first shot, blow away a light traverse, which was
+higher than the level of the gun, before we could bear on their columns.
+We sent two or three canisters tearing through their ranks; the Texans
+were blazing away, but, they had got too close to be stopped. The next
+instant, they surged over our works like a great blue wave, and were
+inside.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&#8220;Texas Will Never Forget Virginia&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>So sudden was the surprise that they bayonetted two of the Texan
+infantry, asleep upon the ground. Soon as they got over they turned, and
+began to sweep down the works, on the inside, upon our guns. As the
+Texans forced to retire streamed past our guns,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> leaving us all alone
+and unsupported to face the enemy, Lieutenant Anderson said, &#8220;Men, the
+road is only a little way back of us; we must stay here, and stop these
+people, or the Army is cut in two. Run the guns back and open on them.
+We can hold them until help comes.&#8221; We turned the guns round so as to
+command the approaching enemy, and chocked them with rails; several men
+snatched up the pile of ammunition, and piled it down before the guns in
+their new place, then we opened, with double canister.</p>
+
+<p>If ever two guns were worked for all they were worth, those were! I
+don&#8217;t believe any two guns, in the same time, ever fired as many shots
+as those two &#8220;Napoleons&#8221; did. We kept them just <i>spouting canister</i>!
+Several times <i>three canisters</i> were fired. Billy White, &#8220;No. 2,&#8221; had
+only to reach down for them, and he would have loaded the guns <i>to the
+muzzle</i> if &#8220;No. 1&#8221; had given him time. The gun got so hot that, once, in
+jumping in to put in the friction primer, the back of my left hand
+touched it, and the skin was nearly taken off. The sponge was entirely
+worn off the rammer, so &#8220;No. 1&#8221; stopped sponging out the gun, and only
+rammed shot home. We fired so fast that the powder did not have time to
+ignite in the gun. After firing the gun, &#8220;No. 4&#8221; could hardly get the
+&#8220;primer&#8221; in before the gun was loaded, and ready to fire again. So it
+went on! It was fast and furious work! And the bullets sounded like bees
+buzzing above our heads.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>I felt a sharp pain, then a numbness in my right hand. I glanced at it,
+and saw that the back of it was cut open, and bleeding. I had to pull
+the lanyard with my left hand the rest of the fight. I supposed a bullet
+had done it, but was disgusted to see blood on one of the rails, which
+chocked our gun, and find that this rail had worked loose, and, when
+struck by the recoiling gun wheel, had flown round and struck my hand,
+and disabled it. So, it was not an &#8220;honorable&#8221; wound, even though
+received in battle, as it was not done by a missile of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Minute after minute, this hot work went on. The enemy, in coming over
+our works, and sweeping around, was thrown into disorder, so that they
+advanced on us in a confused mass.</p>
+
+<p>In this mass our canister was doing deadly work, cutting lanes in every
+direction. Still on they came; getting slower in their advance as the
+canister constantly swept away the foremost men. The men in front began
+to flinch, they were within thirty yards of us,&mdash;firing wildly now. One
+good rush! and their bayonets would have silenced our guns! But they
+could not face that hail of death any longer; they could not make that
+rush! They began to give back from our muzzles.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, the Texans having rallied under the bank, forty yards to
+our right, and rear, came leaping like tigers upon their flank. The
+Texans were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> perfectly furious! It was the first time during the whole
+war that they had been forced from a position, under fire, and they were
+mad enough to eat those people up. A screaming yell burst out, a
+terrific outbreak of musketry, a rush, with the bayonets, and the inside
+of our work was clear of all, save the many dead, and wounded, and six
+hundred prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>We ran our gun instantly back to its place, in the works, and got
+several shots into the flying mob, outside.</p>
+
+<p>Then all was gone, and we were ready to drop in our tracks, with the
+exhausting work of the ten minutes that we had held the foe at bay.</p>
+
+<p>General Gregg came up to our gun. With strong emotion he shook hands
+with each of us; he then took off his hat, and said, &#8220;Boys, Texas will
+never forget Virginia for this! Your heroic stand saved the line, and
+enabled my brigade to rally, and redeem its honor. It is the first time
+it ever left a position under fire, and it was only forced out, now, by
+surprise, and overwhelming weight. But it could not have rallied except
+for you. God bless you!&#8221; This moment Bob Stiles came up at a run. He had
+left the guns a few moments before the attack came, and hearing our guns
+so busy came back.</p>
+
+<p>When General Gregg told him in a very enthusiastic way what we had done,
+he just rushed up to each cannoneer, and hugged him with a grip, strong
+enough to crush in his ribs, and vowed he was going to resign his
+Adjutancy at once, and come back to the guns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>Pretty soon Major-General Field, commanding part of the line, came
+dashing up on his horse, and leaped off. He went round shaking hands
+with us, and saying very civil things. He was red hot! He had witnessed
+the whole thing from his position, on a hill near by. He said, &#8220;When he
+saw the Federals roll over our works, and the Texans fall back, he was
+at his wits&#8217; end. He did not have a man to send us, and thought the line
+was hopelessly broken.&#8221; Then he saw us turn our two guns down inside the
+works. He said to his courier, &#8220;It isn&#8217;t possible these fellows will
+even attempt to keep their guns there. The enemy will be over them in
+two minutes.&#8221; But as our guns roared, and the enemy slowed down, he
+swung his hat, as the courier told us, and yelled out, &#8220;By George, they
+will do it!&#8221; and clapping spurs into his horse he came tearing over to
+find the Texans in their line, all solid again. He said to us, &#8220;Men, it
+was perfectly magnificent, and I have to say that your splendid stand
+saved the Army from disaster. If the line had been broken here I don&#8217;t
+know what we should have done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of course all this was very nice to hear. We tried to <i>look</i> as if we
+were <i>used to this sort of thing all the time</i>. But, it was something
+for us, young chaps, to have our hands shaken nearly off, by
+enthusiastic admirers, in the shape of Brigadier and Major-Generals,
+especially as they were such heroic old veterans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> as Field and Gregg,
+and to have the breath hugged out of us by an old comrade. All this
+glory was only to be divided up among <i>nine men</i>, so there was a big
+share for each one. I must confess, it was very pleasant indeed to hear
+that men, who were judges, thought we had done a fine thing; and when in
+General Orders next day our little performance was mentioned to the
+whole army in most complimentary terms, and we knew that the folks at
+home would hear it, I am free to say, that we would <i>not</i> have &#8220;taken a
+penny for our thoughts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Contrast in Losses and the Reasons Therefor</div>
+
+<p>The fight was over, just about as dusk was closing in. In this, and the
+fight at five o&#8217;clock, the enemy lost about six thousand men, killed and
+wounded. In the assaults, at <i>ten</i>, <i>eleven</i> and at <i>three</i> o&#8217;clock,
+they certainly lost between two and three thousand in killed and
+wounded, so this day&#8217;s work cost them about seven or eight thousand in
+killed and wounded, besides prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Our loss was very small. On our immediate part of the line, almost
+nothing. In the battery, we had one man wounded at five o&#8217;clock. In this
+furious close up fight with infantry, with the awful mauling our guns
+gave them, strange to say, we had not a man touched. The only blood shed
+that day, at the &#8220;4th&#8221; gun, was caused by that rail striking my hand.
+And our battle line was just as it was, in the morning, save<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> for the
+hecatomb of dead and dying in front of it, and six hundred prisoners we
+held inside.</p>
+
+<p>About these prisoners: Numbers of these men were drunk, and officers
+too. One Colonel was so drunk that he did not know he was captured, or
+what had happened. The explanation of this fact, I do not profess to
+know, but <i>this</i> was what <i>the men themselves told us</i>, &#8220;That before they
+charged, heavy rations of whiskey were issued, and the men made to drink
+it. I know that indignant denial has been made of this charge, that the
+Federal soldiers were <i>made drunk</i> to send them in, but <i>this</i> I do
+<i>certainly know</i>, as an eye witness, and hundreds of our men know it
+too, that here, on the Spottsylvania line, and at Cold Harbor, and other
+times in this campaign, we captured numbers of the men, assaulting our
+lines, who were very drunk, and said they were made to drink. And this
+fact is one reason for the carnage among them, and the light loss they
+inflicted upon us. It made their men shoot wildly, and the moment our
+men saw this, they could, with the cooler aim, send death into their
+ranks. These hundreds of men going, <i>drunk</i>, to face death was a
+horrible sight; it is a horrible thought, but <i>it was a fact</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Why Captain Hunter Failed to Rally His Men</div>
+
+<p>In the quiet time, just before that sudden rush which swept over the
+works, Captain Hunter, of the Texans, was frying some pieces of fat
+bacon in a frying pan, over a little fire just by our gun. In a flash,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+the enemy was over the work, and we were in the thick of battle, and
+confusion. The Captain glanced from his frying bacon, to see his company
+falling back from the works, and the enemy pouring over. The sudden
+sight instantly drove him wild with excitement! He utterly forgot what
+he was doing. With a loud yell, he swung that frying pan round and round
+his head,&mdash;the hot grease flying in all directions,&mdash;and rushed to his
+men, and tried to rally them. (Having <i>lost the meat</i>, he <i>failed</i>! With
+a frying pan full of meat he could have rallied the regiment!) Back he
+fell with the brigade, and disappeared under the hill.</p>
+
+<p>When the rallied Brigade came whooping back upon the enemy, ten minutes
+after, who should be in front tearing up the hill, leading the charge,
+but the gallant Captain, yelling like everything, and still waving that
+frying pan, to cheer on his men. More gallant charge was never led, with
+gleaming sword, than was this, led with that Texas frying pan.</p>
+
+<p>At the time we were getting our guns around to fire upon the enemy
+inside the works, as the retiring Texans were falling back past us, Dr.
+Carter stepped quickly out, and in his courteous manner, called out to
+them, &#8220;Gentlemen, dear gentlemen, I hope that you are not running.&#8221; A
+passing infantryman, a gaunt, unwashed, ragged chap, replied, &#8220;Never you
+mind, old fellow! We are just dropping back to get to &#8217;em.&#8221; &#8220;I beg your
+pardon,&#8221; retorted the Doctor, &#8220;but if you want to <i>get to them</i>, you
+ought to <i>turn round</i>; they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> are not the way you are going.&#8221; They passed
+on, and the fight took place. When it was over we noticed that the
+Doctor was very much vexed about something. We asked what was the
+matter? He said, &#8220;Never mind!&#8221; We insisted on his saying what disturbed
+him so. At last, he said &#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t see why, because men are in the
+army, they should not observe the amenities customary among gentlemen.&#8221;
+&#8220;Well,&#8221; we said, &#8220;that is all right; but why do you say it?&#8221; &#8220;Why!&#8221; he
+warmly said; &#8220;did you hear that dirty, ragged infantryman call me an old
+fellow? A most disrespectful way to address a gentleman!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>All the row of the fight had not put it out of the Doctor&#8217;s mind, and he
+brooded over it for some time. He never did get used to the lack of
+&#8220;amenities&#8221; and he always had an humble opinion of that unknown Texan,
+who did not observe the form of address customary among gentlemen. The
+Doctor himself always followed his own rule; he was as courteous in
+manner, and civil in speech, as &#8220;observant of the amenities&#8221; in the
+thick of a fight, as in his own parlor.</p>
+
+<p>This was the first battle the Doctor was in, having lately joined us. As
+we ceased firing, one of us exclaimed, as we were apt to do, when a
+fight was over, &#8220;Well! that was a hot place.&#8221; The Doctor turned on him
+and eagerly said, &#8220;Did I understand you to say that was a hot place?&#8221; &#8220;I
+did, indeed, and it was.&#8221; The Doctor turned to another, and another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+with the same eager question, &#8220;Did <i>you</i> think that was a hot place?&#8221;
+&#8220;Yes,&#8221; we all agreed, &#8220;it was about as hot a one as we ever saw, or
+cared to see.&#8221; &#8220;Well,&#8221; said the Doctor, in a very relieved tone, &#8220;I am
+very glad to hear you gentlemen, who have had experience, say so. I
+hesitated a long time about coming into the army, because I did not want
+to disgrace my family, and I was afraid I should run, at the first fire;
+but, if you call <i>that</i> a hot place I think I can stand it.&#8221; The
+Doctor&#8217;s distrust of himself was very funny to us; for he was so utterly
+fearless, and reckless of danger, that some of the men thought, and
+said, that he tried to get himself shot. And once, the Captain
+threatened to put him under arrest, and send him to the rear, if he did
+not stop wantonly exposing his life. He had very little cause to
+distrust his courage, or fear that he would &#8220;disgrace his family&#8221; in
+<i>this</i>, or <i>any other way</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When the fight was over, we promptly went among the Federal wounded, who
+lay thickly strewn on the inside of our lines, to see what we could do
+for their comfort and relief. Curious how one could, one minute, shoot a
+man down, and the next minute go and minister to him like a brother; so
+it was! The moment an enemy was wounded he ceased to be thought of as an
+enemy, and was just a suffering fellow man.</p>
+
+<p>We did what we could for these wounded men, giving water to some;
+disposing the bodies of some in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> a more comfortable position, cheering
+them all up with the promise of prompt aid from the surgeons.</p>
+
+<p>Among many others, we came to one man, mortally wounded and dying. His
+life was fast ebbing way; he was perfectly aware of his condition. He
+earnestly entreated that some one of us would pray for him. The request
+was passed on to Robert Stiles, who was still at our guns.</p>
+
+<p>He came at once! Taking the hand of the poor dying fellow tenderly in
+his own, Stiles knelt right down by him on that wet, bloody ground, and,
+in a fervent prayer commended his soul to God. Then, as a brother might,
+stayed by him, saying what he could to comfort the troubled soul, and
+fix his thoughts upon the Saviour of men, and have him ready to meet his
+God.</p>
+
+<p>Some of us looked reverently on with hearts full of sympathy in the
+scene. It was a sight I wish the men of both armies could have looked
+upon. Right on the bloody battlefield, surrounded by the dead and dying,
+that Confederate soldier kneeling over that dying Federal soldier
+praying for him.</p>
+
+<p>Well! the long weary day of battle was closing and the fighting was
+done, at last. This 10th of May was a day filled up with fun, and
+fasting, and furious fighting; simple description, but <i>correct</i>.
+Thirteen to sixteen lines of infantry we had broken, and repulsed,
+during that day; and what between infantry and artillery we were under
+fire all day from five A. M. to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> nine o&#8217;clock that night; had toiled all
+night long, the night before; not a morsel had passed our lips all day,
+but one small crustless corn cake, taken out of a wet bag that had lain
+for hours, in the rain. A tired lot, we lay down that night on the wet
+ground to sleep, and be ready for the morrow. We fell asleep with the
+artillery still roaring on the lines, and shells still screaming about
+in the dark, and slept a sound dreamless sleep all through the night.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, <i>the 11th</i>, was, for the most part, quiet and uneventful!
+The bloody and disastrous repulse of every effort of the enemy to force
+our line, had, as it well might, discouraged any further attempt along
+our front. From time to time we could hear the Federal artillery, on our
+front or other parts of the line, feeling our position, with an
+occasional reply from our guns.</p>
+
+<p>The sharp-shooters of both sides were keeping up their own peculiar fun.
+At every point of vantage, on a hill, or behind a stump, or up a leafy
+tree, one of these marksmen was concealed, and would try his globe-sight
+rifle on any convenient mark, in the way of a man, which offered on the
+opposite line. Any fellow who exposed himself soon heard a bullet
+whistle past his ear, too close for comfort. Several of us had narrow
+escapes, but the only casualty we suffered was Cornelius Coyle. Coyle
+was from North Carolina and it seems that the jokes we were wont to
+indulge in at the expense of the &#8220;Tar Heels&#8221; had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> gotten him sore on the
+subject. In order to show us that a &#8220;Tar Heel&#8221; was as careless of danger
+as anybody else, he exposed himself, very unnecessarily, by standing on
+the works and on the guns, while the rest of us were &#8220;roosting low,&#8221; and
+about two o&#8217;clock he got a bullet in the thigh, which disabled him, I
+believe, for the rest of the war. It was bad judgment! The jokes on the
+&#8220;Tar Heels&#8221; were only meant in fun. Nobody ever doubted the courage and
+gallantry of the North Carolinians. They had proved it too often, and
+were proving it every day! It did not need for Coyle to expose himself
+to prove it to us, and by his mistake we lost a good soldier.</p>
+
+<p>The coming of night found all quiet on the lines. In the late afternoon,
+and early night, we could plainly hear the sound of,&mdash;what we took to
+be,&mdash;wagon trains and artillery, over in the enemy&#8217;s lines, passing off
+to our right. We got therefrom the impression that the Federals were
+leaving our front and that by morning they would all be gone. So we were
+not surprised when a courier came with the orders from headquarters that
+we should get our guns out of the works, limber up, and be ready to move
+at daylight.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Having &#8220;A Cannon Handy&#8221;</div>
+
+<p>We drew our gun from its place at the works, up the little incline we
+had made for its more easy running forward, hitched its trail to the
+pintle-hook of the limber, chocked the wheels, and left it there until
+we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> should move. The men picked out the least wet spots they could find,
+and lay down to sleep. Everybody was very tired, nearly worn out with
+the incessant work, and marching, and watching, and fighting, of the
+last seven or eight days and nights. This was the first really quiet
+night we had known for a week! The quiet and the assurance that the
+enemy was gone from our front, and that there was no need to bother
+about them, lulled the men into deep slumber. The infantry was all
+stretched out along the lines sleeping, and even the pickets out in
+front were, I am sure, sound asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Every soul of our cannoneers was asleep, except Sergt. Dan. McCarthy,
+Beau Barnes, Jack Booker, and myself. We sat together, by the gun,
+talking and smoking until midnight. Then Jack said he would go to bed,
+and did. We three, McCarthy, Barnes and I, continued our conversation
+for some time longer, for no special reason, except perhaps, that we
+were too tired to move, and we sat there, in the dark, listening to the
+rumbling of heavy wheels over in the Federal lines, and talking about
+the events of the last few days, speculating about what was to come.
+Then our thoughts ran on other days, and scenes, and the folks at home,
+and we talked about these until we became quite sentimental.</p>
+
+<p>Several times it was suggested that we had better go to sleep, but we
+talked ourselves wide awake. About two o&#8217;clock it was again suggested,
+but Dan said he did wish we had something to eat first. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> was a most
+agreeable thought, and in discussing the same it was discovered that I
+had a corncake, Dan had some coffee, and Beau some sugar. So we
+resolved, before lying down, to go back under the hill, some fifty yards
+behind the works, where a fire was kept burning or smoldering all the
+time, and have a little supper of bread and coffee, which we proceeded
+to do. We made up the fire, got water from the branch, warmed our
+corncake, boiled the coffee, got out our tin cups, and sat around the
+fire having a fine time. It was now about time for daybreak, though
+still very dark. Dan proposed that we stroll up to the guns, and lie
+down awhile. We walked slowly up! When we got to the guns all was still,
+and quiet, as when we left, and I really believe we three were the only
+men awake on that part of the line.</p>
+
+<p>Before lying down Dan and I stepped to where our gun had been, and stood
+a moment looking out through the dim light, which had hardly begun, of a
+dark cloudy morning.</p>
+
+<p>We had no object in this outlook, it was the instinct of a soldier to
+look around him before going to sleep. It was, I think, the Providence
+of God to an important result. For most fortunate indeed was it that we
+took that glance out toward the front.</p>
+
+<p>As our eye rested upon the edge of the wood out to our right front, we
+caught a vague glimpse of movement among the trees. We called Barnes,
+and stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> together, watching keenly. Presently the air lightened a
+little, and we could discern the dim figures of men moving about, just
+within the woods. &#8220;Who are those men?&#8221; Dan asked. &#8220;Did either of you see
+any of the troops pass out of the lines during the night?&#8221; &#8220;No, we had
+not.&#8221; &#8220;Then,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t like this. Who can they be?&#8221; Just then
+the cloud seemed to lift a little, more light shot into the landscape,
+and, to our dismay, we clearly saw a line of men. Yes! no doubt now!
+That was a battle line of Federals, formed there in the edge of the
+woods, and just beginning to advance,&mdash;as silently as so many ghosts.
+There they were, two hundred yards off marching swiftly for our line,
+and everybody fast asleep in that line!</p>
+
+<p>The horror of the situation flashed on us. The enemy would be
+bayonetting our sleeping, helpless comrades, and the line be taken in
+two minutes! What could we do to save them? Wake them up? No time to get
+a dozen men roused up before the fatal peril would be upon us. Suddenly!
+the same thought seemed to flash into our minds. Fire the gun! that will
+wake up the line instantly. Come boys! There was a case-shot in the gun.
+I remembered I had not fired it out, and I had my friction primer box
+on, and a primer hooked to the lanyard. We jerked the trail loose from
+the limber, and let the gun run to its place! Before it stopped, I
+think, I had the primer in, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Dan pulled the trail round to get the
+aim. He sprung aside as I let drive.</p>
+
+<p>The crash of that Napoleon, and the scream of the shell there, in the
+deep stillness of day-dawn, sounded as if it might be heard all over
+Virginia! The effect was instant! You ought to have seen the boys, lying
+all about, &#8220;tumble up.&#8221; They flirted up from the ground like snap <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'bags'">bugs</ins>!
+&#8220;Gabriel&#8217;s trumpet&#8221; couldn&#8217;t have jerked them to their feet quicker.</p>
+
+<p>Ned Barnes had lain down right where the gun had been, at the work. When
+we ran it back to its place, in our excitement, we did not notice him.
+Fortunately the wheels went on either side of him. He was lying flat on
+his back, and right under the gun, when it fired. Ned went on like a
+chicken with its head off. There was a scuffle, a yell, the whack of a
+bumped head under the gun. Ned came tumbling out, all in a heap,
+perfectly dazed, and wanting to know, in indignant tones, &#8220;What in the
+thunder we were doing that way <i>for</i>?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Before the sound of our gun had died away the whole line was up,
+shooting like mad, and both guns were going hard. A few minutes of this
+sent that sneaking line back to the woods, with a good deal more noise,
+and faster, than it came. We learnt, afterwards, that the idea was to
+surprise us, if possible. If so, to take, and sweep our line. If not,
+<i>not</i> to press the attack. The &#8220;surprise&#8221; was all they could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> have
+wished. Not a picket fired on them. They were in one hundred and fifty
+yards of our sleeping men, and could have simply walked over them, and
+captured the whole line at that point. And, <i>if they had</i>&mdash;fixed as our
+Army was, a half hour later&mdash;it would, I am sure, have meant disaster.
+The only thing that averted it was, <i>humanly</i> speaking, the <i>accident</i>
+that three young &#8220;Howitzers&#8221; sat up talking all night, and, happened to
+look over at that wood at the break of day,&mdash;and <i>had a cannon handy</i>!</p>
+
+<p>I think the Texans &#8220;owed us another one&#8221; for this, and the Army of
+Northern Virginia &#8220;owed us one&#8221; too. Major-General Field <i>said so</i> in
+his report of this incident.</p>
+
+<p>The very same thing which <i>would have happened here was happening</i> five
+minutes later up the line to our right, where the Federal troops came
+right over our works, and caught our exhausted soldiers asleep in their
+blankets&mdash;the start of the bloody business of the Bloody Angle.</p>
+
+<p>Yes! the bloody work which was to go on all day long, this dreadful 12th
+of May, was already beginning, up there in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>The little firing on our part of the line was scarcely over, before we
+heard the sound of musketry come rolling down the line from the right.
+Soon the big guns joined in, and we knew that a furious fight was going
+on, off there. In a few moments we got the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> news, called from man to man
+down along the lines, &#8220;The Yankees have taken the Salient on Ewell&#8217;s
+front, and captured Ed. Johnson&#8217;s Division, and twenty guns. Pass it
+down the lines!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So it was! In overwhelming masses the Federals had poured out of the
+woods, over the Salient Angle, where the men were asleep, and from which
+the cannon had been withdrawn. And General Lee was trying to drive them
+out, and retake our works.</p>
+
+<p>This was the great business of the 12th of May. A very cyclone of battle
+raged round that Salient. The Federals trying to hold it, our men trying
+to retake it. We heard that the two Parrott guns of our &#8220;Right Section&#8221;
+had gone over there to help, and they were in the thick of that awful
+row. We heard it all going on, artillery and musketry, rolling and
+crashing away, all day long.</p>
+
+<p>Our part of the line was comparatively quiet, after the fight of the
+early morning. Several times infantry was seen moving about, down in the
+woods, in our front, and we would send a few shells into the woods just
+to let them know that we were watchful, and ready. Harry Sublett was
+wounded by a stray ball on this day. But no real attack was made, only
+the sound of the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'sharp-shooters's'">sharp-shooter&#8217;s</ins> rifle, and the sound of their bullets
+enlivened the time.</p>
+
+<p>This went on for several days. The idea of breaking our line, here, had
+been given up as a hopeless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> job, and no other attempt was made on it.
+Assaults were made on other points, and we could hear fighting, here and
+there, but we were left alone.</p>
+
+<p>At last, we got orders to move, about the 18th or 19th. Our pickets had
+advanced through the woods, and reported that the enemy had left our
+front.</p>
+
+<p>While waiting for the horses to be brought up to take off the guns, an
+infantryman told me that a cow had been killed, between the lines, and
+was lying down there in the woods, in front.</p>
+
+<p>We had had an awful time about food, for the last week, and were hungry
+as wolves. This news about the cow was news indeed. I told several of
+the boys, and off we started to get some of that cow! We found it lying
+just in the edge of the woods. It was a hideous place to go for a
+beefsteak! All around, the ground was covered with dead Federal
+soldiers, many in an advanced stage of decay. The woods had been on
+fire, and many of these bodies were burned; some with the clothing, and
+nearly all the flesh consumed! The carcass of that cow was <i>touching
+five dead bodies</i>,&mdash;which will give an idea of how thick the dead were
+lying. Many of their wounded had perished in the flames, which had swept
+over the ground.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Grant&#8217;s Neglect of Federal Wounded</div>
+
+<p>We had witnessed all these horrors, with our own eyes, days before, from
+our lines, and had been helpless to do anything for them. Hundreds of
+wounded Federal soldiers lay between the lines, day after day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> and
+perished for want of help. Several of us, unable to bear the sight of
+their suffering, went out one day to carry them food and water, and the
+Federals fired upon us, and wounded one of our men, then we had to leave
+them alone. They could not or would not care for their wounded, and
+would not let us do it. It <i>was stated</i> among us that General Lee had
+sent an offer to General Grant to permit him to send, and care for his
+wounded, near our lines; and he refused. And then General Lee offered,
+if Grant would suspend <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'hostilites'">hostilities</ins> for some hours, that <i>we</i> would care
+for his wounded rather than see them suffer, and die, before our eyes;
+Grant refused that proposal too!</p>
+
+<p>Certain it is, these poor fellows were left to their fate and perished,
+miserably, by wounds and famine, and fire. Their many dead, in our
+front, lay unburied until the odor from them was so dreadful that we
+could hardly stay in our works. It may be that General Grant had this in
+mind, and was determined that, if his <i>live</i> soldiers couldn&#8217;t drive us
+out of the works, his <i>dead</i> ones should. Well! he had his way of making
+war! And on account of his inhumanity to his wounded, his <i>own men</i>
+thought as <i>ours did</i>, that his way was very brutal! I heard his own men
+curse him bitterly. They called him &#8220;The Butcher&#8221; in those days. The
+feeling of his army to him was widely different from our feeling for our
+General.</p>
+
+<p>All those dead soldiers along a line of five miles lay rotting on the
+ground, until we had gone away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> and the people of the country
+neighborhood had to collect them from the fields, and thickets, and bury
+them, for fear of pestilence. And when one remembers that from Thursday,
+the 5th of May, to Thursday, the 12th of May, General Grant had lost
+40,000 in killed and wounded, the dread sight of death and suffering we
+looked upon, can be imagined! The thronging lines of unburied dead,&mdash;it
+was a shocking and appalling spectacle!</p>
+
+<p>But we could not just then, mind the sights we saw! We got our beef, all
+the same! We were the first to get to that cow, and we had to take our
+knives and cut through the skin, on the rump, and flay it up, and then
+cut out hunks of the flesh, as best we could, and get back to the guns.</p>
+
+<p>As I got back, carrying my big piece of meat, in my hands, Col. H. C.
+Cabell, commanding our Battalion, met me. He said, &#8220;My dear boy, where
+on earth did you get that meat?&#8221; I told him. &#8220;Well,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I am
+almost starved; <i>could</i> you give me a little piece?&#8221; I cut off a chunk
+as big as my fist, stuck it on a sharp stick, held it a few minutes in a
+fire, close by, and handed it up to the Colonel, sitting on his horse.
+He took it off the stick, and ate it ravenously. He said it was the best
+morsel he ever tasted! It was scant times when a Colonel of artillery
+was as famished as he was! I cut up the rest of the beef, and divided
+among several of us, and we cooked it on a stick, the only cooking
+utensil we had at hand, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> ate it, with a keenness of enjoyment that
+terrapin, canvass back duck, and Lynnhaven oysters could not provoke me
+to now. <i>My dear!</i> but that hot meat was good, to palates accustomed,
+mostly, to <i>nothing</i>, and <i>no salt on that</i>, for about a week. The only
+meat we had now,&mdash;when we had any at all.&mdash;was fat mess pork, and we ate
+that <i>raw</i>. Hot beef was a delicious change!</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the hours had worn on. We limbered up the guns, and moved
+several miles off, toward the right, passing through Spottsylvania Court
+House. It was here we went by to see Cary Eggleston for the last time.
+He died next day.</p>
+
+<p>We halted in a broom-sedge field, some distance beyond the Court House,
+and parked our guns, along with some other artillery, already there. And
+here we stayed a day or two.</p>
+
+<p>The only thing I particularly recall of the stay here, was a trivial
+circumstance. One of the batteries we found in this field, belonged to
+the &#8220;Reserve Artillery&#8221; of which the &#8220;<i>un</i>reserved artillery&#8221; had a very
+humble opinion indeed,&mdash;just at that time.</p>
+
+<p>These fellows had not fired a shot, through all the late fighting, and
+their guns were as bright, and clean as possible; which ours were not.
+One day a blue bird started to build her nest in the muzzle of one of
+their guns. Some of the sentimental fellows took this as an augury. &#8220;A
+sweet gentle little bird<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> building her nest in the muzzle of a cannon!
+What <i>could</i> that mean but, that peace was about to be made, and these
+cannon useless?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The rest of us scouted this fancy, and took it as a rare good joke on
+that &#8220;Reserve Artillery.&#8221; We said &#8220;their guns were not of any use anyhow
+<i>except</i> for birds&#8217; nests; the birds knew they would be perfectly safe
+to build their nest, and live in <i>those</i> guns. <i>They</i> would not be
+disturbed!&#8221; We &#8220;chaffed&#8221; the officers and men of that battery most
+unmercifully. The whole field was on the <i>grin</i>, about that birds&#8217; nest.
+The poor fellows were blazing mad, and much mortified; so <i>disgusted</i>
+that they took their nice, clean guns, and went off to a distant part of
+the field, to get rid of us. We were <i>sorry</i> to lose them! They afforded
+<i>us</i> a great deal of fun, if they didn&#8217;t have any themselves. That blue
+bird story got all over our part of the Army, and those &#8220;Reserve
+Artillerists&#8221; were &#8220;sorry that they were living.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND</h3>
+
+<p>About the 20th or 21st we started from Spottsylvania battlefields for
+others. The Army was on the move, and we went along. For a day or two we
+were constantly marching, not knowing where we were going, and along
+roads that I remember very little about. At last, about the 22d, we
+crossed the North Anna River, and struck the Central Railroad (now &#8220;the
+Chesapeake and Ohio&#8221;) and marched along it, till we halted near Hanover
+Junction.</p>
+
+<p>Our Army had crossed and stopped on the south bank of the North Anna,
+two or three miles in front of the Junction, and was taking the river
+for a new line of defence. Presently the Federal Army came up pushing
+on, for the same point, and found us, already ahead, in front, and
+across their track! Then they went at the same old game of trying to
+break through us. They got across the river on our right, and on our
+left. General Lee then threw back both wings of his army, clinging with
+his centre to the river bank. Thus check-mating Grant in a way to make
+his head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> swim! Grant after crossing the river, on both our right and
+left, suddenly found he had got his army cut in two, and he <i>got out of
+that</i>, just as quickly as he could, and gave the North Anna line up as a
+bad job.</p>
+
+<p>We were moving in one direction, or another, about the Junction, for
+seven or eight days. This North Anna business was far more a matter of
+brains between the Generals, than brawn between the men. Some sharp
+fighting, on points right and left, but that was all! General Lee simply
+&#8220;horn swaggled&#8221; General Grant, and that was the end of it! We were out
+one day on the &#8220;Doswell Farm,&#8221; and got under a pretty sharp infantry
+fire, and fired a few shots, then General Rodes&#8217; skirmishers charged,
+and drove them off, and we saw no more of them.</p>
+
+<p>Along about the 29th or 30th of May, we got on the march again; this
+time through the &#8220;Slashes of Hanover.&#8221; It was an all-night march, and a
+most uncomfortable one. The rain had been pouring, and long sections of
+the road were under water. I think we waded for miles, that dark night,
+through water from an inch to a foot deep. And the mud holes! after a
+time our gun wheels went up to the hub, and we had to turn to, there in
+the dark, and prize our guns out; nearly lift them bodily out of the
+mud. I suppose we did not go more than five or six miles, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> that
+all-night march, and by the time day dawned we were as wet, and muddy,
+as the roads, and felt as <i>flat</i>, and were tired to death. We halted for
+an hour or two to rest; then pushed on, all day.</p>
+
+<p>In the late afternoon (this I think was May 31st) we took our guns into
+position, on the far edge of a flat, open field. Two hundred yards in
+front of us, in the edge of a wood, was a white frame Church, which,
+some of the fellows, who knew this neighborhood, told us was &#8220;Pole Green
+Church.&#8221; They also told us that the Pamunkey River was about a mile in
+front of us. We heard artillery in various directions, but saw no enemy,
+and did not know anything of what was going on, except where we were. It
+was quiet there; so we went to sleep, and were undisturbed during the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, we found that infantry had formed right and left of
+us, and we were in a line of battle stretching across this extensive
+field. About eleven o&#8217;clock skirmishers began to appear, in the woods,
+in front of us. They thickened up, and opened on us quite a lively fire.
+We stood this awhile until those skirmishers made a rush from the woods,
+and tried to gain the cover of the church building. Some of them did,
+and as this was crowding us a little too close, we took to our guns, and
+so dosed them with canister, as they ran out, that they retired, out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+range, into the woods. Soon after some infantry began to form in the
+edge of the woods as if they were about to charge us. We opened on them.
+They advanced a little, then broke in some confusion, and disappeared.
+The rest of this day, June 1st, along where we were, there was lively
+sharp-shooting going on, up and down the line, and once a battery fired
+a few shots at us, but no special attack was made.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon, taking advantage of the quiet, our negro mess cooks
+came into the line, to bring us something to eat. Each fellow had the
+cooked meat, and bread, for his mess, in a bag, swung over his shoulder.
+They came on across the field until within a hundred yards of the line,
+when a shell struck, in the field, not far from them. The darkies
+scattered, like a covey of birds! Some ran one way, and some another.
+Some ran back to the rear, and a few ran on to us. Our cook, Ephraim,
+came tearing on with long leaps, and tumbled over among us crying out,
+&#8220;De Lord have mercy upon us.&#8221; &#8220;Ephraim,&#8221; we said, &#8220;what is the matter?
+what did you run for?&#8221; All in a tremble, he thrust out the bag towards
+us, and exclaimed, &#8220;Here, Marse George, take your vituals, and let me
+git away from here. De Lord forgive me for being such a fool as to come
+to sich a place as dis <i>anyhow</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But, Ephraim,&#8221; we said, &#8220;there was no danger! That shell didn&#8217;t hit
+anywhere near you.&#8221; &#8220;De ain&#8217;t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> no use in telling me dat! Don&#8217;t nobody
+know whar dem things goin&#8217;! Sound to me like it was bout to hit me side
+my head, and bust my brains out, every minit; and if it had a hit me,
+dem other cooks would all a run away, and left me lying out dar, like a
+poor creeter.&#8221; &#8220;But, my dear Ephraim,&#8221; we said, &#8220;it mortifies us to see
+the &#8216;Howitzer&#8217; cooks running so, with all the men looking on.&#8221; &#8220;Don&#8217;t
+keer who looking! When dem things come any whar bout me, I <i>bleeged</i> to
+run. Dis ain&#8217;t no place for cooks, nohow. Here gentlemen! take your
+rations; I got to get away from here!&#8221; We emptied the bag, he threw it
+over his back, and streaked with it to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Another night in line here! Next morning, June 2d, orders came to move.
+We got on a road running along, just back of our position, and marched
+off toward the right. The road ran, for some distance, nearly parallel
+to our lines, and then bore away toward the rear. For a time we met, or
+passed bodies of troops and wagon teams on the roadside, soldiers
+single, or in groups. Further on, all these reminders of the presence of
+the Army were left behind, and we found ourselves marching on quiet
+lonely country roads, through woods and fields of a peaceful rural
+landscape. We had not the least idea where we were going; or what we
+were going to do, or see when we got there. But we had got out of the
+habit of caring for that.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Last March of Our Howitzer Captain</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>It was a calm, sweet June evening! quiet country farms, and homes lay
+all about us. The whole scene spoke of peace. It was such a restful
+change to us from the din and smoke and crowd we had been in the midst
+of so long. We gave ourselves up to the influences of the hour, and a
+very pleasant evening we cannoneers had strolling along, in front of the
+column of guns, and talking together.</p>
+
+<p>Captain McCarthy was on foot, in the midst of us, as we marched. I
+remember being particularly struck with what a stalwart, martial figure
+he was, as he strode along that road. He was much more silent, and quiet
+than usual! He was generally so bright and cheerful, that this was
+noticed, and remarked on by several of us.</p>
+
+<p>It was afterwards, that perhaps a presentiment was given him that this
+was his last march, with the battery, he had fought so often, and loved
+so much; and <i>this</i> saddened, and softened his usually bold, soldierly
+spirit, and bearing. I walked and talked with him a good deal that
+afternoon, and certainly I was struck by a quietness of manner, and a
+gentleness of speech, not at all usual with him. But we did not know
+what it meant <i>then</i>! So we cheerily swung along that silent road, to
+meet what was coming to him, and to us, in the unseen way ahead.</p>
+
+<p>About five o&#8217;clock we pulled out of the road we had been travelling, and
+followed a narrow farm road,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> across a wide, open field, toward a
+farmhouse, on its farther edge. Beyond the house was a large pine wood,
+which stopped all view in that direction. As we passed across that
+field, we saw some other artillery, coming from another direction, and
+converging with us upon that farmhouse. When we drew close together, we
+discovered that these fellows were the Second and Third Companies of the
+&#8220;Richmond Howitzers.&#8221; Our Company, the First, had been separated from
+them at the beginning of the war, and they had never met, before now. A
+little while after, at this spot, the three batteries, &#8220;First,&#8221; &#8220;Second&#8221;
+and &#8220;Third Richmond Howitzers&#8221; went into battle side by side, for the
+first, and <i>only</i> time, during the war. There was great interest felt by
+the boys that we should go into one fight <i>together</i>; but before we went
+in, the Battalion was broken up again, and scattered, to different parts
+of the line.</p>
+
+<p>When we got near this farmhouse, all was quiet! We had not seen, or
+heard of any enemy for many hours, and we did not know where anybody
+was; didn&#8217;t even know &#8220;where we were <i>at</i>&#8221; <i>ourselves</i>. The farm road
+ran past the house, round the barn and on toward that pine woods behind
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>We halted just by the house, and got some water, at the well, and stood
+around and wondered what we were here for. There were some cherry trees,
+with ripe cherries on them, and up them the boys swarmed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> Leigh
+Robinson gallantly leading the way, to enjoy the fruit.</p>
+
+<p>We were thus engaged, when the deep quiet of this rural scene was
+suddenly, and rudely broken! Over beyond that wood just by us, there
+burst out a terrific roar of musketry! It was like a clap of thunder out
+of a clear sky! We did not know any troops were near us, and had no idea
+that the enemy was in ten miles of us.</p>
+
+<p>But there right through those pines the musketry was rolling, and
+cracking now! A few cannon shots joined in, and the Confederate &#8220;yell&#8221;
+rose up out of the thunder of battle. And the bullets began to sing
+around us. The cherry trees were quickly deserted by all, but Leigh
+Robinson. He stayed up there with balls whizzing close to him, and
+calmly picked and ate cherries,&mdash;as if these were humming birds sporting
+about him,&mdash;until he had enough, or more likely, the cherries gave out.
+Not knowing who was fighting beyond the woods, or what might come of it,
+we got the guns into battery, facing the woods, to be ready for what
+might be.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes we saw Colonel Goggin, of Kershaw&#8217;s staff, dash out of
+the woods, and gallop toward us. He told us that it was Kershaw&#8217;s
+Division over there. They had been attacked by heavy lines of the enemy;
+that our line was broken, and captured at one point, and that Kershaw
+wanted some guns,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> just as quick as they could get to him. Our two
+&#8220;Napoleons&#8221; were ordered in. Goggin said &#8220;for heaven&#8217;s sake come at
+double quick;&#8221; the need was very urgent. We cannoneers of the Left
+Section had the guns limbered up, and into the woods, in about a minute;
+we, double-quicking alongside. We went by a narrow wood road, which
+entering the woods straight ahead of us, went obliquely to the left down
+a deep ravine, crossed a little stream, and up the hill, into the open
+field beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Passing through that pine wood was a mean job! The Minie balls were
+slapping the pines all about us, with that venomous sound, with which a
+Minie crashes into green pine wood. It is a mean piece of work anyhow,
+to go from the rear up to a fighting line! But, away we went, excited
+and eager to get through, and see what was going on. The road, cut
+through the steep banks down to the stream, was so very narrow that it
+barely admitted our wheels, and when they went farther down the cut, our
+hubs stuck in the bank, on both sides, and the gun was held fast. From
+this point the road ran straight up to the edge of the wood. We could
+see men running about, and yelling, and shooting in the open ground. We
+could not tell whether they were our men or the enemy, and the fear
+seized us that the enemy might be pressing our people back, and would
+catch us, helpless and useless, in this ridiculous fix.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>Gracious! how the driver did whip, and spur! and how the cannoneers did
+strain, and tug at those wheels! Captain McCarthy jumped off his horse,
+and put his powerful strength to the wheel. The men from the other guns
+joined us, and, at last, when we were nearly wild with excitement, we
+gave one tremendous jerk, all together, and lifted the whole thing
+bodily out of that rut, and over the bank. The horses, as excited now,
+as we were, snatched the gun over the bank, across the stream, nearly
+upsetting it, and then went tearing, at a full gallop, up the hill; we
+running at top speed to keep up. The third gun following. At this pace,
+we dashed into the open field, and were upon the battle ground. We ran
+the guns into the line of battle, along a slight work Kershaw&#8217;s men had
+hurriedly thrown up, just to the left of the part of the line which the
+Federals had taken, and were still holding. We pushed up, until we got
+an enfilade fire upon their lines. A few case-shots screaming down their
+line sent them flying out of that, and our line was restored.</p>
+
+<p>The Colonel of one of their regiments, captured by our men, said that
+his regiment was lying down behind our captured line, and one of our
+shells cut down a large pine tree and threw it on his line, and about
+finished up what was left of his regiment. The shell burst just as it
+struck the tree, and the shell fragments, and falling tree together,
+killed twelve or fifteen men, and wounded a number of others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>The fighting was dying down now, and soon ceased. Our line restored, the
+enemy made no further effort to take it. The rest of the time, till
+dark, was taken up with sharp-shooting, and artillery fire. A farmhouse
+and outbuildings and barn stood right behind our position, and, I
+remember, the barn swallows in large numbers were skimming and
+twittering all around, through the sweet, bright air, while shells and
+balls were singing a very different sort of song. I never saw that sight
+during the war but this once,&mdash;birds flying about in the midst of a
+battle. But here, those dear little swallows circled round, and round
+that barn, and the adjoining field, for hours, while the air was full of
+flying missiles. They did not seem to mind it. Perhaps they wondered
+what on earth was going on. It was a curious scene!</p>
+
+<p>During the night we made some little addition to the slight earth work,
+which the infantry had thrown up, in front of our two guns. Infantry
+began to pile into the line on both sides of our guns; we learned that
+this was the Twentieth South Carolina Regiment, Colonel Keitt, who had
+been killed, in a fight the Regiment had been in, that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>This regiment, at this time when some Brigades in the Army of Northern
+Virginia had not more than one thousand or twelve hundred men, came
+among us with seventeen hundred men ready for duty. The regiment had
+been stationed at Fort Sumter; had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> seen nothing of war except the siege
+of a Fort, and their idea of the chief duty of a soldier was,&mdash;to get as
+much earth between him and the enemy as possible. When they came into
+line this night, and saw this slight bank of dirt,&mdash;about two feet
+thick, and three feet high,&mdash;and learned that we expected, certainly, to
+fight behind it in the morning, they were perfectly aghast! They pitched
+in, and began to &#8220;throw dirt.&#8221; They kept it up all night, and by morning
+had a wall of earth in front of them, in many places eight feet high,
+and six to seven feet thick.</p>
+
+<p>How much higher, and thicker they would have got it, if the enemy had
+not interrupted them, gracious only knows! Of course they couldn&#8217;t begin
+to shoot over it, except at <i>the sky</i>; perhaps they thought <i>anything
+blue</i> would do to shoot at and the sky was blue. But it was a fact, that
+when the enemy advanced next morning, this big regiment was positively
+&#8220;Hors du Combat.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that when we woke up at daylight, and found what they had
+done, we jeered, and laughed at them, and showed them the impossibility
+of fighting from behind that wall, until some of them got ashamed, and
+began to shovel down the top, a little. Captain McCarthy sent to let
+General Kershaw know the absurd situation we were in,&mdash;supported by
+infantry that could not fire a shot, and warning him, that if the enemy
+charged, they would certainly take the line, unless our two guns alone
+could hold it. General<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> Kershaw sent orders to them &#8220;to shovel that
+thing down to a proper height,&#8221; but they didn&#8217;t have time to do it. When
+the fight began some of them had cut out a shelf on the inside of the
+bank, and some of them had gotten boxes and logs and a number stood up
+on them, and did some shooting, and behaved gallantly; but many of them
+seeming to think that a man should be &#8220;rewarded according to his works&#8221;
+laid closely down behind that wall, and never stirred.</p>
+
+<p>The next night General Lee took them out of the lines, and gave them
+picks, and shovels, and made a &#8220;sapping and mining corps&#8221; of them,&mdash;the
+military service they were most fitted for, and they <i>were</i> rewarded
+according to their works.</p>
+
+<p>While these beavers were gallantly wielding the pick and shovel, we,
+satisfied with our little bank of dirt, were getting ready for next
+day&#8217;s work, by a good sound sleep. One of our boys did have misgiving
+about the strength of our defences. He went in the night, and woke up
+Sergeant Moncure and said, &#8220;Monkey, don&#8217;t you think these works are very
+thin?&#8221; &#8220;Yes, Tom, they are,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;You just get a spade, and go
+and make them just as thick as you think they ought to be; Good night!&#8221;
+He resumed his slumbers, and Tom, not an overly energetic person, walked
+away grumbling that &#8220;the work <i>was</i> too thin, but he would be derned if
+<i>he</i> was going out there, in the dark to work on them, all by himself,&#8221;
+which he didn&#8217;t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>Somehow when we lay down this night we had gotten the impression that
+things were going to be rough, in the morning. They were!</p>
+
+<p>Just as the day dawn was struggling through the clouds, we were roused
+by the sound of several guns, fired in quick succession. We were on our
+feet instantly, and saw that all was ready for action. Shells came
+howling at us from batteries that we could discern in the dim light. We
+could see the light of their burning fuses, as they started out of their
+guns, and could trace their flight toward us by that. Some of them would
+strike the ground in front, and ricochet over us; some would crash into
+our work, with a terrific <i>thud</i>, and some went screaming over our
+heads,&mdash;very close, too, and went on to the rear to look after our Right
+Section guns, which were still by that farmhouse, where we had left
+them, the evening before. They knocked down several of the shelter tents
+our boys were sleeping under, and several of our fellows, there, had the
+narrowest kind of an escape. One shell &#8220;caromed&#8221; over three of the men,
+who were sleeping side by side, touching the very blanket that was over
+them. The Right Section boys needed no reveille that morning to get them
+out! They tumbled up with great promptness and moved round out of the
+line of fire. Fortunately none of them were actually hurt, just here.
+One fellow was sleeping with several canteens of water hanging right
+over his head. A bullet went through them. He was nearly drowned!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Bloodiest Fifteen Minutes of the War</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>In our front, this artillery fire kept up for a while, then it stopped!
+The next moment, there was an awful rush! From every quarter their
+infantry came pouring on over the fields, and through the woods, yelling
+and firing, and coming at a run. Their columns seemed unending! Enough
+people to sweep our thin lines from the face of the earth! Up and down
+our battle line, the fierce musketry broke out. To right and left it
+ran, crashing and rolling like the sound of a heavy hail on a tin roof,
+magnified a thousand times, with the cannon pealing out in the midst of
+it like claps of thunder. Our line, far as the eye could reach, was
+ablaze with fire; and into that furious storm of death, the blue columns
+were swiftly urging their way.</p>
+
+<p>Straight in our front one mass was advancing on us and we were hurling
+case-shot through their ranks,&mdash;when, suddenly! glancing to the right,
+we saw another column, which had rushed out of the woods on our right
+front, by the flank, almost upon us, not forty-five yards outside our
+line. Instantly we turned our guns upon them with double canister! Two
+or three shots doubled up the head of that column. It resolved itself
+into a formless crowd, that still stood stubbornly there, but could not
+get one step farther. And then, for three or four minutes, at short
+pistol range, the infantry and our Napoleon guns tore them to pieces. It
+was deadly, and bloody work! They were a helpless mob, now; a swarming
+multitude of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> confused men! They were falling by scores, hundreds! The
+mass was simply melting away under the fury of our fire. Then, they
+broke in panic, and headlong rout!</p>
+
+<p>Many fearing to retreat under that deadly fire, dropped down behind the
+stumps near our line, and when the others had gone, we ordered them to
+come in. Several hundred prisoners were captured in this way. To show
+what our works were,&mdash;I saw one tall fellow jump up from behind a stump,
+run to our work, and with &#8220;a hop, skip, and a jump,&#8221; he leaped entirely
+over it, and landed inside our line. And a foolish looking fellow he
+was, when he picked himself up!</p>
+
+<p>Just as the enemy broke, Ben Lambert, &#8220;No. 1&#8221; at &#8220;4th&#8221; gun, was severely
+wounded, in the right arm, just as he raised it to swab his gun. One of
+the boys took his place, and the fire kept on.</p>
+
+<p>The great assault was over and had failed! Only ten or fifteen minutes
+was its fury raging! In that ten minutes, thirteen thousand Federal
+soldiers lay stricken, with death, or wounds. In those few moments,
+Grant lost nearly as many men as the whole British Army lost in the
+entire battle of Waterloo.</p>
+
+<p>Just to our right the enemy got over our works, and the guns right and
+left of the break were turned on them. We heard a &#8220;yell&#8221; behind us, and
+round a piece of pines came Eppa Hunton&#8217;s Brigade of Virginians, at a
+run; General Eppa on horse-back leading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> them in, at a gallop. The
+Virginians delivered their volley at the Federals inside our lines, then
+sprang on them like tigers. Next minute the few, left of them, were
+flying back over the works.</p>
+
+<p>In the thick of the fight, Barksdale&#8217;s Mississippi Brigade, now
+commanded by General Humphreys, to which our Battery had been attached,
+being unengaged just at that time, heard that the infantry supporting us
+was not effective, and that the &#8220;Howitzers&#8221; were in danger of being run
+over. They requested permission to come to our help, and two Regiments
+came tearing down the lines to our position, manned the line by us, and
+went to work. What work these splendid fellows could do in a fight! We
+had been very uneasy about our supports, and were delighted to see the
+Mississippians, especially, as they had voluntarily come to our help, in
+such a handsome manner.</p>
+
+<p>The spectacle in front of our line was simply <i>sickening</i>! The horrible
+heaps of dead lay so ghastly, and the wounded were so thickly strewn all
+over the field. To right, and to left, out in front, along our line, as
+far as we could see, this dreadful array of the dead and wounded
+stretched! It was pitiful to see the wounded writhing, and to hear their
+cries of agony. And here <i>again</i>, as at Spottsylvania, these wounded
+were left between the lines, to perish miserably, of hunger and thirst,
+and mortifying wounds.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Federal Troops Refuse to Be Slaughtered</div>
+
+<p>When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after them they were nearly
+all dead. What they must have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> suffered before death came! But none of
+their own people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help
+them,&mdash;when they might have been saved. I wonder who will have to answer
+for the <i>unnecessary waste of life</i> and suffering in the &#8220;Army of the
+Potomac?&#8221; For the untold agony and death that <i>need never have been</i>! It
+was awful! We used to think it was <i>brutal</i>! And the <i>Federal soldiers</i>
+thought so too!</p>
+
+<p>Some hours after this assault we saw the enemy massing for another.
+Their columns advanced a little way, and then stopped. We could see
+there was some &#8220;hitch,&#8221; and sent a few shells over there, just to
+encourage any little reluctance they might have about coming on. These
+lines stood still, and came no further.</p>
+
+<p>We learned, afterwards, that perfectly demoralized, and disheartened by
+the bloody repulse of the morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by
+General Grant to storm our line again, <i>mutinied in line of battle</i>, and
+<i>in the face of the enemy and refused to go forward</i>. I witnessed that
+performance, but did not understand at the time, just what was going on.
+The grave meaning of it was, that the enemy&#8217;s soldiers had distinctly
+quailed before our lines and declared their utter inability to take
+them. And <i>this</i> was the verdict&mdash;at the end&mdash;of General Grant&#8217;s Army
+upon General Grant&#8217;s campaign! Their heads were more level than their
+General&#8217;s. They were tired of being slaughtered for nothing!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>The moment the morning assault was over, the Federal artillery opened
+furiously, all along the line, and all day long, we were under a
+constant fire of cannon, and sharp-shooters.</p>
+
+<p>Fifty yards behind our guns was a farmhouse, outbuildings, and yard full
+of trees. Shells aimed at us, rained into those premises all day. The
+house was riddled like a sieve, the trees were cut down, and the
+outbuildings, barn, stables, sheds, etc., were reduced to a heap of
+kindling wood.</p>
+
+<p>A pig was in a pen, in the yard! Everything else on the place had been
+hit, and we watched with interest the fate of that pig. He escaped all
+day! Just after dark, a shell skimmed just over our gun, went screaming
+back into that yard, burst,&mdash;and&mdash;we heard the pig squeal. Some of the
+men, at once, started for the yard, and came back with the pig. Said &#8220;he
+was mortally wounded, and they were going to carry him to the hospital.&#8221;
+I fear he did not survive to get there! We disposed of his remains in
+the usual way.</p>
+
+<p>About noon we heard that our Right Section had been ordered into
+position, on the lines, some distance to our right, and that John
+Moseley, No. 8 at 1st gun, while with his caisson, back of the lines,
+had been killed. A stray bullet had pierced his brain. No one was with
+him at the time. He was found dead, in the woods.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dr. Carter &#8220;Apologizes for Getting Shot&#8221;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>The sharp-shooters swept all the ground about us, making it dangerous
+for any man to expose himself an instant. Dr. Carter took some canteens,
+and his cup, and went round under the hill behind us, to bring some
+water. With filled canteens, and tin cup, filled to the brim, carried in
+his right hand, he recklessly came back across the field, in rear of the
+line. Just before he got to us, a bullet struck his right thumb, and
+shattered it. He did not drop the cup or spill the water! He came right
+on, as if nothing had happened, offered us a drink of water out of the
+cup, and then courteously apologized to the captain for getting shot;
+who accepted his apology, and sent him off to the hospital, to have his
+thumb amputated; which he did, and was back at his post, the first
+moment his wound permitted. When we condoled with him for the loss of
+his thumb, he said &#8220;<i>He</i> didn&#8217;t care anything about the <i>thumb</i>; he
+could <i>roll cigarettes just as well with the stump</i>, as he ever could
+with the whole thumb. That seemed about all the use he had for his
+thumb,&mdash;to roll cigarettes. He was an artist at that!</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon three or four of us were standing in a group talking
+when one of the numberless shells that were howling by all day long,
+burst in our very faces. I distinctly felt the heat of the explosion on
+my skin, and grains of powder out of the bursting shell struck our
+faces, and drew blood. The concussion was terrific! It was a pretty
+&#8220;close call&#8221; to all three of us!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>The stream of shells fired at our guns gradually cut away the top of our
+work, until it was so low that it did not sufficiently protect our gun.
+We feared that some of the shells would strike our gun, and disable it.
+To avert this, for many hours that day, from time to time, we had to
+take turns, and, with shovels, throw sand from the inside on the top of
+the work. In this way we managed to keep our defences up, but it was
+weary work, and we grew very tired. Still, there was nothing for it, but
+to keep on, and <i>we kept</i> on!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Death of Captain McCarthy</div>
+
+<p>About six o&#8217;clock, there fell the saddest loss, to the battery, that it
+had yet been called to bear. Captain McCarthy stood up at the work to
+watch what was going on in front. One moment, I saw him, standing
+there;&mdash;the next instant, I heard a sharp crash, the familiar sound of a
+bullet striking, and McCarthy was lying, flat on his back, and
+motionless. We jumped to his side! Nothing to be done! A long bullet
+from a &#8220;globe sight&#8221; rifle had struck him, two inches over his right
+eye, and crashed straight through his brain. He lay without motion two
+or three minutes, then his chest rose, and fell, gently, once or twice,
+and he was still, in death.</p>
+
+<p>And there, on that red field of war, with shells, and bullets whistling
+all about, over his dead face, dropped the tears of brave men, who loved
+him well, and had fought with and followed him long! We had seen his
+superb courage in battle; his patient bearing of hardship, his
+unfaltering devotion to duty always; his kind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> cordial comradeship! We
+knew him to be a soldier, every inch, and a patriot to his heart&#8217;s core!</p>
+
+<p>We knew, and said, that among all her sons, Virginia had no braver son,
+than this one, who had died for her. Sadly we lamented&mdash;&#8220;What shall we
+do, in battle, and in camp, and on march, his form and face missing from
+among us?&#8221; There was not a sadder group of hearts along that
+blood-drenched line that evening, than ours, who bowed deeply sorrowing
+over the form of our dead captain. We took his body in our arms, and
+bore it to where we could place it in an ambulance.</p>
+
+<p>It was sent to his home, and family, in Richmond, and buried in &#8220;Shockoe
+Cemetery.&#8221; And now,&mdash;after thirty-two years have passed, we, the old
+&#8220;Howitzers,&#8221; still carry the name of &#8220;Ned McCarthy&#8221; in our hearts! We
+keep his memory green; we think of him, and rank him as a typical
+Confederate Soldier. One who by his splendid courage and devotion shed
+luster upon the name.</p>
+
+<p>His stalwart form has gone to dust. The light of his bright, brave face
+has long gone from our eyes; the soul-stirring war time&mdash;when we were
+with him&mdash;has long passed away. The changes and chances of this mortal
+life have brought many experiences to us who survived him. Our feet have
+wandered far, into many paths. We have toiled, and thought, and
+suffered, and enjoyed much, in the long years, since we last looked upon
+his form dead on the red field of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> &#8220;Cold Harbor.&#8221; &#8220;The strong hours have
+conquered us&#8221; in many things. But&mdash;the noble memory of this man! as a
+patriot and a hero!</p>
+
+<p>Ah! that lives in our hearts! The hearts of his comrades who, with their
+own eyes, saw him live and bear, and fight and die&mdash;for <i>Virginia</i>&mdash;and
+the South.</p>
+
+<p>The battle of Cold Harbor ended Grant&#8217;s direct advance on Richmond. He
+drew off in confessed defeat and inability to go on&mdash;afterwards, he
+advanced by way of Petersburg.</p>
+
+<p>The operations on that line resolved themselves into a siege. That siege
+lasted through the fall and winter and early spring of &#8217;65, with many
+attempts to break our lines, which always failed.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day of April, 1865, according to General Lee&#8217;s own
+statement to General Meade, just after the surrender, the Army of
+Northern Virginia stood, with 27,000 men, holding a line thirty-two
+miles long; facing an army of 150,000 men. On that day our line was
+broken, and the retreat began.</p>
+
+<p>Under the circumstances, the disentanglement of our army from that long
+line, and getting it on the march, with the enemy&#8217;s powerful army close
+in their front, was a supreme display of, at once, the consummate
+generalship of General Lee, and the unshakable morale of the Southern
+troops.</p>
+
+<p>The retreat continued for one week; we started from Petersburg Sunday,
+April 2, and reached Appomattox, Saturday, April 8th. On that day, after
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> hunger, exhaustion, and losses in the many fights along the way,
+the Army stood at Appomattox, ninety miles from Petersburg, with 8,000
+men with arms in their hands; and they were as &#8220;game&#8221; as ever. On that
+morning of April 9th, when General Gordon surrendered his little force
+of 1,300 men, he had to surrender 1,700 Federal soldiers, and fourteen
+pieces of artillery, which he had just captured from the enemy, while
+driving back their encircling line more than a mile.</p>
+
+<p>Then General Lee, unwilling for useless sacrifice, surrendered the army,
+because it was &#8220;compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and
+resources&#8221;&mdash;and that Army of Northern Virginia, when it was surrendered,
+had behind it this remarkable, and proud record, that, in the many
+battles it fought during the war, it was never once driven from the
+field of battle; and it was as defiant, and ready to fight at Appomattox
+as it was at Manassas, the first battle four years before.</p>
+
+<p>As we turn from that closing scene, let us take a parting glance at the
+facts which, duly considered, enable us to form a true estimate of the
+fight the South made in that struggle of the Civil War.</p>
+
+<p>The history of that war may be briefly, but accurately comprehended in
+this short statement. During the four years, &#8217;61 to &#8217;65, the North put
+into the field two million, eight hundred thousand (2,800,000) men. They
+were well armed, well equipped, and well fed&mdash;also, it had a Navy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>During those four years, the South put into the field less than six
+hundred thousand (600,000) men. They were poorly armed, poorly equipped,
+and poorly fed&mdash;much of the time, very poorly indeed! And it had no
+Navy.</p>
+
+<p>It took those 2,800,000 men, with the Navy, four years to overcome those
+600,000 men. In doing so they lost the lives of one million (1,000,000)
+men&mdash;nearly double the whole number of men the South put into the field.</p>
+
+<p>What these facts mean, the world will judge&mdash;the world has judged! And
+the world has off its hat to the race who made that heroic fight!</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</b></p>
+<p>Two quotes are opened with a double quotation mark but are not closed.
+These are presented as they appear in the original text.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 31192-h.txt or 31192-h.zip *******</p>
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+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Rapidan to Richmond and the
+Spottsylvania Campaign, by William Meade Dame
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign
+       A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw
+
+
+Author: William Meade Dame
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 7, 2010  [eBook #31192]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND
+THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
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+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_.
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs appeared as sidenotes in the
+      original (=sidenote=).
+
+
+
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM MEADE DAME
+
+               PRIVATE FIRST COMPANY OF RICHMOND HOWITZERS
+
+               1864]
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+AND
+
+THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
+
+A Sketch in Personal Narrative of the Scenes a Soldier Saw
+
+by
+
+WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.
+Private, First Company
+Richmond Howitzers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Baltimore
+Green-Lucas Company
+1920
+
+Copyright, 1920, by Harry B. Green
+
+
+
+  TO
+  MY COMRADES OF THE ARMY
+  OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.
+
+               RECTOR MEMORIAL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH
+
+               BALTIMORE, MD.
+
+               1920]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+By
+
+Thomas Nelson Page
+
+
+"The land where I was born" was, in my childhood, a great battleground.
+War--as we then thought the vastest of all wars, not only that had been,
+but that could ever be--swept over it. I never knew in those days a man
+who had not been in the war. So, "The War" was the main subject in every
+discussion and it was discussed with wonderful acumen. Later it took on
+a different relation to the new life that sprung up and it bore its part
+in every gathering much as the stories of Troy might have done in the
+land where Homer sang. To survive, however, in these reunions as a
+narrator one had to be a real contributor to the knowledge of his
+hearers. And the first requisite was that he should have been an actor
+in the scenes he depicted; secondly, that he should know how to depict
+them. Nothing less served. His hearers themselves all had experience and
+demanded at least not less than their own. As the time grew more distant
+they demanded that it should be preserved in more definite form and the
+details of the life grew more precious.
+
+Among those whom I knew in those days as a delightful narrator of
+experiences and observations--not of strategy nor even of tactics in
+battle; but of the life in the midst of the battles in the momentous
+campaign in which the war was eventually fought out, was a kinsman of
+mine--the author of this book. A delightful raconteur because he had
+seen and felt himself what he related, he told his story without
+conscious art, but with that best kind of art: simplicity. Also with
+perennial freshness; because he told it from his journals written on the
+spot.
+
+Thus, it came about that I promised that when he should be ready to
+publish his reminiscences I would write the introduction for them. My
+introduction is for a story told from journals and reminiscent of a time
+in the fierce Sixties when, if passion had free rein, the virtues were
+strengthened by that strife to contribute so greatly a half century
+later to rescue the world and make it "safe for Democracy."
+
+It was the war--our Civil War--that over a half century later brought
+ten million of the American youth to enroll themselves in one day to
+fight for America. It was the work in "the Wilderness" and in those long
+campaigns, on both sides, which gave fibre to clear the Belleau Wood. It
+was the spirit of the armies of Lee and Grant which enabled Pershing's
+army to sweep through the Argonne.
+
+_Rome_, March 27, 1919.
+
+
+
+
+WOLSELEY'S TRIBUTE TO LEE
+
+
+_The following tribute to Robert E. Lee was written by Lord Wolseley
+when commander-in-chief of the armies of Great Britain, an office which
+he held until succeeded by Lord Roberts._
+
+_Lord Wolseley had visited General Lee at his headquarters during the
+progress of the great American conflict. Some time thereafter Wolseley
+wrote:_
+
+"The fierce light which beats upon the throne is as a rushlight in
+comparison with the electric glare which our newspapers now focus upon
+the public man in Lee's position. His character has been subjected to
+that ordeal, and who can point to a spot upon it? His clear, sound
+judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, absolute
+devotion to his State, mark him out as a public man, as a patriot to be
+forever remembered by all Americans. His amiability of disposition, deep
+sympathy with those in pain or sorrow, his love for children, nice sense
+of personal honor and generous courtesy, endeared him to all his
+friends. I shall never forget his sweet, winning smile, nor his clean,
+honest eyes that seemed to look into your heart while they searched your
+brain. I have met with many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone
+impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who
+was cast in a grander mold and made of different and finer metal than
+all other men. He is stamped upon my memory as being apart and superior
+to all others in every way, a man with whom none I ever knew and few of
+whom I have read are worthy to be classed. When all the angry feelings
+aroused by the secession are buried with those that existed when the
+American Declaration of Independence was written; when Americans can
+review the history of their last great war with calm impartiality, I
+believe all will admit that General Lee towered far above all men on
+either side in that struggle. I believe he will be regarded not only as
+the most prominent figure of the Confederacy, but as the greatest
+American of the nineteenth century, whose statue is well worthy to stand
+on an equal pedestal with that of Washington and whose memory is equally
+worthy to be enshrined in the hearts of all his countrymen.
+
+"WOLSELEY."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                     1
+
+The cause of conflict and the call to arms--Those who
+answered the call--An army of volunteers--Our great
+leader--The call comes home--First Company Richmond
+Howitzers--Back to civil life--Origin of this narrative.
+
+
+I. SKETCH OF CAMP LIFE THE WINTER BEFORE THE SPOTTSYLVANIA
+CAMPAIGN                                                        17
+
+Morton's Ford--Building camp quarters--"Housewarming"
+on parched corn, persimmons and water--Camp duties--Camp
+recreations--A special entertainment--Confederate soldier
+rations--A fresh egg--When fiction became fact--Confederate
+fashion plates--A surprise attack--Wedding bells and a
+visit home--The soldiers' profession of faith--The example
+of Lee, Jackson and Stuart--Spring sprouts and a "tar heel"
+story.
+
+
+II. BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS                                    63
+
+"Marse Robert" calls to arms--The spirit of the soldiers
+of the South--Peace fare and fighting ration--Marse
+Robert's way of making one equal to three--An infantry
+battle--Arrival of the First Corps--The love that Lee
+inspired in the men he led--"Windrows" of Federal dead.
+
+
+III. BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE                       96
+
+Stuart's four thousand cavalry--Greetings on the field
+of battle--"Jeb" Stuart assigns "a little job"--Wounding
+of Robert Fulton Moore--A useful discovery--Barksdale's
+Mississippi Creeper--Kershaw's South Carolina
+"rice-birds"--Feeling pulses--Where the fight was
+hottest--Against heavy odds at "Fort Dodge"--"Sticky" mud
+and yet more "sticky" men--Gregg's Texans to the front--
+Breakfastless but "ready for customers"--Parrott's reply
+to Napoleon's twenty to two--The narrow escape of an
+entire company--Successive attacks by Federal infantry--
+Eggleston's heroic death--"Texas will never forget
+Virginia"--Contrast in losses and the reasons
+therefore--Why Captain Hunter failed to rally his men--
+Having "a cannon handy"--Grant's neglect of Federal
+wounded.
+
+
+IV. COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND                    189
+
+The last march of our Howitzer Captain--The bloodiest
+fifteen minutes of the war--Federal troops refuse to
+be slaughtered--Dr. Carter "apologizes for getting
+shot"--Death of Captain McCarthy--A Summary.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+=The Cause of Conflict and the Call to Arms=
+
+In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the South. The world knows
+how the men of the South answered that call. Dropping everything, they
+came from mountains, valleys and plains--from Maryland to Texas, they
+eagerly crowded to the front, and stood to arms. What for? What moved
+them? What was in their minds?
+
+Shallow-minded writers have tried hard to make it appear that slavery
+was the cause of that war; that the Southern men fought to keep their
+slaves. They utterly miss the point, or purposely pervert the truth.
+
+In days gone by, the theological schoolmen held hot contention over the
+question as to the kind of wood the Cross of Calvary was made from. In
+their zeal over this trivial matter, they lost sight of the great thing
+that did matter; the mighty transaction, and purpose displayed upon that
+Cross.
+
+In the causes of that war, slavery was only a detail and an occasion.
+Back of that lay an immensely greater thing; the defense of their
+rights--the most sacred cause given men on earth, to maintain at every
+cost. It is the cause of humanity. Through ages it has been,
+pre-eminently, the cause of the Anglo-Saxon race, for which countless
+heroes have died. With those men it was to defend the rights of their
+States to control their own affairs, without dictation from anybody
+outside; a right not _given_, but _guaranteed_ by the Constitution,
+which those States accepted, most distinctly, under that condition.
+
+It was for that these men came. This was just what they had in their
+minds; to uphold that solemnly guaranteed constitutional right,
+distinctly binding all the parties to that compact. The South pleaded
+with the other parties to the Constitution to observe their guarantee;
+when they refused, and talked of force, then the men of the South got
+their guns and came to see about it.
+
+They were Anglo-Saxons. What could you expect? Their fathers had fought
+and died on exactly this issue--they could do no less. As their noble
+fathers, so their noble sons pledged their lives, and their sacred honor
+to uphold the same great cause--peaceably if they could; forcibly if
+they must.
+
+=Those Who Answered the Call=
+
+So the men of the South came together. They came from every rank and
+calling of life--clergymen, bishops, doctors, lawyers, statesmen,
+governors of states, judges, editors, merchants, mechanics, farmers. One
+bishop became a lieutenant general; one clergyman, chief of artillery,
+Army of Northern Virginia. In one artillery battalion three clergymen
+were cannoneers at the guns. All the students of one Theological
+Seminary volunteered, and three fell in battle, and all but one were
+wounded. They came of every age. I personally know of six men over sixty
+years who volunteered, and served in the ranks, throughout the war; and
+in the Army of Northern Virginia, more than ten thousand men were under
+eighteen years of age, many of them sixteen years.
+
+They came of every social condition of life: some of them were the most
+prominent men in the professional, social, and political life of their
+States; owners of great estates, employing many slaves; and thousands of
+them, horny-handed sons of toil, earning their daily bread by their
+daily labor, who never owned a slave and never would.
+
+There came men of every degree of intellectual equipment--some of them
+could hardly read, and per contra, in my battery, at the mock burial of
+a pet crow, there were delivered an original Greek ode, an original
+Latin oration, and two brilliant eulogies in English--all in honor of
+that crow; very high obsequies had that bird.
+
+Men who served as cannoneers of that same battery, in after life came to
+fill the highest positions of trust and influence--from governors and
+professors of universities, downward; and one became Speaker of the
+House of Representatives in the United States Congress. Also, it is to
+be noted that twenty-one men who served in the ranks of the Confederate
+Army became Bishops of the Episcopal Church after the war.
+
+Of the men who thus gathered from all the Southern land, the first
+raised regiments were drawn to Virginia, and there organized into an
+army whose duty it was to cover Richmond, the Capital of the
+Confederacy--just one hundred miles from Washington, which would
+naturally be the center of military activities of the hostile armies.
+
+=An Army of Volunteers=
+
+The body, thus organized, was composed _entirely of volunteers_. Every
+man in it was there because he wanted to come as his solemn duty. It was
+made up of regiments from every State in the South--Maryland, Virginia,
+North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. Each State had its quota, and
+there were many individual volunteers from Kentucky, Missouri and
+elsewhere. That army was baptized by a name that was to become immortal
+in the annals of war--"The Army of Northern Virginia."
+
+What memories cluster around that name! Great soldiers, and military
+critics of all nations of Christendom, including even the men who fought
+it, have voiced their opinion of that army, and given it high praise.
+Many of them, duly considering its spirit, and recorded deeds, and the
+tremendous odds against which it fought, have claimed for it the highest
+place on the roll of honor, and in the Hall of Fame, among all the
+armies of history.
+
+Truly it deserves high place! when you think that after four years of
+heroic courage, devotion, and endurance, never more than half fed,
+poorly supplied with clothes, often scant of ammunition, holding the
+field after every battle, that it fought, till the end, worn out at
+last, it disbanded at Appomattox, when only eight thousand hungry men
+remained with arms in their hands, and they, defiant, and fighting
+still, when the white flags began to pass. They surrendered then only
+because General Lee said they must, because he would not vainly
+sacrifice another man; and they wept like broken-hearted children when
+they heard his orders. They would have fought on till the last man
+dropped, but General Lee said: "No, you, my men, go home and serve your
+country in peace as you have done in war."
+
+=Our Great Leader=
+
+They did as General Lee told them to do, and it was the indomitable
+courage of those men and of the women of their land, who were just as
+brave, at home, as the men were, at the front, which has made the South
+rise from its ruins and blossom as the rose as it does this day.
+
+Thus "yielding to overwhelming numbers and resources," the Army of
+Northern Virginia died. But its _glory_ has not died, and the splendor
+of its deeds has not, and will not grow dim.
+
+As, in vision, I look across the long years that have pressed their
+length between the now and then, I can see that Army of Northern
+Virginia on the march. At its head rides one august and knightly figure,
+Robert E. Lee, the knightliest gentleman, and the saintliest hero that
+our race has bred. He is on old "Traveler," almost as famous as his
+master. On his right rides that thunderbolt of war, Stonewall Jackson,
+on "Little Sorrel," with whose fame the world was ringing when he fell.
+On Lee's left, on his beautiful mare, "Lady Annie," the bright, flashing
+cavalier, "Jeb" Stuart, the darling of the Army.
+
+Behind these three, in their swinging stride, tramp the long columns of
+infantry, artillery, and cavalry of the army. As we gaze upon that
+spectacle, we say, and nothing better can be said, "Those chiefs were
+worthy to lead those soldiers; those soldiers were worthy to follow
+Robert Lee."
+
+In this order, The Army of Northern Virginia, General Lee in front, has
+come marching down the road of history, and shall march on, and all
+brave souls of the generations stand at "Salute," and do them homage as
+they pass. Noble Army of Northern Virginia!
+
+All true men will understand and none, least of all the brave men who
+faced it in battle, will deny to the old Confederate the just right to
+be proud that he was comrade to those men and marched in their ranks,
+and was with their leader to the end. Of that army, I had, thank God!
+the honor to be a soldier. It came about in this way.
+
+=The Call Comes Home=
+
+When the war began I was a school boy attending the Military Academy in
+Danville, Virginia, where I was born and reared. At once the school
+broke up. The teachers, and all the boys who were old enough went into
+the army. I was just sixteen years old, and small for my age, and I can
+understand now, but could not then, how my parents looked upon the
+desire of a boy like that to go to the war, as out of the question. I
+did not think so. I was a strong, well-knit fellow, and it seemed to me
+that what you required in a soldier was a man who could shoot, and would
+stay there and do it. I knew I could shoot, and I thought I could stay
+there and do it, so I was sure I could be a soldier, and I was crazy to
+go, but my parents could not see it so, and I was very miserable. All my
+classmates in school had gone or were going, and I pictured to myself
+the boys coming back from the war, as soldiers who had been in battle,
+and all the honors that would be showered upon them--and I would be out
+of it all. The thought that I had not done a manly part in this great
+crisis would make me feel disgraced all my life. It was horrible.
+
+My father, the honored and beloved minister of the Episcopal Church in
+Danville, and my mother, the daughter and grand-daughter of two
+Revolutionary soldiers, said they wanted me to go, and would let me go,
+when I was older--I was too young and small as yet. But I was afraid it
+would be all over before I got in, and I would lay awake at night, sad
+and wretched with this fear. I need not have been afraid of that. There
+was going to be plenty to go around, but I did not know that then, and I
+was low in mind. I suppose that my very strong feeling on the subject
+was natural. It was the inherited microbe in the blood. Though I was
+only a school boy in a back country town, my forebears had always been
+around when there was any fighting to be done. My great-grandfather,
+General Thomas Nelson, and my grandfather, Major Carter Page, and all
+their kin of the time had fought through the Revolutionary War. My
+people had fought in the war of 1812, and the Mexican War, and the
+Indian Wars. Whenever anybody was fighting our country, some of my
+people were in it, and back of that, Lord Nelson of Trafalgar, was a
+second cousin of my great-grandfather, Thomas Nelson; and, still farther
+back of that, my ancestor, Thomas Randolph, in command of a division of
+the Scottish Army under King Robert Bruce, was the man who, by his
+furious charge, broke the English line at "Bannockburn" and won the
+Independence of Scotland.
+
+You see that a boy, with all that back of him, in his family, had the
+virus in his blood, and could not help being wretched when his country
+was invaded, and fighting, and he not in it. He would feel that he was
+dishonoring the traditions of his race, and untrue to the memory of his
+fathers. However, that schoolboy brooding over the situation was mighty
+miserable. When my parents realized my feelings, they, at last, gave up
+their opposition, and I went into the army with their consent, and
+blessing.
+
+=First Company Richmond Howitzers=
+
+While this matter was hanging fire, having been at a military academy, I
+was trying to do some little service by helping to drill some of the raw
+companies which were being rapidly raised, in and around Danville. The
+minute I was free, off I went. Circumstances led me to enlist in a
+battery made up in Richmond, known as the "First Company of Richmond
+Howitzers," and I was thus associated with as fine a body of men as ever
+lived--who were to be my comrades in arms, and the most loved, and
+valued friends of my after life.
+
+This battery was attached to "Cabell's Battalion" and formed part of the
+field artillery of Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. It was
+a "crack" battery, and was always put in when anything was going on. It
+served with great credit, and was several times mentioned in General
+Orders, as having rendered signal service to the army. It was in all the
+campaigns, and in action in every battle of the Army of Northern
+Virginia. It fought at Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days'
+Battle around Richmond in 1862, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Harpers
+Ferry, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Morton's Ford, The
+Wilderness, The Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Pole
+Green Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House.
+Every one of the cannoneers, who had not been killed or wounded, was at
+his gun in its last fight. The very last thing it did was to help "wipe
+up the ground" with some of Sheridan's Cavalry, which attacked and tried
+to ride us down, but was cut to pieces by our cannister fire, and went
+off as hard as their horses could run--as if the devil was after them.
+Then the surrender closed our service.
+
+=Back to Civil Life=
+
+My comrades, as the rest of the army, scattered to their homes. I went
+to my home in Danville, and had to walk 180 miles to get there. After a
+few days, which I chiefly employed in trying to get rid of the sensation
+of starving, I went to work--got a place in the railroad service.
+
+After eighteen months of this, I proceeded to carry out a purpose that I
+had in mind since the closing days of the war. I had been through that
+long and bloody conflict; I had been at my gun every time it went into
+action, except once when I was lying ill of typhoid fever; I had been in
+the path of death many times, and though hit several times, had never
+been seriously wounded, or hurt badly enough to have to leave my
+gun--and here I was at the end of all this--alive, and well and strong,
+and twenty years of age. As I thought of God's merciful protection
+through all those years of hardship and danger, a wish and purpose was
+born, and got fixed in my mind and heart, to devote my life to the
+service of God in the completest way I could as a thanksgiving to Him.
+Naturally, my thoughts turned to the ministry of the Gospel, and I
+decided to enter the seminary and train for that service as soon as the
+way was open.
+
+While I was in the railroad train work, I studied hard in the scraps of
+time to get some preparation, and in September, 1866, I entered the
+Virginia Theological Seminary along with twenty-five other students--all
+of whom were Confederate soldiers. I here tackled a job that was much
+more trying than working my old twelve-pounder brass Napoleon gun in a
+fight. I would willingly have swapped jobs, if it had been all the same,
+but I worked away, the best I could, at the Hebrew, and Greek, and
+"Theology," and all the rest, for three years.
+
+Somehow I got through, and graduated, and was ordained by Bishop Johns
+of Virginia, the twenty-sixth of June, 1869. Thus the old cannoneer was
+transformed into a parson, who intended to try to be as faithful to
+duty, as a parson, as the old cannoneer had been. He has carried that
+purpose through life ever since. How far he has realized it, others will
+have to judge.
+
+After serving for nine years in several parishes in Virginia, I came to
+Baltimore as rector of Memorial Church, and have been here ever since.
+Hence I have served in the ministry for fifty years--forty-one of which
+I have spent serving the Memorial Church, and having, as a side line,
+been Chaplain of the "Fifth Regiment Maryland National Guard" for
+thirty-odd years. When one is bitten by the military "bee" in his youth,
+he never gets over it--the sight of a line of soldiers, and the sound
+of martial music stirs me still, as it always did, and I have had the
+keenest interest and pleasure in my association with that splendid
+regiment, and my dear friends and comrades in it.
+
+So, through the changes and chances of this mortal life, I have come
+thus far, and by the blessing of God, and the patience of my people, at
+the age of seventy-four I am still in full work among the people, whom I
+have served so long, and loved so well--still at my post where I hope to
+stay till the Great Captain orders me off to service in the only place I
+know of, that is better than the congregation of Memorial Church, and
+the community of Baltimore--and that is the everlasting Kingdom of
+Heaven.
+
+=Origin of This Narrative=
+
+Now, what I have been writing here is intended to lead up to the
+narrative set forth in the pages of this volume. Sam Weller once said to
+Mr. Pickwick, when invited to eat a veal pie, "Weal pies is werry good,
+providin' you knows the lady as makes 'em, and is sure that they _is
+weal_ and not _cats_." The remark applies here: a narrative is "werry
+good providin' you knows" the man as makes it, and are sure that it is
+facts, and not fancy tales. You want to be satisfied that the writer was
+a personal witness of the things he writes about, and is one who can be
+trusted to tell you things as he actually saw them. I hope both these
+conditions are fulfilled in this narrative.
+
+But some one might say, "How about this narrative that you are about to
+impose on a suffering public, who never did you any harm? What do you do
+it for?"
+
+Well, I did not do it of malice aforethought. It came about in this way.
+Young as I was when I went into the war, and never having seen anything
+of the world outside the ordinary life of a boy, in a quiet country
+town, the scenes of that soldier life made a deep impression on my mind,
+and I have carried a very clear recollection of them--everyone--in my
+memory ever since. As I have looked back, and thought upon the events,
+and especially the spirit, and character, and record, of my old comrades
+in that army, my admiration, and estimate of their high worth as
+soldiers has grown ever greater, and I felt a very natural desire that
+others should know them as I knew them--and put them in their rightful
+rank as soldiers. The only way to do this is for those who know to tell
+people about them; what manner of warriors they were.
+
+Now mark how one glides into mischief unintentionally. Years ago, I was
+beguiled into making, at various times, places, and occasions, certain,
+what might be called, "Camp Fire Talks" descriptive of Soldier Life in
+the Army of Northern Virginia. Weakly led on by the kindly expressed
+opinions of those who heard these talks, and urged by old friends, and
+comrades, and others, I ventured on a more connected narrative of our
+observations and experiences, as soldiers in that army. I wrote a
+sketch, in that vein, of the "Spottsylvania Campaign"--in 1864--fought
+between General Lee and General Grant. It was a tremendous struggle of
+the two armies for thirty days--almost without a break. It was a
+thrilling period of the war, and brought out the high quality of both
+the Commander and the fighting men of the Army of Northern Virginia.
+
+It was the bloodiest struggle known to history, up to that time. As one
+item, at Cold Harbor, General Grant, in fifteen minutes, by the watch,
+lost 13,723 men, killed and wounded, irrespective of many
+prisoners--more men in a quarter of an hour than the British Army lost
+in the whole battle of Waterloo. That gives an idea of the terrible
+intensity of that campaign--one incident of it the bloodiest quarter of
+an hour in all the history of war.
+
+I took as a title for my sketch "From the Rapidan to Richmond" or "The
+Bloody War Path of 1864"--"The Scenes One Soldier Saw."
+
+As a guarantee of its accuracy, I took that narrative to Richmond, and
+in the presence of fifteen of my old comrades of the First Howitzers,
+every man of whom had been along with me through all the incidents of
+which I wrote, and therefore had personal knowledge of all the facts, I
+read it, and we freely discussed it. What resulted has the approval, and
+endorsement of all those personal witnesses, and may be counted on as
+accurate--in every statement and impression made in this story, and may
+be safely accepted by the reader as a true narration of facts.
+
+I am urged to put the narrative in such form that its contents may be
+more widely known, and I am glad to do it. I do want as many as possible
+to know my old comrades as I knew them, and value them at their true
+worth. My narrative is a true account of that soldier life, and
+illustrates the stuff of which those men of the Army of Northern
+Virginia were made. The story illustrates this in a graphic and
+impressive way, because it is a simple and homely story of how they
+lived, and what they did--showing what they were. It is an honorable
+testimony to the character, and worth, as patriot soldiers, of my old
+comrades--borne by one who saw them display their courage, and
+endurance, and devotion in heroic conduct, in every possible way,
+through the long strain, and stress of war--to the end.
+
+I believe there is interest and value, to the true understanding of
+history, in such narratives of personal witnesses to the men, and
+things, and conditions of that past, which reflected so much glory on
+the manhood of our American race; which sterling quality, of high
+soldierly worth, has just been shown again, in the present generation of
+our race, when American soldiers, drawn from the North, South, East and
+West have stood, shoulder to shoulder, in the one American line, under
+the Star-Spangled Banner, and fighting for the freedom of the world. Our
+splendid American men of today are what they are, and have done what
+they did, because the blood of their sires runs in them; because they
+are "the same breed of dogs" with the American soldiers, who, on both
+sides, in the bloody struggle of the Civil War, bore them so bravely in
+the days gone by.
+
+This narrative only paints the picture, and gives a sample of the
+Anglo-Saxon American soldier of the generation just gone; it shed lustre
+upon our race. This generation has done the same--all honor to both!
+
+=A Summary=
+
+Let us Americans, at all cost, keep pure the Anglo-Saxon blood, to which
+this America belongs, of right; let us as a nation, Americans all, work
+and dwell together in true comradeship, and let our nation walk in just
+and right ways, for our country. Then, indeed, our heart's aspiration
+shall be fulfilled.
+
+  "And the Star-Spangled Banner _forever_ shall wave
+   O'er the land of the free--and the home of the brave."
+
+As a preface to the sketch of the active campaign, I have given some
+account of our life in the winter quarters camp, the winter before, from
+which we marched to battle when the Spottsylvania Campaign opened.
+
+
+
+
+FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SKETCH OF CAMP LIFE THE WINTER BEFORE THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
+
+
+=Morton's Ford=
+
+From Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running northeast into
+Culpeper crosses Morton's Ford of the Rapidan River, which, in December,
+1863, lay between the "Federal Army of the Potomac" and the "Confederate
+Army of Northern Virginia." The Ford is nineteen miles from Orange Court
+House.
+
+Just after the battle of Mine Run, November 26 to 28, our Battery left
+its bivouac near the Court House, and marched to the Ford. As the road
+reaches a point within three-quarters of a mile of the river, it rises
+over a sharp hill and thence winds its way down the hill to the Ford. On
+the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the Battery,
+First Company of Richmond Howitzers, were placed in position, commanding
+the Ford, and the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the
+pine woods just back of the ridge. We had been sent here to help the
+Infantry pickets to watch the enemy, and guard the Ford. Orders were
+that we should remain in this position all winter, and were to make
+ourselves as comfortable as we could, with a view to this long stay. We
+got there December 2 and 3, and, in fact, did stay there until the
+opening of the spring campaign, May 3, 1864.
+
+=Building Camp Quarters=
+
+With these instructions, as soon as we placed our guns in battery on the
+hill, we went promptly to work to fix up winter quarters in the shelter
+of the pines down the hill just a few rods back of the guns. It was
+getting very cold, and rough weather threatened, so we pitched in and
+worked hard to get ready for it.
+
+Each group of tent mates chose their own site and thereon built such a
+house as suited their energy, and judgment, or fancy. Some few of the
+lazy ones stayed under canvas all winter, but most of us constructed
+better quarters. In my group, four of us lived together, and we built
+after this manner. On our selected site, we marked off a space about ten
+feet square. We dug to the line all around, and to a depth of three or
+four feet in the ground--this going below the surface of the ground gave
+a better protection against wind and cold than any wall one could
+build--and on that bleak hill you wanted all the shield from wind that
+you could get. Having dug a hole ten feet square and three feet deep, we
+went into the woods and cut, squared, and carried on our shoulders logs,
+twelve or eighteen inches thick, and twelve feet long--enough to build
+around three sides of that hole a wall four feet high. Half of the
+fourth side was taken up by the chimney, which was built of short logs
+split in half and covered well inside with mud. With such suitable
+stones as we could pick up, we lined the fire place immediately around
+the fire, and as far above as we had rocks to do it with. The other half
+of the fourth side was left for the door, over which was hung any old
+blanket or other cloth that we could beg, borrow or steal.
+
+The log walls done, we dug a deep hole, loosened up the clay at the
+bottom, poured in water and mixed up a lot of mud with which we chinked
+up the interstices between the logs and covered the wood in the chimney.
+The earth that had been thrown up in digging the hole, we now banked up
+against the log wall all around, which made it wind proof; and then over
+this gem of architecture we stretched our fly. We had no closed
+tents--only a fly, a straight piece of tent cloth all open at the sides.
+Our fly, supported by a rude pole, and drawn down and firmly fastened to
+the top of the log wall, made the roof of the house.
+
+="Housewarming" on Parched Corn, Persimmons and Water=
+
+Then we went out and cut small poles and made a bunk, to lift us off the
+ground. Over the expanse of springy poles we spread sprigs of cedar--and
+this made a pretty good spring mattress. Last of all, we dug a ditch all
+around our house to keep the water from draining down into our room and
+driving us out. Then we went in, built a fire in our fireplace, called
+in our friends, and had a house-warming. The refreshments were parched
+corn, persimmons (which two of us walked two miles to get) and water.
+Of the latter, we had plenty in canteens borrowed from the boys. We had
+a bully time, and we kept it up late. Then we went to bed in our cosy
+bunk and slept like graven images till reveille next morning. Thus we
+were housed for the winter--"under our own vine and fig tree," so to
+speak.
+
+Most of the other houses were built after the same general style. We
+bragged that we had the best house in camp, and were very chesty about
+it. Others did likewise.
+
+The men's quarters ready, we at once set to work on stables for the
+horses, of which there were about seventy, belonging to the Battery. All
+hands were called in to do this work. We scattered through the woods,
+cut logs and carried them on our shoulders to the spot selected. We
+built up walls around three sides, leaving the fourth or sunny side
+open. Then we cut logs into three or four foot lengths and split them
+into slabs, and with these slabs, as a rough sort of shingle, covered
+the roof and weighted them down, in place, with long, heavy logs laid
+across each row of slabs. Then we mixed mud and stopped up the cracks in
+the log walls. Altogether, we had a good, strong wind and rain-proof
+building, which was an effective shelter for the horses and in which
+they kept dry and comfortable through the winter--which was a cold and
+stormy one. All the men worked hard, and we soon had the stable
+finished, and the horses housed. Thus our building work was done, and
+we settled into the regular routine of camp life.
+
+=Camp Duties=
+
+Perhaps a little sketch of our life in winter quarters, how we lived,
+how we employed ourselves, and what we did to pass away the time, may be
+interesting. I will try to give you some account of all that.
+
+Of course, we all had our military duties to attend to regularly. The
+drivers had to clean, feed, water, and exercise the horses, and keep the
+stables in order. The "cannoneers" had to keep the guns clean, bright,
+and ready for service any minute--also they had to stand guard at the
+guns on the hill all the time, and over the camp, at night, to guard the
+forage, and look after things generally. We had to drill some every
+day--police the camp and keep the roads near the camp in order. To this
+day's work we were called, every morning at six o'clock, by the bugler
+blowing the reveille. I may mention the fact that Prof. Francis Nicholas
+Crouch, the composer of the famous and beautiful song, "Kathleen
+Mavourneen," was the bugler of our Battery, and he was the heartless
+wretch who used to persecute us that way. To be waked up and hauled out
+about day dawn on a cold, wet, dismal morning, and to have to hustle out
+and stand shivering at roll call, was about the most exasperating item
+of the soldier's life. The boys had a song very expressive of a
+soldier's feelings when nestling in his warm blankets, he heard the
+malicious bray of that bugle. It went like this:
+
+  "Oh, how I hate to get up in the morning;
+      Oh, how I'd like to remain in bed.
+  But the saddest blow of all is to hear the bugler call,
+      'You've got to get up, you've got to get up,
+  You've got to get up this morning!'
+
+  "Some day I'm going to murder that bugler;
+      Some day they're going to find him dead.
+  I'll amputate his reveille,
+  And stamp upon it heavily,
+      And spend the rest of my life in bed!"
+
+We didn't kill old Crouch--I don't know why, except that he was
+protected by a special providence, which sometimes permits such evil
+deeds to go unpunished. We used to hope that he would blow his own
+brains out, through his bugle, but he didn't--he lived many years after
+the war.
+
+=Camp Recreations=
+
+In between our stated duties, we had some time in which we could amuse
+ourselves as we chose, and we had many means of entertainment. We had a
+chessboard and men--a set of quoits, dominoes, and cards; and there was
+the highly intellectual game of "push pin" open to all comers. Some very
+skillful chess players were discovered in the company. When the weather
+served, we had games of ball, and other athletic games, such as foot
+races, jumping, boxing, wrestling, lifting heavy weights, etc. At night
+we would gather in congenial groups around the camp fires and talk and
+smoke and "swap lies," as the boys expressed it.
+
+There was one thing from which we got a great deal of fun. We got up an
+organization amongst the youngsters which was called the "Independent
+Battalion of Fusiliers." The basal principle of this kind of heroes was,
+"In an advance, always in the rear--in a retreat, always in front. Never
+do anything that you can help. The chief aim of life is to rest. If you
+should get to a gate, don't go to the exertion of opening it. Sit down
+and wait until somebody comes along and opens it for you."
+
+After the first organizers, no one applied for admission into the
+Battalion--they were elected into it, without their consent. The way we
+kept the ranks full was this: Whenever any man in the Battery did any
+specially trifling, and good-for-nothing thing, or was guilty of any
+particularly asinine conduct, or did any fool trick, or expressed any
+idiotic opinion, he was marked out as a desirable recruit for the
+Fusiliers. We elected him, went and got him and made him march with us
+in parade of the Battalion, and solemnly invested him with the honor.
+This was not always a peaceable performance. Sometimes the candidate,
+not appreciating his privilege, had to be held by force, and was
+struggling violently, and saying many bad words, during the address of
+welcome by the C. O.
+
+I grieve to say that an election into this notable corps was treated as
+an insult, and responded to by hot and unbecoming language. One fellow,
+when informed of his election, flew into a rage, and said bad words, and
+offered to lick the whole Battalion. But what would they have? We were
+obliged to fill up the ranks.
+
+After a while it did come to be better understood, and was treated as a
+joke, and some of the more sober men entered into the fun, and would go
+out on parade, and take part in the ceremony. We paraded with a band
+composed of men beating tin buckets, frying pans, and canteens, with
+sticks, and whistling military music. It made a noisy and impressive
+procession. It attracted much attention and furnished much amusement to
+the camp.
+
+=A Special Entertainment=
+
+On proper occasions, promotions to higher rank were made for
+distinguished merit in our line. An instance will illustrate. One night,
+late, I was passing along when I saw this sight. The sentinel on guard
+in camp was lying down on a pile of bags of corn at the forage
+pile--sound asleep. He was lying on his left side. One of the long tails
+of his coat was hanging loose from his body and dangling down alongside
+the pile of bags. A half-grown cow had noiselessly sneaked up to the
+forage pile, and been attracted by that piece of cloth hanging
+loose--and, as calves will do, took the end of it into her mouth and
+was chewing it with great satisfaction. I called several of the fellows,
+and we watched the proceedings. The calf got more and more of the coat
+tail into her mouth. At length, with her mouth full of the cloth, and
+perhaps with the purpose of swallowing what she had been chewing she
+gave a hard jerk. The cloth was old, the seams rotten--that jerk pulled
+the whole of that tail loose from the body of the coat. The sleeping
+guard never moved. We rescued the cloth from the calf, and hid it. When
+the sleeper awoke, to his surprise, one whole tail of his coat was gone,
+and he was left with only one of the long tails. Our watching group,
+highly delighted at the show of a sentinel sleeping, while a calf was
+browsing on him, told him what had happened and that the calf had
+carried off the other coat tail. He was inconsolable. He was the only
+private in the company who had a long-tailed coat and it was the pride
+of his heart. There was no way of repairing the loss, and he had to go
+around for days, sad and dejected, shorn of his glory--with only one
+tail to his coat.
+
+All this was represented to the "Battalion of Fusiliers." Charges were
+preferred, and the Court Martial set. The witnesses testified to the
+facts--also said that if we had not driven off the calf it would have
+gone on, after getting the coat tail, and chewed up the sentinel, too.
+The findings of the Court Martial were nicely adjusted to the merits of
+the case. It was, that the witnesses were sentenced to punishment for
+driving off the calf, and not letting her eat up the sentinel.
+
+For the sentinel, who appeared before the Court with the one tail to his
+coat, it was decreed that his conduct was the very limit. No one could
+ever hope to find a more thorough Fusilier than the man who went to
+sleep on guard and let a calf eat his clothes off. Such conduct deserved
+most distinguished regard, as an encouragement to the Fusiliers. He was
+promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Battalion, the highest
+rank in our corps. After a while the lost coat tail was produced, and
+sewed on again.
+
+=Confederate Soldier Rations=
+
+The one thing that we suffered most from, the hardship hardest to bear,
+was hunger. The scantiness of the rations was something fierce. We never
+got a square meal that winter. We were always hungry. Even when we were
+getting full rations the issue was one-quarter pound of bacon, or
+one-half pound of beef, and little over a pint of flour or cornmeal,
+ground with the cob on it, we used to think--no stated ration of
+vegetables or sugar and coffee--just bread and meat. Some days we had
+the bread, but no meat; some days the meat, but no bread. Two days we
+had nothing, neither bread nor meat--and it was a solemn and empty
+crowd. Now and then, at long intervals, they gave us some dried peas.
+Occasionally, a little sugar--about an ounce to a man for a three days'
+ration. The Orderly of the mess would spread the whole amount on the
+back of a tin plate, and mark off thirteen portions, and put each man's
+share into his hand--three days' rations, this was. One time, in a burst
+of generosity, the Commissary Department stunned us by issuing coffee.
+We made "coffee" out of most anything--parched corn, wheat or rye--when
+we could get it. Anything for a hot drink at breakfast! But this was
+_coffee_--"sure enough" coffee--we called it. They issued this three
+times. The first time, when counted out to the consumer, by the Orderly,
+each man had 27 grains. He made a cup--drank it. The next time the issue
+was 16 grains to the man--again he made a cup and drank it. The third
+issue gave nine grains to the man. Each of these issues was for three
+days' rations. By now it had got down to being a joke, so we agreed to
+put the whole amount together, and draw for which one of the mess should
+have it all--with the condition, that the winner should make a pot of
+coffee, and drink it, and let the rest of us see him do it. This was
+done. Ben Lambert won--made the pot of coffee--sat on the ground, with
+us twelve, like a coroner's jury, sitting around watching him, and drank
+every drop. How he could do it, under the gaze of twelve hungry men, who
+had no coffee, it is hard to see, but Ben was capable of very difficult
+feats. He drank that pot of coffee--all the same!
+
+After this, there was no more issue of coffee. Even a Commissary began
+to be dimly conscious that nine grains given a man for a three days'
+rations was like joking with a serious subject, so they quit it, and
+during that winter we had mostly just bread and meat--very little of
+that, and that little not to be counted on.
+
+This hunger was much the hardest trial we had to bear. We didn't much
+mind getting wet and cold; working hard, standing guard at night; and
+fighting when required--we were seasoned to all that--but you don't
+season to hunger. Going along all day with a gnawing at your insides, of
+which you were always conscious, was not pleasant. We had more appetite
+than anything else, and never got enough to satisfy it--even for a time.
+
+Under this very strict regime, eating was like to become a lost art and
+our digestive organs had very little to do. We had very little use for
+them, in these days. A story went around the camp to this effect: One of
+the men got sick--said he had a pain in his stomach and sent for the
+surgeon. The doctor, trying to find the trouble, felt the patient's
+abdomen, and punched it, here and there. After a while he felt a hard
+lump, which ought not to be there. The doctor wondered what it could
+be--then feeling about, he found another hard lump, and then another,
+and another. Then the doctor was perfectly mystified by all those hard
+places in a man's insides. At last, the explanation came to him: he was
+feeling the vertebrae of the fellow's back-bone--right through his
+stomach!
+
+I do not vouch for the exact accuracy of all the details of the story,
+but it illustrates the situation. We all felt that our stomachs had
+dwindled away for want of use and exercise.
+
+=A Fresh Egg=
+
+Another incident, that I can vouch for, showing the strenuous time the
+whole army had about food that winter: One day Major-Quartermaster John
+Ludlow, of Norfolk, met a Captain of Artillery from his own town of
+Norfolk--Capt. Charles Grandy, of the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues. The
+Major invited the Captain to dine with him on a certain day. He did not
+expect anything very much, but there was a seductive sound in the word
+"dining" and he accepted. Grandy told the story of his experience on
+that festive occasion. He walked two miles to Major Ludlow's quarters,
+and was met with friendly cordiality by his old fellow-townsman, and
+ushered into his hut where a bright fire was burning. After a time spent
+in conversation, the Major began to prepare for dinner. He reached up on
+a shelf, and took down a cake of bread, cut it into two pieces, and put
+them in a frying pan on the fire to heat. Then he reached up on the
+shelf and got down a piece of bacon--not very large--cut it into two
+pieces, and put them in another pan on the fire to fry. Down in the
+ashes by the fire was a tin cup covered over--its contents not visible.
+The dining table was an old door, taken from some barn and set up on
+skids.
+
+When the bread and meat were ready, the Major put it on the table and
+with a courtly wave of his hand said, "D-d-draw up, Charley." They
+seated themselves. The Major gave a piece of bread and a piece of bacon
+to his guest, and took the other piece, of each, for himself. After he
+had eaten a while--the Major got up, went to the fireplace and took up
+the tin cup. He poured off the water, and, behold, one egg came to view.
+This egg, the Major put on a plate and, coming to the table, handed it
+to Grandy--"Ch-Ch-Charley, take an egg," as if there were a dish full.
+Charley, having been brought up to think it not good manners to take the
+last thing on the dish, declined to take the only egg in sight--said he
+didn't care specially for eggs! though he said he would have given a
+heap for that egg, as he hadn't tasted one since he had been in the
+army. "But," urged the Major, "Ch-Ch-Charley, I insist that you take an
+egg. You must take one--there is going to be plenty--do take it." Under
+this encouragement, Grandy took the egg--while he was greatly enjoying
+it, suddenly there was a flutter in the corner of the hut. An old hen
+flew up from behind a box in the corner, lit on the side of the box and
+began to cackle loudly. The Major turned to Grandy and said, "I-I
+t-t-told you there was going to be a plenty. I invited you to dinner
+today because this was the day for the hen to lay." He went over and got
+the fresh egg from behind the box, cooked and ate it. So each of the
+diners had an egg. The incident was suggestive of the situation. Here
+was a Quartermaster appointing a day for dining a friend--depending for
+part of the feast on his confidence that his hen would come to time. The
+picture of that formal dinner in the winter quarters on the Rapidan is
+worth drawing. It was a fair sign of the times, and of life in the Army
+of Northern Virginia; when it came to a Quartermaster giving to an
+honored, and specially invited guest, a dinner like that--it indicates a
+general scarceness.
+
+=When Fiction Became Fact=
+
+One bright spot in that "winter of our discontent"--lives in my memory.
+It was on the Christmas Day of 1863. That was a day specially hard to
+get through. The rations were very short indeed that day--only a little
+bread, no meat. As we went, so hungry, about our work, and remembered
+the good and abundant cheer always belonging to Christmas time; as we
+thought of "joys we had tasted in past years" that did _not_ "return" to
+us, now, and felt the woeful difference in our insides--it made us sad.
+It was harder to starve on Christmas Day than any day of the winter.
+
+When the long day was over and night had come, some twelve or fifteen of
+us, congenial comrades, had gathered in a group, and were sitting out of
+doors around a big camp fire, talking about Christmas, and trying to
+keep warm and cheer ourselves up.
+
+One fellow proposed what he called a _game_, and it was at once taken
+up--though it was a silly thing to do, as it only made us hungrier than
+ever. The game was this--we were to work our fancy, and imagine that we
+were around the table at "Pizzini's," in Richmond. Pizzini was the
+famous restauranteur who was able to keep up a wonderful eating house
+all through the war, even when the rest of Richmond was nearly starving.
+Well--in reality, now, we were all seated on the ground around that
+fire, and very hungry. In imagination we were all gathered 'round
+Pizzini's with unlimited credit and free to call for just what we
+wished. One fellow tied a towel on him, and acted as the waiter--with
+pencil and paper in hand going from guest to guest taking orders--all
+with the utmost gravity. "Well, sir, what will you have?" he said to the
+first man. He thought for a moment and then said (I recall that first
+order, it was monumental) "I will have, let me see--a four-pound steak,
+a turkey, a jowl and turnip tops, a peck of potatoes, six dozen
+biscuits, plenty of butter, a large pot of coffee, a gallon of milk and
+six pies--three lemon and three mince--and hurry up, waiter--that will
+do for a start; see 'bout the rest later."
+
+This was an order for one, mind you. The next several were like unto it.
+Then, one guest said, "I will take a large saddle of mountain mutton,
+with a gallon of crabapple jelly to eat with it, and as much as you can
+tote of other things."
+
+This, specially the crabapple jelly, quite struck the next man. He said,
+"I will take just the same as this gentleman." So the next, and the
+next. All the rest of the guests took the mountain mutton and jelly.
+
+All this absurd performance was gone through with all
+seriousness--making us wild with suggestions of good things to eat and
+plenty of it.
+
+The waiter took all the orders and carefully wrote them down, and read
+them out to the guest to be sure he had them right.
+
+Just as we were nearly through with this Barmecide feast, one of the
+boys, coming past us from the Commissary tent, called out to me, "Billy,
+old Tuck is just in (Tucker drove the Commissary wagon and went up to
+Orange for rations) and I think there is a box, or something, for you
+down at the tent."
+
+I got one of our crowd to go with me on the jump. Sure enough, there was
+a great big box for me--from home. We got it on our shoulders and
+trotted back up to the fire. The fellows gathered around, the top was
+off that box in a jiffy, and there, right on top, the first thing we
+came to--funny to tell, after what had just occurred--was the biggest
+saddle of mountain mutton, and a two-gallon jar of crabapple jelly to
+eat with it. The box was packed with all good, solid things to
+eat--about a bushel of biscuits and butter and sausage and pies, etc.,
+etc.
+
+We all pitched in with a whoop. In ten minutes after the top was off,
+there was not a thing left in that box except one skin of sausage which
+I saved for our mess next morning. You can imagine how the boys did
+enjoy it. It was a bully way to end up that hungry Christmas Day.
+
+I wrote my thanks and the thanks of all the boys to my mother and
+sisters, who had packed that box, and I described the scene as I have
+here described it, which made them realize how welcome and acceptable
+their kind present was--and what comfort and pleasure it gave--all the
+more that it came to us on Christmas Day, and made it a joyful one--at
+the end, at least.
+
+In regard to all this low diet from which we suffered so much hunger
+that winter--it is well worthy of remark that the health of the army was
+never better. At one time that winter there were only 300 men in
+hospital from the whole Army of Northern Virginia--which seems to
+suggest that humans don't need as much to eat as they think they do.
+That army was very hungry, but it was very healthy! It looks like cause
+and effect! But it was a very painful way of keeping healthy. I fear we
+would not have taken that tonic, if we could have helped it, but we
+couldn't! Maybe it was best as it was. Let us hope so!
+
+Well, the winter wore on in this regular way until the 3d or 4th of
+February, when our quiet was suddenly disturbed in a most unexpected
+manner. Right in the dead of a stormy winter, when nobody looked for any
+military move--we had a fight. The enemy got "funny" and we had to bring
+him to a more serious state of mind, and teach him how wrong it was to
+disturb the repose of gentlemen when they were not looking for it, and
+not doing anything to anybody--just trying to be happy, and peaceable if
+they could get a chance.
+
+=Confederate Fashion Plates=
+
+Leading up to an account of this, I may mention some circumstances in
+the way of the boys in the camp. Living the hard life, we were--one
+would suppose that fashion was not in all our thoughts; but even then,
+we felt the call of fashion and followed it in such lines, as were open
+to us. The instinct to "do as the other fellow does" is implanted in
+humans by nature; this blind impulse explains many things that otherwise
+were inexplicable. With the ladies it makes many of them wear hats and
+dresses that make them look like hoboes and guys, and shoes that make
+them walk about as gracefully as a cow in a blanket, instead of looking,
+and moving like the young, graceful gazelles--that nature meant, and men
+want them to look like. Taste and grace and modesty go for nothing--when
+fashion calls.
+
+Well, the blind impulse that affects the ladies so--moved us in regard
+to the patches put on the seats of our pants. This was the only
+particular in which we could depart from the monotony of our quiet,
+simple, gray uniform--which consisted of a jacket, and pants and did not
+lend itself to much variety; but fashion found a way.
+
+There must always be a leader of fashion. We had one--"The glass of
+fashion and the mould of form" in our gang was Ben Lambert. He could
+look like a tombstone, but was full of fun, and inventive genius.
+
+Our uniform was a short jacket coming down only to the waist, hence a
+hole in the seat of the pants was conspicuous, and was regarded as not
+suited to the dignity and soldierly appearance of a Howitzer. For one to
+go around with such a hole showing--any longer than he could help
+it--was considered a want of respect to his comrades. Public opinion
+demanded that these holes be stopped up as soon as possible. Sitting
+about on rough surfaces--as stumps, logs, rocks, and the ground--made
+many breaks in the integrity of pants, and caused need of frequent
+repairs, for ours was not as those of the ancient Hebrews to whom Moses
+said, "Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee"--ours waxed very old, before
+we could get another pair, and were easily rubbed through. The more
+sedate men were content with a plain, unpretentious patch, but this did
+not satisfy the youngsters, whose aesthetic souls yearned for "they know
+not what," until Ben Lambert showed them. One morning he appeared at
+roll call with a large patch in the shape of a heart transfixed with an
+arrow, done out of red flannel. This at once won the admiration and envy
+of the soldiers. They now saw what they wished, in the way of a patch,
+and proceeded to get it. Each one set his ingenuity to work to devise
+something unique. Soon the results began to appear. Upon the seats of
+one, and another, and another, were displayed figures of birds, beasts
+and men--a spread eagle, a cow, a horse, a cannon. One artist depicted a
+"Cupid" with his bow, and just across on the other hip a heart pierced
+with an arrow from Cupid's bow--all wrought out of red flannel and sewed
+on as patches to cover the holes in the pants, and, at the same time,
+present a pleasing appearance. By and by these devices increased in
+number, and when the company was fallen in for roll call the line, seen
+from the rear, presented a very gay and festive effect.
+
+One morning, a General, who happened in camp--the gallant soldier, and
+merry Irishman, General Pat Finnegan, was standing, with our Captain, in
+front of the line, hearing the roll call.
+
+That done, the Orderly Sergeant gave the order, "'Bout face!" The rear
+of the line was thus turned toward General Finnegan. When that art
+gallery--in red flannel--was suddenly displayed to his delighted eyes
+the General nearly laughed himself into a fit.
+
+"Oh, boys," he cried out, "don't ever turn your backs upon the enemy.
+Sure they'll git ye--red makes a divil of a good target. But I wouldn't
+have missed this for the world."
+
+The effect, as seen from the rear, was impressive. It could have been
+seen a mile off--bright red patches on dull gray cloth. Anyhow it was
+better than the holes and it made a ruddy glow in camp. Also it gave the
+men much to amuse them.
+
+Ben set the fashion in one other particular--viz., in hair cuts. He
+would come to roll call with his hair cut in some peculiar way, and
+stand in rank perfectly solemn. Ranks broken, the boys would gather
+eagerly about him, and he would announce the name of that "cut." They
+would, as soon as they could, get their hair cut in the same style.
+
+One morning, he stood in rank with every particle of his hair cut off,
+as if shaved, and his head as bare as a door knob. "What style is that,
+Ben?" the boys asked. "The 'horse thief' cut," he gravely announced.
+Their one ambition now, was to acquire the "horse-thief cut."
+
+There was only one man in the Battery who could cut hair--Sergeant Van
+McCreery--and he had the only pair of scissors that could cut hair. So
+every aspirant to this fashionable cut tried to make interest with Van
+to fix him up; and Van, who was very good natured, would, as he had time
+and opportunity, accommodate the applicant, and trim him close. Several
+of us had gone under the transforming hands of this tonsorial artist,
+when Bob McIntosh got his turn. Bob was a handsome boy with a luxuriant
+growth of hair. He had raven black, kinky hair that stuck up from his
+head in a bushy mass, and he hadn't had his hair cut for a good while,
+and it was very long and seemed longer than it was because it stuck out
+so from his head. Now, it was all to go, and a crowd of the boys
+gathered 'round to see the fun. The modus operandi was simple, but
+sufficient. The candidate sat on a stump with a towel tied 'round his
+neck, and he held up the corners making a receptacle to catch the hair
+as it was cut. Why this--I don't know; force of habit I reckon. When we
+were boys and our mothers cut our hair, we had to hold up a towel so. We
+were told it was to keep the hair from getting on the floor and to stuff
+pincushions with. Here was the whole County of Orange to throw the hair
+on, and we were not making any pincushions--still Bob had to hold the
+towel that way. Van stood behind Bob and began over his right ear. He
+took the hair off clean, as he went, working from right to left over his
+head; the crowd around--jeering the victim and making comments on his
+ever-changing appearance as the scissors progressed, making a clean
+sweep at every cut. We were thus making much noise with our fun at Bob's
+expense, until the shears had moved up to the top of his head, leaving
+the whole right half of the head as clean of hair as the palm of your
+hand, while the other half was still covered with this long, kinky, jet
+black hair, which in the absence of the departed locks looked twice as
+long as before--and Bob did present a spectacle that would make a dog
+laugh. It was just as funny as it could be.
+
+=A Surprise Attack=
+
+Just at that moment, in the midst of all this hilarity, suddenly we
+heard a man yell out something as he came running down the hill from the
+guns. We could not hear what he said. The next moment, he burst
+excitedly into our midst, and shouted out, "For God's sake, men, get
+your guns. The Yankees are across the river and making for the guns.
+They will capture them before you get there, if you don't hurry up."
+
+This was a bolt out of a clear sky--but we jumped to the call. Everybody
+instantly forgot everything else and raced for the guns. I saw McCreery
+running with the scissors in his hand; he forgot that he had them--but
+it was funny to see a soldier going to war with a pair of scissors! I
+found myself running beside Bob McIntosh, with his hat off, his head
+half shaved and that towel, still tied round his neck, streaming out
+behind him in the wind.
+
+Just before we got to the guns, Bob suddenly halted and said, "Good
+Heavens, Billy, it has just come to me what a devil of a fix I am in
+with my head in this condition. I tell you now that if the Yankees get
+too close to the guns, I am going to run. If they got me, or found me
+dead, they would say that General Lee was bringing up the convicts from
+the Penitentiary in Richmond to fight them. I wouldn't be caught dead
+with my head looking like this."
+
+We got to the guns on the hill top and looked to the front. Things were
+not as bad as that excited messenger had said, but they were bad enough.
+One brigade of the enemy was across the river and moving on us; another
+brigade was fording the river; and we could see another brigade moving
+down to the river bank on the other side. Things were serious, because
+the situation was this: an Infantry Brigade from Ewell's Corps, lying in
+winter quarters in the country behind us, was kept posted at the front,
+whose duty it was to picket the river bank. It was relieved at regular
+times by another Brigade which took over that duty.
+
+It so chanced that this was the morning for that relieving Brigade to
+come. Expecting them to arrive any minute, the Brigade on duty, by way
+of saving time, gathered in its pickets and moved off back toward camp.
+The other Brigade had not come up--careless work, perhaps, but here in
+the dead of winter nobody dreamed of the enemy starting anything.
+
+So it was, that, with one brigade gone; the other not up; the pickets
+withdrawn, at this moment there was nobody whatsoever on the front
+except our Battery--and, here was the enemy across the river, moving on
+us and no supports.
+
+In the meantime, the enemy guns across the river opened on us and the
+shells were flying about us in lively fashion. It was rather a sudden
+transition from peace to war, but we had been at this business before;
+the sound of the shells was not unfamiliar--so we were not unduly
+disturbed. We quickly got the guns loaded, and opened on that Infantry,
+advancing up the hill. We worked rapidly, for the case was urgent, and
+we made it as lively for those fellows as we possibly could. In a few
+minutes a pretty neat little battle was making the welkin ring. The
+sound of our guns crashing over the country behind us made our people,
+in the camp back there, sit up and take notice. In a few minutes we
+heard the sound of a horse's feet running at full speed, and Gen. Dick
+Ewell, commanding the Second Corps, came dashing up much excited. As he
+drew near the guns he yelled out, "What on earth is the matter here?"
+When he got far enough up the hill to look over the crest, he saw the
+enemy advancing from the river, "Aha, I see," he exclaimed. Then he
+galloped up to us and shouted, "Boys, keep them back ten minutes and
+I'll have men enough here to eat them up--without salt!" So saying, he
+whirled his horse, and tore off back down the road.
+
+In a few minutes we heard the tap of a drum and the relieving Brigade,
+which had been delayed, came up at a rapid double quick, and deployed to
+the right of our guns; they had heard the sound of our firing and struck
+a trot. A few minutes more, and the Brigade that had left, that morning,
+came rushing up and deployed to our left. They had heard our guns and
+halted and came back to see what was up.
+
+With a whoop and a yell, those two Brigades went at the enemy who had
+been halted by our fire. In a short time said enemy changed their minds
+about wanting to stay on our side, and went back over the river a good
+deal faster than they came. They left some prisoners and about 300 dead
+and wounded--for us to remember them by.
+
+The battle ceased, the picket line was restored along the river bank,
+and all was quiet again. Bob McIntosh was more put out by all this
+business than anybody else--it had interrupted his hair cut. When we
+first got the guns into action, everybody was too busy to notice Bob's
+head. After we got settled down to work, I caught sight of that
+half-shaved head and it was the funniest object you ever saw. Bob was
+No. 1 at his gun, which was next to mine, and had to swab and ram the
+gun. This necessitated his constantly turning from side to side,
+displaying first this, and then the other side of his head. One side was
+perfectly white and bare; the other side covered by a mop of kinky, jet
+black hair; but when you caught sight of his front elevation, the effect
+was indescribable. While Bob was unconsciously making this absurd
+exhibition, it was too much to stand, even in a fight. I said to the
+boys around my gun, "Look at Bob." They looked and they could hardly
+work the gun for laughing.
+
+Of course, when the fight was over McCreery lost that pair of scissors,
+or _said_ he did. There was not another pair in camp, so Bob had to go
+about with his head in that condition for about a week--and he wearied
+of life. One day in his desperation, he said he wanted to get some of
+that hair off his head so much that he would resort to any means. He had
+tried to cut some off with his knife. One of the boys, Hunter Dupuy, was
+standing by chopping on the level top of a stump with a hatchet. Hunter
+said, "All right, Bob, put your head on this stump and I'll chop off
+some of your hair." The blade was dull, and it only forced a quantity of
+the hair down into the wood, where it stuck, and held Bob's hair fast to
+the stump, besides pulling out a lot by the roots, and hurting Bob very
+much. He tried to pull loose and couldn't. Then he began to call Hunter
+all the names he could think of, and threatened what he was going to do
+to him when he got loose. Hunter, much hurt by such ungracious return
+for what he had done at Bob's request, said, "Why, Bob, you couldn't
+expect me to cut your hair with a hatchet without hurting some"--which
+seemed reasonable. We made Bob promise to keep the peace, on pain of
+leaving him tied to the stump--then we cut him loose with our knives.
+
+After some days, when we had had our fun, Van found the scissors and
+trimmed off the other side of his head to match--Bob was happy.
+
+=Wedding Bells and a Visit Home=
+
+A few days after this I had the very great pleasure of a little visit to
+my home. My sister, to whom I was devotedly attached, was to be married.
+The marriage was to take place on a certain Monday. I had applied for a
+short leave of absence and thought, if granted, to have it come to me
+some days before the date of the wedding, so that I could easily get
+home in time. But there was some delay, and the official paper did not
+get into my hands until fifteen minutes before one o'clock on
+Sunday--the day before the wedding. The last train by which I could
+possibly reach home in time was to leave Orange Court House for Richmond
+at six o'clock that evening, and the Court House was nineteen miles off.
+It seemed pretty desperate, but I was bound to make it. I had had a very
+slim breakfast that morning; I swapped my share of dinner that evening
+with a fellow for two crackers, which he happened to have, and lit out
+for the train.
+
+A word about that trip, as a mark of the times, may be worth while. I
+got the furlough at 12.45. I was on the road at one, and I made that
+nineteen miles in five hours--some fast travel, that! I got to the depot
+about two minutes after six; the train actually started when I was still
+ten steps off. I jumped like a kangaroo, but the end of the train had
+just passed me when I reached the track. I had to chase the train twenty
+steps alongside the track, and at last, getting up with the back
+platform of the rear car, I made a big jump, and managed to land. It was
+a close shave, but with that nineteen-mile walk behind, and that wedding
+in front, I would have caught that train if I had to chase it to
+Gordonsville--"What do you take me for that I should let a little thing
+like that make me miss the party?"
+
+Well, anyhow, I got on. The cars were crowded--not a vacant seat on the
+train. We left Orange Court House at six o'clock P. M.--we reached
+Richmond at seven o'clock the next morning--traveled all
+night--thirteen hours for the trip, which now takes two and a half
+hours--and all that long night, there was not a seat for me to sit
+on--except the floor, and that was unsitable. When I got too tired to
+stand up any longer, I would climb up and sit on the flat top of the
+water cooler, which was up so near the sloping top of the car that I
+could not sit up straight. My back would soon get so cramped that I
+could not bear it any longer--then I crawled down and stood on the floor
+again. So I changed from the floor to the water cooler and back again,
+for change of position, all through the night in that hot, crowded car,
+and I was very tired when we got to Richmond.
+
+We arrived at seven o'clock and the train--Richmond and Danville
+Railroad--was to start for Danville at eight. I got out and walked about
+to limber up a little for the rest of the trip. I had a discussion with
+myself which I found it rather hard to decide. I had only half a dollar
+in my pocket. The furlough furnished the transportation on the train,
+and the question was this--with this I could get a little something to
+eat, or I could get a clean shave. On the one hand I was very hungry. I
+had not eaten anything since early morning of the day before, and since
+then had walked nineteen miles and spent that weary night on the train
+without a wink of sleep. Moreover, there was no chance of anything to
+eat until we got to Danville that night--another day of fasting--strong
+reasons for spending that half dollar in _food_. On the other hand, I
+was going to a wedding party where I would meet a lot of girls, and
+above all, was to "wait" with the prettiest girl in the State of
+Virginia. In those days, the wedding customs were somewhat different
+from those now in vogue. Instead of a "best man" to act as "bottle
+holder" to the groom, and a "best girl" to stand by the bride and pull
+off her glove, and fix her veil, and see that her train hangs right,
+when she starts back down the aisle with her victim--the custom was to
+have a number of couples of "waiters" chosen by the bride and groom from
+among their special friends, who would march up in procession, ahead of
+the bride and groom, who followed them arm in arm to the chancel.
+
+The "first waiters" did the office of "best" man and girl, as it is now.
+I have been at a wedding where fourteen couples of waiters marched in
+the procession.
+
+Well, I was going into such company, and had to escort up the aisle that
+beautiful cousin, that I was telling you about--naturally I wanted to
+look my best, and the more I thought about that girl, the more I wanted
+to, so I at last decided to spend that only fifty cents for a clean
+shave--and got it. My heart and my conscience approved of this decision,
+but I suffered many pangs in other quarters, owing to that long fasting
+day. However, virtue is its own reward, and that night when I got home,
+and that lovely cousin was the first who came out of the door to greet
+me, dressed in a--well, white swiss muslin--I reckon--and looking like
+an angel, I felt glad that I had a clean face.
+
+And after the rough life of camp, what a delicious pleasure it was to be
+with the people I loved best on earth, and to see the fresh faces of my
+girl friends, and the kind faces of our old friends and neighbors! I
+cannot express how delightful it was to be at home--the joy of it sank
+into my soul. Also, I might say, that at the wedding supper, I made a
+brilliant reputation as an expert with a knife and fork, that lived in
+the memory of my friends for a long time. My courage and endurance in
+that cuisine commanded the wonder, and admiration, of the spectators. It
+was good to have enough to eat once more. I had almost forgotten how it
+felt--not to be hungry; and it was the more pleasant to note how much
+pleasure it gave your friends to see you do it, and not have a lot of
+hungry fellows sitting around with a wistful look in their eyes.
+
+Well, I spent a few happy days with the dear home folks in the dear old
+home. This was the home where I had lived all my life, in the sweetest
+home life a boy ever had. Everything, and every person in and around it,
+was associated with all the memories of a happy childhood and youth. It
+was a home to love; a home to defend; a home to die for--the dearest
+spot on earth to me. It was an inexpressible delight to be under its
+roof--once more. I enjoyed it with all my heart for those _few short
+days_--then, with what cheerfulness I could--hied me back to camp--to
+rejoin my comrades, who were fighting to protect homes that were as dear
+to them as this was to me.
+
+I made another long drawn-out railroad trip, winding up with that same
+old nineteen miles from Orange to the camp, and I got there all right,
+and found the boys well and jolly, but still hungry. They went wild over
+my graphic description of the wedding supper. The picture was very
+trying to their feelings, because the original was so far out of reach.
+
+=The Soldiers' Profession of Faith=
+
+In this account of our life in that winter camp, it remains for me to
+record the most important occurrence of all. About this time there came
+into the life of the men of the Battery an experience more deeply
+impressive, and of more vital consequence to them than anything that had
+ever happened, or ever could happen in their whole life, as soldiers,
+and as men. The outward beginning of it was very quiet, and simple. We
+had built a little log church, or meeting house, and the fellows who
+chose had gotten into the way of gathering here every afternoon for a
+very simple prayer meeting. We had no chaplain and there were only a few
+Christians among the men. At these meetings one of the young fellows
+would read a passage of Scripture, and offer a prayer, and all joined in
+singing a hymn or two. We began to notice an increase of interest, and a
+larger attendance of the men. A feature of our meeting was a time given
+for talk, when it was understood that if any fellow had anything to say
+appropriate to the occasion, he was at liberty to say it. Now and then
+one of the boys did have a few simple words to offer his comrades in
+connection, perhaps, with the Scripture reading.
+
+One day John Wise, one of the best, and bravest men in the Battery,
+loved and respected by everybody, quietly stood up and said, "I think it
+honest and right to say to my comrades that I have resolved to be a
+Christian. I here declare myself a believer in Christ. I want to be
+counted as such, and by the help of God, will try to live as such."
+
+This was entirely unexpected. He sat down amidst intense silence. A
+spirit of deep seriousness seemed fallen upon all present. A hymn was
+sung, and they quietly dispersed. Some of us shook hands with Wise and
+expressed our pleasure at what he had said, and done.
+
+This incident produced a profound impression among the men. It brought
+out the feelings about religion that had lain unexpressed in other
+minds. The thoughts of many hearts were revealed. The interest spread
+rapidly; the fervor of our prayer meetings grew. We had no chaplain to
+handle this situation, but men would seek out their comrades who were
+Christians, and talk on this great subject with them, and accept such
+guidance in truth, and duty as they could give. And now from day to day
+at the prayer meetings men would get up in the quiet way John Wise had
+done, and in simple words declare themselves Christians in the presence
+of their comrades. Most of them were among the manliest and best men of
+the company; they were dead in earnest, and their actions commanded the
+respect and sympathy of the whole camp.
+
+This movement went quietly on, without any fuss or excitement, until
+some sixty-five men, two-thirds of our whole number, had confessed their
+faith, and taken their stand, and in conduct and spirit, as well as in
+word, were living consistent Christian lives. They carried that faith,
+and that life, and character, home when they went back after the
+war--and they carried them through their lives. In the various
+communities where they lived their lives, and did their work, they were
+known as strong, stalwart Christian men, and towers of strength to the
+several churches to which they became attached. Of that number twelve or
+fourteen men went into the ministry of different churches, and served
+faithfully to their life's end.
+
+What I have described as going on in our Battery off there by itself at
+Morton's Ford, was going on very widely in the Army at large. There was
+a deep spiritual interest and strong revival of religion throughout the
+whole Army of Northern Virginia during that winter. Thousands and
+thousands of those splendid soldiers of the South, became just as
+devoted soldiers, and servants of Jesus Christ, and took their places in
+His ranks, and manfully fought under His banner, and were not ashamed
+to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and to stand for His cause.
+
+The effect of all this was very far-reaching. What these men carried
+back home with them wrought a great change in the South--a change in the
+attitude of the men of the South toward Christ's religion. There was a
+great change in that attitude, from before the war, and afterward,
+produced by the war.
+
+I will try to explain what I mean: Before the war, in the South, as I
+knew it--in the country neighborhoods, and in the villages, and small
+towns--you would find a group of men, often made up of the most
+influential, respected, educated, efficient men of that community, who
+were not members of any church or professed Christians. These were men
+of honor and integrity, respected by all, valuable citizens. They
+respected religion, went to church regularly, as became a gentleman, and
+gave their money liberally to support the church as a valuable
+institution of society. That was, their attitude toward
+religion--respectful tolerance, but no personal interest--no need of it.
+Their thought, generally unspoken but sometimes expressed, was that
+religion was all right for women, and children, and sick or weak men,
+but strong men could take care of themselves and had no need of it. And,
+of course, the young men coming on were influenced by their example and
+thought it manly to follow their example. The argument was specious.
+"There is Mr. Blank; he is an upright, good man, and no man stands
+higher in the community; he is just as good a man and citizen as any
+member of the church. He gets along all right without religion--I won't
+bother about it." So he let it alone and went his way. The very virtues
+of that group of men were a baleful influence in that community--led
+young men into the dreadful mistake that men do not need religion--that
+religion is not a manly thing. A good man who is not a Christian does
+ten-fold more harm, in a community, to the cause of Christ, and to the
+lives of men than the worst, and lowest man in it; so it was here!
+
+When the call to war came, these very men were the first to go. As a
+rule they were the leaders, in thought and action, of their
+fellow-citizens, and they were high spirited, intensely patriotic, and
+quick to resent the invasion of their rights, and their State. In
+whole-hearted devotion to the cause, they went in a spirit that would
+make them thorough soldiers.
+
+=The Example of Lee, Jackson and Stuart=
+
+Now when these men got into the army the "esprit de corps" took
+possession of them. They got shaken down to _soldier_ thoughts, and
+judgments. They began to estimate men by their personal value to the
+cause that was their supreme concern. In that army, three men held the
+highest place in the heart and mind, of every soldier in it--they were
+General Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart--each the highest in his
+line. All the army had, for these three men, reverent honor,
+enthusiastic admiration, and absolute confidence. We looked up to them
+as the highest types of manhood--in noble character, superb genius, and
+consummate ability. They were by eminence the heroes--the beloved
+leaders of the army. There were many other able, and brilliant leaders,
+whom we honored, but these were set apart. In the thoughts, and hearts
+of all the army, and the country as well, these three were the noblest
+and highest representatives of our cause; and every man did homage to
+them, and was proud to do it. But, as was known, with all their high
+qualities of genius, and personal character, and superb manhood, each
+one of these three men was a devout member of Christ's Church; a sincere
+and humble disciple of Jesus Christ; and in his daily life and all his
+actions and relations in life, was a consistent Christian man. All his
+brilliant service to his country was done as duty to his God, and all
+his plans and purposes were "referred to God, and His approval and
+blessing invoked upon them, as the only assurance of their success." All
+who were personally associated with these men came to know that this was
+the spirit of their lives; and many times, in religious services, in
+camp, these men, so idolized by the army, and so great in all human eyes
+but their own, could be seen bowing humbly down beside the private
+soldiers to receive the holy sacrament of the Blessed Body and Blood of
+Christ.
+
+Now, when the men, who had been so indifferent to religion at home, as
+so unnecessary for them, came up against this fact, and came to look up
+to these three men as their highest ideals of manhood, they got an eye
+opener. If men like Lee, and Jackson, and Stuart, and others, felt the
+need of religion for themselves, the thought would come, "Maybe I need
+it, too. No man can look down on the manhood of these men; if they
+esteem religion as the crown of their manhood, it is not a thing to be
+despised, or neglected, or treated with indifference. It is a thing to
+be sought, and found and taken into my life." And this train of thought
+arrested the attention, and got the interest and stirred to truer
+thoughts, and finally brought them to Christ. Thousands of these men
+were led to become devout Christians, and earnest members of the church
+through the influence of the three great Christian leaders, and other
+Christian comrades in the army.
+
+Now, when these men got back home after the war and the survivors of
+those groups got settled back in their various communities, there was a
+great difference in the religious situation, from what it had been
+before the war. There had taken place a complete change in these men, in
+their attitude toward religion, and this wrought a great change in this
+respect in their communities, for the returned soldiers of any community
+were given a place of peculiar honor, and influence. They had their
+record of splendid, and heroic service behind them and they were held
+in affectionate, and tender regard--not only by their own families, and
+friends, but by all their neighbors and fellow-citizens. What that group
+of soldiers thought, and wanted, _went_ in that town, or countryside.
+
+Now, that group of men who set the pace, and made the atmosphere in that
+community were Christians. The serious phase of life; the seasoning of
+hardships; the discipline; the oft facing of death; the stern habit of
+duty at any cost, which they had passed through during the war had made
+them very strong men, and very earnest Christians. What they stood for,
+they stood for boldly, and outspokenly on all proper occasions. They
+were not one whit ashamed of their religion and were ready at all times,
+and about all matters to let the world know just where they stood; to
+declare by word, and deed who they were, and whom they served.
+
+All this set up before the eyes of that community a very strong,
+forcible, manly type of religion. These were not women, and children,
+and they were not sick or weak men--they were the very manliest men in
+that town, and so were taken and accepted by general consent.
+
+Just think of the effect of that situation upon the boys and young men
+growing up in that community. The veteran soldiers, back from the war,
+with all their honors upon them--were heroes to the young fellows. What
+the soldiers said, and did, were patterns for them to imitate; and the
+pattern of Christian life, set up before the youngsters, made religion,
+and church membership most honorable in their eyes. They did not now, as
+aforetime, have to overcome the obstacle in a young man's mind which lay
+in the association of weakness with religion, and which had largely been
+suggested to them by the older men, in the former times.
+
+The old Christian soldiers, whom they now saw, set up in them the idea
+that religion was the manliest thing in the world, and so inclined them
+toward it, and assured the most serious, and respectful consideration of
+it. Religion could not be put aside lightly, or treated with contempt as
+unmanly, for those veteran heroes were living it and stood for it, and
+they were, in their eyes, the manliest men they knew.
+
+Now, this leaven of truer thought about religion was leading society all
+through the South; the Southern men and boys everywhere were feeling its
+influence, and it was having most remarkable effects. The increase in
+the number of men, who after the war were brought into the church by the
+direct influence of the returned soldiers, "who had found their souls"
+through the experiences of their army life, was tremendous. Those
+soldiers did a bigger service to the men of their race by bringing back
+religion to them than they did in fighting for them during the war.
+
+Just after the war, in the far harder trials and soul agony of the
+Reconstruction days, I think that the wonderful patience, and courage
+which resisted humiliation, and won back the control of their States,
+and rebuilt their shattered fortunes and pulled their country
+triumphantly up out of indescribable disaster, can only be thus really
+explained--that those men were "strong and of a good courage" because
+"their minds were staked on God."
+
+The history of the Southern people during that epoch is unmatched by the
+history of any people in all time. The result they achieved, this was
+the reason--beneath the superb "grit" of the Southern people lay deep
+the conviction "God is our refuge and strength" and "The God whom we
+serve. He will deliver us." It was the spiritual vision of the men of
+the South that saved it when it was ready to perish--and let the men of
+the South never forget it! Let them give unceasing recognition and
+thanks to God, for that great deliverance.
+
+If I have made clear my thought--the connection of the religious revival
+in the army with the fortunes of our people at home after the war--I am
+glad! If I haven't, I am sorry! I can't say any fairer than that, and I
+can only make the plea that was stuck up in a church in the West, in the
+old rough days, when a dissatisfied auditor of the sermon, or the
+organist, was likely to express his disapproval with a gun. The notice
+up in front of the choir read like this: "Please don't shoot the
+musician, he's doing his level best"--I make the same request.
+
+But, to return to our muttons! Let us get back to the winter camp at
+Morton's Ford.
+
+=Spring Sprouts and a "Tar Heel" Story=
+
+The winter had now worn away and the spring had come. Vegetation began
+to show signs of life. Its coming bore us one comfort in one way--among
+others. It was not so cold, and we did not have to tote so many logs of
+wood to keep up our fires. Down on the river flats, where vegetation
+showed sooner than it did on the hills, green things began to shoot up.
+Dandelions, sheep sorrel, poke leaves and such, though not used in civil
+life, were welcome to us, for they were much better than no salad at
+all. The men craved something green. The unbroken diet of just bread and
+meat--generally salt meat at that--gave some of the men scurvy. The only
+remedy for that was something acid, or vegetable food. The men needed
+this and craved it--so when the green shoots of any kind appeared we
+would go down on the flats, and gather up all the green stuff we could
+find, and boil it with the little piece of bacon we might have. It
+improved the health of the men very much.
+
+At this time, there was a North Carolina Brigade of Infantry at the
+front furnishing pickets for the river bank. They were camped just back
+of our winter quarters. Those fellows seemed to be very specially strong
+in their yearning for vegetable diet, so much so that they attracted
+our attention. Every day we would see long lines of those men passing
+through our camp. They would walk along, one behind another, in almost
+unending procession, silent and lonesome, never saying a word and never
+two walking together--and all of them meandered along intent on one
+thing--getting down to the flats below "to get some sprouts" as they
+would say when asked where they were going.
+
+Later on, we would see them in the same solemn procession coming back to
+camp--every man with a bunch of something green in his fist.
+
+This daily spectacle of Tar Heels swarming through our camp interested
+us; we watched them mooning along. We tried to talk with them, but all
+we got from them was, "We'uns is going to git some sprouts. Don't
+you'uns love sprouts?"
+
+We did, but we didn't go after them in such a solemn manner. Our
+"sprout" hunts were not so funereal a function; rather more jovial, and
+much more sociable. Also this devotion to the search for the herb of the
+field excited our curiosity. They were all the time craving green stuff,
+and going after it so constantly. We had a story going around which was
+supposed to explain the craving of a Tar Heel's insides for greens.
+
+This was the story:
+
+One of these men got into the hospital. He had something the matter with
+his liver. The doctor tried his best to find out what was the matter,
+and tried all sorts of remedies--no results. At last, in desperation,
+the doctor decided to try heroic treatment. He cut the fellow open, took
+out his liver, fixed it up all right (whatever that consisted in),
+washed it off and hung it on a bush to dry, preparatory to putting it
+back in place. A dog stole the liver, and carried it off. Here was a bad
+state of things--the soldier's liver gone, the doctor was responsible.
+The doctor was up against it. He thought much, and anxiously. At last a
+bright idea struck him. He sent off, got a sheep, killed it, took out
+its liver, got it ready, and sewed it up in that soldier in place of his
+own. The man got well, and about his duties again. One day, soon after,
+the doctor met him and said with much friendly interest, "Well, Jim, how
+are you?"
+
+"Oh, doctor," he replied in a very cheerful tone, "I'm well and strong
+again."
+
+The doctor looked at him, and asked him significantly, "Jim, do you feel
+_all right_?"
+
+Falling into that characteristic whine, Jim said, "Yes, sir, I am well
+and strong, but, Doctor, all the time, now, I feel the strangest
+hankering after grass."
+
+That was the sheep's liver telling. Our theory was that all of those
+fellows had sheep's livers, and that accounted for the insatiable
+"hankering after grass."
+
+I told this story in an after-dinner speech at a banquet some time ago
+to a company of twenty-nine female doctors of medicine--trained, and
+practicing physicians. They made no protest; listened with unbroken
+gravity; accepted it as a narrative of actual occurrence, and looked at
+me with wide-eyed interest. When I finished I thought it best to tell
+them that it was all a joke. Then they laughed themselves into a fit.
+
+Well, this little account of our doings, and our life in the winter camp
+at Morton's Ford--1863-1864--is done. Out of its duties, and
+companionships; its pleasures, and its deeper experiences, we Howitzers
+were laying up pleasant memories of the camp for the years to come. And
+often in after years, when some of us comrades got together we would
+speak of the old camp at Morton's Ford.
+
+The spring was now coming on. We knew that our stay here could not last
+much longer. How, and when, and where we should go from here, we did not
+know. We knew we would go somewhere--that was all. "We would know when
+the time came, and 'Marse Robert' wanted us" he would tell us.
+
+That is the soldier's life--"Go, and he goeth; come, and he cometh; do
+this, and he doeth it." No choice. Wait for orders--then, quick! Go to
+it!
+
+Well we were perfectly willing to trust "Marse Robert" and perfectly
+ready to do just what he said. Meantime we take no anxious thought for
+the morrow; we go on with our work, and our play--we are "prepared to
+move at a moment's warning."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS
+
+
+Nineteen miles from Orange Court House, Virginia, the road running
+northeast into Culpeper crosses "Morton's Ford" of the Rapidan River,
+which, just now, lay between the Federal "Army of the Potomac" and the
+Confederate "Army of Northern Virginia."
+
+As this road approaches within three-fourths of a mile of the river it
+rises over a sharp hill, and, thence, winds its way down the hill to the
+Ford. On the ridge, just where the road crosses it, the guns of the
+"First Richmond Howitzers" were in position, commanding the Ford; and
+the Howitzer Camp was to the right of the road, in the pine wood just
+back of the ridge. Here, we had been on picket all the winter, helping
+the infantry pickets to watch the enemy and guard the Ford.
+
+One bright sunny morning, the 2d of May, 1864, a courier rode into the
+Howitzer Camp. We had been expecting him, and knew at once that
+"something was up." The soldier instinct and long experience told us
+that it was about time for something to turn up. The long winter had
+worn away; the sun and winds, of March and April, had made the roads
+firm again. Just across the river lay the great army, which was only
+waiting for this, to make another desperate push for Richmond, and we
+were there for the particular purpose of making that push vain.
+
+For some days we had seen great volumes of smoke rising, in various
+directions, across the river, and heard bands playing, and frequent
+volleys of firearms, over in the Federal Camp. Everybody knew what all
+this meant, so we had been looking for that courier.
+
+Soon after we reached the Captain's tent, orders were given to pack up
+whatever we could not carry on the campaign, and in two hours, a wagon
+would leave, to take all this stuff to Orange Court House; thence it
+would be taken to Richmond and kept for us, until next winter.
+
+This was quickly done! The packing was not done in "Saratoga trunks,"
+nor were the things piles of furs and winter luxuries. The "things"
+consisted of whatever, above absolute necessaries, had been accumulated
+in winter quarters; a fiddle, a chessboard, a set of quoits, an extra
+blanket, or shirt, or pair of shoes, that any favored child of Fortune
+had been able to get hold of during the winter. Everything like this
+must go. It did not take long to roll all the "extras" into bundles,
+strap them up and pitch them into the wagon. And in less than two hours
+after the order was given the wagon was gone, and the men left in
+campaign "trim."
+
+This meant that each man had, left, one blanket, one small haversack,
+one change of underclothes, a canteen, cup and plate, of tin, a knife
+and fork, and the clothes in which he stood. When ready to march, the
+blanket, rolled lengthwise, the ends brought together and strapped, hung
+from left shoulder across under right arm, the haversack,--furnished
+with towel, soap, comb, knife and fork in various pockets, a change of
+underclothes in one main division, and whatever rations we happened to
+have, in the other,--hung on the left hip; the canteen, cup and plate,
+tied together, hung on the right; toothbrush, "at will," stuck in two
+button holes of jacket, or in haversack; tobacco bag hung to a breast
+button, pipe in pocket. In this rig,--into which a fellow could get in
+just two minutes from a state of rest,--the Confederate Soldier
+considered himself all right, and ready for anything; in this he
+marched, and in this he fought. Like the terrapin--"all he had he
+carried on his back"--this _all_ weighed about seven or eight pounds.
+
+The extra baggage gone, all of us knew that the end of our stay here was
+very near, and we were all ready to pick up and go; we were on the eve
+of battle and everybody was on the "qui vive" for decisive orders. They
+quickly came!
+
+="Marse Robert" Calls to Arms=
+
+On the next day but one, the 4th, about 10 o'clock, another courier
+galloped into camp, and, in a few moments, everybody having seen him,
+all the men had swarmed up to the Captain's tent to hear the first news.
+Captain McCarthy came toward us and said, very quietly, "Boys, get
+ready! we leave here in two hours." Then the courier told us that "Grant
+was crossing below us in the wilderness. That everything we had was
+pushing down to meet him; and that Longstreet, lately back from
+Tennessee, was at Gordonsville." The news telling was here interrupted
+by Crouch sounding the familiar bugle call--"Boots and saddles," which,
+to artillery ears, said, "Harness up, hitch up and prepare to move at a
+moment's warning."
+
+The fellows instantly scattered, every man to his quarters, and for a
+few minutes nothing could be seen but the getting down and rolling up of
+"flys" from over the log pens they had covered, rolling up blankets,
+getting together of each man's traps where he could put his hands on
+them. The drivers took their teams up on the hill to bring down the guns
+from their positions. All was quickly ready, and then we waited for
+orders to move.
+
+It was with a feeling of sadness we thought of leaving this spot! It had
+been our home for several months; it was painful to see it dismantled,
+and to think that the place, every part of which had some pleasant
+association with it, would be left silent and lonely, and that we should
+see it no more.
+
+While we waited, after each had bidden a sad "good-bye" to his house,
+and its endeared surroundings, it was suggested that we gather once
+more, for a last meeting in our log church. All felt that this was a
+fitting farewell to the place. To many of us this little log church was
+a sacred place, many a hearty prayer meeting had been held there; many a
+rousing hymn, that almost raised the roof, many a good sermon and many a
+stirring talk had we heard; many a manly confession had been declared,
+many a hearty, impressive service in the solemn Litany of the Church,
+read by us, young Churchmen, in turn. To all the Christians of the
+Battery (they now numbered a large majority) this church was sacred. To
+some, it was very, very sacred, for in it they had been born again unto
+God. Here they had been led to find Christ, and in the assemblies of
+their comrades gathered here, they had, one after another, stood up and,
+simply, bravely, and clearly, witnessed a "good confession" of their
+Lord, and of their faith.
+
+So, we all instantly seized on the motion, to gather in the church. A
+hymn was sung, a prayer offered for God's protection in the perils we
+well knew, we were about to meet. That He would help us to be brave men,
+and faithful unto death, as Southern soldiers; that He would give
+victory to our arms, and peace to our Country. A Scripture passage, the
+91st Psalm, declaring God's defense of those who trust Him, was read.
+And then, our "talk meeting." It was resolved that "during the coming
+campaign, every evening, about sunset, whenever it was at all possible,
+we would keep up our custom, and such of us as could get together,
+_wherever we might be_, should gather for prayer."
+
+And, in passing, I may remark, as a notable fact, that this resolution
+was carried out _almost literally_. Sometimes, a few of the fellows
+would gather in prayer, while the rest of us fought the guns. Several
+times, to my _very lively_ recollection we met _under fire_. Once, I
+remember, a shell burst right by us, and covered us with dust; and,
+once, I recall with _very particular_ distinctness, a Minie bullet
+slapped into a hickory sapling, against which I was sitting, not an inch
+above my head. Scripture was being read at the time, and the fellows
+were sitting around with their eyes open. I had to _look_ as if I had as
+lieve be there, as anywhere else; but I _hadn't_, by a large majority. I
+_could_ not dodge, as I was sitting down, but felt like drawing in my
+back-bone until it telescoped.
+
+But, however circumstanced, in battle, on the battle line, in interims
+of quiet, or otherwise, we held that prayer hour nearly every day, at
+sunset, during the entire campaign. And some of us thought, and _think_
+that the strange exemption our Battery experienced, our little loss, in
+the midst of unnumbered perils, and incessant service, during that awful
+campaign, was, that, in answer to our prayers, "the God of battles
+covered our heads in the day of battle" and was merciful to us, because
+we "called upon Him." If any think this a "fond fancy" _we don't_.
+
+Well! to get back! After another hymn, and a closing prayer, we all
+shook hands, and then, we took a regretful leave of our dear little
+Church, and wended our way, quiet and thoughtful, to the road where we
+found the guns standing, all ready to go. Pretty soon the
+command--"Forward!" rang from the head of the line. We fell in alongside
+our respective guns, and with a ringing cheer of hearty farewell to the
+old Camp, we briskly took the road,--to meet, and to do, what was before
+us.
+
+We tramped along cheerily until about dark, when we bivouacked on the
+side of the road, with orders to start at daylight next morning. As we
+pushed along the road,--what road! gracious only knows, but a country
+road bearing south toward Verdiersville,--brigades, and batteries joined
+our march, from other country roads, by which we found that all our
+people were rapidly pushing in from the camps and positions they had
+occupied during the winter, and the army was swiftly concentrating.
+
+It was very pleasant to us to get into the stir of the moving army
+again, as we had been off, quite by ourselves, during the winter, and
+the greetings and recognitions that flew back and forth as we passed, or
+were passed by, well known brigades or batteries, were hearty and
+vociferous. Such jokes and "chaffing" as went on! As usual, every
+fellow had his remark upon everything and everybody he passed. Any
+peculiarity of dress or appearance marked out a certain victim to the
+witty gibes of the men, which had to be escaped from, or the victim had
+to "grin and bear it." If "Puck" or "Punch" could have marched with a
+Confederate column once, they might have laid in a stock of jokes and
+witticisms,--and first-class ones, too,--for use the rest of their
+lives.
+
+Next morning, at daylight,--the 5th of May,--we promptly pulled out, and
+soon struck the highway, leading from Orange Court House to
+Fredericksburg, turned to the left and went sweeping on toward "The
+Wilderness."
+
+=The Spirit of the Soldiers of the South=
+
+Here we got into the full tide of movement. Before and behind us the
+long gray columns were hurrying on to battle,--and as merry as crickets.
+
+One thing that shone conspicuous here, and always, was the indomitable
+_spirit_ of the "Army of Northern Virginia," their intelligence about
+military movements; their absolute confidence in General Lee, and their
+quiet, matter of course, _certainty of victory_, under him. Here they
+were pushing right to certain battle, the dust in clouds, the sun
+blazing down, hardly anything to eat, and yet, with their arms and
+uniform away, a spectator might have taken them for a lot of "sand-boys
+on a picnic," _if_ there had only been some eatables along, to give
+color to this delusion.
+
+And their intelligence! These men were not parts of a great machine
+moving blindly to their work. Very far from it! Stand on the roadside,
+as they marched by and hear their talk, the expression of their opinions
+about what was going on, you soon found that these men, privates, as
+well as officers, were well aware of what they were doing, and where
+they were going. In a general way, they knew what was going on, and what
+was _going to go on_, with the strangest accuracy. By some quick, and
+wide diffusion of intelligence among the men, they understood affairs,
+and the general situation perfectly well. For instance, as we passed on
+down that road to the fight, we knew,--just _how_ we didn't know,--but
+we _did know_, and it was commonly talked of and discussed, as
+ascertained fact, among us as we marched,--that General Grant had about
+150,000 men moving on us. We knew that Longstreet was near Gordonsville,
+and that one Division of A. P. Hill had not come up. We knew that we
+had, along with us there, only Ewell's Corps and two divisions of A. P.
+Hill's Corps, the cavalry and some of Longstreet's artillery. In short,
+as I well remember, it was a fact, accepted among us, that General Lee
+was pushing, as hard as he could go, for Grant's 150,000 with about
+35,000 men; and yet, knowing all this, these lunatics were sweeping
+along to that appallingly unequal fight, cracking jokes, laughing, and
+with not the least idea in the world of anything else but victory. I
+did not hear a despondent word, nor see a dejected face among the
+thousands I saw and heard that day. I bear witness to this fact, which I
+wondered at then, and wonder at now. It is one of the most stirring and
+touching of my memories of the war. It was the grandest moral exhibition
+I ever saw! For it was simply the absolute confidence in themselves and
+in their adored leader. They had seen "Marse Robert" ride down that
+road, they knew he was at the front, and that was all they _cared_ to
+know. The thing was _bound_ to go right--"Wasn't Lee there?" And the
+devil himself couldn't keep them from going where Lee went, or where he
+wanted them to go. God bless them, living, or dead, for their loyal
+faith, and their heroic devotion!
+
+=Peace Fare and Fighting Rations!=
+
+I have alluded to rations; they were scarce here, as always when any
+fighting was on hand. Even in camp, where all was at its best, we had
+for rations, per day, one and a half pints of flour, or coarse
+cornmeal,--ground with the _cob_ in it we used to think,--and
+one-quarter of a pound of bacon, or "mess pork," or a pound, far more
+often half a pound, of beef.
+
+But, in time of a fight! Ah then, thin was the fare! That small ration
+dwindled until, at times, eating was likely to become a "lost art." I
+have seen a man, Bill Lewis, sit down and eat three days' rations at one
+time. He said "He did not want the trouble of carrying it, _and_ he did
+want _one_ meal occasionally that wasn't an empty form." The idea seemed
+to be that a Confederate soldier would _fight_ exactly in proportion as
+he _didn't eat_. And his _business_ was to _fight_. This theory was put
+into practice on a very close and accurate calculation; with the odds
+that, as a rule, we had against us, in the battles of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, we had to meet two or three to one. Then, each
+Confederate soldier was called upon to be equal to two or three Federal
+soldiers, and, therefore, each Confederate must have but _one-half_ or
+_one-third_ the rations of a Federal soldier. It was easy figuring, and
+so it was arranged in practice.
+
+It was eminently so in this campaign, from the first. When we left camp,
+on the 4th a few crackers and small piece of meat were given us, and
+devoured at once. That evening, and on this day, the 5th, we received
+_none at all_, and in that hard, forced march we became very hungry. An
+incident that occurred will show how hungry we were. As we passed the
+hamlet of Verdiersville, I noticed a little negro boy, black as the "ace
+of spades" and dirty as a pig, standing on the side of the road gazing
+with staring eyes at the troops, and holding in his hand a piece of
+ash-cake, which he was eating. A moment after I passed him, our dear old
+comrade and messmate, Dr. Carter, the cleanest and most particular man
+in the army, came running after us (Carter Page, John Page, George
+Harrison, and myself) with gleeful cries, "Here, fellows, I've got
+something. It isn't much, but it will give us a bite apiece. Here! look
+at this, a piece of bread! let me give you some."
+
+As he came up he held in his hand the identical piece of bread I had
+seen the little darkey munching on. It was a small, wet, half-raw
+fragment of corn ash-cake, and it had moulded on one edge a complete
+cast of that little nigger's mouth, the perfect print of every tooth.
+The Doctor had bought it from him for fifty cents, and now, wanted to
+divide it with us four--a rather heroic thought that was, in a man
+hungry as a wolf. Of course we young fellows flatly refused to divide
+it, as we knew the Doctor, twice our age, needed it more than we. We
+said, "We were not hungry; couldn't eat anything to save us." A lie,
+that I hope the recording Angel, considering the motive, didn't take
+down; or, if he did, I hope he added a note explaining the
+circumstances.
+
+We then began to joke the Doctor about the print of the little darkey's
+teeth on his bread and suggested to him, to break off that part. "No,
+indeed," said the Doctor, gloating over his precious ash-cake, "Bread's
+too scarce, _I_ don't mind about the little nigger's teeth, I can't
+spare a crumb." And when he found he could not force us to take any, he
+ate it all up.
+
+Indifference to the tooth prints was a perfectly reasonable sentiment,
+under the circumstances, and one in which we all would have shared, for
+we were wolfish enough to have eaten the "little nigger" himself. The
+Doctor didn't mind the little chap's tooth marks _then_ but--he did
+_afterwards_. After he had been pacified with a square meal, the idea
+wasn't so pleasant, and though we often recalled the incident,
+afterwards, the Doctor could not remember _this part of it_. He
+remembered the piece of ash-cake, but, somehow, he could not be brought
+to recall the tooth marks in it. Not he!
+
+It was about eleven o'clock when we passed Verdiersville. Soon after, we
+turned down a road, which led over to the plank road on which A. P.
+Hill's column was moving. Hour after hour all the morning, reports had
+come flying back along the columns, that our people, at the front, had
+seen nothing but Federal Cavalry; hadn't been able to unearth any
+infantry at all. An impression began to get about that maybe after all,
+there had been a mistake, and that Grant's army was not in front of us.
+
+About this time, that impression was suddenly and entirely dispelled. A
+distinct rattle of musketry broke sharply on our ears, and we knew, at
+once, that we had found _something_, and, in fact, it was soon clear
+that we had found Federal infantry, enough and to spare.
+
+That sudden outbreak of musketry quickened every pulse, and every step
+too, in our columns. Harder than ever we pushed ahead, and as we
+advanced, the firing grew louder, and the volume heavier till it was a
+long roar. The long-roll beat in our marching columns, and some of the
+infantry brigades broke into the double quick to the front, and we could
+see them heading off, right and left into the woods.
+
+=Marse Robert's Way of Making One Equal to Three=
+
+We had now come to the edge of that forest and thicket-covered district,
+the "Wilderness of Spottsylvania."
+
+Grant had crossed the Rapidan into this tangled chaparral, and it is
+said he was very much surprised that Lee did not dispute the passage of
+the river. But "Ole Marse Robert" had cut too many eye teeth to do
+anything like that. He was far too deep a file, to stop his enemy from
+getting himself into "a fix." He knew that when Grant's great army got
+over there, they would be "entangled in the land, the wilderness would
+shut them in."
+
+In that wilderness, three men were not three times as many as one man.
+No! no! not at all! Quite the reverse! Lee wouldn't lift a finger to
+keep Grant from getting _into_ the wilderness, but quick as a flash he
+was, to keep him from getting out. This, was why he had been marching
+the legs off of us, rations or no rations. This, was why he couldn't
+wait for Longstreet, but tore off with the men he had, to meet Grant and
+fight him, before he could disentangle himself from The Wilderness. We
+had got up in time; and into the chaparral our men plunged to get at the
+enemy, and out of it was now roaring back over our swift columns the
+musketry of the advance. As brigade after brigade dashed into line of
+battle the roar swelled out grander, and more majestic, until it became
+a mighty roll of hoarse thunder, which made the air quiver again, and
+seemed to shake the very ground. The battle of The Wilderness was begun,
+in dead earnest.
+
+The crushing, pealing thunder kept up right along, almost unbroken, hour
+after hour, all through the long noon, and longer evening, until just
+before night, it slackened and died away. It was the most _solemn_ sound
+I ever heard, or ever expect to hear, on earth. I never heard anything
+like it in any other battle. Nothing could be seen, no movements of
+troops, in sight, to distract attention, or rivet one's interest on the
+varying fortunes of a battlefield. Only,--out of the dark woods, which
+covered all from sight, rolled upward heavy clouds of battle-smoke, and
+outward, that earth shaking thunder, now and then fiercely sharpened by
+the "rebel yell,"--the scariest sound that ever split a human ear,--as
+our men sprang to the death grapple.
+
+We had pushed up along with the rest; but by and by our guns were
+ordered to halt, to let the infantry go by. Here, while we waited for
+them to pass, we saw the first effects of the fight. Just off the road
+there was a small open field containing a little farmhouse and garden
+and apple orchard, where the cavalry had been at work, that morning
+before we came up. Around the house and in the orchard lay ten dead
+Federal troops, three of our men, and a number of horses; all lying as
+they had fallen. One of the Federals was lying with one leg under his
+horse, and the other over him; both had, apparently, been instantly
+killed by the same ball, which had gone clear through the heads of both
+man and horse. They had fallen together, the man hardly moved from his
+natural position in the saddle. Another had a sword thrust through his
+body, and two others, in their terribly gashed heads, gave evidence that
+they had gone down under the sabre. The rest of them, and all three of
+our men, had been killed by balls. Not a living thing was seen about the
+place.
+
+We were called away from this ghastly scene by the guns starting again,
+and we moved on rapidly to the front. As we went, at a trot, one of the
+men, John Williams, who was sick with the heat and exhaustion of the
+trying march, and was sitting on the trail of the gun, suddenly fainted,
+and fell forward under the wheel. He was, fortunately, saved from
+instant death by a stone, just in front of which he fell. The ponderous
+wheel, going so rapidly, struck the stone, and was bounded over his
+body, only bruising him a little. It was a close shave, but we were
+spared the loss of a dear comrade, and good soldier.
+
+=An Infantry Battle=
+
+When we got up pretty close to the line of battle, we halted and then
+were ordered to pull out beside the road and wait for orders. Here we
+found a great many batteries parked, and we heard that it was, as yet,
+impossible to get artillery into action where the infantry was fighting.
+In fact, the battle of The Wilderness was almost exclusively an
+_Infantry_ fight. But few cannon shots were heard at all during the day;
+the guns could not be gotten through the thickets. We heard, at the
+time, that we had only been able to put in two guns, and the Federals,
+three, and that our people had taken two of them, and the other was
+withdrawn. Certainly we hardly heard a single shot during most of the
+fight. But we didn't know at the time the exemption we were to enjoy. It
+was a strange and unwonted sight, all those guns, around us, idle, with
+a battle going on. For the way General Lee fought his artillery was a
+caution to cannoneers. He always put them in, everywhere, and made the
+fullest use of them. We always expected, and we always got, our full
+share of any fighting that was going on. And to be idle here, while the
+musketry was rolling, was entirely a novel sensation. We were under a
+dropping fire, and we expected to go in every moment. A position which
+every old soldier will recognize as more trying than being in the thick
+of a fight. It was very far from soothing.
+
+When we had been waiting here a few minutes, Dr. Newton, since the Rev.
+John B. Newton of Monumental Church, Richmond, Va., afterwards Bishop
+Coadjutor of Virginia, but then the surgeon of the 40th Virginia
+Infantry, rode by our guns, and recognizing several of us, boys, his
+kinsmen, stopped to speak to us. After a few kind words, as he shook
+hands with us very warmly at parting, he pointed to his field hospital,
+hard by, and very blandly said, "Boys, I'll be right here, and I will be
+glad to do anything for you in my line." To fellows going, as we
+thought, right into battle, this was about the last kind of talk we
+wanted to hear. A doctor's offer of service in our situation, was full
+of ghastly suggestions. So his well-meaning proffer was met with
+opprobrious epithets, and indignant defiance. It was shouted to him in
+vigorous Anglo-Saxon, what we thought of doctors anyhow, and that if he
+didn't look sharp we'd fix him so he would need a doctor, himself, to
+patch him up. The Doctor rode off laughing at the storm his friendly
+remarks had raised. Never was a kind offer more ungraciously received. I
+suppose, however, if any of us had got hurt just then, we would have
+been glad enough to fall in with the Doctor, and to have his skillful
+care. Fact is, soldiers are very like citizens--set light by the doctor
+when _well_, but mighty glad to see him when anything is the matter.
+
+The Doctor, and all his brother "saw-bones" soon had enough to do for
+other poor fellows, if not for us. Numbers of wounded men streamed past
+us, asking the way to the hospitals, some, limping painfully along,
+some, with arms in a sling, some, with blood streaming down over neck or
+face, some, helped along by a comrade, some, borne on stretchers. It was
+a battered looking procession; and yet, I suppose that people will be
+surprised to hear, it was as _cheerful_ a lot of fellows, as you can
+imagine. Wounded men coming from under fire are, as a rule, cheerful,
+often jolly. Being able to get, honorably, from under fire, with the
+mark of manly service to show, is enough to make a fellow cheerful, even
+with a hole through him. Of course I am speaking now of the wounded who
+can walk, and are not utterly disabled.
+
+Eagerly we stopped those wounded men to ask how the fight was going.
+Their invariable account was that it was all right. They spoke about
+what heavy columns the enemy was putting in, but they said we were
+pressing them back, and every one spoke of the dreadful carnage of the
+Federals. One fellow said, after he was shot in the advancing line, he
+had to come back over a place, over which there had been very stubborn
+fighting, and which our men had carried, like a hurricane at last, and
+as he expressed it, "Dead Yankees were _knee deep_ all over about four
+acres of ground." The blood was running down and dropping, very freely,
+off this man's arm, while he stood in the road and told us this.
+
+These accounts of the wounded men from the line of battle put us in good
+heart, which was not lessened by a long line of Federal prisoners being
+marched to the rear, and the assurance by one of the guard that there
+were "plenty more where these came from."
+
+And so at last this long exciting day wore away. As dark fell the firing
+ceased. We got some wood and made fires, and, pretty soon after, "old
+Tom Armistead," our Commissary Sergeant, rode up. His appearance was
+hailed with delight, as the promise of something to eat. These
+transports were destined to be moderated when Tom told what he had to
+say. He had ridden on from the wagons, far in the rear, and all he could
+get was a few crackers, and a small bag of wet brown sugar. This he had
+brought with him, across his horse.
+
+Each man got two crackers and one handful of sugar. This disappeared in
+a twinkling. And then we sat around the fires discussing the events of
+the day. One subject of general anxiety, I remember, was when Longstreet
+would be up. As well as things had gone this day, we all knew well, how
+much his Corps would be needed for tomorrow's work. It was generally
+regarded as certain that he would get up during the night, and we lay
+down to sleep around our guns confident that all was well for tomorrow.
+
+Next morning we were up early. I don't remember that we had anything to
+eat, and as the getting anything to eat in those days made a deep
+impression on our minds, I infer that we didn't. However we got a
+_wash_, a small one. We did not always enjoy this refreshment; then had
+to be content with a "dry polish" such as Mr. Squeers recommended to
+Nicholas Nickelby at "Dotheboys Hall," when the pump froze. But on this
+occasion we had, with difficulty, secured one canteen of water between
+three of us, wherein we were better off than some of the others. The tin
+pan in which we luxuriated during winter quarters had been relegated to
+the wagon, both as inconvenient to carry, and as requiring too much
+water. It always took two to get a "campaign wash." One fellow poured a
+little water, out of the canteen, into his comrade's hands, with which
+he moistened his countenance, a little more poured over his soaped
+hands, and the deed was done. On this occasion when one canteen had to
+serve for three, and no more water was to be had, our ablutions were
+light; in fact, it was little more than a pantomime, in which we "went
+through the motions" of a wash. But we were afraid to leave the guns a
+minute, after daylight, for fear of a sudden movement to the front, so
+we had to do with what we had.
+
+Soon after this, our cares about all these smaller matters suddenly fell
+out of sight. That fierce musketry broke out again along the lines, in
+the woods, in front. It increased in fury, especially on the right. Very
+soon reports began to float back that the Federals were heavily
+overlapping A. P. Hill's right, and things looked dangerous. Then it was
+rumored that some of Hill's right regiments were beginning to give way,
+under the resistless weight of the columns hurled upon him and round his
+flank. We could quickly perceive this to be true by the sound of the
+firing, which came nearer to us and passed toward the left. This
+immediately threw our crowd into a fever of excitement; the idea of
+lying there, doing nothing, when our men were falling back, was
+intolerable. Every artillery man thought that if _his battery_ could
+only get in, it would be all right. We knew what a difference it would
+instantly make, if all these silent guns could be sweeping the columns
+of the enemy. We would soon stop them, we thought! We just ached for
+orders to come but they did not. Still the news came, "impossible to get
+artillery in;" and loud and deep were the angry complaints of some, and
+curses of others, and great the disgust of all at our forced inaction.
+One fellow near me, voiced the feelings of us all--"If we can't get in
+there, or Longstreet don't get here pretty quick, the devil will be to
+pay."
+
+=Arrival of the First Corps=
+
+In the midst of this anxious and high wrought feeling, an excited voice
+yelled out, "Look out down the road. Here they come!" We were driven
+nearly wild with excited joy, and enthusiasm by the blessed sight of
+Longstreet's advance division coming down the road at a double quick, at
+which pace, after the news of Hill's critical situation reached them,
+they had come for two miles and a half. The instant the head of his
+column was seen the cries resounded on every side, "Here's Longstreet.
+The old war horse is up at last. It's all right now."
+
+On, the swift columns came! Crowding up to the road, on both sides, we
+yelled ourselves nearly dumb to cheer them as they swept by. Hearty were
+the greetings as we recognized acquaintances and friends and old battle
+comrades in the passing columns. Specially did the "Howitzers" make the
+welkin ring when Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade passed. This was the
+brigade to which our battery had long been attached, to which we were
+greatly devoted, with whom we had often fought, and admired as one of
+the most splendid fighting corps in the army. And loud was the cheer the
+gallant Mississippians flung back to the "Howitzers."
+
+Everything broke loose as General Longstreet in person rode past. Like a
+fine lady at a party, Longstreet was often late in his arrival at the
+ball, but he always made a sensation and that of delight, when he _got_
+in, with the grand old First Corps, sweeping behind him, as his train.
+
+This was our own Corps, from which we had been separated for some
+months. The very sight of the gallant old veterans, as they poured on,
+was enough to make all hearts perfectly easy. Our feeling of relief was
+complete and as the Brigades disappeared into the woods in the direction
+of Hill's breaking right, where the thunder of their still heroic
+resistance to overwhelming odds was roaring, we all felt, "Thank God!
+it's all right now! Longstreet is up!"
+
+And it _was_ all right. The first brigades as they got up formed, and
+rushed right in, one after another, to check the advance of the enemy.
+And as they successively went in we could hear the musketry grow more
+angry and fierce. Before very long, a crashing peal of musketry broke
+out with a fury that made what we had been hearing before seem like
+pop-crackers. Our crowd quickly perceived that the sound was receding
+from us; at the same time the bullets,--which had been falling over
+among us entirely too lively to be pleasant to fellows who were not
+shooting any themselves,--stopped coming. We knew what this meant;
+Longstreet was putting his Corps in, and they were driving the enemy.
+Soon, to confirm our ideas, lines of Federal prisoners, from Hancock's
+Corps, they told us, came by, and Longstreet's wounded began to pass.
+These fellows told us that our Corps had gone in like a whirlwind, had
+already recovered Hill's line, gone beyond it, and were forcing the
+Federals back.
+
+They said Hancock's Corps was doubled up, and being torn to pieces and
+they thought we would "bag the whole business."
+
+=The Love that Lee Inspired in the Men He Led=
+
+All this was very nice and we were expressing our delight in the usual
+way. Just then, an officer rode up who told us a bit of news, that made
+us feel more like tears than cheers, and put every fellow's heart into
+his mouth. He said that just before, General Lee had come in an ace of
+being captured. A body of the enemy had pushed through a gap in our line
+and unexpectedly come right upon the old General, who was quietly
+sitting upon his horse. That, these fellows could with perfect ease have
+taken, or shot him, but that he had quietly ridden off, and the enemy
+not knowing who it was, made no special effort to molest him.
+
+I wish you could have seen the appalled look that fell on the faces of
+the men, as they listened to this. Although the danger was past an hour
+ago, they were as pale and startled and shocked as if it were enacting
+then. The bare idea of anything happening to General Lee was enough to
+make a man sick, and I assure you it took all the starch out of us for a
+few minutes.
+
+I don't know how it was, but somehow, it never occurred to us that
+anything _could_ happen to General Lee. Of course, we knew that he was
+often exposed, like the rest of us. We had seen him often enough under
+hot fire. And, by the way, I believe that the one only thing General Lee
+ever did, that the men in this army thought he _ought not to do_, was
+going under fire. We thought him perfect in motive, deed and judgment;
+he could do no wrong, could make no mistake, but this,--that he was too
+careless in the way he went about a battlefield. Three different times,
+during these very fights, at points of danger, he was urged to leave
+the spot, as it was "not the place for him." At last he said, "I wish I
+knew _where my place is_ on the battlefield; wherever I go some one
+tells me _that_ is not the place for me."
+
+But, he would go! He wanted to see things for himself, and he wished his
+men to know, that he was looking after them, both seeing that they did
+their duty, and _caring_ for them. And certainly, the sight of his
+beloved face was like the sun to his men for cheer and encouragement.
+Every man thought less of personal danger, and no man thought of
+_failure_ after he had seen General Lee riding along the lines. Nobody
+will ever quite understand what that old man was to us, his soldiers!
+What absolute confidence we felt in him! What love and devotion we had,
+what enthusiastic admiration, what filial affection, we cherished for
+him. We loved him like a father, and thought about him as a devout old
+Roman thought of the God of War. Anything happen to him! It would have
+_broken our hearts_, for one thing, and, we could no more think of the
+"Army of Northern Virginia" without General Lee, at its head, than we
+could picture the day without the sun shining in the heavens.
+
+An incident illustrating this feeling was taking place up in the front
+just about the time we were hearing the news of the General's narrow
+escape.
+
+As the Texan Brigade of Longstreet's Corps, just come up, dashed upon
+the heavy ranks of the Federals, they passed General Lee with a rousing
+cheer. The old General, anxious and excited by the critical moment,
+thrilling with sympathy in their gallant bearing, started to ride in,
+with them, to the charge. It was told me the next day by some of the
+Texans, who witnessed it, that the instant the men, unaware of his
+presence with them before, saw the General along with them in that
+furious fire, they cried out in pleading tones--"Go back, General Lee.
+We swear we won't go on, if you don't go back. You shall not stay here
+in this fire! We'll charge clear through the wilderness if you will only
+go back." And they said, numbers of the men crowded about the General,
+and begged him, with tears, to return, and some caught hold of his feet,
+and some his bridle rein, and turned his horse round, and led him back a
+few steps,--all the time pleading with him. And then, the General seeing
+the feelings of his men, and that he was _actually checking the charge_
+by their anxiety for him, said, "I'll go, my men, if you will drive back
+those people," and he rode off, they said, with his head down, and they
+saw tears rolling down his cheeks. And they said, many of the men were
+sobbing aloud, overcome by this touching scene. Then with one yell, and
+the tears on their faces, those noble fellows hurled themselves on the
+masses of the enemy like a thunderbolt. Not only did they stop the
+advance, but their resistless fury swept all before it and they followed
+the broken Federals half a mile. They redeemed their promise to General
+Lee. Eight hundred of them went in, four hundred, only, came out. They
+covered with glory that day, not only themselves, who did such deeds,
+but their leader, who could inspire such feelings at such a moment in
+the hearts of these men. Half their number fell in that splendid charge,
+but--they saved the line, and they gloriously redeemed their promise to
+General Lee--"We'll do all you want, if you will only get out of fire."
+I cannot think of anything stronger than to say that--This General, and
+these soldiers, were worthy of each other. There is no higher praise!
+
+As the Brigades of Field's division, that followed the Texans, went in,
+a little incident took place, which illustrated the irrepressible spirit
+of fun which would break out everywhere, and which we often laughed at
+afterwards. General Anderson's Brigade was ahead, followed hard by
+Benning's Brigade, gallant Georgians all, and led by Brigadiers, of whom
+nothing better can be said, than that they were worthy to lead them.
+Among the men General Anderson had somehow got the soubriquet of "Tige"
+and General Benning enjoyed the equally respectful name of "Old Rock."
+On this occasion, Anderson was ahead, and as he moved out of sight into
+the woods, his men began to yell and shout like everything. One of
+Anderson's men, wounded, blood dropping from his elbow and running down
+his face, was coming out, when he met General Benning, at the head of
+his column, pushing in as hard as he could go. As this fellow passed
+him, taking advantage of his wound to have a little joke, he pointed to
+the woods in front and called out to the General, "Hurry up 'Old Rock,'
+'Tige' has treed a pretty big coon he's got up there; you'd better hurry
+up or you won't get a smell." The brave old Benning, already hurrying
+himself nearly to death, flashed around on the daring speaker, and saw
+at once the streaming blood--"Confound that fellow's impudence," said
+the disgusted General. "I wish he wasn't wounded, if I wouldn't fix
+him." The fellow well knew that he could say what he pleased to anybody
+with that blood-covered face.
+
+I think it was about eleven or twelve o'clock we heard that General
+Longstreet was badly wounded, and soon after he was brought to the rear,
+near our guns. With several of the others I went out and had some words
+with the men who were taking him out. To our grief, we heard them say,
+that his wound was very dangerous, probably fatal. He had fallen, up
+there in the woods, on the battle front, fighting his corps, in the full
+tide of victory. He had broken and doubled up Hancock's Corps, and
+driven it, with great slaughter back upon their works at the Brock road,
+and in such rout and confusion, that, as he said, he thought he had
+another "Bull Run" on them. And if he could have forced on that assault,
+and gotten fixed on the Brock road, it is thought that Grant's army
+would have been in great peril. But, just in the thick of it, he was
+mistaken, while out in front in the woods, for the enemy, and shot, by
+his own men. His fall was in almost every particular just like
+"Stonewall" Jackson's, in that same wilderness, one year before. Both
+were shot by their own men, at a critical moment, in the midst of
+brilliant success, and in both cases their fall saved the enemy from
+irretrievable disaster. Longstreet's fall checked the attack, which
+after an inevitable delay of some hours, was resumed. But the enemy
+seeing his danger had time to recover, and make disposition to meet it.
+
+="Windrows" of Federal Dead=
+
+Again, at four o'clock, after this interval of comparative quiet, the
+thunder of battle crashed and rolled. General Lee, himself, fought
+Longstreet's Corps. The attack was fierce, obstinate, and fearfully
+bloody. Wilkinson, of the Army of the Potomac, an eye-witness of this
+charge, says, in his book, "Recollections of a Private Soldier": "The
+Confederate fire resembled the fury of hell in its intensity, and was
+deadly accurate" and that "the story of this fight could afterwards be
+read by the windrows of dead men." As to its effect he also says: "We
+could not check the Confederate advance and they forced us back, and
+back, and back. The charging Confederates broke through the left of the
+Ninth Corps and would have cut the army in twain, if not caught on the
+flank, and driven back. Massed for the attack on the Sixth Corps, they
+were skillfully launched, and ably led, and they struck with terrific
+violence against Shaler's and Seymour's Brigades, which were routed,
+with a loss of four thousand prisoners. The Confederates came within an
+ace of routing the Sixth Corps. Both their assaults along our line were
+dangerously near being successful." Such was the description of a brave
+enemy, an eye-witness of this assault. At last, as dark fell, the fire
+slackened and died out.
+
+The Battle of the Wilderness was done. Grant was pinned into the
+thickets, hardly able to stand Lee's attack, no thoroughfare to the
+front and twenty odd thousand of his men dead, wounded and gone. That
+was about the situation when dark fell on the 6th of May!
+
+That night we drew off some distance to the right, and lay down,
+supperless, on the ground around our guns; it was very dark and cloudy
+and soon began to rain. There had been too much powder burnt around
+there during the last two days for it to stay clear. And so, as it
+always did, just after heavy firing, the clouds poured down water
+through the dark night. Lying out exposed on the untented ground, with
+only one blanket to cover with, we got soaking wet, and stayed so.
+
+The comfortless night gave way, at last, to a comfortless day--May
+7th--gloomy, lowering, and raining, off and on, till late in the
+evening. During the morning, a little desultory firing was heard in
+front, and then all was quiet and still. We knew enough to know that
+Grant's push was over at this point. Some of us had gone up to look at
+the ground over which Longstreet had driven the enemy yesterday. We knew
+that the Federal troops could never be gotten back over that awful,
+corpse-covered ground to attack the men who had driven them. We knew we
+had to fight somewhere else, but where? By and by, talk began to
+circulate among the men that Spottsylvania, or around near
+Fredericksburg, might be the place. Of one thing we were all satisfied,
+that we would know soon enough.
+
+In this waiting and excited state of mind, the long, long, rainy day
+wore on, and dark fell again. We had managed to conjure up some very
+lonesome looking fires out of the wet wood lying about (fence rails were
+not attainable here in the wilderness), and were engaged in a hot
+dispute about where the next fighting was to be, which warmed and dried
+us more than the fires did, when "the winter of our discontent" was made
+"glorious summer," so to speak, by the news that the wagons had got up,
+and they were going to issue rations. Tom Armistead made this startling
+announcement in as bland, and matter of course a tone as if he were in
+the habit of giving us something to eat _every_ day, which he was not,
+by a great deal. Tom was the dearest fellow in the world, and the best
+Commissary in the army, and we all loved him. Many a time when, in the
+confusion of campaign, the wagon was empty, or was snowed in by an
+avalanche of wagons, far in the rear, he could be seen struggling up to
+the front with a bag of crackers, sugar, meat, anything that he had been
+able to lay hands on, across his horse, so that the boys should not
+starve entirely. Hunting us up through the woods, or along the battle
+line, he would ride in among us with his load, and a beaming face, that
+told how glad he was to have something for us. And when, as too often it
+was, the whole Commissary business was "_dead busted_," our afflicted
+Commissary would tell us there was nothing, with such a rueful visage,
+that it made us sorry we did not have something to give him, and made us
+feel our own emptiness all the more, that it seemed to afflict him so.
+
+The present rations were quickly distributed, and as quickly devoured,
+and not a man was foundered by over-eating! Then we sat around the fires
+and discussed the news that had been gathered from various sources.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE
+
+
+It was just ten o'clock and each man was looking around for the dryest
+spot to spread his blanket on, when a courier rode up, with pressing
+orders for us to get instantly on the march. In a few moments, we were
+tramping rapidly through the darkness, on a road that led, we knew not
+whither. We were, as we found out afterwards, leading the great race,
+that General Lee was making for Spottsylvania Court House to head off
+Grant in his efforts to get out of the Wilderness in his "push for
+Richmond." We were with the vanguard of the skillful movement, by which
+Longstreet's Corps was marched entirely around Grant's left flank, to
+seize the strong line of the hills around Spottsylvania Court House and
+hold it till the other two Corps could come to our aid.
+
+We marched all night, a hard, forced march over muddy roads, through the
+damp, close night. Soon after the start from our bivouac, a brigade of
+infantry had filed into the road ahead of us, and we could hear, behind
+us on the road, though we could not see for the darkness, the sound of
+other troops marching. The Brigade ahead of us, we soon found, to our
+gratification, to be Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, now under command
+of General Humphreys, since the gallant Barksdale fell at the head of
+his storming columns at Gettysburg. This was the Brigade to which we had
+belonged in the earlier organization of the artillery. It was a
+magnificent body of men, one of the most thorough fighting corps in the
+army, as they had showed a hundred times, on the bloodiest fields, and
+were soon, and often to show again. There was a very strong mutual
+attachment between the First Richmond Howitzers and Barksdale's Brigade,
+and we were much pleased to be with them on this march. We mingled with
+them, as we sped rapidly along, and exchanged greetings, and our several
+experiences since we had been separated.
+
+The morning of the 8th of May broke, foggy and lowering, and found us
+still moving swiftly along. The infantry halting for a rest, we passed
+on ahead, and for some time were marching by ourselves. I well recall
+the impressions of the scene around us on that early morning march. Our
+battery seemed all alone on a quiet country road. The birds were singing
+around us, and it seemed, to us, so sweet! Everybody was impressed by
+the music of those birds. As the old soldiers will remember, the note of
+a bird was a sound we rarely heard. The feathered songsters, no doubt,
+were frightened away, and it was often remarked, that we never saw
+birds in the neighborhood of camp. So we specially enjoyed the treat of
+hearing them, now and here, in their own quiet woods, where they had
+never been disturbed. All was quiet and still and peaceful as any rural
+scene could be. It seemed to us wondrous sweet and beautiful! All the
+men were strangely impressed by it. They talked of it to one another. It
+made our hearts soft, it brought to the mind of many of those weary,
+war-worn soldiers, other quiet rural scenes, where lay their homes and
+dear ones, and to which this scene made their hearts go back, in tender
+memory, and loving imagination. All the eyes did not stay dry as we
+passed along that road. We talked of this scene many a time long
+afterwards. And I expect some of the old "Howitzers" still remember that
+quiet Spottsylvania country road, winding through the woods, on that
+early Sunday morning, when the birds sang to us, as we hurried on to
+battle.
+
+Well! the morning wore on, and so did we. By and by, the sun came out
+through the fog and clouds, and began to make it hot for us. The
+dampness of the earth made this an easy job. The sun got higher and
+hotter every minute. The way that close, sultry heat did _roast_ us was
+pitiful. We would have "larded the lean earth as we walked along,"
+except that hard bones and muscles of gaunt men didn't _yield_ any
+"lard" to speak of. The _breakfast_ hour was not observed, _i. e._, not
+with any ceremony. "Cracker nibbling on the fly" was all the visible
+reminder of that time-honored custom. We were not there to eat, but, to
+get to Spottsylvania Court House; and _steps_ were more to that purpose
+than _steaks_, so we omitted the steaks, and put in the steps; and we
+put them in very fast, and were putting in a great many of them, it
+appeared to us. At last, just about twelve o'clock our road wound down
+to a stream, which I think was the _Po_, one of the head waters of the
+Mattaponi River, and then, we went up a very long hill, a bank,
+surmounted by a rail fence on the left side of the road, and the woods
+on the other.
+
+=Stuart's Four Thousand Cavalry=
+
+Just as we got to the top (our Battery happened just then to be ahead of
+all the troops, and was the first of the columns to reach the spot), the
+road came up to the level of the land on the left, which enabled us to
+see, what, though close by us, had been concealed by the high roadside
+bank. A farm gate opened into a field, around a farmhouse and
+outbuildings, and there, covering that field was the whole of Fitz Lee's
+Division of Stuart's cavalry. These heroic fellows had for two days been
+fighting Warren's corps of Federal infantry, which General Grant had
+sent to seize this very line on which _we_ had now arrived. They had
+fought, mostly dismounted, from hill to hill, from fence to fence, from
+tree to tree; and so obstinate was their resistance, and so skillful the
+dispositions of the matchless Stuart, that some thirty thousand men had
+been forced to take about twenty-six hours to get seven or eight miles,
+by about forty-five hundred cavalry. But, it was incomparable cavalry,
+and J. E. B. Stuart was handling it. It was some credit to that Corps to
+have marched any at all! Thanks to the superb conduct of the cavalry,
+General Lee's movement had succeeded! We had beaten the Federal column,
+and were here, before them, on this much-coveted line, and meant to hold
+it, too.
+
+I note here in passing, that this Spottsylvania business was a "white
+day" for the cavalry. When the army came to know of what the cavalry had
+done, and _how they had done it_, there was a general outburst of
+admiration,--the recognition that brave men give to the brave. Stuart
+and his men were written higher than ever on the honor roll, and the
+whole army was ready to take off its hat to salute the cavalry.
+
+And, from that day, there was a marked change in the way the army
+thought and spoke of the cavalry; it took a distinctly different and
+higher position in the respect of the Army, for it had revealed itself
+in a new light; it had shown itself signally possessed of the quality,
+that the infantry and artillery naturally admired most of all
+others--_obstinacy_ in fight.
+
+As was natural, and highly desirable, each arm of the service had a very
+exalted idea of its own importance and merit, as compared with the
+others. In fact the soldier of the "Army of Northern Virginia" filled
+exactly the Duke of Marlborough's description of the spirit of a good
+soldier. "He is a poor soldier," said the Duke, "who does not think
+himself as good and better than any other soldier _of his own army_, and
+_three times as good_ as any man in the army _of the enemy_." That
+fitted our fellows "to a hair;" each Confederate soldier thought that
+way.
+
+It was not an unnatural or unreasonable conceit, _considering the
+facts_. It must be confessed that _modesty_ as to their quality as
+soldiers was not the distinguishing virtue of the men of the Army of
+Northern Virginia, but, it must be considered, in extenuation that their
+experience in war was by no means a good school for humility. An old
+Scotch woman once prayed, "Lord, gie us a gude conceit o' ourselves."
+There was a certain wisdom in the old woman's prayer! The Army of
+Northern Virginia soldiers had this "gude conceit o' themselves,"
+without praying for it; certainly, if they did pray for it, their prayer
+was answered, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running
+over." They had it abundantly! And it was a tremendous element of power
+in their "make up" as soldiers. It made them the terrible fighters, that
+all the world knew they were. It largely explains their recorded deeds,
+and their matchless achievements.
+
+For instance, here at the Wilderness! What was it that made thirty-five
+thousand men knowingly and cheerfully march to attack one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, and stick up to them, and fight them for twenty-four
+hours, without support or reinforcement? It was their good opinion of
+themselves; their superb confidence. They felt _able_ with thirty-five
+thousand men, _and General Lee_, to meet one hundred and fifty thousand
+men, and hold them, till help came; _and didn't they do it_?
+
+Well! they did _that kind of thing so often_ that they couldn't get
+humble, and _they never have been able to get humble since_. They _try
+to_--but--_they can't_!
+
+But I return from this digression to say, that the different Arms of the
+service had something of this same feeling, this good opinion of
+themselves, as compared with one another. Each one had many jokes on the
+others, and whenever they met, all sorts of "chaffing" went on. In all
+this, the infantry and artillery felt closer together, and were rather
+apt, when the occasion offered, to turn their combined guns on the
+cavalry.
+
+The general point of the jokes and gibes at the cavalry was their
+_supposed_ tendency to be "_scarce_" when _big fighting_ was going on.
+
+It wasn't that anybody doubted the _usefulness_ of cavalry, but their
+usefulness was imagined to lie in other respects than fighting back the
+masses of the enemy. And, it wasn't that anybody supposed that the
+cavalry did not have plenty of fight in them, _if they could get a
+chance_. We knew that when they were at home they were the same stock as
+we were, and we believed, that if they were along with us, they would do
+as well; but in the cavalry, well! we didn't know!
+
+The leaders of the cavalry, Stuart, Hampton, Ashby, Fitz Lee and others,
+were heroes and household names to the whole army. Their brilliant
+courage and dare-deviltry, their hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling
+adventures, their feats of skill, and grace were themes of pride and
+delight to us all. These cavaliers were the "darlings of the army."
+_Still_, the army would guy the cavalry every chance they got.
+
+It was said that Gen. D. H. Hill proposed to offer a "reward of Five
+Dollars, to anybody who could find a dead man with spurs on." And Gen.
+Jubal Early once, when impatient at the conduct of certain troops in his
+command threatened "if the cavalry did not do better, he would put them
+_in the army_."
+
+One day, an infantry brigade on the march to Chancellorsville had halted
+to rest on the pike, near where a narrow road turned off. A cavalryman
+was seen approaching, in a fast gallop, plainly, in a great hurry. The
+infantry viewed his approach with great interest, prepared to salute him
+with neat and appropriate remarks as he passed, by way of making him
+lively.
+
+Just before he got to the head of the brigade he reached the narrow road
+and started up it. Instantly a dozen "infants" began to wave their arms
+excitedly, and shout in loud earnest voices--"Mister, stop there! don't
+go a step farther; for heaven's sake _don't_ go up that road." The
+trooper, startled by this appeal, and the warning gestures of the men,
+approaching him, pulled in his fast-going horse, and stopped, very
+impatiently. He said in a sharp tone, "What is the matter, why mustn't I
+go up this road? Say quick, I'm in a big hurry." "Don't go, we beg you;
+you'll never come back alive." "Humph! is that so?" said this trooper
+(who had been near breaking a blood vessel in his impatience at being
+stopped, but cooled off a little, at this ominous remark)--"But what's
+ahead? what's the danger? The road seems quiet?" "Well, Sonny, _that's_
+the danger. Haven't you heard about it?" "Now, Sonny," was a term of
+endearment, which from an "infant" always exasperated the feelings of a
+cavalryman to the last degree; turned the milk of kindness in a
+horseman's breast into the sourest clabber; and it instantly stirred up
+this trooper. "Look here men, don't fool with me. Tell me what is the
+danger up this road," "Well! we thought we ought to let you know, before
+you expose yourself. General Hill has offered a reward of Five Dollars
+for a dead man with spurs on, and if you go up that lonesome road some
+of these here _soldiers_ will shoot you to get the reward." "Oh pshaw!"
+cried the disgusted victim, clapping spurs to his horse, and away he
+rode, leaving the grinning and delighted "infants" behind, and leaving,
+too, his _opinion_ of them, and their joke, in language that needed no
+interpreter.
+
+This sort of thing was going on, all the time. The infantry and
+artillery _would_ do it. With many, particularly the artillery, who knew
+better, it was _only joking_, the soldier-instinct to stir up _any_
+passer-by. But with many, especially the infantry, who were not as much
+"up to snuff" as the artillery, these gibes at the cavalry expressed a
+serious, tho' mistaken idea, they had of them. Upon the advance of the
+enemy, of course, we were accustomed to see cavalrymen hurrying in from
+the outposts to the rear, to report. So the thoughtless infantry, not
+considering that this was "part of the large and general plan," got
+fixed in their minds an association between the two things,--the advance
+of the enemy, and, the rapid hurrying off to the rear of the cavalry,
+until they came to have the fixed idea, that the sight of the enemy
+_always_ made a cavalryman "hungry for solitude." They reasoned that, as
+a mounted man was much better _fixed_ for running away than a footman,
+it was, by so much, natural that he _should_ run away, and was, by so
+much, the more likely to do it.
+
+Also, our orders to move and to go into battle were always brought by
+horsemen; so the horsemen were thought about as _causing others to
+fight_ instead of _doing it themselves_. So, in short, it came to pass,
+that this innocent infantry had a dim sort of notion that the chief end
+of the cavalry was, in battle time, to run away and bring up other
+people to do the fighting, and in quiet time, to "range" for buttermilk
+and other delicacies, which the poor footmen never got. Hence the
+soubriquet of "buttermilk ranger" universally applied to the cavalry by
+the army.
+
+But, I assure you, that all this was dispelled at once, and for good and
+all, at Spottsylvania. Here had these gallants gotten down off their
+horses. They hadn't run _anywhere at all_; didn't want anybody else to
+come, and fight for them. They had jumped into about five or six times
+their number of the flower of the Federal infantry. They met them front
+to front, and muzzle to muzzle. Of course they had to give back; but it
+was slowly, _very slowly_, and they made the enemy pay, in blood, for
+every step they gained. They had worried these Federals into a fever,
+and kept them fooling away nearly twenty-six hours of priceless time;
+and made Grant's plan _fail_, and made General Lee's plan succeed, and
+had secured the strong line for our defence.
+
+It was a piece of regular, obstinate, bloody, "bulldog" work. We knew,
+well as we thought of ourselves, that not the staunchest brigade of our
+veteran "incomparable" infantry, or battery of our canister-shooting
+artillery, could have _fought_ better, _stood_ better, or _achieved
+more_, for the success of the campaign. We felt that General Lee,--that
+the whole army,--"owed the cavalry one," "_several_," in fact. The army,
+even the infantry, had come to know the cavalry, at last. Obstinacy,
+toughness, dogged refusal to be driven, was their test of manhood, and
+this test the cavalry had signally, and _brilliantly_ met. Everybody was
+satisfied, the _cavalry would do, they_ were "all right." We couldn't
+praise them enough, we were proud of them. The remark was even suffered
+to pass, as nothing to his discredit particularly, that our "Magnus
+Apollo," General Lee, himself, had once been in the cavalry, and no one
+resented it _now_. We knew that it was when he was _younger_ than now.
+We, of the "Howitzers," knew very well what arm of the service, and what
+corps of that arm, the experienced old General would join, if he was
+enlisting in the Army of Northern Virginia, now, when he knew more than
+he did. Still! he had been a cavalryman; admit it!
+
+And we all _admired_ the cavalry; _honored_ the cavalry; _shouted_ for
+the cavalry, from that time! Occasionally, from force of habit, the
+infantry (the artillery never) would fall from grace at sight of a
+passing cavalry column, and let fall little attentions, that sounded
+very like the old-time compliments, but they were not _meant that way_.
+It was the soldier-instinct to salute pilgrims. Just as, on a village
+street, if a dog, of any degree, starts to run, every other dog in
+sight, or hearing, tears off after him in pursuit, and if he can catch
+up, instantly attacks him,--not that he has anything against the
+fugitive, but, simply, because he is running by. The act of running past
+makes him the enemy of his kind. So, I think, the Confederate infantry
+assailed, with jokes and gibes, _anybody in motion_ by their camp, or
+column. They had nothing against him; they attacked him because he was
+passing by. "It was their nature to." Of all living men, General Lee,
+_alone_, was sacred to them in this. The cavalry _always_ had their full
+share, and never suffered for want of notice.
+
+This account of the false idea that prevailed, the fun that came of it,
+and the way it was dispelled, is part of the history of the time. It
+went to make up the life in the Army of Northern Virginia; it lives in
+the recollection of that good old time. No record of that old time would
+be complete without it. So I make no apology for falling into it, in
+this informal reminiscence.
+
+At one o'clock on Sunday, the 8th of May, we reached the top of the hill
+near Spottsylvania Court House and suddenly came upon Stuart's cavalry
+massed in the yard and field around a farmhouse. They had finished their
+splendid fight, the van of the army was on the spot to relieve them.
+They had been withdrawn from confronting the enemy, and were now drawn
+up here, preparatory to starting off, to overtake Sheridan's raid toward
+Richmond; which they did, and, at "Yellow Tavern," two days after, many
+of them, the immortal Stuart at their head, died and saved Richmond.
+
+=Greetings on the Field of Battle=
+
+I have lingered at that farmhouse gate, at the top of the hill, in this
+story, very much longer than we did in reality. In fact we didn't linger
+there at all. Didn't have a chance! For, the moment we came in sight, at
+that gate leading into the farmhouse, an officer came dashing out from
+amongst the troops of cavalry, and galloped across the field toward us.
+The instant this horseman got out of the crowd, we recognized him. That
+long waving feather, the long auburn beard, that easy, graceful seat on
+the swift horse,--that was "J. E. B." Stuart, and nobody else! He rode
+up to the foremost group of us, and pulled up his horse. With bright,
+pleasant, smiling face, he returned our hearty salute with a touch of
+his hat, and a cheerful, "Good morning, boys! glad to see you. What
+troops are these?" "Richmond Howitzers, Longstreet's Corps." "_Good!_
+anybody else along?" "Infantry close behind." "Good! Well, boys, I'm
+_very_ glad to see you. I've got a little job for you, right now, all
+waiting for you." Just then the Captain rode up and saluted. "Captain,"
+said the General, saluting pleasantly, "Draw our guns through the gate
+and stop. I'll want you in ten minutes." And, away he galloped, back
+toward the cavalry. The guns pulled in through the gate and halted as
+they were, on the road leading to the house, close by the cavalry.
+
+We seized this sudden chance to see our old friends among the troopers.
+In every direction our fellows might be seen darting in among the
+horses, in search of our friends. Loud and hearty were the shouts of
+greeting as we recognized, or were seen by, those we sought or
+unexpectedly lighted on. Brothers, met and embraced. Friends greeted
+friends. Old schoolmates, who had, three years ago, parted at the
+schoolroom, locked eager, and loving hands, and asked after others, and
+told what they could. It was a delightful and touching scene, that
+meeting there on the edge of a bloody field! they coming out, we going
+in. There were jokes, and laughs, and cheerful words, but, the
+hand-clasps were very tight, the sudden uprising of tender feelings, at
+the sight of faces, and the sound of voices, we had not seen nor heard
+for years, and that we might see and hear no more. The memories of home,
+or school, and boyhood, suddenly brought back, by the faces linked with
+them, made the tears come, and the words very kind, and the tones very
+gentle.
+
+I had several pleasant encounters. Among others, this: I heard a
+familiar voice sing out, "William Dame, my dear boy, what on earth are
+you doing here?" I eagerly turned, and in the figure hasting toward me
+with outstretched hand,--as soon as I could read between the lines of
+mud on him,--I recognized my dear old teacher, Jesse Jones. I loved him
+like an older brother, and was delighted to meet him. I had parted from
+him, that sad day, three years ago, when our school scattered to the
+war. I had seen him last, the quiet gentleman, the thoughtful teacher,
+the pale student, the pink of neatness. Here I find him a dashing
+officer of the Third Virginia Cavalry, girt with saber and pistols,
+covered with mud from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet,
+and just resting from the bloody work of the last two days.
+
+Just here, I had the great pleasure of falling in with my kinsman, and
+almost brother, Lieut. Robert Page, of the Third Virginia Cavalry, the
+older brother of my two comrades, and messmates, Carter and John Page.
+"Bob" was one of the "true blues" who had followed Stuart's feather from
+the start, and was going to follow it to the bitter end. I remember how,
+at the very first, he rode off to the war, from his home, "Locust
+Grove," in Cumberland County, Virginia, on his horse, "Goliath," with
+his company, the Cumberland Troop. He had stuck to the front, been
+always up, and ever at his post, all the way through those three long,
+terrible years. He had deserved, and won his Lieutenancy, and commanded
+his regiment the last days of the war. He made an enviable record as a
+soldier for courage, faithfulness, and honor. None better! At
+Appomattox he was surrendered. And having been forced to cease making
+war on mankind with the saber, he mended his grip, and continued to make
+war, with a far deadlier weapon of destruction, the spatula.
+
+All this was very pleasant, but it was very short. Time was up; ten
+minutes were out! We caught sight of General Stuart cantering across the
+field toward our guns, the bugle rang, and we tumbled out from amidst
+the cavalry, in short order, and took our posts around our respective
+guns.
+
+="Jeb" Stuart Assigns "A Little Job"=
+
+Stuart was in front of the column of guns talking to Captain McCarthy;
+next moment we moved. That is, the "Left Section" moved, the two
+twelve-pounder brass "Napoleons," the "Right Section" had two
+ten-pounder "Parrott" guns and stayed still. We did not rejoin them for
+several days. It was our "Napoleons" that moved off, we took note of
+that! Also, we took very scant gun detachments,--all our men, but just
+enough to work the guns, stayed behind,--we took note of _that_ too!
+These two circumstances meant _business_ to old artillerymen. We
+_remarked_ as much, as we trotted beside the guns. "The little job" that
+General Stuart had alluded to, with his bland and seductive smile, and
+the merry twinkle of his eye, was, plainly, a very _warm_ little job;
+however, away we went, "J. E. B." Stuart riding in front of the guns,
+with the Captain,--apparently enjoying himself; _we reserved our
+opinion_ as to the enjoyableness of the occasion, till we should _see
+more_ and be better able to judge. Two guns of "Callaway's" and two of
+"Carlton's" Batteries of our Battalion,--which had come up while we were
+disporting with our cavalry friends, back there,--had pulled in behind
+our two.
+
+The six guns followed the road which turned around the farmhouse, and
+ran on down toward the back of the farm. There were pine woods about, in
+different directions, the fields lying between. We saw nothing as yet,
+and wondered where we were going. We soon found out! About half a mile
+from the house, the farm road, which here ran along with pine woods on
+the left and a stretch of open field on the right, turned out toward the
+open ground. As we passed out from behind that point of woods, we saw
+"the elephant!" There, about six hundred yards from us were the
+Federals, seeming to cover the fields. There were lines of infantry,
+batteries, wagons, ambulances, ordnance trains massed all across the
+open ground. This was part of Warren's Corps, which had been pushing for
+the Spottsylvania line. They thought they had left the "Army of Northern
+Virginia" back yonder at the "Wilderness," and had nothing before them
+but cavalry, and they were halted, now, resting or eating, intending
+afterwards to advance, and occupy the line, which was back up behind us,
+where we had left the cavalry and our other guns. That line, so coveted,
+so important to them, that they had been marching, and fighting to
+gain, was not a mile off, in sight, in reach, _secure now_, as they
+thought. That thought was not only a _delusion_, it was a _snare_. They
+were never to reach it! and the "snare," I will explain very soon.
+
+As we thus suddenly came upon that sight, we stopped to look at the
+spectacle. It looked very blue, and I dare say, we looked a shade "blue"
+ourselves; for we could not see a Confederate anywhere, and we supposed
+we had no support whatever, though we were better off in this particular
+than we knew. And the idea of pitching into that host, with six
+unsupported guns, was not calming to the mind. Coming out from cover of
+the pines, back of a slight ridge that ran through the field, with a few
+sassafras bushes on it, we were not seen, and the Federals were in
+blissful ignorance of what was about to follow. We pulled diagonally
+across the field to a point, just back of the low ridge, and quietly
+went into position and unlimbered the guns. We pushed them, by hand, up
+so that the muzzles just looked clear over the ridge, which thus acted
+as a low work in our front, and proved a great protection. The field had
+been freshly plowed for corn, the wheels sunk into it, and the minute we
+tried to move the guns, by hand, with our small force, we saw what it
+was going to be, in action, with the sun blazing down.
+
+When all was ready,--guns pointed, limber, and caisson chests
+opened,--General Stuart said, waving his hand toward that swarming field
+of Federals, "Boys, I want you to knock that all to pieces for me. So go
+to work." And this was the last time we ever saw the superb hero. He
+rode, right from our guns, to his death at "Yellow Tavern" a day or two
+after. We have always remembered with the deepest interest, that the
+very last thing that glorious soldier, "J. E. B." Stuart, did in the
+Army of Northern Virginia was to put our guns into position, and give us
+orders; which _we obeyed_, to his entire satisfaction, I know, if he had
+seen it.
+
+The minute General Stuart had given his order, and turned to ride away,
+Captain McCarthy, sitting on his horse, where he sat during the whole
+fight, looking as cool as the sun would let him, and far more
+unconcerned than if he had been going to dinner, sung out, "Section ----
+commence firing." It was ours, the Fourth gun's turn to open the ball.
+We were all waiting around the guns for the word.
+
+The group, as it stood, is before my mind as vividly as then. Dan
+McCarthy, Sergt. Ned Stine, acting gunner (vice Tony Dibrell absent,
+sick, for some time past, who came tearing back, _still sick_, the
+moment he heard we were on the warpath) Ben Lambert, No. 1; Joe Bowen,
+No. 2; Beau Barnes, No. 3; W. M. Dame, No. 4; Bill Hardy, No. 5;
+Charlie Pleasants, No. 6; Sam Vaden, No. 7; Watt Dibbrell, No. 8! The
+three drivers of the limber, six yards back of the gun, dismounted, and
+holding their horses. Ellis, the lead driver, had scooped out the loose
+dirt, with his hands, and lay down, on his back, in the shallow hole,
+holding the reins with his upstretched hands.
+
+The third gun was just to our right, the cannoneers grouped around the
+guns, each man at his post. Travis Moncure, Sergeant, known and loved
+and honored among us as "Monkey," always brave and true and smiling,
+even under fire, Harry Townsend, gunner; Cary Eggleston, No. 1; Pres
+Ellyson, No. 2; ---- Denman, No. 3; Charlie Kinsolving, No. 4;
+Charlie Harrington, No. 5; ----, No. 6; ----, No. 7; ----,
+No. 8; Captain McCarthy sitting his horse, just behind, and between the
+two guns. The other guns were a little to our left.
+
+All was ready; guns loaded and pointed, carefully, every man at his
+post,--feeling right solemn too,--and a dead stillness reigned. The
+Captain's steady voice rang out! As an echo to it, Dan McCarthy sung out
+"Fourth detachment commence firing, fire!" I gave the lanyard a jerk. A
+lurid spout of flame about ten feet long shot from the mouth of the old
+"Napoleon," then, in the dead silence, a ringing, crashing roar, that
+sounded like the heavens were falling, and rolled a wrathful thunder far
+over the fields and echoing woods. Then became distinct, a savage,
+venomous scream, along the track of the shell. This grew fainter,--died
+on our ear! We eagerly watched! Suddenly, right over the heads of the
+enemy, a flash of fire, a puff of snow-white smoke, which hung like a
+little cloud! We gave a yell of delight; our shell had gone right into
+the midst of the Federals, and burst beautifully. The ball was open!
+
+The instant our gun fired we could hear old Moncure sing out, "Third
+detachment, commence firing, fire!" and the Third piece rang out. The
+guns on the left joined in, lustily, and in a moment, those six guns
+were steadily roaring, and hurling a storm of shell upon the enemy.
+
+And now the fun began, and soon "grew fast and furious." Over in the
+Federal lines, taken by surprise, all was confusion, worse confounded.
+We could see men running wildly about, teamsters, jumping into the
+saddle, and frantically lashing their horses,--wagons, ambulances,
+ordnance carts, battery forges, tearing furiously, in every direction.
+Several vehicles upset, and many teams, maddened by the lash, and the
+confusion, and bursting shells, dashing away uncontrollable. We saw
+_one_ wagon, flying like the wind, strike a stump, and thrown, team and
+all, a perfect wreck, on top of a low rail fence, crushing it down, and
+rolling over it.
+
+This was the only time I ever saw a big army wagon, and team, thrown
+over a fence.
+
+All that lively time they were having over among the enemy was very
+amusing to us; we were highly delighted, and enjoyed it very much.
+Laughter, and jocular remarks on the scene were heard all about, as we
+worked the gun, and we did our best to keep up the show.
+
+Meanwhile, we were not deceived for a moment. Wild and furious as was
+the confusion, and running, over the way, we knew, well, it was the
+wagoners and "bomb-proof" people, who were doing the running, and
+stirring up the confusion. We knew they were not _all_ running away. We
+had seen a good deal of artillery in that field, and we knew that we
+should soon hear from them. And we were not mistaken!
+
+In a few minutes the sound of our guns was suddenly varied by a sharp,
+venomous screech, clap of thunder, right over our heads, followed by a
+ripping, tearing, splitting crash, that filled the air; a regular blood
+freezer. We knew _that sound_! It was a bursting Parrott shell from a
+Federal gun! And they had the range.
+
+The enemy had run out about eighteen, or twenty guns, and they let in,
+mad as hornets. Another shell, and another, and another, came screaming
+over us. Then they began to _swarm_; the air seemed full of
+them,--bursting shells, jagged fragments, balls out of case-shot,--it
+sounded like a thousand devils, shrieking in the air all about us. Then,
+the roaring of our guns, the heavy smoke, the sulphurous smell, the
+shaking of the ground under the thunder of the guns,--it was a fit
+place for _devils_ to shriek in.
+
+And how _hot_ it was! Twenty guns, in full fire, can make it hot at the
+foot of the North Pole, and this was _not_ the North Pole! quite the
+reverse. In addition to the battle heat, the sun was pouring down, hot
+as blazes; and the labor of working a rapidly firing "Napoleon" gun,
+with four men, in deeply plowed ground, and the strong excitement of
+battle--altogether, it was the hottest place I ever saw, or hope I shall
+_ever_ see, in this world, or in the world to come. It nearly melted the
+marrow in our bones!
+
+A persimmon sapling stood near our gun. It was trimmed, and chipped
+down, twig by twig, and limb by limb, by pieces of shell, until it was a
+lot of _scraps scattered over the ground_. Sam Vaden, as he passed me,
+with a shell, said "Dame, just look back over this field behind us. A
+mosquito couldn't fly across that field without getting hit." It looked
+so! The dirt was being knocked up, wherever you looked, literally, by
+_shower_ of balls, and shell fragments. It had the appearance of hail
+striking on the surface of water, only it wasn't cold.
+
+Well! for three mortal hours this battle raged. They hammered us, and we
+hammered them. Occasionally, we saw a Federal caisson blown up, which
+refreshed us, and several of their guns ceased firing--disabled or
+cannoneers cleared out, we thought--and _this_ refreshed us. We wished
+they would _all_ blow up, and stop shooting.
+
+After we had been under fire sometime, with nobody hurt as yet, a
+case-shot burst in front of us, and Hardy, who had just brought up a
+shell, and was standing right by me, said, in his usual deliberate way,
+"Dame, I'm hit, and hit very hard, I am afraid." "Where are you hit?" I
+asked. He said, "I'm shot through the thigh, and the leg is numbed." I
+fired the gun, and jumped down to see what I could do for him. I found
+the place, and it looked ugly. There was a clean-cut hole right through
+his pants, to the thickest part of the thigh. I put my finger into the
+hole, and tore away the cloth to get at the wound, and found to my
+great, and his _greater_ delight, that the ball had struck, and glanced.
+It had made a long black bruise and the pain was much greater than if it
+had gone through the leg. It had struck the great mass of muscle on the
+outer thigh, and the leg was, for the time, paralyzed and stiff as a
+poker. He was completely disabled. I said, "Bill, you must get right
+away from here." "But I _can't_ walk a step." "Well crawl off on your
+hands and your good foot, not a man could leave the gun, to help you,
+and go out to the side so as to get soonest from under fire." So the
+poor fellow hobbled off, as best he could, all alone, amidst the
+laughter of the fellows at his novel locomotion. We could see the
+bullets knocking up the dirt all around him, as he went slowly "hopping
+the clods" across the plowed fields. But he got off all right. Shortly
+after Hardy was struck, Charley Pleasants, of Richmond No. ------, at
+the Third gun, was shot through the thigh. A long and tedious wound
+which kept him disabled some months. Bill Hardy was back to duty in a
+day or so. One of the horses, the off horse of the wheel team of our
+limber, was hit, also. A piece of shell went into his head, between the
+right eye and ear, cutting the brow band of the bridle. The old horse, a
+character in the Battery, didn't seem to mind it; and he wore that piece
+of shell, in his head, until the end of the war.
+
+And, strange as it seemed, these were all our casualties, under that hot
+fire; one man, seriously, and one slightly wounded and a horse slightly
+hurt.
+
+=Wounding of Robert Fulton Moore=
+
+No! I forgot! There was one other casualty,--Robert Fulton Moore was
+mortally wounded, _in the hat brim_. And this gave rise to a most
+amusing scene. Robert Fulton was a driver to the limber of the third
+gun. He was a large, soft, man, and was, by no means, characterized by
+soldierly bearing, or warlike sentiments. On the contrary, he was
+something of a "butt," and was always desperately unhappy under fire. He
+could dodge lower off the back of a horse at sound of a shell, than any
+man living. His miraculous feats, in this performance, afforded much
+diversion, whenever the guns went under fire, to us all, except his
+Sergeant, Moncure, who was very much ashamed of it. Still, in a
+general, feeble sort of way Robert Fulton had managed to keep up without
+any flagrant act of flinching from his post. On this occasion he had
+stood up better than usual. He stood holding his horses, and we noticed,
+with pleasure, that he was behaving very well under fire. But, it seems,
+his courage was only "hanging by the eyelids" so to speak.
+
+Presently a piece of shell came whizzing very close to his head. It cut
+away part of his hat brim, and alas! this was too much! Poor Robert
+Fulton went all to pieces, instantly. Completely demoralized,
+panic-stricken and frantic with terror, he dropped his reins, and struck
+out wildly. It seems, he had seen Ellis, our lead driver, scooping out
+the hole that has been referred to, and as this was the only hole of any
+kind in reach, he instinctively struck for it. Ellis was lying down in
+it, flat on his back, with his arms stretched upward, holding his
+horses. Robert Fulton rounded the limber, and threw himself down with
+all his weight, right upon, and completely covering up, Ellis, and stuck
+his face in the dirt over Ellis' shoulder, effectually pinning him down.
+Ellis was a fiery, ugly-tempered fellow, but as brave as Julius Caesar,
+and of all men in the battery he had the greatest contempt for Moore,
+and especially for his present conduct. Ellis, upon finding Moore on top
+of him, was in a perfect blaze of fury. The breath was nearly knocked
+out of him by Moore's weight, and he was mashed into the narrow hole,
+and embarrassed by the reins of his horses. He tried to throw Moore off,
+and couldn't. Then he broke loose! He yelled, and swore, and bit, and
+pulled Moore's hair, and socked his spurs into him, with both feet. He
+would have broken a blood vessel if McCarthy, assisted by Moncure, who
+had come to look after his driver, had not pulled Moore off, and taken
+him back to his post.
+
+Our attention was drawn to this scene by the noise. The terrific combat
+going on in that hole, the sight of Ellis' legs and arms, tossing wildly
+in the air, Moore not moving a muscle, but lying still, on top, the dust
+kicked up by the fray,--it was more than flesh and blood could stand,
+even under such a fire, and we could hardly work the guns for laughing.
+After the fight, when Moore had time to look into his injuries, he found
+that Ellis had nearly skinned him with his spurs. Some days after, we
+heard Robert Fulton exhibiting his torn hat brim to some passing
+acquaintance from his own neighborhood, as a trophy of his prowess in
+this fight. No doubt he preserves it as a sacred relic yet.
+
+=A Useful Discovery=
+
+In this fight, necessity, the mother of invention, put us up to a device
+that served us well here, and that we made fullest use of, in every
+fight we had afterwards. When we had kept up that rapid fire, with a
+scant gun detachment, in plowed ground, and under a hot sun, for an
+hour, we were nearly exhausted. After Hardy was wounded, and left us, it
+was still worse. The hardest labor, and what took most time, was running
+up the guns from the recoil. We had stopped a moment to rest, and let
+the gun cool a little, and were discussing the difficulties, when the
+idea occurred to us. There was an old rail fence near by. Somebody said
+"let's get some rails and chock the wheels to keep them from running
+back." This struck us all as good, and in an instant we had piled up
+rails behind the wheels as high as the trail would allow. The effect
+was, that when the gun fired it simply jerked back against this rail
+pile, and rested in its place, and so we were saved all the time and
+labor of running up. We found that we could fire three or four times as
+rapidly, in this way. So that a chocked gun was equal to four in a
+fight. We found this simple device of immense service! We were told by
+the knowing ones that we ran the greatest possible danger. The ordnance
+people said that if a gun was not allowed to recoil it would certainly
+burst. But we didn't mind! A device that saved so much labor, and
+enabled us to deliver such an extraordinarily effective fire on the
+battlefield, we were bound to try. We found it acted beautifully. We
+then _knew_ the guns _wouldn't_ burst for we had tried it.
+
+We used it afterward in every fight. The instant we were ordered into
+position, two or three cannoneers would rush off and get rails, or a
+log or two, to chock the guns. And on two or three very desperate
+emergencies, during this campaign, this device enabled us to render very
+important service. It made a battery equal to a battalion, and a good
+many other batteries took it up, and used it. I believe it added greatly
+to the effectiveness of our artillery in the close-range fighting of
+this campaign.
+
+Well! even with this relief, the labor of working our guns in this
+furious and prolonged fight was fearful! At last the welcome order,
+"Section cease firing" was given. We limbered up, and drew the guns a
+short distance to the side, out of the line of fire, and utterly
+exhausted, we cannoneers, threw ourselves right down on the plowed
+ground beside the guns, and slept like the dead.
+
+In the meantime, while we had been fighting out in that field, events
+were taking place near us, of which we, absorbed in the work before us
+and deafened by the roar of our guns, had taken little notice at the
+time. As had been described, there was a body of woods some distance off
+to our right, and another, to our left. When we went into position we
+had not seen any of our troops, and did not know of the presence of any,
+near us. We thought we were without support, but as I intimated some
+time back, we were better off than we knew.
+
+=Barksdale's Mississippi Creeper=
+
+It seems, that before we came on the ground, Barksdale's Mississippi
+Brigade, which had been marching behind us, had filed off the road, and
+while we were up on the hill with the cavalry, had quietly, and silently
+passed into that body of woods to our right, unseen by the enemy. Along
+the front edge of that wood ran an old rail fence, covered all over with
+the luxuriant vine known as "Virginia Creeper." Wide open fields
+extending in front. Soon, the ground behind that fence was covered with
+another sort of "creeper," not as good a "runner" as that on the fence,
+nor as "green," but just as tough of fibre, and as hard to "hold on"
+when it had once fixed itself,--the "_Mississippi_ Creeper." Silently,
+as ghosts, the Brigade glided in behind that fence, and lay low, and
+waited. Right here, was where the Federals' idea of _quietly_ occupying
+the Spottsylvania line was going to prove a snare. They had not the
+dimmest suspicion that we were ahead of them, and between them and that
+line. They came on, with guileless confidence, and walked right into
+trouble. Presently, a line of battle with columns of troops behind came
+marching across the fields upon the concealed Mississippians. Nearer and
+nearer they came, unsuspecting any danger, till they got nearly up to
+the fence. One man had actually thrown his leg over the rail to mount.
+Suddenly! as lightning out of a clear sky, a blinding sheet of flame
+flashed into their very faces. Then, after one volley, swiftly came the
+dreadful, venomous roll of musketry, the Mississippians loading and
+firing "at will," every man as fast as he could. It was just as if "the
+angel of death spread his wings to the blast and breathed in the face of
+the foe as he passed."
+
+That withering fire tore the ranks of that Division to pieces. It didn't
+take those fellows half a second to decide what to do. With yells of
+dismay, they charged back, out of that hornet's nest, as if the devil
+was after them. In headlong rout, they rushed wildly back across the
+fields, and disappeared in the woods beyond.
+
+They left four hundred and two of their number in front of that fence,
+and before the fugitives got out of range, their General of Division,
+General Robinson, was seriously wounded.
+
+Some of our men went out among the Federal wounded to do what they could
+for their relief. An officer of a Mississippi Regiment came upon a
+Federal Colonel who lay to all appearance mortally wounded, and gave him
+a drink of water, and did what else he could for his comfort. The
+Federal took out a fine gold watch, and said, "Here is a watch that I
+value very highly. You have been very kind to me, and I would like you
+to have it, as I am going to die. If I should get over this, and send to
+you for it you will let me have it, if not, I want you to keep it. But,"
+he said sadly, "my wound is mortal, I am obliged to die." The
+Mississippian left him, and went back to his post, supposing him dead.
+
+Many years after the war, the Mississippi officer was in Baltimore at
+Barnum's Hotel. One day, he got into casual talk with a gentleman, at
+dinner, and, as he seemed to be a good fellow, they smoked their cigars
+together after dinner, and continued their conversation. By and by they
+got on the war. It came out, that both of them had served, and on
+opposite sides. Finally, in telling some particular incidents of his
+experience, the Federal soldier described this very fight, his being, as
+he thought mortally wounded, the kindness shown him by a Confederate
+officer, and his gift to him, of his watch. The Southern man said, "What
+is your name?" "Col. ----, of Robinson's Division," he replied. "Can
+you be the man? Have I struck you at last?" cried the ex-Confederate.
+"_I've_ got your watch, and here it is, with your name engraved in it."
+
+=Kershaw's South Carolina "Rice Birds"=
+
+It was a singular incident, that these two should meet again so! The
+meeting was most cordial; the Federal was delighted to get his watch
+again, made doubly valuable by so strange a history.
+
+While this bloody episode was enacting by the Mississippi Brigade, in
+the woods to our right, an almost exactly similar scene was going on, in
+the woods to our left. A portion of Kershaw's South Carolina Brigade was
+unwittingly stumbled upon by "Griffin's" Division in the pines. Another
+complete ambuscade! The South Carolinians suddenly sprang up before the
+Federals, let them have it, broke and routed them, and killed, and
+wounded eighty-seven of them. Our loss was one man. Things were so
+sudden, so close here, that one of Kershaw's men killed a Federal
+soldier, and wounded another with an axe he happened to have in his
+hand.
+
+These first efforts of "Warren's" Corps that had gotten up near the
+Spottsylvania line, "just in time to be too late," are thus described by
+Swinton, the admirable historian of the "Army of the Potomac."
+(Swinton's "Army of the Potomac," p. 443):
+
+"Finally," he says, "the column (Warren's) emerged from the woods into a
+clearing, two miles north of Spottsylvania Court House. Forming in line,
+Robinson's Division advanced over the plain. Thus far, only Stuart's
+dismounted troops had been encountered, and no other opposition was
+anticipated; but when half way across the field, and on the point of
+rising the crest, the troops were met by a savage musketry fire from
+infantry. Owing to their severe experience in the Wilderness, and the
+night march, without rest, the men were in an excited, and almost
+frightened, condition, and the tendency to _stampede_ was so great that
+General Warren had been compelled to go in front of the leading Brigade.
+When, therefore, they received a fire in front, from the redoubtable foe
+they had left in the Wilderness, the line wavered, and fell back in some
+confusion. General Robinson was at the same time severely wounded,
+which left the troops without their commander at a critical moment, and
+they were with some difficulty rallied and reformed in the woods back of
+the open plain. Griffin's Division, which advanced on the right of
+Robinson, soon afterward received the same fire with a like result."
+
+It seems then, that it was Robinson's Division that the little
+Mississippi Brigade sent to the right about, and it was Griffin's
+Division, who scared themselves nearly into fits, by flushing Kershaw's
+"rice-birds," in the pines. It was a little hard on these "excited and
+almost frightened" men of Warren's. The memory of the fearful shaking up
+they had got, day before yesterday, was so fresh in their minds that
+"General Warren himself, the _Corps Commander_, had to go in front of
+the leading Brigade" to quiet their nerves, even when they thought they
+were advancing upon a few dismounted troops. They thought,--a little
+comfort in this,--that, at least, all those terrible fellows of the Army
+of Northern Virginia were far behind them. And--to meet them _here_,
+still, in front! It must be confessed it was hard! It was a very sad
+surprise.
+
+It is said that General Grant's strained relations with General Warren
+came of Warren's conduct of this move, to seize the Spottsylvania line.
+He found great fault with his failure. But, perhaps he was a little hard
+on Warren. What could Warren do? His men were demoralized, "excited,
+almost frightened, tending to stampede, needing the Corps General to go
+in front," and stopping to dine, instead of pushing on to seize the
+line. They had to meet men who were not _particularly excited_, were not
+_at all frightened_ and had not _the least tendency to stampede_; in
+fact, were in the best of spirits, perfectly confident of victory, and
+did not need _a corporal to go in front of them_, gaunt, hungry, cool
+fellows, who never counted noses--in a fight!
+
+It was too much to expect Warren, with men like his, to go anywhere, or
+take anything, when men like these others were in the way. Grant was too
+hard on Warren! If it took a _Corps Commander_, going in front, to
+encourage them along to advance upon _a few troopers_. I hardly think
+that Generals Grant and Meade, and President Lincoln, and Secretary
+Stanton, _all together_,--going in front, could have got them up, _if
+they had known who was actually ahead_.
+
+However that may be, the object of our rapid all-night march, and of our
+venturesome stand, out here, in front of the Spottsylvania line, was
+accomplished! The stir up we gave them with that long artillery fire,
+and the savage and bloody repulses of two of their divisions made them
+more nervous than they were before. They spent some time considering who
+it could be in their front, and considering what to do. Later on, two
+more Divisions advanced, and our two Brigades and our guns retired.
+
+Our work was done! While we had been out in front amusing the enemy, and
+keeping them easy, the Brigades of Longstreet's Corps had been rapidly
+coming up, and taking position on the all-important line. We now had a
+_sure enough line of battle_ holding it. And night was falling; the
+enemy out in front had stopped, and gone to intrenching, instead of
+pushing on. We knew that during that night our people, Ewell and Hill,
+would be up. All were safe! We slept the sleep of the weary. So ended
+the 8th of May. It was a pretty full day for us!
+
+I don't remember anything at all about the early morning of the next
+day, the 9th. We were dreadfully tired, and I suppose we slept late, and
+then lounged about, with nothing to do, yet, in a listless, stupid
+state. Everything was quiet around us, and nothing to attract attention,
+or fix it in mind. About mid-day, I recollect noticing bodies of troops,
+a regiment, a brigade, or two, moving about, here and there, in various
+directions. We heard that Ewell's and Hill's Corps had come up, and
+these troops we saw, were taking their way leisurely, along, to the
+various position on the line of battle.
+
+In the afternoon, about four or five o'clock, our guns, the "Napoleon"
+Section, moved off to take our destined position on the line. We
+followed a farm road, off toward the left, and presently came down into
+quite a decided hollow, through which ran a little stream of water.
+Here we halted! The ground before us rose into a low short hill. Along
+the ridge of that hill ran the proposed line of battle, and there was
+the position for which we were making. There was quite a lively picket
+fire going on, in different directions, and right over the hill, behind
+which we were, an occasional shell could be heard screeching about, here
+and there. Several passed over us, high above our heads, and away to the
+rear. Federal Artillery lazily feeling about to provoke a reply, and
+find out where somebody was. They felt lonesome, perhaps! It was a calm,
+sweet sunlit May evening.
+
+=Feeling Pulses=
+
+In order not to expose us longer than necessary to this fire of the
+pickets, Lieutenant Anderson, commanding this "Section," went up on the
+hill, to select _exact_ position for the guns, so that they might be
+promptly placed, when we went up. While he was up there reconnoitering,
+we lay down on the ground, and waited, and talked. The bullets dropped
+over, near, and among us, now and then, and we knew, that the moment we
+went up a few steps, on the hill, we would be a mark for sharp-shooters,
+a particularly unpleasant situation for artillery. But we tried to
+forget all this, and be as happy and _seem_ as careless as we could. And
+we would have gotten along very well if let alone. But, there was a
+dreadful, dirty, snuffy, spectacled old Irishman, named Robert Close, a
+driver, who took this interval to amuse himself. He would ask us "how we
+felt," and he came around to most of us, young fellows, and asked us to
+let him feel our pulse, and see if we were at all excited, or scared;
+and he would put his hand on our hearts, to see if they were beating
+regularly enough. And he would call out the result of his investigation
+in each case,--the other fellows all sitting around, and eagerly waiting
+his report. Nobody can tell what a dreadful trial this simple thing was!
+When just going under fire--and indeed _already_ under some fire--to
+have your heart and your pulse felt, and reported on to a waiting crowd
+of comrades! But, all of us youngsters had to undergo it! That cruel,
+old scoundrel went round to every one of the youngsters. It was an
+unspeakable humiliation for a _cannoneer_ to be thus fingered by _a
+driver_, but what could we do? Not a thing!
+
+We would _have liked_ to knock the old rascal's head off, but, not one
+of us would have dared to object to that pulse feeling, and we in turn
+meekly held out our wrists, and _tried_ to look happy and amused--and
+made a dismal failure of it. Old Close was as brave, himself, as a lion.
+_He_ had as soon go in a fight as not; a little sooner! When balls
+swarmed around, he didn't care a bit. He was in a position to do this
+thing. But it was suffering to us. Each man waited, with anxious heart,
+for his turn to come, for old Close to "pass upon his condition." Those
+whom he approved, were pleased to death, and those whom he didn't, hated
+him from that time.
+
+I honestly believe that old Irishman gave me the worst scare I had in
+that campaign, and I am sure that a compliment, on the field, from
+General Longstreet himself, would not have pleased me more, than that
+snuffy old fellow's verdict, after feeling my pulse that I "would do all
+right." It was quite a curious scene altogether!
+
+=Where the Fight Was Hottest=
+
+In a few minutes Lieutenant Anderson came down and ordered us forward.
+He told us "the sharp-shooters were making it a little warm" up there.
+When the guns got to the top of the rise, they must go at a trot to
+their positions, the sooner to get the horses from under fire. Twenty or
+thirty steps brought us to the top of the sharp little ascent. Here we
+found a few of our sharp-shooters exchanging compliments with the enemy,
+and the balls were knocking up the dirt, and whistling around. I was
+interested in watching one of our fellows. He was squatting down,
+holding his rifle ready. A Federal sharp-shooter, whom we could not see,
+was cracking at him. Three times a ball struck right by him, and came
+whizzing by us. He kept still, and patiently bided his time. Suddenly,
+he threw up his rifle and fired, and then exclaimed "Well! I got _you_
+anyhow." The balls stopped coming. This man said that the concealed
+Federal sharp-shooter had been shooting at him for some time and he had
+been waiting for him. At last, catching sight of a head rising from
+behind a bush, he got his chance, as we saw, and dropped his man. Our
+guns were placed in their position, selected for them on the line, and
+the horses sent back to the rear.
+
+Our position here was right on the infantry line of battle. That is, on
+that line the infantry afterwards took. For when we got on the spot,
+there was no infantry there,--nothing except the sharp-shooters, already
+referred to. The line was traced by a continuous pile of dirt thrown up,
+I don't know by whom, before we got on the ground. I suppose the
+engineers had it done as a guide to the troops, in taking position.
+
+The position our guns now took, grew to be very familiar ground to us,
+and remains very memorable. On this spot we stayed, and fought our part
+in the Spottsylvania battles. On this spot we saw many bloody sights,
+and witnessed many heroic scenes, and had many thrilling experiences.
+The incidents of those days spent there, in nearly all their details,
+are indelibly impressed on my memory, and are as fresh as if they
+happened yesterday.
+
+We stood on a low ridge which rose gradually to the right. To the left,
+after running level for fifty yards, the ground fell rapidly away, until
+it sank down into the valley of a little brook, one hundred and fifty
+yards from us. Off to the left, in front, stretched a large body of
+woods. To the right, in front, stood a body of thick pines coming up to
+within two or three hundred yards of us, its edge running along to the
+right about that distance parallel with our line. Directly in front of
+us, the ground,--cleared fields about three or four hundred yards
+wide,--sloped gently away down to a stream, and beyond, sloped gently
+upward to the top of the hill, on which stood a farmhouse, and
+buildings. That hill was considerably higher than our position, and
+commanded it. That hill-top was about one-half to three-quarters of a
+mile from us.
+
+All along our front, in the bottom, ran a little stream; the ground, on
+either side, in our immediate front, was swampy, and thickly covered
+with low swamp growth. That soft ground saved us a good many hard knocks
+we had plenty as it was! Behind us, our cleared ground ran back, very
+gently sloping, almost level, some thirty or forty yards, and then, the
+hill fell sharply down, some twenty yards to the little brook, which ran
+along the hollow! This sharp bank, facing away from the enemy, and this
+stream, protected by it, and so near us, proved a great comfort to us.
+It also was of great service as a covered way, by which troops and
+supplies (_ammunition_, while there, it did not seem to be considered
+necessary for us to have any other supplies) were able to approach the
+line. Once it proved of vital use as a cover behind which a broken
+Brigade was able to rally, and save the line.
+
+Exactly back of us, forty yards off, and covering that steep bank at
+this one point, stood a body of large, tall trees,--pines and
+others,--occupying half an acre. And in that wood, under the bank, some
+of the fellows dug holes, and in them they built fires which, by one or
+another, were kept up all the time. At these fires,--quite effectually
+protected from shot and shell and bullets, though within forty yards of
+the line of battle, a fellow could cook anything he happened, by
+accident, to have, or slip back from the works, now and then, when not
+engaged at the guns, warm himself and stand up straight, and stretch his
+legs and back, without the imminent risk of being bored by a
+sharp-shooter; which makes a stretch unsatisfactory.
+
+Just at the point where we were posted, the line left the ridge, and
+dipping a little, on the front face of the slope, ran along about
+parallel with the ridge. My gun, "Number Four," stood exactly at the
+point where the line declined in front of the ridge, and so, was exactly
+in the infantry line. The "3d gun" was some ten yards to our left, on
+the ridge seven or eight yards back of the line, and could fire over it
+to the front. It had its own separate work.
+
+It was about sunset when we got to our position. We unlimbered our guns,
+and ran them up close to the bank of dirt, about two feet high, which we
+found there, thinking that in case of a row, that would be some little
+protection. However, things seemed quiet. We couldn't see any enemy from
+where we stood, didn't know whether any force was near us. And after we
+placed our guns, we strolled around, and looked about us, and were
+disposing ourselves for a quiet night, and a good sleep, which we needed
+badly.
+
+Just then somebody, I think it was Lieutenant Anderson, who had walked
+to the left, some distance, where he could see around the point of pine
+woods to our right, up on the hill, came back with some news very
+interesting to us, if not to our advantage. He said that, just beyond
+these woods up on the hill, not over five or six hundred yards from us,
+there was a lot of Federal artillery. He saw them plainly. They were in
+position. He counted twelve guns, and was sure there were others,
+farther around, which he could not see for the woods. At least six of
+those, in sight, he was certain were twenty-pounder Parrotts. These
+guns, he said, commanded our position, and while the enemy had not yet
+seen us, for the treetops between, they soon would; and _anyhow_, the
+moment we fired a shot, and disclosed our position, we would catch it.
+There were enough heavy guns bearing down on us to sweep us off the face
+of the earth, unless we were protected. If daylight found us unfortified
+we couldn't stay there, so we had better go to throwing dirt.
+
+=Against Heavy Odds at "Fort Dodge"=
+
+Here was nice news! Our two Napoleons, right under the muzzles of twelve
+or more rifled cannon, and six twenty-pounder Parrotts, and with no
+works! This was pleasant advice to tired and sleepy men, who wanted to
+go to bed. But such were the facts, and as we never had left a position
+under fire, and had come to stay, and were _certainly going_ to stay,
+we _went_ to throwing dirt.
+
+We went to work, to raise and thicken the little bank already there, in
+front of our gun, and to build a short "traverse" to the right, for
+protection from enfilade fire. We worked all night, six of us, and by
+morning we had a slight and rough artillery work, with an embrasure for
+the gun; the whole thing about four feet high, and two and one-half feet
+thick, at the top. It was the best that could be done by six, tired, and
+hungry fellows, all young boys, working with two picks and three shovels
+through a short night. Such as it was, we fought behind it, all through
+the Spottsylvania battles, and it stood some heavy battering. This gem
+of engineering skill,--by reason of the pretty constant courtesies we
+felt it polite to pay to the unceasing attentions of our friends, the
+enemy, for the next six days, in the shape of shells and bullets, we
+called "Fort _Dodge_."
+
+Just here, I take occasion to correct a very wrong impression about the
+field works, the "Army of Northern Virginia" fought behind, in this
+campaign. All the Federal writers who have written about these battles,
+speak of our works as "formidable earthworks," "powerful
+fortifications," "impregnable lines;" such works as _no troops_ could be
+expected _to take_, and any troops could be expected _to hold_.
+
+Now about the parts of the line distant from us, I couldn't speak so
+certainly, though I am sure they were all very much the same, but about
+the works all along _our part_ of the line I can speak with exactness
+and certainty. I saw them, I helped, with my own hands, to make them. I
+fought behind them. I was often on top of them, and both sides of them.
+I know all about them. I got a good deal of the mud off them on
+me,--(not for purposes of personal fortification, however).
+
+Our "works" were, a single line of earth, about four feet high, and
+three to five feet thick. It had no ditch or obstructions in front. It
+was nothing more than a little heavier line of "rifle pits." There was
+no physical difficulty in men walking right over that bank! I did it
+often myself, saw many others do it, and twice, saw a line of Federal
+troops walk over it, and then saw them walk _back_ over it, with the
+greatest ease, at the rate of forty miles an hour; _i. e._, except those
+whom we had persuaded to stay with us, and those whom the angels were
+carrying to Abraham's bosom, at a still swifter rate. Works they could
+go over like that couldn't have been much obstacle! They couldn't have
+made better time on a dead level.
+
+="Sticky" Mud and Yet More "Sticky" Men=
+
+Such were our works _actually_! And still, they seemed to "loom largely"
+to the people in front. I wonder what could have given them such an
+exaggerated idea of the strength of those modest little works? I wonder
+if it could have been the _men_ behind them? There were not a great many
+of these men. It was a very thin gray line along there, back of a thin,
+red line of clay. But these lines stuck together very hard, and were
+very hard indeed to separate. The red clay was "sticky" and the men were
+just as "sticky." And, as the two lines stuck together so closely, it
+made the whole very strong indeed. Certainly, it seems they gave to
+those who tried to force them apart, an impression of great strength!
+
+Yes, it must have been the _men_. A story in point, comes to my aid
+here. A handsome, well-dressed lady sweeps with a great air, past two
+street boys. They are much struck. "My eye, Jim, but ain't that a
+stunning dress?" Says Jim, with a superior air, "Oh get out, Bill, the
+dress ain't no great shakes; it's the _woman_ in it that makes it so
+'killing.'" That was the way with our Spottsylvania earthworks. The
+works "wa'n't no great shakes." It was the _men_ in 'em, that made them
+so "killing."
+
+The men behind those works, such as they were, had perfect confidence in
+their own ability to hold them. And this happy combination of "faith"
+and "works" proved as strong against the world and the flesh, here, as
+it does against the devil. It was perfectly effectual! It withstood all
+assaults!
+
+This day, May 10th, to whose dawn we have now come, broke dark, and
+lowering, very typical of the heavy cloud of war that was impending, and
+soon burst upon us, in a fierce tempest, that was going to thunder, and
+howl, and beat upon us, all day, and for days to come. This day was to
+be an eventful, and memorable day to us,--crowded full of incident.
+
+Some time during the night, while we were working like beavers on "Fort
+Dodge," infantry had come in, on the line. Soon as they got there they
+set in to do what we were doing, to raise, and thicken the line against
+the coming of day, and the equally certain coming of battle. When the
+day came they also, were ready.
+
+=Gregg's Texans to the Front=
+
+We had been too busy to think about them, at the time, but when we had
+gotten done,--and had a little time to look about us, and day had
+broken, and the fighting time, as we knew, was drawing near,--we took an
+interest in that infantry. Artillerymen are always concerned in their
+"supports," in a fight, and we wanted to know who these fellows were, on
+whom we had to depend, as battle comrades, in the approaching struggle.
+Our minds were quickly made perfectly easy on that score. We found we
+had alongside of us "Gregg's" Texas Brigade,--the gallant, dashing,
+stubborn fellows who had, as they jocularly said, "put General Lee under
+arrest and sent him to the rear," and then, had so brilliantly, and
+effectually, stopped Hancock's assault on Hill's right, at the
+Wilderness. Better fellows to have at your back, in a fight, couldn't be
+found! We knew _that part_ of the line was safe! We mingled together,
+and chatted, and got acquainted, and swapped yarns about our several
+adventures. We told them how particularly glad we were to have _them_
+there, and our personal relations soon grew as cordial as possible.
+
+Our service together on this spot, and our esteem of one another's
+conduct in battle, made the Texans and the "Howitzers" ardent mutual
+admirers, and fast friends, to the end. Never afterwards did we pass
+each other, during the campaign, without hearty cheers, each, for the
+other, and friendly greetings and complimentary references to the
+"Spottsylvania lines." Gregg's Texans! Noble fellows! Better soldiers
+never trod a battlefield. I saw them fight; I saw their mettle tried, as
+by fire. They live in my memory as "the bravest of the brave." I hope
+Texas is growing more like them!
+
+=Breakfastless, But "Ready for Customers"=
+
+Having got our Fort in shape, and refreshed ourselves a little with a
+wash, at the stream back of us, and thinking how nice some breakfast
+would be, if we had it, (which we _didn't_, not a crumb!) we got ready
+for the business of the day. We sloped the ground downward to the works,
+so that the guns would run easily; placed the gun, and saw that it could
+poke its muzzle well over the dirt, and look around comfortably in every
+direction; got some rails, and chocked her tight, so that she couldn't
+run back. Then we got a lot of cartridges, and piled them down safely
+behind the works, and in front of the guns, so that we could do very
+rapid firing. Lieutenant Anderson called attention to the fact of these
+pine woods, in front, which came up to within two or three hundred
+yards, and that the enemy could get up very near us, under cover, before
+they started to charge, and we would have to put in our work while they
+were charging across the narrow open ground. "So," he said, "Have plenty
+of 'canister' by your guns. Break loose some canisters from the powder,
+so you can double-shot; you'll need it." We cannoneers had already
+thought of this; the edge of that wood was in canister range, and we had
+put little else but this short range missile in our pile; only a few
+case-shots to make it lively for them in the woods before they came out,
+and to follow them into the woods, when they were broken, and keep them
+going. We were now all ready and waited for customers. They soon came!
+
+It was still early in the morning, about five or six o'clock, and, as
+yet, all was quiet in our front; we hadn't even seen a Federal soldier.
+Suddenly! out of the woods to our right, just about five hundred yards
+in front, appeared the heads of three heavy blue columns, about fifty
+yards apart, marching across the open field toward our left. Here was
+impudence! Infantry trying to cross our front! _That's_ the way it
+seemed to strike our fellows. I don't know whether they knew our guns
+were there, but we took it for an insult, and it was with a great deal
+of personal feeling, we instantly jumped to our guns and loaded with
+case-shot. Lieutenant Anderson said, "Wait till they get half way across
+the field. You'll have more chance at them before they can get back
+into those woods." We waited, and soon they were stretched out to the
+middle of the field. It was a beautiful mark! Three, heavy well closed
+up columns, fifty yards apart, on ground gently sloped upward from us,
+lovely for ricochet shots,--with their flanks to us, and in easy range.
+Dan McCarthy went up to Ned Stine, our acting gunner, who was very deaf,
+and yelled in his ear, loud enough for the Federals to hear, "Ned, aim
+at the nearest column, the ricochet pieces of shell will strike the
+columns beyond." "All right," he bawled back, with his head on one side,
+"sighting" the gun. "I've got sight on that column, now. Ain't it time
+to shoot?" This instant Anderson sung out, "Section commence firing! and
+get in as many shots as you can before they get away." "Yes," shouted
+Dan, "Fire!" "Eh?" said Ned, putting his hand up to his ear, "What did
+you say?" "I said Fire! you deaf old fool--Fire!" the last, in a tone
+calculated for a mile and a half. This fetched him. Ned threw up his
+hands (the gunner's signal to fire) and we let drive. All Ned wanted was
+a start, he was only slow in hearing. He jumped in now, and we kept that
+gun blazing almost continuously. It was the first time Stine had acted
+gunner, and he did splendidly here, and until Dibbrell, our gunner, got
+back.
+
+Our first shot struck right in the nearest column, and burst, and we
+instantly saw a line opened through all three columns, and a great deal
+of confusion. The shot from the "Third Piece" struck at another point,
+and burst, just right for effect. I am sure not a single shot missed in
+that crowd, and we drove them in just as fast as we could. The columns
+were pretty badly broken, and in two minutes, they were rapidly crossing
+back into that woods, out of which they had come, and disappeared. The
+Texans were greatly pleased with this performance. Having nothing to do,
+as the enemy was out of effective rifle range, they stood around, and
+watched us work the guns, and noticed, with keen interest, the effect of
+our shots upon the blue columns, and they made the welkin ring, when the
+Federals turned to retire.
+
+=Parrott's Reply to Napoleon's Twenty to Two=
+
+In a minute or two we received notice of our work from another quarter.
+That artillery, up there on the hill, beyond the woods, woke up. They
+got mad at our treatment of their infantry friends, furiously mad.
+"Boom" went a loud report, over the way, and, the same instant, a savage
+shriek right over our heads, of a twenty pounder Parrott shell. Another
+followed, another, and another. They began to rain over. We could detect
+the sound of different shells, three inch rifle, ten pounder Parrott,
+and twenty pounder Parrott.
+
+Some fifteen or twenty guns joined in, and they hammered away most
+savagely. Most fortunately the treetops of that wood, out in our front,
+came up just high enough to conceal us from the enemy. They could see
+our smoke, and knew just _about_ our position, but they could not
+_exactly see us_, and correct their aim by the smoke of their shells. So
+they could not get the _exact_ range. And that makes a great difference,
+in artillery firing, as it does in a great many other things. To know
+_just about_ and to know _exactly_, are two very different things in
+effect, and in satisfaction to the worker. If those people could have
+_seen_ our two guns, I suppose they could have smashed them both, and
+killed, or wounded every man of us, and their columns could have moved
+across our front, in peace, and accomplished this movement they were
+trying to get across them for, and about which they seemed very anxious.
+As it was, neither man, nor gun, of ours, was touched, though it was hot
+as pepper all around there; and our guns stuck there a thorn in their
+sides, and broke up that movement altogether.
+
+It seems that those columns were a part of Warren's Corps, and were
+trying to push into an interval between our Corps, and A. P. Hill's
+Corps, which, under command of General Jubal Early (Hill being very
+sick) began just on our left, our position being on the left of
+Longstreet's line, near its junction with Hill's. This infantry was
+pushing across our front to get into that gap, and make it hot for "Old
+Jubal" over there in the woods. But, in order to get to that gap, they
+were forced to pass close to us, and across that open field.
+
+Now, at once, to insult us, and to hurt our friends, was a move that we
+didn't at all approve, and were not going to stand. And as soon as we
+discovered the meaning of this move, we were very earnest to stop it.
+
+Well! we had stopped it once, and driven back the Federal columns of
+attack. It remained to see what they were going to do about it. The
+Federal artillery thundered at us through the trees. We quietly sat and
+waited to see.
+
+In about half an hour, (I suppose they thought we were pulverized by the
+fire their guns had been pouring upon us,) we saw those three infantry
+columns pouring out of the woods again, at a quick step. We manned the
+guns, and waited as before, till they reached the middle of the field.
+Then we began to plow up the columns with shrapnel. This time some of
+our infantry tried and found it in range for their muskets and they
+adjusted their rifle sights and took careful aim, with a rest on the top
+of the works. Soon, the columns faltered, then stopped, then broke, and
+made good time back to their woods. We could see their officers trying
+to rally them, but they refused to hear "the voice of the charmer." Soon
+they disappeared!
+
+Then the artillery began to pour in their shells on us more furiously
+than ever! The air around us was kept in a blaze, and a roar of bursting
+shells, and the ground, all about, was furrowed and torn. We quietly
+sat behind our works, and interchanged our individual observations on
+what had just taken place, and waited for further developments.
+
+The two rifled pieces of our Battery, and the other rifled guns of our
+Battalion, "Cabells," had been laced in position, on a hill half a mile
+back of, and higher, than the low hill on which we were. The plan was
+for these long range guns to fire over our heads, at the enemy. We
+suspected that when that Federal infantry next tried to pass us, they
+would try to make a rush. So Lieutenant Anderson sent back to the other
+guns, calling attention to this probability, and suggesting that they
+should be on the lookout, and reinforce our fire, and try, also, to
+divert the Federal artillery, a little. We thought that with eight or
+ten rifled guns, added to the fire of ours, and what the infantry could
+do, we could sicken that Federal infantry of the effort to get by.
+
+Presently we noticed the fire of the Federal guns increase in violence
+to a marked degree. At this savage outburst, Lieutenant Anderson said,
+"Boys, get to your guns, that infantry will try to get across under
+cover of this." We sprang to the guns, and sure enough, in a minute,
+those blue columns burst out of the woods at a double quick. "Open on
+them at once men. We can't let them get a start this time," shouted
+Anderson. Both guns instantly began to drive at the head of their
+columns.
+
+The sound of our guns started our rifle guns on the hill behind. They
+opened furiously, and we could hear their shells screeching over our
+heads, on into this enemy's columns. We did our best, and the Texans did
+what musket fire they could. The enemy still advanced at a run, but this
+storm was too much for them. Their columns were torn to pieces, were
+thrown into hopeless confusion. They had, by this time, gotten half way
+or more across the field, and they made a gallant effort to keep on, but
+torn and storm-beaten as they were, they could not stand. The crowd
+broke and parted. A few ran on across to the farther woods, and were
+captured by Hill's men. The rest, routed and scattered, ran madly back
+to the cover they had left. This gave them enough! They gave up the
+attempt, and tried it no more.
+
+We thought that Hill's Corps "owed us one" for this job. We certainly
+saved them a lot of trouble by thus protecting their flank. They had to
+stand a heavy assault by Hancock's Corps, and had very hot work as it
+was. If these strong columns, that we were taking care of, had gotten
+into that gap, and taken them at disadvantage, they would have had a
+hard time, to say the least. Our work left them to deal with Hancock's
+Corps alone, which they did to their credit, and with entire success, as
+will appear.
+
+That little scheme of our long-range guns on the hill behind, firing
+over our heads at the enemy acted very well, for a while. It came to
+have its very decided inconvenience to _us_, as well as to the enemy.
+When the Federal infantry had retired, those guns turned their fire on
+the Federal artillery which was hammering us. They meant to divert their
+attention, and do us a good turn. They had better have left us to "the
+ills we had." Their line of fire, at that artillery, was exactly over
+our position. Very soon their shells got tired travelling over, and
+began to stop _with us_. Our Confederate shells were often very badly
+made, the weight in the conical shells not well balanced. And so, very
+often, instead of going quietly, point foremost, like decent shells,
+where they were _aimed_, they would get to _tumbling_, that is, going
+end over end, or "swappin' ends" as the Tar Heels used to describe it,
+and _then_, there was no telling _where_ they would go, except that they
+would _certainly go wrong_. And, they went very wrong, indeed, on this
+occasion, in our opinion.
+
+The sound of a tumbling Parrott shell in full flight, is the most
+horrible noise that ever was heard!--a wild, venomous, fiendish scream,
+that makes every fellow, in half a mile of it, feel that it is looking
+for _him particularly_, and _certain_ that it's _going to get him_. I
+believe it would have made Julius Caesar, himself, "go for a tree," or
+want to, anyhow!
+
+Well! these blood-curdlers came crashing into us, from the rear,
+knocking up clouds of dirt, digging great holes, bursting, and raining
+fragments around us in the field. We were not firing, and had leisure
+to realize the fix we were in. With the enemy hotly shelling us from the
+front, and our friends from the rear, obliged to stay by our guns,
+expecting an infantry assault every minute, we certainly were in a
+pretty tight fix, "'Tween the devil and the deep sea."
+
+It was the only time I ever saw Lieutenant Anderson excited under fire,
+but he was excited _now_, and mad too. He said to one of the fellows,
+"Go back under the hill, get on a horse, ride as hard as you can, and
+tell those men on the hill, what confounded work they are doing, and if
+they fire any more shells, here, I will open on them immediately." In a
+few minutes it was stopped, with many regrets on the part of our
+friends.
+
+=The Narrow Escape of an Entire Company=
+
+In the midst of all this, an incident took place that created a great
+deal of amusement. Along the line, just back of and somewhat protected
+by the works, the Texans had pitched several of the little "shelter
+tents" we used to capture from the enemy, and found such a convenience.
+One of these stood apart. It had a piece of cloth, buttoned on the back,
+and closing that end up to about eighteen inches from the top, leaving
+thus, a triangular hole just under the ridge pole. In this little tent
+sat four men, a captain and three privates, all that were left of a
+Company in this Texan Brigade. These fellows were playing "Seven-up"
+and, despite the confusion around, were having a good time. Suddenly,
+one of the shells from the hill behind, struck, tumbled over once or
+twice, and stopped, right in the mouth of that tent, the fuse still
+burning. The game stopped! The players were up, instantly. The next
+moment, one fellow came diving headforemost out of that triangular hole
+at the back, followed fast by the other three--the captain last. It only
+took "one time and one motion" to get out of that. Soon as they could
+pick themselves up, they, all four, jumped behind a tree that stood
+there; and then, the fuse went out, and the shell didn't burst.
+Everybody had seen the shell fall, and were horror stricken at the
+apparently certain fate of those four men. Now, the absurdity of the
+scene struck us all, and there were shouts of laughter at their expense.
+Despite their sudden, hasty retreat through that narrow hole everyone of
+the scamps had held on to his "hand," and they promptly kicked the shell
+aside, crawled into the tent again, and continued their little game;
+interrupted, however, by jokes from all sides. It was very funny! The
+smoking shell, in front, and those fellows shooting through that hole at
+the back, and alighting all in a heap, and then the scramble for that
+tree. As the shell went out, it was a roaring farce. If it hadn't, it
+would have been a tragedy. The Captain said that these three men were
+his whole company, and when that lighted shell struck, he thought that
+his company was "gone up" for good and all.
+
+Such was about the size to which some of the companies of this Texan
+Brigade was reduced.
+
+Well! after we got rid of those shells from the rear we didn't so much
+mind the artillery fire from the front, which kept up more or less
+through the morning.
+
+What with the wet, cheerless weather, and the mental discomfort of
+staying in a place where they were "shooting cannons" at us, and other
+kind of shooting might soon be expected, two of our men got sick, and
+went back to the position of our guns on the hill in the rear. The
+Captain appealed to them to go back, but their health was bad, and they
+didn't think the place where we were, _a health resort_. So Captain
+McCarthy called for volunteers to take their places, and instantly John
+W. Page, and George B. Harrison, of the First Detachment, offered, and
+came over to us.
+
+=Successive Attacks by Federal Infantry=
+
+Up to this time we had seen no infantry since their columns had tried to
+cross our front. No attack had been made on us and all seemed quiet out
+in front, except that artillery. But, out of our sight, over behind the
+woods, the enemy was conspiring to break up our quiet in the most
+decided manner. About ten o'clock we suddenly caught sight of a confused
+appearance down through the woods on our right front. It quickly defined
+itself as a line of battle, rapidly advancing. Our pickets fired upon
+it, then ran back over the works into our line. The Texans sprang into
+rank, we jumped to our guns, and sent a case-shot tearing down through
+the woods. Next instant, the Federal line dashed, cheering, out of the
+edge of the woods, and came charging at us. As they dashed out, they
+were met by a furious storm of bullets, and cannister, which at two
+hundred yards tore their ranks. They got about a hundred yards under
+that fire, then began to falter, then stopped, tried to stand for a
+moment, then with their battle line shot all to pieces, they turned and
+broke for the woods in headlong rout. We did our best to help them
+along, shooting at them with case-shot as long as we could catch any
+glimpse of them, moving back through the trees. Then that Federal
+artillery got savage again. We lay low and waited for some more
+infantry.
+
+Very soon, here they came again! another line charging on, only to meet
+the same fate; shattered lines, hapless disorder, bloody repulse, and
+rapid retreat. Several times they tried to reach our lines, and every
+time failed, then gave it up for the time.
+
+These various assaults took up the time, I should say from ten-thirty to
+twelve o'clock. When they were over, the field, and wood in front of us
+displayed a most dreadful scene. The field was thickly strewn with the
+dead, and wounded. And just along the edge of the wood, where the
+advancing lines generally first met our full fire, in the several
+assaults, the dead lay so thick and in such regular order, that it
+looked to us like a line of battle, lying down. And the poor wounded
+fellows lying thickly about! It was frightful to see and to hear them.
+It was a bloody business, their oft-repeated effort to take our line.
+Their loss was very severe, ours was almost nothing. The Texan Brigade
+in all their assaults had several wounded, none killed; at our guns not
+a man was hurt.
+
+One thing that struck me in that fighting was the utter coolness of the
+Texan infantry. I watched the soldier next to my gun, and can never
+forget his bearing. The whizzing bullets, the heavy storming columns
+pouring upon us, the yells and cries of the combatants were enough to
+excite anybody, but this fellow was just as easy and deliberate as if he
+had been shooting at a mark. He would drop the butt of his musket on the
+ground and ram down a cartridge, raise the piece to his hip, put on a
+cap, cock the hammer, and then, slowly draw the gun up to his eye, and
+shoot. I really don't think that Texan fired a shot that day until the
+sight on his gun covered a Federal soldier, and I think it likely he hit
+a man every time he shot. It was this sort of shooting that made the
+carnage in front so terrible.
+
+And what a confident lot they were! After one or two of these lines had
+been repulsed, as the enemy were advancing again, you could hear the men
+in the line calling one to another, "Say, boys, don't shoot so quick
+this time! Let them get up closer. Too many of them get away, when you
+start so soon." Truly they were the unterrified! Our line was so thin;
+those storming lines of blue as they came storming on seemed _heavy_
+enough to roll over us like a tidal wave. Yet it never seemed to occur
+to these fellows that they might be run over. Their only thought was to
+"let them get up closer next time." Their only concern was that "too
+many of them were getting away." Good men, they were, to hold a line!
+
+_At last_, this furious attempt, by Warren and Hancock, to force our
+position ceased. And as we saw, out in front, the heavy losses of the
+enemy, and still had every one of our men ready for duty, we thought
+"_we_ could stand this sort of thing, if _they_ could, and just as long
+as they chose to keep on." They lost in dead and wounded about twelve
+hundred men to about four of ours. Certainly, we could stand it! So we
+piled some more canister in front of our guns, and watched to see what
+they would do next.
+
+The long hours crept on until three o'clock,--when the warming up of the
+Federal artillery fire warned us of another attack. Soon came another
+stubborn assault by Warren's Corps. Same result. Line after line pushed
+out from the woods, only to be hurled back, bleeding and torn, leaving
+on the field large additions to the sad load of dead, and wounded, with
+which it was already encumbered. They effected nothing! Very little loss
+to us, heavy loss to them. We were using double shot of canister nearly
+every time, on masses of men at short range; the infantry fire was rapid
+and deadly. Our fire soon swept the front clear of the enemy. We piled
+up more canister, and waited again.
+
+There was now an interval of comparative quiet. We could walk around,
+and talk, and look about us, a little. Now and then a bullet struck the
+ground close to us, and presently one of the infantry was struck
+slightly. It was plain that a concealed sharp-shooter had our range, and
+we began to watch for him. Soon one of us caught a glimpse of him; he
+was up a tree some distance out in front, and he would cautiously edge
+around the trunk and fire, dodging back behind the trunk to load again.
+One of the Texans went over the works, and stole from stump to stump off
+toward the left, and for some time was out of our sight. Presently, we
+saw that sharp-shooter slyly stealing around the tree, and raise his
+rifle. The next instant, we saw a puff of smoke from a bush, off to the
+left, and that sharp-shooter came plunging down, headforemost out of the
+tree, dead as Hector. Our man had crept round so that when the Federal
+slid around the tree, he exposed his body, and the Texan shot him.
+
+Robert Stiles, the Adjutant of the Battalion, who had been, until
+lately, a member of our Battery, and was very devoted to it, and his
+comrades in it, had come to the lines to see how we were getting on, and
+gave us news of other parts of the line. He, Beau Barnes, and others of
+us were standing by our guns, talking, when a twenty pounder Parrott
+shell came grazing just over our guns, passed on, and about forty yards
+behind us struck a pine tree, about two and a half to three feet in
+diameter. The shell had turned. It struck that big tree sideways, and
+cut it entirely off, and threw it from the stump. It fell in an upright
+position, struck the ground, stood, for an instant, and then, came
+crashing down. It was a very creepy suggestion of what that shell might
+have done to one of us. A few moments after another struck the ground
+right by us and ricochetted. After it passed us, as was frequently the
+case, we caught sight of it, and followed its upward flight until it
+seemed to be going straight up to the sky. Stiles said "There it goes as
+though flung by the hand of a giant." Beau Barnes, who was _not_
+poetical, exclaimed, "Giant be darned; there ain't any giant can fling
+'em like that." He was right!
+
+Strange how the most trivial incidents keep their place in the memory,
+along with the great events, amidst which they occurred! I remember the
+fall of that tree, and the remark about that shell, and a small piece of
+pork which an Arkansas soldier gave me, and which, in jumping to the
+guns, I dropped into a mudhole, and never found again, though I fished
+for it diligently in the muddy water, and a _pig_, which was calmly
+rooting around near our guns, under fire, and which we watched, hoping
+he would be hit, so that we could get his meat, before the infantry did,
+to satisfy our wolfish hunger, just as distinctly as the several fierce
+battles which were fought that day.
+
+About five o'clock the Federal guns on the hill in our front broke out
+again into a furious fire. It was a warning! We knew it meant that the
+infantry were about to charge again. We got to our guns, and the Texans
+stood to their arms. It seems that the balance of Hancock's Corps had
+got up, and now, with Warren's, and part of Sedgwick's Corps, formed in
+our front, Grant was going to make the supreme effort of the day, to
+break our line.
+
+_What we saw_ was that far down in the woods, heavy columns of men were
+moving; the woods seemed to be full of them. The pickets, and our guns
+opened on them at once. The next moment they appeared, three heavy lines
+one close behind the other. As they reached the edge of the woods, our
+lines were blazing with fire. But on they came! The first line was cut
+to pieces, only to have its place taken by the next, and then, the next.
+Closer and closer to our guns they pressed their bloody way, until they
+were within fifty yards of us. Heavens! how those men did strive, and
+strain to make their way against that tempest of bullets and canister!
+It was too much for man to do! They stopped and stayed there, and fired
+and shouted, under our withering fire. The carnage was fearful. Their
+men were being butchered! Their lines had all fallen into utter
+confusion. They could not come on! Despair suddenly seized them! The
+next moment a panic stricken cloud of fugitives was fast vanishing from
+our view, and the ground over which they had charged was blue with
+corpses, and red with blood.
+
+=Eggleston's Heroic Death=
+
+Just here, we of the "Howitzer" suffered our first, and only, loss in
+this day's fighting. Cary Eggleston, "No. 1" at third gun, had his arm
+shattered, and almost cut away from his body, by a fragment of shell. He
+quietly handed his rammer to John Ayres, who that instant came up to the
+gun, and said, "Here Johnny, you take it and go ahead!" Then, gripping
+his arm with his other hand, partly to stop the fast flowing blood, he
+turned to his comrades, and said in his jocular way, "Boys, I can never
+handle a sponge-staff any more. I reckon I'll have to go to teaching
+school." Then he stood a while, looking at the men working the gun. They
+urged him to go to the rear; he would not for a while. When he consented
+to go, they wanted to send a man with him, but he refused, and walked
+off by himself. As he passed back an infantry officer, seeing what an
+awful wound he had, and the streaming blood, insisted that one of the
+men should go and help him to the hospital. "No," he said; "I'm all
+right, and you haven't got any men to spare from here." So, holding his
+own arm, and compressing the artery with his thumb, he got to the
+hospital.
+
+His arm was amputated, and a few days after, as the battery passed
+through Spottsylvania Court House, we went by the Court House building,
+used as a hospital, where he lay on the floor, and bade him "good-bye."
+He was just as cheerful, and bright, as ever, and full of eager interest
+in all that was going on. Said "Since he had time to think about it, he
+believed he _could_ handle a sponge-staff _with one hand_; was going to
+practice it soon as he could get up, and would be back at his post
+_before long_." The next day, the brave young fellow died. The
+"Howitzers" will always remember him tenderly. No braver, cooler warrior
+ever lived! Always bright, full of fun in camp, and on the march, he was
+at the gun in action, the best "No. 1" I ever saw. One of the few men I
+ever knew who really seemed to enjoy a fight. His bearing, when he was
+wounded, was simply _heroic_. No wounded knight ever passed off his last
+battlefield in nobler sort. All honor to his memory!
+
+John Ayres, the fellow to whom Cary Eggleston handed his rammer, was at
+his home in Buckingham County, Virginia, on furlough, when we started on
+the campaign. Off in the remote country, he didn't hear of our movements
+for several days. The moment he heard it, off he started, walked
+thirteen miles to the James River Canal boat; got to Richmond, came up
+to Louisa County on the Central Railroad, got off and walked
+twenty-three miles across country, guided by the sound of the battle,
+and reached his gun just in time to take Eggleston's place as "No. 1"
+and finish the fight.
+
+When the enemy had thus broken in such utter rout, and with such fearful
+losses, we did hope they would let us alone, for this day at least. We
+were wet, and hungry, and nearly worn out working the gun, off and on
+all day, and it was late in the afternoon. For an hour or more things
+were quiet; the woods in front seemed deserted and still; the Texans
+were lying stretched out on the ground, all along the line; many of them
+asleep. We cannoneers were wearily sitting about the guns, wishing to
+gracious we had something to eat, and could go to bed, even if the _bed
+were_ only one blanket, on the wet ground.
+
+Our rifled guns had just been firing at a Federal battery which we could
+see, up on the hill in front of us. Watching the effect of the shots, we
+saw one of the caissons blown up, and a gun disabled, and soon
+confusion. Somebody remarked, "how easy it would be to take that
+battery, if any of our infantry were in reach." Just then, we heard loud
+cheering, which sounded to us, to be up in the woods, on our left, where
+Hill's men were. Someone instantly cried out, "There it goes now! Hill's
+men are going to take those guns." We eagerly gathered at the works,
+some distance to the left of our guns, where we could see better, and
+stood gazing up at the edge of the field, expecting every moment to see
+Hill's troops burst out of the woods, and rush upon these guns. Our
+attention was absorbed, off there, when, all of a sudden, one of our
+fellows who happened to glance the other way, yelled, "Good heavens!
+look out on the right." We all looked! There, pouring out of the woods,
+yelling like mad men, came the Federal infantry, fast as they could run,
+rushing straight upon our line. The whole field was blue with them! When
+we first saw them, the foremost were already within one hundred yards of
+our works, and aiming for a point about two hundred yards to our right.
+The breath was about knocked out of us by the suddenness of the
+surprise! It was not Hill's men charging _them_, but these fellows
+charging us,--whose yells we had heard, and here they were, right upon
+us! In two jumps we were at our gun. We had to turn it more to the
+right, and, with the first shot, blow away a light traverse, which was
+higher than the level of the gun, before we could bear on their columns.
+We sent two or three canisters tearing through their ranks; the Texans
+were blazing away, but, they had got too close to be stopped. The next
+instant, they surged over our works like a great blue wave, and were
+inside.
+
+="Texas Will Never Forget Virginia"=
+
+So sudden was the surprise that they bayonetted two of the Texan
+infantry, asleep upon the ground. Soon as they got over they turned, and
+began to sweep down the works, on the inside, upon our guns. As the
+Texans forced to retire streamed past our guns, leaving us all alone
+and unsupported to face the enemy, Lieutenant Anderson said, "Men, the
+road is only a little way back of us; we must stay here, and stop these
+people, or the Army is cut in two. Run the guns back and open on them.
+We can hold them until help comes." We turned the guns round so as to
+command the approaching enemy, and chocked them with rails; several men
+snatched up the pile of ammunition, and piled it down before the guns in
+their new place, then we opened, with double canister.
+
+If ever two guns were worked for all they were worth, those were! I
+don't believe any two guns, in the same time, ever fired as many shots
+as those two "Napoleons" did. We kept them just _spouting canister_!
+Several times _three canisters_ were fired. Billy White, "No. 2," had
+only to reach down for them, and he would have loaded the guns _to the
+muzzle_ if "No. 1" had given him time. The gun got so hot that, once, in
+jumping in to put in the friction primer, the back of my left hand
+touched it, and the skin was nearly taken off. The sponge was entirely
+worn off the rammer, so "No. 1" stopped sponging out the gun, and only
+rammed shot home. We fired so fast that the powder did not have time to
+ignite in the gun. After firing the gun, "No. 4" could hardly get the
+"primer" in before the gun was loaded, and ready to fire again. So it
+went on! It was fast and furious work! And the bullets sounded like bees
+buzzing above our heads.
+
+I felt a sharp pain, then a numbness in my right hand. I glanced at it,
+and saw that the back of it was cut open, and bleeding. I had to pull
+the lanyard with my left hand the rest of the fight. I supposed a bullet
+had done it, but was disgusted to see blood on one of the rails, which
+chocked our gun, and find that this rail had worked loose, and, when
+struck by the recoiling gun wheel, had flown round and struck my hand,
+and disabled it. So, it was not an "honorable" wound, even though
+received in battle, as it was not done by a missile of the enemy.
+
+Minute after minute, this hot work went on. The enemy, in coming over
+our works, and sweeping around, was thrown into disorder, so that they
+advanced on us in a confused mass.
+
+In this mass our canister was doing deadly work, cutting lanes in every
+direction. Still on they came; getting slower in their advance as the
+canister constantly swept away the foremost men. The men in front began
+to flinch, they were within thirty yards of us,--firing wildly now. One
+good rush! and their bayonets would have silenced our guns! But they
+could not face that hail of death any longer; they could not make that
+rush! They began to give back from our muzzles.
+
+At that moment, the Texans having rallied under the bank, forty yards to
+our right, and rear, came leaping like tigers upon their flank. The
+Texans were perfectly furious! It was the first time during the whole
+war that they had been forced from a position, under fire, and they were
+mad enough to eat those people up. A screaming yell burst out, a
+terrific outbreak of musketry, a rush, with the bayonets, and the inside
+of our work was clear of all, save the many dead, and wounded, and six
+hundred prisoners.
+
+We ran our gun instantly back to its place, in the works, and got
+several shots into the flying mob, outside.
+
+Then all was gone, and we were ready to drop in our tracks, with the
+exhausting work of the ten minutes that we had held the foe at bay.
+
+General Gregg came up to our gun. With strong emotion he shook hands
+with each of us; he then took off his hat, and said, "Boys, Texas will
+never forget Virginia for this! Your heroic stand saved the line, and
+enabled my brigade to rally, and redeem its honor. It is the first time
+it ever left a position under fire, and it was only forced out, now, by
+surprise, and overwhelming weight. But it could not have rallied except
+for you. God bless you!" This moment Bob Stiles came up at a run. He had
+left the guns a few moments before the attack came, and hearing our guns
+so busy came back.
+
+When General Gregg told him in a very enthusiastic way what we had done,
+he just rushed up to each cannoneer, and hugged him with a grip, strong
+enough to crush in his ribs, and vowed he was going to resign his
+Adjutancy at once, and come back to the guns.
+
+Pretty soon Major-General Field, commanding part of the line, came
+dashing up on his horse, and leaped off. He went round shaking hands
+with us, and saying very civil things. He was red hot! He had witnessed
+the whole thing from his position, on a hill near by. He said, "When he
+saw the Federals roll over our works, and the Texans fall back, he was
+at his wits' end. He did not have a man to send us, and thought the line
+was hopelessly broken." Then he saw us turn our two guns down inside the
+works. He said to his courier, "It isn't possible these fellows will
+even attempt to keep their guns there. The enemy will be over them in
+two minutes." But as our guns roared, and the enemy slowed down, he
+swung his hat, as the courier told us, and yelled out, "By George, they
+will do it!" and clapping spurs into his horse he came tearing over to
+find the Texans in their line, all solid again. He said to us, "Men, it
+was perfectly magnificent, and I have to say that your splendid stand
+saved the Army from disaster. If the line had been broken here I don't
+know what we should have done."
+
+Of course all this was very nice to hear. We tried to _look_ as if we
+were _used to this sort of thing all the time_. But, it was something
+for us, young chaps, to have our hands shaken nearly off, by
+enthusiastic admirers, in the shape of Brigadier and Major-Generals,
+especially as they were such heroic old veterans as Field and Gregg,
+and to have the breath hugged out of us by an old comrade. All this
+glory was only to be divided up among _nine men_, so there was a big
+share for each one. I must confess, it was very pleasant indeed to hear
+that men, who were judges, thought we had done a fine thing; and when in
+General Orders next day our little performance was mentioned to the
+whole army in most complimentary terms, and we knew that the folks at
+home would hear it, I am free to say, that we would _not_ have "taken a
+penny for our thoughts."
+
+=Contrast in Losses and the Reasons Therefor=
+
+The fight was over, just about as dusk was closing in. In this, and the
+fight at five o'clock, the enemy lost about six thousand men, killed and
+wounded. In the assaults, at _ten_, _eleven_ and at _three_ o'clock,
+they certainly lost between two and three thousand in killed and
+wounded, so this day's work cost them about seven or eight thousand in
+killed and wounded, besides prisoners.
+
+Our loss was very small. On our immediate part of the line, almost
+nothing. In the battery, we had one man wounded at five o'clock. In this
+furious close up fight with infantry, with the awful mauling our guns
+gave them, strange to say, we had not a man touched. The only blood shed
+that day, at the "4th" gun, was caused by that rail striking my hand.
+And our battle line was just as it was, in the morning, save for the
+hecatomb of dead and dying in front of it, and six hundred prisoners we
+held inside.
+
+About these prisoners: Numbers of these men were drunk, and officers
+too. One Colonel was so drunk that he did not know he was captured, or
+what had happened. The explanation of this fact, I do not profess to
+know, but _this_ was what _the men themselves told us_, "That before they
+charged, heavy rations of whiskey were issued, and the men made to drink
+it. I know that indignant denial has been made of this charge, that the
+Federal soldiers were _made drunk_ to send them in, but _this_ I do
+_certainly know_, as an eye witness, and hundreds of our men know it
+too, that here, on the Spottsylvania line, and at Cold Harbor, and other
+times in this campaign, we captured numbers of the men, assaulting our
+lines, who were very drunk, and said they were made to drink. And this
+fact is one reason for the carnage among them, and the light loss they
+inflicted upon us. It made their men shoot wildly, and the moment our
+men saw this, they could, with the cooler aim, send death into their
+ranks. These hundreds of men going, _drunk_, to face death was a
+horrible sight; it is a horrible thought, but _it was a fact_.
+
+=Why Captain Hunter Failed to Rally His Men=
+
+In the quiet time, just before that sudden rush which swept over the
+works, Captain Hunter, of the Texans, was frying some pieces of fat
+bacon in a frying pan, over a little fire just by our gun. In a flash,
+the enemy was over the work, and we were in the thick of battle, and
+confusion. The Captain glanced from his frying bacon, to see his company
+falling back from the works, and the enemy pouring over. The sudden
+sight instantly drove him wild with excitement! He utterly forgot what
+he was doing. With a loud yell, he swung that frying pan round and round
+his head,--the hot grease flying in all directions,--and rushed to his
+men, and tried to rally them. (Having _lost the meat_, he _failed_! With
+a frying pan full of meat he could have rallied the regiment!) Back he
+fell with the brigade, and disappeared under the hill.
+
+When the rallied Brigade came whooping back upon the enemy, ten minutes
+after, who should be in front tearing up the hill, leading the charge,
+but the gallant Captain, yelling like everything, and still waving that
+frying pan, to cheer on his men. More gallant charge was never led, with
+gleaming sword, than was this, led with that Texas frying pan.
+
+At the time we were getting our guns around to fire upon the enemy
+inside the works, as the retiring Texans were falling back past us, Dr.
+Carter stepped quickly out, and in his courteous manner, called out to
+them, "Gentlemen, dear gentlemen, I hope that you are not running." A
+passing infantryman, a gaunt, unwashed, ragged chap, replied, "Never you
+mind, old fellow! We are just dropping back to get to 'em." "I beg your
+pardon," retorted the Doctor, "but if you want to _get to them_, you
+ought to _turn round_; they are not the way you are going." They passed
+on, and the fight took place. When it was over we noticed that the
+Doctor was very much vexed about something. We asked what was the
+matter? He said, "Never mind!" We insisted on his saying what disturbed
+him so. At last, he said "Well, I don't see why, because men are in the
+army, they should not observe the amenities customary among gentlemen."
+"Well," we said, "that is all right; but why do you say it?" "Why!" he
+warmly said; "did you hear that dirty, ragged infantryman call me an old
+fellow? A most disrespectful way to address a gentleman!"
+
+All the row of the fight had not put it out of the Doctor's mind, and he
+brooded over it for some time. He never did get used to the lack of
+"amenities" and he always had an humble opinion of that unknown Texan,
+who did not observe the form of address customary among gentlemen. The
+Doctor himself always followed his own rule; he was as courteous in
+manner, and civil in speech, as "observant of the amenities" in the
+thick of a fight, as in his own parlor.
+
+This was the first battle the Doctor was in, having lately joined us. As
+we ceased firing, one of us exclaimed, as we were apt to do, when a
+fight was over, "Well! that was a hot place." The Doctor turned on him
+and eagerly said, "Did I understand you to say that was a hot place?" "I
+did, indeed, and it was." The Doctor turned to another, and another,
+with the same eager question, "Did _you_ think that was a hot place?"
+"Yes," we all agreed, "it was about as hot a one as we ever saw, or
+cared to see." "Well," said the Doctor, in a very relieved tone, "I am
+very glad to hear you gentlemen, who have had experience, say so. I
+hesitated a long time about coming into the army, because I did not want
+to disgrace my family, and I was afraid I should run, at the first fire;
+but, if you call _that_ a hot place I think I can stand it." The
+Doctor's distrust of himself was very funny to us; for he was so utterly
+fearless, and reckless of danger, that some of the men thought, and
+said, that he tried to get himself shot. And once, the Captain
+threatened to put him under arrest, and send him to the rear, if he did
+not stop wantonly exposing his life. He had very little cause to
+distrust his courage, or fear that he would "disgrace his family" in
+_this_, or _any other way_.
+
+When the fight was over, we promptly went among the Federal wounded, who
+lay thickly strewn on the inside of our lines, to see what we could do
+for their comfort and relief. Curious how one could, one minute, shoot a
+man down, and the next minute go and minister to him like a brother; so
+it was! The moment an enemy was wounded he ceased to be thought of as an
+enemy, and was just a suffering fellow man.
+
+We did what we could for these wounded men, giving water to some;
+disposing the bodies of some in a more comfortable position, cheering
+them all up with the promise of prompt aid from the surgeons.
+
+Among many others, we came to one man, mortally wounded and dying. His
+life was fast ebbing way; he was perfectly aware of his condition. He
+earnestly entreated that some one of us would pray for him. The request
+was passed on to Robert Stiles, who was still at our guns.
+
+He came at once! Taking the hand of the poor dying fellow tenderly in
+his own, Stiles knelt right down by him on that wet, bloody ground, and,
+in a fervent prayer commended his soul to God. Then, as a brother might,
+stayed by him, saying what he could to comfort the troubled soul, and
+fix his thoughts upon the Saviour of men, and have him ready to meet his
+God.
+
+Some of us looked reverently on with hearts full of sympathy in the
+scene. It was a sight I wish the men of both armies could have looked
+upon. Right on the bloody battlefield, surrounded by the dead and dying,
+that Confederate soldier kneeling over that dying Federal soldier
+praying for him.
+
+Well! the long weary day of battle was closing and the fighting was
+done, at last. This 10th of May was a day filled up with fun, and
+fasting, and furious fighting; simple description, but _correct_.
+Thirteen to sixteen lines of infantry we had broken, and repulsed,
+during that day; and what between infantry and artillery we were under
+fire all day from five A. M. to nine o'clock that night; had toiled all
+night long, the night before; not a morsel had passed our lips all day,
+but one small crustless corn cake, taken out of a wet bag that had lain
+for hours, in the rain. A tired lot, we lay down that night on the wet
+ground to sleep, and be ready for the morrow. We fell asleep with the
+artillery still roaring on the lines, and shells still screaming about
+in the dark, and slept a sound dreamless sleep all through the night.
+
+The next day, _the 11th_, was, for the most part, quiet and uneventful!
+The bloody and disastrous repulse of every effort of the enemy to force
+our line, had, as it well might, discouraged any further attempt along
+our front. From time to time we could hear the Federal artillery, on our
+front or other parts of the line, feeling our position, with an
+occasional reply from our guns.
+
+The sharp-shooters of both sides were keeping up their own peculiar fun.
+At every point of vantage, on a hill, or behind a stump, or up a leafy
+tree, one of these marksmen was concealed, and would try his globe-sight
+rifle on any convenient mark, in the way of a man, which offered on the
+opposite line. Any fellow who exposed himself soon heard a bullet
+whistle past his ear, too close for comfort. Several of us had narrow
+escapes, but the only casualty we suffered was Cornelius Coyle. Coyle
+was from North Carolina and it seems that the jokes we were wont to
+indulge in at the expense of the "Tar Heels" had gotten him sore on the
+subject. In order to show us that a "Tar Heel" was as careless of danger
+as anybody else, he exposed himself, very unnecessarily, by standing on
+the works and on the guns, while the rest of us were "roosting low," and
+about two o'clock he got a bullet in the thigh, which disabled him, I
+believe, for the rest of the war. It was bad judgment! The jokes on the
+"Tar Heels" were only meant in fun. Nobody ever doubted the courage and
+gallantry of the North Carolinians. They had proved it too often, and
+were proving it every day! It did not need for Coyle to expose himself
+to prove it to us, and by his mistake we lost a good soldier.
+
+The coming of night found all quiet on the lines. In the late afternoon,
+and early night, we could plainly hear the sound of,--what we took to
+be,--wagon trains and artillery, over in the enemy's lines, passing off
+to our right. We got therefrom the impression that the Federals were
+leaving our front and that by morning they would all be gone. So we were
+not surprised when a courier came with the orders from headquarters that
+we should get our guns out of the works, limber up, and be ready to move
+at daylight.
+
+=Having "A Cannon Handy"=
+
+We drew our gun from its place at the works, up the little incline we
+had made for its more easy running forward, hitched its trail to the
+pintle-hook of the limber, chocked the wheels, and left it there until
+we should move. The men picked out the least wet spots they could find,
+and lay down to sleep. Everybody was very tired, nearly worn out with
+the incessant work, and marching, and watching, and fighting, of the
+last seven or eight days and nights. This was the first really quiet
+night we had known for a week! The quiet and the assurance that the
+enemy was gone from our front, and that there was no need to bother
+about them, lulled the men into deep slumber. The infantry was all
+stretched out along the lines sleeping, and even the pickets out in
+front were, I am sure, sound asleep.
+
+Every soul of our cannoneers was asleep, except Sergt. Dan. McCarthy,
+Beau Barnes, Jack Booker, and myself. We sat together, by the gun,
+talking and smoking until midnight. Then Jack said he would go to bed,
+and did. We three, McCarthy, Barnes and I, continued our conversation
+for some time longer, for no special reason, except perhaps, that we
+were too tired to move, and we sat there, in the dark, listening to the
+rumbling of heavy wheels over in the Federal lines, and talking about
+the events of the last few days, speculating about what was to come.
+Then our thoughts ran on other days, and scenes, and the folks at home,
+and we talked about these until we became quite sentimental.
+
+Several times it was suggested that we had better go to sleep, but we
+talked ourselves wide awake. About two o'clock it was again suggested,
+but Dan said he did wish we had something to eat first. This was a most
+agreeable thought, and in discussing the same it was discovered that I
+had a corncake, Dan had some coffee, and Beau some sugar. So we
+resolved, before lying down, to go back under the hill, some fifty yards
+behind the works, where a fire was kept burning or smoldering all the
+time, and have a little supper of bread and coffee, which we proceeded
+to do. We made up the fire, got water from the branch, warmed our
+corncake, boiled the coffee, got out our tin cups, and sat around the
+fire having a fine time. It was now about time for daybreak, though
+still very dark. Dan proposed that we stroll up to the guns, and lie
+down awhile. We walked slowly up! When we got to the guns all was still,
+and quiet, as when we left, and I really believe we three were the only
+men awake on that part of the line.
+
+Before lying down Dan and I stepped to where our gun had been, and stood
+a moment looking out through the dim light, which had hardly begun, of a
+dark cloudy morning.
+
+We had no object in this outlook, it was the instinct of a soldier to
+look around him before going to sleep. It was, I think, the Providence
+of God to an important result. For most fortunate indeed was it that we
+took that glance out toward the front.
+
+As our eye rested upon the edge of the wood out to our right front, we
+caught a vague glimpse of movement among the trees. We called Barnes,
+and stood together, watching keenly. Presently the air lightened a
+little, and we could discern the dim figures of men moving about, just
+within the woods. "Who are those men?" Dan asked. "Did either of you see
+any of the troops pass out of the lines during the night?" "No, we had
+not." "Then," he said, "I don't like this. Who can they be?" Just then
+the cloud seemed to lift a little, more light shot into the landscape,
+and, to our dismay, we clearly saw a line of men. Yes! no doubt now!
+That was a battle line of Federals, formed there in the edge of the
+woods, and just beginning to advance,--as silently as so many ghosts.
+There they were, two hundred yards off marching swiftly for our line,
+and everybody fast asleep in that line!
+
+The horror of the situation flashed on us. The enemy would be
+bayonetting our sleeping, helpless comrades, and the line be taken in
+two minutes! What could we do to save them? Wake them up? No time to get
+a dozen men roused up before the fatal peril would be upon us. Suddenly!
+the same thought seemed to flash into our minds. Fire the gun! that will
+wake up the line instantly. Come boys! There was a case-shot in the gun.
+I remembered I had not fired it out, and I had my friction primer box
+on, and a primer hooked to the lanyard. We jerked the trail loose from
+the limber, and let the gun run to its place! Before it stopped, I
+think, I had the primer in, while Dan pulled the trail round to get the
+aim. He sprung aside as I let drive.
+
+The crash of that Napoleon, and the scream of the shell there, in the
+deep stillness of day-dawn, sounded as if it might be heard all over
+Virginia! The effect was instant! You ought to have seen the boys, lying
+all about, "tumble up." They flirted up from the ground like snap bugs!
+"Gabriel's trumpet" couldn't have jerked them to their feet quicker.
+
+Ned Barnes had lain down right where the gun had been, at the work. When
+we ran it back to its place, in our excitement, we did not notice him.
+Fortunately the wheels went on either side of him. He was lying flat on
+his back, and right under the gun, when it fired. Ned went on like a
+chicken with its head off. There was a scuffle, a yell, the whack of a
+bumped head under the gun. Ned came tumbling out, all in a heap,
+perfectly dazed, and wanting to know, in indignant tones, "What in the
+thunder we were doing that way _for_?"
+
+Before the sound of our gun had died away the whole line was up,
+shooting like mad, and both guns were going hard. A few minutes of this
+sent that sneaking line back to the woods, with a good deal more noise,
+and faster, than it came. We learnt, afterwards, that the idea was to
+surprise us, if possible. If so, to take, and sweep our line. If not,
+_not_ to press the attack. The "surprise" was all they could have
+wished. Not a picket fired on them. They were in one hundred and fifty
+yards of our sleeping men, and could have simply walked over them, and
+captured the whole line at that point. And, _if they had_--fixed as our
+Army was, a half hour later--it would, I am sure, have meant disaster.
+The only thing that averted it was, _humanly_ speaking, the _accident_
+that three young "Howitzers" sat up talking all night, and, happened to
+look over at that wood at the break of day,--and _had a cannon handy_!
+
+I think the Texans "owed us another one" for this, and the Army of
+Northern Virginia "owed us one" too. Major-General Field _said so_ in
+his report of this incident.
+
+The very same thing which _would have happened here was happening_ five
+minutes later up the line to our right, where the Federal troops came
+right over our works, and caught our exhausted soldiers asleep in their
+blankets--the start of the bloody business of the Bloody Angle.
+
+Yes! the bloody work which was to go on all day long, this dreadful 12th
+of May, was already beginning, up there in the woods.
+
+The little firing on our part of the line was scarcely over, before we
+heard the sound of musketry come rolling down the line from the right.
+Soon the big guns joined in, and we knew that a furious fight was going
+on, off there. In a few moments we got the news, called from man to man
+down along the lines, "The Yankees have taken the Salient on Ewell's
+front, and captured Ed. Johnson's Division, and twenty guns. Pass it
+down the lines!"
+
+So it was! In overwhelming masses the Federals had poured out of the
+woods, over the Salient Angle, where the men were asleep, and from which
+the cannon had been withdrawn. And General Lee was trying to drive them
+out, and retake our works.
+
+This was the great business of the 12th of May. A very cyclone of battle
+raged round that Salient. The Federals trying to hold it, our men trying
+to retake it. We heard that the two Parrott guns of our "Right Section"
+had gone over there to help, and they were in the thick of that awful
+row. We heard it all going on, artillery and musketry, rolling and
+crashing away, all day long.
+
+Our part of the line was comparatively quiet, after the fight of the
+early morning. Several times infantry was seen moving about, down in the
+woods, in our front, and we would send a few shells into the woods just
+to let them know that we were watchful, and ready. Harry Sublett was
+wounded by a stray ball on this day. But no real attack was made, only
+the sound of the sharp-shooter's rifle, and the sound of their bullets
+enlivened the time.
+
+This went on for several days. The idea of breaking our line, here, had
+been given up as a hopeless job, and no other attempt was made on it.
+Assaults were made on other points, and we could hear fighting, here and
+there, but we were left alone.
+
+At last, we got orders to move, about the 18th or 19th. Our pickets had
+advanced through the woods, and reported that the enemy had left our
+front.
+
+While waiting for the horses to be brought up to take off the guns, an
+infantryman told me that a cow had been killed, between the lines, and
+was lying down there in the woods, in front.
+
+We had had an awful time about food, for the last week, and were hungry
+as wolves. This news about the cow was news indeed. I told several of
+the boys, and off we started to get some of that cow! We found it lying
+just in the edge of the woods. It was a hideous place to go for a
+beefsteak! All around, the ground was covered with dead Federal
+soldiers, many in an advanced stage of decay. The woods had been on
+fire, and many of these bodies were burned; some with the clothing, and
+nearly all the flesh consumed! The carcass of that cow was _touching
+five dead bodies_,--which will give an idea of how thick the dead were
+lying. Many of their wounded had perished in the flames, which had swept
+over the ground.
+
+=Grant's Neglect of Federal Wounded=
+
+We had witnessed all these horrors, with our own eyes, days before, from
+our lines, and had been helpless to do anything for them. Hundreds of
+wounded Federal soldiers lay between the lines, day after day, and
+perished for want of help. Several of us, unable to bear the sight of
+their suffering, went out one day to carry them food and water, and the
+Federals fired upon us, and wounded one of our men, then we had to leave
+them alone. They could not or would not care for their wounded, and
+would not let us do it. It _was stated_ among us that General Lee had
+sent an offer to General Grant to permit him to send, and care for his
+wounded, near our lines; and he refused. And then General Lee offered,
+if Grant would suspend hostilities for some hours, that _we_ would care
+for his wounded rather than see them suffer, and die, before our eyes;
+Grant refused that proposal too!
+
+Certain it is, these poor fellows were left to their fate and perished,
+miserably, by wounds and famine, and fire. Their many dead, in our
+front, lay unburied until the odor from them was so dreadful that we
+could hardly stay in our works. It may be that General Grant had this in
+mind, and was determined that, if his _live_ soldiers couldn't drive us
+out of the works, his _dead_ ones should. Well! he had his way of making
+war! And on account of his inhumanity to his wounded, his _own men_
+thought as _ours did_, that his way was very brutal! I heard his own men
+curse him bitterly. They called him "The Butcher" in those days. The
+feeling of his army to him was widely different from our feeling for our
+General.
+
+All those dead soldiers along a line of five miles lay rotting on the
+ground, until we had gone away, and the people of the country
+neighborhood had to collect them from the fields, and thickets, and bury
+them, for fear of pestilence. And when one remembers that from Thursday,
+the 5th of May, to Thursday, the 12th of May, General Grant had lost
+40,000 in killed and wounded, the dread sight of death and suffering we
+looked upon, can be imagined! The thronging lines of unburied dead,--it
+was a shocking and appalling spectacle!
+
+But we could not just then, mind the sights we saw! We got our beef, all
+the same! We were the first to get to that cow, and we had to take our
+knives and cut through the skin, on the rump, and flay it up, and then
+cut out hunks of the flesh, as best we could, and get back to the guns.
+
+As I got back, carrying my big piece of meat, in my hands, Col. H. C.
+Cabell, commanding our Battalion, met me. He said, "My dear boy, where
+on earth did you get that meat?" I told him. "Well," he said, "I am
+almost starved; _could_ you give me a little piece?" I cut off a chunk
+as big as my fist, stuck it on a sharp stick, held it a few minutes in a
+fire, close by, and handed it up to the Colonel, sitting on his horse.
+He took it off the stick, and ate it ravenously. He said it was the best
+morsel he ever tasted! It was scant times when a Colonel of artillery
+was as famished as he was! I cut up the rest of the beef, and divided
+among several of us, and we cooked it on a stick, the only cooking
+utensil we had at hand, and ate it, with a keenness of enjoyment that
+terrapin, canvass back duck, and Lynnhaven oysters could not provoke me
+to now. _My dear!_ but that hot meat was good, to palates accustomed,
+mostly, to _nothing_, and _no salt on that_, for about a week. The only
+meat we had now,--when we had any at all.--was fat mess pork, and we ate
+that _raw_. Hot beef was a delicious change!
+
+Meanwhile the hours had worn on. We limbered up the guns, and moved
+several miles off, toward the right, passing through Spottsylvania Court
+House. It was here we went by to see Cary Eggleston for the last time.
+He died next day.
+
+We halted in a broom-sedge field, some distance beyond the Court House,
+and parked our guns, along with some other artillery, already there. And
+here we stayed a day or two.
+
+The only thing I particularly recall of the stay here, was a trivial
+circumstance. One of the batteries we found in this field, belonged to
+the "Reserve Artillery" of which the "_un_reserved artillery" had a very
+humble opinion indeed,--just at that time.
+
+These fellows had not fired a shot, through all the late fighting, and
+their guns were as bright, and clean as possible; which ours were not.
+One day a blue bird started to build her nest in the muzzle of one of
+their guns. Some of the sentimental fellows took this as an augury. "A
+sweet gentle little bird building her nest in the muzzle of a cannon!
+What _could_ that mean but, that peace was about to be made, and these
+cannon useless?"
+
+The rest of us scouted this fancy, and took it as a rare good joke on
+that "Reserve Artillery." We said "their guns were not of any use anyhow
+_except_ for birds' nests; the birds knew they would be perfectly safe
+to build their nest, and live in _those_ guns. _They_ would not be
+disturbed!" We "chaffed" the officers and men of that battery most
+unmercifully. The whole field was on the _grin_, about that birds' nest.
+The poor fellows were blazing mad, and much mortified; so _disgusted_
+that they took their nice, clean guns, and went off to a distant part of
+the field, to get rid of us. We were _sorry_ to lose them! They afforded
+_us_ a great deal of fun, if they didn't have any themselves. That blue
+bird story got all over our part of the Army, and those "Reserve
+Artillerists" were "sorry that they were living."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND
+
+
+About the 20th or 21st we started from Spottsylvania battlefields for
+others. The Army was on the move, and we went along. For a day or two we
+were constantly marching, not knowing where we were going, and along
+roads that I remember very little about. At last, about the 22d, we
+crossed the North Anna River, and struck the Central Railroad (now "the
+Chesapeake and Ohio") and marched along it, till we halted near Hanover
+Junction.
+
+Our Army had crossed and stopped on the south bank of the North Anna,
+two or three miles in front of the Junction, and was taking the river
+for a new line of defence. Presently the Federal Army came up pushing
+on, for the same point, and found us, already ahead, in front, and
+across their track! Then they went at the same old game of trying to
+break through us. They got across the river on our right, and on our
+left. General Lee then threw back both wings of his army, clinging with
+his centre to the river bank. Thus check-mating Grant in a way to make
+his head swim! Grant after crossing the river, on both our right and
+left, suddenly found he had got his army cut in two, and he _got out of
+that_, just as quickly as he could, and gave the North Anna line up as a
+bad job.
+
+We were moving in one direction, or another, about the Junction, for
+seven or eight days. This North Anna business was far more a matter of
+brains between the Generals, than brawn between the men. Some sharp
+fighting, on points right and left, but that was all! General Lee simply
+"horn swaggled" General Grant, and that was the end of it! We were out
+one day on the "Doswell Farm," and got under a pretty sharp infantry
+fire, and fired a few shots, then General Rodes' skirmishers charged,
+and drove them off, and we saw no more of them.
+
+Along about the 29th or 30th of May, we got on the march again; this
+time through the "Slashes of Hanover." It was an all-night march, and a
+most uncomfortable one. The rain had been pouring, and long sections of
+the road were under water. I think we waded for miles, that dark night,
+through water from an inch to a foot deep. And the mud holes! after a
+time our gun wheels went up to the hub, and we had to turn to, there in
+the dark, and prize our guns out; nearly lift them bodily out of the
+mud. I suppose we did not go more than five or six miles, in that
+all-night march, and by the time day dawned we were as wet, and muddy,
+as the roads, and felt as _flat_, and were tired to death. We halted for
+an hour or two to rest; then pushed on, all day.
+
+In the late afternoon (this I think was May 31st) we took our guns into
+position, on the far edge of a flat, open field. Two hundred yards in
+front of us, in the edge of a wood, was a white frame Church, which,
+some of the fellows, who knew this neighborhood, told us was "Pole Green
+Church." They also told us that the Pamunkey River was about a mile in
+front of us. We heard artillery in various directions, but saw no enemy,
+and did not know anything of what was going on, except where we were. It
+was quiet there; so we went to sleep, and were undisturbed during the
+night.
+
+The next morning, we found that infantry had formed right and left of
+us, and we were in a line of battle stretching across this extensive
+field. About eleven o'clock skirmishers began to appear, in the woods,
+in front of us. They thickened up, and opened on us quite a lively fire.
+We stood this awhile until those skirmishers made a rush from the woods,
+and tried to gain the cover of the church building. Some of them did,
+and as this was crowding us a little too close, we took to our guns, and
+so dosed them with canister, as they ran out, that they retired, out of
+range, into the woods. Soon after some infantry began to form in the
+edge of the woods as if they were about to charge us. We opened on them.
+They advanced a little, then broke in some confusion, and disappeared.
+The rest of this day, June 1st, along where we were, there was lively
+sharp-shooting going on, up and down the line, and once a battery fired
+a few shots at us, but no special attack was made.
+
+In the afternoon, taking advantage of the quiet, our negro mess cooks
+came into the line, to bring us something to eat. Each fellow had the
+cooked meat, and bread, for his mess, in a bag, swung over his shoulder.
+They came on across the field until within a hundred yards of the line,
+when a shell struck, in the field, not far from them. The darkies
+scattered, like a covey of birds! Some ran one way, and some another.
+Some ran back to the rear, and a few ran on to us. Our cook, Ephraim,
+came tearing on with long leaps, and tumbled over among us crying out,
+"De Lord have mercy upon us." "Ephraim," we said, "what is the matter?
+what did you run for?" All in a tremble, he thrust out the bag towards
+us, and exclaimed, "Here, Marse George, take your vituals, and let me
+git away from here. De Lord forgive me for being such a fool as to come
+to sich a place as dis _anyhow_."
+
+"But, Ephraim," we said, "there was no danger! That shell didn't hit
+anywhere near you." "De ain't no use in telling me dat! Don't nobody
+know whar dem things goin'! Sound to me like it was bout to hit me side
+my head, and bust my brains out, every minit; and if it had a hit me,
+dem other cooks would all a run away, and left me lying out dar, like a
+poor creeter." "But, my dear Ephraim," we said, "it mortifies us to see
+the 'Howitzer' cooks running so, with all the men looking on." "Don't
+keer who looking! When dem things come any whar bout me, I _bleeged_ to
+run. Dis ain't no place for cooks, nohow. Here gentlemen! take your
+rations; I got to get away from here!" We emptied the bag, he threw it
+over his back, and streaked with it to the rear.
+
+Another night in line here! Next morning, June 2d, orders came to move.
+We got on a road running along, just back of our position, and marched
+off toward the right. The road ran, for some distance, nearly parallel
+to our lines, and then bore away toward the rear. For a time we met, or
+passed bodies of troops and wagon teams on the roadside, soldiers
+single, or in groups. Further on, all these reminders of the presence of
+the Army were left behind, and we found ourselves marching on quiet
+lonely country roads, through woods and fields of a peaceful rural
+landscape. We had not the least idea where we were going; or what we
+were going to do, or see when we got there. But we had got out of the
+habit of caring for that.
+
+=The Last March of Our Howitzer Captain=
+
+It was a calm, sweet June evening! quiet country farms, and homes lay
+all about us. The whole scene spoke of peace. It was such a restful
+change to us from the din and smoke and crowd we had been in the midst
+of so long. We gave ourselves up to the influences of the hour, and a
+very pleasant evening we cannoneers had strolling along, in front of the
+column of guns, and talking together.
+
+Captain McCarthy was on foot, in the midst of us, as we marched. I
+remember being particularly struck with what a stalwart, martial figure
+he was, as he strode along that road. He was much more silent, and quiet
+than usual! He was generally so bright and cheerful, that this was
+noticed, and remarked on by several of us.
+
+It was afterwards, that perhaps a presentiment was given him that this
+was his last march, with the battery, he had fought so often, and loved
+so much; and _this_ saddened, and softened his usually bold, soldierly
+spirit, and bearing. I walked and talked with him a good deal that
+afternoon, and certainly I was struck by a quietness of manner, and a
+gentleness of speech, not at all usual with him. But we did not know
+what it meant _then_! So we cheerily swung along that silent road, to
+meet what was coming to him, and to us, in the unseen way ahead.
+
+About five o'clock we pulled out of the road we had been travelling, and
+followed a narrow farm road, across a wide, open field, toward a
+farmhouse, on its farther edge. Beyond the house was a large pine wood,
+which stopped all view in that direction. As we passed across that
+field, we saw some other artillery, coming from another direction, and
+converging with us upon that farmhouse. When we drew close together, we
+discovered that these fellows were the Second and Third Companies of the
+"Richmond Howitzers." Our Company, the First, had been separated from
+them at the beginning of the war, and they had never met, before now. A
+little while after, at this spot, the three batteries, "First," "Second"
+and "Third Richmond Howitzers" went into battle side by side, for the
+first, and _only_ time, during the war. There was great interest felt by
+the boys that we should go into one fight _together_; but before we went
+in, the Battalion was broken up again, and scattered, to different parts
+of the line.
+
+When we got near this farmhouse, all was quiet! We had not seen, or
+heard of any enemy for many hours, and we did not know where anybody
+was; didn't even know "where we were _at_" _ourselves_. The farm road
+ran past the house, round the barn and on toward that pine woods behind
+the house.
+
+We halted just by the house, and got some water, at the well, and stood
+around and wondered what we were here for. There were some cherry trees,
+with ripe cherries on them, and up them the boys swarmed, Leigh
+Robinson gallantly leading the way, to enjoy the fruit.
+
+We were thus engaged, when the deep quiet of this rural scene was
+suddenly, and rudely broken! Over beyond that wood just by us, there
+burst out a terrific roar of musketry! It was like a clap of thunder out
+of a clear sky! We did not know any troops were near us, and had no idea
+that the enemy was in ten miles of us.
+
+But there right through those pines the musketry was rolling, and
+cracking now! A few cannon shots joined in, and the Confederate "yell"
+rose up out of the thunder of battle. And the bullets began to sing
+around us. The cherry trees were quickly deserted by all, but Leigh
+Robinson. He stayed up there with balls whizzing close to him, and
+calmly picked and ate cherries,--as if these were humming birds sporting
+about him,--until he had enough, or more likely, the cherries gave out.
+Not knowing who was fighting beyond the woods, or what might come of it,
+we got the guns into battery, facing the woods, to be ready for what
+might be.
+
+In a few minutes we saw Colonel Goggin, of Kershaw's staff, dash out of
+the woods, and gallop toward us. He told us that it was Kershaw's
+Division over there. They had been attacked by heavy lines of the enemy;
+that our line was broken, and captured at one point, and that Kershaw
+wanted some guns, just as quick as they could get to him. Our two
+"Napoleons" were ordered in. Goggin said "for heaven's sake come at
+double quick;" the need was very urgent. We cannoneers of the Left
+Section had the guns limbered up, and into the woods, in about a minute;
+we, double-quicking alongside. We went by a narrow wood road, which
+entering the woods straight ahead of us, went obliquely to the left down
+a deep ravine, crossed a little stream, and up the hill, into the open
+field beyond.
+
+Passing through that pine wood was a mean job! The Minie balls were
+slapping the pines all about us, with that venomous sound, with which a
+Minie crashes into green pine wood. It is a mean piece of work anyhow,
+to go from the rear up to a fighting line! But, away we went, excited
+and eager to get through, and see what was going on. The road, cut
+through the steep banks down to the stream, was so very narrow that it
+barely admitted our wheels, and when they went farther down the cut, our
+hubs stuck in the bank, on both sides, and the gun was held fast. From
+this point the road ran straight up to the edge of the wood. We could
+see men running about, and yelling, and shooting in the open ground. We
+could not tell whether they were our men or the enemy, and the fear
+seized us that the enemy might be pressing our people back, and would
+catch us, helpless and useless, in this ridiculous fix.
+
+Gracious! how the driver did whip, and spur! and how the cannoneers did
+strain, and tug at those wheels! Captain McCarthy jumped off his horse,
+and put his powerful strength to the wheel. The men from the other guns
+joined us, and, at last, when we were nearly wild with excitement, we
+gave one tremendous jerk, all together, and lifted the whole thing
+bodily out of that rut, and over the bank. The horses, as excited now,
+as we were, snatched the gun over the bank, across the stream, nearly
+upsetting it, and then went tearing, at a full gallop, up the hill; we
+running at top speed to keep up. The third gun following. At this pace,
+we dashed into the open field, and were upon the battle ground. We ran
+the guns into the line of battle, along a slight work Kershaw's men had
+hurriedly thrown up, just to the left of the part of the line which the
+Federals had taken, and were still holding. We pushed up, until we got
+an enfilade fire upon their lines. A few case-shots screaming down their
+line sent them flying out of that, and our line was restored.
+
+The Colonel of one of their regiments, captured by our men, said that
+his regiment was lying down behind our captured line, and one of our
+shells cut down a large pine tree and threw it on his line, and about
+finished up what was left of his regiment. The shell burst just as it
+struck the tree, and the shell fragments, and falling tree together,
+killed twelve or fifteen men, and wounded a number of others.
+
+The fighting was dying down now, and soon ceased. Our line restored, the
+enemy made no further effort to take it. The rest of the time, till
+dark, was taken up with sharp-shooting, and artillery fire. A farmhouse
+and outbuildings and barn stood right behind our position, and, I
+remember, the barn swallows in large numbers were skimming and
+twittering all around, through the sweet, bright air, while shells and
+balls were singing a very different sort of song. I never saw that sight
+during the war but this once,--birds flying about in the midst of a
+battle. But here, those dear little swallows circled round, and round
+that barn, and the adjoining field, for hours, while the air was full of
+flying missiles. They did not seem to mind it. Perhaps they wondered
+what on earth was going on. It was a curious scene!
+
+During the night we made some little addition to the slight earth work,
+which the infantry had thrown up, in front of our two guns. Infantry
+began to pile into the line on both sides of our guns; we learned that
+this was the Twentieth South Carolina Regiment, Colonel Keitt, who had
+been killed, in a fight the Regiment had been in, that afternoon.
+
+This regiment, at this time when some Brigades in the Army of Northern
+Virginia had not more than one thousand or twelve hundred men, came
+among us with seventeen hundred men ready for duty. The regiment had
+been stationed at Fort Sumter; had seen nothing of war except the siege
+of a Fort, and their idea of the chief duty of a soldier was,--to get as
+much earth between him and the enemy as possible. When they came into
+line this night, and saw this slight bank of dirt,--about two feet
+thick, and three feet high,--and learned that we expected, certainly, to
+fight behind it in the morning, they were perfectly aghast! They pitched
+in, and began to "throw dirt." They kept it up all night, and by morning
+had a wall of earth in front of them, in many places eight feet high,
+and six to seven feet thick.
+
+How much higher, and thicker they would have got it, if the enemy had
+not interrupted them, gracious only knows! Of course they couldn't begin
+to shoot over it, except at _the sky_; perhaps they thought _anything
+blue_ would do to shoot at and the sky was blue. But it was a fact, that
+when the enemy advanced next morning, this big regiment was positively
+"Hors du Combat."
+
+It is true, that when we woke up at daylight, and found what they had
+done, we jeered, and laughed at them, and showed them the impossibility
+of fighting from behind that wall, until some of them got ashamed, and
+began to shovel down the top, a little. Captain McCarthy sent to let
+General Kershaw know the absurd situation we were in,--supported by
+infantry that could not fire a shot, and warning him, that if the enemy
+charged, they would certainly take the line, unless our two guns alone
+could hold it. General Kershaw sent orders to them "to shovel that
+thing down to a proper height," but they didn't have time to do it. When
+the fight began some of them had cut out a shelf on the inside of the
+bank, and some of them had gotten boxes and logs and a number stood up
+on them, and did some shooting, and behaved gallantly; but many of them
+seeming to think that a man should be "rewarded according to his works"
+laid closely down behind that wall, and never stirred.
+
+The next night General Lee took them out of the lines, and gave them
+picks, and shovels, and made a "sapping and mining corps" of them,--the
+military service they were most fitted for, and they _were_ rewarded
+according to their works.
+
+While these beavers were gallantly wielding the pick and shovel, we,
+satisfied with our little bank of dirt, were getting ready for next
+day's work, by a good sound sleep. One of our boys did have misgiving
+about the strength of our defences. He went in the night, and woke up
+Sergeant Moncure and said, "Monkey, don't you think these works are very
+thin?" "Yes, Tom, they are," he replied. "You just get a spade, and go
+and make them just as thick as you think they ought to be; Good night!"
+He resumed his slumbers, and Tom, not an overly energetic person, walked
+away grumbling that "the work _was_ too thin, but he would be derned if
+_he_ was going out there, in the dark to work on them, all by himself,"
+which he didn't.
+
+Somehow when we lay down this night we had gotten the impression that
+things were going to be rough, in the morning. They were!
+
+Just as the day dawn was struggling through the clouds, we were roused
+by the sound of several guns, fired in quick succession. We were on our
+feet instantly, and saw that all was ready for action. Shells came
+howling at us from batteries that we could discern in the dim light. We
+could see the light of their burning fuses, as they started out of their
+guns, and could trace their flight toward us by that. Some of them would
+strike the ground in front, and ricochet over us; some would crash into
+our work, with a terrific _thud_, and some went screaming over our
+heads,--very close, too, and went on to the rear to look after our Right
+Section guns, which were still by that farmhouse, where we had left
+them, the evening before. They knocked down several of the shelter tents
+our boys were sleeping under, and several of our fellows, there, had the
+narrowest kind of an escape. One shell "caromed" over three of the men,
+who were sleeping side by side, touching the very blanket that was over
+them. The Right Section boys needed no reveille that morning to get them
+out! They tumbled up with great promptness and moved round out of the
+line of fire. Fortunately none of them were actually hurt, just here.
+One fellow was sleeping with several canteens of water hanging right
+over his head. A bullet went through them. He was nearly drowned!
+
+=The Bloodiest Fifteen Minutes of the War=
+
+In our front, this artillery fire kept up for a while, then it stopped!
+The next moment, there was an awful rush! From every quarter their
+infantry came pouring on over the fields, and through the woods, yelling
+and firing, and coming at a run. Their columns seemed unending! Enough
+people to sweep our thin lines from the face of the earth! Up and down
+our battle line, the fierce musketry broke out. To right and left it
+ran, crashing and rolling like the sound of a heavy hail on a tin roof,
+magnified a thousand times, with the cannon pealing out in the midst of
+it like claps of thunder. Our line, far as the eye could reach, was
+ablaze with fire; and into that furious storm of death, the blue columns
+were swiftly urging their way.
+
+Straight in our front one mass was advancing on us and we were hurling
+case-shot through their ranks,--when, suddenly! glancing to the right,
+we saw another column, which had rushed out of the woods on our right
+front, by the flank, almost upon us, not forty-five yards outside our
+line. Instantly we turned our guns upon them with double canister! Two
+or three shots doubled up the head of that column. It resolved itself
+into a formless crowd, that still stood stubbornly there, but could not
+get one step farther. And then, for three or four minutes, at short
+pistol range, the infantry and our Napoleon guns tore them to pieces. It
+was deadly, and bloody work! They were a helpless mob, now; a swarming
+multitude of confused men! They were falling by scores, hundreds! The
+mass was simply melting away under the fury of our fire. Then, they
+broke in panic, and headlong rout!
+
+Many fearing to retreat under that deadly fire, dropped down behind the
+stumps near our line, and when the others had gone, we ordered them to
+come in. Several hundred prisoners were captured in this way. To show
+what our works were,--I saw one tall fellow jump up from behind a stump,
+run to our work, and with "a hop, skip, and a jump," he leaped entirely
+over it, and landed inside our line. And a foolish looking fellow he
+was, when he picked himself up!
+
+Just as the enemy broke, Ben Lambert, "No. 1" at "4th" gun, was severely
+wounded, in the right arm, just as he raised it to swab his gun. One of
+the boys took his place, and the fire kept on.
+
+The great assault was over and had failed! Only ten or fifteen minutes
+was its fury raging! In that ten minutes, thirteen thousand Federal
+soldiers lay stricken, with death, or wounds. In those few moments,
+Grant lost nearly as many men as the whole British Army lost in the
+entire battle of Waterloo.
+
+Just to our right the enemy got over our works, and the guns right and
+left of the break were turned on them. We heard a "yell" behind us, and
+round a piece of pines came Eppa Hunton's Brigade of Virginians, at a
+run; General Eppa on horse-back leading them in, at a gallop. The
+Virginians delivered their volley at the Federals inside our lines, then
+sprang on them like tigers. Next minute the few, left of them, were
+flying back over the works.
+
+In the thick of the fight, Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, now
+commanded by General Humphreys, to which our Battery had been attached,
+being unengaged just at that time, heard that the infantry supporting us
+was not effective, and that the "Howitzers" were in danger of being run
+over. They requested permission to come to our help, and two Regiments
+came tearing down the lines to our position, manned the line by us, and
+went to work. What work these splendid fellows could do in a fight! We
+had been very uneasy about our supports, and were delighted to see the
+Mississippians, especially, as they had voluntarily come to our help, in
+such a handsome manner.
+
+The spectacle in front of our line was simply _sickening_! The horrible
+heaps of dead lay so ghastly, and the wounded were so thickly strewn all
+over the field. To right, and to left, out in front, along our line, as
+far as we could see, this dreadful array of the dead and wounded
+stretched! It was pitiful to see the wounded writhing, and to hear their
+cries of agony. And here _again_, as at Spottsylvania, these wounded
+were left between the lines, to perish miserably, of hunger and thirst,
+and mortifying wounds.
+
+=Federal Troops Refuse to Be Slaughtered=
+
+When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after them they were nearly
+all dead. What they must have suffered before death came! But none of
+their own people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help
+them,--when they might have been saved. I wonder who will have to answer
+for the _unnecessary waste of life_ and suffering in the "Army of the
+Potomac?" For the untold agony and death that _need never have been_! It
+was awful! We used to think it was _brutal_! And the _Federal soldiers_
+thought so too!
+
+Some hours after this assault we saw the enemy massing for another.
+Their columns advanced a little way, and then stopped. We could see
+there was some "hitch," and sent a few shells over there, just to
+encourage any little reluctance they might have about coming on. These
+lines stood still, and came no further.
+
+We learned, afterwards, that perfectly demoralized, and disheartened by
+the bloody repulse of the morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by
+General Grant to storm our line again, _mutinied in line of battle_, and
+_in the face of the enemy and refused to go forward_. I witnessed that
+performance, but did not understand at the time, just what was going on.
+The grave meaning of it was, that the enemy's soldiers had distinctly
+quailed before our lines and declared their utter inability to take
+them. And _this_ was the verdict--at the end--of General Grant's Army
+upon General Grant's campaign! Their heads were more level than their
+General's. They were tired of being slaughtered for nothing!
+
+The moment the morning assault was over, the Federal artillery opened
+furiously, all along the line, and all day long, we were under a
+constant fire of cannon, and sharp-shooters.
+
+Fifty yards behind our guns was a farmhouse, outbuildings, and yard full
+of trees. Shells aimed at us, rained into those premises all day. The
+house was riddled like a sieve, the trees were cut down, and the
+outbuildings, barn, stables, sheds, etc., were reduced to a heap of
+kindling wood.
+
+A pig was in a pen, in the yard! Everything else on the place had been
+hit, and we watched with interest the fate of that pig. He escaped all
+day! Just after dark, a shell skimmed just over our gun, went screaming
+back into that yard, burst,--and--we heard the pig squeal. Some of the
+men, at once, started for the yard, and came back with the pig. Said "he
+was mortally wounded, and they were going to carry him to the hospital."
+I fear he did not survive to get there! We disposed of his remains in
+the usual way.
+
+About noon we heard that our Right Section had been ordered into
+position, on the lines, some distance to our right, and that John
+Moseley, No. 8 at 1st gun, while with his caisson, back of the lines,
+had been killed. A stray bullet had pierced his brain. No one was with
+him at the time. He was found dead, in the woods.
+
+=Dr. Carter "Apologizes for Getting Shot"=
+
+The sharp-shooters swept all the ground about us, making it dangerous
+for any man to expose himself an instant. Dr. Carter took some canteens,
+and his cup, and went round under the hill behind us, to bring some
+water. With filled canteens, and tin cup, filled to the brim, carried in
+his right hand, he recklessly came back across the field, in rear of the
+line. Just before he got to us, a bullet struck his right thumb, and
+shattered it. He did not drop the cup or spill the water! He came right
+on, as if nothing had happened, offered us a drink of water out of the
+cup, and then courteously apologized to the captain for getting shot;
+who accepted his apology, and sent him off to the hospital, to have his
+thumb amputated; which he did, and was back at his post, the first
+moment his wound permitted. When we condoled with him for the loss of
+his thumb, he said "_He_ didn't care anything about the _thumb_; he
+could _roll cigarettes just as well with the stump_, as he ever could
+with the whole thumb. That seemed about all the use he had for his
+thumb,--to roll cigarettes. He was an artist at that!
+
+In the afternoon three or four of us were standing in a group talking
+when one of the numberless shells that were howling by all day long,
+burst in our very faces. I distinctly felt the heat of the explosion on
+my skin, and grains of powder out of the bursting shell struck our
+faces, and drew blood. The concussion was terrific! It was a pretty
+"close call" to all three of us!
+
+The stream of shells fired at our guns gradually cut away the top of our
+work, until it was so low that it did not sufficiently protect our gun.
+We feared that some of the shells would strike our gun, and disable it.
+To avert this, for many hours that day, from time to time, we had to
+take turns, and, with shovels, throw sand from the inside on the top of
+the work. In this way we managed to keep our defences up, but it was
+weary work, and we grew very tired. Still, there was nothing for it, but
+to keep on, and _we kept_ on!
+
+=Death of Captain McCarthy=
+
+About six o'clock, there fell the saddest loss, to the battery, that it
+had yet been called to bear. Captain McCarthy stood up at the work to
+watch what was going on in front. One moment, I saw him, standing
+there;--the next instant, I heard a sharp crash, the familiar sound of a
+bullet striking, and McCarthy was lying, flat on his back, and
+motionless. We jumped to his side! Nothing to be done! A long bullet
+from a "globe sight" rifle had struck him, two inches over his right
+eye, and crashed straight through his brain. He lay without motion two
+or three minutes, then his chest rose, and fell, gently, once or twice,
+and he was still, in death.
+
+And there, on that red field of war, with shells, and bullets whistling
+all about, over his dead face, dropped the tears of brave men, who loved
+him well, and had fought with and followed him long! We had seen his
+superb courage in battle; his patient bearing of hardship, his
+unfaltering devotion to duty always; his kind, cordial comradeship! We
+knew him to be a soldier, every inch, and a patriot to his heart's core!
+
+We knew, and said, that among all her sons, Virginia had no braver son,
+than this one, who had died for her. Sadly we lamented--"What shall we
+do, in battle, and in camp, and on march, his form and face missing from
+among us?" There was not a sadder group of hearts along that
+blood-drenched line that evening, than ours, who bowed deeply sorrowing
+over the form of our dead captain. We took his body in our arms, and
+bore it to where we could place it in an ambulance.
+
+It was sent to his home, and family, in Richmond, and buried in "Shockoe
+Cemetery." And now,--after thirty-two years have passed, we, the old
+"Howitzers," still carry the name of "Ned McCarthy" in our hearts! We
+keep his memory green; we think of him, and rank him as a typical
+Confederate Soldier. One who by his splendid courage and devotion shed
+luster upon the name.
+
+His stalwart form has gone to dust. The light of his bright, brave face
+has long gone from our eyes; the soul-stirring war time--when we were
+with him--has long passed away. The changes and chances of this mortal
+life have brought many experiences to us who survived him. Our feet have
+wandered far, into many paths. We have toiled, and thought, and
+suffered, and enjoyed much, in the long years, since we last looked upon
+his form dead on the red field of "Cold Harbor." "The strong hours have
+conquered us" in many things. But--the noble memory of this man! as a
+patriot and a hero!
+
+Ah! that lives in our hearts! The hearts of his comrades who, with their
+own eyes, saw him live and bear, and fight and die--for _Virginia_--and
+the South.
+
+The battle of Cold Harbor ended Grant's direct advance on Richmond. He
+drew off in confessed defeat and inability to go on--afterwards, he
+advanced by way of Petersburg.
+
+The operations on that line resolved themselves into a siege. That siege
+lasted through the fall and winter and early spring of '65, with many
+attempts to break our lines, which always failed.
+
+On the second day of April, 1865, according to General Lee's own
+statement to General Meade, just after the surrender, the Army of
+Northern Virginia stood, with 27,000 men, holding a line thirty-two
+miles long; facing an army of 150,000 men. On that day our line was
+broken, and the retreat began.
+
+Under the circumstances, the disentanglement of our army from that long
+line, and getting it on the march, with the enemy's powerful army close
+in their front, was a supreme display of, at once, the consummate
+generalship of General Lee, and the unshakable morale of the Southern
+troops.
+
+The retreat continued for one week; we started from Petersburg Sunday,
+April 2, and reached Appomattox, Saturday, April 8th. On that day, after
+the hunger, exhaustion, and losses in the many fights along the way,
+the Army stood at Appomattox, ninety miles from Petersburg, with 8,000
+men with arms in their hands; and they were as "game" as ever. On that
+morning of April 9th, when General Gordon surrendered his little force
+of 1,300 men, he had to surrender 1,700 Federal soldiers, and fourteen
+pieces of artillery, which he had just captured from the enemy, while
+driving back their encircling line more than a mile.
+
+Then General Lee, unwilling for useless sacrifice, surrendered the army,
+because it was "compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and
+resources"--and that Army of Northern Virginia, when it was surrendered,
+had behind it this remarkable, and proud record, that, in the many
+battles it fought during the war, it was never once driven from the
+field of battle; and it was as defiant, and ready to fight at Appomattox
+as it was at Manassas, the first battle four years before.
+
+As we turn from that closing scene, let us take a parting glance at the
+facts which, duly considered, enable us to form a true estimate of the
+fight the South made in that struggle of the Civil War.
+
+The history of that war may be briefly, but accurately comprehended in
+this short statement. During the four years, '61 to '65, the North put
+into the field two million, eight hundred thousand (2,800,000) men. They
+were well armed, well equipped, and well fed--also, it had a Navy.
+
+During those four years, the South put into the field less than six
+hundred thousand (600,000) men. They were poorly armed, poorly equipped,
+and poorly fed--much of the time, very poorly indeed! And it had no
+Navy.
+
+It took those 2,800,000 men, with the Navy, four years to overcome those
+600,000 men. In doing so they lost the lives of one million (1,000,000)
+men--nearly double the whole number of men the South put into the field.
+
+What these facts mean, the world will judge--the world has judged! And
+the world has off its hat to the race who made that heroic fight!
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Two quotes are opened with a double quotation mark but are not
+closed. These are presented as they appear in the original text.
+
+The following misprints have been corrected:
+  "comand" corrected to "command" (page 8)
+  "setled" corrected to "settled" (page 21)
+  "muttton" corrected to "mutton" (page 33)
+  "proceded" corrected to "proceeded" (page 36)
+  "felows" corrected to "fellows" (page 41)
+  "semed" corrected to "seemed" (page 44)
+  "nineteeen" corrected to "nineteen" (page 45)
+  "Hil's" corrected to "Hill's" (page 75)
+  "gettinge" corrected to "getting" (page 76)
+  "at" corrected to "a" (page 79)
+  "aound" corrected to "arround" (page 121)
+  "Fedtral" corrected to "Federal" (page 127)
+  "Warrren" corrected to "Warren" (page 130)
+  "atention" corrected to "attention" (page 132)
+  "iminent" corrected to "imminent" (page 138)
+  "bags" corrected to "bugs" (page 181)
+  "sharp-shooters's" corrected to "sharp-shooter's" (page 183)
+  "hostilites" corrected to "hostilities" (page 185)
+
+
+
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