The Norwich cadets: a tale of the rebellion

THE UNIVERSITY OF

NORTH CAROLINA

LIBRARY

THE WILMER COLLECTION

OF CIVIL WAR NOVELS

PRESENTED BY

RICHARD H. WILMER, JR.

£iLMUiCOLU.Cii

THE NORWICH CADETS:

TALE I REBELLION.

By REV. HOMER WHITE

AUTHOR OF "'THE CAPTIVE BOY," ETC.

ST. ALBANS, VT.:

PUBLISHED BY ALBERT CLARKE

1878

hiui.-i._n according iht >i_.-i 1-.... bj

. 'Am 1 . and _\ ; i. .--..- Clarke,
■ Librarian -.! ('■■

THE NORWICH CADETS,

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY.

HE only military school of which Vermont can
Jboast, or over could boast, with the exception
.of that peripatetic school in which Ethan Allen
fand Seth Warner were professors, is Norwich

i University.

It is worthy of note that after any war the
people who have been engaged in it evince a
decided taste for military knowledge. After the
occasion has passed which called for such knowledge, they
set about perfecting themselves in the art of war. In their
fresh ardor they found military schools and organize volun-
teer regiments with a patriotic determination to be pre-
pared for the next struggle. But after a while men get
tired of drilling, and as the quiet time of peace is pro
longed they lose their interest in martial show, and the
next war in which they are called to engage finds them
again a nation of shopkeepers and farmers, equally ignor-
ant of military tactics and of the principles and practice
of gunnery. Such was eminently our situation at the be
ginning of the late rebellion. At its close, when the danger
was past, we began, according to this tendency of nature
which I have spoken of, to beat our pruning hooks into

603311

4 THE NORWICH CADETS :

spears and to learn war some more. Now, in consequence
of this and of our late experience in war. we are as a peo-
ple fairly versed in military science, but probably by the
time we shall need this knowledge it "will be numbered
among our lost acquirements.

Norwich University was the product of the post bellum
fever induced by our last war with Great Britain. It was
established in the year 1820. Though now located at North-
held, it was first and for many years in the town and village
of Norwich, on the Connecticut liver and opposite Hanover,
N. H., the seat of Dartmouth College. The river flowed
between the two institutions of learning, but they were
less than a mile distant from each other. The first head of
the University was Capt. A. Partridge. Its course of study
embraced more than the college curriculum generally does,
and if its graduates became thoroughly proficient in one
half of the things they were expected to learn, they left its
walls accomplished soldiers. The institution soon became
popular and flourishing, and attracted pupils from nearly
every State in the Union.

Norwich has furnished some names for the roll of fame
— names of which Vermont is and ever will be proud.
High among these stands that of the gallant Ransom, who
was at one time president of the University, and who lost
his life at the beginning of a glorious career in the war
with Mexico.

At the time at which our story opens, 1S59, the Univer-
sity, with its veteran brick walls somewhat weather-beaten,
stood as the most prominent object in the quiet village of
Norwich. There were only about forty cadets, of all class-
es at the University, for the reason that the country had
enjoyed a long interval of peace, and a knowledge of Har-
dee's Tactics was not considered the most valuable sort of
information for a young man to possess in beginning the
campaign of life. Had our prudent countrymen foreseen

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 9

the nearness of the rebellion, the University would doubt-
less have been crowded with martial youth in search of mar
iial knowledge.

Most of the cadets were Green Mountain boys though
there were some from distant states, but all were youths so
fnll of war instinct that the most profound peace could not
banish their dreams of war. No dress seemed to them so
beautiful as the army bine ; burnt powder had a delightful
odor ; and the roar of guns and the rattle of drums were
music to their ears.

There are such men everywhere, born soldiers, who
have an innate scorn of peaceful pursuits, and long for the
clash of aims and the din of battle ; who leave the plow
field for the " field of honor" with all the alacrity of Put-
nam, though without half the cause ; men who make war, if
they do not find it, like the fierce son of the shrinking
Werner in Byron's tragedy. Fallen man in a state of na-
ture is not the simple, inoffensive creature which Rousseau
makes him, but a blood-thirsty animal delighting in carnage.
He makes war upon all other creatures, though not to satis-
fy the demands of hunger, and even destroys those of his
own kind for the mere pleasure of shedding blood.

At the same time brave men who have a passion for
arms and who glory in battle, often possess some of the
noblest traits of character. Their virtues light up some
pages of the dark history of war and conquest, and make
their battles something better than the struggles of brutes
or the strifes of fiends.

Though civilization, in its refining process, has taken
the courage out of most of us, we have still enough of sav-
age nature left in us to feel a genuine admiration for cour-
age in others. Though we may be disinclined to adventure
our own lives by walking into a forest of bayonets, even
for the most righteous cause, yet the most cowardly of us
all respect the brave man and admire his gallant deeds.

G THE NORWICH CADETS:

" Peace hath her victories no less than war," but peace-
is tame and humdrum. War has charms of a more exciting
character, and the bare recital of its deeds has power to
accelerate the pulse of the most determined Quaker. Wc
read the war chapters of a nation's history with the great-
est gusto, and we delight in the military achievements of
the world's heroes from Ulysses of Ithaca to Ulysses of
Galena.

During the late civil war Norwich University sent a
larger proportion of her graduates into the field than did
any other college in the country. And she furnished for
the volunteer army five Major Generals, twenty-seven Colo-
nels and a large number of officers of lower grade. They
did valiant service for their country, and we believe that in
reading some of their adventures and in recalling some of
the events of the great struggle for the Union, we shall be
doing no more than justice to the heroism of our gallant
State, while we incite in our readers a deeper love of their
country and a more chivalrous devotion to its honor. We
may not convince them all that it is sweet to die for one's
country, but they will at least feel that the honors showered
upon the head of the patriot-soldier are honors well de-
served.

In 1859 the Rev. Dr. Bournes was President of Nor-
wich and had been so for ten years. He was a man of peace
by profession and as well versed in canon law as in cannon
balls. It may seem strange that a military academy should
have a clerical head, but it is perhaps well to maintain an
equilibrium of forces. There was plenty of latent lire
among the cadets and they were ready at any time to ex-
plode, like so many cans of nitro -glycerine ; but the cassock
generally kept the mastery of the Cossack, and the science
of war was peacefully pursued. Certain it is that the boys
would as soon have thought of bearding " the Douglass in
, his hall " as the " Doctor " in his study.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION 7

But the strictest order did not always reign in the bar
racks, nor was it always quiet on the Connecticut. From
time immemorial, that is to say from the foundation of iln
University, a feud had raged between the cadets and tin
students of Dartmouth college across the river, and many
raids and encounters had taken place, in regard to which
and the heroes engaged in them, tradition had much to say.
The cadets were inferior in numbers to their classical an
tagoirists, but they were rilled with martial ardor and utter
ly unwilling to admit that the stylus is mightier than the
sword. The prevailing opinion among them seemed to be
that Dartmouth must be destroyed. The discipline of the
University prevented the attempt, by any well organized
expedition, to accomplish this favorite object, but it was
not sufficient to restrain individual cadets from hostile in-
cursions into the enemy's country. Bristling with daggers
and revolvers which they never had a serious thought of
using, two or three together would cross the river at night,
either by the bridge or by boat, and parade the streets of
Hanover or penetrate even to " Tempe's pleasant vale
with a marked disregard of the dangers they incurred.
Frequently they succeeded in provoking hostilities, and then
they displayed the gallantry which afterward distinguished
them upon larger fields. When greatly outnumbered, as
they usually were, they would fall back to the river with a
celerity to which Xenophon's famous retreat furnishes no
parallel. If they found the bridge disputed they took to
boats, or if these were not to be found, a flank movement,
up or down the river to a fording place, was executed in a
masterly manner, and the barracks gained sometime before
reveille. The casualties were always few, but the fun and
glory were considerable.

THE NORWICH CADETS

CHAPTER II.

TOM AND BILL HOSTILITIES WITH DARTMOUTH 3TUDENTS-

CONDONS NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.

-MAT

U R two heroes, wrho were chums and insep-
arable companions, were known and always des-
ignated by their fellow cadets as Tom and Bill.
They were from different sections of the Union,
^and the opposites of each other in personal ap-
pearance. They had been born and reared in
very different circumstances and could hardly be
expected to have much sympathy the one with
the other, or to care for a very close fellowship ; but the
strong bond of union between them was the unshrinking
courage and love of adventure which each perceived and
appreciated in the other. They were, as we have said,
inseparable companions, and they were also devoted friends.
Tom Lyon was the son of a Vermont farmer and ac-
customed to labor with his hands without being at all
ashamed of it. He was of the Anglo Saxon type, brown
hair, blue eyes and fair skin. Though only of medium
height he was compactly built, with muscles like bundles of
whip-cord, and by far the strongest man at the University.
This fact coupled with another, equally well-known, that he-
had never been seen to exhibit fear even in the most trying
situations, won for him the hearty respect and admiration
of those who reverence physical strength and courage. But

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 9

he bad other and more worthy claims to respect ; his classi-
cal attainments were not inferior to those of the average
"junior" on the other side of the river; he had strong
convictions of right, was honorable and high minded,
patriotic and true. His word could not be justly questioned
and never was with impunity. Conlidcnce reposed in him was
a sacred trust, never betrayed, and taken altogether he was a
noble specimen of the Green Mountain Boy. He was, how-
ever, still a boy, not yet twenty-one, and with the animation
of youth he had also some of its follies.

Bill or William Wolfe, our other hero, was the son of
a Georgia planter and brought up in aristocratic idleness.
He was of slender form, with dark hair and eyes and swarthy
complexion. There was a strain of Spanish blood in his
veins and he had that adventurous and chivalrous disposition
which distinguished the conquerors of Mexico and Peru.
Restless, and always longing for change of scene and excite-
ment, his wealthy and indulgent father had permitted him
to rove at will, insisting only that he should at least make
a pretence of seeking an education ; and he had been an
inmate of several Northern as well as Southern schools and
colleges, acquiring in his perigrinations a considerable fund
of book-knowledge together with much other information.
At Norwich his liberality and his various accomplishments,
among which was skill in the use of arms and of the less
deadly gloves, quickly made him a favorite among the cadets
and introduced him to the favor and friendship of Tom
Lyon. With a nice sense of honor and a haughty temper,
he was easily offended, and then there was observable a
nervous twitching about the eyes and a growing blackness
of the face which betokened mischief. Very quick in his
movements, much stronger than he appeared to be, and
recklessly brave, he was an antagonist not lightly to be
encountered. There was no one at the University who
could meet him with any chance of success, with the ex-

B

10 THE NORWICH CADETS :

ception of his sworn friend Tom Lyon. And in this case it
was the superior strength of the North, and that alone.
Avhich could overcome the South.

To say that young Wolfe was not fond of hostile
encounters per se without regard to the occasion of them,
would be untrue ; but it would be equally untrue to say
that he ever sought a quarrel when the advantage was
evidently in his favor. He wras too nobly brave to contend
with any one plainly weaker than himself. His battles,
which were numerous, were always with an enemy superior
either in strength or numbers, and hence he usually came
out of them severely beaten. But no amount of beating
could beget in him a love of peace. He w7as a born con-
troversialist, wrho chose the sword rather than the pen with
which to present his.arguments and convince his opponents.

These pictures of our heroes are not fancy sketches,
but drawn from a vivid recollection. We may not all ap-
prove of such pugnacious characteristics as I have delin-
eated, but we know that they exist, and that there would
be many blank pages in history if the record of the events
proceeding from such characteristics were to be blotted
out. We shall follow our heroes to more noble helds of
action than school-boy quarrels, and it will be seen in fiction
as it is to be found in fact, that those who love war for
war's sake are generally those who excel in it, and that in a
righteous cause the instinct for battle becomes an instru-
ment of good.

It wras after the arduous duties of a summer's day —
recitations, drill and the evening mess — that Tom and Bill
sat in what they called their den, leisurely engaged in filling-
it with smoke which they drew from a couple of pipes.
Occasionally they glanced through the blue atmosphere at
each other, apparently waiting for a suggestion in regard to
what next. Nothing was said by either for some minutes,
but before the quiet became painful it was disturbed by the

\ TALE Ml TITF. REBELLION.

11

sound of heavy footsteps. Then the door was pushed open
without ceremony and in stalked the gigantic and loud
voiced cadet, Mat Condon. His name was Martin Van
Buren, but it was familiarly abbreviated to Mat. His head
towered over six feet aloft and was covered with long
shaggy yellow hair, giving him the appearance of a lion
rampant, He prided himself upon this appearance and his
prodigious strength, and wished to be regarded as another
Cceur de Leon. But the lion heart was not in his bosom,
and whenever he was brought to the test he was sure to be
discovered like the fabled ass in the lion's skin. But he was
the poet of the University, and had written and could sing
in a roaring manner the song of " the Old South Bar-
racks, O," and being a jolly companion and perfectly harm-
less in spite of his mammoth proportions, he was patronized
by our two heroes and afforded them much amusement.

" Hello ! boys, what are you so still for?'' cried the new-
comer as he planted himself in the centre of the smoke-
clouded room, like Mt. Mansfield in a fog.

" Well," replied Tom in his deliberate manner, tt as we
didn't see any necessity for making a noise, we concluded
to spare the exertion.'"

"My collossal friend," said Bill in his blandest tones,
" please moor yourself to that stool and tell us how many
men you have killed since breakfast,"

" Diem perdidi ! not even one.

But a field of the dead rushes red on my sight.
For the students of Dartmouth are spoiling for
fight."

" Now my brave Falstaff with the lion head, give us a
prose translation of that " said Tom, " for I see that your
big skin. is full of something new."

*l My dear boy," returned Condon, I grieve for you and
I always sing my sorrows. But the fact is, a certain
pugnacious sophomore has hurled his gauntlet across the
river and expresses a particular desire that you should pick
it up."

12 THE NORWICH CADETS:

" All ! indeed, that is refreshing intelligence. Yon
shall be rewarded."

" Couldn't the gentleman toss over one apiece for us ?"
inquired Bill, feeling that he had been slighted.

" He thinks that one hand is enough for both of you,
and therefore used only one glove."

Bill sprang to his feet at this and buttoning his coat up
to the chin, secured about him the silver hilted dagger
which he always carried, and began pacing the room cap in
hand. The cooler blooded Vermonter smiled at these
evidences of excitement, and addressing his chum by the
affectionate appellation of " Willie," requested him to have
another pipe.

" No, thank you, I have got to throw a pontoon across
the Connecticut to-night, so that the Doctor can lead his
troops over in the morning to attack the town.

" Wouldn't you accept the services of a couple of
volunteers ?" inquired Tom.

"Yes."

" Come on then, Condon," said Tom rising and putting
on his cap ; wre shall need you as guide. If it isn't very
dark we shall be able to follow your white face without
difficulty."

" I am w^th you my gallant boys," exclaimed the poet,
striking an attitude, " till — ■

" The enemy heaves in sight." Tom finished the
sentence.

The three sallied out together and avoiding the guards
took their way to the river. As they neared the bridge
Condon called a halt.

" I pride myself on my generalship," said he, " and I
can't bear to throw away the lives of such good soldiers as
you. Now it is very easy to get into Hanover, but when
we wish to get out we may find this bridge barricaded. So
my beasts of prey, to make our retreat secure, if 3Tou will go

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 13

ahead, I will go and get a boat and row over and wait for
you at the landing."

" No head but yours would have thought of that," said
Bill.

" Do so by all means," said Tom.

Condon looked pleased that his companions so readily
fell in with his plan, which was first conceived to secure his
own safety, and walked away with as much energy and im-
portance as though it were the night of crossing the
Delaware and upon him rested the responsibility of finding
transportation for the troops.

The two friends laughed quietly over this desertion.

" That is the last we shall see of him " remarked Bill.

" Big dogs are not the bravest," philosophized Tom ;
" but he may come over after all."

" If he starts at all, he is more likely to drop anchor in
the middle of the stream where he will be out of harm's
reach from either shore."

With another laugh at poor Mat's want of courage and
his futile endeavors to conceal it, the two cadets walked on
over the bridge and entered the village of Hanover. With-
out intending to provoke any quarrel, they were determined
to let their presence be known, and were prepared to repel
any assault, whether made by the pugnacious sophomore
before mentioned, or by others. They were personally well
known, but not regarded with unmixed love, for the reason
that on several former occasions they had difficulties with
different students and had generally borne away what
laurels there were.

After visiting two or three places of student-resort,
they found themselves receiving as much attention as they
desired. Their very presence there was a challenge and so
received. The excitement momentarily increased. Leaving
the refreshment saloon, at that time kept by a colored
gentleman who dispensed oysters and root beer to hungry

14 THE NORWICH CADETS:

and thirsty undergraduates, the two cadets proceeded to
the Campus followed by a noisy and not very respectful
crowd. They paid no attention however to those behind
them nor to the uncomplimentary remarks which were made
for their ears, but walked along unconcernedly as though
they were the only persons abroad.

Perceiving that some more decided demonstration
must be made, the crowd pressed, closed, and finally the
champion of the sophomore class, a tall fellow named
Staples, brushing up to Bill's side laid his hand on the
Georgian's coat and cried ont —

•• See ! what pretty buttons !"

There was a laugh from his companions, but it quickly
subsided as they saw their champion sprawling on the
ground, sent there by one quick blow from the insulted
cadet. Then they rushed in a body on the now furious
southerner.

" One at a time, gentlemen," said Tom cooly. as he
knocked down the foremost of the assailants. " My friend
mil meet any one. of you in fair fight."

'•Or a dozen of them " cried Bill with a face as black
as Othello's.

The battle now, became general. The cadets received
some hard blows, but they repaid them with interest. Once
Bill was down,. but Tom fought over his body till he could
gain his feet. Doubtless the battle would have gone against
our heroes in the end, but suddenly the President of the
College appeared in the midst of the combatants, calling
excitedly for order. '

The students no sooner saw him than the}- fled to avoid
his recognition. The cadets, saluting him respectfully,
marched away leaving the astonished President sole oc-
cupant and master of the lately contested field.

Our two heroes directed their steps to the river. Soon
becoming awTare that they were pursued. Bill expressed a

A TALE 0E THE REBELLK »X. . 15

desire to turn back, but yielding to his friend's request lie
hastened with him to the landing when' they hoped but
hardly expected to find Condon.

Tlmt individual had indeed procured a boat and an
inoffensive fellow to row it and made a landing on the New
Hampshire shore. When he heard the sound of hurrying
footsteps and angry .shouts he suspected the cause, and fearful
of being himself sacrificed if he waited to Buccor his friends,
he jumped into the boat and seizing one oar while his com
panion took the other, pushed out a few rods into the river
just as Tom and Bill reached the shore.

They saw they were too late and running a short dis-
tance up the stream secreted themselves Their pursuers
soon after reached the landing they had just left, and see-
ing a boat with two persons in it, naturally supposed that
their foes had escaped them. They shouted after the
fleeing Condon, daring him to return, and one of them
having a revolver, fired several shots purposely striking the
water at a safe distance from the boat.

At this the frightened boatman whom Condon had
hired stopped rowing and proposed to return in obedience
to the order of the firing party.

" Row for your life " screamed the frantic giant, draw-
ing a huge knife and nourishing it wildly.

" They will shoot us if wTe don't go back."

"Fear nothing but me. You carry Condon and his
fortunes."

The boat sped on its way and the baffled students left
the spot.

When all was quiet Tom and Bill emerged from their
hiding place, where they had greatly enjoyed the spectacle
of Condon's terror, and crossing the bridge unmolested,
peacefully pursued their way home.

16

THE NORWICH CADETS:

CHAPTER III

CONDON S AD VENTURE THE BATTLE OF TORN COATS — A POLITICAL

DISCUSSION THE GATHERING STORM.

H E next morning Mat had a wonderful tale to
tell of his adventures by flood and field and of
the narrow escape from death which he had in
contending single handed writh the chivalry of
Dartmouth. Our two heroes heard his report
with interest, and Bill moved that it be engrossed
and placed in the archives of the University.

After this affray quiet reigned on the Con-
necticut for the space of three wreeks. But this peace could
not continue. The " Parties " (as the Dartmouth students
were called) smarted under their late defeat, and only
waited for an opportunity to wreak their vengeance on
some one or more . of the cadets without being at the cost
and danger of making a hostile incursion into Vermont for
that purpose. This opportunity soon presented itself.

Condon, whose political and martial qualities we have
bef jre had occasion to notice, afforded the casus belli this
time. Not contented with having stolen the title and
parodied the favorite song of the cadets called the " old
south barracks," a really meritorious production written by
Harry Dent, a former cadet; and not satisfied with the
many scrapes into which he had been the means of leading
his fellow students, was now the " cause, means and instru-

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 17

ment " of bringing on what we shall call the last battle of
Dartmouth, or the battle of Torn Coats. Trusting to his
fear inspiring proportions and appearance, ami to a peace-
able demeanor, he ventured one Saturday to pass over to
Hanover alone and unprotected.

His arrival in the village was quickly known and he
was soon the object of almost universal attention. The
Darties welcomed this opportunity for revenge, and with
Staples at their head surrounded him.

Condon grew pale with fear and all his great strength
left him. He tried to look courageous and walk out of the
net, but as his reputation was not altogether unknown, they
stopped him and laughed at his frowns and hard words.
He cried " peace," but they told him there was none ; he
begged for mercy and they hissed him.

His knees smote together as Staples fiercely approach-
ed him. The boys enjoyed his terror. But they were too
manly to think of doing any bodily injury to one so com-
pletely in their power.

Staples seized him by his claw hammer coat-tails, and
deliberately ripped Condon's outer garment up to the col-
lar. That alone held the two halves of the coat together.

With shouts and screams of laughter the " Darties "
opened their ranks and permitted the humbled cadet to
march out of their midst.

Holding his coat together behind, as well as he could
with one hand, Condon fairly ran, followed by peals of
laughter which sounded like volleys of artillery in his ears,
and stopped not till he was safely on the other side of the
river. He tried to gain his room unseen, but in this he failed.

Lyon and Wolfe, who were walking together, met him,
and their laughter at his ridiculous appearance seemed to
be the echo of that from which he had fled.

" Is that the newest style— the regulation pattern ? "
inquired the first.

18 THE NORWICH CADETS :

*; Why don't you move your buttons around if you are
going to have your coat open on that side ? " said the other.

Poor Condon tried to tell how he had caught his coat
on a fence post, but his scared look did'not confirm his talc,
and he was finally obliged to confess to part of the truth.
He told, howTever, how he had been overpowered by num-
bers, and after a desperate struggle, he had been abused in
the manner they saw.

Though greatly amused at Condon's mishap, the honor
of the University wras at stake, as our friends thought, and
they determined upon retaliation.

The story was told ; there was a private meeting of the
cadets and to the number of forty-five they agreed that the
disgrace should be wiped out.

A neighboring wood-pile was laid under contribution
for weapons. They sawed the four foot limbs in two ; bored
gimlet holes hi one end ; tied in a loop of small cord and
threw the loop over the wrist, as cavalry men wear their
swords in action.

This gave each man a neat club of two feet in length
with a sword-knot to prevent him from losing it, should it
be knocked out of his hand.

With these formidable weapons (similar to a police-
man's club) they marched to Hanover, though Condon was
not among them. He complained of being unwell, and at
the time of departure was snugly tucked up in bed, with
numerous bottles of medicine on a stand at his bedside.

When the cadets reached Hanover they drew up on
the college green, and forming a hollow square (single rank
eleven men on a side), they gave three groans for Dart-
mouth, followed by three cheers for Norwich University.

They did not have to wait long for the enemy to ap-
pear. The Darties swarmed from every direction and
assembled on all sides of them.

Among the cadets was an Ohio boy named Evarts

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 19

(afterwards a Colonel of Volunteers) whose weight was two
hundred and thirty-five pounds and whose strength and
courage corresponded well with his weight. A blacksmith's
anvil of ordinary size was a toy in his huge hands. When
the cadets formed the square under command of Adjutant
Lyon, Evarts refused to fall in, and as the Dartmouth men
pressed close up, he seized the first wTho came near him by
the shoulders, whirled him around, and tore his coat from
skirt to collar. He followed this thing up by treating half
a dozen others in the same manner, before hostilities on the
part of the square were actually opened.

Lyon marched his little force first in one direction and
then in another, wherever the crowd appeared densest,
making a path wherever they went. The advantage which
the cadets possessed over their antagonists, consisted in
their military organization and their consequent ability to
strike as a unit against an unorganized mob.

Stones, brickbats and sticks fell among them, but rarely
inflicted any serious damage. After a time the fall of
missiles slackened ; and the attention of the enemy seemed
to be drawn toward an opposite section of the green.
Lyon seized the opportunity to give his command a breath-
ing spell by ordering an "in place, rest."

The cadets had only drawn a few free breaths, however,
when they saw Evarts standing alone with his arms folded,
about a hundred feet in front of them, while immediately
beyond him stood the Dartmouth host, evidently watching
and considering his probable movements, and meditating
his overthrow.

Presently two men appeared approaching him from
either side ; a third came up in front and dared him by
gestures ; a fourth stole to the rear of Goliah. Evarts
sprang for the man in front, and at the same time the three
men in flank and rear sprang upon him. The giant went
down.

20 THE NORWICH CADETS i

" Tention ! " shouted Adjutant Ljou ; u forward, double
quick ! "

In half a minute the square marched over the five
struggling men, halted and held them in the center.
Evarts sprang to his feet, caught each man singly and rip-
ped up his coat.

" Glory enough for one day ! To the Barracks, double
quick, march ! " exclaimed Lyon, and the cadets ran unmo-
lested down the hill to Vermont, Evarts and AVolfe bringing
up the rear and earnestly longing to be pursued.

Their longing was not gratified. They were not pur-
sued, but gained the barracks in safety, and indulged in
great rejoicings over their victory.

Condon was visibly better as he heard the news, and
the next day appeared as well as ever.

But more important events than these we have describ-
ed, were in the near future, and were soon to be unfolded
not only to the gaze of the cadets, but to the whole country
and the world.

The presidential campaign of 18G0 was a very exciting-
one because the people felt that greater interests than usual
wTere involved in it, if indeed the life of the nation was not
at stake. And after the election was over, the excitement,
instead of subsiding as it usually does after such an event,
rather increased. During the winter the threats of seces-
sion advocates grew louder and more frequent — the mutter-
ings of the gathering storm burst upon the country
with the thunder of the guns directed against Fort Sumter.

In politics Tom and Bill could not agree, but they
could do what many older heads cannot do, they could dis-
cuss questions about which they differed, without exhibit-
ing any personal animosity or feeling any diminution of
their friendship. The Vermonter was a staunch republican
and anti-slavery man, a firm supporter of Lincoln, while
the Georgian was a Breckinridge democrat and a pro slavery

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 2l

man. The former was a disciple of Webster and believed
that " We the people " had granted to the general govern-
ment greater powers than any that were reserved. The
latter was a disciple of Calhoun and believed in state rights.
If he must choose between Georgia and the United States,
he chose Georgia as having the stronger claim upon his
loyalty.

Many a wordy contest did the two cadets have with
each other, but prejudice with them as with most men, was
stronger than reason, and they usually ended as far apart
as when they began.

" Why should not the South have its independence, if
it desires it? " inquired Bill. " You believe in the right of
revolution."

" In some cases ; but I don't believe in treason," an-
swered Tom.

" That is dodging the point. Secession is revolution."

"Governments are instituted among men for the
benefit of the governed, and when they become destructive
of this end, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish
them. So I believe, and I believe that an oppressed people is
justified in revolution or secession without a cause. The
south claims the right to withdraw at will from the Union,
with or without a cause. But secession is not revolution ;
it is ten thousand times worse ; it is an anarchy. You do
not wish to alter or abolish our form of government because
it is an objectionable one. You are willing it should re-
main, but you wish to set up another government within
our boundaries, and I am sure that if you do, you will
model it after that to which you will have proved traitor,
so well, in fact do you like it. Revolutionize the whole
country if there is any cause for it."

" All governments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed, you know " said Bill,

" That is true, but Jefferson never meant that it was

22 THE NORWICH CADETS:

necessary to have the consent of every one of the governed.
The consent of the governed is the consent of the majority,
and that the national government possesses. Twenty mil-
lions of people are devoted to their government."

" With some exceptions."

" While only a part of eight millions demand a change,
and shall they rule the majority ?"

"Let them rule themselves ; it is all they ask."

" We will, but in a constitutional wTay. If every
minority at the close of an election were allowed to secede,
there would soon be nothing to secede from. Now if these
malcontents were equally distributed over the wdiole
country, they would be insignificant. Public opinion and
the ballot-box would be sufficient remedies against their
disorganizing tendencies. But the being all in a body to-
gether, in one section of the country, gives them an im-
portance which their numbers do not deserve. Our govern-
ment is one of their choice and adoption, and it is formed
on the principle that the majority should rule. The
majority ought to rule ; there can be no free government
without it."

" Why has not the South as good a right to secede
from the United States, as the United Colonies had to
secede from Great Britain in 1776 ?"

" Because her people have not the same cause. They
offer none to the world. They have no decent respect to
the opinions of mankind, and declare no cause for separa-
tion. Our fathers had numerous causes and they boldly
declared them. They petitioned and remonstrated first,
and the appeal to arms was the last resort. You southerners
have nothing to say which you are not ashamed to embody
in a declaration to the world, and there is a peaceful remedy
for every just complaint that you can have."

" The question is who is to decide whether a people lias
cause to rebel. England did not think her American Col-

A TALE OF TIIE REBELLION. 23

onies were right ; you don't think the South is right. The
rebels in 1776 thought differently, as they do now.''

u The two cases are dissimilar. In one case there were
real grievances ; hi the other there are none, and further,
the colonies occupied a country which by their own toils
and sufferings they had redeemed from the wilderness and
its savage inhabitants — a country of their own, which was
far removed from the ruling power in whose counsels they
had no voice. They were on another continent. They did
not set up a government in a corner of England. Even if
the rule of England had been mild and just, it is impossible
in the nature of things, and contrary to reason and natural
justice that a country like this should long be subject to the'
sway of a little island across the ocean. But you would
establish a nation within a nation. You have about the
same right to secede that Yorkshire has. If the Southern-
ers or the Yorkshh-emen don't like their government, let
them leave the country. They have no right to dictate to a
majority what sort of government there shall be, or wheth-
er there shall be two governments or one."

"Revolutionists are always hi a minority. If they
were not they would not have to resort to revolution. The
American colonies, taking the whole British Empire into
consideration (and they were a part of it) were in a much
greater minority than the Southerners are now in ; and I
don't see that a little water thrown between affects the ques-
tion of right in the least."

"Water is a natural boundary of nations."

" Mountains are another, but you wouldn't see it, if
the country west of the Rocky mountains was to rebel."

" No ; we won't permit the establishment of any new
government within the territory of the United States. Un-
der a free government like ours, voluntarily accepted at
first, there can be no cause for rebellion. If the people *
don't like their government, they have the power to alter it

24 THE NORWICH CADETS:

peaceably. The colonies did not have that power, nor any
part of it.

" You talk well, but can you light ? " said Bill with a
grim smile.

"That you will have a chance to prove if you go on.''
" Success will make noble patriots of us rebels."
" If you wait for- transformation, you will die dishon-
ored traitors."

" Plainly, Tom, secession is the only salvation for slav-
ery. If we remain it is doomed ; if we go out we may pre-
serve it. It is woven into the fabric of our society. We
are born and bred in it and like it better than your system
of so-called free labor, and think it the best condition of
labor both for whites and blacks, so long as we have the
negroes and cannot be rid of them. In fact all enforced
labor, whether of poverty or the lash, is slavery. We find
the institution of slavery to be both pleasant and profitable
to us ; many of your most prominent northern divines tell
us it is scriptural and right, and we are bound to maintain
it either within or without the Union."

After this manner their discussions usually proceeded
and ended. Both were unconsciously pleased at the
prospect of Avar, though they knew that when it came it
would find them arrayed as enemies against each other.
Darker and darker grew the threatening war-cloud which
overhung the country. Sober patriots who knew how great
a loss to them, their children and the world, would be the
loss of the Union, grew grave and heavy-hearted at the
prospect. Others thought there was needless alarm ; that
the sky would clear in a few months and that then we
should go on again in our old way of peace and prosperity.
No one fully anticipated the greatness of the impending
conflict. But still the news from the South grew daily of a
more warlike character. Daily did distinguished men
previously honored for their ability and patriotism, fall

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 25

away from the support of the government and throw them-
selves into the ranks of its enemies. The Union seemed to
be dropping to pieces and fading away like some beautiful
structure in a dream, to the surprise of those who knew
that its stones were cemented with the blood of its builders,
and expected it to stand. The Cabinet dissolved by
resignation. Its rebel element withdrew after doing all
the damage it could, to join the secession movement. Its
loyal element, in the person of the venerable Cass, withdrew
in disgiist at the non-coercion policy of President
Buchanan.

South Carolina seceded Dec. 20. 1860, and the an-
nouncement of the fact in the House of Representatives of
the Congress of the United States was received with clap-
ping of hands by a few secessionists. Major Anderson was
fighting against starvation in Charleston harbor. The
nation, like a headless trunk, remained passive under insults
and injuries innumerable, raising no hand to defend its life
against the blows of its would-be assassins.

New interest attached to the drill at the University and
there was more hard study among the cadets of those
branches of knowledge pertaining to war than the pro-
fessors had witnessed for many a year.

Cadet Wolfe remained at the University, a hard student
and outwardly loyal, until Georgia seceded, January 2, 1861.
Then he transferred his allegiance from the national govern-
ment to that of his native State and made his preparations
to return home and take his position in the ranks of the
gathering Southern chivalry.

He bade farewell to his companions, with less eloquence
perhaps, but with more feeling, than Jefferson Davis ex-
hibited in retiring from his place in the United States
Senate, and wringing the hand of Tom Lyon while tears
sprang to their meeting eyes, he departed for Washington,

26 THE NORWICH CADETS '.

where his sister was at school, with the purpose of escorting
her to their father's house.

On his arrival home he was received with a warm wel-
come, as were all the returning sons of the South, and very
soon thereafter he received a captain's commission in a
Georgia regiment and entered the service of the Con-
federacy.

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 27

CHAPTER IV.

THE STORM BURSTS IT RAINS BLOOD CADET LYON ENTERS HIS

COUNTRY'S SERVICE HONORS TO HIM AND PEACE BETWEEN

NORWICH AND DARTMOUTH OUR TWO HEROES AT SWORDS'

POINTS.

UEING the remainder of Buchanan's term
of office, the Union was a constant loser, while
the South was gaining strength and material
for the approaching conflict. Government prop-
erty in the rebel states, forts,* arsenals, navy-
yards, ships, mints, custom-houses and sub-
treasuries, writh money, arms and munitions
were taken, to the value of forty millions of dol-
lars, without a single arm being raised in opposition.

A convention of the seceded states met at Montgomery,
Alabama, and the Southern Confederacy was born there on
the 9th of February, 1861.

When Lincoln came to take the reins of government
he found himself at the head of a people paralyzed by the
terrible state of affairs, despoiled of army, navy and war
material, and without money or credit, while a formidable
rebellion, fully organized and exultant at its first success,
boldly confronted him and dared him to strike. Yet still he
dreamed of peace, and in his inaugural address he attempted
to pour oil upon the troubled waters which were rising to
engulf the country and to blot from the galaxy of nations
the brightest star which ever shone there. But his dream

28 THE NORWICH CADETS i

was quickly and rudely dispelled by the roar of a mortar
from Sullivan's Island on the morning of the 12th of April.
The news of the fall of Sumter flashed over the North,
everywhere rousing the indignation of the people, who
were stirred as they had never been before. It was quickly
followed (April loth) by the President's proclamation calling
for 75,000 men, which was hailed with delight and responded
to with alacrity. Vermont's first regiment was soon on its
way to Washington under the command of Col. Phelps, the
lamented Washburn being second in command.

The tide of secession which had flowed up to the very
base of the Capitol began to ebb, and the cleansing waves
from the hills of the North followed upon its return-
ing course. Baltimore was humbled by Gen. Butler and
made safe for the passage of loyal troops. Gen. McClellan
" completely annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia."
Gen. Butler took possession of Fortress Monroe and New-
port News and forced the enemy to retire from Big Bethel
to Yorktown, though at considerable loss to himself, owing
to the blunders of his subordinates. Northern soldiers
poured by thousands into Washington, and the armies of
the West daily increased in numbers. .

During these months of excitement cadet Tom Lyon
remained at Norwich waiting for his graduation, which was
to occur in July, but anxious to be engaged in the service
of his country, and determined to be among the foremost
to answer the next call upon Vermont for volunteers. He
read with avidity all the news from the seat of war and
rejoiced in every success of Northern arms. When news
came from the disastrous field of Bull Run, casting a gloom
over all the North and filling many hearts with dismay,
Tom's cheek blanched a little, but it was with shame at the
cowardice displayed, and not with fear of Southern valor.

He saw with secret joy that a ninety days' campaign
was not to end the conflict as many had predicted.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 29

" Now " said he to Condon, with a beaming face, " there
will be another call and a chance for us."

" To feed the worms," added that hero. " You will
enlist ?" he inquired.

" Give your voice the falling inflection and you will be
answered."

" To fall in a righteous cause is glorious, but very un-
pleasant, especially to a man of my proportions. I have
made up my mind to enter upon the study of medicine so
that I may be able to heal the wounds which you are likely
to receive."

"I should rather face your sword than your scalpel,
but there will be work for doctors before this war is
over."

Mat did soon after enter a medical college, while Tom,
receiving a Captain's commission, hastened with his reg
iment to join the army of the Potomac, then under the
command of Gen. George B. McClellan, who had been called
to supersede the venerable Scott.

Captain Lyon was at Norwich making a farewell visit
among the undergraduates, when a telegram came, direct-
ing him to join his regiment at once. The cadets, with
whom he was a general favorite, determined at once to
escort him to the depot and accompany him as far as White
River Junction, and for this purpose procured the use of
two extra cars.

They marched out of town with music, but before they
reached the descent overlooking the depot, the music ceased
and they proceeded at " route step." As the first company
came in sight of the depot they were surprised to see its
platform and the adjacent grounds black with the students
of Dartmouth.

A subdued murmur ran along the lines — '; A fight ! a
fight ! the Darties are out in force."

But just then from among the assembled students, wTho

30 THE NORWICH CADETS:

were evidently waiting for the cadets, a clear voice rang
out: — " Three cheers for Norwich University !"

These were given with hearty earnestness by the
students.

The cadets were too much surprised to answer, even if
it had been '"military" to do so without orders. Never
before in the history of the two institutions of learning,
had a cheer for one emanated from the lungs of the stu-
dents of the other.

The cadet in command ordered the direct step ; the
music sounded, and the companies marched down the hill
to the station, wheeled into line and presented arms to
Capt. Lyon, who gracefully raised his cap and withdrew.

Again the same voice heard before cried out — " Three
cheers for Norwich University ! "

Again the cheers resounded.

Then followed the quick commands — u Shoulder arms !
order arms ! in place, rest — Three cheers for Dartmouth
College ! "

These were given with all the strength of lung the
cadets could muster.

Old Dartmouth had won this time. The cadets felt
that they were fairly conquered by the magnanimity of
their ancient foes.

"When the train moved away from the depot a great
number of students were on it and such friendly greetings
as passed that day were never known before between cadets
and students.

At White River Junction the train stopped and the large
party assembled upon and about the platform of the depot.
Cadet Carter, who had been selected by his fellow cadets
for the duty, now7 advanced in their front and delivered a
parting address to Capt. Lyon, which was distinguished for
its good diction, noble sentiment and fervent patriotism and
which was delivered in such an elegant and yet soldierly

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 31

manner that the Dartmouth boys were somewhat astonished.

Our hero responded briefly but feelingly, and promised
that he would never give his alma 7nater cause to be ashamed
of him.

As he closed, the tall form of Staples appeared in the
open space before the cadets, where he had been urged by
his fellow students, and now being called upon for a speech,
he said : —

" Young Gentlemen of the Norwich University : — At
this crisis in our national affairs, when men of all parties
are setting aside their differences to unite in the common
defence of our country, it seems but proper that the stu-
dents of Dartmouth and cadets of Norwich should settle
their differences and unite also, if need be, in the service of
the nation. In order to do this effectually, we owe you an
apology, and I am selected to make it. Although we have
never doubted your scholarship — your full equality with us
in the arts and sciences — still we are obliged to confess that
in the past we have looked upon you as a different class of
young men from ourselves — a class of young men caught by
the glitter and pomp of martial array, and we have thought
that brass buttons and a neatly fitting uniform were the
chief attractions of Norwich University in your eyes. We
believed you were wasting your time in learning a science
which could never be of service to you, while it curtailed your
privileges and tied you down to irksome discipline. To-day
we see our mistake. You are not only fitted to compete
with us in all the civil professions, but now, in this supreme
hour of the nation's need, your military education makes
you our superiors. You can buckle on the sword and lead
men in the present conflict, while we of Dartmouth must
shoulder the musket. For one, I declare that I should
consider it an honor to serve under any graduate of Nor-
wich University, and particularly under him to do honor to
wThom we are met to-day. (cheers.) I pledge you my word

32 THE NORWICH CADETS:

that before many months have passed away the armies of
the republic shall be swelled by at least one raw recruit
from Old Dartmouth, and on the muster-roll of his com-
pany you will find the name of Staples."

The speaker, as he concluded, was rapturously applaud-
ed, and then a general handshaking ensued.

The cadets and students returned together, and the
former escorted the latter into Hanover. There they were
received in the chapel and addressed by one of the profes-
sors, who referred in a happy manner to the unanimity of
different parties, sects and cliques of men in view of the
Union's peril.

A firm and lasting peace was thus established, and
thereafter both parties regarded as their foes only the
enemies of their common country.

By the middle of October, McClellan found himself at
the head of 150,000 men, while his army was daily being
increased by the arrival of regiment after regiment from
the now determined North. Part of the troops were
moved across the Potomac and encamped upon the " sacred
soil " of Virginia, the regiment to which Capt. Lyon
belonged among the rest.

The autumn and winter wore away in drilling the
troops and preparing them for active service, while the
country waited anxiously for a general advance. But the
perhaps over-cautious commander-in-chief did not see fit to
order one, and our soldiers did not enjoy the longed-for
opportunity to measure their strength, on any important
field, with the hosts of rebellion. Ball's Bluff and Draines-
ville relieved the monotony somewhat, but in neither of
these engagements did our hero have a chance to distin-
guish himself. But while he fretted at inactivity, his first
battle was not far distant.

Feb. 13th, Gen. Lander led 4000 men southward from
the Potomac, and Tom's regiment was a part of this force.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 33

They chose a route whicli would best screen them from the
observation of the enemy's scouts, and reached the Great
Cacapon at night. They spent half the night in throwing
a rude bridge across this stream, but they worked not only
with a will but with knowledge. Those Vermonters had
worked out many a tax on the highways at home, and they
knew something about bridge-building. They were veterans
in the use of the ax, and the stringers were soon cut and
fixed in their places. Where a party of cavaliers would
have gazed hopelessly from bank to bank, or floundered in
the water in attempting to cross, these sons of the round-
heads went dry-shod, not through, but over the waters.

u Is this in •your district ! " said one brawny Green
Mountain boy to another.

" Wal no ; I guess not. We must be a leetle over the
line, but, howsomever, I call my tax worked out."

The design of the commander was to surprise a force
of the rebels at Blooming Gap, a short distance beyond,
and the men were ordered to move as silently as possible.

Before day break they came within striking distance,
and the scouts sent in advance reported the enemy unsus-
picious of an attack.

The men were formed in proper order and the com-
mand given to advance. The enemy's pickets were driven
in, alarming their friends as they retired. The rebels pour-
ed out of their tents half clad and half armed, and hastily,
but imperfectly, formed to withstand the expected onset.

The Unionists with cheers charged upon the bewilder-
ed rebels.

" Follow me, Company A !" cried Captain Tom to his
men, and sword in hand he led them, sweeping all before
him.

It was a hand to hand fight among the rebel tents in
the dim morning light, but the enemy was forced at every
point to give way before the furious charge of our troops,

34 THE NORWICH CADETS :

who burned to wipe out the disgrace of Bull Run and to
avenge the slaughter of their comrades at Ball's Bluff, where
the gallant Baker yielded up as noble a life as the Union
had to offer.

Many of the rebels fled in terror from the field, iiot to
return. But others of a sterner courage wTere no sooner
scattered in one quarter, then they re-formed in another, as
though determined not to submit to defeat at the hands of
the hated Yankees. Against these worthy foemen the Ver-
monters fought with a courage which would not have sham-
ed their sires, and everywhere victoriously. Capt. Lyon's
cold northern blood grew warm as though it flowed in
southern veins, and his impetuosity and contempt of dang-
er inspired his men with a confident courage that guaran-
teed success.

Not more than a fourth of the enemy now remained to
dispute the field, and these were gathered together without
much regard to military order. They were parts of differ-
ent disorganized regiments and broken companies — a few of
the bravest who stubbornly, but hopelessly, contended for
victory.

A volley was poured into them which was returned
with spirit and supplemented with yells of defiance.

The Vermonters, being in closest proximity to them,
were ordered to charge, an order which they obeyed with
alacrity.

" Come on, you cowardly hounds and pick out your
graves ; wre'll dig them for you," came froni the rebel ranks,

" We are coming, my friends," cried Tom, as his regi-
ment rushed upon them.

The enemy withstood the shock and for a few minutes
the combatants were intermingled. Swords and bayonets
met and crossed in wild confusion.

Lyon's sword did not rest. No sooner had he cleared
of foes a space around him, than he sprang again into the

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 35

thickest of the fight. But his great strength and skill in
the use of his weapon preserved him harmless.

Suddenly he found himself confronted by a young
southern officsr whose daring had several times turned the
tide of battle momentarily in favor of the confederates.

Their swords crossed with a sharp ring, and then they
looked each other in the face. It was light enough now to
to distinguish countenances at such close quarters, and
simultaneously there burst from their lips the familiar
names —

" Bill !"

" Tom !"

The two friends were face to face on the field of battle.
Instinctively they lowered their swords. Never before had
they stood opposed. Before they could find further words,
there was a rush made which separated them, and each
found himself again in the midst of his own comrades. The
momentary meeting seemed to both like a vision of the
night.

Valor was of no avail to the rebels, surprised as they
had been, and in a few minutes they were all put to flight,
young Wolfe escaping with the rest. The contest had been
as brief as it was fierce.

The Unionists took about a hundred prisoners in all, a
comparatively large number of them being officers.

The dead, friend and foe, were buried, the spoils col-
lected, the wounded cared for, and after a short interval for
rest and refreshment, the expedition took up the line of
march for camp, flushed with the triumph obtained, though
it was decisive of nothing except the equal courage of
northern and southern men.

Once more in the quiet of his tent, Capt. Lyon re-called
his sudden and unexpected meeting with his old friend, and
realized, more strongly than he had done before, the
fraticidal nature of the strife in which he was engaged. He

36 THE NORWICH CADETS !

did not however feel any less inclination to prosecute it to
a victorious issue. He felt that the integrity and per-
petuity of the Union afforded to the world the brightest
hope of universal freedom, and he determined to further, as
much as in him lay, the accomplishment of the defiant
prophecy of Andrew Jackson — " The Union must and shall
preserved."

A TALE OP THE REBELLION.

37

CHAP TEE V.

BY THE CAMP FIRE ON THE PENINSULA WILLIAMSBURG CAPT.

LYON A PRISONER AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.

O K more than another month the main body
of the army of the Potomac remained inactive.
The younger officers tried to make the time pass
as pleasantly as they could, and their endeavors
were crowned with a fair measure of success. A
few congenial spirits were in the habit of col-
lecting together in Capt. Lyon's tent, and some
of the evenings spent there were very enjoyable.
The story, the song and jest went round as
though no enemy were in the land, and war and bloodshed
were things unknown. The party was usually made up of
Capts. Lyon and Nason, Lieuts. Merritt and Safford, the
latters brother, Dr. Safford, and private Hank Wait. The
last, inside the tent, was on an equality with his titled
friends, who were all his former schoolmates and com-
panions. They made no pretence of superiority, because
there was none, except such as was made by their commis-
sions and shoulder-straps. Our army was very democratic
in character, especially the country regiments. Freemen,
regarding all men as equal and accustomed to call no man
lord, could not easily learn to look upon their officers as
their superiors and respect them as such, when they had
known them for years in civil life as no whit better than them-
selves— their social equals and co-laborers in peaceful pur-

38 T3E NORWICH CADETS:

suits. The officers themselves generally had the same feel-
ings,— so different from the sentiment of the regular army,
and from that to be observed in the standing armies of
foreign countries.

But this feeling of equality between men and officers
was not so conspicuous in city regiments, and is something
which cannot endure through many campaigns in any regi-
ment, though the rank and file be millionaires and Ad-
mirable Crichtons. An army is a perfect example of despot-
ism. Though history proves that the citizens of republics
— men accustomed to the enjoyment of liberty and equality
— have generally made good and brave soldiers, it has been
rather in spite of than because of the tyranny of army rule.
Intelligent men who have volunteered to fight for a cause
they esteem their own, determine to put up for a while with
the necessary distinctions of rank, and to sacrifice, tem-
porarily, their personal independence and equality for the
common good. But none the less they know and feel —

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a1 that.11

This democratic principle reigned supreme in Capt.
Lyon's tent on the evenings when his friends met together
for social enjoyment.

" I don't wear such handsome clothes as you fellows,"
Hank would frequently observe, " but I wear the hand-
somest face."

" Can't some one say something flattering about the
Adonis-like form of our worthy private?" inquired Capt.
Tom, pointing at the corpulent figure of Hank, who with an
altitude of barely five feet five carried a weight of two hun-
dred and thirty pounds avoirdupois.

" When I took lessons in drawing, in my youth, of the
lady dauber at Green River Academy," said the tall and
spare Dr. Safford, coiling his long legs two or three times
around a camp-stool, " I was told that the curve is the line
of beauty, and if that information was correct, I think that

A TALE OF TIIE REBELLION. 39

private Wait has numerous claims to beauty and those of
no ordinary character."

" Perhaps you think the niullen the most graceful mem-
ber of the vegetable kingdom," retorted Hank ; " but if you
do, you have as bad a taste as your physic."

ki The Johnny rebs can't complain that Hank don't give
hem a fair target," said Joe, who was known on parade as
Lieut. Safford.

u I thought you was my friend, Joe," said Hank with
an affected tone of injured feeling.

" I am, and I hope you'll remember that, and let me
hide behind you in the day of battle."

" No need of that. There a'n't a sharp shooter on the
other side able to hit such narrow strips of nothing as you
and the Doctor."

" Come Merritt, sing us a song," cried Captain Nason.
" These fellows are all so handsome and witty, that I begin
to feel out of place in such fine company. We must do
something brilliant or beat a retreat. Let me give you an
overture to bring them to silence."

Seizing a violin, he gave it a few scrapes and turns of
the keys, and then played with skill a lively tune which put
his hearers in mind of festive scenes, where joy was uncon-
fined.

Then in response to several invitations, Lieutenant
Merritt sang in a clear, melodious voice the following song :

I sing of Vernionters, the bold and the free,

Whom foremost in battle their country shall see :

Who rush from their mountains like the spring torrent's How,

And bathe the green vales with their blood as they go.

Like the fierce wind that blows through their tall mountain pines,

List the cheers in wild chorus that ring from their lines!

Undaunted by dangers, untrammeled by fears,

Beat the hearts in the breasts of Vermont's volunteer-.

Afar thrown the scabbard when stirs the fierce strife,
They clutch the bright blade and each blow is a life;
With muscles of steel and with iron-like frame,
They write with their bayonets stories of fame.

40 THE NORWICH CADETS:

Their springs of green hemlock— the badge of their State —
Wherever they wave are the gods* nod of fate.
O. the Green Mountain Boys, the bold mountaineers—
The pride of their State are Vermont's volunteers.

The arms that have wielded the scythe and the ax.
Can beat down the foe like the grass in their tracks:
And ey< s that with rifle the wild hawk can take.
Can sight the broad mark that a traitor will make.
From boyhood to manhood, trained up in rough sports.
They know not the polish of courtiers and courts,
But where there are deeds that befit men to do,
There, foremost. Vermonters stand gallant and true.
Their bayonets gleam on the fair Southern plain,
Whose blossoms are painted with blood of the slain,
And grimly the mountaineer leans on his gun,
On the field of fierce carnage his valor has*\on.

But the thoughts of his home, of his dear mountain home,
Where the green hemlocks bend to the breezes that roam—
These start down the powder-grimed cheek the warm tears
Which flow from the hearts of Vermont's volunteers.

Where the loved ones were left in the snug little cot.
"Mid the charms of a home which can ne'er be forgot ;
Where the rich yellow grain upon upland and vale,
'Neath the bluest of skies, grows ripe for the flail.
There the soldier will gaze through the mist of his tears,
But to gather new courage and kill coward fears .
Hurrah ! for Vermont ! for her bold mountaineer^ !
Hurrah ! for Vermont ! and Vermont's volunteer^ !

The singer ceased, and there was silence for a few
moments, for in every mind tender thoughts of home had
been aroused and contended with patriotic emotion for the
mastery. The Doctor, who was the only married man in
the company, had an absent look upon his face.

"Bravo! Lieutenant," cried Capt. Nason. "I think
we may venture to stop here a while longer. If our courage
and patriotism need the spur, you have given it to us."

" We must fight ! I repeat it gentlemen, we must
fight !" exclaimed Hank.

" Let us smoke first," suggested Joe, " you will have
a chance to lard the lean earth, yet, Falstaff, in some future
Bull Bun."

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 41

" Fill your pipes gentlemen— pure Virginia, I assure
you— ami then I shall call for a story from Dr. Safford,"
said Tom.

" Let me speak a piece," said Hank.

"Peace, peace; there is no peace," and we don't wish
any from you. A story from the Doctor."

" Shoulder your crutch — "

" And saddle-bags — "

"And tell how fields are won."

"No doubt you need to know," replied the Doctor,
"but I don't wish to usurp the prerogative of the com-
mander-in-chief. If I must tell a tale, it will have to be one
of the future— and such an one as I shall tell my grand-
children."

" Have it as as you please, and begin."

" Give us the title and say — Chapter I., but remember
we don't want any continued story."

" My story is called

" Years ago, my clear grandchildren, when I was young,
and your mother was a baby, occurred the great rebellion
of which you have read in your school histories. There
was a young man whom I knew well, named Thomas Lyon,
and he was as full of courage as the animal whose name he
bore. He went to the war as a captain. He would have
gone as a private, but the government would not permit
it. He had a. genius for command and it was thought best
to clothe him with authority. In his first battle he became
frenzied with excitement and rushed alone and singlehand-
ed upon the enemy, though he knew not, at the time, whith-
er he was rushing. His men, inspired by his example,
charged recklessly after him, and the victory was won. For
this exhibition of gallant conduct, he was made a colonel.
In his next battle he was surprised with his regiment ber

42 THE NORWICH CADETS :

tween two detainments of the enemy, each of which pour-
ed in a galling fire upon his melting ranks. It was death
to remain there and it seemed certain destruction to move
in either direction. But his men got tired of being shot
down like sheep in a pen, and charged desperately upon that
portion of the enemy which had got between them and the
main body of the Union army. It was a charge home, and
nothing could withstand it. What they did not kill of the
enemy, they drove into their own camp as prisoners. In
his report of the battle, the commanding general described
the affair as a dashing and successful attempt to divide and
thus conquer the force of the enemy. The colonel was im-
mediately promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

In the following campaign, a certain Gen. Ryan was
severely wounded in a desperate assault upon rebel earth-
works. In the report of this, a mistake was made, owing to
the similarity of names, and Gen. Lyon was declared the
hero. By this lucky accident, my friend became a major
general. Not being engaged in any other battles, he serv-
ed creditably through, the remainder of the war, and, at its
close, retired upon his laurels and the money he had saved
out of his salary. In the years of peace which followed,
he devoted himself to politics with the same success which
he enjoyed in war, ever moving onward in the pathway to
greatness. He filled successively the highest offices in the
gift of his native state, and finally a grateful people, as rep-
resented by the Old Soldiers' Party, nominated him for the
Presidency. He was triumphantly elected and re-elected,
serving two terms. Declining a third election, his statue
wras placed in the Capitol, wThich it at present adonis. And
thus you see, my dear grandchildren, I shall remark, " how
the humblest merit may rise to the loftiest position." And
my grandson Philip will proudly exclaim, '" Grandpa knew
that man ! How I w^ish there would be another war.''

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 43

" Well, Doctor," said Tom, after allowing the others to
laugh, " I don't want another story, and if I did, I don't
think I should call on you for it."

After much further converse upon different topics,
Captain Lyon's guests departed for their respective tents,
and soon silence settled down upon the great army sleeping
upon the hostile soil of the Old Dominion. Camp-life was
made comparatively pleasant by those who were determined
to be happy, as almost any kind of life can be made, but the
most careless knew that there was stern work to be done
and hardships to be endured before their flag could wave
again over a united country.

Early in March, the enemy abandoned its winter camp
and retired southward, and soon after there was an advance
of our grand army upon Centreville and Manassas which
were found deserted. Having held, occupied and possessed
these positions without bloodshed, our anaconda army
turned its head toward the Potomac again, while with its
tail it drove Stonewall Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley.

During the latter part of the month, the main body of
the army was transferred to Fortress Monroe, where Gen.
McClellan arrived on the 2d of April and the Peninsula
Campaign began. Our army was over 100,000 strong and
opposed at first only by the rebel Gen. Magruder, who held
Yorktown with about 8,000 men. Had the true state of
affairs then been known, a determined advance might have
forced the Confederacy into its last ditch and saved us the
blood and treasure of the sword-fish policy of Gen. Grant,
which was afterward found necessary. But this would have
spoiled our story, as well as the reputation of sundry
heroes who won fame for themselves in the succeeding
campaigns.

For thirty days the army was employed in throwing up
earth-works for the siege of Yorktown. When about ready
to drive Magruder from his works, he saved them the

44 THE NORWICH CADETS I

trouble and expense of powder by quietly withdrawing and
retreating up the peninsula.

The pursuit was begun by Stoneman's cavalry, which
•fras followed by Hooker's, Kearney's and three other
divisions towards Williamsburg, where the enemy was
strongly entrenched. This first battle for the possession
of Richmond was mainly fought by Hooker's division, and
resulted in a victory to our arms, though at a total loss of
B war 2,000 men.

The forest was felled for a breadth of half a mile in front
of the rebel works, to obstruct the advance of our troops.
Two regiments were sent into the timber, while the others,
with two batteries, advanced into the cleared field on the
right.

. Now, for the first time. Capt. Lyon found himself en-
gaged in a great battle, and he and his fun-loving com-
panions of the Potomac camp proved that they could fight
as well as laugh and sing.

" Now Tom," said Nason, as he came near, "is a chance
to fulfill the doctor's prophecy and win a colonel's commis-
sion."

" I don't think I'm crazy enough yet for that, but where
is he ? — in the rear waiting to saw off our legs ?"

" I'm here, Thomas," said the tall surgeon just behind
him ; " I want to be on hand when you run against one of
those 'bare bodkins ' over yonder."

" Thank you," replied Lyon, as Fort Magruder again
opened upon them, dropping all conversation in the roar of
its guns.

Soon after a large body of Confederates were seen
charging towards them in gallant style, yelling as they
came.

" Steady, boys, steady," sounded along the line ; "don't
fire till you are ordered."

" And then don't waste your powder — fire low," said
Lt. Joe to his men.

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 45

On came the enemy with furious speed. It required
great courage calmly to wait their approach.

" Stand firm ! " growled Lyon to his company.

" You can count on me ; I am too fat to run," replied
Hank, raising a laugh even in that moment of peril.

The enemy were within a few rods of them — their
faces plainly distinguishable.

" Fire ! " rang out in a clear tone.

A tremendous volley was poured into the advancing
foe, nearly every bullet doing execution.

The rebels fell by scores ; their ranks were broken ;
they halted and staggered as though uncertain whether to
advance or retreat.

" Fire ! " rang out again the same clear voice.

Another volley, fired with equal effect, completed the
demoralization of the enemy. They turned and fled.

" Upon them, boys ! " cried Capt. Lyon, waving his
sword and dashing forward followed by his men.

" I can't run, but I will walk," said Hank, and he fol-
lowed slowly after, loading as he went.

Pursuit was useless, as well as dangerous, owing to
the nearness of the rebel batteries, and Company A, with
its impetuous Captain, was quickly re-called by the command-
ing officer.

Twice more the rebels charged the position held by
the Green Mountain Boys, each time with fresh troops and
with increased numbers and more resolute purpose. But
each time they were repulsed with great slaughter, though
not without inflicting severe loss upon their opponents.
Here sank down many to mingle their ashes with the dust
of an empire built upon slavery — voiceless but perpetual
pleaders for that liberty for which they died— and the
Mends they left in northern homes looked with unsatisfied
eyes to see their faces among the returning brave.

46 THE NORWICH CADETS:

Gen. Longstreet's division of the rebel army now
arrived on the field, and a fresh attempt was made to push
back our forces. The struggle wras long and of doubtful
issue, but the enemy was at last repulsed, though our sold-
iers used up all their ammunition and all they could find in
the boxes of their dead comrades, before they accomplished
the repulse of their determined assailants.

But the desperate courage displayed could not alone,
in every case, command success. Another assault on our
front from the direction of Fort Magruder found our men
with only bayonets to repel it.

As the enemy came on, once more the order was given
to charge and meet them. "With a northern cheer, which
equalled in volume the southern yell, our men sprang
forward. Hand to hand they fought till the dead and
dying lay thick upon the ground, which was red with their
blood. Capt. Lyon displayed a valor which brought upon
him the particular attention of the enemy.

" Stand to them !" he cried ; " not a step backward !" as
his sword flashed in the air and descended with a force
which sent his nearest antagonist a corpse to the earth.
Again it flashed, reeking with blood and fell with a death-
blow. But the odds were too great in the advanced
position he was attempting to hold. His foes swarmed
about him ; they made a rush which foi ced back our troops,
and when the rebel wave retired, it carried with it about
two hundred of our men as prisoners. Among them was
Capt. Lyon, disarmed and furious at his capture, but,
thanks to his good sword and his good training, without a
single wound.

" Come, Yank ; you're bagged. Double-quick it now
— we can't stop here," said one of his captors, hurrying him
along.

" You want to go to Richmond so bad it would be a
pity to prevent you," said another.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 47

" I reckon if he can't take Richmond, that Richmond
can take him," said a third jocose rebel.

Tom deigned no reply to these remarks, but hoping yot
to be recaptured before the close of the battle, he was taken
within the rebel lines and.sent to the rear.

• His hopes of recapture were not destined to be fulfilled.

That night the Confederates evacuated Williamsburg,
leaving the disputed field to be occupied by our army. In
this particular the battle was a victory to our arms, but our
loss, over 2,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners, was
probably quite as large as that of the enemy. We took over
a thousand prisoners, a larger number than we lost, but the
most of them were wounded men whom the enemy
abandoned in their hasty retreat.

Gen. McClellan claimed the victory in the following
dispatch to the Secretary of War :

" Headquarters Army of the Potomac, )

Williamsburg, May 6, 1862. j

Hon. E. M. Stanton^ Secretary of War: — Every hour

proves* our victory more complete. The enemy's loss is

great, especially in officers. I have just heard of five more

of their guns captured. Prisoners are constantly arriving.

G. B. McCLELLAN,

Ma j.- Gen. Commanding."
The night after the battle, our hero found himself on
the road to Richmond, against his will. He did not know
how the battle had gone, but rightly judged by the evi-
dences of retreat around him, that it had gone in favor of
the Union. He bitterly regretted the prospect of inactivity
before him while he marched along with his fellow-prisoners,
guarded by rebels on every side. Among them were a few
prisoners from a New Hampshire regiment and as Tom
scanned their faces, he thought he recognized one who wore
a captain's uniform. At the same time the New Hampshire
man, probably also looking for a familiar face, glanced at

48 THE NORWICH CADETS:

our hero, and with a peculiar smile approached him and ex
tended his hand.

It wras Sophomore Staples of Dartmouth College,
cadet Wolfe's antagonist hi the battle of Hanover, describ-
ed in a former chapter.

" Friends, now, Captain, are wre ! " inquired Staples.

" Yes," returned Tom frankly, grasping the extended
hand, " friends and brothers in misfortune."

" Fdicitas multos habet amicos — prosperity has many
friends — adversity but few," said the collegian.

" True," returned Tom ; " and those of prosperity not
only fall away from us, but often become our enemies,"
sadly thinking, as he spoke, of his friend Bill.

" That reminds me," said the other, " of my former
enemy and victor. What has become of him ? "

" He is in the confederate service, and probably with
this army."

u I hope he won't feel it due to his honor to finish the
job of killing me which he began so vigorously on that
night, you remember," said Staples, laughing.

" Never fear ; Wolfe is as noble as he is brave. He
never attacks any one unless he feels pretty sure that the
chances are in favor of his being whipped in the encounter.
I don't think he will ever distinguish himself in the pursuit
of a beaten enemy."

Thus conversing together, the two walked on cheerfully
to prison.

That same evening the friends of Capt. Lyon, missing
him, sought his body on the field of battle ; but no trace of
him was found.

" Not dead, then, it is certain," said Capt. Nason.

" Probably wounded and taken prisoner" said Lieuten-
ant Merritt.

" Our future president is no doubt a prisoner," said
Dr. Safford, deliberately, " but it is my opinion that he is

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. -49

not seriously wounded, if at all. We know that the rebels
have left their own wounded behind them, and it is not
likely that they have taken any of ours."

In this opinion all coincided, and somewhat relieved,
yet sad at the loss of the favorite of the mess, they return-
ed to the bivouac of the regiment and cast themselves
down upon the ground to sleep as well as they could amid
such horrible surroundings — all except the Doctor, who was
busy all night, nearly, in attending to the wounded.

50 THE NORWICH cadets:

CHAPTER VI.

LIBBY PRISON COL. WOLFE HELOISE C^SAR, ONE OF THE BONES

OF CONTENTION LOVE A HOPE OF ESCAPE.

8

A P T A I N S Lyon and Staples were con-
ffg ducted to Richmond and lodged in Libby pris-
^ on, where they were treated wTith as much kind-
ness as they had reason to expect. They had
nothing to complain of except that they were
prevented frorn participating in the fighting
wmich they knew to be going on around the
C{> rebel capital in which they were confined.
Their anxious inquiries elicited no satisfactory respons-
es from the jailor, but they rested in the confident hope
that McClellan would prove victorious, and, making a trium-
phal entry into Richmond, burst open the doors of their
prison and set them free.

t Had they known the actual result of the Seven Days'
battle — that the star-spangled banner was being trailed in
the mire of retreat through White Oak Swamp, instead of
waving aloft in advance on Richmond — they would have
hummed the national anthem a few times less than they did.
But they could not long remain in ignorance of the truth.
The air was full of tidings from the battlefield, and the
very wind seemed to tell of success to the Confederate
arms.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 51

Portions of the victorious rebel army entered the city,
and the shoutings and rejoicings sufficiently corroborated
the story of the wind.

The two prisoners grew melancholy, but more at the
defeat of their comrades than at their own unpleasant con-
dition.

" The prospect isn't very cheering," remarked Lyon.

" No," returned Staples. " I fear a great disaster has
befallen our army ; perhaps it has been destroyed."

" I don't believe that such an army as we had has al-
lowed itself to be destroyed or captured. It has been forced
to retire, no doubt, but there is fight left in it yet, and
these jubilant individuals, outside our present residence,
will find it out some future day."

The door swung open and a Confederate colonel enter-
ed the room. With a hasty glance at the inmates, he step-
ped quickly towards Captain Lyon. The Norwich C.idets
confronted each other.

The two Mends clasped hands. Smiles lighted up
their faces, while there was a suspicious moisture in their
eyes. The circumstances in which they again met impress-
ed them with some feelings of sadness, but they were soon
cast off. Shaking his friend's hand heartily, Bill exclaimed
in the merry voice of old :

" Welcome to Kichmond ! "

" Thank you," returned Tom, in the same tone, " for
your cordial hospitality ; and allow me to express the hope
that, at no distant day, I may have the pleasure of welcom-
ing you to the land of the free and the home of the brave."

" I shall be happy to see you at any time, I assure you,
but I prefer that the meeting be on some other soil. I fear,
as our friend Condon could poetically express it —

' The land of the free

Would prove a prison to me.' "

§2 THE NOfiWlCH cadets:

Bill here glanced at Capt. Staples inquiringly. The
latter approached as if doubtful of the reception he would
meet with.

" Allow me, Col. Wolfe," said Tom, " to bring to your
remembrance an old acquaintance — Capt. Staples of Han-
over, formerly commander of the Dartmouth Sophomore
Brigade."

" A second time your vanquished enemy," said Staples.

Bill took his hand while he laughingly replied —

" I ask a truce to bury old animosities. I see that
Tom is now on your side, and I fear he would not step in
to save me from a whipping, as he did when we met be-
fore."

Friendly relations being thus established, the three sat
down for a pleasant conference upon things past and
present. Each had many inquiries to make, and much in-
formation to impart, and the time passed so agreeably that
the two Unionists almost forgot that they were prisoners,
and that their pleasant companion wore the uniform of an
enemy.

"Promotion must be rapid in the Confederate
service," said Tom, pointing to his friend's shoulder straps.

" It has to be, that we may keep up with you. We
don't commence as brigadiers," returned Bill.

" How happened you to find us out so soon ?" inquired
Tom, " I feared I should not see you."

" I heard some Yankee officers were taken, and know-
ing your natural tendency to get into trouble, I thought
you might be one of them, and came to see."

" I am very glad you came, and hope you will excuse
me if I don't return your call. Circumstances beyond my
control oblige me to keep the house quite closely for the
present."

" You are quite excusable." •

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 53

" Tell me," continued Tom, " if there is anything left
of our army, — if it won't be giving too much information
to the enemy. I suppose we have been whipped."

" I think you have been — 3orry to pain you with dis-
agreeable news — and your whole army has left, not is
left, though most of it is safe enough for the present. Little
Mac. has ' changed his base,' I think he calls it that."

After some further talk, Col. Wolfe rose to take his
leave.

" Keep up your spirits boys ; it is the fortune of war
that we should be vanquished sometimes ; we can't always
be victors. I will call on you as often as I can until my
regiment moves, and, meanwhile, I will see that your
rations are improved in quality, and that you are supplied
with tobacco."

" Go, miserable comforter, but don't forget the
tobacco," replied Tom, as the door closed behind his Mend.

This visit was as a gleam of sunshine within the walls
of Libby, and the prisoners felt more reconciled to their
confinement for knowing that they had at least one personal
friend among the enemy.

The next morning they found their breakfast superior
to anything which they had experienced before, and they
were able to supplement it with some fine cigars, a box of
which had been handed them by the jailor.

In the afternoon they received another visit from Col.
Wolfe. He entered, accompanied by a young lady whom he
introduced as his sister.

Heloise Wolfe was about eighteen years of age, of
slight but graceful form, clear brunette complexion and
fine regular features. Her eyes were large, black and elo-
quent and her wavy hair, of the same hue, was of luxuriant
growth. She had a bright sparkling beauty calculated to
dazzle the beholder, but beauty was not her only charm.
Possessed of superior intelligence without being strong-

54 THE NORWICH CADETS:

minded, in the late sense of that abused term ; animated in
conversation, without being disposed to monopolize it ; of
high principle and earnest nature ; generous, impulsive and
sincere, with a dash of the chivalric temperament of her
brother, whom she strongly resembled, she was a sister to
be proud of, as Col. Wolfe evidently thought. Capt. Lyon,
as he gazed upon her with poorly concealed admiration, felt
like transferring his affection from the brother to the sister.

" My sister has heard so much of you, Capt. Lyon — of
your prowess, beauty, etc., — that on hearing you had taken
up your residence temporarily among us, and that I was
coming to see you, she insisted on accompanying me, —
doubting I suppose, wThether she would otherwise have an
opportunity of making your acquaintance. I tried to dis-
suade her by telling her you were one of the vandal army
come to sack our cities and desolate our homes, and that it
was a part of her duty, as a southerner, to hate all such.
She, however, thought it only a Christian duty to visit the
prisoner, and I finally allowed her to come."

" You know my brother Willie so well, Capt. Lyon," said
Miss Heloise, smiling in so distracting a manner that the
Union officer felt himself doubly a prisoner, " that you will
interpret his speech correctly. It means that I feel it not
only a duty, but a pleasure to visit one whom my brother
esteems so highly as he does yourself."

u I am sure your motives are worthy of you, Miss
Wolfe, and I thank you for the honor you do me, but I fear
your brother has spoken more highly of me than I deserve,"
replied Capt. Lyon, bowing low before the young lady.

" My gallant friend exemplifies the saying that true
merit is always modest," said Col. Wolfe.

" True friendship ought not to be so satirical," said
Lyon. " Be merciful."

" I doubt whether I ought to show much mercy to an
enemy of the Confederacy. It would be setting a bad
example."

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 55

" My brother is suspicious of my loyalty," said Heloise,
" because I cannot get over my love for the old Ha"-."

" Thank God you cannot," replied Lyon warmly, grow-
ing more enamored of her as he perceived that she was not
a venomous secessionist.

" Treason ! cried Bill, half in earnest, half in jest.

" That can be no crime in the Confederacy," said Tom.
" The divine right of treason is the very soul of your gov-
ernment."

" So I tell them," said Heloise, gleefully, and that I
have a right to secede all alone by myself if I choose."

" I think I had better take you away, Miss, before you
are utterly perverted. The very air is tainted with unionism
here," said her brother.

" You see, Captain, my reputation for southern loyalty
is not very good."

" I trust your charitable kindness hi visiting a Union
prisoner will not give you an unpleasant reputation in your
circle of friends. If it does I shall regret the visit, much
as it has brightened one day of a tiresome captivity."

''Never fear for her, Tom," said Bill; "no one has
thought of indicting her for treason yet."

" No ; they let me say what I please, because, I sup-
pose, they think I'm not worth minding."

Tom did not say, but he looked as if he was of the
opinion that they were very stupid who thought so.

" It is really time that we should go," said Bill, sud-
denly growing serious, as he took his friend's hand. " I
have left my bad news unsaid till the last. My regiment
leaves to-morrow ; Tom and I cannot tell when we shall
meet again. I have taken measures to have yon made com-
fortable as long as you remain here, and my sister will
further my intentions as much as she is able."

"Your generosity is appreciated, Bill, but I would be
content on half rations if they were seasoned with your

56 THE NORWICH CADETS:

company. But you must go, of course. I can't wish you
success — my patriotism won't admit of that — but I do
hope you will be taken prisoner and kept in close confine-
ment till the close of the war."

" Thank you for your good wishes, Tom, but I hope
they are not prophetic.''

Good-bye was said, and Wolf and his sister retired.

"A glorious fellow !" exclaimed Staples, who very much
admired his former antagonist.

" She is " returned Capt. Lyon, abstractedly, gazing at
a patch of sky through the grated window.

Our hero did not appear to be very communicative dur-
ing the remainder of the day and evening, and Staples
finally gave up the attempt to engage him in conversation.
He was busy with his own thoughts, but whether they were
sad or pleasant was not discernible. The next day, howev-
er, he was more companionable ; but now that Col. Wolfe
came no more to visit them our friends would have found
their life al Libby almost intolerable had not Miss Heloise
taken it upon herself to show a generous kindness to her
brother's friend.

Her father held office under the confederate govern-
ment and the family, therefore, resided at Richmond. The
doors of Libby prison were open to Heloise, without ques-
tion, whenever she chose to enter them and she frequently
visited the Yankee prisoners accompanied by her sable
attendant, Caesar, a young slave about twenty years old,
bom and bred in the family and entirely devoted to his
handsome young mistress.

Caesar was a well built young fellow, as black as ebony,
with teeth and eyes in remarkable contrast with Ins shining
skin. Of a happy and faithful disposition and possessed of
much natural shrewdness, he was a favorite family servant
and occupied a much easier position in life than human
chattels generally do.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 57

" How happens it," said Capt. Lyon one day to Caesar,
u that with such a name as yours, you are not in the army T

" Didn't pick .out my own name, massa ; dunno noffin'
'bout war ; young massa William do all de fightm for de
family. I'se willin'; de smell ob powder am stremely ob-
noxious to dis child."

Heloiso brought books and papers which helped great-
ly to relieve the monotony of prison-life, and many delicacies,
which were not in the prison bill of fare, found their way to
the room occupied by our friends. But more highly prized
than the material comforts which she brought, was the
pleasure of her company. She generally sat down and
spent some time in cheerful conversation, and the moments
thus brightened seemed to shed a radiance over all the re-
maining day.

In the interchange of sentiment which occurred on
these occasions, which were quite frequent, the acquaint-
ance of Capt. Lyon with his friend's sister gradually ripen-
ened into a tender intimacy.

As this fact became apparent to the sharp eyes of Capt.
Staples, he withdrew himself as much as possible from
the company of the lovers, offering as a poor apology,
when his silence was noticed — which was not often — his
absorbing interest in the book he was reading. On one
such occasion he had a volume of sermons and having read
one of these, without looking at the title, he was exercising
his ingenuity in guessing at the text. With all his Yankee
talent in that direction, however, he was very wdde of the
mark.

Our hero found that Heloise w^as at heart a Union
woman ; that she very much regretted the disruption of
those ties which bound the North and South together and
contributed so much to their strength, prosperity and hap
piness, and that she was far from feeling satisfied with the
position which her father and brother had seen fit to take,

H

58 THE NORWICH CADETS :

She cordially sympathized with Lyon in his aspirations
after a restoration of the Union and grieved over disaster
to the federal arms which threatened, at the least, to delay
the day of triumph. She did not forget that the gallant
man in whom she felt a growing interest owed to his
patriotism, his deprivation of liberty, and she tried to con-
sole him as best she could, in his irksome confinement, and
to rconcile him to the inactivity which seemed decreed.

" When first taken prisoner," said he, " I felt that I
could hardly endure a protracted confinement, and know
that while I was unable to strike a blow, my brave com-
panions would be fighting the battles of our country."

" I know you long to be with your regiment again,
devastating, as Will says, the fair homes of the South, but
you must try to be patient."

u I think that of late I am learning to excel in that
virtue. Since captivity led me to you, Heloise, I feel like
blessing the fate that made me captive."

;' And yet, how your eyes would brighten to learn that
you were to be exchanged."

" I fear that they would weep. Is treason infecting my
heart, or "

"Love," said Staples, reading unconsciously aloud, "is
the fulfilling of the law."

The speakers glanced hurriedly at the reader, but he
seemed not to be aware of their presence, and ignorant of
having taken any part in the conversation.

" My friend is no doubt correct," said Tom, smiling and
speaking in a lower tone, but Uncle Sam has other views of
a soldier's duty."

" Not if the love be love of country," said Heloise in-
tently regarding the floor, k' that is the grander passion."

" Ah ! I know, I love my country, Heloise, but that is
not the love that reconciles me to captivity."

A TALE OF THE REBELLION'. 59

*c No : nor does any other. Yon would break through
these barred windows, if yon thought that liberty was on
the ontside of them."

Lyon half rose from his seat, as if a new idea had
struck him, then sinking back, said slowly. " Tis true ; I
should : but I should love you none the less."

fi You confess you would desert me. if you could," said
Heloise, playfully.

" Not you, but Richmond."

In a little while, Heloise with Caesar took her departure,
Staples rising long enough to bid her good afternoon.

But when the door was closed, locked and bolted, and
the prisoners were left alone again, the New Hampshire
man sat down with a yawn over the shut book of sermons,
which he held in his hand, and then, turning his eyes sleepily
toward the beaming face of his companion, he inquired — ■

" Lyon, have you been reading this sermon on the
" Cheerful uses of Adversity ?'"

" No, why do you ask ?"

" Because you seem to be growing happier every day,
and I am sure we are in adversity.''

•• We are in the hands of our adversaries, but why let
them restrain our spirits as well as our bodies ?"

" I can't guess : I give it up."

" You are getting low-spirited."

" Perhaps ; I don't think I am getting high spirited."

" Don't give up to despair yet : there are brighter
days in store for us."

" Glory waits us you think : but won't it get tired wait-
ing r

" No ; I feel a wonderful elation and hopefulness."

" Much greater than when we first entered these walls,
do you not V

" Yes j I do."

#0 THE NORWICH CADETS i

" I understand it, Lyon, and I congratulate you. I ex-
perience, indeed, by sympathy, a small share of your hap-
piness, but it does not suffice me."

" What are. you firing at, comrade V

'•Not at your happiness, tantalizing as it is. You
presented a much more consoling spectacle when you were
as miserable as myself."

" I shall have to flog you Staples, if you don't stop
talking with such oracular mistiness. Out with it ; what
are you trying to say ! "

" We grow hard-hearted as fortune smiles upon us,''
returned Staples, smiling at his Mend's threat.

"Well, I'm listening," said Tom.

" I do not envy your happiness, I hope ; certainly I do
not wonder at it, and you ought not to wonder at my mis-
ery."

"I thought happiness contagious. Wiry are you not
happy when you think that lam?"

" Because I can't make love to Caesar."

" Well," said Tom, laughing, " I plead guilty to want
of consideration for your desolate condition, and I will
wear as unhappy a countenance as I can assume hereafter."

" Then we will be fraternally and happily miserable
together."

" Yes, so long as we are forced to remain here : but
listen Staples," said Lyon lowering his voice, "it has occur-
ed to me to-day, for the first time, that we have not shown
much spirit in staying cooped up here so long without mak-
ing an effort to regain our liberty."

" Perhaps not ; but do you imagine that we could take
Richmond, if we could get out of here ? "

" No ; but I imagine it might give Richmond some
trouble to ?-e-take us."

" I should hope so ; too much trouble to make it worth
while-; for if we were taken we should not, probably, get

A TAtfe OF THE REBELLioX. (jl

such comfortable quarters as these, nor should we be likely
to see again the smiling countenance of Caesar;"

" We rim of course the risk of getting severer treat-
ment, if we fail."

k' But can we break out of this ! " said Staples with
some eagerness.

"I think we can, though I have not yet contrived the
method. We must consider the obstacles in the way of our
escape and the means of overcoming them."

" We are on the second floor," said Staples, looking out
of the window, " and if we could get through here, might
jump."

" That won't do ; it is paved below. We should break
our legs and that would be the end of it. We can manu-
facture a rope easily enough out of our clothing and slide
down without danger."

" So far, well ! how shall we get through the window ?
And if we get through and reach the ground safely, how
shall we escape the watchman ? And if we escape him,
how shall we get out of the city, guarded as it is by police-
men and soldiers, and we utter strangers to it and dressed
in federal uniform ? And if we get out, how shall we find
our way through this hostile country and find provision till
we reach the free soil 1 "

" You have said enough to dampen any one's ardor a
little," returned Lyon, " but still I have a hope that we may
succeed. It is well to look these difficulties all in the face
and be ready to meet them. We will take time to mature
our plan and leave as little to good luck as possible. There
is no use in taking the first step, unless there is a reason-
able prospect of being able to take the second and the
third and fourth also."

" Let us sleep on it ; I am always wisest in my dreams."

" One of us may have a vision of a safe path to free-
dom, so good night."

62 TflE NOBWICfi CADfetS:

They lay down to- rest but it was long before either fell
asleep, their minds were so full of the subject of conversa-
tion. And when at last they slept, their minds worked on.
They dreamed, but we will leave their dreams to another
chapter.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 63

CHAPTER VII.

DREAMS OF LIBERTY PLANS FOR ESCAPE A NIGHT WATCH FARE-
WELL TO HELOISE.

OOD morning," exclaimed Staples, as his eye-
lids flew open like the lids of a spring watch
case, at the first touch of the rosy fingers of
Aurora.

" Good morning," returned his companion
drowsily. "Tell me your dream while I'm
waking up."

" No, begin you."
" As you please, but nothing in my dream will prove of
any practical importance. Not a hint was given me in re-
gard to the ways and means of escape. I dreamed that I
was again among my friends and with our army, encamped
somewhere on the Potomac, in the neighborhood of Wash-
ington, but how I got there I have not the faintest
remembrance."

" Not much of a dreamer, you. The conditions were
highly favorable, and yet you made nothing of them. Now
listen to me," said Staples, giving the finishing pull at his
necktie. "I dreamed that the Goddess of Liberty, wTho
bore a striking resemblance to Miss Wolfe, threw open our
door and beckoned to me to follow her. With the courage
of Hamlet, I obeyed and followed where §he led, through

64 THE NORWICH CADETS:

the door down the stairs and out into the open air. It was
night ; the guard slept ; the city was silent ; the sky was
clear and the moon so bright that the street-lamps per-
formed a useless office. I saw standing near the prison
wall a close carriage of diminutive size, but elegant shape
and delicate workmanship. It was of burnished gold with
silver wheels. Harnessed to it — the buckles of their har-
nesses thickly studded with glistening diamonds — wrere
four cream colored horses with flowing wrhite manes and
tails and with wings upon their feet. They beat the air
impatiently with their feet, but did not move the vehicle to
which they were attached. The Goddess motioned me to
enter. Observing that Caesar w7as on the box, I sprang in
without question and closed the door after me. While I
was observing the gorgeous and luxurious furnishing of the
inside, I heard the whip crack and immediately perceived
that we wrere in rapid motion, although no sound was
audible save that of swiftly beating wings. Instead of
dashing along the street, as I had expected, we rose at once
into the air with great velocity. Higher and higher we
ascended, until, looking from the window, I saw the spires
of Eichmond far below. Then we turned our course north-
ward and flew with the speed of the wind over the road-
way of cloud, the wheels flashing as though they were
wheels of light. There was no stop or turn. Nothing im-
peded our progress or slackened the speed of our tireless
steeds. Though conscious of my lofty altitude, I had a
feeling of greater security than I generally have when
driving along country highways, and it seemed to me the
most easy and pleasant method of travelling that I ever ex-
perienced. At the gait we went, however, our journey
necessarily soon came to an end. As we drew near Wash-
ington, we began to descend, making an angle w7ith our
former course of about thirty degrees, and finally touched
the earth in front of the Capitol. This means that I shall

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 65

be a congressman sometime. As I was about to alight,
there was a burst of flame around me, in which my whole
establishment, horses, carriage, Caesar and all, vanished in
an instant, and I woke up to find the sun shining brightly
in my eyes through the barred window of our prison."

" Staples, I would never wake up again," if I were you.
Your sleeping fancy is to yonr waking, as feathers to lead,''
said Tom, when the other had finished his narration. M I
suppose the interpretation of yonr dream is that you will
escape and I shall not, as I was not invited to take passage
with you in that handsome Concord buggy, which the New
Hampshire men always dream of, when they dreani of going
anywhere."

" You are as bad at interpreting dreauis as you are at
dreaming. According to the proper interpretation of the
dream, it is very clear to me that if either of us is to be
left behind, that one will be myself.''

" By the same rale I am to be congressman, also."
"An intelligent people must decide between us."
•• Well, we won't dispute now about so very distant an
honor. Explain yonr dream in yonr own way. What do
you find in it that we can turn to our account ?"

•• Iffy dream, to me, is encouraging. It gives me an
idea which would, not otherwise have occurred to me. Yon
will remember that my goddess resembled Miss Wolfe.
She is, for us, the Goddess of Liberty. She can, and will,
I think, if we confide in and appeal to her, assist ns to
escape from this prison and the city. Once free, outside
the limits, we will strike across the country (I wish we
could go through the air) towards Washington. With a
few tools, which she could easily bring lis, we could soon
let ourselves out of this building, and then with a carriage
and disguises which she could furnish, we could make our
way out of the city. That is what my dream tells me."
-It could be done in the way you say, I have no
i

66 THE NORWICH CADETS :

doubt ; but, in your eagerness to escape, you forget one
thing, and that is, that the plan you propose is unworthy of
us and therefore not to be adopted. Miss Wolfe is loyal to
the Union and would not hesitate to assist us, I feel sure, if
we were to divulge our plan to her, but we cannot abase
her generous sympathy. Since she is the person who visits
us and the only one in the city with whom we are
acquainted, she could not render us the assistance you
speak of, without subjecting herself to the risk of almost
certain discovery."

•• You are right Lyon, we cannot ask her to com-
promise herself for us in such a way. I beg you to believe
I do not seek my liberty at her expense. I must dream
again."

" Perhaps a little thinking, with our eyes open, would
do as well. Let us look over this place and see what we
have to do."

An examination of the windows showed that it would
be necessary to remove at least two of the iron bars, which
crossed the lower part of each window, in order to admit
the passage of a man's body. To do this work, they had
only two stout pocket knives, but these they thought would
enable them to loosen one end of each of the two bars and
then, with their united strength, they could either break or
bend around the bars sufficiently for their purpose.

Having selected the window which seemed the most
favorable, they considered the matter as settled, and then
addressed themselves to the study of the prison sur-
roundings, the manner in which it was guarded and other
things which they thought it would be useful to know.
They desired especially to know something of the topo-
graphy of the city and they spent much of the day in taking
observations from the windows.

Once in the open country, the loyal sun by day and the
stars by night would direct their course ; for the lights of

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 67

heaven do not look with favor upon secession, which is
something unknown to the celestial sphere.

During the evening and all night long, the two prison-
oners, in the silence and darkness of their room, watched
and listened, taking note of everything that occurred with-
out the walls. They observed when the sound of passing-
feet and wheels ceased in the street ; when the lamps were
lighted : when the city seemed generally to have sunk to
repose ; when the lamps were extinguished, and at what
time in the morning the hurrying stream of life began to
flow again. They noticed also the sentinel's beat, and calcu-
lated that, if they did not attract his attention by any noise
made in their descent, they would have ample time to reach
the ground and steal away from the immediate vicinity of
the prison before he could pass twice over the space he was
required to traverse.

At an early hour in the morning, they retired to rest,
but not with any intention of dreaming, and slept soundly
till breakfast time.

During the forenoon, they discussed together the route
it would be advisable for them to take. They could either
go down the peninsula and attempt to reach Fortress
Monroe, or they" could move almost directly northward
toward Aquia Creek. There was but little difference in dis-
tance ; the only question was, which is the safer route.
They knew our troops had abandoned the peninsula and
supposed the ground to be occupied by the rebels.

" If it is," said Staples, " we shall stand a right smart
chance of being taken and returned to this hotel."

On the other hand if, as they suspected, a large part of
the rebel army had gone north, it seemed probable that it
had gone northward toward Aquia Creek, to which place
from Richmond, there was an almost straight line of rail-
road. To take this route seemed, at first glance, to be run-
ning after the enemy with a certainty of being captured j

68 THE NORWICH CADETS :

but further consideration convinced them that the Con-
federate troops would be moved by rail and that if the}'
bore to the right and kept off from the line of railroad, they
would have little to fear, except from occasional cavalry
parties and the inhabitants of the country through which
they would have to pass. These they thought they could
avoid by keeping to the fields and woods instead of the
highways, and traveling mostly by night.

They finally determined to make their march to free-
dom by this route. Staples proposed to start that night.
Lyon was no less eager to be gone, but he did not like to
depart until he had once more seen Heloise and taken some
sort of farewell.

That afternoon the lady came again, accompanied as
usual by her faithful Csesar, and while Staples extracted
from the latter all the information of which he was pos-
sessed in regard to the topography of the city and the dis-
position of rebel troops. Captain Lyon engaged the mistress
in conversation.

"But for your visits, Heloise, this life would be unen-
durable."

" Scarcely endurable, as it is, I fear,"' returned she.

" While you are present it is easily endurable, but I
confess to you that I loathe this inactivity."

" You may be exchanged soon."

" And when I am gone, will you be able to remember
me till the war closes ?"

" Perhaps, if it closes soon ; but if it should prove a
thirty years war, who can vouch for memory then ?"

" This war cannot last like that ; it is on too large a
scale to be protracted many years. It must end soon."

" Then I will try to remember you," said she smiling :
11 but I warn you not to grow gray in service and yet ex-
pect to live young and fresh in my memory."

" But give me my liberty, and then if hard fighting on

A TALE OF THE REBELLION.

my part can bring peace and Heloise, you may count on a
speedy end of the war."

" I see you are determined to throw your life away at
the first chance. But we will keep you prisoner here where
you are safe, my brave Captain. You are not gone yet."
" And yet I may be, within a week.
" What ! why do you speak so ?" said she gazing in-
quiringly upon his animated features.

" As you just said, I may be exchanged."
" True ; but I hope not ; at least I fear — I dread the
danger you will go to."

" Fear not but hope and pray for me, and tell me now,
that when I am struggling in my country's service I may
count upon your constancy."

" You may," responded she with trembling voice.
Filled with undefined alarms, her cheeks flushed and
her eyes grew misty. She could not tell the cause of such
sudden, vague fears, but when they came to part and their
hands met as good-bye was said, she felt as though she
should not look upon him again. He knew that he was
gazing upon her face for the last time for months— perhaps
for years — if ever he should see her again.

70 THE NORWICH cadets:

CHAPTER VIII.

DIGGING OUT EXIT FROM LIBBY UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER AND

REINFORCEMENT THE MARCH TO FREEDOM BEGUN THE

DESERTED CABIN A CALL FROM CONFEDERATE TROOPERS THE

RETREAT RESUMED ON HORSEBACK DANGER AHEAD A HORSE

TRADE C^SAR APPOINTED COMMISSARY CONFISCATION OF

REBEL PROPERTY AND A NARROW ESCAPE.

HAT evening after tea the prisoners sat down
by the window and proceeded noiselessly to pick
away wTith their knives the masonry, wThich
secured the bars in place. It wTas very slow
wrork, but they kept steadily at it, except when
they heard steps beneath their wdndowr. As the
night wrore on, and there was less danger of their
operations being heard and discovered, they wrorked more
energetically, and had the satisfaction of seeing that they
were making some progress, although their knives gave
evidence that they were not designed to cut anything quite
so hard as the wralls of Libby prison.

By midnight each had succeded in loosening the end
of a bar, and applying their united strengh they bent them
around. From their bed-blankets they constructed a rope
wThich was long enough to reach within easy dropping dis-
tance of the ground. Next they removed the lower part
of the window, and the way was open. Then they waited
until they saw the sentinel pass under their window and

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 71

turn the corner of the building all unsuspicious of the fast
beating hearts above him and the plot which was about to
be put in execution against the peace and dignity of the
Confederacy.

•• Now is our time ; not a moment is to be lost," whis-
pered Lyon excitedly. " Go first if you choose."

Staples grasped the cord, one end of which had been
secured, and crawling through the opening, slid swiftly
down and dropped lightly to the ground.

One moment Lyon waited to see if any alarm was rais-
ed, and then he rapidly followed his friend and soon stood
by his side.

As silently as possible they fled down the street in the
opposite direction from that which the sentinel had taken.
They had passed over not more than half a block when a
dark figure sprang from the shadow of a building on to the
sidewalk directly in front of them.

Lyon drew back his arm to level this obstacle to his
progress, when the unknown, seeing his peril, spoke in a
loud whisper —

i; Don't strike, Massa Lyon ; it's Caesar — I'se been
watchin' for you. Miss Heloise tole me. Come wid me ;
carriage 'round de corner."

While giving utterance to these ejaculations, Ctesar
was rapidly leading the way to the carriage he had spoken
of, which stood but a few rods distant in charge of a fellow
servant.

The faithful black quickly opened the door and beckon-
ing them to enter whispered as they obeyed him —

" Dere's oder close in dare, wid pistols, knives and
eberyting yer want."

They jumped in ; the door was shut and Csesar mount-
ed the box. As the carriage rolled along at a gentle trot,
its occupants found each a suit of plain clothes lying on the
forward seat, for which they exchanged their own as soon

72 THE NORWICH CADETS:

as they could. In the breast pocket of each coat were
found a small pair of revolvers and a sheath knife, together
with a box of ball cartridges.

" My dream is coming true I think," said Staples as
they were making these discoveries, and effecting an ex-
change of garments.

" It is indeed. Miss Wolfe must have suspected our
design, though I did not intend to give her cause."

" Women are quicker-witted than men. She interpre-
ted correctly your lugubrious expression at parting, and
sent Caesar, as he informed us, with the carriage to wait for
our exit from Libby."

They were soon off the pavement and then the horses
wrere put to a smarter gait. After about an hour's ride they
stopped. Caesar opened the door and the two fugitives
stepping out found themselves on a country road and a few
miles distant southward from Richmond.

Caesar explained that he had driven them there to avoid
the rebel troops, which were most to the north of the city,
and then addressing himself to Lyon he said :

w Massa Lyon, Miss Heloise say I can go wid you if
yer chooses. I knows all de country, and de niggers on de
way won't be afraid of me ef we want to get sumting for de
inner man, as massa Will say. 'Sides, ef we hab to help
ourselbes, I don't show so well in de dark as a white man.
When I comes under de hen-roost, golly ! de chickens on'y
tinks it's gettin a little more cloudy and dey put deyr heads
under toder wing and goes right to sleep agin."

*; You would, no doubt, be a great help to us Caesar, but
I don't like to expose you to the danger of capture."

*• Miss Heloise tinks I had better go," returned Caesar,
wrho evidently knew his mistress' mind and seemed anxious
to gratify her wishes at whatever cost to himself.

•* Your mistress is an angel !" exclaimed Staples en-
thusiastically.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 73

*• Sartin sure ; massa Staples right dis time ebery bit !"
said Caesar, exhibiting such specimens of nature's dentistry
as would have excited wild envy in the breast of the king
of beasts.

" I move that we take Caosar along," said Staples ;
" Miss Wolfe has planned well for us thus far."

" It seems to be her wish and shall be heeded ; but we
must protect him, her faithful servant, with our lives if
necessary. Caesar, you may go with us," said Lyon.

" Tank, you, massa Captain," returned the slave, grin-
ning with delight, not at the prospect of freedom, of which
he thought little, but at the dignity of his new position, and
the knowledge that his young mistress would be pleased
with the faithful service which he meant to perform.

" Hopes we won't meet massa Will dough,' he muttered
to himself.

The cast oft' uniforms were taken out of the carriage
and concealed. Caesar took from under the driver's seat a
small valise well filled with provisions, and from his pocket
a roll of confederate bills, which latter he handed to Lyon,
whom he seemed to regard as his master. The carriage
was then sent back in charge of the other servant, with a
verbal message to his mistress, and the two young officers
under the guidance of Caesar set out to find the array of the
Potomac.

They made a wide detour around Kichmond, moving
first in a northwesterly direction and avoiding the travelled
roads as much as possible. They crossed the James in a
row-boat, which Caesar knew exactly where to look for, and
then bearing to the right they approached the railroad.
They did this with some trepidation, but trusting to the
friendly darkness and celerity of movement, they went for-
ward. There were no habitations in their neighborhood,
but as they neared the track they heard a whistle and the
thunder of an approaching train. Looking north they saw

74 THE NORWICH CADETS :

the headlight of an engine, like a ball of lire in the distance,
and throwing themselves flat upon the ground they waited
for it.

" Hope they won't stop for passengers at this station,"
said Staples.

The train came up and passed by. The cars were filled
with soldiers, and by the light within, some bandaged
heads were visible.

'; There has been a battle," said Lyon, %i and they are
taking to Richmond the wounded that are able to be
moved."

" Yes : and perhaps a few prisoners also," said Staples.
" Well, we have made a little room for them by evacuating

our quarters."

As the train disappeared, the three men rose to their
feet, and dashing across the track they turned their faces to
the northeast and walked rapidly along, feeling that every
step took them farther from the dangerous vicinity of the
railroad, farther from Richmond, and nearer to freedom.

They travelled on till daylight appeared, and then find-
ing themselves in a cultivated country where they were
likely to meet with people, if they continued their journey
by day, they looked about them' for some place of conceal-
ment.

Remote from any house they found a deserted cabin,
the garden about it grown up to weeds, showing that it had
not recently been occupied.

They entered it and, securing the door, sat down to
rest themselves, and partake of a breakfast from the valise,
which Caesar had carried suspended from a stick over his
shoulder.

" Staples, do you and Caesar lie down and sleep ; I will
keep watch till you have had your nap. It isn't best for us
all to be caught napping together."

" Massa Lyon, you sleep first. I will look sharp, said
Ceesar,

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 75

" No," replied Lyon, who, knowing the propensity of
the negro to sleep, did not (hire to trust him to keep the
first watch. " Go to sleep, Caesar, as quickly as you can ;
you will need all you can get."

Without farther remonstrance, the negro and Staples
stretched themselves on the floor and were soon fast asleep.

Lyon kept a lookout over the surrounding country,
while his mind was busy with grateful and tender thoughts
of Heloise, and with speculations regarding the success
likely to attend his present endeavor. He saw people at a
distance, mostly blacks, attending to their usual avocations,
but no one approached the hiding-place of himself and com-
panions.

About eleven o'clock, he touched Staples lightly : The
" Darty " opened his eyes, and taking in the situation rose
to his feet. Caesar still slept the sleep of innocence, though
making a fiendish noise in so doing.

" Better let him sleep," whispered Lyon, " He can't
endure the fatigue that we can, and I don't like to trust my
safety to the watchfulness of a sleepy nigger."

Staples nodded and took up his position at the little
window, while Lyon took possession of his vacant couch and
was soon sleeping as soundly as Caesar himself.

During the remainder of the long day, Staples
remained on guard. Impatiently he watched the slow
motion of the sun as it rolled down the western slope of
the sky. It seemed to him to move more slowly down its
inclined plane than he had ever seen it before, as though
the amount of friction it had to overcome was almost in-
superable. His eagerness for the shades of night grew
feverish as the afternoon wore on so lingeringly.

At last, just before sunset, he observed a party of four
cavalrymen ride up to the nearest mansion, less than half
a mile distant. They remained sometime, apparently in
conversation with the planter, and then Staples saw them

76 THE NORWICH CADETS •

turn and ride away. He watched them intently, aiid soon,
to his dismay, saw them halt and, after a short parley, turn
their horses' heads in the direction of the cabin.

On they came directly towards him, though not with
any haste or apparent motive, and he trusted that they
■would pass by. But no — they rode up within a few rods of
the door, and noticing the fresh footsteps around it, they
halted.

The noise awoke Lyon. He sprang up, and one glance
showed him the state of affairs. Immediately he woke
Caesar, bidding him in a whisper to be silent. When that
individual comprehended their condition, a gray pallor dif-
fused itself over his countenance, giving him an unearthly
appearance.

A shout was heard from those without, designed to at-
tract the attention of the inmates.

No answer was returned, as the occupants of the cabin
could not at once decide wrhat course it was best to pursue.

But wThen two of the troopers dismounted, as though
to enter, Lyon saw there was no more time for hesitation.

" Throw off your coat, leave your cap and go out as
though you lived here," he said to Caesar, " and get them
away if possible."

The faithful fellow immediately obeyed and ran out of
the door in seeming haste to answer the summons.

" There you are, eh ? just woke up have you ? Who lives
here?"

" I does, sah," replied Caesar.

" All alone ?"

" No sah ; my ole mamma."

" Now nigger look a here ; have you seen a couple of
wThite men — strangers — around here to-day."

•* No, massa."

" If I catch you lying. I'll skin you."

A tfALE OF "THE REBELLION. 77

" Lets go in and look," said another. " It don't appear
as if anybody had lived here before to-day."

" De ole woman berry sick," said Caesar, trembling with
apprehension.

" Hold the horses, you black rascal, never mind the old
woman."

Caesar took the horses and the two men rudely pushed
open the door and swaggered into the cabin. Lyon and
Staples stood behind the door as it swung in, and as their
unwelcome visitors entered the dimly lighted apartment,
they quickly closed it again and each springing at one of
the astonished rebels, they dealt such tremendous blows
that both intruders were brought senseless to the floor.

The noise was heard outside.

" It's de dog I'se afeard," cried Caesar ; "he neber barks."

The other two men sprang from their horses, which
Caesar also grasped, and breathing curses upon him and his
dog, they rushed with drawn swords to the door. The first
to cross the threshold received a blow from Staples' dagger
which made him fall backward out of the doorway, and
Lyon leaping over his body seized the fourth paralyzed
trooper with a vice-like grip by the throat and hurled him
like a log, stunned and bleeding, to the earth.

It was growing dusky and this struggle had been so
brief and silent that no attention had been attracted to it.

" To horse !" said Lyon mounting one and taking
a second by the bridle. Staples and Caesar followed his ex-
ample and in less than a minute the three were riding rapid-
ly away with the four horses, their heads turned due north.

There was no pursuit, but they rode as though Stuart's
entire cavalry force was close in their rear. The roads were
good and by midnight they had left the scene of their last
adventure far behind them.

Staples' horse beginning to show signs of exhaustion
and a disinclination to keep up with the rest, the Captain

78 THE NORWICH CADETS J

removed his bridle and other trappings and turned him
adrift. Then mounting the led horse the party pushed on
again, though at a somewhat slower rate, owing to the
fatigue of the horses, the increasing darkness, and the
unevenness of the country.

After another hour's ride, as they reached the top of a
slight acclivity and looked before them, they saw at half a
mile's distance what seemed to be the light of a camp fire.

"Are we trapped again?*' inquired Staples as they
halted.

" There seems to be a trap there, but we need not step
into it unless we choose,"' replied Lyon.

" Golly ! dis nigger will be killed shuah," soliloquized
Caesar.

" It is probably a small foraging party," continued
Lyon. " Shall we go nearer and satisfy our curiosity ?"

" I don't see the necessity of it," returned his compan-
ion. " Never throw stones at a hornet's nest. Let us move
quietly around them at a safe distance."

In accordance with this prudent counsel they bore to
the right, describing a semi-circle to avoid the rebel encamp-
ment. As they came opposite it, the necessities of the
ground forced them to approach nearer than they liked, but
they were rewarded for the extra danger by coming upon a
place where half a dozen horses ware tethered. Silently
dismounting and finding that the animals were much better
and fresher than their own, they selected three of the best,
bridled and mounted them and turning the others loose,
tDgether with their own jaded beasts, they rode on again at
a walk till they were at a safer distance, and then once
more galloped along, highly pleased with their horse trade,
which was about as honest a transaction of its sort as is
often seen.

Caesar was so shaken writh suppressed mirth that he
could hardly keep his seat.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 79

** Hie ! yah ! yah !" lie ejaculated in a gurgling voice,
"el clis a'n't de neatest hick! — Beats eberyting — 'spect

its legle dough."

On they went at a good rate of speed, directing their
course by the stars, and when morning dawned they found
themselves in a wooded and rough country, and with their
horses pretty nearly used up.

They turned from the road they had been following
and rode slowly, as they were obliged to, into a dense
forest. Here, after removing the bridles, which they thought
best to retain, they abandaned their horses and then
climbed on foot up the steep of a mountain, till they had
gained a situation where they thought they were not likely
to be discovered.

Crawling under the branches of some low trees, which
grew at the base of a large rock where they found a spiing
of water, they threw their tired bodies on the ground.
Having satisfied their thirst and devoured the remainder of
Caesar's store of provisions, they all lay down to sleep, not
thinking it necessary for either to remain on guard.

Weary, as they were, they slept soundly till past noon.
Waking at last, they refreshed themselves again at the
spring, washing their hands and faces in the clear, cool
water, then crawling out of their lair, they set out on
foot through the woods and travelled as fast as the obstruc-
tions they met with would permit.

All the afternoon they kept in the shelter of the woods,
but as the sun sank out of sight they emerged therefrom
and found themselves in the neighborhood of a large
plantation, whose extensive negro quarters evinced the
wealth and importance of the proprietor, and afforded a
visible cause of the rebellion.

They were hungry and they constituted themselves a
committee of ways and means.

80 THE NORWICH CADETS!

It was now Caesar's opportunity to make himself
eminently useful to his beloved mistress's friend, and he ex
hibited his readiness to improve it.

" I knows jes' whar de chickens roost in such a place
as dat, and I tink ef I goes to de quarters de colored folks
will gib me what I wants ef I tell dem I'se runnin away to
de norf."

'* I think you can help us now Caesar, said Lyon ; " we
must let you try at all events."

They waited till the lights were all extinguished in
the "great house," and then all three proceeded cautiously
to within a short distance of the negro quarters, where
Lyon gave Caesar his final instructions.

" You knowr your people best, and you may either
throw yourself on their generosity or help yourself as you
see fit. We wTill wait for you here. If you are molested,
use your pistols if necessary and fight your way back to us
through, everything. We wrill come to your aid if you need
it. Be careful and be quick, and say nothing about us. Let
them think you are alone."

Thus, charged, Caesar set off, while Lyon and Staples
sat down to wTait for him, though not without considerable
anxiety.

" I feel like a rat fooling around a trap after a bit of
cheese," remarked Staples.

" We run a risk, I know," returned his companion,
"but wre must have something to eat."

In about half an hour Caesar returned with a well filled
sack over his shoulder.

" I've got it," he said gleefully, " and dere's bosses in
de stable."

"Fortune seems to favor us," said Staples eagerly ; "I
move we take them."

"Agreed," said Lyon, and they proceeded, led by Caesar,
to the stables.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 81

Each selected a horse out of a well filled stable and
led him out. They were spirited animals and made so
much disturbance, plunging and snorting, while they were
being got in readiness, that the family was aroused. Lights
began to move in the house ; the negroes to flock out, and
two white men soon appeared upon the scene, without coats
or hats, one of them carrying a gun and the other a lan-
tern.

" What's the matter here ?" cried the older, hurrying
into the midst of the excitement.

There was a confused murmur of negro voices but no
intelligible answer.

As the lantern flashed upon our hero and his compan-
ions, who were mounting the horses, the planter seemed to
understand the matter.

l< A robbery ! and my best horses, too ! Get down you
villains, or I'll blow you to pieces. Off! I say."

He drew up his gun.

" Off, it is — we're going sir," cried Lyon, upon whom
the weapon was now brought to bear.

Striking the fiery steed with his boots, he plunged him
against the enraged planter, bearing him to the ground be-
fore he could fire, and sending a bullet from his pistol
through the lantern held by the other man, he fled like the
wind through the yielding and helpless crowd of negroes,
with Staples and Csesar following close behind him at the
same furious speed.

They were not to get away without a parting volley,
however.

The man who had borne the lantern seized the musket
as it fell from tlfe hand of the overthrown planter and fired
at random after the fugitives.

There was a rattle of glass in the sack which Csesar
carried and a yell of dismay from the sable trooper.

" Are you hurt !" cried Lyon, checking his horse. •

82 THE NORWICH CADETS:

" No massa,'' he answered as he darted past the cap-
tain, like a thunder cloud on horse back, " but de bottle am
broke, I reckon."

" Forward ! then" shouted Staples, " and hang on to
that bag."

Forward they sped, while excited orders to mount and
pursue them were heard in their rear.

They felt satisfied that the best horses on the planta-
tion were under them, and they laughed at pursuit as they
dashed ahead.

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 83

CHAPTER IX.

COL. WOLFE AT HOME HIS DISCOVERY PRIVATE WAIT ON GUARD

AN ALARM AND UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM RICHMOND CAPT.

LYON JOINS HIS REGIMENT THE ARMY MOVES DOWN THE RAP-
PAHANNOCK THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.

HEN Col. Wolfe had bidden farewell to his
friend Lyon in Libby Prison, he immediately
joined his regiment and set out for the north
with the main body of the rebel army. The in-
tention was to crush Pope, wTho had been given
the command of what was called the Army of
Virginia out of courtesy to Gen. McClellan, who
was supposed to be in command of the Army of
the Potomac. But Gen. Pope's advancement wras virtually
a superseding of Gen. McClellan, who had lost the confidence
of the administration by his disastrous Peninsular Cam-
paign ; for Halleck was appointed General-in Chief, and as
such ordered McClellan to support Pope, who had been
assigned the duty of covering Washington and protecting
Maryland with its great railroad, while threatening Rich-
mond from the north.

In the latter days of August, 1862, was fought the
second battle on the fated field of Bull Run, while Lyon
was a prisoner in Richmond. In the prescience of God it
was, like the first battle, recognized as a defeat to the Union

84 THE NORWICH CADETS t

arms, and defeat it became. Whether it was made such by
unworthy instruments is a question for historians, rather
than romance writers, to discuss.

In the battle, young Wolfe distinguished himself by
his bravery and did his full share of service in obscuring
the glory of Gen. Pope.

Pope's army was almost entirely demolished, and now
in obedience to the demand of a large majority of the
officers and soldiers of the army of the Potomac, whose con-
fidence in their former leader was still unshaken, Gen.
McClellan was re-invested with the chief command.

After several minor conflicts, the battle of Antietam
was fought on Sept. 17, — " the bloodiest day that America
ever saw." The battle was a victory to the North, but
dearly purchased and not at all decisive. We held the
ground, but Lee retired strong enough to fight some other
day.

In this battle, the reckless Wolfe was severely wounded,
and sent back to Richmond to recover. He was on board
the very train which had passed the three fugitives on the
night of their escape from Richmond.

When the Colonel learned from his sister of the escape
of his friend fi-om prison, he was much surprised, but he
could not help showing a certain satisfaction at hearing of
his old chum's daring exploit. Heloise did not think him
very sorry that Lyon had not been re-captured. When he
afterward found out that Caesar had mysteriously disap-
peared about the same time, a light seemed to break in
upon him, and further conversation with his sister made the
matter clearer to him. He did not, however, attempt to
win her confidence or force her to confession, and at heart
he was pleased that his sister had chosen Tom Lyon as the
object of her love.

Let us now return with the speed of thought to the
North, while our three fugitives are making their way thither

A TALE OE THE REBELLION. 85

on the confiscated horses of the Virginia planter. After
the battle of Antietam there was little fighting for a couple
of months, for the same number of reasons : Lee was not
anxious for a fight and McClellan was too cautious to take
any chances. There was a southward movement of the two
opposing armies from the bloody soil of Maryland, made
in parallel lines and on opposite sides of the Blue Ridge.
The latter part of October McClellan occupied Snicker's
Gap and Manassas and had advanced as far as Warrenton
before his active participation in the war was brought to a
close.

The Vermont Brigade showed by its wasted numbers
the hard and dangerous service it had seen, and the gallant
manner in which it had discharged its duties. Captain
Nason had been sent home so severely wounded that he
could never draw his sword again. All the others of our
old friends had not only survived their perils but had
escaped unhurt, but their bronzed faces and the diminished
form of private Hank Wait, who had left sixty pounds of his
flesh upon the Peninsula, bore witness to the fact that they
had not escaped their full share of hardship.

One night, before the southward movement of the army
had begun and while it was waiting for the rebel Jeb.
Stuart to ride around it, as he had done once before, private
Wait was stationed on picket.

" On your care," said Lieut. Joe Safford, addressing
Hank, " depends perhaps the safety of the army and the
fate of the country. I therefore caution you not to snore
as loudly as usual, else you will be likely to attract the at-
tention of the enemy and furnish them a sure guide to our
position."

Picket duty is not the most pleasant experience of a
soldier's life, and as the hours lagged, as though loth to
depart, while nothing occurred to disturb the silence and
darkness of the night, Hank's thoughts became anything

86

THE NORWICH CADETS!

but cheerful companions, and he began to wish that some-
thing would happen to relieve the monotony and prove his
vigilance.

The wish was scarcely formed, and not fully endorsed
by his better judgment, when he heard footsteps approach-
ing and the sound of voices. As the disturbers of his quiet
came nearer and got within what he considered a proper
distance, or an improper nearness, he hailed them :

" Who goes there ?"

" Friends."

" Halt, friends ; let one advance and give the counter-
sign."

There was a halt and when one came forward, speaking
as he came —

" We have not the countersign ; we are prisoners
escaped from the enemy, and wish to be taken into the
Union camp."

" Halt ! or I fire !" cried Hank, fearing treachery, and
bringing his piece to his shoulder.

" If you are not Hank Wait, then I'm a rebel, so ground
that musket," returned the threatened stranger, walking
rapidly forward instead of obeying the order to halt.

Hank's fears were somewhat relieved by this familiar
address, and he permitted the unknown to approach him.
When he recognized the voice and form of Capt. Lyon, he
dropped his gun and seized his friend with both hands.

"Why, Tom, where did you rain from ?"

" From Richmond, and I brought a piece of the cloud
along with me. Staples and Csesar, come," he called to his
companions, and they soon appeared.

" This is the cloud, I suppose," said Hank, looking at
Cresar.

In a short time the three fugitives from Rebeldom
were among their friends in camp, where they were warmly
welcomed. They had to narrate their adventures and were

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 87

listened to with interest. From their tale it appeared that
they reached Aquia Creek a few days after we left them dash-
ing away on the planter's horses, and without any incident
worthy of mention. There their dangers ended. Learning
the location of their regiments, they resolved to report
themselves in camp without delay, and getting transporta-
tion up the Potomac they rejoined the army as we have
seen.

Soon after this, as we have said, the army began its
southward movement, but the advance had got no further
than "Warrenton, when Gen. McClellan was relieved of the
Command and ordered home to Trenton, N. J.

Gen. Burnside now succeeded to the command of the
army of the Potomac, Nov. 8, 1862, and immediately com-
menced to move his forces down the Rappahannock to
Fredericksburg. Lee moved his army in a parallel line
down the south bank of the river, ready to resist the cross-
ing of the Union trooj^s wherever they should attempt it.

Burnside laid a pontoon across the river to Fredericks-
burgh and another about two miles below, much of the
work being done under the fire of the enemy and at a loss
of three hundred men. The city was then cleared of the
enemy and a few prisoners taken, and our army, 100,000
strong, had possession of both banks of the river. Lee's
army of 80,000 men was posted along the bluffs for a dis-
tance of five or six miles, a very advantageous position.
Three hundred rebel guns were stationed on the eminences,
in a position to rake every part of the ground by which
they could be approached. Immediately in the rear of
Fredericksburg stood Marye's Hill, which the rebels held
and which they had fortified from its base" to its summit.
At the base was a stone wall behind which was stationed a
brigade of infantry, and above this battery rose above bat-
tery to the frowning summit, ready to pour down a deadly
storm of shot upon our advancing columns.

88 THE NORWICH CADETS:

Burn side certainly showed himself unfit for command
when he ordered his brave men to certain death that there
awaited them ; but he gave the command and on the 13th
day of December the attack began. The brave Irish Brig-
ade under Gen. Meagher dashed itself six times against
that fiery hill, and of the 1200 men led into action but 280
app eared on parade next morning. But the slaughter of
the gallant Irishmen was useless, for the position could not
be carried.

The fighting was not all at this point, however. Rey-
nolds and Meade engaged the enemy on the left, farther
down the river, and the Vermont Brigade crossed the lower
pontoon to take part in the conflict which raged in the
neighborhood of Lee's headquarters.

The rebel cavalry came into action here, and the famous
Black Horse Cavalry, which made itself a name at the first
battle of Bull Run, hurled itself against the steady front of
the Green Mountain Boys. Men and horses were mingled
in wild confusion ; swords and bayonets chipping with
blood flashed in the sunlight ; shouts and groans and the
reports of muskets and pistols filled the air.

"Make infantry of them," cried private Wait as he
bayoneted a horse and proceeded to knock its rider on the
head.

His advice and example being followed, there were
more horseless riders than riderless horses that escaped from
the field. Most of the shots fired were aimed at the horses,
and when, after a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to
throw the Old Brigade into confusion, the enemy withdrew.
There were scores of horses left behind never to be ridden
into battle agaib.

" I'm afraid black horses will get scarce in Virginia if
they ain't more careful of them," said Hank, as his company
re-formed its rather uneven line, and in obedience to com-
mand turned to meet and overcome new dangers,

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 89

Thus all day long the battle raged in different parts of
the extensive field. Sometimes success at particular points
waited on our arms, but the result of the entire conflict was
greatly against us. It was a defeat to the Union army,
and when night closed the slaughter, we had lost 15,000
men and gained not one inch of ground, or any material
advantage.

Burnside's attempt had proved a bloody and costly
failure. For the next two days the two hostile armies stood
facing each other, neither daring to attack, and then our
army was withdrawn to the north bank of the river, and
Fredericksburg abandoned.

On the return of the troops, Csesar, who had prudently
refrained from crossing the river, made his appearance
among his friends and seemed pleased to find them un^
harmed.

" Ain't you sorry you didn't go over, Caesar ?" inquired
Hank.

" Not berry, sah ? de air am more salubricarious on dis
side."

"But there was a chance to win glory," persisted
Hank.

" Neber cared for sich tings," replied Caesar, loftily.
'• Weren't you just a little afraid of being shot ?"
" No, sah ; not 'fraid ; but Ise wuf money, an' my missis
tole me to be careful ob myself. White men don't cos'
nuffin, and won't sell for nuflin, but when you shoot me,
dere's a tousan' dollars frowed away."

" It's just as well, my colored friend, that you didn't
risk your precious form," said Dr. Sanord, who happened to
be passing by; "for there wasn't glory enough to go
around among the white men. Our captain, your master,
took the lion's share, which was quite natural and proper
for a Lyon to do."

90 THE NORWICH CADETS :

The pontoons were taken up — the enemy re occupied
Fredericksburg, and hostilities were reduced to picket-firing
across the river.

Capt. Lyon had distinguished himself by his coolness
and bravery and was soon after promoted to major.

Burnside's usefulness as commander of the army of the
Potomac was at an end, and he was soon after released from
the command, though he was on the eve of putting in
execution a new plan for the capture of Richmond.

Nearly all our commanders seemed to labor under and
to be governed by the impression that the taking of Rich-
mond would prove the end of the rebellion, while to a non-
military mind it appears that the mere capture of that city
would have resulted in nothing more serious to the rebel
cause than the necessity of removing the rebel government
to some other locality. Time proved that the only practical
method of conquering the Confederacy was to wear it out —
to kill, wound and take prisoners its fighting men, to
deplete its treasury and ruin its credit — to cripple all its
resources so that it could no longer' keep an effective army
in the field. Every rebel soldier disabled for service, every
thousand dollars spent in equipping an army for the field,
every week of time during which they were obliged to
maintain their cause at great expense, helped on the final
consummation. When men and money and needful sup-
plies began to grow scarce, the rebellion, which had been .a
mere shell for some time, suddenly collapsed. k 80 long as
an effective blockade was kept up, it didn't matter much
where the fighting was done, if only it was done.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 91

CHAPTER X.

CHANCELLORSVILLE AND GETTYSBURG STANNARD's BRIGADE — OUR

HEROES MEET AGAIN IN BATTLE STAPLES TURNS THE TIDE

• C2ESAR SEEKS HIS WOUNDED MASTER ON THE FIELD THE

SLAVE'S AFFECTION FOR HIS MASTER A MYSTERY TO PRIVATE

WAIT IN HOSPITAL CONVALESCENT A SURPRISE.

E N . Hooker assumed command of the army

]of the Potomac, Jan. 26th, 1863. The army

was in a bad condition. The men were dis-

x heartened by the disasters they had suffered

and desertions were frequent. General Hooker
wisely spent two months in disciplining and
inspiriting his troops and with such success that
at the end of that time he had an army of 123,-
OOCPmen, who had confidence in their general and were
ready once more to meet the foe. The battle of Chancel-
lorsville, which was to try their courage, was fought on
nearly the same field as that of Fredericksburg, the scene of
their late defeat.

Gen. Hooker mapped his intended movement so well
that he succeeded in crossing the Rappahannock without
any loss or opposition whatever. He was confident of
victory, and declared that he held Lee's army in onejmnd
and Richmond in the other. Seven days elapsed from the
crossing to the re-crossing of the river — days filled up with
important movements and heavy fighting. The first col-

92 THE NORWICH CADETS !

lision was rather to the advantage of the rebels. The next
day Stonewall Jackson with 25,000 men, having greatly
changed his position by marching all day and concealing
his movements from observation, appeared in a part of the
field where he wTas not expected, and suddenly emerging
from the woods he burst upon the 11th corps near nightfall,
routing it and scattering the panic stricken fugitives, who
carried dismay wherever they fled with their tidings of
disaster. Pouring down the Chancellorsville road they
threatened to infect the whole army with the fright which
possessed them.

Pleasanton, with his artillery, arrested the tide of dis-
aster which threatened to engulf all. Ordering Major
Keenan with 500 men to charge the rebel 25,000, which he
did at the cost of his life ten minutes after, Pleasanton had
time to get his guns in position and double-shotted. Three
times the rebels charged upon him — once to within fifty
yards of his guns — but each time they were repulsed with
tremendous slaughter.

In this engagement Stonewall Jackson fell mortally
wounded, between nine and ten o'clock at night, and
Pleasanton, supported by Sickles' infantry, was left master
of the position.

All night operations continued. At midnight Gen.
Sickles advanced a division and ordered a charge down the
plank road, which drove back the rebels and recovered a
part of the ground lost by rout of the 11th corps. At day-
light, however, he was ordered by Hooker to fall back on
Chancellorsville, which he did slowly and without loss,
although closely followed by the enemy.

It wTas Sunday, May 3d, and the rebels, led by J. E. B.
Stuart, dashed themselves upon Sickles' corps with such
gallantry and utter recklessness of life that they deserved
success, if gallantry alone can ever observe it. Up to the
very mouths of our cannon they charged, but the discharge

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 93

from forty guns, ably handled, cut frightful swaths through
their close ranks. The Union troops fought them until
their ammunition was exhausted, and then repelled five
fierce charges with their bayonets. A message was then
sent to headquarters for relief, but in vain, as Hooker had
been rendered insensible by a cannon ball, which struck a
pillar of the Chancellorsville house, against which he was
leaning. The hard pressed corps was forced to fall back
and soon tjie whole army was withdrawn a mile northward,
leaving Chancellorsville to the enemy.

The fight was nearly all over in this part, but Sedg-
wick, who had crossed the river two or three miles below
Fredericksburg, with the intention of falling on Lee's rear
and crushing the rebel army between himself and Hooker,
now renewed the contest, which raged as fiercely as before.

The Vermont Brigade, belonging to the 6th corps, was
with Sedgwick. Maj. Lyon was in command of his regi-
ment, in the absence of any superior officer. The troops
began their march from the pontoons at night, and fighting
every inch of the way, entered Fredericksburg at daylight
Monday morning.

The rebel troops were concentrated on Marye's hill,
which Burnside had vainly attempted to carry in the former
battle, and where the Irish Brigade had been sacrificed.

The first attempt to clear the rifle-pits at the foot of
the hill was repulsed, and another plan was resolved upon.
Just before noon three storming columns, one of them led
by Maj. Lyon and composed entirely of Green Mountain
Boys, advanced with resolute step against Cemetery hill,
which it was thought best to attack first.

Under a heavy fire of artillery they charged up the hill
without halting or wavering. Closing up their ranks as
often as they were broken by the fire they sustained, they
pushed on with determined faces, and eyes fixed on the
summit of that hill as the goal they must reach.

94 THE NORWICH CADETS t

"Steady, boys! forward!" cried Lyon at every dis-
charge of lead which rained upon them.

The very tone of his voice gave assurance that the
order would be obeyed. Up the height they rushed, our
hero at their head, while the tall form of Lieut. Joe Safford
kept close in his rear like an elongation of his shadow.

" This is worse than climbing Atherton's hill, after
the cows," eooly remarked Joe. referring to the home cow-
pasture.

" I wish I was there, though.'* said Hank, who was in
the front rank and heard the remark. ''I'd rather swallow
raspberries, with the worms on, than these cannon balls."

Still upward they pressed with unabated courage till
only a few yards separated them from the enemy.

"Upon them, boys!" shouted Lyon, waving his sword
and dashing upon the rebel gunners as though he had been
shot from a mortar.

His sword flashed and writhed like a fiery serpent and
death followed its every stroke. His men swarmed after
him over the crest of the hill and a few seconds decided the
cpiestion of mastery. The fight was won, and 200 prisoners
with guns and camp equipage fell into the hands of the
victors. A rousing cheer announced the fact to all con-
cerned.

But the victory was not gained without cost. That
bloody slope — fitly named cemetery hill — was scattered
over with the dead bodies of brave men, and in the very
moment of triumph the gallant Safford sank down on the
height, severely wounded.

But there was no time to mourn for the dead, and
scarce any to care for the wounded. Hank was permitted to
remain behind to care for his old school-mate and boyhood's
friend, Lieut. Joe, and the storming column rushed ou
against Bfarye's hill like a resistless wave at floodtidp, bear-
ing an before it.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 05

The second height was taken like the first, and glory
rested on the banners of the Old Brigade.

Still onward rushed Sedgwick's victorious corjos on the
track of the retiring rebels for three or four miles, when the
latter halted and gave battle. Their position proved too
strong to be carried, and when Lee. having compelled
Hooker to retire from his front, turned the bulk of his army
upon Sedgwick, oar troops were forced back before the
superior force brought against them, and finally during the
night Sedgwick was obliged to retreat across the river with
heavy loss.

The next night Hooker himself crossed to the north
side of the river with the balance of our army and the
battle of Chancellorsville was ended. The losses of the
enemy were doubtless as great as our own, but for the
second time they had driven us across the Rhappahannock,
and with some show of reason they claimed the victory.

Our hero, for gallant conduct, was promoted to the
rank of colonel, and Hank would have been ennobled by
being raised to the rank of corporal, but he distinctly de-
clined the honor.

" I ain't ambitious," said he : "I don't hanker after office.
In my humble sphere I am content to remain and do my
duty to my country ; but who knows what might happen if
I should accept promotion ? I might not be satisfied till I
had got to be general- in-chief, and had ruined my country
by proving the destroyer of its liberty. Napoleon was
spoiled by being a corporal. If he hadn't been corporal,
he never would have been general or emperor, and the pop-
ulation of the earth would have been, considerably greater
than it is now. If he had always been a private soldier,
the blood spilled to gratify his ambition would have been
happily saved to the world and permitted to flow in peace-
ful streams through the veins of quiet citizens. I don't
want to be a second Napoleon, and I won't. Through love
#

96 THE NORWICH CADETS!

of c Jim try I turn my back on this temptation. All I ask
in return is that hereafter a grateful people shall chisel
upon my gravestone — 'Hank Wait, private. A patriot rests
here.' "

Lieut. SafforcTs wounds were not mortal, but they
were such as to incapacitate him for service, at least for a
while. "Under the care of his brother, the doctor, he grew
strong enough to make the journey to Vermont, and he was
sent home to complete his recovery with the hope of a
speedy return.

A month of inaction ensued, and then Lee put his army
in motion for an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
When it became evident that an important movement was
ofoingf on, there was considerable skirmishing and some
engagements but no great battle.

The rebel army, passing up the south bank of the Rap-
pahannock, crossed the Blue Ridge into the Shedandoah
valley and moved nortlrward, taking Winchester in the wray,
threatening Harper's Ferry and even Washington, before
Hooker began to move in force. The rebels had a week the
start, and fording the Potomac they struck across Mary-
land and up as far as Chambersburg, Pa., without meeting
any serious opposition.

- On the eve of the great battle, Hooker and Halleck
disagreed in regard to the propriety of holding Harper's
Ferry, and Hooker, at his own request, was relieved of the
command, and Gen. Meade was appointed his successor,
taking command of the army June 28th, 1863.

Gettysburg, Pa., was a village of 3,000 inhabitants,
and there Lee concentrated his army, and there the battle
was fought, although Meade had maneuvered at a point
some fifteen miles southeast of there.

It is not our purpose to give a detailed account of the
battle, which is a matter of history, but to relate those in-
cidents of it in which our characters were concerned,

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 07

The part which the troops of Vermont took in this
decisive battle reflects credit upon them, and is a matter of
just pride to the State which sent them into the field.

The 2d brigade of Vermonters, composed of the 12th,
13th, 14th, 15th and 16th regiments, 9 months mon, under
Gen. Stannard, performed the most gallant service, and in
the opinion of Major Gen. Doubleday the country is mainly
indebted to them for the final victory of the third of July.

Two different times charging on the flank of advancing
rebel columns, they scooped them en masse into our lines,
and the 16th regiment, Col. Veazey, in the last charge,
captured from the enemy the colors of their regiments.
Although it was to most of them their first battle, they fought
with the coolness of veterans. Their movements were
executed in the open field, under heavy fire and with the
promptness and decision of batallion drill. They ended the
contest in the center and substantially closed the battle.
General Stannard himself was badly wounded, but refused
to leave the field until the contest was over.

The Old Brigade, of which Lyon's regiment formed a
part, was with the rest of the 6th corps at Manchester,
thirty miles away, on July 1st. Receiving orders, they
began their march for Gettysburg at 7 p. m. They passed
over a rough and hilly country, marching as long as they
could see to do so to any advantage, and finally halted on a
mountain side to rest and wait for daylight. Their rations
were nearly exhausted, but the spirits of the men, inured
to hardship, were lively and hopeful.

Officers and men threw themselves down together,
wherever they halted, and partook of such refreshments as
their haversacks afforded. Col. Lyon, Captain Merritt, and
Dr Safford and Hank sat down together.

" Supper is ready, gentlemen," said Hank, producing
his last hardtack. " Tins is the first course, just to give

98 THE NORWICH CADETS I

you an appetite for what isn't likely to follow. Have a bite
Colonel?"

The Colonel declined, as did his companions, and Hank
disposed of the whole first course without any seeming
difficulty, but did not seem quite surfeited.

'• Doctor." he requested, be so kind as to help me to a
portion of that turkey in front of you — the second joint
please."

u Pray restrain your voracity, private Wait, returned
the doctor. " As your physician. I feel it my duty to warn
you against overloading your stomach. Overeating is the
curse of the country an -J is making a nation of dyspeptics.
According to such medical authorities as Dr. Dio Starvem,
a single hardtack, such as you have just devoured with such
improper haste, is quite as much nourishment as any man
ought to receive after 12 o'clock noon."

u Thank you doctor : I am very glad I haven't eaten
any more, and I hope you will continue to look carefully
after my health. I shall write to my mother in regard to
your kindness, and I doubt not her anxiety will be much
relieved."

" It would, I think, have been much better if you had
eaten nothing at all at this hour of the night."'

" Give me an emetic, doctor, and I will be more careful
after this."

"I hope," said Merrifct, "that Dr. Starvem won't be
appointed commissary general : but to change the subject
from eating, of which there is little to do, to lighting, of
which we have always had enough, what do you think.
Colonel, is the prospect of our being in season to have a hand
in the expected battle ?"

" The prospect is dark. I am afraid we shall be late
for the main battle, but there will probably be work for us
when we get there. I never knew the Old Brigade to fall
short of its full share,"

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 99

- We shall be on the move as soon as it is light
enough," said the doctor, " and if you have any respect for
my judgment, you will stop talking and stop thinking if
possible, and get all the sleep you can.'"

" Your views in regard to sleep, though not quite so
novel to me as those you have expressed in regard to diet,
appear to be equally correct, and I shall govern myself
accordingly," said Hank, stretching himself on the hillside
at an angle of forty-five degrees with the plane of the
horizon.

" I advise you," he continued, after some efforts to
neutralize the force of gravity which was drawing him down
the inclined plane of his earthly couch, ;; to stick your toes
well into the ground if you don't wish to find yourselves
at the foot of the hill in the morning."

The tired soldiers were soon asleep, and slept soundly
in spite of their uncomfortable lodgings till daylight
roused them to resume their march to the field, where the
work of death was already going on.

They arrived at Gettysburg, weary enough, in the
afternoon of the second day and were soon after thrown into
the conflict.

Col. Lyon's regiment was ordered to the front to
relieve a regiment which had exhausted its ammunition,
and at the same time on the rebel side, Col. Wolfe and his
regiment of Georgians was ordered on to the field for a
similar reason.

As the opposing troops were but a short distance
apart, Wolfe recognized his old friend and held his hat aloft
on his sword-point to attract attention. Lyon saw and
courteously saluted him, and then these almost brothers
began their fight.

It was Georgia against Vermont, and both sides were
determined to win. The Norwich Cadets met now for the

1130 THE NORWICH cadets:

second time in battle, and neither of them had the slightest
idea of yielding to the other.

Volley after volley was exchanged, and men fell on
both sides. Lyon received a bullet through his right hand ;
seizing his sword in his left, he still encouraged his men.

"Charge, Georgians!'' cried Wolfe, and at the word his
men sprang forward with deafening yells.

The order was plainly heard by the northerners.
"Charge, Vermonters!" cried Lyon, before the former
order had fairly died away, and wraving his sword he rushed
at the head of his ready followers to meet the coming
wave. The combatants met with a shock and were mingled
in a contest at close quarters.

The two friends avoided each other, but they spared no
others.

" Down with them !" exclaimed Lyon, cheering on his
men as, bleeding from his wounds, he fought left-handed
with deadly effect against all who opposed him.

"Down it is," responded Hank, the unpromoted, as
his bayonet transfixed a southern captain, whose uplifted
sword in another instant would have cleft the colonel's
head.

The Georgians, animated by the example of their com-
mander, fought with reckless fury, and as one of them by a
sudden bayonet thrust wThich Hank (who kept close by the
side of his wounded colonel) was not quick enough to pre-
vent, though he took a deadly revenge for it, brought Lyon
to the ground, it seemed as though the battle would go in
Wolfe's favor. He saw his friend fall and rushed to the
spot to save his life if possible.

At that critical juncture a New Hampshire regiment
appeared upon the scene and Capt. Staples vnth his com-
pany dashed into the midst of the fight. The Georgians
were soon scattered — some being taken prisoners — but their
colonel, scorning to flee and fighting to the last, wras struck

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 101

senseless to the ground, without having been recognized by-
Staples.

It was nearly dark and the fighting was ended for the
day. The Vermonters bore away the body of their wound-
ed colonel.

Under the skillful treatment of Dr. Safford, Lyon was
restored to consciousness and his wounds properly dressed.
As soon as he had collected his thoughts he spoke to Csesar,
who with Hank was watching over him, and told him that
his young master William, Col. Wolfe, was probably lying
on the field of battle either dead or wounded.

The affectionate negro shed tears at this intelligence.

" Massa Lyon, let me go an' find my young massa."

,; Yes ; go with him, Hank," said Lyon.

Accordingly Hank and Csesar set out together for the
lately contested field, carrying a stretcher with them, and
full canteens of water. The evening Avas sufficiently light
and they found their way to the spot without difficulty.
Stepping over the dead, both Mend and foe, looking in this
and that pale upturned face, or stopping to give a drink to
some groaning wounded rebel, they sought for the young
colonel.

An exclamation from Csesar brought Hank to his side.
He was bending over the senseless form of his master, one
side of whose face was covered with blood which had flowed
from a wound in the head.

" Oh ! de good Lord spare him ! Am he dead, massa
Wait ?"

Hank examined the young officer and decided that he
was not dead. He had received an ugly blow on the head,
but no necessarily mortal wound was discovered.

Ceesar seemed much relieved when Hank expressed the
opinion that his master would live, but the Vermonter
could hardly understand the affection of the slave, for one

102 ME NORWICH cadets:

who claimed the ownership of his body and the right to
all the fruits of his labor.

" I feel pretty certain,'' he remarked to himself, rather
more than to Caesar, " that the only stretcher I should furn-
ish to the man who called himself my master, would be in
the shape of a hempen cord."'

Without further delay they carefully raised the wound-
ed man and placed him on the stretcher, and proceeded to
carry him within the Union lines. Arriving there in safety
with their burden, they placed Wolfe in the care of the sur-
geons, who succeeded in restoring him to consciousness.
As his eyes rested with a look of recognition on the dusky
but familiar face of Caesar, that devoted servant rolled his
eyes upward aud ejaculated :

" Bress de Lord ! bress de Lord ! Massa William, you's
a gwine to get well," and the happy fellow wept tears of joy.

The wounded were in due time removed to the hospital
in Washington, and our two heroes occupied adjacent beds.
They were soon out of danger, though there was no pros-
pect of their taking part in any further operations during
that campaign.

Caesar nursed them both with the utmost fidelity, and
seemed never to tire of rendering them every service in his
power. Night and day he was at hand whenever wanted,
and his dark face shone with the light of joy whenever there
appeared a decided improvement in the condition of his
patients.

As the two Mends began to convalesce, and they re-
sumed the familiar intercourse of cadet life, the days passed
pleasantly away and the last two years seemed an interval
of dreams. To men of active temperament, life confined
to the narrow limits, and jostled by the unpleasant associa-
tions of a hospital, has not many attractions ; but they had
only to shut their eyes and listen to each other's voices to
be transported, in imagination, back to their old room at

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 103

Norwich ; and these days of their recovery and the gradual
return of strength were the happiest they had known since
their parting at the University. It was the calm after the
storm, and they experienced a quietude of spirit born of
the serenity around them.

•' That was a neat trick of yours, Torn, in leaving Rich-
mond," remarked Wolfe one day.

"A Yankee trick, but hardly worth patenting," replied
Lyon.

" The Yankee is an inventive animal."

'• I guess you reckon rightly ; but I can't see how any
man, even a Georgian, could remain shut up in prison, as
I was. without trying to discover some way of escape."

" In your situation at that time, the idea of escape
would never have occurred to me."

••And I presume the idea of getting away from here
has not entered your tropical brain ; but if I were in your
situation I should be revolving in my mind some plan to
get across the Potomac."

" I never was good at getting out of a scrape, but I
am first rate at getting into one. There is nothing of your
Y'ankee cuteness in my composition : it isn't indigenous to
the southern soil."

;- It is handy though sometimes,'' said Tom.

" Extremely useful, I admit ; I am glad there are a
few Yankees in the world. Nobody but a Boston Yankee
would ever have thought of catching the lightning, and no-
body born out of Newr England would ever have dreamed
of teaching it to talk.

" It's a pity your compatriots, or fellow rebels, don't
share your admiration of the Yankee. I fear you are not
an orthodox confederate."

'• I lived too long in Vermont, I think. But tell me,
how did you get out of Libby ?"

ki I dropped out."

104 THE NORWICH CADETS!

" That was easy enough after you got on the outside,
but how was that done ?"

" I whittled out with a jack knife." '

" I might have known it. A jack knife is implement
enough for a Yankee, no matter what the job before him.
It is a waste of money to purchase guns and ammunition
for your troops. If they were only armed wTith jack knives
they would whittle the Confederacy into shavings in a
single campaign."

" It pains me. that I am not able truthfully to say some-
thing complimentary in return, " said Lyon ; but whither
tends this flood of praise ? Can I tell you anything more in
regard to my escape from your delightful country ? Would
you hear the narrative of my wanderings ? It is another
Odyssy.

<kI would hear how it is that I. find a piece of my
property, called Caesar, in your possession.*'

" Well, replied Lyon, beginning to suspect that his
friend had some knowledge of the assistance he had received
in leaving rebel dom. " I fell in with Caesar after I had
vacated my apartment at Libby, and as he expressed a
desire to travel and see the world and to give a finishing
touch to his education, I took him under my protection,
and brought him with me to the United States. If you
wish to regain your property, we have a fugitive slave law."

" I don't think I shall avail myself of it. I am glad to
find Caesar here. But I have, been in Richmond, Tom, since
you left it so suddenly."

"You have— and how is — did you find your people
well ? — Miss Heloise is the only one of your family that I
have the honor to know."

" All quite well, thank you. My sister told me some-
thing of her intercourse with yourself and your fellow-
prisoner and tried to make me think, Tom, that your
escape was a surprise to her. I did not question her much.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION.

105

not caring to develop a case of treason in my family, and
allowed her to think that I believed what she wished to
have me."

" She may have suspected my intention to escape, but
I never divulged it to her, as I did not wish either to lead
her into treason, as you call it, or to impose upon her the
performance of what she might esteem the painful yet im-
perative duty to betray me."

ki Betray you ! I truly believe my sister would sell the
whole Confederacy and give away all my niggers, to help a
certain friend of mine out of difficulty."

•• Your frankness, Bill, deserves to be reciprocated. I
assure you that I regard my capture on the peninsula as
the most fortunate event of my life, since it brought me
acquainted with Heloise. I admire and respect her as the
embodiment of all the higher graces and virtues of her sex.
I feel that I am all unworthy of her, and that it is asking
much of your friendship to ask you, as I do, to smile upon
my suit ; but a man in love is always unreasonable."

" You have my hearty good wishes, old friend, and my
full consent to call me brother. And now, since we under-
stand each other, in this matter, I wish to ask you what has
become of our Mend Condon, the gigantic and heroic."

*; As I told you at Richmond, he left the University to
attend medical lectures at Albany, but I have not seen him
since. He wrote me two or three times, each time telling
of some astounding cure which he had just performed. He
talked learnedly of the arterial system, mentioning by name
as I remember, and thus showing his familiarity with the
subject, the aorta and the auxiliary and brachial arteries.
Penetrating still deeper, he spoke of the parietal bone, the
clavicle, humerus, carpus and metacarpus, phalanges,
femur, tibia and fibula. It was my fault, I suppose, that
£he correspondence wras not kept up."

N

106 THE NORWICH CADETS :

" You didn't appreciate his learning. What disgusted
you would have been rich food for me. Mat approached
nearer to my conception of Falstan* than any other person
I ever met. He is probably now the mighty man in some
small village ; overtopping and overawing the multitude :
slaying every third patient and laying the blame on Provi-
dence."

" No doubt," said Lyon ; " and with his evening pipe
he tells to gaping admirers in the village grocery tales of
cadet life in which he figures as hero. He tells how at one
time he fought and conquered, singlehanded, a score of
Darties, and how on another occasion he saved two friends
of his, Wolfe and Lyon, from a beating and brought them
off unhurt.''

While the two sick men were enjoying a feeble laugh
over this picture of the imagination, a heavy step was heard
approaching. A gruff voice came to their ears and turning
their eyes to the quarter from which it came, they both
gazed for some moments in speechless astonishment.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 107

CHAPTER XI.

DR. CONDON AND HIS TWO PATIENTS— WOLFE EXCHANGED— AID AND
COMFORT TO THE ENEMY LYON JOINS HIS REGIMENT AT FAIR-
FAX COURT HOUSE— BRUSHING THE DUST OF A CENTURY FROM
THE RECORDS OF THE COURT— UNCLE SAM VS. J. DAVIS ET. AL.

M I awake ?" inquired Wolfe, rubbing his eyes
and looking again. " And if awake, is the figure
I see the air-drawn form of a disordered mind,
or flesh and blood reality !"

" It is he, replied Lyon. t; Hide your face
partially and observe his motions. I think we
will surprise him when he reaches us."'

Down the long alley came the burly form of
no other than Dr. Mat. Condon. Stopping here
and there at the beds on either hand, he examined with a
wise look the hurts of the occupants, asked a few questions,
and gave some directions to the nurse in attendance, with a
tone and manner which implied that a strict following of
his directions would insure a recovery in every case.

Approaching the place where his friends lay in ambush
for him, he stopped and turned first to Lyon.

-Well, my man, how are you to-day?*' he inquired in
a cheerful tone.

" Poorly, poorly, doctor," replied Lyon in a faint voice.

108 THE NORWICH CADETS:

" What is your difficulty ?"

•■ Sarcophagus of the cerebellum."

•• Eh— what— "

'• He's got it bad,'" came from the opposite bed.

" But he has got something worse " said Lyon with his
face still concealed and nodding his head in Wolfe's direc-
tion.

" I'd like to know what it is !" exclaimed Dr. Condon,
in some amazement.

•• The poor fellow has the secession cerebropathy in its
worst form."

•' Hard cases." said the doctor ; brought on by wounds,
I suppose."

" Say ' induced ' and I'll agree with you."

v- We wrere shot all to pieces and just sewed together
again. They brought the pieces here in a hand-basket, and
the surgeon stitched one of that fellow's legs on to me by
mistake," said the sufferer from cerebropathy.

Condon began to think he had a couple of madmen to
deal with.

" Let me see your wound," he said to Lyon.

" Look, then." exclaimed his old comrade, uncovering
his face and smiling at the puzzled Mat.

" Tom Lyon ! you rascal. I've a mind to break the shell
of your cerebellum."

" It's your only chance, Mat, I'm weak, now."

•; And this other villian, must be Bill Wolfe," said Con-
don, turning to the other patient and exposing his features.

There was a laugh in which Condon joined heartily.

" Well. Boys' he said. - I'm glad to see you," and he
shook their hands with fervor. 'k The reunion of three
gallant hearts after a lapse of years is a joyous event. How
we are pushed about on the checker board of life — fewT of us
ever getting into the king-row, after all our jumping. But
it is all for the best, boys, all for the best. What a lucky

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 109

thing that I studied medicine, instead of entering the army,
as all my inclinations urged me. In deference to a mother's
tears, I forsook the path of glory to learn the healing art,
and now I am qualified, to do service to my dearest friends.
Thank your stars, my wounded Cresars, that I have found
you. Now I'll have you out of this in less time than — "

;" Do you mean to murder us, that you talk of getting
us out of here ?" interrupted Wolfe. " Your patients go
out in boxes, I suppose."

" That's what he means,'' chimed in Lyon, " but they
don't call it murder ; that is a legal term. The medical pro-
fession has a variety of technical terms to designate differ
ent modes of snapping the vital thread.''

" Their little pellets are more deadly than poisoned
bullets, and what makes the doctors more terrible than an
army with banners is the fact that their raw recruits are
their best shots."

" Halt, there," cried Condon ; " as a physician, as well
as a soldier and a gentleman, I can't hear the profession
slandered. If you don't give it the honor due. I leave you
to your fate."

" We can't spare you, Mat, now we have you, but we
can your medicine. You may safely reckon that we won't
deplete your stock of drugs."

" No," added Lyon ; ki though willing to do almost
anything to oblige an old friend, we are hardly ready
to be made subjects of for the sake of furthering your
knowledge and increasing your skill."

'; I would like to show you how neatly I could take off
your leg."

•• We will take it for granted that you could do it very
neatly."

'; Well " said Condon, philosophically, " I suppose the
doctors must be satisfied to remain to the end of time the
unthanked benefactors of the race. Here I have left a

110 THE NORWICH CADETS !

lucrative practice and come on here, at the call of suffering
humanity, but not a man is willing to submit to an opera-
tion, and if one has a limb taken off in an artistic manner,
he looks upon the surgeon as a personal enemy."

" In mercy to your home patients," we ought to give
you work enough to keep you here a fewr weeks said Wolfe.

And so the conversation went on. It was renewed
every day when Condon visited the hospital, and though
his prescriptions were ridiculed by his two patients, his
cheerful company proved a cordial to them, and they daily
grew better. They were soon able to walk about and Lyon
began to think of rejoining his regiment.

Condon expressed to him the great desire he felt to
seize the weapons of warfare and serve through the re-
mainder of the war : but stated, at the same time, that the
numerous and urgent letters wrhich he received from his
deserted patients and the jDathetic letters of his aged mother
left him no choice in the matter 5 he would be obliged to go
home.

He did go, a few days before Lyon left the city, pro-
testing to the last against the fate which doomed him to
physical inaction while his whole soul was in arms.

About this time Wolfe was exchanged and when he
departed for the Confederacy, Lyon gave him a letter ad-
dressed to Heloise, and divided with him the amount of
greenbacks of which he happened at that time to be pos-
sessed.

" Aid and comfort to the enemy," said Lyon.

" I will leave you Cfesar as security," answered "Wolfe,
and clasping each others' hands for a moment, the two
friends separated.

Maj. Lyon found his regiment quartered at Fairfax
Court House, where he was welcomed by Dr. Safford and
the rest of his old comrades, among whom was Lieutenant
Joe, who had reported himself as lit for duty again.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. Ill

There were some weeks of rest and quiet while wait-
ing for the opening of the spring campaign, and our friends
managed to pass the time agreeably.

Dr. Safford explored the archives and discovered many
ancient documents and interesting records which he read
and commented on to his companions. '

One day he found the time colored papers relating to
a suit on book-account. It appeared therefrom that in the
year 1759 " Mr. John Stone, in account with Alexander
Henderson, Factor for Mr. John Glassford," purchased
sundry articles, among which were one pound powder,
one ounce thread, two pounds sugar, one bushel salt.
one pound brimstone, two dozen metal buttons, one pewter
dish, two porringers, two quarts rum and one Testament,
and neglected to pay therefor.

Mr. Glassford. after waiting a reasonable time,
petitioned u the worshipful court of Fairfax " and prayed
judgment for " four pounds, twelve shillings and five
pence," with costs. Thereupon was issued the following
summons :

*; George the third by the grace of God of great
Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith,
etc., to the sheriff of Fairfax, Greeting : we command you
that you summon John Stone to appear before our Justice
of our said county court at the court-house the third Tues
day in next month to answer the petition of John Glass-
ford, . and have then and there this writ. Witness, Peter
Wagner, clerk of our said court, the 30th day of April, in
the 3d year of our Reign 1763. P. Wagner."

This was written as we have given it, on coarse paper,
but in a fair round hand, as plain as print, and decidedly
superior to the Spencerian hand, if legibility is the chief
thing to be desired in writing.

Judgment was confessed by John Stone for the amount
claimed.

112

THE NORWICH CADETS:

" This case was brought before this worshipful court
one hundred years ago," said Dr Safford. turning his mental
eye backward over the course of time.

" And the sugar and the salt and the rum were used up
long ago." said Hank.

" Yes, but the pewter dish may yet survive to plague us
in the developed form of rebel bullets." remarked Lieut.
Joe.

" History repeats itself, they say," continued the doctor,
" and it appears to me that there is now a parallel case be-
fore this worshipful court. The descendants of this John
Stone, defendant, stand charged on the books of Uncle
Sam with having received from him sundry goods, benefits
and blessings, for which they refuse to pay. Uncle Sam
has petitioned to the supreme court of the country, in which
every man sits as one of the Justices, and a summons has
been issued and placed in the hands of Sheriff Grant to be
served."

•• And we are a part of the posse comitatus to help him
serve it," said Lyon.

" I hope, said Merritt, " that the defendants will con-
fess judgement with costs."

" They seem inclined to contest the case, said the major.
,k and we shall be obliged to employ the argumentum vaculi-
num in order to gain our cause."

" Yes, we will back them down, and now this court will
take a recess and the possy come-at-us can do as it pleases,"
and private "Wait, justice, rose from his seat and walked out
with the dignity of a hundred years ago.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 113

CHAPTER XII.

the battle of the wilderness charge of the old brigade

grant's report behind the log breastwork the fall

of lyon — Cesar's report.

LYSSES S. GRANT was made Lieut,
enant General, March 2d, 1864, and placed in
command of all the armies of the United States-
The army of the Potomac, numbering now some
thing over 100,000 men, was divided into three
corps, commanded respectively by Gens. Han-
cock, Warren and Segdwick — all being under
the command of Gen. Meade. It crossed the
Rapidan, May 4th, and moved into "The Wildnerness." On
Thursday, May 5th, the Vermont Brigade, which had
crossed the river at Germania Ford the day before, met the
rebel advance a short distance from the crossings. They
met in the dense woods at close quarters and the battle of
the Wilderness began.

The rebels had the advantage of position and rained
their bullets in showers on the Old Brigade, which, however,
stood firm. It held the key of the position of the whole
array, and though its ranks were being terribly thinned, no
man thought of retreating. The Vermonters repulsed every
attempt to dislodge them, but their valor cost them 1,000

114 THE NORWICH CADETS :

brave officers and men. That night they slept upon the
battle field, with the dead bodies of their comrades around
them, and the groans of the wounded and dying filling the
aii\

The next morning the Brigade advanced again to the
attack, and fought with the same stern courage as on the
day before, and still on the morning of the 7th they were
ready for the conflict, but a slight skirmish demonstrated
the fact that the enemy had retired froin their front, and
they contented themselves with capturing a large number
of muskets which the enemy had collected.

The Brigade marched all night of May 7th, and the
next day was sent again into the thickest of the fight. The
(Jth was spent in skmnishing and in fortifying a position
under fire.

On the 10th, three regiments of the Brigade, under the
command of our hero, now promoted to the rank of Colonel,
formed part of a column ordered to charge the enemy's
works. The Yermonters were the rear line of the charging
column. The front lines met with partial success, gaining
the works and capturing some prisoners, but were finally
driven back by the enemy.

The rear line then advanced under a galling fire.

w' The Old Brigade is wanted now !" cried Lyon to his
men. " Forward ! and take those works and hold them."

" Take your baggage with you ; wre go to stay," said
Lieutenant Joe to his company.

" My trunk is checked," put in Hank, as a rousing
cheer rang out from the lines.

Forward they plunged with a resistless energy. Men
fell, but the column moved onward. Nothing but death
could stop them. Over the works they sprang, driving out
the enemy at the point of the bayonet. They planted their
tattered colors there and greeted them with hearty cheers.

But they were not allowed to hold undisputed pos-

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 115

session of the works. The enemy made desperate attempts
to retake them, but again and again were beaten off by the
obstinate defenders who were determined to hold and
occupy what they had won, if it were only with their dead
bodies.

" We've moved in here with our goods and shan't move
out till next April, unless we've a mind to," remarked private
Wait to the hindmost of the retreating rebels, who had
charged the ranks in vain.

" If we like the premises and pay our rent, there's no
law to compel us. We're a quiet family, too, if you let us
alone."

The position, however, was judged untenable by the
general in command of the movement, and orders were
sent to the Vermonters to withdraw from the ranks and fall
back.

" Ridiculous !" muttered private Wait, as he heard the
order, but speaking to a soldier on his right, who happened
to be his uncle, Joseph Dickinson.

" By golly, I think so," returned the uncle.

"I like the place, uncle Joseph, and I am going to stay
here. If you go, you can tell my ma'am and Catherine,
where you left me."

" Can't we hold it, Colonel ?" inquired Lieut. Safford.

" We are doing it and we can," answered Lyon.

" Then don't order us back."

" I won't if I can help it."

"Tell the General," he said to the waiting aid, "that
we can hold the works for six months, if supplied with
rations and ammunition."

Again the rebs swept up to regain their lost works,
and again a withering lire of musketry, from men who
wasted few bullets, drove them back in disorder.

But soon thereafter, the Vermonters, in obedience to a
positive order from the General, were obliged to retire

116 THE NORWICH CADETS!

from the ground they had so bravely won and obstinately
held on to.

The next morning, Gen. Grant sent to the War Depart-
ment the following dispatch :

" Headquarters in the Field,)
May 11th, 1864—8 a. m. j

We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fight-
ing. The result, to this time, is much in our favor.

Our losses have been heavy as well as of the enemy.
I think the loss of the enemy must be greater.

We have taken over 5,000 prisoners by battle, whilst he
has taken from us but few, except stragglers.

I propose to fight it out on tliis line, if it takes all
summer.

U. S. GKANT, Lt. Gen. commanding
the Armies of the U. S."

On the 11th day of May, the Brigade was constantly
under fire, and on the 12 th it was ordered to support Han-
cock, and was engaged in one of the hardest fights which it
had yet experienced. The Brigade was under the command
of Gen. Lewis A. Grant. A breastwork of logs and rails
only separated it from the enemy.

The combatants fired into each other's faces, and fought
with clubbed muskets and even pieces of fence rails, in a
hand-to-hand struggle as they alternately made or repelled
assaults.

Crouching down behind the breastworks, they would
load, and then rising quickly, discharge their muskets at the
enemy and fall 'down again as quickly to the ground.

Hank, who was fighting on his own hook, rose to fire
just as a squad of the enemy rose for the same purpose.
Ducking suddenly as he saw the position, their bullets went
over his head.

"You're immensely careless," he exclaimed reproach-
fully, as he quickly rose again and sent his bullet through
the shoulder of a dropping rebel.

A TALE OF THE EEBELLION. 117

A yell of pain attested the effect of his shot.

A reinforcement of the enemy came up now, and, with
frightful yells, they mounted the breastwork, some of them
even jumping down on to our side, in the attempt to dis-
lodge the Old Brigade.

" Drive them back !" cried Lyon, as he himself set an
example to his men.

Screams, shouts and groans made an indescribable
tumult as North met South in a trial of physical strength.

Those whose pieces were loaded fired them in the faces
of the assailants and then turned them end for end, dealing
their blows right and left. Swords and bayonets met as
officers and men mingled in an indiscriminate combat.
Clubs were wielded with the dexterity of those whose
favorite weapon is a stick of blackthorn.

Lieut. Joe, seizing a long rail in his hands, swung it
around with such tremendous force that he swept a rank of
rebels from the breastwork, like so many chickens from a
hen-roost.

" That's Uncle Abe's weapon " said Hank ; " swinging
it once more, and the battle is over."

" If your rail had been a little longer, Lieutenant," said
Lyon, "you would have knocked the brains out of the
whole Confederacy."

Those of the enemy who had got over the breastwork
were made prisoners. Those on the works jumped back to
their own side.

" After them !" shouted Lyon, springing upon the
breastwork, followed by his men.

" It's no more than polite to return their call," said
Hank, as he leaped down among his late guests.

The rebels by scores threw down their arms and sur-
rendered themselves.

With their prisoners, the Vermonters retreated to their
own side of the log fence just in time to escape from, and

118 THE NORWICH CADETS

be ready to meet, another flood of Southern chivalry, which
was dashed up against the works they defended.

Occasionally a white flag was shown on the other side,
and as our fire slackened the confederates swarmed over
and voluntarily gave themselves up.

But others were led up to take their places, and the
contest was continued. Thus for eight hours the Brigade
was engaged, and not without loss, though it inflicted
greater loss on the enemy.

Lyon's coat was perforated by balls, but he received no
wound. Hank had the heel shot off his boot as he stood on
the breastwork. Lieut. Saftord was carried to the rear,
wounded.

Late in the day, Col. Lyon thought he saw an op-
portunity, by a sudden charge, in force, of capturing a large
number of the enemy. The word was accordingly passed
along, weapons were prepared and at a given signal the
Vermonters poured once more over the breastwork like a
spring-freshet over, the dam across a mountain stream. The
movement was highly successful at first. The enemy
yielded before the impetuous assault, large numbers were
captured and hurried to the Union side of the fence ; but
our friends were not to escape with impunity.

Two rebel regiments came to the rescue of their friends
and charged our troops in turn, forcing them back in spite
of their best efforts It was the fiercest encounter of the
day.

Lyon gave the order to retire, but fought himself in the
the rear of his retreating command to enable it to do so in
good order. The enemy pressed closer and at length broke
our line. There was a confused struggle for a moment — a
discharge of small arms at close quarters, and Lyon throw-
ing up his hands wildly, cried out —
"I have got it!"
He fell senseless to the ground. There was a rush of

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 119

the enemy over his motionless body, and his men were
driven over the breakworks. There they halted and held their
own, but they were not able to regain the ground they had
left nor recover the body of their commander.

Till after dark the Brigade defended the position, but
there were many sad hearts at the loss of Lyon. In the
evening the men were marched around, feeling their way
through the dense woods to the extreme right, where they
took position for the night.

Dr. Safford, as soon as he found time, sought out
private Wait to inquire after the colonel.

" You think he was killed, do you Hank V

"Yes, I have no doubt of it," replied Hank with a
tremor in his voice. " I stood close beside him ; a pistol
bullet from a rebel captain, who won't ever shoot another
Yankee, struck him in the breast and he fell as I've seen
many a dead man fall."

" Didn't move or speak again ?"

" No ; but of course I didn't stay there long ; we were
driven back in a hurry, you know."

" He is probably dead," said the doctor, with a sigh.
" The only wonder is that he was not killed long ago. So
reckless of danger has he been."

For the next three days the Brigade was not engaged.

Caesar's grief was inconsolable when he heard of Col.
Lyon's death. He felt that his mission was accomplished,
and he would gladly have returned to his mistress if he had
known of any safe way of doing so. Under the exciting
circumstances, he determined to write, trusting to chance
to forward his communication. After spending the most of
one day on his epistle, he submitted it to Hank to whom
he had attached himself after the loss of his master. It was
written phonetically, or as Hank said, niggeretically as fol-
lows :

" Mi deer missis — ize bery sory to tel yer de bad nuze

120 THE NORWICH cadets:

specs yer wanter heer do massa wilyum dura got kotched bi
de yankis i found him mos ded an nust him till he conwales-
sentid an went bac to our side to kil hisself ober agin mass
liun was kild 2 free times fitiall de time neber seed de likes
an now heze ded mis heloeze ize fraid i neber get outer dis
don't kotch me in anoder scrap whar bullets is mity site mor
plenty dan hokakes hopin yer wel ize mos superrlewously
yer distingwisht and obejunt suiwant. Seezur."

Strange as it may seem, this letter, which Hank under-
took to deliver in order to satisfy the writer and which he
fastened to a tree, was afterwards found by Col. Wolfe and
forwarded to its destination.

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 121

CHAPTER XIII.

FROM THE WILDERNESS TO COLD HARBOR — IN THE SHENANDOAH

VALLEY RETURN TO PETERSBURG THE CAMPAIGN OF 18G5

THE OLD BRIGADE MAKES A BEGINNING OF THE END

CAPTURE OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND LEE's RETREAT

COL. WOLFE A PRISONER THE LAST CHARGE OF THE CON-
FEDERACY LEE'S SURRENDER THE UNION SAVED.

N the 16th operations were renewed by a recon-
noisance in the direction of Spotsylvania Court
House, a part' of the Brigade gallantly driving
the enemy's skirmishers to their main line of
works. On the 18th the Vermonters with the
rest of the 6th corps and the 2d corps charged
under heavy artillery fire and held the front line
until ordered to retire.
From Spottsylvania the Brigade marched on the night
of the 21st to Guinea's Station, thence to the North Anna
River, which they crossed and re-crossed, skirmishing with the
enemy and tearing up the railroad. On the 27th it crossed
the Pamunkey River. On the 29th it turned toward Rich-
mond, being almost every day engaged either in marching
or fighting, and on the first of June the gallant remnant of
the old Brigade arrived at Cold Harbor, its total losses
during this bloody month of May, from the Rapidan to Cold
Harbor, footing up nearly 2,000 men.

122 THE NORWICH CADETS:

But neither their toils nor their dangers were over. As
soon as they arrived they were thrown into battle on the
extreme left, towards the Chickahominy, and for twelve
days they were under an incessant fire of musketry and
artillery. On the 3d of June they were posted in the edge
ef the woods, with no protection but the trees, and kept up
a sort of Indian warfare for a while.

With the Yermonters here was Col. E wart's regiment
and that of Maj. Staples. These two officers, thus brought
together, recognized each other and renewed their former
acquaintance. Merritt (now Major) was in command of his
regiment, and he with Dr. Safford and private Wait made
all of our old friends still left in arms.

As the muskets cracked and men fell here and there,
or the bark flew from the trees, without any material ad-
vantage being gained by either side, E warts began to chafe
at the desultory fighting, and expressed his preference for
sharper and closer work.

" Go out Colonel, alone, like Goliah " said Staples and
dare the rebel host to battle, as you did once on a time
the Dartmouth boys."

" I should rather go out to meet their Goliah," returned
the Colonel ; " I think I should like that better than biding
here behind a tree."

" I pity the giant's coat, if you get hold of him."

" We will soon strip the coat from the whole Con-
federacy, and show the world what a skeleton it is."

In another quarter Hank was alternately firing and
talking with the utmost rapidity, and if his words failed to
hit the mark his bullets were better aimed.

" I never saw such an unreasonable set as those rebels,
did you, Uncle Joseph Vs inquired Hank of his relative, who
stood behind the nearest tree.

" No, nephew, I didn't — least-ways I disremember -to."

" No argument but lead is heavy enough to convince

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 123

them," continued Hank, discharging his piece with evident

effect.

" Now, I've been nearly three years," he said, loading-
as lie spoke, " trying to persuade these fellows to support
bur good government. I've stopped some of them from
opposing it — "

Here he fired again with effect, by way of parenthesis,
and immediately proceeded to reload.

" But those that are left are just as unreasonable as
ever. They act like a country district school meeting, which
always goes to work to defeat what it pretends to want."
Here he fired again.

u They say they want a good government, and here
they are trying to tear down the best government that ever
existed."

" Exactly," assented Uncle Joseph.
"I don't know of any other way of doing it except
this"— and here he fired twice in succession without speak-
ing. This method of argument was certainly forcible. It
made some impression, and was the only one likely to be
appreciated by his opponents.

The Brigade was finally withdrawn from this position
and sent to another part of the field.

About midnight on the night of the 12th, the Brigade
started on the march for Petersburg by the way of Charles
City Court House, and arrived there on the afternoon of the
17th.

It is not our purpose to detail minutely the operations
of the Army of the Potomac, or even all those in which the
Brigade was specially engaged. We shall note only the
more remarkable and memorable events, and those in which
our characters were concerned.

The Brigade was actively employed in the neighbor-
hood of Petersburg till the 9th of July, when it embarked at
City point for Washington, and during the remainder of

124 THE NORWICH CADETS!

the summer and fall served against the rebel marauders and
other forces scattered through northern Virginia. To it be-
longed the honor of victoriously beginning " the series of
splendid movements and successive battles which drove the
rebel forces from the Valley of Shenandoah."

The times of enlistment of most of the regiments ex-
pired in July, but many men re-enlisted and these with new
recruits kept up the organizations.

Meanwhile, Grant kept hammering away persistently
at Petersburg, and striking at Lee's army wherever and
whenever he could hit it, while Sheridan was running
amuck through the Valley, hitting at every organized form
of rebellion, and devastating the country so that it might
not again attract the enemy into it.

The campaign of 1864 ended the latter part of October
with the battle of Boyden Plank Eoad, brought on by a
general advance of Grant's forces, and with Sheridan's bril-
liant snatching of victory from defeat after his twenty mile
ride from Winchester. The Old Brigade was with him and
gained new laurels in that double battle.

The winter passed away without any movement of im-
portance in Virginia. Grant was content to hold Lee's army
in his neighborhood and prevent it from operating else-
where. There were a few rebel raids in northern Virginia
but they were of little consequence and had no appreciable
effect upon the result of the war. The Old Brigade re-
turned to the army in front of Petersburg about the middle
of December and went into winter quarters.

Gen. Sheridan, acting under the command of Gen.
Grant, opened the campaign of 1865 by a cavalry raid
aimed at Lynchburg. He left Winchester Feb. 27th with
10,000 mounted men. Hurling himself against the rebel
Gen. Early, intrenched at Waynesboro, he gained a
complete victory, leaving little of Early's force except
Early himself. The First Regiment Vermont Cavalry

A TALE OP THE REBELLION. 125

formed a part of Sheridan's force and participated in tha
dangers and glories of the expedition.

Grant issued his order for a general advance of his left,
the latter part of March, and on the 29th, the 5th and 2d
corps moved out southwesterly to co-operate with Sheridan,
who, coming down the valley, had now arrived at the grand
scene of action where the final struggle of the Rebellion
was to be made.

The main body of the army still remained in the
trenches before Petersburg to bombard or assault the town
and ready to enter it upon its evacuation by the enemy,
while Gen. Weifezel threatened Richmond with a consider-
able force from the north of the James.

On Saturday, April 1st, Lee's right wing was de-
molished, and as darkness fell, the guns before Petersburg
opened from right to left, and with tongues of fire thundered
forth the doom of the beseiged city.

At daybreak on Sunday morning an assault was
ordered. The Vermont Brigade, with the Sixth Corps un-
der Wright, charged and drove everything before them up
to the Boyden road. Wheeling to the left, toward Hatcher's
Run, they swept down the rear of the rebel intrenchments,
capturing many guns and several thousand prisoners.

The honor of being the first to break the enemy's line
is claimed by the Vermont Brigade. The first colors planted
on the works belonged to the Brigade, and the first man to
mount the works was Capt. Gould, of the Fifth regiment.

Gen. L. A. Grant was wounded, and the command
of the Brigade devolved on Lieut.-Colonel Tracy of the
Second regiment.

The enemy broke and fled in every direction. The
Brigade lost all organization in the ardor of pursuit.
Officers and men vied with each other in a four mile race
after the fugitive rebels.

"My kingdom for a horse !" cried Hank, as he panted

126 THfi UOfcWlCH CARETS!

along. " I never before fully appreciated the convenience
of long legs and a spare body. These fellows run like
hounds."

And you like a turtle," said Maj. Merritt, as he dashed
past.

Gen. Meade speaks of this attack of the Sixth Corps,
as " the decisive movement of the canrpaign."

President Davis, in Richmond, was at church that
morning when the dispatch from Gen. Lee was handed to
him :

" My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must
be evacuated this evening."

Petersburg was evacuated that afternoon and Richmond
the next morning.

Sunday evening the Brigade established its head-
quarters at the Turnbull House, where Gen. Lee had had
his headquarters during the winter.

Early the next morning the Old Brigade, with the Sixth
Corps, started in rapid pursuit of the rebel army, which
was now intent only on getting away.

Gen. Weitzel at 6 A. M., of the same day, entered the
burning city of Richmond, which had been set on fire by
the retreating rebels, and the American flag soon floated
once more in the breeze above the Capitol of Virginia, and
was greeted with enthusiastic cheers by the excited
multitude below.

Petersburg was occupied the same day by our troops,
who marched proudly and unopposed into the city they had
struggled for so long.

On the afternoon of the 6th the sixth corps came up
with the enemy at Sailor's Creek and an engagement
ensued. A portion of Sheridan's cavalry, by a bold charge, cut
off the rebel Gen. Ewell's corps from the rest of Lee's army
and inclosed it between them and the advancing 6th corps.
The trapped Confederates fought with the courage of des-

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 127

peration, but they fought without a chance of victory or
escape.

Gol. Wolfe with his regiment found himself between the
jaws of the Union vise and dashed into the fight with all
the recklessness of his nature.

" Death, but not surrender ! Georgians, follow me !"
he cried, and rushed forward to meet the stern charge of
our Sixth Corps.

But the Confederates were discouraged by the hopeless
nature of their situation, and threw down their arms and
surrendered. Ewell himself, with four other generals, were
among the 6,000 prisoners taken this day. Col. Wolfe was
captured, foaming with rage at what he called the cowardice
of his men. He was courteously received by Major Merritt,
and soon meeting with several former Mends, among whom
were Staples and Ewarts, and finding Caesar overjoyed to
see him again alive and unhurt, he seemed to grow recon-
ciled to his fate and to that of the Confederacy.

'•Ize mighty glad to see you Massa William " said the
faithful black with tears in his eyes. " I neber let you
leabe me agin. Ize yer nigga and does't want no freedom.
Massa Linkum's mancerpation no use to Ceesar."

On the night of April 5th, many prominent rebel
officers met around a bivouac fire to discuss the situation,
and unanimously agreed that a capitulation was inevitable.
Lee was not present, but his opinion must have coincided
with theirs, for during the 7th and 8th, though making
every effort to escape the toils of his foe, he was engaged in
a correspondence with Grant looking towards a surrender
of his army.

On the morning of Sunday the 9th, however, the rebel
chief thought he saw one remaining chance and determined
to improve it. Sheridan had intercepted his flight and
presuming that his way was blocked by cavalry alone, he
ordered a charge of infantry. It was made and it proved

128 THE NORWICH CADETS:

the last charge of that gallant army, which had fought, with
a courage seldom surpassed, from the time of the first Bull
Run till then, when a mere wreck of its former self, it was
surrounded by foes in overwhelming numbers.

Sheridan's dismounted troopers retired slowly before
their advance for a while, but suddenly " the horsemen
moved swiftly to the right and dismounted, revealing lines of
solid infantry in battle array, before whose wall of gleam-
ing bayonets the astonished enemy recoiled in blank
despair." Before our cavalry had time to charge them the
Confederates waved a white flag and hostilities were at
once suspended.

That day, Lee surrendered his army of about 27,000,
where its flight had been stopped, about nineteen miles
from Lynchburg. For this purpose, Grant and Lee met at
the house of Mr.- W. McLean, near Appomattox Court
House, and in a brief interview settled the terms of sur-
render.

The rebellion wras virtually ended, though not for some
weeks after did Johnston surrender to Sherman, and the
other rebel armies disband or surrender. As the glad
tidings spread with the speed of lightning over the loyal
North, rejoicings were every wrhere indulged in that the
blood and treasure had not been spent in vain, but
had purchased this glorious result — the Union saved and
Liberty preserved !

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 129

CHAPTER XI V .

COL. WOLFE PAROLED AND WITH CESAR SETS OUT FOR HOME

SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION A HAPPY MEETING AND SURPRISE

CAESAR SEES A GHOST AN EXPLANATION COL. LYON RE-
JOINS THE BRIGADE HOMEWARD MARCH AND MUSTER OUT

UNION BY MARRIAGE LAW FIRM OF LYON AND WOLFE.

H E Vermont Brigade was at Farmville, guard-
ing supplies, at the time of Lee's surrender.
From there they marched to Burkesyille
Junction where they remained two weeks, and
here Col. Wolfe, having been paroled, took
leave of the Yermonters and, taking Caesar with
him, set out for home, or rather towards the
place where he expected to find his sister.

A long time previous to Lee's surrender he
had foreseen that Richmond was not likely to continue a
desirable place of residence, and probably not a safe one,
and he had cordially seconded his sister's plan to take up
her abode with an aunt living in a retired part of the state,
remote from railroads and routes likely to be pursued by
hostile parties. Here Heloise had quietly remained during
the past year, and all the more contentedly because her
aunt, a widow ladxy, was of her way of thinking in regard to
Q

130 THE NORWICH CADETS:

the merits of secession. Twice her brother had visited her.
and she was never a very long time without hearing from
him.

Procuring a couple of horses, the Colonel and Caesar
started on their journey, and as they passed by the evidences
that the Confederacy was a thing of the past, and the cause
a " lost cause " indeed, Wolfe reviewed in his mind the his-
tory of the last four years, and found reason to regret the part
which he, in company with others, had taken in the effort
to dismember the American republic. His secession fever
was rapidly abating, and as his eyes met here and there the
old flag of the Union, floating like sections of sunset cloud
in the air, his heart swelled with an irrepressible feeling of
pride that it was the flag of his country, and he experienced
a sense of joy that his arm was free once more to battle be-
neath its folds and for its glory. In spirit he was " recon-
structed."

The two proceeded at good pace for most of the time,
for they had a long ride before them ; but occasionally they
slackened their speed, and master and servant (in reality
free and equal fellow-citizens as Wolfe could not help re-
membering) fell into conversation to relieve the monotony
of the way.

•• Well, Ccesar, how do you like the Yankees I You
ought to know something about them by this time."

" Berry well, massa, if you do — jes' as you say."

i; Were they kind to you :"

" Treated me like a brodder."

k- Was Col. Lyon a good master V

" Next to you, massa William. He neber let no harm
come to Cfesar till he got killed."

" He is dead, then, is he ?" said Wolfe with a strange
expression of face, which his sable attendant could not read.

" Yis, massa ; shot right froo de heart, dey said. I
werren't dere."

A~TALE OP THE REBELLION. 131

" No, I'll warrant you. No danger of you ever being
shot, CeBsar."

" Hope's not, massa."

They rode on again in silence, Wolfe evidently being
busy with his own thoughts, and Caesar knowing better
than to speak when not spoken to.

At noon they stopped at a little tavern and refreshed
themselves and horses, after which they pushed on again.
At nightfall they had not reached their destination, but
Wolfe was familiar with the road and he kept on.

About nine o'clock in the evening they saw before them
the glimmering lights of a mansion house, situated in a re-
tired locality several miles distant from any habitation.
Urging their tired steeds to a slight increase of speed, they
soon rode up to and dismounted at the door.

A swarm of negroes, lately enfranchised, but ignorant
of the fact, quickly surrounded them and took their horses,
while they gave the Colonel, as soon as they recognized
him, an affectionate welcome.

A medley of voices and expressions greeted his ear :

M Berry glad, sah — "

•; Se, yer all alibe again, sah — "

" Hopes yer well massa Colonel — "

" Young missus be delighted — " .

•*Dis way, massa — "

" I tells de missis.''

But there was no need of any announcement. The
uproar outside brought the inmates of the mansion out on
the veranda and Wolfe was soon shaking hands with his
aunt, his sister, and a pale gentleman in civilian's dress.

" How are you Tom — getting stronger !" he said to the
latter.

" Yes, I am ; but what brings you here at this time V
replied the gentleman.

132 THE NORWICH CADETS:

" I'll tell you soon, but come in now ; I have a surprise
in store."

" Here, Caesar, I want you," he called, and that person
soon apjDeared and followed his master into the house.

As the door closed and Caesar stood cap in hand wait-
ing for orders, the strange gentleman turned and looked
earnestly at him.

Caesar returned the look with interest. His eyes
seemed starting from his head, while his teeth chattered
audibly.

The gentleman smiled and advanced towards him say-
ing—

" How are you, Caesar T

As Caesar saw him approaching, he dashed for the door
screaming —

" Lemme out ! lemme out !"

But his master stood with his back to the door laugh-
ing at the poor fellow's fright.

'; Do you think me a ghost, Caesar f" inquired the ob-
ject of his terror.

" I knows you's dead, massa Lyon, dey all said so."

While the}r enjoyed a laugh at this reply, Caesar re-
gained his self-possession, and was finally convinced of his
mistake. —

" I am happy to inform you that I am still alive and
likely soon to be well," said Col. Lyon, for it was indeed he.

And now some explanation is due the reader as well as
Caesar.

In the fight on the rebel side of the log-breastwork in
the Wilderness, Hank Wait supposed and reported that
Lyon fell dead, or at least mortally wrounded. But such
was not the fact. The next morning, Col. Wolfe, who was
always on the lookout for his Mend, and wTho never passed
a dead or wounded Federal officer without a searching look,
found Lyon on the field desperately wounded and had him

A TALE OF THE BEBELLION. 133

carefully conveyed to a place of safety. Knowing that if
his friend was consigned to the mercy of the Confederacy
and sent to Andersonville, or any other prison pen, he would
surely die, and that nothing but the most tender care and
nursing could save his life, he determined to exercise him-
self a little soverign authority in the behalf of friendship.
Accordingly, as soon as Lyon was able to stand the journey,
he dispatched him with two faithful servants to the quiet
residence of his aunt, feeling confident that kind lady and
good Union woman and his sister Heloise would do
their utmost for the wounded officer.

The event proved that he was not mistaken. Our
hero, who was in a very critical situation for several months,
was cared for with the greatest solicitude, and nothing
that could minister to his comfort or contribute to his re-
covery was lacking. After he began to gain he was pro-
vided with a suit of plain clothes, his Federal uniform being
put out of sight, and the servants and others were given to
understand that he was a relative of the family from another
southern State, who had come there for the improvement of
his health.

His convalescence was slow, but could not fail to be
pleasant, for beside the pleasure of feeling that his former
strength was gradually returning, his days were spent in
the society of her who, by her tireless devotion, had done so
much to bring him back to life.

As the pleasant days of spring arrived to clothe the
earth with verdure, and he. was able to walk and ride with
her, he felt a certain degree of that insanity which led Marc
Antony to sell his glory for the smiles of woman. Never-
theless, he frequently yearned to return to the field of con-
flict, even before his health was sufficiently restored to
render him fit to endure the hardships of active service.
But his honor was pledged to Wolfe that he would not at-
tempt to escape, and he therefore waited till his friend

1 34 THE NORWICH^CADETS \

should release ,him from his promise, or he should be ex-
changed.

After Caesar had satisfied himself of the reality of
Lyon's existence in the flesh, and had expressed his great
joy thereat, he was allowed to retire, and then Lyon in-
quired of his friend the cause of his unexpected visit.

" I come to tell you. Tom, that you are no longer my
prisoner, but are at liberty to take up your line of march in
whatever direction you please." —

" Thank you ; but why — "

" The Confederacy is dead ! Lee has surrendered !
Richmond is taken ! the war is ended !

" Oh ! what happy news !" said Heloise, while tears
glistened in her eyes."

" Thank God !" exclaimed the old lady w that this cruel
and wicked strife is over."

Lyon was at first too much surprised to speak, and
when he found ability to speak, he hesitated to express the
joy and triumph which he felt, out of regard to the possible
feelings of his friend. Wolfe saw this and said :

" You may indulge yourself in three cheers if you like :
I don't feel so badly as you doubtless think."

" I am certainly pleased " said Lyon : " I am surprised
too, at the sudden c jmpleteness of the Union triumph,
though the end is what I have always expect e 1."

" Your chief regret is that you were not in at the death.
You meant to charge the ' last ditch ' in which the hunted
Confederacy should ensconce itself. I know the naughti-
ness of your heart, Tom."

" Whatever my wishes, I was not there," replied Lyon,
" but I suppose Vermont was represented."

" Yes, I left your Vermont heroes this morning at
Burkesville Junction."

" And there I must join them."

In spite of the urgent requests to remain, Lyon
determined to set out the next day. Before he retired that
night, however, he won the consent of Heloise that he might
soon return to claim her as his own.

Next morning, after an affectionate farewell to all, he
started, being accompanied by Caesar, who was sent to bring
back the horses.

Arriving unheralded at the camp of the Vermont

A TALE OF THE REBELLION. 135

Brigade, his old companions in arms exhibited almost as
much surprise and alarm as Cassar had done. Their first
excitement over, however, they gave him as warm a welcome
as he had reason to expect.

" It's a waste of time and tears to mourn for you,
Colonel," said Hank. " We could have made a great saving
if we had only known that bullets cannot hurt you."

*; He must live to be President. It is written," said Dr.
Safford solemnly.

On the 23d of April, the Brigade left the Junction and
marched to Danville, 105 miles, in a few hours more than
four days. From Danville they moved by railroad to Man-
chester. May 18th, and on the 24th marched for Washing-
ton, D. C. They went into camp near Munson's Hill, Va.,
and remained there until mustered out of service.

On the 7th of June, the Vermont Brigade was reviewed
by Gov. Smith at Bailey's Cross Roads, Va., and on the 8th
the Brigade with the rest of the Sixth Corps was reviewed
by the President at Washington. On the 24th of June,
Brevet- Major General L. A. Grant issued his final address
to the brigade he had so long commanded, and on the 28th
of June 1865, the Vermont Brigade, which had won for
itself such lasting honor, ceased to exist as an organization.
Its members returned to the various pursuits of private
and civil life. Like streams which flow into and combine
with the waters of the ocean, the returning volunteers
flowed back to and mingled with their fellow-citizens of the
republic, forming a homogeneous whole.

Major Merritt won fame and fortune by his musical
talents. Capt. Nason invented a wonderful churn, and was
successful in persuading the farmers to buy it. Maj.
Staples studied law and is now a rising man in New Hamp-
shire. Ewarts has been governor of one of the western
states. Condon is in the patent medicine business, and if
his advertisements are to be believed, it is the utmost folly
for any one to die of ».ny manner of disease whatever. Dr.
Safford returned to the practice of his profession in a quiet
town of Windham County, and still drives his gig along the
shady mountain roads in summer, and his cutter over and
through the snow drifts in winter, alleviating the distresses
of his fellow creatures. By way of amusement he cultivates
flowers in their season and indulges his literary taste with-

136 THE NORWICH CADETS;

out regard to the time of the year. His poem, " The Pro
cesssion of the Flowers, " and some of his war-songs ar<
productions of decided merit ; but though, like all poets
ki fond of his own sweet songs," he is fain to confess tha
Vermont has as yefc produced no poet superior to Homer
Private Hank Wait is tilling the paternal acres by proxy
and has more than regained the flesh he lost in his country'!
service.

Lieut. Joe Safford, twice wounded in battle, and en
feebled by hardship and exposure, returned home with i
shattered constitution, and was not able to check the slov
but determined advance of the enemy, death. Not as h<
would have chosen to die, in the excitement of battle, bu
quietly, in the midst of mourning friends, bis spirit begai
its march eternal. His body rests in the little graveyard a
Greeenbush, in the shadow7 of the beautiful mountain, whicl
his feet in boyhood often climbed.

In the autumn of 1865, Col. Lyon went down to Vir
ginia in the interests of union, but without any orders fron
government, and when he returned to Vermont he brough'
Heloise with him as his wife. Col. Wolfe continued at th(
South for a year or two, but finally yielded to the solicita
tions of his friend and his sister and came North to resid(
permanently. The Norwich Cadets entered into partner
ship in one of our most beautiful and thriving villages
About the door of their office Caesar is generally to be ob
served in sunny weather. Above the door a sign is visible
inscribed " Lyon and Wolfe." The initial letters of thes(
three words sufficiently declare the business done within
and the line beneath the names is hardly necessary, so wel
are our heroes known. Eight years and eight days have
now passed since Lee's surrender, and the name of Col
Lyon is a prominent one in his native State. There is stil
time, and the prospect is fair that the prophecy of Dr. Saf
ford will be fulfilled, and a Norwich Cadet become a tenanl
of the White House for at least four years. It is certainly
time that Vermont should have a chance to try housekeep
ing there,

THE END,

RARE BOOK
COLLECTION

THE LIBRARY OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF

NORTH CAROLINA

AT

CHAPEL HILL

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