From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania campaign; a sketch in personal narration of the scenes a soldier saw

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From The Rapidan to Richmond

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

c.
605

Copyright, 1920, by Harry B. Green

To

MY COMRADES OF THE ARMY
OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA

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 dis-
cussion 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,

xi

Xll INTRODUCTION

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 intro-
duction 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 them-
selves 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 writ-
ten 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 Ameri-
can 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 for-
ever 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 pres-
ence of a man who was cast in a grander mold and

xiv WOLSELEY'S TRIBUTE TO LEE

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 Independ-
ence was written ; when Americans can review the his-
tory 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 Ameri-
can 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."

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION i

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 — Ar-
rival 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 Mis-
sissippi 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"

xv

Xvi CONTENTS

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

In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the The

of Conflict

South. The world knows how the men of the boutn and the Call
answered that call. Dropping everything, they came to Arms
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 pur-
pose 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 con-

2 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

trol their own affairs, without dictation from anybody
outside ; a right not given, but guaranteed by the Con-
stitution, 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 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 clergy-
man, chief of artillery, Army of Northern Virginia.
In one artillery battalion three clergymen were can-
noneers at the guns. All the students of one Theo-
logical 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

INTRODUCTORY 3

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 profes-
sional, social, and political life of their States; owners
of great estates, employing many slaves; and thou-
sands 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 bat-
tery, 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 be-
came Bishops of the Episcopal Church after the war.

Of the men who thus gathered from all the South-
ern land, the first raised regiments were drawn to Vir-
ginia, and there organized into an army whose duty

4 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

it was to cover Richmond, the Capital of the Con-
federacy— just one hundred miles from Washington,
which would naturally be the center of military activi-
ties of the hostile armies.

An Army of 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 — Mary-
land, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ar-
kansas 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 Chris-
tendom, 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.

INTRODUCTORY 5

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."

They did as General Lee told them to do, and it Our Great
was the indomitable courage of those men and of the ea
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 re-
sources," 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 Jack-

6 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

son, 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 North-
ern 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 When the war began I was a school boy attending

Comes 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

INTRODUCTORY 7

not then, how my parents looked upon the desire of
a boy like that to go to the war, as out of the ques-
tion. 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

8 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

country town, my forebears had always been around
when there was any fighting to be done. My great-
grandfather, General Thomas Nelson, and my grand-
father, 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 Mexi-
can 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 Nel-
son; and, still farther back of that, my ancestor,
Thomas Randolph, in comand 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 Scot-
land.

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 school-
boy brooding over the situation was mighty miser-
able. When my parents realized my feelings, they,
at last, gave up their opposition, and I went into the
army with their consent, and blessing.

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

INTRODUCTORY 9

which were being rapidly raised, in and around Dan-

ville. The minute I was free, off I went. Circum- £?"JPany,

Richmond

stances led me to enlist in a battery made up in Rich- Howitzers
mond, 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 "CabelFs Battalion"
and formed part of the field artillery of Long-
street'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, Chan-
cellorsville, Gettysburg, Morton's Ford, The Wilder-
ness, 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 Sheri-
dan's Cavalry, which attacked and tried to ride us

10 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 My comrades, as the rest of the army, scattered

Civil Life 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 clos-
ing 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 min-
istry of the Gospel, and I decided to enter the semi-
nary and train for that service as soon as the way
was open.

INTRODUCTORY I I

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 The-
ological Seminary along with twenty-five other stu-
dents— 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 trans-
formed 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 reilized it, others will have
to judge.

After serving for nine years in several parishes
in Virginia, I came to Baltimore as rector of Me-
morial 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

12 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 mor-
tal 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 Cap-
tain 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 Now, what I have been writing here is intended

T*118 . 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.

INTRODUCTORY 1.3

But some one might say, "How about this narra-
tive 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 uninten-
tionally. 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,

14 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

and comrades, and others, I ventured on a more con-
nected 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 pris-
oners— 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 cam-
paign— 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 narra-
tive 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 inci-
dents 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 en-

INTRODUCTORY 1 5

dorsement of all those personal witnesses, and may
be counted on as accurate — in every statement and im-
pression 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 un-
derstanding 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 man-
hood 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 Ameri-

1 6 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

can line, under the Star-Spangled Banner, and fight-
ing 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 to-
gether 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

From Orange Court House, Virginia, the road ,

, Morton s

running northeast into Culpeper crosses Morton s Ford
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, com-
manding 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 Infan-
try pickets to watch the enemy, and guard the Ford.

17

1 8 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 With these instructions, as soon as we placed our

Camp 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 to-
gether, and we built after this manner. On our se-
lected 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 pro-
tection 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 19

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 inter-
stices between the logs and covered the wood in the
chimney. The earth that had been thrown up in dig-
ging 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.

Then we went out and cut small poles and made a "House-
bunk, to lift us off the ground. Over the expanse of pjjjj
springy poles we spread sprigs of cedar — and this Corn,
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

20 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 21

housed. Thus our building work was done, and we
setled into the regular routine of camp life.

Perhaps a little sketch of our life in winter quar- Camp
ters, 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 coM,
wet, dismal morning, and to have to hustle out and
stand shivering at roll call, was about the most exas-
perating item of the soldier's life. The boys had a

22 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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, ex-
cept that he was protected by a special providence,
which sometimes permits such evil deeds to go unpun-
ished. 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 In between our stated duties, we had some time

ecreations jn Wj1icn we cou\^ amuse ourselves as we chose, and
we had many means of entertainment. We had a
cWchoard and men — a set of quoits, dominoes, and
cards; and there was the highly inicllectual 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 23

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 uswap 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 Bat-
talion 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 open-
ing it. Sit down and wait until somebody comes along
and opens it for you."

After the first organizers, no one applied for ad-
mission 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

24 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 in-
formed 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 amuse-
ment to the camp.

A Special ^n Pr°Per occasions, promotions to higher rank

Entertain- 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 hang-
ing 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 25

do, took the end of it into her mouth and was chewing
it with great satisfaction. I called several of the fel-
lows, 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 sur-
prise, 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 Fusi-
liers." Charges were preferred, and the Court Mar-
tial 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,

26 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 pro-
moted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Bat-
talion, the highest rank in our corps. After a while
the lost coat tail was produced, and sewed on again.
Confederate The one thing that we suffered most from, the
Rations 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' ra-
tion. The Orderly of the mess would spread the

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 27

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 break-
fast! 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

28 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

grains given a man for a three days' rations was like
joking with a serious subject, so they quit it, and dur-
ing 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 lit-
tle 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 !

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 29

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.

Another incident, that I can vouch for, showing A Fresh
the strenuous time the whole army had about food Egg
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 in-
vited 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 ac-
cepted. 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 cor-
diality 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.

30 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 them-
selves. 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 spe-
cially 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 be-
hind 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.

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 31

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 Quartermas-
ter giving to an honored, and specially invited guest,
a dinner like that — it indicates a general scarceness.

One bright spot in that "winter of our discon- When
tent" — lives in my memory. It was on the Christmas JB^ca^e Fact
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

32 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

to do, as it only made us hungrier than ever. The
game was this — we were to work our fancy, and im-
agine 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 gal-
lon 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 33

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 Barme-
cide 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."

1 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
muttton, 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

34 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 suf-
fered so much hunger that winter — it is well worthy
of remark that the health of the army was never bet-
ter. At one time that winter there were only 300 men
in hospital from the whole Army of Northern Vir-
ginia— 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 sud-
denly 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 dis-
turb the repose of gentlemen when they were not look-

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 35

ing for it, and not doing anything to anybody — just
trying to be happy, and peaceable if they could get a
chance.

Leading up to an account of this, I may mention Confederate

Fashio
Plates

some circumstances in the way of the boys in the camp. Fashion

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 na-
ture; 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 ga-
zelles— 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

36 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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. Sit-
ting 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, uThy 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 sold-
iers. They now saw what they wished, in the way of
a patch, and preceded to get it. Each one set his in-
genuity to work to devise something unique. Soon the
results began to appear. Upon the seats of one, and

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 37

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.

38 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 as-
pirant 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, accom-
modate the applicant, and trim him close. Several of
us had gone under the transforming hands of this ton-
sorial artist, when Bob Mclntosh 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 39

gathered 'round to see the fun. The modus operand!
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 mak-
ing 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 pro-
gressed, 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.

Just at that moment, in the midst of all this hilar- ^ Surprise
ity, suddenly we heard a man yell out something as Attack
he came running down the hill from the guns. We

40 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

could not hear what he said. The next moment, he
burst excitedly- into our midst, and shouted out, uFor
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 Mclntosh, 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 41

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 regu-
lar 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 to-
ward 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 Bat-
tery— and, here was the enemy across the river, mov-
ing 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 felows as we possibly
could. In a few minutes a pretty neat little battle was

42 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

making the welkin ring. The sound of our guns crash-
ing 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 advanc-
ing 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 Brig-
ade 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 want-
ing 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.

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 43

The battle ceased, the picket line was restored
along the river bank, and all was quiet again. Bob
Mclntosh 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.
I 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 per-
fectly 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

44 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 un-
gracious 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
semed 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 ^ few days after this I had the very great pleasure

Bells and a of a little visit to my home. My sister, to whom I
was devotedly attached, was to be married. The mar-
riage 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 45

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 nineteeen 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 wed-
ding 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 —

46 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 — Rich-
mond and Danville Railroad — was to start for Dan-
ville 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 ques-
tion 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 Dan-
ville that night — another day of fasting — strong rea-

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 47

sons 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 spe-
cial 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 fast-
ing 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

48 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 reputa-
tion as an expert with a knife and fork, that lived in
the memory of my friends for a long time. My cour-
age and endurance in that cuisine commanded the won-
der, and admiration, of the spectators. It was good
to have enough to eat once more. I had almost for-
gotten 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 cheer-

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 49

fulness 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, wind-
ing 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.

In this account of our life in that winter camp, it The
remains for me to record the most important occur-
rence of all. About this time there came into the life °f Faith
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 sim-
ple. 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 pas-
sage of Scripture, and offer a prayer, and all joined in
singing a hymn or two. We began to notice an in-
crease of interest, and a larger attendance of the men.
A feature of our meeting was a time given for talk,

50 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

when it was understood that if any fellow had any-
thing 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 con-
nection, 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 51

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 communi-
ties 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

52 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 neighbor-
hoods, 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 sup-
port 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 ex-
pressed, 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 influ-
enced by their example and thought it manly to fol-

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 53

low 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.

Now when these men got into the army the "esprit
de corps" took possession of them. They got shaken ^Jmple of
down to soldier thoughts, and judgments. They began Jackson and
to estimate men by their personal value to the cause
that was their supreme concern. In that armv. tk*-®°
men held the highest place in the hear*- *nd mind, of
every soldier in it — they were General Lee, Stonewall
Jackson and Jeb Stuart — each the highest in his line.

54 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 be-
loved 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 quali-
ties of genius, and personal character, and superb man-
hood, each one of these three men was a devout mem-
ber 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 ''re-
ferred 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,
co iHolized by the army, and so great in all human eyes
but their own, could be seen bowing humbly down be-
side the private soldiers to receive the holy sacrament
of the Blessed Body and Blood of Christ.

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 55

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 differ-
ence 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 commu-
nity were given a place of peculiar honor, and influ-
ence. They had their record of splendid, and heroic

56 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 Chris-
tians. 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.

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 57

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 mem-
bership 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 considera-
tion 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 South-
ern men and boys everywhere were feeling its influ-
ence, 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.

58 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 un-
ceasing 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 59

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 Spring
the winter camp at Morton's Ford. f^T^

The winter had now worn away and the spring had Story
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

60 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 say-
ing a word and never two walking together — and all
of them meandered along intent on one thing — get-
ting 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 fu-
nereal 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 con-
stantly. We had a story going around which was sup-
posed 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

SKETCH OF WINTER CAMP LIFE 6 1

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 doc-
tor 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 signifi-
cantly, "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 ban-
quet some time ago to a company of twenty-nine female
doctors of medicine — trained, and practicing physi-

62 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

clans. They made no protest; listened with unbroken
gravity; accepted it as a narrative of actual occur-
rence, 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 mor-
row; 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, Vir-
ginia, 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 North-
ern 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 "some-
thing was up." The soldier instinct and long experi-
ence told us that it was about time for something to

63

64 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 fire-
arms, 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 chess-
board, 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. Every-
thing like this must go. It did not take long to roll
all the "extras" into bundles, strap them up and

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 65

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 utrim."

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 to-
gether 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, uat 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 Sold-
ier considered himself all right, and ready for any-
thing; 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 !

66 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Robert" °n thC nCyt day but 0nC' the 4th> ab°Ut I0 °'clock>

Calls to 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 Gor-
donsville." 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 warn-
ing."

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 blank-
ets, 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 67

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
ugood-bye" to his house, and its endeared surround-
ings, 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 ser-
mon 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 gath-
ered here, they had, one after another, stood up and,
simply, bravely, and clearly, witnessed a "good con-
fession" 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 sold-
iers; that He would give victory to our arms, and
peace to our Country. A Scripture passage, the 9ist

68 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 pos-
sible, 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 cov-
ered us with dust; and, once, I recall with very par-
ticular 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 bat-
tle 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 69

covered our heads in the day of battle" and was mer-
ciful 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 respec-
tive 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 Verdiers-
ville, — 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 "chaf-

70 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

fing" 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 ugrin
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 Fredericks-
burg, turned to the left and went sweeping on toward
"The Wilderness."
The S irit Here we got into the full tide of movement.

of the Before and behind us the long gray columns were hur-

Soldiers of J

the South rymg 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 any-
thing 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.

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 71

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 intel-
ligence 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 Divi-
sion 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, laugh-
ing, and with not the least idea in the world of any-

72 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

thing 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 ^ ^ave alluded to rations; they were scarce here,

and Fighting 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 corn-
meal, — 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 73

that a Confederate soldier would fight exactly in pro-
portion 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 North-
ern 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, there-
fore, 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 uace of spades" and dirty as a pig, stand-
ing 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,

74 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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, / 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 75

then but — he did afterwards. After he had been
pacified with a square meal, the idea wasn't so pleas-
ant, and though we often recalled the incident, after-
wards, 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 Ver-
diersville. Soon after, we turned down a road, which
led over to the plank road on which A. P. Hil's col-
umn 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 Fed-
eral 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

76 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

our marching columns, and some of the infantry brig-
ades broke into the double quick to the front, and we
could see them heading off, right and left into the
woods.

Marse ^ We had now come to the edge of that forest and

Way6?? thicket-covered district, the "Wilderness of Spott-

Making One svlvania."
Equal to

Three 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 gettinge 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 Long-
street, 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 brig-

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 77

ade after brigade dashed into line of battle the roar
swelled out grander, and more majestic, until it be-
came 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 battle-field. 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 farm-
house and garden and apple orchard, where the cav-
alry had been at work, that morning before we came

7 8 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 in-
stantly 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 nat-
ural position in the saddle. Another had a sword
thrust through his body, and two others, in their ter-
ribly 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 exhaus-
tion 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 pon-
derous 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.

When we got up pretty close to the line of battle,
we halted and then were ordered to pull out beside

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 79

the road and wait for orders. Here we found a great An Infantry
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 Wil-
derness 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 at 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 Monu-
mental Church, Richmond, Va., afterwards Bishop

8O FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Coadjutor of Virginia, but then the surgeon of the
4Oth 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 any-
thing 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, how-
ever, 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 usaw-bones" soon
had enough to do for other poor fellows, if not for
us. Numbers of wounded men streamed past us, ask-
ing the way to the hospitals, some, limping painfully

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 8 1

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 car-
ried, 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

82 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 remem-
ber 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 83

this refreshment; then had to be content with a "dry
polish" such as Mr. Squeers recommended to Nich-
olas 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,

84 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 imme-
diately 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, "impos-
sible 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 fel-
low 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 ^n ^e m^st °^ tms anxious and high wrought

the First 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 85

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. Spe-
cially 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, Long-
street 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

86 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

to overwhelming odds was roaring, we all felt, uThank
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 suc-
cessively 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 shoot-
ing 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 forc-
ing 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."

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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 87

into his mouth. He said that just before, General Lee The Love
had come in an ace of being captured. A body of the j^p^ed in
enemy had pushed through a gap in our line and unex- *e
pectedly 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 enact-
ing 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

88 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 cher-
ished 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 uArmy of Northern Vir-
ginia" 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 Fed-

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 89

erals, they passed General Lee with a rousing cheer.
The old General, anxious and excited by the critical
moment, thrilling with sympathy in their gallant bear-
ing, 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 plead-
ing 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 wil-
derness 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 them-
selves on the masses of the enemy like a thunderbolt.
Not only did they stop the advance, but their resist-
less fury swept all before it and they followed the
broken Federals half a mile. They redeemed their

90 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 feel-
ings 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 any-
thing 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,

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 91

at the head of his column, pushing in as hard as he
could go. As this fellow passed him, taking advan-
tage 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-cov-
ered 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

92 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 mo-
ment, 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.
^ut ^e enemy seemg ms danger had time to recover,
Dead and make disposition to meet it.

Again, at four o'clock, after this interval of com-
parative quiet, the thunder of battle crashed and
rolled. General Lee, himself, fought Longstreet's
Corps. The attack was fierce, obstinate, and fear-
fully bloody. Wilkinson, of the Army of the Poto-
mac, an eye-witness of this charge, says, in his book,
"Recollections of a Private Soldier": "The Confed-
erate 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 Confed-
erates 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 93

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 Confed-
erates 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 com-
fortless day — May yth — gloomy, lowering, and rain-
ing, 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

94 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 fight-
ing 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

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS 95

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 some-
thing 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 dis-
cussed the news that had been gathered from various
sources.

CHAPTER III

BATTLES OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE

It was just ten o'clock and each1 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 Wilder-
ness in his "push for Richmond." We were with the
vanguard of the skillful movement, by which Long-
street'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 infan-
try 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 march-

96

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 97

ing. 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! Every-
body 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

98 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

remarked, that we never saw birds in the neighbor-
hood 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 sol-
diers, 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 imagi-
nation. 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,

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 99

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.

Just as we got to the top (our Battery happened smart's
just then to be ahead of all the troops, and was the jj^i
first of the columns to reach the spot), the road came Cavalry
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 dis-

100 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

positions 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 cav-
alry, 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 busi-
ness was a uwhite 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 ad-
mired 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE IOI

importance and merit, as compared with the others.
In fact the soldier of the "Army of Northern Vir-
ginia" filled exactly the Duke of M a rib o rough's de-
scription 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 mod-
esty as to their quality as soldiers was not the distin-
guishing 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.

IO2 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 thou-
sand 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 com-
pared 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 artil-
lery £elt 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 103

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 house-
hold names to the whole army. Their brilliant cour-
age 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 cav-
alry 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 appro-

104 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

priate 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 im-
patiently. 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 feel-
ings of a cavalryman to the last degree; turned the
milk of kindness in a horseman's breast into the sour-
est 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 105

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 dis-
gusted 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, par-
ticularly 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.

IO6 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 fight-
ing, and in quiet time, to "range" for buttermilk and
other delicacies, which the poor footmen never got.
Hence the soubriquet of "buttermilk ranger" univer-
sally 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, "bull-
dog" work. We knew, well as we thought of our-

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE IOy

selves, 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 cam-
paign. 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. Every-
body 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 experi-
enced 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 cav-
alry; shouted for the cavalry, from that time! Occa-
sionally, from force of habit, the infantry (the artil-
lery never) would fall from grace at sight of a pass-
ing cavalry column, and let fall little attentions, that
sounded very like the old-time compliments, but they

108 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 reminis-
cence.

At one o'clock on Sunday, the 8th of May, we reach-
ed 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 fin-
ished their splendid fight, the van of the army was

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 109

on the spot to relieve them. They had been with-
drawn from confronting the enemy, and were now
drawn up here, preparatory to starting off, to over-
take 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.

I have lingered at that farmhouse gate, at the top Greetings on
of the hill, in this story, very much longer than we the Field of
did in reality. In fact we didn't linger there at all.
Didn't have a chance 1 For, the moment we came in
sight, at that gate leading into the farmhouse, an offi-
cer came dashing out from amongst the troops of cav-
alry, and galloped across the field toward us. The
instant this horseman got out of the crowd, we recog-
nized 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 Cap-
tain rode up and saluted. "Captain," said the Gen-
eral, saluting pleasantly, "Draw our guns through

110 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 up-
rising 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE III

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 recog-
nized 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 rest-
ing 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 Cumber-
land 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

112 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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.

"Ieb" Stuart was in front of the column of guns talking

Stuart to Captain McCarthy; next moment we moved. That

"A Little is, the uLeft Section" moved, the two twelve-pounder
Job" 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 "Napol-
eons" 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 113

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, ambu-
lances, 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

114 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 unsup-
ported 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 1 15

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 inter-
est, 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 Lam-
bert, No. i ; Joe Bowen, No. 2; Beau Barnes, No. 3;
W. M. Dame, No. 4; Bill Hardy, No. -5; Charlie

Il6 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 shal-
low hole, holding the reins with his upstretched hands.

The third gun was just to our right, the cannon-
eers grouped around the guns, each man at his post.
Travis Moncure, Sergeant, known and loved and hon-
ored among us as "Monkey," always brave and true
and smiling, even under fire, Harry Townsend, gun-
ner; Gary Eggleston, No. i; 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 "Napo-
leon," 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE Iiy

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 Mon-
cure 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 sur-
prise, 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 uncon-
trollable. 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.

Il8 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 sud-
denly 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 burst-
ing 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, shriek-
ing in the air all about us. Then, the roaring of our
guns, the heavy smoke, the sulphurous smell, the shak-

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 119

ing 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 addi-
tion to the battle heat, the sun was pouring down, hot
as blazes ; and the labor of working a rapidly firing
uNapoleon" gun, with four men, in deeply plowed
ground, and the strong excitement of battle — alto-
gether, 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. Occa-
sionally, 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

I2O FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 121

the dirt all aound him, as he went slowly "hopping the
clods" across the plowed fields. But he got off all
right. Shortly after Hardy was struck, Charley Pleas-
ants, 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 cas-
ualties, under that hot fire; one man, seriously, and
one slightly wounded and a horse slightly hurt.

No ! I forgot ! There was one other casualty, — Wounding
Robert Fulton Moore was mortally wounded, in the Fulton"
hat brim. And this gave rise to a most amusing scene. Moore
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 miracu-
lous feats, in this performance, afforded much diver-
sion, whenever the guns went under fire, to us all,
except his Sergeant, Moncure, who was very much

122 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 occa-
sion 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 123

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.

In this fight, necessity, the mother of invention, ^ Useful
put us up to a device that served us well here, and Discovery
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

124 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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. 180 that a chocked
gun was equal to four in a fight. We found this sim-
ple 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 cannon-

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 125

eers 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 bat-
tery equal to a battalion, and a good many other bat-
teries 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 fear-
ful! 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 pres-
ence of any, near us. We thought we were without
support, but as I intimated some time back, we were
better off than we knew.

It seems, that before we came on the ground,
Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, which had been

126 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

marching behind us, had filed off the road, and while
Barksdale's we were UP on tne hill with the cavalry, had quietly,
anc* 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 be-
hind 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 Brig-
ade 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 dan-
ger, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 127

"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 Divis-
ion to pieces. It didn't take those fellows half a sec-
ond 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 num-
ber 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 Fed-
tral 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.

128 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 con-
versation. 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 Robin-
son'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 ^ was a singular incident, that these two should

Carolina meet again so ! The meeting was most cordial; the
"Rice Birds" 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 129

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 sud-
den, 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 admir-
able historian of the uArmy of the Potomac." (Swin-
ton's uArmy 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 antici-
pated; 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

130 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

"wounded, which left the troops without their com-
"mander 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 com-
fort 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 Warrren. What could Warren do?

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 131

His men were demoralized, "excited, almost fright-
ened, tending to stampede, needing the Corps Gen-
eral 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 stam-
pede; in fact, were in the best of spirits, perfectly con-
fident 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.

132 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 com-
ing 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 dread-
fully 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 atention, or fix it in mind. About
mid-day, I recollect noticing bodies of troops, a regi-
ment, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 133

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.

In order not to expose us longer than necessary to Feeling
this fire of the pickets, Lieutenant Anderson, com- Pulses
manding 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 unpleas-
ant 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

134 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 beat-
ing regularly enough. And he would call out the
result of his investigation in each case, — the other fel-
lows 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 liun. 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 ap-
proved, were pleased to death, and those whom he
didn't, hated him from that time.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 135

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 Long-
street 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!

In a few minutes Lieutenant Anderson came down
and ordered us forward. He told us "the sharp- J^re the

,. , „ Fight Was

shooters were making it a little warm up there. Hottest

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 exchang-
ing 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.

136 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 after-
wards 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 con-
tinuous 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 137

Directly in front of us, the ground, — cleared fields
about three or four hundred yards wide, — sloped gen-
tly away down to a stream, and beyond, sloped gently
upward to the top of the hill, on which stood a farm-
house, 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, pro-
tected 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

138 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 hap-
pened, 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 iminent risk of being bored
by a sharp-shooter; which makes a stretch unsatis-
factory.

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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 139

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 An-
derson, 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.

Here was nice news! Our two Napoleons, right Against
under the muzzles of twelve or more rifled cannon, He?yy Odds
and six twenty-pounder Parrotts, and with no works ! Dodge"
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

140 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 Spottsyl-
vania 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 un-
ceasing 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 North-
ern Virginia" fought behind, in this campaign. All
the Federal writers who have written about these bat-
tles, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 141

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.y except •<sticky"Mud
those whom we had persuaded to stay with us, and ??d Yet
those whom the angels were carrying to Abraham's "Sticky"
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.

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 exag-
gerated 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

142 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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. Cer-
tainly, 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 stun-
ning 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 loth, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 143

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 work-
ing 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.

We had been too busy to think about them, at the Gregg's
time, but when we had gotten done, — and had a little T^xapr8 *°
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 approach-
ing 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, stub-
born 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

144

FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Breakfast-

"Rea<?Ufor
Customers"

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 sold-
iers never trod a battlefield. I saw them fight; I saw
their mettle tried, as by fire. They live in my memory
as uthe bravest of the brave." I hope Texas is grow-
ing more like them !

Having got our Fort in shape, and refreshed our-
se^ves a ^tt:^e w^tn 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 comfort-
ably 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,

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 145

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 fol-
low 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 col-
umns, about fifty yards apart, marching across the
open field toward our left. Here was impudence ! In-
fantry 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 feel-
ing, 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

146 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 147

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 cross-
ing 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.

In a minute or two we received notice of our work parrott's
from another quarter. That artillery, up there on

the hill, beyond the woods, woke up. They got mad Twenty to
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

148 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

just high enough to conceal us from the enemy. They
could see our smoke, .and knew just about our posi-
tion, 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 dif-
ference, 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 satisfac-
tion 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 try-
ing 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 pep-
per 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 War-
ren'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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 149

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 pour-
ing 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 dis-
appeared!

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

150 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 sav-
age 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 151

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 Tex-
ans 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 uowed 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 tak-
ing 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 Han-
cock'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

152 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 artil-
lery, 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 fel-
low, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 153

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 infan-
try 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 Ander-
son 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.

In the midst of all this, an incident took place that The Narrow
created a great deal of amusement. Along the line, Entire* €
just back of and somewhat protected by the works, Company
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 clos-
ing 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

154 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 uone 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. Every-
body 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 every-
one of the scamps had held on to his uhand," 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 shoot-
ing 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 155

Such was about the size to which some of the com-
panies 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 men-
tal 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 McCar-
thy called for volunteers to take their places, and in-
stantly John W. Page, and George B. Harrison, of
the First Detachment, offered, and came over to us.

Up to this time we had seen no infantry since their Successive
columns had tried to cross our front. No attack had p^JJ by
been made on us and all seemed quiet out in front, Infantry
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 appear-
ance down through the woods on our right front. It
quickly defined itself as a line of battle, rapidly ad-
vancing. 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

156 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 can-
nister, 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 fright-

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 157

ful to see and to hear them. It was a bloody busi-
ness, 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 bear-
ing. The whizzing bullets, the heavy storming col-
umns pouring upon us, the yells and cries of the com-
batants were enough to excite anybody, but this fel-
low 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 ham-
mer, 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

158 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 Han-
cock, 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 addi-
tions to the sad load of dead, and wounded, with
which it was already encumbered. They effected noth-
ing! 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 159

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,

l6o FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 sug-
gestion 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 mud-
hole, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE l6l

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 bal-
ance 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 ap-
peared, 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 tem-
pest 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

1 62 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 Just here, we of the "Howitzer" suffered our
Death0 ^rst' anc^ on^' ^oss m ^s day's figntmg- Gary Eggle-
ston, "No. i" 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 163

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 hos-
pital, 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. i" 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

164 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

by the sound of the battle, and reached his gun just in
time to take Eggleston's place as "No. i" 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 after-
noon. 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 dis-
tance to the left of our guns, where we could see bet-
ter, and stood gazing up at the edge of the field, ex-
pecting every moment to see Hill's troops burst out

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 165

of the woods, and rush upon these guns. Our atten-
tion 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 fel-
lows 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.

So sudden was the surprise that they bayonetted «Xexas
two of the Texan infantry, asleep upon the ground. Never

0 : Forget

boon as they got over they turned, and began to Virginia
sweep down the works, on the inside, upon our guns.
As the Texans forced to retire streamed past our guns,

1 66 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 com-
mand the approaching enemy, and chocked them with
rails; several men snatched up the pile of ammuni-
tion, 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 can-
ister! 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. i" 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. i" 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 167

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 ad-
vanced on us in a confused mass.

In this mass our canister was doing deadly work,
cutting lanes in every direction. Still on they came ; get-
ting slower in their advance as the canister constantly
swept away the foremost men. The men in front be-
gan to flinch, they were within thirty yards of us, —
firing wildly now. One good rush! and their bayo-
nets 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

1 68 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 out-
break 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 min-
utes 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 enthusi-
astic 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.

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 169

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-Gen-
erals, especially as they were such heroic old veterans

1 70 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 pleas-
ant 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 The fight was over, just about as dusk was closing

JheTealon. in- In this> and the fight at nVe o'clock, the enemy

Therefor jost 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 17 1

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 them-
selves 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 cap-
tured 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.

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 fry- RaUydffi»
ing pan, over a little fire just by our gun. In a flash, Men

172 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 wav-
ing that frying pan, to cheer on his men. More gal-
lant 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 173

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 infan-
tryman 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 cus-
tomary 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 ex-
claimed, 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,

174 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

with the same eager question, "Did you think that
was a hot place?" uYes," 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 com-
ing 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 min-
ute, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 175

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, mor-
tally 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 loth 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 artil-
lery we were under fire all day from five A. M. to

176 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 dream-
less sleep all through the night.

The next day, the nth, 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 suf-
fered 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 177

gotten hm sore on the subject. In order to show us
that a "Tar Heel" was as careless of danger as any-
body 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 im-
pression 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.

We drew our gun from its place at the works, up Having
the little incline we had made for its more easy run-
ning forward, hitched its trail to the pintle-hook of the
limber, chocked the wheels, and left it there until we

178 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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, listen-
ing to the rumbling of heavy wheels over in the Fed-
eral 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 179

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 re-
solved, 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 in-
stinct 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 move-
ment among the trees. We called Barnes, and stood

180 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 be-
ginning 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 ! Be-
fore it stopped, I think, I had the primer in, while

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE l8l

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 bags! "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. For-
tunately 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 pos-
sible. If so, to take, and sweep our line. If not, not
to press the attack. The "surprise" was all they could

1 82 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 cap-
tured 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 uowed 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 I2th of May, was already begin-
ning, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 183

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 can-
non had been withdrawn. And General Lee was try-
ing to drive them out, and retake our works.

This was the great business of the I2th of May.
A very cyclone of battle raged round that Salient.
The Federals trying to hold it, our men trying to re-
take 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 infan-
try 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-shooters's rifle, and the sound of
their bullets enlivened the time.

This went on for several days. The idea of break-
ing our line, here, had been given up as a hopeless

184

FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Grant's
Neglect of
Federal
Wounded

job, and no other attempt was made on it. Assaults
were made on other points, and we could hear fight-
ing, here and there, but we were left alone.

At last, we got orders to move, about the i8th or
1 9th. 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 hid-
eous 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 per-
ished in the flames, which had swept over the ground.

We had witnessed all these horrors, with our own
eyes, days before, from our lines, and had been help-
less to do anything for them. Hundreds of wounded
Federal soldiers lay between the lines, day after day,

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 185

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 slated 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 sus-
pend hostilites 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 Gen-
eral 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 I he had his way of mak-
ing 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 dif-
ferent 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,

1 86 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 remem-
bers that from Thursday, the 5th of May, to Thurs-
day, the 1 2th 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 Bat-
talion, 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

SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE 187

ate it, with a keenness of enjoyment that terrapin, can-
vass back duck, and Lynnhaven oysters could not pro-
voke 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 Gary 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 batter-
ies we found in this field, belonged to the "Reserve
Artillery" of which the "preserved 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

1 88 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 mor-
tified; 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 2oth or 2ist we started from Spottsyl-
vania 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 go-
ing, 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

189

190 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 uhorn swaggled" Gen-
eral 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 3oth 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

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 19!

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 3ist)
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 neighbor-
hood, 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 dur-
ing 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

192 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

range, into the woods. Soon after some infantry be-
gan to form in the edge of the woods as if they were
about to charge us. We opened on them. They ad-
vanced a little, then broke in some confusion, and
disappeared. The rest of this day, June ist, 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 vit-
uals, and let me git away from here. De Lord for-
give 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

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 193

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 mor-
tifies 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 to-
ward 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 sin-
gle, 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.

194 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Last ft was a calm» sweet June evening ! quiet country

March of Our farms, and homes lay all about us. The whole scene

Howitzer J •

Captain 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 col-
umn 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 gentle-
ness 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,

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 195

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 artil-
lery, 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 sep-
arated 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 a?' 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,

196 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 Ker-
shaw's staff, dash out of the woods, and gallop to-
ward 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,

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 197

just as quick as they could get to him. Our two "Na-
poleons" 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 lim-
bered 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 1
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.

198 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 frag-
ments, and falling tree together, killed twelve or fif-
teen men, and wounded a number of others.

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 199

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 farm-
house 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 Regi-
ment 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

20O FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 any-
thing 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 infan-
try 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. Gen-

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 2OI

eral 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 gal-
lantly; 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 re-
warded 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, "Mon-
key, 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.

202 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 in-
stantly, and saw that all was ready for action. Shells
came howling at us from batteries that we could dis-
cern 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 ter-
rific 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 farm-
house, 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 sleep-
ing 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 can-
teens of water hanging right over his head. A bullet
went through them. He was nearly drowned!

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 203

In our front, this artillery fire kept up for a while, The
then it stopped! The next moment, there was an

awful rush! From every quarter their infantry came Minutes of

pouring on over the fields, and through the woods,

yelling and firing, and coming at a run. Their col-

umns 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 thou-

sand 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

204 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

confused men! They were falling by scores, hun-
dreds ! The mass was simply melting away under the
fury of our fire. Then, they broke in panic, and head-
long 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. iSeveral 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. i"
at U4th" 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 mo-
ments, 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 Vir-
ginians, at a run; General Eppa on horse-back lead-

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 205

ing 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 permis-
sion 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 splen-
did 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 sick-
ening! 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.

When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after
them they were nearly all dead. What they must have

2O6 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Federal suffered before death came! But none of their own
Troops people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help

Refuse to Be , , . , , , T

Slaughtered 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 demoral-
ized, and disheartened by the bloody repulse of the
morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by Gen-
eral 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 sold-
iers 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!

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 2OJ

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, out-
buildings, 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 scream-
ing 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 uhe 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 ist
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.

208 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

Dr. Carter The sharp-shooters swept all the ground about us,

"Apologizes making it dangerous for any man to expose himself
Shot" 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 hap-
pened, 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 stand-
ing 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 concus-
sion was terrific! It was a pretty "close call" to all
three of us!

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 209

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!

About six o'clock, there fell the saddest loss, to Death of
the battery, that it had yet been called to bear. Cap-
tain 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 Mc-
Carthy 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 min-
utes, 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 hard-
ship, his unfaltering devotion to duty always ; his kind,

210 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

cordial comradeship ! We knew him to be a soldier,
every inch, and a patriot to his heart's core 1

We knew, and said, that among all her sons, Vir-
ginia 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 suf-
fered, and enjoyed much, in the long years, since we
last looked upon his form dead on the red field of

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 211

"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 ad-
vanced 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 consum-
mate 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 Appo-
mattox, Saturday, April 8th. On that day, after the

212 FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND

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 surren-
dered his little force of 1,300 men, he had to sur-
render 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 surren-
dered, 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 accu-
rately 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.

COLD HARBOR AND RICHMOND 213

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!

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ

This book is due on the last DATE stamped below.

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