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Through 300 Miles of the Wildest, Grandest and Most 
 
 PICTURESQUE SCENERY 
 
 East of the Rocky Mountains, 
 
 From Breakfast, 8:00 A. M., at Kajiaivha Falls. Until 
 Su,pper, P. M., at Chariot! esvillc. 
 
 UNEQUALED IN BEAUTY AND INTEREST TOANY DAY'S RIDE IN AMERICA. 
 
 RiuErs, Eenynns anri'Mnuntains, 
 
 Observation Cars attached at Kanawha Falls, and running through the Can- 
 yons from April 1st to December 1st, passing ^Vhite Sulphur and the 
 other famous Springs — resorts of the Alieghenies in Virginia. 
 
 Be^ts ^umniBf Climate in i^IIlerica. 
 
 -FROM- WASHINGTON, 
 
 I I 1 1 
 
 RICHMOND AND 
 
 _^Q _ OLD POINT COMFORT 
 
 Pullman Cars and Solid Trains From 
 
 LOI'ISVILLE to WASHINGTON. IIICHJIDNI) and 01,1) POINT COJIFOHT. 
 
 Best Line to all J irgiiiia ajid J^orth Carolina Points. 
 
 FOR FULL INFORMATION ADDRESS 
 D. E. HOLMES, Passenger and Ticket Agent, 
 
 S. W. Cor. Fifth and Walnut Sts., CINCINNATI, O. 
 
 H. W. FULLER, General Passenger Agent, 
 
 25.5 Fourth Avenue, LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
War Anecdotes 
 
 -AND- 
 
 Incidents of Army Life 
 
 REMINISCENCES FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE CONFLICT 
 BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTHS 
 
 ^.£S^i 
 
 , -^VOFCOWg/ 
 
 SEP 19 1888 :)/ 
 
 CINCINNATI : 
 
 ALBERT LAWSON. 
 1888. 
 
 CO 
 
Copyright, 1888, bj' Albekt Lawson. 
 
 
 V 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 E. H. BEASLEY & CO., 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
 
War Anecdotes, 
 
 THE LAST MAN TO SURRENDER. 
 "The last man and the last ditch" were common figures of speech 
 during the war, and strangely enough, they were definitely located long 
 after the war itself had closed. On the morning of the Fourth of July, 
 1866, fifteen months after Lee's surrender, the Secretary of War, who 
 had planned a fishing excursion to the Falls of the Potomac, received 
 a telegram from the provost marshal at Richmond, Va., stating that 
 a squad of Confederate soldiers were at his ofiSce ready to deliver up 
 their arms and be amnestied. Knowing that joking of that descrip- 
 tion would subject the perpetrator to court-martial, he hurriedly 
 went to the White House to consult President Johnson, which resulted 
 in a telegram to the Provost Marshal: "Who are they and where 
 did they come from?" The answer was to the point: "Sergeant 
 Tewksbury and guard from Dismal Swamp. Did not know the war 
 was over." After a good deal of laughter the provost marshal was 
 ordered to receive their capitulation, which was conducted in due 
 form. Tewksbury, an old Virginian, ordered his squad, a couple of 
 Georgians, to give up their guns and sign the papers, reserving him- 
 self as the last man to surrender of all the Confederate forces. 
 The old Sergeant's description of the way he ascertained the war 
 was over was amusing. He and his companions had been posted on 
 
2 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 the edge of the swamp to watch movements of Union troops from 
 Norfolk, with orders to remain until relieved. He never was relieved 
 and had subsisted on game and fish for three years. At last he met 
 an old negro who told him that the war had been over about a year, 
 which "tickled him better than if he had been kicked by a mule," as 
 he facetiously expressed it. 
 
 THE FIRST UNION VOLUNTEER. 
 
 Colonel T. J. Kennedy, of Auburn, N. Y., claims to have been the 
 first volunteer for the Union Army. So early as November, 1860, 
 seeing that an armed struggle between the North and South was in- 
 evitable, he urged the immediate enlistment of men, to be drilled in 
 anticipation of a call for troops. In January, 1861, he applied to 
 Governor Morgan for authority to enlist a company, and his applica- 
 tion was placed on file January 17. He did not wait to receive the 
 authority, but proceeded to enlist men. When Fort Sumter was fired 
 on, April 12, 1861, he had 175 men under drill. He offered the 
 sei'vices of himself and men to the State the same day, and the same 
 day his enlistment roll, his name being the first one upon it, was re- 
 ceived and entered in the Adjutant General's office. 
 
 This patriotic distinction, however, is disputed by Captain W. W. 
 'Bush, of Lockport, N. Y. At noon, on the 15th of April, the news 
 that the President had issued the call for troops was received. Bush 
 ran at once to his place of business, drew up an enlistment roll and 
 signed it. He then proceeded to enlist others. He raised a company, 
 was made Captain, and went to the front with the first troops. 
 
 THE FIRST THREE YEARS REGIMENT. 
 
 On April 29, 1861, the Lieutenant Colonel and Major of what 
 became the famous Second Massachusetts Regiment, induced the 
 Seci'etary of War to sign a paj^er, agreeing to receive into the service 
 of the United States for three years a regiment which Colonel George 
 H. Gordon was then raising. This was five days before President 
 Lincoln issued his first call for three years troops, and thus Colonel 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 
 
 Gordon's was the first three years regiment raised, though it was not 
 numbered "1," the First three mouths Massachusetts regiment re- 
 enlisting for three years and thus retaining that number. 
 
 THE NUMBER OF BATTLES. 
 During the war there were 2,261 encounters of all kinds between 
 the opposing forces, distributed as follows : In 1861 there were 156. 
 The number rose to 564 in 1862, increased to 627 in 1863, reached 
 the maximum of 779 in 1864, and fell to 135 in 1865. In each of 149 
 of these encounters the Union loss in killed, wounded and missing 
 exceeded 500 men. The loss of the Confederate side cannot as easily 
 be ascertained. 
 
 THE LARGEST REGIMENTAL LOSS. 
 The Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regiment, of Pettigrew's Brigade, 
 Heth's Division, Confederate Army, went into the fight at Gettysburg 
 with over 800 men. It lost 86 killed and 502 wounded — many of 
 them mortally hurt ; total, 588, not including the missing, of whom 
 there were about 120. In one company, 84 strong, every man and 
 officer was hit ; and the orderly sergeant who made out the list did it 
 with a bullet through each leg. This was by far the largest regimental 
 loss on either side during the war. 
 
 WHEN DID THE WAR END, 
 
 It is easy enough to fix a date for the beginning of the war, if we 
 are to count from the opening of actual hostilities. But it is hard to 
 say with exactness just when the war ended. Richmond, the Confed- 
 erate Capital, was captured and occupied by the Union forces on the 
 morning of April 3, 1865, its garrison having abandoned it during the 
 night preceding. Hostilities, however, went on with vigor in Virginia 
 as well as elsewhere until April 9, when the army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia surrendered at Appomattox. But that date does not mark the 
 end of the war. The week following Avas a busy and sanguinary one 
 in many quarters. On that same 9th of April Cauby, whose army, 
 
4 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 with the aid of the fleet, had been investing the defenses of Mobile, 
 captured Spanish Fort and its dependencies, with many guns and 
 several hundred prisoners. Before night Fort Blakely was carried by 
 assault, with twenty guns and 2,400 prisoners. A few days later 
 Mobile was evacuated, and on the 14th Granger's forces occupied the 
 
 city. 
 
 Stoneman was meanwhile carrying on vigorous operations in a 
 portion of North Carolina. On the 12th of April, three days after 
 Lee's surrender, he attacked the enemy's lines around Salisbury, 
 capturing fourteen pieces of artillery and more than 1,100 prisoners, 
 together with great stores of ammunition, army blankets, clothing, 
 bacon, salt, rice, wheat and cotton. Thence he moved to Slatersville, 
 destroying railroad track and bridges. 
 
 Wilson, with a cavalry force of great magnitude, was continuing 
 during this same period his memorable operations in Alabama and 
 Georgia. On the 16th of April, in the last combat of the war east 
 of the Mississippi, he carried Columbus and West Point; and on the 
 21st of April, Macon surrendered with three-score field pieces and 
 10,000 or 12,000 Georgia militia. 
 
 Sherman's march to Raleigh was begun as late as April 1 0, and on 
 the evening of the 12th Kilpatrick was fighting Wade Hampton's 
 rear guard, while Raleigh was reached and entered on the 13th. Ne- 
 gotiations for Johnson's surrender were next begun, and the first 
 memorandum for that purpose, made near Durham Station, was 
 dated April 18. This, however, was rejected by President Lincoln, 
 and the final agreement was signed on the 26th. So late as April 23, 
 the Sixth Corps was put on the march for Danville, in order to cut 
 ofi" the possibility of Johnson's escape, and General Sheridan's cavalry 
 was engaged in the same occupation. Between the 19th and 22d 
 there were military expeditions in Tennessee. 
 
 The troops of General Jeff Thompson did not surrender until May 
 11, and the actual assembling and paroling of his men took place 
 May 25, at Wittsburg, on the St. Francis River, and June 5, at 
 Jacksonport, on the White. The entire force paraded numbered 7,454 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 5 
 
 officers and men. The surrender of Lieutenant General Richard 
 Taylor's much larger army was made at Citronville, in Alabama, on 
 the 4th day of May. The surrender of Commodore Farrand's squadron 
 of twelve Confederate vessels in the Tombigbee River, with their 
 officers and men, was agreed upon at the same time, and took place on 
 May 9. The following day General McCook, of Wilson's Corps, 
 received at Tallahassee the surrender of Jones' Florida forces, 8,000 
 strong. 
 
 Meanwhile there had been threats of very serious resistance by some 
 of the trans-Mississippi forces, which expected to be joined by Jefferson 
 Davis, then a fugitive in Georgia. The unremitting search for Davis 
 kept Wilson's forces busy throughout the earlier part of May and until 
 Davis' capture at Irwinsville on the 10th. Long before this event General 
 Kirby Smith, at Shreveport, in Louisiana, had issued an order to his 
 army announcing Lee's surrender and his own purpose to carry on 
 the war beyond the Mississippi. On the 24th of April, General 
 Magruder, at Houston, addressed a great war meeting to the same 
 effect. On the 27th, Hardeman's Brigade, at Independence, pledged 
 themselves to continue the war to the bitter end. On the 2d of May, 
 Parsons' Brigade adopted similar resolutions in Robertson County, 
 Texas. On the 8th of May, the citizens of Fort Bend County resolved 
 that "in no event will we ever consent to reconstruction," and proposed 
 that 30,000 recruits should be added to the forces of Smith and 
 Magruder. These are examples, to which others might be added, of the 
 hostile feeling prevailing at that time in Arkansas and Texas. 
 
 On the 13th of May, a body of Union troops under Colonel Barrett 
 had a sharp skirmish at Palmetto Ranch, about fifteen miles above 
 Brazos, in Texas. The Confederates, under command of General 
 Slaughter, aided by Colonel Ford's cavalry and three fieldpieces, 
 drove back Barrett's command toward Brazos, with a reported Union 
 loss of about seventy or eighty men killed, wounded and missing. 
 Thus the last combat of the war, somewhat curiously, goes into the 
 record as a Confederate success. However, in spite of all the threats 
 and pledges to carry on the struggle in Texas, wiser counsels prevailed, 
 
6 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 and on the 26th of May, Kirby Smith, through his chief of staff. 
 Lieutenant General Buckner, surrendered his entire army to Canby, 
 
 These historical reminiscences show the difficulty of fixing upon any 
 specific day as marking the end of the war. The difficulty is increased 
 by the gradual process of reduction in the Union armies, a process 
 extending far beyond the times when the last Confederate troops 
 were assembled for parole. But a greater constructive extension of the 
 war period was furnished by the various agreements and statutes of 
 tlie Government, each depending upon such definite phrases as "the 
 duration of hostilities." With the downfall of the Confederate Gov- 
 ernment the Southern States acted independently of each other, and a 
 process of military occupation and political reconstruction was under- 
 taken in each of them. In a war between two nations a treaty of 
 peace often furnishes the historical date for the conclusion of hostilities ; 
 but there was no treaty-making power at the South. 
 
 By degrees Congressional legislation began to refer to the Avar as a 
 thing of the past, in such phrases as "the late insurrection;" yet more 
 than a year passed after the last Confederate troops disbanded before 
 the formal official announcement that this insurrection was over. At 
 length such a proclamation was made by President Johnson, and 
 thereafter the judicial tribunals fixed upon that announcement as the 
 true legal date of the end of the war. Thus the Adjutant General's 
 office, in a letter to General Carleton of February 2-4, 1883, uses this 
 expression: "The Supreme Court of the United States has decided 
 that the war of the rebellion closed on August 20, 1866, the date on 
 which the President issued his proclamation declaring the insurrection 
 at an end." 
 
 A HEROISM BORN OF WHISKY. 
 
 During a critical moment of the battle of Chickamauga, when a 
 portion of the Union line was being mowed down in swaths, and 
 regiments bleeding, torn and panic stricken, were rushing in great 
 disorder to the rear, a Colonel of a Western regiment, so full of "com- 
 missary" that he had thrown an arm around a small sapling to steady 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 7 
 
 himself, snatched the flag from his color sergeant, who was hurrying 
 back, and, as he held it up, exclaimed in thick, yet heroic, tones: 
 "Boys, you may go to the rear if you will, but the old flag can't go 
 with "you!" There he stood upon the storm-swept field, clutching 
 the flag and the tree. The apparently heroic act thrilled the boys, 
 inspired them with new courage, stayed the tide that was sweeping 
 backward, the line was reformed, the enemy repulsed, and that 
 portion of the field saved from disaster and dishonor. For this 
 gallantry, the Colonel was made a Brigadier and soon after a Major 
 General. He afterward became prominent as a citizen. Probably 
 as his eyes rested upon "the sword that hung rusting upon the wall," 
 and in memory he fought anew the old campaigns, thus recalling 
 the thrilling act that made him famous, the veteran fervently ex- 
 claimed, "God bless the old canteen !" 
 
 TRE TELEGRAM OF APPOMATTOX. 
 
 R. C. Laverty, who was the telegraph operator at General Grant's 
 headquarters, tells the following story of the way in which he sent the 
 message announcing Lee's surrender : 
 
 "I had been with General Grant continually from the time we left 
 the front (Petersburg) until the night of that memorable day, April 
 9, 1865. About 11 o'clock on the morning of the 9th of April, 
 General Grant sent me, with a number of telegrams addressed to 
 President Lincoln and the War Department, to find our wire, which 
 the telegraph corps, under Chief of Construction Doran, was following 
 closely by way of the South Side Railroad. As I had considerable 
 trouble to find our people and a considerable distance to ride, I did 
 not return until about 3 p. m. The surrender had then been arranged 
 and the General and his stafl!' had returned to headquarters from the 
 house of Mr. McLean, where the documents were signed. The tele- 
 grams announcing and officially reporting this event were addressed 
 separately to President Lincoln (who was always spoken of at head, 
 quarters as General Lincoln) and to Secretary Stanton. They were 
 all written either by General Rawlins or Colonel Ely S. Parker, 'the 
 
8 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 Indian,' who was Grant's military secretary. They were handed to me 
 by Colonel Parker. I had mounted my horse, when I was called 
 back, and, dismounting, went into the tent. General Grant said to me 
 that he was very anxious to receive replies to the dispatches sent in the 
 morning, and urged me to make haste with the present ones. I rode 
 to Appomattox Station, about one mile distant, as fast as my horse 
 would carry me, and there found our line just completed to that 
 point. I entered a freight car which was on the side track loaded with 
 sacks, and made room for my instrument. I had but little difficulty in 
 getting to Washington, though by a somewhat circuitous route. 
 Having done so, I said; 'Here's the surrender,' and immediately trans- 
 mitted the following : 
 
 Headquarters, Appomattox C. H., Va., \ 
 April 9, 1865. / 
 
 Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington : 
 
 General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on 
 
 terms proposed by myself. The accompaying additional correspondence will 
 
 show the conditions fully. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant Genera!. 
 
 * 'I sent this and the accompanying message at 3:45 p. m. , and at 4: 15 
 p. m. delivered to General Grant the congratulatory answers from 
 President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton. Strangely, the line soon 
 after failed to work, and no business was done from that point for 
 several days afterward. General Grant was greatly pleased with the 
 speedy manner in which the business had been transacted, as it enabled 
 him to retrace his movements, which he did, going to Burkesville 
 Junction the next morning and thence to City Point and Washington. 
 
 "The original telegrams announcing the surrender I returned to 
 General Grant, along with the replies from President Lincoln and the 
 Secretary of War." 
 
 THE APPOMATTOX FLAGS OF TRUCE. 
 
 General E. W. Whittaker, who was Inspector General on General 
 
 Custer's staff, thus describes the first flag of truce sent from Lee's 
 
 Army to the Union lines in front of Longstreet. It was an old towel, 
 
 belonging to Colonel R. M. Sims, of Longstreet's staff, for which that 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 9 
 
 officer had paid $40 in Confederate currency. Shortly after the sur- 
 render it was given by General Custer to his wife, in whose possession 
 it still remains : 
 
 "On the morning of the 9th Sheridan moved his whole cavalry 
 command out over the fields south of the Court-house, General Custer's 
 division in advance, and received the fire of the enemy's artillery. 
 We had reached a favorable point for a charge at what appeared to be 
 the center of the Confederate line, when an officer galloped out to us, 
 with the truce in his hand, and said to General Custer : 'General Lee 
 requests a suspension of hostilities.' Custer instantly halted, and, 
 turning to me, by his side, said ; 'Go with this officer and say for me 
 to General Lee that I cannot stop this charge unless he announces an 
 unconditional surrender, as 1 am not in sole command on this field.' 
 
 "The officer gave his name as Major Sims, of Longstreet's staff, 
 and hurriedly piloted me through the Confederate lines, but a few rods 
 in our front, where artillerymen stood in position by their shotted guns 
 and piles of ammunition. On the way to Lee we were met by General 
 Gordon, with a group of many other prominent officers, who stated 
 that the request for a suspension of hostilities was, in fact, uncondi- 
 tional surrender, that Lee had just rode away to the rear to find 
 Grant, and that the infantry line of battle closing in on them from 
 the west must be halted and further bloodshed stopped. I consented 
 to take the same tiuce and stop the infantry if Major Sims would 
 accompany me. He did so, and we both, doubtless a little warmed 
 up and out of breath, explained to Generals Ord and Chamberlain the 
 situation, when their line halted and cheer after cheer rolled from 
 right to left. At this point Sims and myself parted, he to return to 
 General Gordon, a short distance, and in full view over the open field, 
 and I to return to General Custer, where the ground was not open 
 and the rattle of the carbine was still heard, and, of course, the 
 truce in hand was still needed. On reaching General Custer I 
 learned that a Confederate cavalry commander had been trying 
 to charge through our lines on the right and had not succeeded. 
 I had no further use for the truce, and handed it to General Cus- 
 
10 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 ter, who, more than any other person, was entitled to possession of 
 the relic." 
 
 SE MET DEATH AT LAST. 
 In the Sixty-first Pennsylvania Regiment was a man who could not 
 go into a fight. He was a good fellow and everybody liked him, and 
 he was really more pitied than condemned for his cowardly infirmity. 
 Finding he was of no service in the company, and fearing that his 
 example might be demoralizing, he was detailed as a teamster, and he 
 served with the wagon trains throughout the whole war and was never 
 in a fight. After hostilities had ceased and there was not an armed 
 volunteer in the field, this man, who was still on detached service in 
 the South, was one day engaged in removing a lot of muskets from a 
 wagon preparatory to their being sent North. A comrade who was 
 assisting cautioned him to be careful, as some of the guns might 
 be loaded. He replied that there was no danger, as they were old and • 
 rusty and had long been out of use, but scarcely had these words 
 escaped his lips when one of the guns was discharged and he was 
 instantly killed. 
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 
 Rev. Dr. Dabney was "Stonewall" Jaokson's chief of staff. 
 During one of the battles in which Jackson was engaged the staff was 
 under a very heavy fire. To protect them Jackson ordered them to 
 dismount and shelter themselves. Dr. Dabney found a place behind 
 a large and thick oak gate-post, where he sat bolt upright, with his " 
 back against it. Just then there came up Major Hugh Nelson 
 of Ewell's staff, who did not fully agree with Dr. Dabney's theological 
 doctrines, though himself a devout churchman. Taking in the 
 situation at a glance Nelson rode up, and saluting said: "Dr. Dabney, 
 every shot, and shell, and bullet is directed by the God of battles, 
 and you must pardon me for expressing my surprise that you should 
 want to put a gate-post between you and a Special Providence !" The 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE H 
 
 good doctor at once retorted: "No! Major, you misunderstand the 
 doctrine I teach. And the truth is, I regard this gate-post as a 
 Special Providence, under present circumstances." 
 
 HOW IT FEELS TO BE KILLED. 
 
 A Union veteran thus described the sensations following what he 
 supposed was a fatal wound : 
 
 "At the battle of Shiloh I was shot between the eyes. I was left 
 on the field for dead, published as killed, and had the rare pleasure of 
 reading my obituary in a local newspaper several months afterward. 
 I shall therefore try to tell you how it looked to one who has been to 
 the margin of the dark river, though it seems I didn't quite cross over, 
 after all. 
 
 ' 'When the shot struck me it seemed as if I had been hit with a 
 crowbar coming endwise at great speed. A thought of that kind 
 passed through my mind at that time. I felt the missile tear through 
 my head as plainly as I ever felt anything, though it did not do so, 
 and I felt the air rush through after it and chill my brain. I was 
 conscious for what seemed to have been two or three minutes, from the 
 amount of thinking I did, but it might not have been more than as 
 many seconds, for I have since learned that the mind can sometimes 
 work with inconceivable rapidity. 
 
 "The first feeling that came over me was one of most terrible dis- 
 appointment. It was absolutely crushing. It was not a feeling of re- 
 gret that I was cut down at the daAvn of manhood — I never thought 
 of that — but it was a feeling of cruel disappointment that I had not 
 been spared to get to the battery upon which we were charging at the 
 time I was hit. A moment before my blood had been seething with 
 that indescribable frenzy of excitement which can only be experienced 
 when the veins are bursting with the thrill that goes through them 
 when a charge into the very jaws of death is being made. I was too 
 much maddened by the intoxication of battle to think of personal 
 danger. Not a thought of that kind crossed my mind. In the earlier 
 stages of the carnage the sight of a dead man had sickened me, and I 
 
12 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 had felt my cheek blanching and my knees trembling when the blood 
 of a comrade reddened the earth, but not now. All feeling of 
 timidity had been swept away by the magnetism of that sublime 
 moment when victory Avas in sight. I felt tigerish and thirsted for 
 vengeance. I wanted to get to that battery, and I wanted to get 
 there bad. I was straining every nerve to that end, and to be cut 
 down at the moment when victory was almost within grasp, with 
 shouts of defiant triumph bursting from my powder-stained lips, was 
 simply awful. Nothing in language can paint the wretched feeling 
 of disappointment that overwhelmed me at that cruel moment. Had 
 I been spared to reach the guns, I believe I could have died Avithout a 
 regret, but to be snufied out before the job was finished was a calamity 
 too great to find expression in words. 
 
 "Immediately after being hit I felt myself sinking into a dazed con- 
 dition, and then came a season of debate with myself as to whether I 
 was alive or dead. I had a hole straight through my head big enough 
 to admit a good-sized cane, I thought ; therefore I must be dead. ^ 
 man in my fix would have been killed instantly, hence I Avas mos^ 
 certainly dead so far as the body was concerned. I could not be 
 alive. It was contrary to all precedent. But some other faculty of 
 mind Avould combat this argument and try to convince me that I was 
 still alive. 'I can move my hand or my foot,' I Avould reason, 'and 
 a corpse couldn't do that; so I'm aliA'e, after all.' 'But I don't move 
 my hand or foot,' the other faculty would insinuate. 'I simply think 
 I do so; so I must be dead. My brains are scattered OA-er the ground. 
 There's no doubt about that, for I felt them go, and that means instant 
 death ; so, of course, I'm actually dead!' And so it went until Host all 
 consciousness; one part of the brain trying to convince me that I 
 was dead, and another trying as persistently to persuade me that I was 
 aliAX, all in a dreamy, semi-conscious sort of Avay, gradually groAving 
 fainter and fainter, somewhat like the sensation of going to sleep. 
 
 "There was no feeling of pain; no thought of death, except as a 
 stubborn fact that could not be aA'oided. Not a thought of my past 
 life ; no thought of friends or home. Not the slightest regret at my 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 13 
 
 untimely taking off, aside from the temporary feeling of disappointment 
 above referred to. Not a single pang that all my hopes and ambitions 
 had come to a standstill. My future status was not once considered. 
 There was no hope of heaven ; no fear of hell. I heard no celestial 
 music. I was not uplifted by angel hands and borne gently away. 
 No seraphic beings robed in light flitted before me with rustling 
 wings. No dark forms glowered upon me and barred the way to the 
 :ealms of joy. I was simply drifting away from consciousness in a 
 manner not at all uncomfortable ; my last recollection being the mental 
 debate as to whether I was alive or dead. 
 
 "Who can tell but that death on the battlefield may not have been 
 in many cases an exact repetition of my own feelings at the time when 
 I believed my last moment had come ? Had I really died before re- 
 covering consciousness such would indeed have been my end. 
 
 "I remained in a senseless condition four days, and when I came to 
 the noise of battle was still ringing in my ears. The debate was 
 resumed, but instantly dropped by the introduction of convincing 
 testimony that I was still among the living. My head was greatly * 
 swollen and seemed bursting with pain. I was entirely blind, my eyes 
 being completely closed by the swollen condition of my head and the 
 matter from the wound, which had caked over them. The blood had 
 matted all over my face in a thick coat. I was in the hospital, and 
 somebody was at work trying to bring my features once more into 
 daylight, and he was doing it in a manner that was torture. This had 
 probably brought me back to consciousness." 
 
 THE PROPER VIEW OF IT. 
 The Confederate General Gordon was a very pious man and never went 
 into battle without asking the divine assistance and favor. On the eve 
 of the Battle of the Wilderness he with others, held a little prayer- 
 meeting, at which privates and Generals mingled on a level. Men 
 prayed at such times, when they knew the next few hours would find 
 more or less of them dead or dying, without regard to the insignia 
 of rank. Presently one of the common soldiers was called on to 
 
14 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 "lead in prayer." His piety was beyond question, but his education 
 was not up to all requirements. On this oceasion he began: "Oh, 
 Lord; thou knowest we are about to engage in a terrible conflict, 
 if you take a proper view of the subject !" At this point his hearers 
 lost their gravity, the prayer-meeting was brought to a sudden and 
 inglorious close, and the little audience fought the battle of the 
 Wilderness with their eternal spirits giggling all through. 
 
 WHY THE PICKETS CEASED FIRING. 
 
 At Sharpsburg the pickets were constantly firing at each other, until 
 a Confederate from Jackson's corps shouted to a Union soldier and 
 asked him not to shoot, to which the good-natured foeman assented. 
 But the others kept on shooting until presently ' 'Johnny" cried out to his 
 quondam friend on the other side : "Say, Yank, tell the man on your 
 left not to shoot. I'd just as lief be shot by you as by hhnV So the 
 word passed from man to man, till not a gun was fired along the picket 
 line, the result of the quaint request of the first man. 
 
 A READY RETORT 
 
 General was a gallant soldier during the war and 
 
 a distinguished politician after it was over. At the battle of .Win- 
 chester, in 1863, he was in command of a brigade, and was very 
 deliberately forming his line of battle, so slowly that the division 
 commander grew impatient and sent an aid, who came galloping up to 
 
 the old hero to say: "General, General wants to know 
 
 if you are proposing to have dress-parade down here?" The instant 
 retort was : "Go back and tell him 'Yes' ; we are going to dress on the 
 enemy!" "Dress on the enemy," at once became a favorite phrase 
 among the men of his brigade. 
 
 THE STORY OF BARBARA FRITCHIE. 
 
 Although Whittier's verse has immortalized the name of Barbara 
 Fritchie, and made memorable the sleepy old town of Frederick where 
 she lived, the historian will have very hard work to settle the truth of the 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE I5 
 
 incident on which the poem is said to have been founded. Barbara 
 Fritchie did live there, and was living when "Stonewall" Jackson 
 marched his dusty but exultant troops through its streets. But the 
 best authorities say that he did not pass by the old dame's door, but 
 went by a very different route to the house of friends on a distant 
 street. It is said by many residents of the place that a Mrs. Quantrell 
 waved defiantly a small hand flag over the chieftain's head, though 
 the defiance does not seem to have attracted any attention whatever at 
 the time. It is also said that Mrs, Quantrell was afterwards given a 
 place in one of the departments at Washington because of that open 
 expression of loyalty at such a time. Others, again, quite as credit- 
 able as the first, vehemently declare that Barbara Fritchie did wave a 
 Union flag from the topmost window of her little cottage over the 
 heads of the Confederate column below, and these contemptuously sneer 
 at the claims of Mrs. Quantrell as the heroine of that day. Some 
 years ago a New York newspaper sent a competent man to Frederick, 
 to get at the truth about Barbara Fritchie and her flag. After de- 
 scribing the difficulties he found in getting at anything like the truth, 
 and telling of the conflicting claims of Mrs. Quantrell and Barabara 
 Fritchie, he continued : 
 
 "An intelligent colored man was found who saw Barbara Fritchie 
 wave the flag from the dormer window of her small, old-fashioned 
 house. It stood on the bank of the creek and by the bridge crossing, 
 and on this bridge Fitz Hugh Lee sat on his horse while his men lay 
 around at their ease at 'a halt.' There was a flag presentation to 
 Captain Dorsey's company of cavalry — raised in or near Frederick. 
 The colored man saw Miss Fannie Ebberts, then a young girl, present 
 the flag, and at that moment Barbara Fritchie waved the Union flag 
 from her window. There was a small excitement among the Confed- 
 erates and two men rushed to the house and tried to force the door, 
 Fitz Hugh Lee ordered them back, but there was no shooting and 'no 
 particular great excitement' after it. All this the colored man saw for 
 himself and was glad to describe circumstantially, adding that a good 
 old Union man, one Jacob Engelbrecht, living immediately opposite 
 
16 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 Barbara Fritchie, saw this also, aud was exultant quietly that 'some one 
 lived brave enough to wave the old flag in the face of the rebels.' 
 
 "This statement was strong enough to serve as a basis of inquiry. 
 The young girl was found in Mrs. Dorsey, the widow of that very 
 Captain Dorsey to whose company she had presented the flag by 
 the bridge, while Fitz Hugh Lee looked on and Barbara Fritchie stood 
 up so boldly for her side. Mrs. Dorsey, a refined lady in spectacles, 
 denied all knowledge of the waving of the flag by the old woman, and 
 also did not recollect presenting any flag to any company of Confeder- 
 ate cavalry. It may have been ; it was so long ago, and she was very 
 knew nothing. Mrs. Fritchie was brave enough to have done such a ) 
 young. She heard it reported of a Mrs. Quantrell, but of herself 
 thing. Yes ! She w^as of that character of woman. She was known 
 to go out and chase the Confederate soldiers from her door and from in 
 front of her little house with her cane, not sparing them meanwhile 
 the strongest epithets in her jiatriotic denunciation and espousal of the 
 Union cause. Mrs. Dorsey clearly understood that such an incident 
 did not reflect on General "Stonewall" Jackson or the Confederate 
 cause of that day, but there was nothing in it but Mr. Whittier's beau- 
 tiful poem. 
 
 "Mrs. Fritchie's house was pulled down in 1869, and there are those 
 who do not hesitate to say that the authorities of that time found it 
 convenient to widen the creek at that precise spot in order to destroy 
 that monument to Barbara Fritchie's staunch loyalty. On the other 
 side, the non-believers in Dame Barbara ridicule the idea as absurdly 
 false. Canes were made from the wood of this house and sold at the 
 Centennial — hundreds of them, with a certificate attached." 
 
 Jacob Engelbrecht, the tailor, who lived opposite, was long since 
 dead, but he left a diary, in which he had recorded many things about 
 the Confederate occupation at that time, but nothing of neighbor Bar- 
 bara's defiance. 
 
 Louis E, Engelbrecht, the grandson of Jacob, says of the Barbara 
 Fritchie story that his grandfather did not believe in it. He lived op- 
 posite, and must have known of a circumstance so fully in accord with 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 17 
 
 * 
 
 his own feelings if it had occured, but the old gentleman never failed to 
 denounce it as a fiction which had no foundation in fact. 
 
 Such are the conflicting versions of the story of Barbara Fritchie. 
 Exhaustless inquiries simply duplicate these. But Whittier's poem has 
 niched old Barbara Fritchie among the heroines, and she stands there 
 looking out bravely. She lies in the graveyard in Frederick, and hun- 
 dreds go there every year to do her memory honor. This is fame ! 
 The sarcophagus of Alexander could claim no more. And this only 
 the humble resting place of an old woman who waved a flag — in a 
 poem, and waved it, perhaps, nowhere else. 
 
 BEFORE A LITTLE CHILD. 
 
 It was in one of the numerous forays of the restless Stuart against 
 the Army of the Potomac, somewhere in Maryland, that his men 
 picked up, near a farmhouse where they had had a lively little brush 
 with the Union cavalry, a mere tot of a boy, a very baby, in fact. 
 Both its father and mother had been killed, and out of the kindness 
 of his heart a big grey and grizzled sergeant among Stuart's rough 
 riders took the child into camp, where he and his comrades coddled 
 the little fellow in all rough tenderness. He had a tiny flag, the stars 
 and stripes, in his hand when found, which he said his papa had given 
 him for the "Foof o' July," and that flag he kept. The very next 
 evening the grey-coated cavalry were nearly surrounded by the Union 
 forces, and only by hard riding and harder fighting did those who 
 were mounted get away. The sergeant, with several others, had lost 
 his horse, and capture seemed inevitable. Hastily telling his forlorn 
 looking squad to follow him, the sergeant put the child on his broad 
 shoulder and started in the only direction which seemed to promise es- 
 cape. The way led up a long, low ridge, on the top of which were 
 two or three haystacks. It was dusk and the few Confederates might 
 have escaped in the darkness if some Union soldier had not touched a 
 match to the hay. In an instant the scene was as light as day, and 
 showed the fleeing Confederates face to face with a long line of Union 
 soldiers directly in their path. Escape seemed impossible. They were 
 
18 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 in a trap. For an instant the two sides faced each other, the long blue 
 line confident and threatening, the squad in grey desperate and defiant. 
 At the word of command the Union line leveled their rifles to fire. 
 Not fifty paces in front stood the sergeant, in advance of his men, the 
 baby on his broad shoulder, flag in hand. To the child, the whole aSair, 
 with the waving colors over the line, the gleam of arms and the big 
 bonfire, seemed a special diversion in its honor, and its spirits rose to 
 the occasion. Just in the awful stillness which came before the order 
 to "Fire!" when every breath was hushed before the shock that was 
 expected, the child, holding tight to the grizzled head of the only 
 friend he had left, raised the other in the air, waved aloft his tiny flag 
 in the glare and piped out in his shrill little voice : 
 
 "Foof o' July !" 
 
 Had an apparition from their own firesides suddenly appeared before 
 those fathers and sons and brothers holding their rifles that way it 
 could not have startled them more. The baby and his flag were the 
 most conspicuous objects before them. The tiny figure, its piping 
 voice, its little flag and its innocent and total misapprehension of the 
 real state of affairs, appealed to the home feelings of the men in whose 
 hearts murder had reigned a moment before. They could not have 
 pulled a trigger in that direction for all the world, not more than if 
 the boy had been their own. The officer who had opened his mouth 
 to order "Fire !" lowered his sword, turned his head aside and lifted his 
 hand to shut out the eflfect of the shots that he had expected. But 
 the looked-for volley never came. The long line of rifles came down 
 from the shoulders without a word ; the line of blue seemed to melt 
 away; the sergeant in grey passed through, and for once the havoc of 
 battle was stayed before a little helpless and innocent child. 
 
 BOUND TO HAVE SPOILS. 
 
 The following is related by an eye-witness : 
 
 "On Jones' West Virginia raid, one day, there w<is a fight near a 
 country store. The house was soon abandoned by the occupants, and 
 when, soon after, the enemy retired, the store was plundered. It was 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 19 
 
 first come, first served, of course. In a twinkling the dry goods were 
 gone ; then the mob began on the miscellaneous articles. My most 
 valuable capture was a jar of nutmegs, and by the time they were 
 rolled up in a table-cloth, the store was bare. Presently one belated 
 soldier entered and looked around for something to steal. There 
 was nothing left in sight but a pile of small grindstones. Utter- 
 ing a whole volume of oaths at his bad luck, the fellow selected 
 one of them, threw it over his shoulder and marched off triumph- 
 antly." 
 
 THE VERMONT BRIGADE. 
 
 It was the original intention in organizing the several armies to 
 mingle the troops from the States, so that no one State should be able 
 to claim any particular achievement by brigade or division. This was 
 understood to have been done by orders of Secretary Stanton. But, 
 somehow, in organizing the Sixth Corps, a whole brigade was composed 
 of Vermont troops exclusively, and the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the 
 Vermonters had full development. "The Vermont Brigade" was the 
 pet organization of the Army of the Potomac, and Miles O'Keilly de- 
 scribed them as honest farmers turned vagabonds — simple countrymen 
 changed into heroes. They stole ancient horses and bony cows on the 
 march. They pillaged moderately in other things. They swept the 
 dairies and they stripped the orchards for miles where they traveled. 
 They chased rabbits when they went into camp after long marches, and 
 they yelled like wild Indians when neighboring camps were silent 
 through fatigue. They were ill-disciplined and familiar with their 
 officers. They swaggered in a cool, impudent way, and looked down 
 with a patronizing Yankee coolness upon all regiments that were better 
 drilled, and upon that part of the army generally that did not belong 
 to the Vermont Brigade. They were strangely proud, not of them- 
 selves individually, but of the brigade collectively ; for they knew 
 perfectly well they were the best fighters in the known world. They 
 were long of limb and could outmarch the army. They were individu- 
 ally self-reliant and skillful in the use of arms and they honestly 
 
20 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 believed that the Vermont Brigade could not be beaten by all the com- 
 bined armies of the rebellion. 
 
 They were veterans in fighting qualities almost from the first 
 skirmish. This was at Lee's Mills. They crossed a narrow dam under 
 fire, made the attack they were instructed to make, and came back 
 wading deep in the water, with a steadiness that surprised the army. 
 They were an incorrigible, irregular, noisy set of rascals. They were 
 much sworn at during their four years of service ; yet they were, at all 
 times, a pet brigade. There were but two things they would do — 
 march and fight, and these they did in a manner peculiarly their own. 
 They had a long, slow, swinging stride on the march, which distanced 
 everything that followed them. They had a quiet, attentive, earnest, 
 individual way of fighting that made them terrific in battle. Each 
 man knew that his neighbor in the ranks was not going to run away, 
 and he knew, also, that he himself intended to remain where he was. 
 Accordingly, none of the attention of the line was directed from the 
 important duties of loading and firing, rapidly and carefully. When 
 moving into action, and while hotly engaged, they made queer, quaint 
 jokes, and enjoyed them greatly. They crowed like cocks, they 
 ba-a-ed like sheep, they neighed like horses, they bellowed like bulls, 
 they barked like dogs, and they counterfeited, with excellent eflfect, 
 the indescribable music of the mule. When, perchance, they held a 
 picket line in the forest it seemed as if Noah's ark had gone to pieces 
 there. 
 
 When the Vermonters led the column on a march, their quick 
 movements had to be regulated from corps or division headquarters 
 to avoid gaps in the column as it followed them. If a rapid or forced 
 march was required, it was a common thing for Sedgwick to say, with 
 a quiet smile : "Put the Vermonters at the head of the column to-day 
 and keep everything well closed up." 
 
 This record does not include the wonderful exploit of the brigade at 
 Gettysburg, or the feat of once repulsing the Confederate advance in 
 line of battle in a night attack while the brigade was deployed in 
 skirmish line. Instead of retiring, as any weU ordered skirmish line 
 
IN CID ENTS OF AR M Y L IFE 21 
 
 is expected to do before a general advance of the enemy, the Vermont- 
 ers stuck to it and drove back the enemy without the main Union line 
 ever being disturbed. 
 
 A ''COLONEL" WITHOUT A COMMISSION. 
 "Colonel" Lewis, as he was called, was a noted character in a Penn- 
 sylvania regiment. He was the wit of the company, and by all odds 
 its queerest character. He was one of the oldest men and was cer- 
 tainly the wickedest man in the regiment. He had once been a 
 Methodist local preacher, and gloried in his backsliding. His title 
 of "Colonel" was an honorary one, given him by the boys, in honor 
 of his age and wickedness. After the battle of South Mountain he was 
 detailed with some others, under command of a corporal, to gather up 
 the arms and accoutrements scattered on the field, which they col- 
 lected into a pile and the "Colonel" was stationed as a guard over 
 them. Orders came to move, and the others joined the command, but 
 the "Colonel" remained at his post like Casabianca on the burning 
 deck. The regiment remained in the vicinity for some time, but the 
 "Colonel" didn't put in an appearance. Antietam was fought and 
 the regiment moved on into Virginia, and in December fought at 
 Fredericksburg, but still no "Colonel" Lewis approached. Finally, 
 one day about Christmas, he came swaggering into camp, with high- 
 top boots, spurs, an officer's overcoat and cap and sword. He had not 
 dared don the shoulder-straps, as that would subject him to severe 
 punishment. He was at once conducted to Colonel Hoffman's quar- 
 ters and there related his adventure, which relation was afterward 
 found to be substantially correct. When he found that the army had 
 moved away and left him, he went to a farm house, stated that he had 
 been left in command, ordered the best the house afforded, pressed the 
 contrabands into service and proceeded to collect and store all the 
 stray horses, guns, saddles, uniforms and equipments in the vicinity. 
 He remained several weeks as sole commander of that department 
 and had a royal time. Finally his fame reached the ears of the com- 
 mander at Harper's Ferry, who sent out and had him arrested and 
 
22 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 brought in. The "Colonel" explained the situation, insisting that 
 he was properly detailed and in the line of his duty, and ])y his wit 
 and assurance got released and received transportation to his regiment. 
 
 WHAT HE FOUGHT FOE. 
 
 One day the opposing pickets on the Rappahannock agreed not to 
 fire at each other for a time. It was not in human nature to be so 
 close and say nothing, and presently a brisk conversation arose between 
 a Texan Confederate and a Union Irishman. "What are you doing 
 in the Yankee Army?" said the Texan. "What are you fighting for, 
 anyhow ?" 
 
 "I'm fitin' fer thirteen dollars a month," retorted Pat. "I belave 
 yez are fitin' fer elivin." 
 
 The conversation ended right there. 
 
 WHO DID THE BRA VEST FHJHTIKG. 
 
 A veteran who had been asked, "Who did the bravest fighting in 
 the war ?" answered as follows : 
 
 ' 'The women who staid at home. The mothers, and the sisters, and 
 the cousins, and the aunts — above all, the sweethearts and wives — ^who 
 waited and watched and wore their hearts out in such fear and longing 
 as God's very shepherd's crook and and staff alone enabled them to 
 bear — they did the bravest fighting, ^ext to them the surgeons 
 and nurses in the hospitals, where every breath they drew was 
 from an atmosphere of sufiering and anguish unspeakable. You re- 
 member the girl in (I think it is) one of Mrs. Whitney's stories, who 
 so often says, 'Oh, dear! There is fun going on, and I'm not in it!' 
 Well, in the army we often had fun — I think most of the time we had 
 fun in one way and another — and the women at home Avere 'not in it.' 
 Where was the chance for fun among those waiting women, whose very 
 souls — might, mind and strength — were bound up in doing for our dis- 
 abled, sick and wounded, in hospital or in prison, and in the patient 
 waiting and longing and fearing for 'news from the front?' What 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY LIFE 23 
 
 glint of sunshine could come to brighten and sweeten the lives of these, 
 or of the surgeons and nurses in our hospitals, who never drew a 
 breath of air not thick with disease and pain, suffering and death? 
 AYhat tenderness and daring of the bravest in the field could equal 
 that of the sweetheart, or wife, or mother, who buckled on the sword 
 of her knight, and in mingled pride and anguish sent him to 'do his 
 devoir,' and peril his life and hers, in defense of his country? What 
 soldier would not have rather charged into the open mouth of a battery 
 than have suffered the anguish of these women, or to have endured, 
 without the excitement and afflatus of battle, the terrible suffering of 
 wounded and dying comrades in hospital or prison?" 
 
 CAPTURED BY HIS OLD COLONEL. 
 
 John Sanders, of the Fourth Michigan Infantry, w^as captured at 
 Gaines' Mill by a regiment in Magruder's division of the Confederate 
 Army. Before being turned over to the guard that would take them 
 to Richmond the prisoners were brought to Magruder's headquarters, 
 and were looked over by that General and his staff. Sanders, think- 
 ing he might be placed in the officers' squad — where he would receive 
 better treatment — if he should be recognized by Magruder, called 
 out: 
 
 "Hello, General Magruder. How have you been these twenty 
 years ?" 
 
 "Who the devil are you?" asked Magruder, in great surprise. 
 
 "I'm John Sanders. I was in Company B, Fourth Infantry, in the 
 Mexican war." 
 
 "Who was your Colonel?" inquired the General, very sternly. 
 
 "You Avere." 
 
 "Your Captain?" 
 
 "Anderson." 
 
 "Your First Lieutenant?" 
 
 "Roberts." 
 
 "Gentlemen, he was thar," cried Magruder, turning to his staff. 
 "This fellow was in my regiment in the Mexican Avar. W-e-l-I, AAell. 
 
24 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 Gentlemen, what can we do for one of my old boys, who has happened 
 to get on the wrong side this time ?" 
 
 The staff laughed, talked together a few minutes, and Sanders was 
 ordered to fall out of line, while the others were sent to Kichmond. 
 Presently he was given in cha/ge of an escort, who took him toward 
 McClellan's lines, hoisted a white flag and turned him over to the 
 Union pickets. It had paid him to be captured by his old Colonel. 
 
 GOING ONE EYE ON IT. 
 
 In the winter of 1861 the Seventh Georgia Volunteers lay in camp 
 at Centerville, Ga. The boys had learned to "run the blockade" with 
 the excellent applejack so abundant in that neighborhood, and the 
 camp was kept constantly well supplied. 
 
 One day General Joseph E. Johnston, thinking the applejack had 
 taken the place of water long enough, seized all the applejack in camp 
 and town, had it carted to the river and the heads of the barrels 
 knocked in, preparatory to pouring the contents into the stream. The 
 General then, after ordering the barrels emptied, thinking to intimidate 
 his men, drew his sword with the threat that he would cut out the first 
 man's eyes who attempted to drink a drop of it. 
 
 An Irishman at once stepped from the ranks of his company, and 
 covering one eye with his hat, said : 
 
 "Be Jasus, General! I guess I'll go one eye on't." 
 
 The General was beaten. He walked away without another word. 
 Of course, there was a laugh and a hurrah, and it may be that some 
 of the boys went more than one eye on it while the General's order 
 was being executed. 
 
 WASN'T AT ALL FINICAL. 
 
 ^Vhen in the vicinity of Yorktown General Magruder and staff were 
 invited to dinner, and in deference to a custom among soldiers, ac- 
 cepted the invitation. As the party moved toward the table, a very 
 ragged soldier quietly occupied a seat intended for one of the staff 
 
7.V CID ENTS OF ARM Y L IFF 25 
 
 officers, and began a vigorous onslaught on the edibles, to the great 
 disgust of the gallant General. 
 
 "Do you know, sir," demanded that officer, "whom you are dining 
 with ?" 
 
 "No!" responded the intruder, with a contemptuous glance at little 
 "Red Breeches," "I used to be a little particular about that, but 
 
 since I've been in the army I don't care a , so that the victuals 
 
 are clean." 
 
 After that the meal was discussed in silence, and the General paid 
 for the soldier's dinner. 
 
 PERFECTLY UNSOPHISTICATED. 
 Captain F., of the Signal Corps, was visiting his posts near Cul- 
 pepper, when an infantryman lounged up to the man on duty and 
 seemed deeply interested while the signal-man was "flopping" away 
 right and left with his flag. After gazing a while the soldier drawled 
 out, "I sa-a-y, str-a-nger, are the fli-ies a pestering of you?" 
 
 THE POWER OF COFFEE. 
 
 "When we were in front of Chattanooga," writes an old soldier, 
 "it became fashionable to exchange papers. Finally, strict orders 
 were given against it. Still, the boys would do it. After while there 
 came no more signals for exchange from the other side, and we knew 
 the Confederates had received the same orders. But one morning 
 quite early my partner discovered a man on the Confederate line 
 frantically waving a large paper. He suggested that we slip away 
 from the reserve and go out and see what the man wanted. He took 
 a paper, waved it, and we started for the Confederate in front. 
 When we had proceeded about half way to the point of meeting, the 
 fellow ceased to wave his paper. We were puzzled at this, but 
 finally concluded that he was down in a hollow, and we would see him 
 when he came up on high ground. So we walked on and walked 
 without warning into a group of soldiers at the Confederate picket 
 post. The men were just ready to take breakfast, and after the first 
 
26 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 flurry they joked us a good deal about our extraordinary willingness 
 to get into their clutches at breakfast time. When we spoke of the 
 exchange of papers the officer in charge informed us that orders were 
 positive against exchange, and that all his men understood it. As 
 this was the case, he took the ground that we had willingly come into 
 their lines, aud that he could not allow us to return. I saw at once 
 that his men disagreed with him, but the question was how we were 
 to get away. 
 
 "My partner, who had been a soldier in Germany, joined in the jokes 
 at our expense, aud proposed that he make the boys some coffee that 
 was coffee. The Confederates had a very poor excuse for that article, 
 and without more ado he proceeded to make a kettle of coffee, the 
 aroma of which seemed to fascinate the cofiee-hungry sharpshooters. 
 When he had poured the coffee into the cups and had expatiated on the 
 good it would do to the men, he took up his rifle and said to me : 
 'Now, let us start for our own line.' I followed him, and not a soldier 
 on that picket post lowered the cup of coffee from his lips or looked 
 our way. 
 
 WOULUT SEE A SOLDIER DEFRAUDED. 
 
 Once upon a time, at a place and date which had, maybe, better not 
 be given, a gang of Confederate cavalrymen, of that class which the 
 French style "zephyrs," and we call "bummers," boarded a railway 
 train which had been stojiped between two flourishing cities, and 
 began to levy contributions on the passengers. 
 
 They were in a great hurry, because they expected every moment 
 the arrival of a detail of guards, which would not only interrupt their 
 operations, but make it warm for them, if caught. 
 
 There were a number of Jews on th-^ train, en route from the more 
 southern city to buy goods in the other and more favorably located 
 point, and their pocket-books were well lined. 
 
 The "bummers" were prancing around in this crowd, and "going 
 through" the sorrowful Hebrews in a scandalous way, when, it is 
 related, a long, lank, slab-sided Michigan Union cavalryman, who had 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY L IFE 27 
 
 been very philosophically watching all that transpired, as if a quite 
 familiar scene to him, reached out and grabbed the most active 
 examiner by the jacket and said: "Hold on a minute, Reb., I want 
 to tell you something." 
 
 "Well, now, spit it out quick," said the Confederate, "I always like 
 to treat prisoners right, but I ain't got much time. That d— d stuck up 
 provost guard will be along d'rectly, and we'll be 'bleeged to quit 
 work." 
 
 "I aint goin' to detain you. You see that Jew sittin' over thar. I 
 see him take his pocket-book, just now, and stuff it under the seat. 
 I wanted to give you the pint." 
 
 The other started ofl like a shot out of a shovel, but the Michi- 
 gauder pulled him back again. "I don't want to be misunderstood," 
 he said. "You needn't think I'm trying to curry favor with you 
 fellows, becuz I'm a prisoner. I've fit you for three year, and I'm 
 goin' at it agin as soon as I'm exchanged, but, for all that, I don't 
 want to see no d — d Jetv defraud a soldier. 
 
 CAME NEAR MISSING HIM. 
 
 At Altoona a rifle took General Corse alongside of the head. 
 General Sherman received word from Corse that his ear and a portion 
 of his cheek bone were gone, but that he was stiU able to hold his 
 position and fight it out. As soon as possible Sherman got over to see 
 him, full of anxiety. He found Corse with his head swathed in 
 bandages, and, in his anxiety to know the nature of the injuries, 
 impatiently ordered the surgeon to remove the cloths. This was done 
 slowly, and with great formality, and there was revealed a slight 
 scratch on the cheek and a hole in the ear. 
 
 Sherman looked intently at it, and calmly remarked, "Why, Corse, 
 they came near missing you, didn't they ?" 
 
 ''GEE THEM, SIR, GEE THEM." 
 General Buford was a turf man, and his most forcible expressions 
 were naturally of the ' 'horse" order. His brigade was first under fire 
 
28 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 at Perryville, and in oue of the preliminary skirmishes he ordered 
 
 Captain J to "oblique his company to the right." The Captain, 
 
 misunderstanding the order, was leading his men to the left, which the 
 
 General observed and yelled out: "Captain , I told you to 
 
 oblique your company to the right. If you dont know what I mean 
 by 'Right Oblique,' sir, then gee them, sir, gee them, gee them!" 
 
 A REVELATION IN SLANG. 
 
 A curious habit prevailed among the soldiers, in the latter part 
 of the war, ot designating their respective companies and battalions by 
 the queer names of "outfit" and "layout," while they would call a 
 brigade a "shebang." 
 
 The story goes that General Polignac, the Frenchman who espoused 
 the cause of the South and served her with distinguished bravery to 
 the last, was once accosted by a bright eyed Creole boy, Avho announced 
 that he had just returned from a furlough, and wished to know where 
 he could find Colonel Censir's "lay-out." 
 
 "Colonel Censir's whatf" shouted the General, his eyes bulging with 
 astonishment. 
 
 "Colonel Censir's 'layout,' " repeated the lad, "it belongs to your 
 'shebang.'" 
 
 "Well, I hope to land in ," ejaculated Polignac, who, when 
 
 excited, sometimes became profane, "if I know what ze little diable 
 mean ! I have been educated all my life in ze armee. I have hear 
 of ze compagnie, ze battalion, ze brigade and ze division, but I agree 
 to be to , if I ever hear of ze 'lay-out' or ze 'shebang' before." 
 
 "OE, YOU S WEET DARLING ! " 
 
 One day during the war a detachment of General Basil Duke's 
 troops was moving through Northern Kentucky. They were worn 
 out and hunted down. Their horses Avere nearly foundered. The 
 men were ragged and dirty. They halted for rest near a young ladies 
 seminary whose inmates were all staunch sympathizers Avith the Con- 
 federacy. Out came the young ladies Avhen they saw the grey coats. 
 
IN CID EN TS OF ARMY LIFE 29 
 
 They brought out food, drink and armfuls of flowers. They hung 
 garlands around the necks of the hunted men and sang in a musical 
 chorus: "Oh, You Darling Confederates!" A straggler, who had 
 been unable to keep up with the rest, because he had such a poor 
 mount, now came up, flogging a jaded hack along, swearing because 
 he had not been able to keep up. He yelled out: "Oh, You Sweet 
 Darling Confederates, the Yanks are coming!" There was a bolt at 
 
 this. The laggard pounded on behind, sweanng: "O, You 
 
 Sweet Darlings, I hope the Yanks will get you !" The Union cavalry- 
 men were right at his heels. His companions wheeled in their saddles 
 and laughed at his certain capture. But his tired horse stumbled and 
 fell and threw him into a ditch. The enemy swept by and made 
 prisoners of every one of the main band, but he laid low, was not 
 seen and so escaped. 
 
 '' SCHWARTZ'S BATTERY IS TOOKT 
 
 General Grant was very fond of telling the following story of 
 the battle of Shiloh : 
 
 "During the battle an oflEicer rode' furiously up to him, touched his 
 cap and said with German accent : 'Sheneral, I wants to make von 
 report ; Schwartz's battery is took.' 'That's bad,' said Grant ; 'how 
 did it happen ?' * Vhy, Sheneral, de sheshenists came oop in de front 
 ov us, and dey came oop in de rear of us, und dey come oop in der 
 flank of us, und, veil, Schwartz's battery vas took.' 'You spiked the 
 guns, of course ?' said the General. ' Vhat !' screamed the Dutchman, 
 in excited astonishment. 'Schpike dem guns, schpike dem new guns ! 
 Tunter und blitzen, no ! It would have schpoil dem.' 'Well, sir,' 
 said the General sharply, 'what did you do?' 'Do? Do, Sheneral? 
 Vhy, we tooked dem back again !'" 
 
 NEVER HAD DIED AXD WOULDN'T. 
 Jacob Smith, of Company B, Third New Hampshire Regiment, 
 was what Artemas Ward would have called a "comical cuss." He 
 was a big fellow, but with a thin, squeaky voice, which sounded as 
 
30 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 if it belonged to some little boy half a mile away. The regiment was 
 before Charleston in 1863, and in the fighi on James' Island, Jake 
 was badly wounded and was carried to the hospital. The surgeon 
 came to him and carefully examined the hurt. "It's all up, Jake," 
 said he ; "there is no chance of you getting over it." 
 
 "I don't know about that," said Jake, in his little squeaky tones; 
 "I don't know about that. I never did die, and I won't do it now." 
 
 The thin, rasping voice had been pitched high in its intense indig- 
 nation, and created a laugh in spite of the surroundings. But Jake 
 kept his word. He never had died before ; he didn't die then. In 
 fact he recovered, passed through all the other dangers of the war, 
 and went back home at its close, hale and hearty; nor did he die 
 until at least a dozen years after he so gallantly defied death on the 
 sand hills of Charleston Harbor. 
 
 THE COLONEL'S EXCUSE. 
 It is said that Confederate and Union cavalry on the mountains of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, whenever their supplies ran short, would 
 borrow ammunition from each other ; but on one occasion they had a 
 "sure enough" fight, in which the Confederate Colonel P. was worsted 
 and lost one of those diminutive nuisances, called mountain howitzers. 
 The fact of the loss of artillery coming to the ears of the department 
 commander, he sent for the defeated Colonel and sternly asked him 
 how he had lost his cannon. 
 
 "Why, General," said the Colonel, "soldiers took that cannon!" 
 "Well," replied, the commander, "what if soldiers did take it?" 
 "Soldiers!" responded the Colonel, "why, soldiers will take anybody's 
 cannon !" 
 
 BUTLERS FAMOUS ORDER. 
 
 Except the Emancipation Proclamation no paper issued during the 
 
 war attracted the attention directed to the famous order of General 
 
 Butler, when in command of New Orleans, that women insulting his 
 
 soldiers should be treated "as women of the town." Particularly in 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 31 
 
 England was there loud indignation expressed at the supposed harsh- 
 ness of the order. Years after the close of the war, on the occasion of 
 a visit of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of London 
 to Washington, they called upon General Butler, and in the course of 
 conversation one of the visitors. Major Becker, frankly asked the 
 General about that famous order for the summary and degrading 
 punishment of any woman who should insult a soldier, the Major 
 stating frankly that it had caused a good deal of indignation among 
 chevalier Englishmen. 
 
 It must have been with a great deal of satisfaction, in view of all 
 the circumstances, that General Butler replied : 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, I am very glad to tell you how that happened. 
 One of my officers, a modest, Christian gentleman, went to church one 
 Sunday. Just as he was about to enter the door a woman stepped up 
 to him and spit iu his face. On his return he reported the occurrence 
 tome. 'What did you do ?' I asked. 'Do, General,' said he, 'what 
 could I do ? I just took out my handkerchief, wiped my face and went 
 into the church.' I said : 'That's all right, but I can't stand this sort 
 of thing, and I'm g»nng to do something about it.' I looked over a 
 whole lot of city ordinances and municipal regulations and papers of 
 that sort, and at last, gentlemen, I found just what I wanted in a 
 regulation of the city of London, which I copied and made the basis 
 of the famous order which caused so much indignation among the good 
 people across the water and elsewhere. I want to tell you, furtlier- 
 more," pursued the General, "that it was a perfectly effective order. 
 There was not a single case of punishment under it. The lixdies of 
 New Orleans wouldn't violate it because they did not wish to be taken 
 for women of the town, and the women of the town wouldn't violate 
 it because they wished to be taken for ladies." 
 
 A KEY TO SHILOS. 
 
 Captain Joe Laur, who fought at Shiloh on the Union side, some 
 years after the war was over fell in company in Illinois with au intelli- 
 gent and very respectable looking negro, who, in the course of 
 
32 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 conversatiou, said he had once lived near the celebrated battle-ground. 
 The negro said that in 1862 he belonged to Mr. Cherry, who lived at 
 Savannah. Cherry was a strong Union man, and General Grant had 
 his headquarters at his house. One night General Grant told his Ad- 
 jutant to let General Buell know that there was no occasion for 
 him to rush his men, as it would be a week before they would be ready 
 to march to Corinth, and in the meantime little would be done. Mrs. 
 Cherry overheard this, and she was a Confederate — not to Grant, but 
 to everybody else. So she quietly went to the kitchen, wrote a note 
 to Beauregard, and told the negro what it was and what he should do 
 with it. He got a horse, passed the lines, shot through the darkness 
 to Beauregard's headquarters, and put the note in the General's hand. 
 Everything began to move, Beauregard rushed toward Pittsburg 
 Landing, and — we have all read the rest of the story. 
 
 CAPTURING A MILE OF PICKETS. 
 
 Captain Robert H. Taylor, of the Twentieth Indiana, tells of the 
 unique achievement of capturing a mile of Confederate pickets before 
 Fort Hell, at Petersburg, Ya., in July, 1864: 
 
 The Confederate picket-line was about 150 yards in front of our 
 fort and their sharpshooters were constantly picking our men off; so 
 one day I remarked to our Colonel, G. W. Meikeal, that if he would 
 give me twenty days' leave of absence I would take 100 volunteers 
 out of the regiment and clean out that picket-line some dark night. 
 He went to brigade and division headquarters and the arrangements 
 were soon made. Captain A. S. Andrews and myself were put in 
 command of the detachment, composed of almost 100 men who had 
 been tried in many a tight place. On the day appointed Andrews 
 and myself reconnoitered the line at different places to see if all was 
 quiet and to find the best place to make the break. We formed our 
 men at midnight, without canteens or haversacks or anything that 
 would rattle or make a noise. We marched out and up to within 
 about thirty yards of the Confederate picket-line, and then lay 
 down to wait for the time agreed upon for the attack, which was 1 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY L IFE 33 
 
 o'clock. When the time came we arose without any command, and 
 slipped up as quietly as we could until we were seen by a videt. We 
 then went in on a run and cleaned out the line as we went. We lifted 
 the pickets right out of their rifle-pits by the nape of the neck, gave 
 them a kick and told them to get to the rear. The Berdans made a 
 similar move to the left, and in less than ten minutes we had taken 
 over one mile of their picket-line and captured eighty-three prisoners 
 without firing a gun or losing a man. We reversed their rifle-pits and 
 made it our line. The Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania were sent out to 
 help hold the line and lost several men. In the morning our Colonel, 
 George W. Meikeal, came alone the line, congratulating the boys, and 
 not knowing the lay of the ground or where the Confederates were, 
 he went on a rise in the ground which brought him in view of them. 
 They fired a volley at him, and I think that eleven shots 
 struck him, killing him instantly. I warned him as he passed me not 
 to go any further down the line, as the enemy were just over the rise. 
 He said that they had not made the bullet to kill him yet, and in less 
 than one minute he was a dead man. We went out at midnight with- 
 out water or food and remained until dark the next day. Some of 
 the boys ran the gauntlet for water. 
 
 G VERNOR CUR TIN'S FIER Y DISPA TCH. 
 Among the curious documents on file in the War Department is 
 one from Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, to Secretary of War 
 Stanton, which has a singular history, equal to its startling phrase- 
 ology. This history is as follows : Among the thousands of Union 
 soldiers who were languishing in Southern prisons were many Penn- 
 sylvanians. Governor Curtin came to Washington to see Stanton 
 about an exchange of prisoners. The Governor stood aghast at the 
 brutal reply Stanton made to his appeal. Said the Secretary of War : 
 "Do you suppose I am going to exchange ten thousand fat, healthy 
 Confederates for a like number of human skeletons?" Governor 
 Curtin looked him in the face and said : "Are you a human being, a 
 Christian man or a brutal fiend to express such sentiments ? " "Think 
 
34 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 of me as you will," said Mi\ Stanton, "you have ray answer." The 
 Governor returned to Pennsylvania, and in a few days Stanton wx'ote 
 to him, but did not allude to their recent interview. He urged Gov- 
 ernor Curtin to come to Washington. The Governor telegraphed : 
 "Will you make an exchange of prisoners?" Stanton answered: 
 "No." Curtin replied: "Go to h — 1." That telegram is on file 
 along with the correspondence. 
 
 A TALE OF GETTYSBURG. 
 
 When the sleepy old town of Gettysburg was electrified into the 
 most vigorous life in the last days of June, 1863, by the knowledge 
 that Lee's army would soon be in its streets, the telegraph operator 
 realized that both for his own personal convenience and as a patriotic 
 duty he should be absent and take with him his telegraph instrument. 
 Accordingly he prepared a swift horse, intending to remain until the 
 last moment and then flee as fast as his horse could take him. At last 
 a messenger, breathless with haste, brought the word that the Confed- 
 erate cavalry advance was in sight, and just as they appeared at the 
 end of the street, the operator, having sent northward a hurried mes- 
 sage, cut the wires, tore his instrument from its table, and mounting 
 his horse, disappeared in the other direction. As was expected, the 
 telegraph oflUce was the first place visited by the Confederate advance 
 guard. It was in a little dry goods store on the main street, just op- 
 posite the Lutheran Church, so soon to be a hospital. The store was 
 owned by two maiden sisters, who lived above it, and who had closed 
 their doors and retreated upstairs on seeing the Confederate advance. 
 The officer in command, certain he was at the right place, knocked 
 loudly. "Miss Mary" opened an upper window and asked what was 
 wanted. Her idea was to gain every possible minute for the operator, 
 but so imperious was the summons to open the door and so vigorous 
 were the kicks that were rained upon it, that she thought it best to delay 
 but little. 
 
 "You have taken your time, madam," said the officer, sternly, when 
 at last they faced each other at the threshhold. "Where is the opera- 
 
INCID EN TS OF ARMY L IFF 05 
 
 tor ?" he continued, as he entered and saw the severed wires on the 
 little desk. 
 
 "Gone," she answered, with trembling lips. 
 "Gone where?" 
 
 "I — I — don't know. He went away on horseback " 
 
 The officer's eyes flashed. He drew a pistol from his belt and made 
 a suggestive movement as he repeated his question. 
 
 "I don't know," again answered Miss Mary. 
 
 "How long has he been gone?" 
 
 Miss Mary hesitated. Falsehood was foreign to her open nature. 
 But to tell the truth might, probably would, result in the capture of 
 the operator and his instrument, and through that possible danger to 
 the Union cause by false messages being sent, or the capture of im- 
 portant Union news. The poor woman had no time to reason the 
 matter with her conscience — yet she still hesitated. The pistol was 
 raised. 
 
 "Answer me," said the officer, "and mind, now, the truth." 
 
 "About two hours and a half or three hours," she stammered, in an 
 agony of terror. 
 
 The officer watched her face a moment and then lowered his weapon. 
 
 "Who else is in the house?" he demanded, after a moment's pause. 
 
 "My sister." 
 
 She went into the back room. She meant to go upstairs and bring 
 her sister, but the Captain sternly ordered her to call her. He meant 
 to allow no conference. 
 
 Miss Jane came down the stairs and faced him. Again he asked 
 what had become of the operator. Miss Mary saw the awful danger 
 into which her falsehood had placed her. But all fear had now left 
 her, though she listened for the reply as if it might be her own death 
 warrant. 
 
 "He cut the wires, took the instrument and rode away on horse- 
 back." 
 
 "How long ago?" 
 
 The question was emphasized, as before, by a movement toward his 
 
3ti WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 pistol. Miss Jane saw it, but gave no sign. She raised her eyes, 
 looked him calmly in the face and said, very quietly : 
 
 "About two hours and a half or three hours." 
 
 The officer's face fell. He put up his pistol, muttered an apology 
 for his stern manner and threatening actions, and proceeded to search 
 the house, of course without avail. 
 
 The answers of the two sisters were purely accidental, and the 
 coincidence of the surely excusable falsehoods was a joy to both of 
 them. 
 
 JACKSON'S SIGN OF BATTLE. 
 
 "Sam," said a curious correspondent, to a negro who had served for 
 a time at "Stonewall" Jackson's headquarters, "Was the General 
 kind to you ?" 
 
 "Dat he was, massa, all de time ; in trouble an' out of it, jes the 
 same." 
 
 "Was he a praying man ?" 
 
 "Prayin'? Why, I never seen no preacher what prayed much as 
 him. 'Feared like, when he wuzn't fitin' or tendiu' to bizness, he wuz 
 allers prayin' ; an' when you hear him git up two or three times a 
 night an' kneel, den jes' look out fer de naixt day !" 
 
 THE PEACH BAISERS MISTAKE. 
 Early in the fall of 1861 Richardson's Michigan Brigade was en- 
 camped south of the Potomac, near a famous peach orchard, the fruit 
 in which was just beginning to ripen. The owner sent a plaintive 
 request to General Richardson for a guard, which was readily granted, 
 much to the regret of the soldiers, to whom the luscious fruit was a 
 great temptation. One day, when the heat was so great that he had 
 thrown off his coat and vest, down to his red flannel shirt, General 
 Richardson strolled along until he came to the peach orchard, around 
 which were stationed the guards he had furnished. The trees Avcre 
 bending under a bounteous crop of tempting peaches, and the Gen- 
 eral's mouth watered for a taste just as any private's mouth would 
 
INCIDENTS OF AR3IY LIFE 37 
 
 have watered under the circumstances. Going up to the house he met 
 the owner at the door and politely asked permission to pick a few 
 peaches. 
 
 "No, sir," was the gruff reply. "I will allow no one to enter my 
 premises ; but if you want some peaches, I'll get them for you." 
 
 So saying, he stepped inside the gate, and in a short time returned 
 with some fine specimens of the luscious fruit, which the General ate 
 with great relish and then asked how much was to pay. 
 
 "Fifty cents," was the reply. 
 
 This was paid without the least hesitation, and then turning around, 
 the General called out, "Guards, go to your quarters!" 
 
 "Sir," roared the peach orchard owner, "I would have you to know 
 that General Richardson put these guards on here." 
 
 Quick as thought came the reply, "Well, by , sir. General 
 
 Richardson now discharges them." 
 
 As the word passed along the line, the boys stood "not upon the 
 order of their going," but went at once. In less than half an hour 
 the whole brigade, numbering about 4,000 men, were industriously 
 engaged in picking peaches, and if "the locusts, the lice and the 
 frogs" that once preyed upon the inhabitants of Egypt in ancient 
 days, had descended all at once upon that man's premises, he could 
 not have experienced more disastrous results. 
 
 .4 CHIVALROUS SKIRMISHER. 
 
 It was on the 3d of July, at Gettysburg, and in front of the ex- 
 treme right of Hancock's (Second) corps. There was an open space 
 acro.ss which both skirmish lines had repeatedly charged, only to be 
 repulsed and to leave it dotted with dead and wounded. It was near 
 noon and the sun beat unmercifully down on that open ground. The 
 cries of the wounded were pitiful and could constantly be heard in 
 spite of the rattle and clatter of the destructive fire-works. About 
 midway between the lines was a tree that had served as a noonday 
 resting spot for the harvest hands in more peaceful summers, and 
 around the roots of this tree had lain all that morning several 
 
38 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 Confederate sharpshooters, whose execution both on the Union skirmish- 
 ers and on the Union batteries posted on the ridge behind had drawn 
 upon them many vows of vengeance. Within an hour the Con- 
 federate battle lines were to make their brave, but to them disastrous, 
 charge over the same ground. There came a sudden lull in the firing 
 on this part of the skirmish lines and the Union soldiers rose to their 
 feet to ascertain the cause. A Confederate was approaching from the 
 tree, holding up his right hand. Thinking he meant to desert, some 
 of them called out to him, *'Come over, Johnny! we'll not fire!" 
 But he came until within forty or fifty yards and then knelt down, 
 and they saw that this Confederate dead shot, who had for hours been 
 helping to work havoc among them, was holding up the head of a 
 prostrate wounded Union soldier while he gave him a drink from his 
 canteen. Such a shout as went up ! Both sides stood upon their feet 
 within full view of one another and cheered the noble act. The Con- 
 federate, having accomplished his purpose, made haste back to his 
 fellow-shari^shooters at the tree. Enmity had been disarmed for a 
 moment, and there was a reluctance to begin firing again, but a clear 
 voice from the roots of the tree called out: "Take care, Yanks! we're 
 going to fire ! " and the bloody work went on. 
 
 THE MAN WHO COWED STANTON. 
 FcAV men could boast that they had ever succeeded in making the 
 great War Secretary change his purpose, especially by a threat. But 
 that was actually accomplished more than once by W^ard H. Lamon, 
 Marshal of the District of Columbia under Lincoln, whose partner 
 he had once been. Laraon was a man of gigantic size and herculean 
 strength, who feared no man living. In the jail were a number of 
 colored men, under legal commitment. For some reason Stanton 
 wished them discharged, which Lamon refused. One day, when he 
 had gone out to dinner, the Military Governor, under Stanton's order, 
 took possesion of the jail and put a sergeant and squad of soldiers in 
 charge. When Lamon returned he consulted his counsel, and finding 
 this action wholly without warrant of law, without waiting for any 
 
IJfCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 39 
 
 process from the court, went to work in his righteous indignation to 
 undo the wrong. Alone and with his own big, strong hands, he dis- 
 armed the entire party, took the keys from the sergeant, ignomini- 
 ously locked him and his men in the jail, aod calmly reported his 
 daring action to the President. He was sustained, as he always was, 
 by the President, and in due time a ponderous opinion from Attorney 
 General Bates put an end to the military siege of the jail, which 
 Lamon meanwhile had put into a posture of defense and determined 
 to hold at any cost. About the same time Mr. Stanton had made up 
 his mind to seize a house that Lamon had bought and was fitting up 
 for the reception of his family. "If you do that," said Lamon, at 
 the conclusion of an interview in which the Secretary had been very 
 offensive, "Pll kill you !" Stanton went immediately to the President, 
 and informed him that the Marshal had threatened to murder him. 
 "Well, Stanton," said Lincoln, "if he really said it, Fd advise you to 
 prepare for your end, for he's a man of his Avord. But I'll see him, 
 and try if I can't get him to spare your life on my account. He's a 
 great friend of mine, you know." But Mr. Stanton did not take the 
 house. 
 
 A COOL GENERAL. 
 
 General Leonidas Polk, of the Confederate army, frequently told 
 the following story of the battle of Perryville: 
 
 "Late in the evening, when it was almost dark, Siddell's brigade 
 came into action. Shortly after its arrival I observed a body of men, 
 whom I believed to be Confederates, standing at an angle to this 
 brigade, and firing obliquely at them. I said: 'This must be stopped,' 
 and looked about for some ofmy staff to send with orders to cease firing. 
 But they were all absent on different messages, and so I determined to 
 go myself. Cantering up to the Colonel of the regiment that was 
 firing, I asked in angry tones, what he meant by shooting his friends, 
 and ordered him to cease firing at once. He said with surprise: 'I 
 don't think there can be any mistake about it, for I am d — d certain 
 they are the enemy!' 'Enemy!' I said, "why I have just left them 
 
40 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 myself. Cease firing, sir. What is your name, sir?' 'My name is 
 
 Colonel , of the — — th Indiana; and, pray, who are you, sir? 
 
 Then I saw to my great astonishment, that he was a Yankee, and that 
 I was in the rear of a regiment of Union soldiers. I saw there was 
 no hope but to brazen it out. My dark blouse and the increasing ob- 
 scurity befriended me; so I approached quite close to him and shook 
 my fist in his face, saying, 'I'll soon show you who I am, sir. Cease 
 firing, sir, at once!' I then turned my horse and cantered slowly down 
 the line, shouting in an authoritative manner for them to cease firing. 
 At the same time I was conscious of a disagreeable sensation passing 
 up my l)ack, and I found myself calculating how many bullets I was 
 likely to get between my shoulders. I was afraid to increase ray 
 speed until I got to a small copse, when I put the spurs into my 
 horse's flanks and galloped back to my own men. I do not know how 
 long before the Union officer found that he had obeyed the commands 
 of a Confederate General. I never went back to find out." 
 
 RESPECT FOR A HERO'S BLOOD. 
 
 At Fourche Dam, Arkansas, a few miles below Little Rock, when 
 General Steele was advancing on that place, and a stand was being 
 made to cover the Confederate retreat under General Price, Jeffries, 
 with his Missouri Brigade, charged a Union battery supported by 
 cavalry. The cavalry, from the suddenness of the attack, was thrown 
 into confusion and retreated, leaving the guns unsupported. The 
 Captain of the battery, a young man from Chicago, stood by one of 
 the guns, with a revolver in each hand, firing rapidly. He was com- 
 pletely surrounded, but refused to surrender. The Confederates, in 
 admiration of his bravery, stopped firing and cheered him. He was 
 repeatedly told to surrender, and as often refused. He continued to 
 fire, and had wounded several men. 
 
 "This thing is gettin' tiresome, Cap'n," yelled a lank Missourian, 
 "an' if you don't behave yourself an' quit your skylarkin' you'll git 
 hurt!" 
 
 The brave fellow, Avith a disdainful gesture, exclaimed: 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 41 
 
 "I told the people of Chicago that I would never surrender this 
 battery, and I'll keep my word," and he leveled his pistol at the Mis- 
 sourian. But the lank man was too quick for him, and, throwing up 
 his pistol, he fired. Captain Reed fell across his gun, shot through 
 the heart. 
 
 "Brave man !" said the boys, as they laid him on the ground pre- 
 paratory to removing the gun. "Brave man; it is a pity we had to 
 kill him." 
 
 The gun, with its death-mark of life's blood, was drawn away by the 
 Confederates, and used in a dozen different battles, but no one ever 
 washed off the blood. Once, when an officer asked one of the men 
 why he did not wash his gun, the soldier related the circumstance of 
 Reed's death. "Let the blood remain, it is a mark of respect to the 
 memory of a brave man," was the officer's comment. 
 
 Just before the close of the war "Captain Reed," the name applied 
 to the gun, was dismounted by a cannon ball. After the battle the 
 soldiers tenderly buried the heavy iron. The rain of heaven nor the 
 hands of man had not washed off the blood. 
 
 MORGANS SANG FROID. 
 In the early part of the war, when General McCook was advancing 
 on Bowling Green, Ky. , as the command was halted for a short time 
 one day, a company of cavalry, in the regulation blue uniform of the 
 Union Army, was seen a few hundred yards in advance, where they 
 halted, and the men dismounted and behaved as men were wont to do 
 under such circumstances, while waiting orders. Meanwhile the 
 Captain of the cavalry rode around and within the infantry lines for 
 several minutes, but without saying anything to any one. Nobody 
 paid any attention to him and presently he returned to his company, 
 ordered them to mount, and they rode leisurely down the road and out 
 of sight. Nothing was thought of the affair till, some time afterward, 
 a non-combatant came into General McCook's camp, under a flag of 
 truce, bearing a very respectful note, in which the writer said he had just 
 made a thorough recbunoisance of his (McCook's) forces, and asked 
 
42 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 the exchange of a Louisville Journal for a Lousville Courier, which 
 was then published on wheels, and a copy of which was enclosed. The 
 note was signed "John Morgan;" and it was he who had commanded 
 the mysterious cavalry company seen in the advance a little while 
 before. 
 
 A BRUTAL COMMANDER. 
 
 General Geary, who afterward was Governor of Pennsylvania, was 
 a good soldier, but a brutal commander. Upon one occasion, when 
 the men were not being pushed forward rapidly enough to suit Geary, 
 a deep morass stopping their way, he galloped forward in a rage, dis- 
 mounted from his horse, seized an officer by the coat collar and delib- 
 erately kicked him again and again. The Colonel of the regiment to 
 which the officer was attached shortly after galloped up to where 
 Geary was standing beneath a tree. Whether he had been sent for, 
 or what the first words that passed between them were, nobody knew, 
 but Geary said, angrily : "You have the worst set of officers in the 
 service." 
 
 "You have no right to treat them so," said the Colonel, who was a 
 small, quiet man, who, up to that time, had not been looked upon as 
 amounting to much. His face was very white. 
 
 "I'll treat them as I please, and you too, for that matter," bel- 
 
 loAved Geary. 
 
 "If you should ever attempt it," said the Colonel, looking the Gen- 
 eral squarely in the eyes, "we will be in need of a new commanding 
 officer!" and wheeling his horse, he galloped away without the slightest 
 ceremony. "I'll court martial you, sir!" shouted Geary after him, but 
 he never did. 
 
 On another occasion Geary took offense at a private in the column, 
 for merely giving him a sidelong glance. "Look to the front, how 
 dare you !" The man looked rigidly before him, as though made of 
 stone. Some diabolical spirit must have possessed Geary, for he sprang 
 from his horse and began shaking the man, who still looked straight 
 before him without uttering a sound. He was a bad fellow — a good 
 
INC ID EN TS OF ARMY L IFE 43 
 
 soldier, but wicked. He had been in the navy and feared nothing. 
 Finally Geary kicked hini. Then carae a sudden change. The man 
 turned sharply about and brought his gun to a "ready." 
 
 "Stand back, you! ,' and the soldier used a most opprobious 
 
 epithet. Go to your place or I'll blow your head off!" Geary's face 
 became white as a sheet. The severe words had not caused it, A look 
 in the private's face revealed the reason. Death was in his eyes and 
 Geary knew that at that moment he stood in the shadow of the dark 
 valley. He turned about and went away without saying another 
 word. 
 
 FIGHTING AND FORGIVING'. 
 
 A Western soldier told the following of the battle of Lookout 
 Mountain : 
 
 "The Confederates, posted high on a mountain, regarded their 
 position as impregnable. But when Hooker's command worked its 
 way up from Wauhatchie Valley, our brigade swept down on them 
 from the rear while they were peering over their breastworks, looking 
 for us from the front. There was a tremendous tussle for five minutes, 
 but in the end the whole command surrendered. I was a little separ- 
 ated from the main body, and at first, before the Confederates sur- 
 rendered, I was at a disadvantage. 
 
 "Four or five young fellows in grey had just sat down to have a 
 cup of coflfee, and when the Union lines swept forward without firing 
 a gun, they sat for a moment stunned. I jumped into the group with 
 an exultant war-whoop, and one of them answered my whoop by 
 throwing his coffee in my face and sending the cup after it. This 
 blinded me and enraged me to such an extent that I jumped at him 
 with intent to choke him. We clinched, and I think of all the 
 scrambles that ever I had in my life, that was the worst. It was a 
 rough-and-tumble bear fight, and we were at it when the Confederates 
 threw down their arms. The officers parted us with a good many jokes 
 and laughs, and I got up with the resolve that I would lick that fellow 
 if I had to die for it. 
 
44 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 "But it so happened that our battalion was detailed to take these 
 prisoners to Bridgeport, and in the long marches I got well acquainted 
 with my antagonist and we became friends. In crossing the pontoon 
 bridge at Newport, the prisoners and guards were in great glee and, 
 in defiance of orders, they started across at a swinging, measured 
 step. The bridge parted, and scores of the prisoners and some of the 
 o-uards went into the river. Some of the prisoners were drowned, and 
 my old antagonist of Lookout Mountain came pretty near going down 
 not to come up. I pulled him out by the hardest work, and when he 
 took the train on the other side, b(jund for the military prison at 
 Camp Chase, I felt as badly as though I had lost a life-long friend." 
 
 THE EDITORS AWKWARD SALUTE. 
 Calvin W. Starbuck was the founder of the Cincinnati Daily Times, 
 the weekly edition of which had the largest circulation of any paper 
 in the West about the time of the war. Starbuck was wealthy, in- 
 fluential and patriotic. When the Ohio National Guard was organized 
 in 1863, Starbuck, though too old to be drafted, joined it. Next 
 spring his regiment was called into active service, and was stationed at 
 Fort McHenry, near Baltimore. One day Starbuck was on guard 
 near a sally-port, when General Morris, of the regular army, in charge 
 of the post, happened to come in. The veteran editor knew Morris 
 by sight as the commandant of the fort and wished to show proper 
 respect. But he was far more familiar with political leaders than with 
 military movements. He knew it was his duty to "salute," and he 
 was extremely anxious to do so properly. Entirely forgetful of the 
 military way of doing it, instead of presenting arms he brought his gun 
 to "order arms," took off his cap and began bowing most obsequiously. 
 Morris was one of the strictest disciplinarians in the army, a regular 
 martinet, who had no use for a private soldier except as a machine to 
 obey orders. He stared at the soldier editor, who, thinking he must 
 somehow be lacking in deference, salaamed lower and lower uutil his 
 cap fairly touched the ground and the General could almost see into 
 his knapsack. Morris finally recovered himself and rushed off" to 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY LIFE 45 
 
 Colonel Harris iu a great pet and insisted that "that lunatic" should 
 be put under arrest at once. When informed who and what Starbuck 
 was, he was somewhat mollified, but still insisted that he should never 
 be placed on guard at that sally-port again. As for Starbuck, editor 
 and patriot though he was, his soldierly spirit was well nigh broken 
 and he did not recover from his mortification for months. 
 
 HOW A HATCHET REPLACED A SWORD. 
 
 When Lee made his advance into Pennsylvania the Thirteenth Ver- 
 mont, of Stannard's Brigade in the Army of the Potomac, was doing 
 guard duty in the rear. The whole army was making a forced 
 march, and when the Thirteenth started to catch up it had to do some 
 extra forced marching, and for six days kept at it until it caught up 
 with the main body. On this march some of the men in Lieutenant 
 Stephen F. Brown's company got out of water, and he left the ranks, 
 contrary to Stannard's orders, to fill their canteens. When he returned 
 he was oi'dered to give up his sword and was placed under arrest. He 
 accepted the situation gracefully, and was still under arrest when the 
 battle of Gettysburg began. 
 
 Being under arrest he was not, of course, required to take any part 
 in the fighting, but he was not inclined to be technical at such a time. 
 He was without a sword, however, but as he was not restrained of his 
 liberty he picked up a camj) hatchet and went with his company. The 
 Third New Yoi'k Battery was stationed just at the crown of Cemetery 
 Hill, where the battle was hottest. Shot and shell from three 
 batteries plowed the ground up all around them, and the part of the 
 Eleventh Corps which had been assigned to their support gave way. 
 The Thirteenth Vermont was sent to take its place. It had not been 
 in position long before one of the guns in the Ncav York battery sud- 
 denly became silent. Hatchet in hand, Brown went back to see what 
 the matter was. It was easy to discover. Every man had been killed 
 but two, and these stood with arms folded beside the silent gun, calmly 
 waiting for whatever might happen, and the rain of shot and shell 
 from three directions which was tearing up the ground all about them 
 
46 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 indicated that they would not have long to wait. One of the grim 
 gunners explained that the Confederate fire was so hot that they dare 
 not keep their caissons near the guns for fear the enemy would ex- 
 plode them. They had been left just back of the hill, and the men 
 who had been bringing up the ammunition had all been killed or so 
 severely wounded that they were helpless. Brown quickly got three 
 volunteers from his company and came to their assistance. Two of 
 them went over the hill to the caisson and brought the shell and pow- 
 der part way up, where Brown and another carried it to the two help- 
 less gunners and their gun. The latter received them with joy and 
 went to their work again with a will. "They have been acting so 
 over there that we can't keep house with them !" said one of the two, 
 as he turned his gun on the massed forces of Pickett's Divi?ion, "but 
 now we shall get along better, I guess," he added, as he sent the first 
 shell plowing through the ranks. And so the four impromptu artiller- 
 ists kept at it until Pickett's immortal charge was beaten sullenly back. 
 Had it succeeded the history of the war would have been changed. 
 But for Brown having been under arrest and thereby left as a sort 
 of freelance in the fight, Meade would have been short one gun at the 
 most critical period of that decisive fight. 
 
 After this episode had ended Brown resumed his hatchet and they 
 went through the most of the fight together. He kept it until, in one 
 of the many hand-to-hand conflicts of the battle, he got a Confederate 
 Major at a disadvantage with it and took away his sword and pistol, 
 thus literally winning back the sword that had been taken from him at 
 his arrest, a proceeding which, it need hardly be said, was never men- 
 tioned again when Stannard heard of Brown's exploits with the 
 prosaic camp hatchet. 
 
 AN IRISHMAN'S CHARMED LIFE. 
 
 The Confederate General D. H. Hill told the following incident 
 which happened during McClellan's "change of base" before Rich- 
 mond : 
 
 "We had taken one prisoner, a drunken Irishman, but he declined 
 
IN OID ENTS OF ARMY LIFE 47 
 
 the honor of going back with us, and made fight with his naked fists. 
 A soldier asked me naively whether he should shoot the Irishman or 
 let him go. I am glad that I told him to let the man go, to be a com- 
 fort to his family. That Irishman must have had a charmed life. He 
 was under the shelter of his gum-cloth coat hung on a stick, near the 
 ford, when a citizen fired at him four times, from a distance of about 
 fifty paces ; and the only recognition that I could see the man make was 
 to raise his hand as if to brush off a fly." 
 
 SHERIDAN'S COMPLIMENT ON EMORY. 
 When Sheridan arrived on the battle-field of Cedar Creek, after 
 that historic ride "from Winchester, twenty miles away," he found 
 General Emory ready to renew the fight which up to that time had 
 been against him. Sheridan was quick to seize upon the situation, 
 and he directed Emory to take a certain position and hold it against 
 all odds until he should hear Sheridan's guns at a certain point. 
 Emory promptly obeyed, and soon the battle raged again with the 
 utmost fury. The Confederates made assault after assault, but Emory 
 held his place. Time and again he sent, urgently asking for I'ein- 
 forcements, but Sheridan sent word back to hold on a little longer. 
 He did hold on until Sheridan collected the shattered forces and 
 charged like a thunderbolt, and Early and his army were routed. 
 That evening, as Emory was sitting upon the ground, blackened by 
 powder and exhausted by the toils of the day, for he had been fight- 
 ing for seven hours, one of Sheridan's staflTofiicers rode up, and, salut- 
 ing him, said : " General Emory, I am instructed by General Sheri- 
 dan to present to you his compliments, and to say that he regards 
 
 you as a regular old stock buzzard ; that you are a glorious old 
 
 fighter." This unique statement of the stafi" officer was received with 
 shouts by those who surrounded Emory. It appeared afterward that 
 the officer had given literally to Emory the words of his chief. The 
 unique compliment was all the more comical because of the fact that 
 Emory had been a dignified professor at West Point Academy when 
 Sheridan was a cadet there, and barely pulled through because he 
 
48 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 was such a fighter that one professor urged the curious argument in 
 his favor that the demerits agaiust the fiery jouug Irishman should 
 not be counted to prevent him from entering the profession of fighting. 
 
 THE ARMY NEWS-GATHERERS. 
 
 In all the armies in the war there was, among the volunteers, a 
 system of gathering and distributing news that beat the information 
 received from division and corps headquarters, both in time and ac- 
 curacy. In every regiment Avere intelligent men who burned with 
 curiosity to know the movements and the mishaps of the army. 
 They were, without knowing it, born newspaper men, with a "nose 
 for news " quite equal to that of any reporter or army correspondent. 
 It was sometimes a matter of amazement among observing soldiers to 
 note how quickly news traveled from one end of the army to the 
 other, and even from one side to the other. The death of Albert 
 Sidney Johnston was known among the Union soldiers at Shiloh 
 within an hour. That came, in all probability, from prisoners. But 
 it is a fact that the Union soldiers knew it fully as soon as John- 
 ston's own men. Accurate news of an engagement on one evening, 
 together with the names of regiments and Generals on the other 
 side, was not infrequently discussed by the men on the other wing- 
 within an hour. Stragglers were invariably news-gatherer. They 
 would get oS" to one side and see things impossible to the men who 
 were doing the fighing under a cloud of smoke that hugged the 
 ground ten feet in front of their guns and shut out all view while the 
 firing lasted. The stragglers of one regiment would pass the news to 
 the stragglers of the next, whose restless feet and tongues bore it 
 quickly on, like an electric current passing through a long chain of 
 men hand-in -hand. 
 
 But it was after night that the news-gatherers mostly flourished. 
 They walked through the camps long after their comrades were asleep 
 to meet other soldiers and gather intelligence, discuss the campaign 
 and their Generals with merciless criticism that was more often right 
 than wrong. They had a burning desire to know how the other 
 
INGID EN TS F ARMY LIFE 49 
 
 commands fared and to gather information so as to correctly judge of 
 the battle's tide and the chances for the morrow. Often as men lin- 
 gered long around a camp-fire they saw shadowy forms hurrying rap- 
 idly through the woods, or along the roads, on these errands for in- 
 formation. Frequently they would halt, sit down, fill their pipes for 
 a brief smoke, and then with rifles across their knees — for these re- 
 porters invariably carried their entire equipment with them for fear of 
 loss in case a sudden movement set their own camp in motion — they 
 would briefly tell the news of their own corps, and, with keen, direct 
 questions, gather the news at that point before resuming their restless 
 tramp. It was always a point of honor to tell the exact truth on 
 such occasions for mutual advantage. 
 
 It was a singular fact, noticed by all, that these news-gatherers were 
 almost invariably native Americans or else Irishmen. Another and 
 seemingly incongruous truth was that these natural-born soldiers and 
 most intelligent men would bear close watching. One and all of 
 them would steal haversacks of food upon any and all occasions pos- 
 sible, and invariably combined predatory raids on other men's prop- 
 erty with their news-gathering trips. It was not that they were born 
 thieves, but they had learned by long experience that the thing most 
 necessary to the soldier, after his gun and ammunition, was food. 
 That they made it a point to always secure, confident that they would 
 never gel too much. Besides, to rob a soldier was to rob a man who 
 might be killed the next day, and who consequently would no longer 
 need a haversack or three days' rations. 
 
 THE BOYS WERE TIRED. 
 When Colonel Webster's Massachusetts regiment reached Warren- 
 ton, Va., in their first advance with the Army of the Potomac, it was 
 after a long, tiresome march and the men were very hungry. Their 
 haversacks were empty and their teams were far behind. So some of 
 the boys started out to forage. Webster sat in front of his tent 
 quietly smoking, when a citizen rode up and excitedly exclaimed : 
 ''Colonel, some of your men are down in my pasture chasing my 
 
50 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 sheep." "Is that so?" inquired the Colonel. "Are you sure they 
 are my men?" "Yes," said the Virginian, "they are your men." 
 " Well," said Colonel Webster, with a deep sigh, " if they are my 
 men you need have no fear. The b<jys have had a long march and 
 they are very tired. I don't believe they can catch them." And 
 that was all the consolation he got. 
 
 DISSEMINATING INFORMATION. 
 While General Heine was in command of the short line at Bermuda 
 Hundred, on the James River, during the siege of Petersburg, in the 
 winter of 1864-5, President Lincoln issued his famous order encourag- 
 ing desertions from the Confederate Army, allowing a bonus of $7 or 
 $8 to each soldier who would bring his arms with him. Entire groups 
 came across the lines under that stimulus, taking the night-time for 
 their escape. The chief difficulty was to make the Confederate rank 
 and file acquainted with the President's promises. General Heine in 
 vented a novel means of accomplishing this. The proclamation was 
 printed on slips or "dodgers," about eight or ten inches long and five 
 inches wide, a thing easily done on the little printing presses always at- 
 tached to division or corps headquarters. Common paper kites, such as 
 boys make for amusement, were constructed. The kite tails were made up 
 in clumps of these slips on which the proclaniation was printed, and 
 knotted at intervals in bunches. A piece of common safety fuse 
 six or seven inches long was tied to the lower or pointed end of the 
 kite, leaving an unattached extension of the fuse of several inches. 
 The tail twine was then tied to the fuse near the common intersection, 
 and in that way the kites were completed. Breezes were watched for 
 at night which bore in the direction of the Confederate lines ; the fuse 
 was lit at the detached end, and the kite sent up and wafted over the 
 Confederate camps ; and in a short time the fire of the burning fuse 
 i-eached the twine of the kite tail and the proclamations fell inside the 
 Confederate lines. It had considerable effect in inducing desertions, 
 especially with tired soldiers who had been feeding on the coarsest kind 
 of corn bread, and not abundantly supplied with that, with scarcely 
 
INCIDEN TS OF ARMY L IFF 51 
 
 any meat, no coffee and sugar, and scant supplies of salt, though coffee 
 and sugar were surreptitiously exchanged with the Union pickets for 
 Richmond and Charleston papers. 
 
 THE SPRING A T ANDERSONVILLE. 
 Pure water was a thing very hard to get in the prison camp at 
 Andersonville. The prisoners were dependent for water, except for 
 the scanty supply in the wells, upon the lazy stream that flowed just 
 beside the Confederate camp, and their struggles for it over and 
 around the little foot bridge, where it emptied into the swamp, were 
 sometimes long, bitter and severe. At a time when they suffered the 
 most, on a hot evening in August, there came up a terrible thunder 
 shower, lasting forty minutes. During its continuance a spring, sub- 
 sequently named Providence spring, burst forth and discovered itself 
 With great rapidity the news of its appearance flew over the whole 
 camp, and there was a mad throng to get at the fresh, wholesome, 
 pure water boiling up in inexhaustible quantities through the white 
 sand. It gave beautiful water, as pure and sweet as was ever tasted, and 
 it is said that during the whole subsequent continuance of the prison 
 camp, the spring remained perfectly clear and cool, with a supply up 
 to which the demand never rose. It still exists, in a little hollow 
 scooped out of the slope, somewhat shaded by holly bushes bearing 
 their red berries. At its back an old stump has, by the gradual wear- 
 ing away of the earth, become entirely uncovered, and with its his- 
 tory the spot becomes one of the most romantic and at the same time 
 one of the most sacred in the country. Its beautiful story has been 
 told thousands of times by men who drank its pellucid waters while 
 inmates of the prison pen and took a new lease of life with the re- 
 freshing draught. But the stories of its alleged miraculous origin 
 are disproved by the following matter-of-fact statement by Mr. M. P. 
 Suber, the railroad agent at Andersonville station, who has lived in 
 the neighborhood for over forty years, and filled the same office during 
 the Avar, seeing all the prisoners and guards who came and went 
 during that time. He says : 
 
52 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 " Yes, it was a little queer about that spring that they called 
 Providence, but there's alius been a spring there or thereabouts. If 
 there hadn't been one, how could it 'a broken out? Right there, or a 
 little below it, say twenty or twenty-five feet, was a deer-lick, years 
 ago. The old settlers here used to lay about there to shoot the deer 
 when they came up to drink. There used to be quite a basin there, 
 where the water bubbled up out of the white sand just as it does 
 now. They could catch little fish there, perch, and that kind. Little 
 bits of fellows you know. Just after the stockade was built, there 
 came up an awful storm and the sand washed down from the banks 
 and just covered up the basin, spring and all. The whole thing dis- 
 appeared like in the earth, and there was no more sign of a spring 
 than there is in the palm of my hand ! Well, in the late summer 
 came the other storm, and the spring again discovered itself, provi- 
 dential-like, twenty or twenty-five feet above. It was rather queer, 
 but it's so, and the spring couldn't have come there if it had not been 
 there ! " 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF POSTAL CURRENCY. 
 Postal currency, which was the "change" during the war and until 
 the resumption of specie payments, was the invention of General 
 Spinner, who had been appointed treasurer of the United States by 
 President Lincoln. Small change had vanished, and in buying a din- 
 ner in the market, change had to be taken in beets, cabbages, potatoes 
 and what not. General Spinner was constantly appealed to from all 
 quarters to do something to supply the demand for small change. He 
 had no law under which he could act, but, after buying a half dollar s 
 worth of apples several times and receiving for his half dollar in change 
 more or less different kinds of produce, he began to cast around for a 
 substitute for small change. In his dilemma he bethought himself of 
 the postage stamps. He sent down to the post-office department and 
 purchased a quantity of stamps. He then ordered up a package of 
 the paper upon which government securities were printed. He cut the 
 paper into various sizes. On the pieces he pasted stamps to represent dif- 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 53 
 
 ferent amounts. He thus initiated a substitute for fractional silver. 
 This was not, however, a government transaction in any sense ; it could 
 not be. General Spinner distributed his improvised currency among the 
 department. They took it readily, and the trade folks more readily. 
 The idea spread ; the postage stamps, either detached or pasted upon a 
 piece of paper, became the medium of small change. It was dubbed 
 "postal currency." From this General Spinner got his idea of the 
 fractional currency, and went before Congress with it. That body 
 readily adopted it, and but a short time after General Spinner had be- 
 gun pasting operations, a law was on the statute book providing for 
 the issue of the fractional currency which became so popular. The 
 fac-simile of postage stamps was put on each piece of currency, and 
 for a long time it was known as "postal currency." An enormous 
 amount was never presented for redemption, and the Government was 
 consequently the gainer. 
 
 A FEARFUL RIDE. 
 In May, 1863, Breckenridge's division, then serving with Bragg, in 
 Tennessee, was ordered to Mississippi, to reinforce General Joseph E. 
 Jonnston. On the afternoon of the 25th, about 1,000 men boardeda 
 long train of freight cars at Wartrace and started. By the time they 
 had reached the summit of the Cumberland mountains it was night. 
 The conductor had told them that but one car on the train had brakes, 
 and that when the descent of the mountain was commenced they 
 might expect a lively shaking up and a " merry ride," so that quick 
 time was anticipated. But when the descent Avas begun, just after 
 passing through the tunnel at Cowman, the engineer, miscalculating 
 the weight of the train, did not reverse his engine as soon as he should 
 have done, and it began running at a fearful rate, almost as soon as 
 it emerged from the darkness of the tunnel into the moonlight. The 
 engineer whistled " down brakes," and with the energy of desperation 
 the men on the only car equipped with a brake tried to obey. A 
 piece of timber was interlocked in the brake-wheel and it was 
 wrenched with all the strength of several men, but without effect. 
 
54 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 The speed kept increasing. There were seven miles of down grade, 
 the track was in bad repair and wound through mountain gorges most 
 of the Avay. The train was composed of old and rickety cars. Every 
 man was keenly alive to the perils of the situation. The engineer 
 was an old and experienced one, whose wits never deserted him. 
 Finding he could do nothing to check the momentarily increasing 
 speed, he did what a less experienced man would not have dared do ; 
 he put on steam to keep the train extended as much as possible, and 
 keep the rear cars from crowding those in front from the track. Then 
 he shut his eyes, breathed a momentary prayer, set his face resolutely 
 to the front and waited ! 
 
 What a terrific ride it was ! How the trees and rocks seemed to 
 dance by the train ! At one moment it would dash through a cut, 
 where on either side rose walls of ragged rock which almost touched 
 the cars. Then it would whiz over a yawning chasm that seemed to 
 be crossed by a flying leap, so rapidly was it done. Then it would 
 hug the side of the mountain so closely that the trees above would 
 seem to push at the train, while those far below would reach up their 
 long arms as if beckoning the men down to their death. The chasms 
 seemed great yawning mouths to receive them ; the jagged rocks mon- 
 ster teeth to grind them to pieces. All the possibilities of the fearful 
 situation were thrillingly manifest to those of the men who occupied 
 the tops of the cars, which were as full as safety would allow. Those 
 inside were spared seeing the dangers, but found its unseen horrors 
 quite as great to bear. From the heated journals and the chafing 
 trucks came streams of sparks, which spread out along the track be- 
 hind the train. In broad sheets of fire thus enveloped in flames, and 
 shrieking and thundering along, the train swept down the long de- 
 scent of the mountain into the valley, where it presently came to a 
 standstill, and the relieved men took a new lease of the life that 
 seemed worth so little but a few minutes before. If the word of the 
 engineer is reliable, it was one of the most remarkable runs on 
 record, for he declares the seven miles were made in something less 
 than five minutes. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 55 
 
 Just as those on board had begun to congratulate themselves on 
 their narrow escape, word was passed forward that the rear car was 
 missing and no one knew where it had left the train. The horror- 
 stricken passengers at once organized a searching party, with many 
 misgivings, since it seemed impossible that any one on the car had es- 
 caped death. It was found just a little way back, overturned, and 
 the occupants busily picking themselves out of the debris. Strangely 
 enough, though most of them were badly bruised no one was killed, 
 or even seriously hurt, though one man was thrown over the telegraph 
 wires by the concussion. 
 
 .4 SHORT, BUT GRIM PROBATION. 
 
 General J. E. B. Stuart, of the Confederate Array, was a blunt, 
 
 practical man. During one of the early campaigns a German officer 
 
 tendered his services to hiin by direction. He afterward thus narrated 
 
 his reception in the field : "I come to General Stuart, and he tell me, 
 
 'Major von , I have more foreigners I know what to do with ; 
 
 they are all sent to me — ^are no accout. I have no place on my staff 
 for you. Stop — there is a regiment about to charge. Charge with it.' 
 I charge with the regiment, and when I come back General Stuart 
 say : 'Major von , I keep you with me on my staff.'" 
 
 A FRIEND IN AN ENEMY. 
 During the war the Luray and Shenandoah valleys were alternately 
 in possession of the Union and the Confederate forces. In the former 
 lived the mother of one of Lee's scouts, quite alone, her second sou, a 
 boy of fifteen, having died in the second year of the war. The scout, 
 in the summer of 1864, was sent with dispatches to Early, and given 
 permission to visit his mother in the Luray Valley. He reached the 
 neighborhood of his childhood's home in the evening, and heard from 
 an old neighbor that a squad of foragers and "bummers," apparently 
 from Sheridan's array, had passed up the road only a little in advance 
 of him, robbing houses and shooting stock in juire wantonness. The 
 rest of his adventures is best told in his own words : 
 
56 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 "Half a mile from home I heard the crack of carbines and revolv, 
 ers, but I was so badly done fur that I could go no faster. When I 
 finally did reach the gate I found two dead horses lying beside the 
 fence. As I entered the yard I stumbled over a dead man. Half way 
 to the door was a second, and almost on the doorstep was a third. The 
 door was shut and the house dark, but the first thing I knew there Avas 
 a blaze of light, and a bullet passed through my hat not an inch above 
 my head. 
 
 "I dropped to the ground mighty fast, and I did a heap o' thinkin 
 fur the next three minutes. At the end of that I called out : 
 
 "'Hello! the house! Hello! Mother!' I heard a move inside 
 right away, with the sound of voices, and when I had called ag'in my 
 blessed old mother .sang out : 
 
 " 'Praise God ! but is that my son John ?' 
 
 "'Aye, mother, it's me!' 
 
 "What do you reckon I saw as I looked around? No more nor less 
 than a Yank in full uniform, sittin' on a chair in front of the winder, 
 revolver in hand, head bound up, face white but full o' grit, and one 
 leg useless with a bullet in it. 
 
 "It took me some little time to untangle the skein. It seems that 
 the Yank was a scout. He had stopped at the house fur a bite to eat, 
 and when the raiders came in and began to cuss and threaten, and lay 
 violent hands on my old mother, he gits up and orders 'em out. That 
 brings on a fight, and he jist dropped three of 'em as dead as crowbars 
 and killed two of the bosses. The rest of the gamg didn't want any 
 more of that and got out. Afraid they would return to play him some 
 trick, that plucky Yank, all wounded and bleeding as he was, insist 
 on standing sentinel at the winder, and it was him who mistook me 
 fur one of the raiders and sent a bullet fur my head. 
 
 "You kin imagine my astonishment, indignation and gratitude. In 
 an hour we had him comfortably fixed up, and during the rest of the 
 night I stood sentinel without bein' disturbed. 
 
 "Next morning who should come ridin' up but a squad of Early's 
 men. They buried the corpses and I gin them all the particklers, and 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 57 
 
 what did they do but demand the scout. There he was, painfully hurt 
 and helpless as a child, but they were going to take him away as a 
 prisoner. Did they ? Well, not much ! There were seven of 'em, but 
 I had a Winchester and two revolvers, and they hadn't the sand to 
 face 'em. 
 
 "Howsomever, they rode away to git more help, and I realized that I 
 must make'some other arrangements to keep the Yank out o' their hands. 
 He was jist as cool and nervy as an old veteran, and it didn't take long 
 to fix up a plan. I had the back door off in a jiffy, and we laid him 
 on it and propped him up as well as well we could. Then mother 
 and I picked him up and toted him fur half a mile up the side of the 
 mountain and left him in a cave. We fixed him a comfortable bed, 
 left food and drink at hand and were back at the house before the 
 soldiers came. There was a hull company this time, and there was a 
 high old time fur a while. They took me prisoner and carried me off ' 
 to Early's headquarters, but they couldn't find the scout. 
 
 "I was held prisoner for two weeks, and they tried hard to make out 
 some sort of a case agin me, but finally I was released and sent back 
 to Lee. This left mother alone to care for the scout, but he was not 
 neglected. They sot spies to watch her, and they scouted the neighbor- 
 liood fur days, but they had their trouble fur their pains. It was nigh 
 on to ten weeks afore that Yank got well 'nufl^ to walk off to his lines, 
 but he got there safely, and from that time on mother was protected 
 by Sheridan and the pantry kept supplied by his quartermaster." 
 
 FIGHTING FOR A MULE TAIL. 
 
 It was not often that the soldiers of either army actually suflfered 
 from hunger for any considerable length of time. But the Union 
 forces that were shut up in and around Chattanooga before the battle 
 of Lookout Mountain gave them relief, did suflfer, and for a long 
 time. One soldier who was stationed on Stringer Ridge, opposite 
 Lookout Mountain, says he was hungry for three months ; not for a 
 moment of which time was he not anxious for something to eat. They 
 had three small crackers a day, what corn they coidd steal from the 
 
58 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 starving mules, and a few half-ripe persimmons. One day word was 
 brought to camp that a mule had mired in the mud on the Raccoon 
 mountain road, and had been killed. He and a number of others 
 started in search of the carcass, with visions of mule steak before their 
 eyes. On their arrival they found fully 200 men there who had come 
 on the same errand. Of the mule there were only the hoofs left. Two 
 members of the "Hundred and Dutch" (One Hundred and Eighth 
 Ohio) Regiment had just finished a hotly contested fight for the tail. 
 While they were fighting, it was stolen, leaving them only their black 
 eyes and bloody noses as the result of their battle. 
 
 TOM BLACK'S SURRENDER. 
 Tom Black Avas a long, lank, cadaverous Confederate from the pine 
 lands of Georgia, who had never been twenty miles from home till 
 the fortunes of war took him into Virginia and brought him into the 
 line opposed to the Army of the Potomac. His gun carried an ounce 
 ball and the boys called it the "mountain howitzer." Wonderful 
 were the stories he told ot killing "varmints sich as painters and the 
 like," at a quarter of a mile range. There was a great curiosity to 
 catch sight of the Yankees, just to see Tom slay them at long taw. 
 "Oh, you better believe, old Bet never flickers; just show me one." 
 Pretty soon Tom was put oq picket. The place was lonely enough in 
 the day time, but at midnight, Avhen it was so still one could almost 
 hear the stars in their courses, and when, under the cover of darkness, 
 wild beasts came from their lairs and assassins crouched and watched 
 for their victims, the loneliness Avas aAA'ful. The Yankees Avere said 
 to be five miles off, but it Avas not long before Tom was couAnnced they 
 were sneaking upon him. The fall of CA'ery leaf Avas but the cat-like 
 step of a murderous foe. Presently there Avas a rumbling sound of 
 human feet among the leaves. The sound grcAV louder, as if the 
 enemy was plainly no longer trying to conceal his presence. Tom's 
 hair began to rise. He kncAV he must not desert his post, and yet he 
 was not ready to die right there, in the stillness of the night, under 
 the stars and so far from home. At last only one small bush stood 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 59 
 
 between them. The enemy came leisurely along, passed the bush, 
 and, discovering Tom, stood still. "Don't shoot," cried Tom, in 
 agony, "I surrender !" and threw down his gun. The foe gave vent 
 to a loud guttural "Ouf !" The moon came out from behind a cloud 
 and Tom saw a very big, but a thoroughly peaceable hog, after acorns! 
 
 WHAT LEE SURRENDERED. 
 
 General M. R. Morgan, who was Grant's Chief Commissary at the time 
 of Lee's surrender, wrote to the Baltimore Sun the following account 
 of the feeding of the surrendered army : 
 
 "lu the course of the proceedings General Lee asked General Grant 
 to have his army fed, and the latter turned to me (his Chief Commis- 
 sar}^), and instructed me to feed General Lee's army in the manner re- 
 lated in the accompanying copy of a letter written by me to General 
 Badeau. The following are extracts from the letter thus referred to : 
 
 "After the terms for the surrender of Lee's army had been arranged 
 (April 9, 1865), General Lee asked General Grant to have rations is- 
 sued to his army. General Grant, turning to me, said : 'Colonel, 
 feed General Lee's army.' I asked, 'How many men have they?' 
 General Grant repeated my question, addressing General Lee. Gen- 
 eral Lee went into an explanation to show why he could not tell the 
 number of his men. He said : 'I have not a complete organization in 
 my army. * * * Many companies are commanded by non-com- 
 missioned officers. The books are lost.' When he got thus far, I said, 
 suggestively, 'Say 25,000 men.' General Lee said : 'Yes, 25,000.' 
 I went from the room at once, and meeting General M. P. Small, 
 Chief Commissary of General Ord's army, asked him if he could 
 spare three days' rations (I think it was three days) of beef, salt and 
 bread for the Army of Northern Virginia, numbering 25,000 men. 
 He said : 'I guess I can.' I was not at all certain that he could do it, 
 because we had been doing some lively marching, and I doubted if the 
 provision trains and herd were up with the troops. But Small was 
 equal to the emergency, and I told him to serve the rations. 
 
 "We started back to City Point the afternoon of the next day, 
 
60 M^-4iJ ANECDOTES 
 
 April 10, :iu(l I did not take luucli more interest in the muubei* of men 
 that constituted the Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 "I have since learned that the number of men of that army, paroled 
 at that time, officers and men, was 26,115, divided as follows, viz. : 
 
 "Cavalry Corps — Officers, 213; nien, 1,501. 
 
 "Artillery Corps — Officers, '2'M : men, 2,797. 
 
 "Longstreet's Corps — Officers, 1,527 ; men, 13,333. 
 
 "Gordon'sCorps— Officers, 674; men, 5,833. 
 
 "Totals— Officers, 2,651 ; men, 23,464. 
 
 "You may be certain that this is correct. 
 
 "You may remember that Fitz Lee went off with his cavalry, and 
 that General Lee sent out after him to come in and surrender. He 
 came in, I think, after we left." 
 
 WHY JACKSON WAS BE AVE. 
 
 General Imboden relates the following of General "Stonewall" 
 Jackson as occuring shortly after the first Bull Run, in which Jackson 
 had received a slight wound in the hand : 
 
 "Of course, the battle was the only topic discussed at breakfast. I 
 remarked in Mrs. Jackson's hearing, 'General, how is it that you can 
 keep so cool, and appear so utterly in.sensible to danger in such a storm 
 of shell and bullets as rained about you when your hand was hit ?' He 
 instantly became grave and reverential in his manner, and answered 
 in a low tone of great earnestness : 'Captain, my religious belief 
 teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time 
 for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always 
 ready, no matter when it may overtake me.' He added, after a pause, 
 looking me full in the face : 'Captain, that is the way all men should 
 live, and then all men would be equally brave.'" 
 
 ^iV^ UNAPPRECIATED REWARD. 
 General Shields, of whom it was said that he was the only man who 
 ever defeated "Stonewall" Jackson, was a born soldier, and never so 
 gay as when surrounded by difficulties or prospects of fighting. He 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 61 
 
 had a cheery luauuer that wou the hearts of his men, and uo Gen- 
 eral on either side liad a better knack of marching troops rapidly 
 and incessantly with so little comparative fatigue and little or no 
 straggling. He was full of drollery and was fond of trotting along 
 beside the column on the march and making dry remarks on some 
 man or group of men that happened for the moment to intex'est him 
 or to attract his vigilant grey eye. Once after a slight but brilliant 
 skirmish he congratulated the regiment that had borne the chief part 
 and ended his little speech with "You've done w^ell, boys; I'll give 
 you a little more marching!" words which remained as a cant phrase 
 among those men long afterward — long after Shield's time— in the 
 midst of hard forced marches when fatigue had driven some of the 
 men almost to the verge of despair. 
 
 THE TELEGRAPH IN THE WAR. 
 
 During the war the Military Telegraph Corps, consisting of about 
 1,200 operators and a sufficient force of linemen, built and operated 
 15,389 miles of telegraph lines exclusively devoted to military pur- 
 poses. In addition many lines of commercial companies were tem- 
 porarily, from time to time, made use of by the government. When 
 McClellan sat before Yorktown the wires became his trusty sentinel. 
 It was at this place that a Avell-known operator, Mr. Lathrop, was 
 killed by a torpedo. The wires followed McClellan into the wilder- 
 ness, and threading the forests and swamps of the Chickahominy, by 
 day and night, kept him advised of events, and made known at 
 Washington by frequent daily telegrams his hopes, his fears and his 
 wants. Here the field telegraph was first practically tested for tacti- 
 cal purposes, and here at Gaines' Mills it saved the Union army from 
 utter rout. From Harrison's Landing it maintained communication 
 with the North until the army went to reinforce Pope. It followed 
 McDowell's co-operating force to Fredericksburg ; Banks, up the 
 Shenandoah, and Fremont in the Alleghenies, and enabled them to 
 co-operate to drive Jackson out of the valley and protect Pennsyl- 
 vania and Washington. It followed General Cox to Gauley Bridge, 
 
62 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 W. Va., aud via Raleigh to Princeton, and it brought General Mor- 
 gan, operating against Cumberland Gap, Ky., into the telegraphic 
 union, and soon kept that Sebastopol of America in communication 
 with Buell at Shiloh, via Lebanon Junction, Ky. , and Nashville, and 
 announced the defeat of Beauregard's army. 
 
 It followed Foote to Fort Henry, and Grant to Donelson, whence 
 it was extended, making two routes to Nashville. The corps quickly 
 gladdened the Union people with Mitchell's wonderful successes in 
 Northern Alabama and enabled him to capture valuable railroad 
 trains by false telegrams transmitted over Confederate wires, by 
 means of which eighty-four miles of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad 
 were captured in a few hours, and the Corinth & Chattanooga men- 
 aced. It Avas by the use of the telegraph that Grant at Jackson sub- 
 sequently overlooked affairs in his department, prepared Rosccrans 
 for his splendid defense of Corinth, and brought Ord to Bolivar to 
 co-operate with McPhersou from Jackson in the pursuit of Van 
 Dorn's defeated army. Even Curtis, at Pea Ridge, Ark., was but a 
 few miles from the telegraph builders, who were rushing their work 
 with the greatest rapidity while he was fighting a battle. After 
 completing this line, that from St. Louis to Pilot Knob, Mo., was ex- 
 tended over 200 miles to Batesville, Ark., Curtis' new base. Thus 
 all along the armed front sped the electric tongue. Over 4,000 miles 
 of military telegraph were in operation, embracing parts of the States 
 of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, Vir- 
 ginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, 
 and soon after also North Carolina, Louisiana and the Indian Territory. 
 
 Of the telegraph corps it is known that of the entire number 199 
 were either killed, died of disease, or were captured while in the line 
 of duty. It is estimated that more than 100 others suffered from the 
 casualties of the service. The fact that at least twelve members of 
 the corps were killed by the enemy; that probably fifty died in the 
 service; that not less than ten were wounded and fully 200 captured, 
 attest, beyond question, the danger incident to service in the military 
 elegraph corps of the Union army in the war. 
 
INC ID E N TS (J F A R M Y L i FE 63 
 
 One of the operators who remained at his office in Winchester, Va., 
 until the retreating Union soldiers had nearly all left, was himself 
 about quitting, when he received a telegram from the commander for 
 Harper's Ferry, calling for reinforcement. His stay to transmit that 
 dispatch resulted in his capture and imprisonment tn Libby Prison. 
 
 It is believed that General Porter was saved from defeat by the 
 bravery of an operator, who connected his instrument with the field- 
 line during the battle of Gaines' Mill, and with only a tree to shelter 
 him from the storm of bullets and shells, sent and received many dis- 
 patches, whereby General McClellan was enabled to re-enforce General 
 Porter most opportunely. Several of the operator's orderlies were 
 shot, and messages had to be sent by two or three messengers to insure 
 delivery. 
 
 In 1880 General G. K. Warren wrote: "I often talk with those 
 who were with me of the operator who, in the first of our attacks on 
 Petersburg, brought his wire to the front under musket range of the 
 enemy and operated it behind a tree that proved to be hollow, and 
 which any of the cannon shot, which were at close range and flying 
 fast, would have gone clear through with little loss of force; and, 
 again, of the one on the Weldon Railroad on the Sunday morning we 
 were shelled out of it, both from the north and west, and who worked 
 his recorder in a southeast angle, and outside under the musket fire 
 that, by its sound so near and the pattering of the balls around, con- 
 fused the records of his sounder, and many others on other occasions. 
 So I have always felt a great deal of admiration for their heroism." 
 
 HOW LYTLE QUELLED A MUTINY. 
 
 "William H. Lytle, the author of the poem, 'The Death of 
 Antony,' that begins, 'I am Dying, Egypt, Dying," was the man for 
 mutineers," writes an ex-officer of artillery. "At one time during 
 the Avar I was sent under his command with several pieces of light 
 artillery, among them two or three howitzers, in a brigade that went 
 out on a raid some place near Shelbyville, in Tennessee. When we 
 started out the wagons were used to carry the soldiers' knapsacks, etc, 
 
64 WAR ANECDOTtJS 
 
 and when we had gathered together what forage we wanted the 
 wagons had to be used to carry it. Of course the soldiers then had to 
 carry their baggage, and when the order was given to do this one 
 regiment refused. Lytle marched the men over to where the knapsacks 
 were and again ordered the men to take them up. Again they re- 
 fused. I was stationed on a little eminence a short distance away, and 
 presently here came Colonel Lytle galloping over to me with his sabre 
 out and his eyes flashing. 
 
 " 'Captain Edgarton,' said he, 'will you let me have those howit 
 zers ?' 
 
 " 'Certainly,' I answered, and gave orders for the guns to move. 
 
 "Coming over right in front of the mutineers, Colonel Lytle gave 
 the order, 'Attention ! Load with canister ! Take aim !' — and then in 
 an undertone bidding the gunners await in readiness the word 'fire,' 
 
 spoke to the mutineers, saying : 'You , take up 
 
 your knapsacks, or, by God, I'll wipe you off the face of the earth !' 
 Not a man in the regiment moved, and Lytle waited fully a minute. 
 " 'Now, d-n you,' said Lytle, 'I'll give you one minute to pick up 
 those knapsacks!' Slowly, first one and then another, and then a third 
 picked up his knapsack, and before the minute was up there was not 
 a piece of baggage on the ground." 
 
 SHERMAN AND THE PLANTER. 
 
 At an army reunion some years after the war General Sherman told 
 the following : 
 
 "I, remember one day away down in Georgia, sonewhere between, I 
 think, Milledgeville and Milan, I was riding on a good horse and had 
 some friends along with me to keep good fellowship, you know. 
 [Laughter.] A pretty humorous party, clever good fellows. [Re- 
 newed laughter.] Riding along I spied a plantation. I was thirsty, 
 rode up to the gate and dismounted. One of these men with sabers 
 by their side, called orderlies, stood by my horse. I walked up on the 
 porch, where there was an old gentleman, probably sixty years of age, 
 white-haired and very gentle in his manners — evidently a planter of 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 65 
 
 the higher class. I asked him if he woukl be kind enough to give me 
 some water. He called a boy, and soon he had a bucket of water with a 
 dipjier. I then asked for a chair, and called one or two of my officers. 
 I got into conversation ; and the troops drifted along, passing down 
 the roadway closely by fours, and every regiment had its 
 banner, regimental or national, sometimes furled and sometimes 
 afloat. The old gentleman says: 'General, what troops are those 
 passing now ?' 
 
 "As the color-bearer came by I said : 'Throw out your colors. That 
 is the Seventy-third Iowa.' 
 
 "'The Seventy-third Iowa! Seventy-third Iowa! Iowa! Seventy- 
 third ! What do you mean by Seventy-third ?' 
 
 " 'Well,' said I, 'habitually a regiment when organized amounts to 
 1,000 men.' 
 
 " 'Do you pretend to say that Iowa has sent 73,000 men into this 
 cruel civil war ?' [Laughter.] 
 
 " 'Why, my friend, I think that may be inferred.' 
 
 " 'Well,' says he, 'where 's Iowa '?' [Laughter.] 
 
 " 'Iowa is a State bounded on the east by the Mississippi, on the 
 south by Missouri, on the west by an unknown country, and on the 
 north by the North Pole.' 
 
 " 'Well,' says he, '73,000 men from Iowa? You must have a 
 million men.' 
 
 "Says I : 'I think about that.' 
 
 "Presently another regiment came along 
 
 " 'What may that be?' 
 
 "I called out to the color-bearer : 'Throw out your colors and let us 
 see,' and it was the Seventeenth or Nineteenth — I have forgotten 
 which — Wisconsin. 
 
 " 'Wisconsin ! Northwest Territory! Wisconsin ! Is it spelled with 
 an O or a W ?' 
 
 " 'Why, we spell it now with a W. It used to be spelled 
 "Owis." 
 
 " 'The Seventeenth ! that makes 17,000 men ?' 
 
66 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 " 'Yes, I thiuk there are a good many more men than that. Wis- 
 consin has sent about 30,000 men into the war.' 
 
 "Then again came along another regiment from Minnesota. 
 
 "'Minnesota! My God ! where is Minnesota ? [Laughter.] Min- 
 nesota !' 
 
 " 'Minnesota is away up on the sources of the Mississippi River, a 
 beautiful territory, too, by the way — a beautiful State.' 
 
 '"A State?' 
 
 " 'Yes, has Senators in Congress, good ones, too. They're very fine 
 men — very fine troops.' 
 
 " 'How many men has she sent to this cruel war?' 
 
 " 'Well, I don'texactly know ; somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 
 men jirobably. Don't make any difference — all we want. '[Laughter.] 
 
 " 'Well,' says he, 'now we must have been a set of fools to throw 
 down the gauge of battle to a country we don't know the geography 
 of! [Laughter and applause.] W^hen I went to school that was the 
 Northwest Territory, and the Northwest Territory — well,' says he, 'we 
 looked upon that as away off and didn't know anything about it. 
 Fact is, we didn't know anything at all about it.' 
 
 "Said I: 'My friend, think of it a moment. Down here in 
 Georgia, one of the original States which formed this great Union of 
 this country, you have stood fast. You have stood fast while the great 
 Northwest has been growing with a giant's growth. Iowa today, my 
 friend, contains more railroads, more turnpikes, more acres of culti- 
 vated land, more people, more intelligence, more schools, more col- 
 leges — more of everything which constitutes a refined and enlightened 
 State — than the whole State of Georgia.' 
 
 " 'My God,' says the man, 'it's awful. I didn't dream of that.' 
 
 " 'Well,' says I, 'look here, my friend, I was once a banker, and I 
 have some knowledge of notes, indorsements, etc. Did you ever have 
 anything to do with indorsements ?' 
 
 "Says he: 'Yes, I have had my share. I have a factor down in 
 Savannah, and I give my note and he endorses it and I get the money 
 -omehow or other. I have to pay it in the end on the crop.' 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 67 
 
 " 'Well,' says I, 'now look here. In 1861 the Southern States had 
 4,000,000 slaves as property, for which the States of Pennsylvania, 
 New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and so forth were endorsers. We 
 were on the same bond. Your slaves were protected by the same law 
 which protects land and other property. Now, you got mad at them 
 because they didn't think exactly as you did about religion, and about 
 that thing and t'other thing ; and like a set of fools, you first took your 
 bond and drew your name through the endorsers'. You never will get 
 paid for those niggers at all. [Laughter.] They are gone. They're 
 free men now.' 
 
 " 'Well,' says he, 'we were the greatest set of fools that ever were 
 in the world.'" [Laughter.] 
 
 WHY JOHN RYNER WAS PARDONED. 
 A Philadelphian, who was Jefferson Davis' private telegraph mes- 
 senger during the war, relates the following incident of a Christmas 
 eve, when, just as he was ready to be dismissed — the office closed at 
 10:30 p. m. — the operator gave him a message, saying it must be 
 answered that night. It came from Fredericksburg, and read as 
 follows : 
 
 To His Excellency President Jefferson Davis : 
 
 I am going to be shot at 7 in the morning for desertion. Pardon me for the 
 sake ot my poor wife and seven little children. John Ryner. 
 
 "You may be sure I took the message," said he, "and ran to the 
 house of the President. My boyish heart had been touched. I seemed 
 to feel the weight of that man's life in my hands, and I made his 
 business my business. As I got to the house I saw the bright lights 
 and heard music. I rang the bell. A little adjutant came out. 'An 
 important message for the President,' I said. He took it and in a few 
 minutes brought it back. 'Referred to Adjutant General Cooper,' he 
 had written on it. I burst into tears, because I knew old Cooper 
 would't pardon the man. Still, I took it and ran through the sleet 
 and snow to Cooper's house. An old negro woman opened the door, 
 which nearly knocked her down, the wind blew in so. 'An awful 
 
68 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 night, marster !' she said. 'Yes, marmy,' said I, 'let me see the General, 
 quick.' She said, 'I don't know as I kin ; he's just at dinner.' 'But 
 this is important,' I said. She let me in, and just then I saw old 
 General Cooper, a tall old man, Avith long white hair, going up the 
 stairs from the dining-room into a group of young ladies. That was 
 my time. So, rushing up, I said: 'A very important message, sir.' 
 Of course the ladies gathered around and said: 'Oh, what is it?' The 
 old General read it, and you should have heard the ladies, cry. They 
 all begged him to let the man go. He didn't say a word, but wrote on 
 the back of the message : 'John Ryner is reprieved.' You can be sure 
 I didn't lose any time sending that message. " 
 
 THE SA3fE NAME FOR T WO MEN. 
 An Illinois soldier tells of the following curious experience: "At 
 Antietam I took a pair of" nicely polished shoes from the body of a 
 man who must have been in life a model soldier, and wore them four 
 or five days before I had an opportunity to examine them carefully. 
 When I did I made a startling discovery. On the under side of the 
 flap or tongue was written, in a clear, round hand, my own name. I 
 was confident that I had never written it there, but there on both 
 shoes were my initials and my family name, and I had taken these 
 shoes four days before from the feet of a man killed in battle. I could 
 not put them on again. I walked in my stocking feet to the commis- 
 sary department, secured a pair of new shoes, and I have the other 
 shoes yet. The affair troubled me for a long time, but finally I learned 
 that there was no family relationship) whatever. He had come to this 
 country from England and had been in the country only a few months 
 when the war broke out. He enlisted through a spirit of adventure 
 and I was the means of giving his relatives definite information as to 
 his fate." 
 
 WELL MEANING, BU T NOT TRUTHFUL. 
 
 One day a gentleman, not connected with the Southern Army, was 
 riding to overtake Lewis's Kentucky Brigade, then serving as mounted 
 
ly CID EN TS OF AR M Y LIFE 69 
 
 infantry, and operating between Augusta and Savannah, Ga., after 
 Sherman had reached the latter city. The brigade, reduced to a few 
 hundred by four years' active service in the field, had just marched 
 through a little village, where the gentleman soon after arrived. He 
 rode up to the door of a cottage in which dwelt an old Irishman and 
 his spouse, and inquired if they had seen any Confederates passing. 
 The old lady, seeing that the interrogator had on a blue army over- 
 coat, naturally concluded that he was i,he advance of a Union column 
 in pursuit, and being a true Southron, she thought to do the cause a 
 service by at once striking terror into the enemy's ranks. She there- 
 fore answered : 
 
 "Yis, sir; they have jist been afther marching through, and there 
 was twinty thousand o' them if there was a single mon !" 
 
 The gentleman thanked her for the information, and turned his 
 horse's head in the direction the "twinty thousand" had gone. The 
 old man, thinking that the exaggeration had not been sufficiently com- 
 plete, ceased the vigorous whiffing at his pipe long enough to call after 
 the supposed Unionist : 
 
 "Yis, sir, that's ivery word the thruth, it is. And they were dommed 
 big min at that !" 
 
 ''HUDDLE] GOL DARN YE!" 
 
 Immediately after the ordinances of secession had been passed, and 
 it became apparent that there would be war, the attention of the 
 Southern youth was directed almost exclusively to Hardee's Tactics, 
 and especially "The Drill of the Company." Military organizations 
 sprang up thick as hops all over the country, and the rivalry between 
 them, as Avell as the interest elicited from their civilian friends and 
 admirers, was immense. There was one very fine company organized 
 at Memphis, which acquired a wide reputation for excellence in all the 
 evolutions. It was commanded by a Mexican veteran who was a 
 master of tactics and martinet in drill. Every afternoon a throng of 
 people would resort to the large vacant lot whereon this company was 
 receiving instruction, to witness and applaud its performance. On one 
 
70 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 occasion, when an unusually large and appreciative crowd was col- 
 lected aud many ladies present, the Captain became so enthused that, 
 after exhausting every recognized movement, he began to extemporize, 
 and shouted out the command : "Company, right and left oblique; 
 march." The men gallantly essayed to obey the order, and, diverging 
 from either flank, scattered widely. The Captain racked his brain for 
 a proper command to bring them together again, but the Tactics pro- 
 vided no formula for such a dilemma. At length, when the boys had 
 become strung out like a flock of wild pigeons, and seemed about to 
 separate for ever, he yelled, in desperation : "Huddle ! Gol darn ye!" 
 
 A CHAPLAINCY DECLINED. 
 
 When General Gideon S. Pillow, of Tennessee, Avas raising a regi- 
 ment of volunteers for the Confederate Army, he sent an invitation to 
 Parson Brownlow to act as chaplain. The response was characteristic 
 
 of the man. He wrote: "When I make up my mind to go to , 
 
 I'll cut my throat and go direct, and not travel around by way of the 
 Southern Confederacy." 
 
 A VERITABLE RIP VAN WINKLE. 
 
 Captain , of the Indiana regiment, was, during one 
 
 of the last battles in Virgiana before the final surrender, while leading 
 his company in a charge, struck by a bullet in the head, and fell. 
 Being a great favorite with his men, they carefully carried him to a 
 hospital in the rear, where he had every possible attention. Then he 
 Avas conveyed to AVashington and placed in one of the hospitals, and, 
 after a long jieriod of suffering, hisAvound healed, but his reason had 
 fled. He Avas officially declared insane, and placed in an asylum near 
 Washington, Avhere he remained tAventy years in this condition. 
 
 A fcAV months ago his reason returned, and to-day he is as sane a 
 man as lives. He says the past is a blank. He can scarcely com- 
 prehend that he is not the same young man that he Avas twenty years 
 ago. He has found some of his comrades, and these have treated 
 him with great kindness. He can describe scenes and incidents of 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 71 
 
 the war with as much clearness as if they had taken place but a 
 few months ago. Among the friends he made is ex-Secretary of War 
 Lincoln, who became interested in his case and had his a2:)plication for 
 a pension made special by the commissioner of pensions, who also 
 took an interest in the matter, and he leceived S10,000 of back pen- 
 sion money, with which he went into business. 
 
 UNION DEATHS IN THE WAR. 
 
 Not until twenty years after the war was a careful official record 
 made of the number of deaths that occurred in the Union army. 
 Finally, a minute and exhaustive exploration of all attainable official 
 documents was made by an experienced statistician of the Adjutant 
 General's Office, occupying about a year, with the aid of ten clerks. 
 The resulting table shows a total of 9,853 deaths of commissioned 
 officers and 349,913 deaths of enlisted men, making an aggregate of 
 359,496 deaths among the Union forces. The period included in the 
 record is, for the regular troops, the interval between April 15, 1861, 
 and August 1, 1865; for a portion of the volunteers it is prolonged 
 beyond the latter date until the muster out of each organization. It 
 will be remembered that the troubles in Mexico and other causes occa- 
 sioned the retention of some volunteers in the service after the down- 
 fall of the Confederacy. Indeed, the last white volunteer organiza- 
 tion was disbanded November 18, 1867, and the last colored regiment 
 December 20, 1867, while the last officer of the volunteer general staff 
 was not mustered out until July 1, 1869. 
 
 Yet, careful as the examination of the records has been, one lack 
 renders it still far from complete. The death registers of some of the 
 largest prisons at the South, used for the confinement of Union sol- 
 diers, are missing. For the prisons at Americus, Atlanta, Augusta, 
 Charleston, Lynchburg, Macon, Marietta, Mobile, Montgomery, 
 Savannah, Shreveport and Tyler the registers have not been 
 secured at all, and the importance of these prisons is avoII known. 
 Only partial records were had from the prisons at Cahawba, Columbia, 
 Florence, S. C. , Milieu and Salisbury. There have been ways, it is 
 
72 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 true, of partly working up these deficiencies; but, on the other hand, 
 as Quartermaster General Meigs has shown, in many Southern prisons 
 three or four corpses of Union prisoners were sometimes buried in the 
 same trench, and the number of graves only imperfectly indicates the 
 number of dead. Even in this most imperfect record, the number of 
 Union soldiers known to have died in captivity was close uj^on thirty 
 thousand — in exact figures, 29,498. 
 
 The following table shows the general results: 
 
 Officers. Men. Aggregate. 
 
 Killed or died of wounds 6,365 103,673 110,038 
 
 Died of disease 2,795 221,791 224,586 
 
 Drowned 106 4,838 4,944 
 
 Other accidental deaths 142 3,972 4,114 
 
 Murdered 37 487 524 
 
 Killed after capture 14 86 100 
 
 Committed suicide 26 365 391 
 
 Executed 267 267 
 
 Executed by enemy 4 60 64 
 
 Died from sunstroke 5 308 313 
 
 Other known causes 62 1,972 2,034 
 
 Causes not stated 28 12,093 12,121 
 
 Totals 9,584 349,912 359,496 
 
 In a classification by States, the aggregate deaths, of both officers 
 and men, of prisoners and men in active service, who were killed in 
 action, died of wounds, or died of disease, Avere as follows: 
 
 Active men. Prisoners. Aggregate. 
 
 Alabama 309 36 345 
 
 Arkansas 1,683 80 1,713 
 
 California 573 ... 573 
 
 Colorado 322 1 323 
 
 Connecticut 4,721 633 5,354 
 
 Dakota 6 ... 6 
 
 Delaware. 806 76 882 
 
 District of Columbia 230 60 290 
 
 Florida 213 2 215 
 
 Georgia 15 ... 15 
 
 Illinois 32,886 1,948 34,834 
 
INCID ENTS OF ARMY L TFE 73 
 
 Indiana 25,363 1,309 26,672 
 
 Iowa 12,295 706 13,201 
 
 Kansas 2,544 86 2,630 
 
 Kentucky <J,754 1,020 10,774 
 
 Louisiana 929 16 '945 
 
 Maine 8,732 666 9,398 
 
 Maryland 2,260 722 2,982 
 
 Massachusetts .' 12,078 1,864 13,942 
 
 Michigan 13,294 1,459 14,753 
 
 Minnesota 2,392 192 2,584 
 
 Mississippi 78 ... 78 
 
 Missouri 13,553 334 13,887 
 
 Nebraska 237 2 239 
 
 Nevada 33 ... 33 
 
 New Hampshire 4,482 368 4,850 
 
 New Jersey 5,232 522 5,754 
 
 New Mexico 277 ... 277 " 
 
 New York 40,988 5,546 46,534 
 
 North Carolina 290 70 360 
 
 Ohio 32,764 2,711 35,475 
 
 Oregon 45 ... 45 
 
 Pennsylvania 28,420 4,763 .33,183 
 
 Ehode Island 1,218 103 1,321 
 
 Tennessee 5,495 1,282 6,777 
 
 Texas 133 8 141 
 
 Vermont 4,589 635 5,224 
 
 Virginia 29 13 42 
 
 West Virginia 3,340 677 4,017 
 
 Wisconsin 11,590 711 12,-301 
 
 Washington Territory 22 ... 22 
 
 Indian Nations 1,016 2 1,018 
 
 Veteran Eelief Corps 1,672 ... 1,672 
 
 Veteran Volunteer (H. C.) 106 ... 106 
 
 Vol. Eg. and S. S 527 25 552 • 
 
 A^olunteer Infantry 243 ... 243 
 
 General and Staff Officers 236 3 239 
 
 Colored troops 36.556 291 36,847 
 
 Miscellaneous 230 2 232 
 
 Eegular army 5,192 006 5,798 
 
 Totals 329,998 29,498 359,496 
 
 This aggregate of nearly 360,000 deaths of Uniou soldiers must be 
 
 supplemented liy a like record of Confederate .soldiers, in order to find 
 
 the real iiundier of victims to the; Avar in both armies. Then the naval 
 
 deaths inust also be ascertained and added. Many a soldier and sailor 
 
74 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 met a fate more di-eaded than death in being crippled for life or made 
 the prey of lingering disease contracted in the service. 
 
 BEAVER THAN THEY MEANT TO BE. 
 
 At the time Buell and Bragg were making their celebrated race for 
 Louisville the former was moving by the Louisville and Nashville 
 turnpike, while Bragg was hurrying forward by the Bardstown pike. 
 Both were making forced marches, and many men broke down. One of 
 Buell's men found his feet utterly incapable of supporting him any long- 
 er. He tried to get into an ambulance, l)ut all were full. Then he con- 
 sulted with half a dozen of his friends in like condition, with the re- 
 sult that they stole a hand car and started for Louisville by the rail- 
 road. Their theory was that the railroad and pike were parallel and 
 so close together that they could easily rejoin their regiment if neces- 
 sary. But the railroad made a great bend to get around Muldrough's 
 Hill, while the pike went directly over it. The bend took it, at that 
 time, inside Bragg's lines. But of that the hand car passengers Avere 
 not aware, until it was quite too late to help it. They worked their 
 way to the top of the grade and started down at a tearing pace, find- 
 ing out for the first time that their hand car had no brake. But they 
 were reckless and rather enjoyed it, until they suddenly dashed into 
 and through a group of Confederates guarding the railroad. A hun- 
 dred times, perhaps, Avithin a few miles were they ordered to halt, but 
 they couldn't have halted if they had wanted to, and they didn't want 
 to. AVithout moving a hand this squad of blue coats charged through 
 his guards and along the flank of Bragg's army, creating as much 
 astonishment as if they had rode through them on horseback, going 
 into the Confederate lines as though shot out of a cannon, and out of 
 them at the same speed. Finally, as the level ground was reached, 
 they discovered a Confederate force burning the bridge over a small 
 stream some distance ahead. They managed to stop the hand car, and 
 took to the woods, where they hid until night. Then they managed 
 to evade the enemy and finally made a triumphal entry into Louisville 
 some days ahead of Buell — where they were promptly placed under 
 
IN CUD E N TS OF ARMY LIFE 75 
 
 arrest to await the coming up of their regiment. Genex'al Nelson 
 heart! their story, and though he ordered them under arrest, he took a 
 grim delight in tlie reflection that they had hroken through Bragg's 
 lines, even though invounltarily and in a hand car. 
 
 8 T A N T ON A S A REPOB TER. 
 
 The great war Secretary had but little respect for the newspaper 
 men of the time. Too many of them were so anxious to print the 
 news as to care nothing for the consequences of disclosures of move- 
 ments thereby made, and few of them ever rose high in his favor. 
 The Washington Chronicle, however, was the nearest to an exception, 
 and some of the staff of that paper were treated with occasional 
 marked favor. On one occasion — during the battles of the Wilder- 
 ness — a reporter of the Chronicle, the Secretary's special favorite, by 
 the way, had been at the department from early evening until 3 a. m. 
 He was sure there was important news and he was determined to get 
 it. When a reporter makes up his mind like that he commonly suc- 
 ceeds. But not a line could he get hold of, and the .' ecretary 
 declined to admit him to the inner office. He sat in the little side 
 room all alone, save his cigar and the small ei-randboy of the Chroni- 
 cle, who was coiled up on a chair fast asleep. He knew the Secretary 
 was in his room, and he would stay as long as the Secretary did. 
 
 It was 3 a. m. when the doors opened and Mr. Stanton walked out. 
 The reporter at once stood before him. 
 
 "You here yet?" said Mr. Stanton. 
 
 "Yes, sir," was the reply. 
 
 "My boy, I sent you word frequently that I had nothing for you. I 
 have nothing I can give to the press." 
 
 "But, Mr. Stanton " 
 
 "Ah, yes, I know; but even if I would give you anything it is too 
 late now." 
 
 "Not at all, sir," eagerly anssvered the reporter. "There is a 
 youngster asleep there in the corner who will be at the Chi-onicle 
 office as quick as lightning if I say the word, and all will be in readiness 
 
76 WAJft ANECDOTES 
 
 for me and the copy by the time I reach there. I have two carriages 
 at the door." 
 
 "So! Well, you deserve not to be disapoiuted. Say the word! 
 Start off the boy and turn up the light at the high desk there." 
 
 The boy was off in a second, and the weary, cross-grained Secretary 
 took his position standing at the high desk. He wrote steadily with- 
 out speaking a word for at least an hour ; tearing up many sheets and 
 throwing them in small pieces upon the floor and making many 
 erasures. The reporter was on pins and needles. When he was 
 through he gave the reporter a dozen or more small pages of copy 
 headed "The Situation." Then he said : "Now don't tell on me! Come, 
 let us getaway from here." They walked slowly out of the depart- 
 ment. To the reporter it seemed they went like snails. At the 
 carriage door they said good-night. Horses never before so galloped 
 down the avenue as did those of the Chronicle man's carriage. The 
 article on "The Situation" appeared double-leaded in a second edition 
 of the Chronicle a brief while afterward, p,nd was the cause of wild 
 comment, for it carried the stamp of authority upon its face. It was 
 telegraphed all over the country. The printers preserved their 
 "takes" of the copy as mementoes, and no doubt they are somewhere 
 yet retained as valuable curiosities. This was probably the only time 
 during Mr. Stanton's incumbency of the War Department that his 
 hand-writing was seen in the composing-room of a newspaper ofiice. 
 The article was not published as from the Secretary of War, for the 
 reporter kept faith, and the story was not told for many years after 
 the war. 
 
 A DESERTER'S EXTRAORDINARY CASE. 
 
 An ex-deputy provost marshal for the Fifteenth District of Ohio 
 tells the following singular story of the arrest of a deserter : 
 
 "One morning as I was coming down town from breakfast I met a 
 man and woman who were in a buggy. The lady inquired for the 
 pi'ovost marshal, saying she had brought her husband and wanted to 
 turn him over to me as a deserter. Their name was Applegate, and. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 77 
 
 as it was a new experience for me to have a woman voluntarily con- 
 stitute herself an assistant of mine for the special purpose of having 
 her husband arrested as a deserter, I asked her how it happened that 
 she had brought him in. After comparing her story with the infor- 
 mation I had before, I concluded that Applegate was less to blame in 
 the matter than some one else. It appeared that he was induced to 
 volunteer in Burnap's battery, but with the distinct understanding 
 with Buruap that he was to be permitted to go to Pittsburg with a 
 large load of staves and headings and dispose of them before he re- 
 ported for duty. Before Applegate had time, however, to start on his 
 trip, he and Burnap had a personal difficulty, one result of which 
 was Burnap's retracting his consent for Applegate to make the trip. 
 But the barge was loaded, and Applegate having contracted with a 
 steamer to tow it, he got off to Pittsburg, sold his stuff, and came home 
 to find the battery gone, while he was reported in his neighborhood as 
 a deserter. It seems his neighbors made it pretty warm for him 
 about home, trying to capture him, but his wife wanted to fit him out 
 in underclothing, etc., before he left, and he managed to evade them 
 until she got him ready to go, then she took him in a buggy, left home 
 long before daylight, and met me, as stated. 
 
 "The woman bid her husband good-by and started back home. I 
 told Applegate I should take him to Marietta on the steamer Mattie 
 Roberts on the next day but one, upon which he said that if at home 
 he would be able to shear his sheep the next day, and meet the boat at 
 a point higher up the river the day after. I told him he might go, 
 but he would not do so until I gave him a written permit, which I 
 did. I found out afterward that his wife had stopped somewhere on 
 the road, and when she got home she found Applegate there ahead of 
 her. Thinking he had given her the slip, she was for taking him in 
 the buggy and bringing him right back. He had told her that I had 
 let him come home to shear his sheep, but she would not believe him 
 until he had shown her the written permit. 
 
 "Sure enough, Applegate met the boat at the place agreed on and 
 we proceeded to Marietta. Although he was technically a deserter it 
 
78 WAM ANECDOTES 
 
 was uot through any fault of his, so wheu I got to Marietta, I turned 
 over the other prisoners I had with me to Captain Barber in the 
 usual way, telling him I had another man, whom I wanted a different 
 disposition made of. I told Applegate's story, closing by saying : 
 
 "'Now, I want you to make out transportation for Applegate to 
 Louisville and a receipt to be signed by the proper officers there, give 
 them to Applegate and let him go to Louisville by himself, report there, 
 get the receipt signed and send it to you by mail. Also, to give him 
 orders for similar papers to be issued at Louisville, to enable Apple- 
 gate to report himself to the battery. I think it will be a disgrace to 
 the government, beside an unjust burden on this man, to make him 
 pay the expense of a guard after what he has already done, and if you 
 will do what I have aked you to, I'll vouch for him faithfully report- 
 ing himself at Louisville.' 
 
 "After studying over it a while, Barber finally made out the papers 
 and gave them to Applegate, who, finding it was nearly train time, 
 made tracks for the station and got aboard. Before he was expecting 
 it the receipt came to Captain Barber by mail from Louisville, and 
 soon after we learned that Applegate had arrived at the battery, 
 turned himself over there, and sent his voucher back to Louisville. 
 So he did as he agreed to all the way through, and was at the front 
 much sooner than if he had been sent under guard." 
 
 HOW A REFRAIN ORIGINATED. 
 
 In a letter to the editor of a Kansas paper. Judge George A. Hurm, 
 a prominent attorney of Topeka, Kansas, says of the authorship of 
 the refrain running, 
 
 "We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree 
 
 As we go marching on." 
 "The verse was first sung by myself, at the time a soldier in brave 
 old Jimmy Shields' division, in the Shenandoah Valley near New 
 Market, Virginia, in the spring of 1862. We were at that time push- 
 ing 'Stonewall' Jackson up the valley to Harrisburg, and cheered the 
 weariness of an all-night march through rain and mud by singing 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY L IFF 79 
 
 'John Brown's Body,' until the words seemed as badly worn out as the 
 tired troops. Our brigade halted at the roadside and were hastily 
 boiling coffee for their scant breakfast, while in the column still 
 tramping by a tired soldier here and there wearily continued the refrain 
 
 'While his soul goes marching on,' 
 when suddenly an old ditty I had heard when a boy about 
 
 'A sick monkey on a sour apple tree,' 
 came to my mind, and I remarked to my chum, 'Let us give John 
 Brown a rest.' He said, 'How will you do it?' I replied singing : 
 
 'We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree,' 
 when rapidly as sound could travel, the words were caught up and in 
 a few moments Shields' division were singing them. 
 
 "The Graphic is not the first to characterize the line as 'coarse and 
 half brutal,' for, some years afterward, while Jetf Davis and 
 family were guests of the nation at Fortress Monroe, I remember to 
 have seen the published copy of a letter from Mrs. Davis, in which 
 she complained bitterly of the brutality of the Union soldiers who 
 had taught her youngest child, I think she called him 'little Jeff,' to 
 'sing the coarse words,' and said the little innocent never seemed as 
 happy as when singing 
 
 'We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree,* 
 in the neighborhood of his father's cell. At this distance it is not sur- 
 prising that the line grates harshly on fastidious ears, but then it was 
 not constructed for use. in a drawing-room. " In fact, there was no 
 special thought in its construction ; it was one of those things which 
 simply drops into a niche that fits, and if the thousands of soldiers who 
 on the weary march were invigorated by the impassioned woi-ds are 
 not ashamed for having sung them, neither am I ashamed for having 
 originated them." 
 
 AN UNSUNG BALAKLAVA. 
 
 The battle of Cedar Mountain, while not one of the greatest, was 
 undoubtedly one of the most hotly contested and sanguinary conflicts 
 of the war. The intrepid stand made by Crawford's brigade of the 
 
go WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 Union forces, bordered on the heroic. When, after several hours of 
 musketry fighting, the Union forces were compelled to fall back, and 
 two divisions of the enemy's infantry swiftly advanced to follow up 
 their advantage, it was seen that it was impossible to rescue Best's bstt- 
 tery from capture unless these great masses of infantry were checked, 
 moving as they were directly for the guns. The one eye of the young 
 General Bayard (the other eye was lost in the service against the In- 
 dians) saw at a glance the whole situation, and riding up to Major R. 
 J. Falls, who, with a squadron of the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
 were just within the woods skirting a Avheat field over which the 
 enemy were advancing, he calmly pointed to the grey masses pouring 
 down the slope, and commanded him to charge right through them. 
 Major Falls must have shuddered and believed his General mad, as he 
 looked at his little command, composed of 216 men, and cast his eyes 
 upon the heavy bodies of infantry approaching, and thought of the 
 hopelessness and apparent futility of such a charge. But he was too 
 good a soldier to hesitate, and he had been trained under the young 
 General, who had taught them that neither officer nor man should 
 ever question his command. 
 
 Straightening himself in his stirrups he moved his squadron out of 
 the woods into the open field, and when he looked back and saw his 
 little band of brave boys sitting like so many statues in their saddles, 
 he thundered the command to charge, and with a savage yell they 
 were flung right and left against the coming lines of infantry, slashing 
 and cutting as they went, Fall's own saber piercing clear through the 
 neck of one of the enemy, so fierce and resistless was their onset. 
 Forward, still forward, until they had plunged through three lines of 
 the foe, driving them in dismay and panic in every direction. And 
 then as suddenly, when in the rear of the whole Confederate Army, 
 they wheeled about and with savage fury dashed back through the 
 demoralized and broken ranks of the enemy, and the guns were saved. 
 Saved, but only sixty men came out, and one company was almost 
 annihilated. The gallant Falls rode through this tempest of death and 
 back again unhurt. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 81 
 
 Captain John P. Taylor, who afterwards became a cavalry General 
 and commanded the First Brigade of the Second Cavalry Division of 
 the Army of the Potomac Avith great distinction, said of this charge : 
 
 "The enemy were not aware of any cavalry being on that part of 
 the field, and when we moved out into the field and Falls gave the 
 order to charge, it took us but a moment to reach the enemy's lines. 
 After crossing the wheat field we obliqued to the left, and on our 
 turning to come out we caught it on both flanks, suffering very little 
 in the charge going in, as the enemy were evidently stunned at the 
 sight of us. My horse was killed, and on coming out on foot I can 
 only compare the bullets threshing up the dust in front of men to the 
 commencement of a shower of rain with big drops falling in the dust. 
 Ten years after the war I visited the battle-field, and found living on 
 it Major Throckmorton, who was in the battle as a staff" officer of 
 Jackson's. He informed me that this charge was a great surprise, and 
 that we rode up to within 200 yards of "Stonewall" Jackson's head- 
 quarters, and nearly caused a stampede of the two corps under his 
 command, which was only checked by Jackson himself mounting his 
 horse and riding through his men, imploring them to stand by their 
 General. Major Throckmorton considered it the most dashing charge 
 of the war, saying that we had come through three lines of battle and 
 others who were cooking coffee in the rear." 
 
 COULDN'T SURRENDER TO HIM. 
 
 On the occasion of the Union advance to Stone river, or Murfrees- 
 boro, the Confederates drew back to a line of Ijattle. On the retreat 
 a young Confederate soldier fell and a heavy rail struck him across 
 the thighs, but he managed to crawl up to two stacks of straw and 
 drag himself between them for concealment. AVhile here he was 
 found by Jack Norris, a stalwart six-footer of the Fifth Kentucky 
 (Union) Infantry, who had been detailed as a stretcher-bearer. 
 Norris repeatedly ordered the young Confederate to surrender, and 
 was as often answered by the snapping of a gun, which would not go 
 off". Colonel Treanor, hearing the cursing of Norris, hurried to the 
 
•82 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 scene, and the young soldier at once said he would surrender to a 
 soldier, but not to an infernal stretcher-bearer. The prisoner was a 
 handsome boy of sixteen years, and a nephew of the Confederate 
 General Wood. The large-hearted Union Colonel took the boy 
 under his protection, conceived a great liking for him, shared his 
 sweet potato supper with him, spooned under the same blanket, and 
 bade him "good-bye" at last with real regret. 
 
 THE OPENING AT SHILOH. 
 
 A member of the first brigade attacked at Shiloh says: 
 "It was my fortune to see the battle begin. It was in this wise: 
 The left of our brigade, consisting of the Seventieth, Forty-eighth 
 and Seventy-second Ohio Regiments, rested on the direct road to 
 Corinth at the old Shiloh church. When the picket firing began in 
 our immediate front, less than one mile from our 'color line,' Colonel 
 Parker, of the Forty-eighth, asked permission of Colonel Buckland, 
 commanding the brigade, to take the Forty-eighth out and recon- 
 noiter the enemy's position. For this purpose the regiment started 
 out, marching by the right flank, four abreast. They all went out 
 in fine glee, with elastic step and heads up. It was a fine sight. The 
 road which they took passed down a slight depression to Owl Creek, 
 which was only a few hundred yards from our front. Instead of fol- 
 lowing directly after the regiment, I passed along on the right on 
 higher ground than the route it had taken. Just as the front of 
 our column reached the creek I heard a crackling of brush in my 
 front, and on peering through the trees — all of our front was wood- 
 laud, with a heavy undergrowth in most places — what should I behold 
 but a line of infantry in grey, extending as far as the eye could 
 reach, moving on the double quick to our right, with trailed arms. 
 The men of the regiment seemed to have spied them at the same in- 
 stant, and countermarched within not more than three hundred yards 
 of this fatal column. My first move was to notify our brigade com- 
 mander of the situation, whom I soon found sitting on his horse listen- 
 ing to the desultory picket firing ofi" to the left. I hardly had time 
 
INCID EN TS OF ARMY L IFE S3 
 
 to impart my information before the Forty-eighth and Seventieth 
 Regnnents were engaged in the death struggle. In less time, it seems, 
 after this, than it takes to tell it, the Avhole line was 'one blaze of 
 fire.' What followed is a matter of history." 
 
 MUTUALLY SALUTING THE FOURTH. 
 On the Fourth of July, 1862, a few days after the battle of Mal- 
 vern Hill, Kearney's division was being pressed hard by Ewell in an 
 attempt to reconnoiter the new position McClellan was taking on the 
 James river. The firing was quite severe. Suddenly, just before 
 noon, the Union artillery fire slackened and then ceased. At 12 
 o'clock exactly came twenty-one shots from each battery, the reports 
 of which sounded soft, in strong contrast to those of a few minutes 
 before. They were made by blank cartridges, and it was the regula- 
 tion salute for Independence Day. It was a bit of sentiment that did 
 honor to somebody to cease firing at an enemy long enough to give a 
 salute. But the enemy was not behind in chivalrous devotion to the 
 Fourth of July. Almost immediately his firing ceased for a moment, 
 and then from the Confederate cannon came a similar salute, in 
 sounds very different from the sharp, spiteful ring of shotted guns. 
 Cheers went up simultaneously from both sides, but in ten minutes 
 more they were banging away at each other with shell and shot in the 
 most deadly earnest. 
 
 A BRIDGE OF COTTON. 
 
 When Colonel Andrew Hickenlooper was chief of engineers on 
 General McPherson's staflf, at one time when it became necessary to 
 cross the Tennessee river, on whose banks they were encamped, the 
 General sent for him and said it was absolutely necessary that he 
 should build a bridge .^hat night on which the army should cross at 
 daylight. 
 
 "But, General," said Hickenlooper, aghast, "there is not a stick of 
 timber within miles big enough to carry an empty caisson, and the 
 wagons with the pontoons are twenty miles in the rear ! " 
 
84 WAH ANECDOTES 
 
 "Can't help that," rejoined McPherson. "The bridge must be 
 built and the army on the ruove by 4 o'clock to-morrow morning. 
 Good afternoon, Colonel Hickenlooper," and he bowed the discom- 
 fited engineer out of his tent. 
 
 Hickenlooper went away in real and abject misery. The sun was 
 only an hour or two high and he had little enough time to build a 
 bridge, even if he had plenty of material, whereas he had nothing. 
 To fail was to lose all professional standing, and as he thought of the 
 prospect he fairly sweat blood. Mechanically he walked to the river 
 and went up and down it for some distance to pick out the best point 
 for a crossing. Finally, nearly a mile above camp, he suddenly came 
 across an old cotton gin full of cotton in bales. An inspiration came 
 to him. Why not build a bridge of cotton ? 
 
 In half an hour a large detail of men was on the ground and the 
 night's work began. Big cables were stretched across the river to 
 hold the bales, which were piled in tiers across the river. The boards 
 of the gin-house were placed on them for a roadbed. But at the best 
 the job Avas a poor one, and so weak that Hickenlooper was in an 
 agony of apprehension. The top bales were only three inches above 
 the water and the cables were uncertain. But at 3 o'clock next morn- 
 ing Hickenlooper roused up McPherson and reported the bridge 
 ready, and in five minutes preparations were making for the march. 
 Hickenlooper crossed to the other side and eagerly watched the result. 
 The bridge sunk under the weight of the men, and the artillery 
 brought it down so that the water ran into the mouths of the cannon, 
 but the cables did not part and the bales staid in place, and at 11:30 
 the last man and the last wagon were safely across the bridge of cot- 
 ton, greatly to the builder's relief. 
 
 ' ' SHERMAN'S B UMMERS. " 
 
 Volumes have been written for and against those free lances who, 
 on Sherman's "march to the sea" and up the coast, succeeded so well 
 in enforcing Sherman's own saying, that war was terrible. That they 
 did an outrageous thing occasionally was to be expected. But they 
 
INC ID ENTS OF ARMY L IFE 85 
 
 were a necessity to the army under the conditions then and there 
 existing. That famous march would never have been the success it 
 was but for the resistless energy with which they foraged. 
 
 When it is remembered that Sherman's army consisted of 60,000 
 men, and that they, with the horses and mules, were almost wholly 
 subsisted by the efforts of fifteen or twenty men detailed from each 
 regiment, it will be seen that the life of the bummer during the sixty 
 days' journey through South and North Carolina was an energetic one 
 at least, if the much-abused fellows did occasionally plunder. 
 
 From every regiment, upon the arrival of the army at the Branch- 
 ville Railroad, which ran from Charleston to Augusta, Ga., were de- 
 tailed from fifteen to forty men, with orders to mount themselves as 
 best they could and devote themselves to scouring the country on the 
 flanks of the advancing column for food, forage, cattle, and plunder 
 generally. 
 
 The Twentieth Corps was the first to equip its bummers; some had 
 horses furnished them, and others got them as best they could. Kil- 
 patrick's cavalry gathered in many a hor.se or mule that had been 
 left in an exposed condition duriug the night. At first all of the 
 regiments were not represented, but before many days every command 
 in the entire army had its baud of bummers. Each regiment acted 
 on its own hook and had only one regulation to observe, and that was 
 to take its regular turn in the advance. Each corps consisted of three 
 divisions, and these had to go to the right in the advance on alternate 
 days. And woe unto a squad of another division who gained the 
 advance on a day when it was not its turn. When caught in such a 
 proceeding the commanding General who was entitled to the advance 
 would summarily arrest the disobedient bummers, dismount them and 
 confiscate the plunder. 
 
 At Fayetteville, N. C, forty-two bummers of the First Division, 
 Twelfth Corps, drove the Confederates from the town and across Cape 
 Fear River, taking possession and securing a vast quantity of flour, 
 meal, meat and tobacco. This day the Second Division, blufi" old 
 General Geary in command, had the "right to the road," and when 
 
86 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 he came up and found the condition of affairs, and realizing that the 
 honor of capturing Fayetteville, with all its glory and plunder, had 
 been insidiously appropriated by the insignificant forty-two Red Star 
 bummers, his wrath knew no bounds. He sent for the commanding 
 officer, and was answered that there was no commissioned officer there; 
 that the men were composed of bummers from the Twenty-seventh 
 Indiana aud Thirteenth New Jersey, and that a Hoosier-Jerseyman 
 named Hi Hand, of the Thirteenth, "was running the thing." The 
 staff officer hunted up the cheeky Hand, who had heretofore con- 
 sidered himself equal to almost any emergency, and was looked upon as 
 a sort of plumed knight by the men of the expedition. The General 
 sent for him to report at headquarters, whither the do-as-you-please 
 Hand went, aud after some little time was ushered into the terrible 
 presence of the mighty Geary. 
 
 "What is your regiment, and by whose authority do you presume 
 to disobey orders in the manner you have done in advancing upon 
 this place, thus laying yourself liable to captui-e aud death?" 
 
 The culprit was temporarily paralyzed by the manner and substance 
 of Geary's reception. But he readily recovered, and told the General 
 that he and his comrades had not seen their division for twelve days; 
 had been down on Lynch's Creek, plundering the people, converting 
 the natives, educating the negroes, and making war terrible; and as a 
 result, he told him that outside of the stores which they had captured 
 on the retreat of the Confederates from Fayetteville, he had ten men 
 running a large grist-mill at Rock Creek, six miles from there, and 
 that he had thirty-six wagonloads of bacon and meal, forty horses 
 and 2,000 negroes, which he would turn over to the proper officer in 
 due time, and that he really must be off, as he had a letter-diary of 
 the trip from Savannah which he Avanted to send to the New York 
 Times by the first conveyance. According to a staff officer's account, 
 who was present on theocoasiou, "The brave old general was paralyzed; 
 he was dumbfounded. What was to be done? It would not do to 
 compliment the twenty-year-old boy, and still he had proven himself 
 the most successful forager in the command." Suffice it to say, Geary 
 
INCIDEN TS OF AR M Y L IFE 87 
 
 released the brave and reckless forty-two bummers, and bade them re- 
 port to their command. Before leaving Hand exchanged horses sur- 
 reptitiously Avith Geary's Adjutant General, and joined his command, 
 a veritable hero in the eyes of officers and men. 
 
 The advance from Fayetteville to Goldsborough was impeded by the 
 Confederates, and foraging was discontinued for the reasons that it 
 was unsafe and the country had become so barren that there was noth- 
 ing to plunder. But all of this vast army of bummers participated 
 in the battles of March 16 and 19 and proved themselves as brave and 
 dutiful in the ranks as they were adventurous and successful on the 
 "flanks." 
 
 A SOLDIERLY APOLOGY, 
 
 One of the French princes who visited the Confederate Army at 
 Manassas, while being escorted down a line of troops by Major Skinner, 
 of the First Virginia Regiment, expressed a desire to return by the 
 rear. The Major for a moment was placed in an awkward situation, 
 and a blush mantled his cheek, but, quickly recovering himself, he 
 replied in French: "Your Royal Highness, we Avould gladly take 
 you to the rear, but the truth is, the linen of the men is in rather an 
 exposed condition. It being a part of the person which we never ex- 
 pect to show to the enemy, our soldiers think rags in that neighbor- 
 hood are of but little consequence." 
 
 THE RIGHT COUNTERSIGN. 
 Old Ben Plunchard was a private in a Maine regiment, as brave as 
 a lion and as true as steel. One night w'hen the army of the Potomac 
 was in front of Fredericksburg, Ben was on guard. The darkness Avas so 
 black that it might almost be felt, and it was raining like fun. Ben 
 was walking back and forth, wet to the skin and almost dead for want 
 of sleep, when he heard a footstep, and presently the outline of a man 
 loomed out of the mist and darkness. Ben called out, "Who goes 
 there?" "Friend!" came the answer. Ben demanded the countersign, 
 but the man didn't have it. He said he was Ben's Captain, and had 
 
88 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 been visiting another regiment and got belated. Ben knew his man 
 well enough, but he was a true soldier. "No use," said he, "I've got 
 my orders, and you can't pass. Get out pretty quick or I'll give you 
 a taste of the bayonet." "Nonsense, Ben," said the Captain, trem- 
 bling, for he knew what kind of stuff Ben was made of, "let me get 
 into camp; I'm wet as a di-owned rat." But Ben wasn't to be coaxed, 
 and when the Captain heard the click of Ben's musket, he began to 
 think it was about time to say his prayers. But he made one more 
 appeal. "Ben," he said, "don't make a fool of yourself. I've got a 
 canteen of whisky — " Before he could say more, Ben brought up his 
 piece to the carry, with the words, "Countersign is right; advance, 
 friend!" and took a swig from the canteen. Ben knew the countersign 
 for a dark, rainy night. 
 
 A BLUFF OF $100,000. 
 
 The gambling that was done on the Mississippi River steamers during 
 the war was something terrific. Soldiers with full pockets were con- 
 tinually going up and down the river to and from their commands, 
 and usually they afforded easy prey to the professional gamblers, who 
 were almost as thick on these steamers as the men in uniforms. There 
 are many stories of nofable incidents of the gaming table of those 
 days, but none, perhaps, more remarkable than the following. 
 
 Sometime after the fall of Vicksburg a veteran gambler got aboard 
 at Cairo of one of the big boats bound south. He was a man who 
 always carried very large sums of money, and consequently was gener- 
 ally invincible iu a game of bluff. On the second day out he picked 
 out (as his prey a young, pale man, who looked as though he might be the 
 son of a rich planter, who paid little attention to his fellow passengers, 
 but was generally found near his state-room, and was always attended 
 by his body servant, a light young mulatto. It did not take long for 
 the gambler to get acquainted, and in the course of time he proposed 
 cards. Nothing loath the young man consented. They played with 
 indifferent success, until the sharper proposed poker and moderate bets. 
 The youngster agi'eed. At last the gambler made a heavy bet — and 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 89 
 
 lost. Then he declared he must have his revenge, to which the other 
 assented, and a new deck of cards was bought. Presently the gambler 
 seemed to find a hand to suit him, for he began betting confidently. 
 The youth lit a fresh cigar, looked thoughtful, and "saw" the bet and 
 went $1,000 better. Now was the sharper's time, the moment of 
 triumph for which he had been waiting. A large crowd had gathered 
 around the table. Behind the young man's chair stood his body servant, 
 quiet but anxious. The gambler looked over his hand once more, and 
 laid it down as if satisfied. Then he leaned back, thrust his hand in 
 his bosom and drew out a big, fat pocket-book and opened it. Placing 
 it on the stake between them, he said: "I 'see' your $1,000" — 
 and throwing down the rest of the bills with his other hand — "and I 
 go you $20,000 better !" and as he spoke he reached up to the back of 
 his neck and drew forth a long, glittering bowie knife and sent its 
 sharp point into his cards on the table, where it quivered in defiance 
 before the young man's face. 
 
 For an instant no one moved or seemed to breathe. Then the 
 mulatto, whose eyes had suddenly grown big as saucers and whose 
 every muscle was rigid with excitement, leaned over and whispered to 
 his master. The latter nodded, and sat back easily in his chair, while 
 the servant stepped to their state-room, three steps away, and returned 
 with a queer, strong looking portmanteau, which he placed by his master's 
 side. The young man again looked quietly at his hand, and into the 
 calm, insolent eyes of his opponent. Then he took a bunch of keys 
 from his pocket, leaned over, unlocked the valise and began taking 
 out queer brick-shaped packages in brown manilla wrappers and piling 
 them up before him. The crowd looked on with ill concealed cu- 
 riosity ; the gambler lifted his eyebrows in surprise, for he was in 
 ignorance of what it meant, and the face of the darkey began to take 
 on a look of satisfaction. The young man continued to pile up his 
 packages, until he had twenty of them under his nose. Then his 
 hands dropped to his side for an instant, but quickly came up again 
 and he laid them on top of the pile, in each a big Colt's revolver, 
 pointed full at the sharper's breast. He pushed the pile toward the 
 
90 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 center of the table, and as he did so the "click!" "click!" of the 
 pistols as he cocked them was heard all over the cabin, as he said in a 
 voice that was as suggestive of "cold steel" as the sound of his 
 weapons : 
 
 "1 'see' your $20,000, and go you $80,000 better!" 
 The gambler, thrown completely off his guard, was for an instant 
 stupefied. He looked up into the eyes of his opponent. They were 
 mercilessly relentless. He realized that he had been beaten at his own 
 game. Then his self-possession returned. He calmly reached forward, 
 took up his bowie knife, returned it to its place, pushed back his chair, 
 and saying, with a bow: "You have won!" rose and walked off, 
 humming an air as lightly as if he had won at penny ante! His 
 nerve now was, after all, equal to his insolence of a moment before. 
 
 The young man slowly put up his pistols and returned his packages 
 to the portmanteau, which Avas taken charge of by his servant. To a 
 bystander who soon asked for an explanation, he said he was a pay- 
 master on his way to Vicksburg to pay off the troops. He could as 
 easily have made a "bluff" of $1,000,000. The story would not be 
 complete without the assurance that it was really his last game of 
 poker. 
 
 ROUGH ON' THE GENERAL. 
 
 During one of General Johnston's retreats two members of Fenner's 
 New Orleans Battery were discussing the General and his military 
 qualities, when one of them remarked : 
 
 "I wish the General was dead and in heaven ; I think it would be a 
 Godsend to the Confederacy." 
 
 "Why, my dear fellow?" said the other. 
 
 "If the General was near the gates of heaven, and invited in, he'd 
 fall back !" 
 
 MAHONE AT APPOMATTOX. 
 Senator Mahone, of Virginia, who commanded Lee's rear guard on 
 the retreat from Petersburg, thus describes the last day of that army : 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY LIFE 91 
 
 "We marched all night and the next day until about 4 o'clock in 
 the afternoon, when we went into camp three miles south of Appo- 
 mattox Court-house. Longstreet and Gordon were in front, and my 
 division and General Fields' division were drawn up in line of battle to 
 cover the rear. At daylight we moved to Appomattox and then 
 halted. I received a message from Lee to come to the front. I 
 found him just this side of the court-house, with Longstreet and his 
 staff, warming themselves by a fire. Lee asked the staff to retire, and 
 then he said that he had sent for me because he was in trouble. 
 
 " 'Well, what is the matter now?" I asked. 
 
 " 'I suppose you know that Grant has demanded our surrender,' he 
 replied. 
 
 " 'No, I do not know it, but I suspected it,' was my answei:. 
 
 " 'Well, he has demanded our surrender, and I want to know what 
 you think of it. We have only eight thousand muskets and two or- 
 ganized bodies — yours and Fields'. 
 
 " 'I take your purpose, General Lee, to be to effect a junction 
 with Johnston in West North Carolina?' 
 
 " 'Yes, sir,' said the General. 
 
 *' 'In my judgment,' said I, 'this junction can be formed only in 
 one of two ways — first to cut through the enemy's lines and fight our 
 way out, and that can only be done at a great cost of life. If success- 
 ful, we will only have a mere remnant of the army left, and that 
 remnant can not be recruited and equipped by a government in a 
 wagon. I can not see how^ you could supply an army with munitions 
 and rations. We have another chance to get to Lynchburg, but we 
 will certainly be harassed every step of the way, and when we get 
 there we will still be farther away from Johnston.' I told him that 
 the time had come when I thought he was called upon to perform the 
 highest duty that could devolve upon an individual, to undergo a 
 test of the highest degree of manhood ; that the time had come when, 
 in my judgment, it was his duty to surrender the army ; that I be- 
 lieved it would be a crime, under the circumstances, to sacrifice the 
 life of another man. I told him that if the terms ofiered by General 
 
92 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 Grant were such as we were entitled to receive I should surrender im- 
 mediately. If not, I would fight it out here. He then handed me 
 General Grant's letter containing the proposed terms of surrender. I 
 read it, and told him that I thought the terms Avere as honorable as 
 could be asked by a defeated army. Lee turned questioningly to 
 Longstreet, who simply said: 'I agree with Mahone.' 
 
 " 'What will the country say? ' asked Lee. 
 
 " 'You are the country now,' I answered. 'Our people will ap- 
 prove.' He said he did not know where to find Grant. I told him 
 to get on his horse and hunt him up. He left Longstreet in com- 
 mand of the army, and rode away in search of the Union commander, 
 accompanied only by a courier. I went back to my division, which 
 Fields had put in line of battle, and told him what had occurred at 
 the front. 
 
 "To avoid another engagement we sent out a flag of truce. When 
 the men formed in line they began digging trenches and otherwise ar- 
 ranging for what they supposed to be an impending battle. They 
 were ordered to stop work. It was the first order of the kind they 
 had ever received under such circumstances. The soldiers seemed to 
 understand what it meant without knowing anything of the events of 
 the past twenty-four hours. As by instinct they realized that the war 
 had come to an end. Some of the men began to cry, others threw 
 their arms in joy around the necks of their comrades. Many of them 
 broke their sword-blades and threw away their bayonets. I hastened 
 out of sight of this affecting scene and rejoined General Lee at a little 
 stream near Appomattox Court-house. Colonels Taylor and Stevens 
 and several other officers were with him. I had scarcely reached the 
 General's side when I saw a Union officer riding down the road from 
 the court-house accompanied by a courier. He approached within 
 one hundred feet of General Lee, at the same time saluting him, re- 
 moving his hat, and took a note from his pocket, which General Tay- 
 lor received and carried to General Lee. He read the note and 
 answered it, and the Union officer rode back to the Union head- 
 quarters. General Lee stood in the dirt road. He took the note, 
 
IN CID ENTS OF ARMY LIFE 93 
 
 tore it up in little pieces and threw them upon the ground and with 
 his heel stamped them under the dirt and out of sight. I mounted 
 my horse and rode away, and General Lee went to meet General 
 Grant. That is all I saw of the surrender." 
 
 FARRAGUrS HOT COFFEE. 
 
 Just before the Union fleet was to move in its attack at Mobile 
 Bay one of Admiral Farragut's highest and most trusted oflScers ap- 
 proached him. 
 
 "Admiral," said he, "will you consent to have all hands piped to 
 grog in the morning, a stiff horn all around, just enough to make Jack 
 warm and stimulate his best qualities ? " 
 
 "Well," replied the Admiral, "I have been to sea — a dog watch — 
 and have seen a battle or two, but I never found that I wanted rum 
 to enable me to do my duty. I will order two cups of coffee to each 
 man at 2 o'clock, and at 8 o'clock I will pipe all hands to breakfast in 
 Mobile Bay." 
 
 Jack got his hot coffee, the Admiral took his station aloft, and the 
 result is a matter of history. 
 
 A CONTRAST IN PRICES. 
 
 Just before the fall of Richmond the Confederate Government issued 
 an impressment schedule of prices to be paid for property needed and 
 taken for the uses of the army, with or without the owner's consent. 
 Wheat was to be paid for at the rate of $25 a bushel; flonr, S125 a 
 barrel; corn, $20 a bushel; bacon, $4 a pound; horses and mules, 
 $1,200 each; wool, $8 a pound; peas, $30 a bushel ; potatoes, $20 a 
 bushel ; dried peaches, $20 a bushel ; hay, $140 a ton ; wheat straw, 
 $60 a ton; salt, $10 a bushel; soap, $3 a pound; whisky, $25 a 
 gallon ; sugar, $5 a pound ; coffee, $10 a pound ; tea, $15 a pound ; 
 pig iron, $400 a ton ; bar iron, $1,100 a ton ; beeves, $50 per 100 
 pounds; sheep, $70 per 100 pounds; leather, $9 a pound; cotton 
 shirting, $2 50 to $4 a yard; army shoes, $25 a pair; shoe thread, 
 $6 per pound ; wool socks for men, $5 a pair ; etc. 
 
94 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 Ou April lOtli, thirteen days after the full of Richmond, the 
 Petersburg Express published the following list of "prices of the 
 day," regulated, it is true, mostly by the sutler, and of course, much 
 higher than in Northern cities, but yet away below Confederate fig- 
 ures : Butter, 60 and 75 cents per pound ; cheese, 50 cents ; mackerel, 
 15 cents each ; fresh fruit in two pound cans, $1; raisins, 70 cents; 
 corn starch, 25 cents; sardines, 75 cents ; hams, 40 cents per pound ; 
 smoked beef, 40 cents ; condensed milk, 75 cents ; candles, 50 cents ; 
 honey, 75 cents; coffee, 60 cents; tea, $3 and $4; Irish potatoes, $3 
 per bushel ; pickles, iu gallon jars, $1 50 ; in quart jars, 75 cents ' 
 crackers, 80 cents per pound ; cakes, 25 cents per dozen ; boots, $10 
 to $15. 
 
 The Richmond Whig had the following market report : "The dis- 
 play of vegetables, meats, salads, etc. , in the upper market was better 
 yesterday than at any time since the occupation of the city, but prices 
 were inclined to rule high. Salads, from 30 to 50 cents; fish, per 
 bunch, $1 ; meats, 40 to 50 cents a pound : butter, 50 and 60 cents." 
 
 A CURIOUS COMPLICATION. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1865. Desertions were frequent from the 
 Confederate lines in front of Petersburg. Hugh Morris, a sergeant 
 of a New Jersey regiment, had been reduced to the ranks. A detail 
 for fatigue duty five miles away included Hugh. The following night 
 a deserter who came in said he had a brother in the Union army, 
 and on investigation it was ascertained to be Hugh. He was per- 
 mitted to wait with Hugh's mess until his return. Meantime the 
 commanding officer of Hugh's regiment had been detailed away from 
 his command, and his successor was ignorant of the facts above nar- 
 rated. He received, shortly after assuming command, an order from 
 headquarters to send Hugh Morris' In-other there. He reported that 
 Hugh was away on detail, and had no brother in the regiment. In 
 doing so he (erroneously) signed the Colonel's name instead of his 
 own. The Colonel had previously reported the deserter and obtained 
 permission for him to wait for his brother's return. Meantime one of 
 
I^^ CID EN TS F A B M Y L IFE 95 
 
 Geueral Meade's spies had come across the line and reported that 
 Hugh had deserted and Avas giA'ing the Confederates all the informa- 
 tion he could as to the Union army and position. The pretended 
 brother was doubtless a Confederate epy. It would seem also, doubt- 
 less, that the Colonel was in the game. Meade quietly ordered Wil- 
 cox's division to surround the New Jersey regiment, and placed every 
 one in it under arrest. The Confederate deserter could not be found. 
 The officers of the regiment were furious. The next morning Fort 
 Stedman was surprised and captured by the Confederates, as is 
 known in history. On the same day Hugh Morris returned to his 
 regiment, and was immediately arrested and brought before a court- 
 martial for trial, charged with desertion. There was no evidence 
 against him except the spy of General Meade, before mentioned. 
 But that was direct and conclusive. He was on the Confederate out- 
 post when Morris came in, himself seeking opportunity to reach the 
 Union lines. He accompanied Morris to the rear and slept with him 
 that night in the prison barracks near Petersburg. While Morris was 
 asleep he took from him his diary and also cut from his head a lock 
 of hair, both of which he showed the court. The last entry in the 
 diary was mention of the fact of detail to lepair a locomotive engine. 
 The clip of hair appeared to exactly match a sheared lock of Morris' 
 head. Other than this and the fact that Morris had been reduced 
 from sergeant to private and had expressed emphatic discontent, there 
 was nothing against him. This, however, was absolute and con- 
 vincing. 
 
 Morris, in his defense, produced the four mechanics who were de- 
 tailed with him to repair and replace the railroad engine which had 
 been thrown from the military railroad and seriously impaired. They 
 testified that he was with them continuously, and only left for his 
 company when the job was completed, a short time before he in fact 
 rejoined his company. He admitted the diary was his and made no 
 explanation of the lock of hair. The mechanics who worked with 
 him identified him particularly by the hat he wore, which had a pe- 
 culiar feather in it, and also his coat sleeves showed the dark hues 
 
96 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 which had before been covered by the sergeant's chevrons. All the 
 officers of his regiment testified to his uniform soldierly conduct 
 through many campaigns and battles, and it also appeared that he 
 had been deprived of his sergeant's rank because of communication 
 with the enemy against express orders. 
 
 The court was nonplused by the evidence. It adjourned early un- 
 til the next morning. Late that night there came to the tent of its 
 president one of the most reliable and conscientious Captains in the 
 whole Army of the Potomac. He believed in him next to his Savior. 
 He simply said: ''Morris ought not to be convicted," and went away. 
 When the court reassembled a vote was taken by ballot. There 
 were eight blanks and one "Not guilty," and so the finding was re- 
 corded. 
 
 Two months after, when the war was over and the army at Wash- 
 ington, the president of the court-martial was invited to take supper 
 at the Washington House, corner of Third and Pennsylvania ave- 
 nues, by this man Morris. There were assembled every member of 
 the court-martial besides citizen friends of the accused man from New 
 Jersey. He then made the following statement : 
 
 "When the war broke out my brother was in business at Atlanta. 
 I learned he was in our front before Petersburg as a member of the 
 Thirteenth Alabama. I had been detailed to go on advance picket 
 duty during the following night. Afterward came the order for a 
 'locomotive mechanic,' and the orderly sergeant changed my previous 
 detail, sending me, the only man from the regiment, to assist in re- 
 pairing the engine. Now, when you understand I had made arrange- 
 ments with the rebel j)icket to meet my brother between the lines 
 vou can imagine I had no taste for that locomotive detail. My chum 
 looked almost like my twin brother. He knew a little something 
 about machine Avork. I t<^ld liini the facts. He refused to go in my 
 place unless the Captain would consent. It was asking a good deal 
 of the Captain. Well, we swapped clothing and he went in my place. 
 My brother missed me and came over to our side. I missed my 
 brother and went over to their side. The Federal spy met me just as 
 
INCID EN TS F A RMY L TFE 97 
 
 he testified, and I told him all the cock-and-bull stories I could think 
 about the Union army. The assault on Fort Stedman was wholly 
 unknown to me, but I got away in the melee and returned to my 
 company. Then came the court-martial. Had I told my story as I 
 do now, I should have been shot at sunrise. But the facts you now 
 know." 
 
 CALM AND CANDID. 
 
 When General Sherman entered Goldsboro, N. C, after his march 
 to the sea, on his way to join Grant before Richmond, there dwelt in 
 that town a certain Colonel X. , who was one of the most rabid Con- 
 federates that could be found. His house was situated in the north 
 end of the city and at the end of a street, so that anyone coming into 
 the town from the south would see his residence as soon as he would 
 enter the south end of this same street. When General Sherman and 
 staff came into the town, they came up this street and stopped just in 
 front of Colonel X's residence ; the Colonel, who was out on his porch, 
 greeted them, and an officer, saluting him, asked what his sentiments 
 were in regard to the war. 
 
 "I am a strong Union man," answered the Colonel, with a dry 
 smile. 
 
 "Ah, indeed," said the oflBcer, rather sarcastically; "and how long 
 have you been a Union man ?" 
 
 "I have been a Union man," said the Colonel, slowly, and as if con- 
 sidering his words, "ever since I saw you and your staff come into the 
 end of that street, about fifteen minutes ago." 
 
 The candor of the Colonel's reply pleased General Sherman, and he 
 ordered a guard around Colonel X's property, and during the entire 
 stay of the army in Goldsboro, not a thing was molested in and around 
 the premises. 
 
 ALMOST SURRENDERED BY MISTAKE. 
 During the assault of Port Hudson, by the Union forces, under 
 General Banks, on May 25th, 1863, a strange incident happened that 
 
98 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 nearly resulted in the surrender of the Confederate forces which 
 actually occurred some time later. At one moment a white flag showed 
 above a rampart in the fort. A regiment of men in butternut grey 
 filed out at an opening and stacked arms. 
 
 "What does that mean ?" asked the Union troops nearest them. 
 
 "We suppose we have surrendered," replied the men in butternut 
 grey. 
 
 If any Union officer of sufficiently high rank had been present to 
 order the Union troops to enter the fort, the Port Hudson siege would 
 have then and there ended. But there was no such officer near enough 
 to the skirmish line. There was an interval of silence and waiting on 
 the part of both armies. Then a Confederate officer, said to be Gen- 
 eral Gardner himself, rode out of the opening and ordered the sur- 
 rendering regiment back within their intrenchments. 
 
 An incident, both ludicrous and tragic, caused the display of the 
 white flag. A new York Colonel had been leading the advance 
 column. Carried away by his enthusiasm, he had approached nearer 
 and nearer the Confederate works until, turning suddenly, he found 
 himself, single-handed, up to their very lines. Either to advance or 
 retreat would have been certain death. At this emergency he tied 
 his handkerchief to a stick in token of his personal surrender. A 
 Confederate Colonel some distance away saw the handkerchief above 
 the Confederate lines, fancied it was displayed by the Southern side, 
 and at once got out his handkerchief and waved it, believing that the 
 proper thing to do. The New York Colonel got away, but the Con- 
 federate Colonel was court-martialed. 
 
 TURNING COATS UNDER FIRE. 
 During the battle of Shiloh a whole Confederate regiment became 
 "turncoats" without in the least reflecting upon their loyalty or cast- 
 ing any doubts upon their courage. It was the "Crescent" regiment 
 from New Orleans, an organization composed of the young aristocracy 
 of that city. In the beginning of the war regiments frequently chose 
 their own uniform. That of the "Crescents" was a very becoming 
 
INCID EN TS OF ARMY L IFE 99 
 
 one, but of a grey with a very pronounced blueish cast. In the morn- 
 ing of the first day's fight the regiment formed part of Bragg's line. 
 Presently Stewart's brigade, of the reserve, was brought up, just when 
 the fight was very warm, and was halted not far in the rear of the 
 "Crescents." Just then a mounted officer rode up to the Louisianians 
 carrying a captured Union flag, which he waved aloft in triumph. 
 The flag was plainly recognized by the reserve, and the blueish line of 
 the "Crescents" was dimly seen through the smoke and underbrush. 
 Bullets by hundreds were coming from that direction, and the infer- 
 ence that they formed part of the Union line was natural and irre- 
 sistible. An excitable line officer at the left of one of Stewart's regi- 
 ments gave the order to fire, and was promptly answered by a volley 
 from the left of the regiment, the companies on the right remaining 
 quiet, because they plainly recognized the Confederate line just in 
 their front. The "Crescents" were taken by surprise and lost several 
 wounded. In a moment explanations were made and the firing ceased. 
 But its lesson remained, and was taken advantage of at once. Inside 
 of two minutes the handsome jackets of the swell regiment from New 
 Orleans had been doffed, turned inside out and replaced. The change 
 was startling, but effective. The regiment may have had a nonde- 
 script appearance during the rest of the fight, but it was not again mis- 
 taken for the enemy. 
 
 PROFANITY EFFECTUALLY ItEBUKED. 
 
 Kilpatrick, when a Lieutenant Colonel of cavalry, once met with a 
 deserved rebuke for his profanity. Custer was with him when he rode 
 up to a sergeant of the guard in his regiment, and swearing at him 
 furiously, ordered him to attend to a certain matter that had been 
 neglected. The man folded his arms and stood at bay, looking Kil- 
 patrick squarely in the eye. "Do you hear me, you?" said 
 
 the latter, "why don't you do as I tell you?" "When I receive a 
 proper order I shall obey," said the soldier firmly; "the articles of war 
 forbid you to address me in the language you have used." Custer 
 "snickered right out in meeting," and said in a stage whisper ; "By 
 
100 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 , he's got you, Kil !" Colonel Kilpati'ick saw the point at once, 
 
 and in a very manly way changed front, and apologized. "Ser- 
 geant," said he, "you are right and I apologize. I should not have 
 addressed you as I did." Then he gave his orders, the man touched 
 his hat respectfully and turned away to fulfill the command and Kil- 
 patrick rose many degrees in the estimation of his soldiers. 
 
 GENERAL LEE'S PRAYER. 
 
 When the war broke out General Lee owned one of the largest 
 plantations in the Old Dominion, at Arlington, across the river from 
 Washington. His slaves were numbered by the hundreds, and they 
 every one loved their master. General Lee was one of those who 
 watched the approaching conflict with sorrow, and it was only when 
 his native State seceded that he reluctantly gave in to what he con- 
 sidered his duty, and joined his fortunes with the Confederacy. He 
 was on the wrong side, and when he sheathed his sword and returned 
 horiie he found his property confiscated. It was converted into the 
 famous National Cemetery for Union soldiers, and thousands upon 
 thousands were interred there. 
 
 It was a severe stroke for General Lee. The war seemed like a 
 cruel dream. Those who knew him before the struggle saw how 
 changed he had become. He was a sad man. His neighbors felt how 
 hard it was for the magnificent plantation to be taken away from him, 
 and often watched him with interest as he passed by in the direction 
 of the soldier's burying ground. An old planter, one night coming 
 along the road by the place, saw a cloaked figure moving about among 
 the graves. Although surprised and somewhat terrified, he stopped to 
 watch it. It walked around a short time, and finally leaned against a 
 great tree, and stood motionless, only now and then turning the head 
 as if in hunt of some object. For an hour the mysterious being 
 remained in that attitude, and then fell upon its knees, and, clasping 
 its hands, turned its face upward in prayer. The moon was flooding 
 everything with light, aud the planter, drawn irresistibly on, crept up 
 where he could view the face. Just then the long cloak was gathered 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 101 
 
 around the person, and the ghost-like stranger disappeared over a 
 neighboring hill. 
 
 The planter hurried home and told the story. Next night at 12 
 o'clock he repaired to the locality just iu time to see the same cloaked 
 figure start up and disappear over the hill. The planter's curiosity 
 was by this time aroused to the utmost. A plan was concerted to find 
 who the stranger was. On this night three of the planters of the 
 locality went at about 10 o'clock to the spot where the figure had been 
 seen before. They climbed to the top of a tree near by, and there, 
 hidden by the branches, patiently sat and waited. Shortly before 
 midnight the identical figure, all covered with the cloak, made its ap- 
 pearance. The man seemed to be iu great distress. Silently he stood 
 and gazed around, and finally, throwing the cloak aside, knelt in 
 prayer. The watchers looked, and there, in the moonlight, were the 
 upturned features of Robert E. Lee. The mystery was solved. The 
 old General was visiting the home where he spent so many happy 
 years before he was made the victim of a cruel war. Night after 
 night he had been coming there, praying among the graves of those 
 against whom he had fought. 
 
 THE BIGGEST ARMY MAIL. 
 Some of the army mails were very heavy, but they were all dwarfed 
 by the mail sent by Sherman's army from Savannah after the famous 
 march from Atlanta. Not a letter had been suflfered to pass through 
 the lines after the army started on its campaign, and when the mail 
 bags were tumbled on the steamer for New York they had 86,000 let- 
 ters in them. Postal clerks usually do not pay much attention to a 
 letter except as to its direction, but the boys in the New York office 
 talked sentiment over these, and doubled their speed to send the mis- 
 sives that bore glad tidings to wives and sweethearts, or to loving old 
 mothers, far away from their boys. The closing time of each outgoing 
 mail was stretched to its utmost limit iu order to get in a few more 
 letters to the girls and women that were waiting for news from the 
 camp and field. There was a strange similarity in the hand-writing 
 
102 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 of the directions, indicating that many of the letters had received their 
 superscriptions at lieadquarters. Tom Clarke, one of the handsomest 
 men ever iu the service, and superintendent of the railway service, 
 remarked that he had never before seen such a big extra mail dis- 
 tributed without growling, but on the contrary, the men seemed eager 
 to send the letters home, and proud to bear a part in re-establishing 
 communication between the boys in the army and the anxious ones in 
 writing. 
 
 SAVED FROM A MOB. 
 
 On the night of President Lincoln's assassination the indignation in 
 Washington was terrible. It was not generally known till after 
 midnight, when the people gathered upon the street corners in dis- 
 cussion. The more they discussed it the more excited they became. 
 The city was moved to its utmost depths and the mob spirit soon 
 became uppermost. Just then some one recalled the fact that a large 
 lot of Confederate prisoners had been brought iu that evening and 
 were confined in the old Capitol. "Hang 'em!" "shoot 'em!" "burn 
 'em !" became the cry, and to carry this threat into execution prepara- 
 tions were made. Kopes were procured, and everything was made 
 ready for a general massacre of the helpless Confederate prisoners, 
 who knew nothing on earth of the occurrences of the night. At 
 that time General Green Clay (Smith, who afterward, in 1876, was 
 the Prohibition candidate for President, was a representative in Con- 
 gress from Kentucky. He saw what was going on, witnessed the 
 preparations being made to usher into eternity the helpless and inno- 
 cent Confederates in the old Capitol, and realizing what a terrible deed 
 it would be for a mob to hang, shoot, or kill three or four hundred 
 men on the streets of Washington, who were innocent of any 
 complicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, procured the service 
 of two or three friends to hold the mob in hand by speaking until he 
 could see Secretary Stanton, and provide some means, if possible, to 
 protect the prisoners from the rage of the mob. His friends responded 
 promptly, mounted a box on the streets, and addressed the mob. When 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 108 
 
 one said all that he could say, another followed him, and so on, occu- 
 pying half an hour, perhaps an hour ; thus giving General Smith 
 time to see Mr. Stanton. 
 
 General Smith ran to the War Office and rushed in, but found 
 Mr. Stanton's private office door locked. He knocked again 
 and again without a response. Finally, General Smith made himself 
 known and was admitted. Mr. Stanton was overcome with excitement 
 and was armed. General Smith told him briefly of what was going 
 on in the streets and begged for troops to protect the unarmed 
 prisoners from the mob. Mr. Stanton told him "to go and do what 
 bethought best." General Smith left in a run, soon found a battalion 
 of troops on the streets, took charge of and rushed them to the 
 Capitol, arriving just in time to place them between its walls and the 
 enraged mob — ^just in time to save from a terrible death some three or 
 four hundred helpless Confederate prisoners, who knew nothing of 
 the assassination or the danger in which they were themselves placed 
 because of it, till next morning, when they looked out of the windows 
 and saw files of soldiers in the streets, with fixed bayonets, artillery 
 unlimbered and loaded, cavalry with drawn sabers, and a mob whose 
 very look was appalling. 
 
 THROUGH A SLEEPING ARMY. 
 Pegram's advance into Kentucky in tke early spring of 1863 caused 
 a hasty falling back of the somewhat scattered Union forces in the 
 Blue-grass region, and brought about a curious incident, nothing less 
 than the passage of a couple of Union regiments through a sleeping 
 camp of Confederates of several times their number. General Q. A. 
 Gilmore, in command of the Union forces in that section, being short 
 of cavalry, mounted several infantry regiments, among them the 
 Forty-fourth Ohio, Colonel "Sam" Gilbert. It was guarding the 
 approaches near Mount Vernon and Wild Cat, Ky., while Wolford's 
 cavalry were guarding the lines from Somerset to Burkesville. On 
 the 22nd of March, Wolford's lines were broken in several places and 
 he began to fall back. Pegram had begun his raid, and he moved on 
 
104 TT^-B ANECDOTES 
 
 Carter's position at Danville, the latter falling back behind the 
 Kentucky river at Camp Nelson. Colonel Gilbert was at Mount 
 Vernon, when he was ordered to fall back to Lancaster and be ready to 
 join Carter's retreating troops to Camp Dick Robinson, south of the 
 Kentucky river, these orders being given in ignorance of the fact that 
 Pegram had obliged Carter to go on to the other side of that river, 
 leaving the Fourty-fourth Ohio and a battalion of Wolford's First 
 Kentucky Cavalry "out in the cold." Gilbert enjoyed greatly the 
 prospect of a brush with the enemy, and pushed on. Eeaching 
 Lancaster just before sundown he found a Confederate force there 
 which offered no resistance to his passage, but fell back and allowed 
 him to take the road to Camp Dick Robinson without molestation. 
 Gilbert wondered at this, but not knowing that by that time 
 Pegram and not Carter occupied that position, he thanked his lucky 
 stars and pushed on, supposing the road to be clear. He soon found 
 that he was followed, and a part of Wolford's battalion was placed 
 as rear guard, the rest going in front. Suddenly a squad of Wolford's 
 men in front ran into a picket post, about two miles from Camp 
 Dick Robinson. No shots were fired, for at first it was a mutual mis- 
 take. The Confederates thought it was a part of their own force 
 from Lancaster, w^hile Wolford's men thought the pickets were of 
 Carter's force at Camp Dick Robinson. The latter suspected the 
 * truth first, and quickly profited by it, holding a pistol to each picket's 
 head and summoning them to "surrender without noise." As soon as 
 Gilbert found out the true status of the case he decided on a plan of 
 action bold to the extreme of daring, but which gave at least a 
 promise of safety. To go back was to meet a force of 500 ; and 
 though he would not have hesitated to fight them with his own force 
 of 700, yet the battle would be sure to arouse Pegram's vastly superior 
 force, and between the two bodies of enemies, and on a road which 
 gave no escape save across the country, the chances of capture or 
 annihilation would amount to almost a certainty, To go forward and 
 trust to chance to pass Pegram's camp, which it was only reasonable 
 to suppose was sound asleep, was his best chance, and he determined 
 
 • 
 
iNClDENtS OF ARMY LIFE 105 
 
 to take it. It had been raining, hut the rain had ceased and only a 
 heavy mist was falling. The men all wore heavy rubber ponchos. 
 For a few minutes the column stopped, the ponchos were removed and 
 the guns freshly primed ; the files were dressed up, and everything 
 done to insure or further the chances of success. The rear-guard was 
 brought up and told to close up on the column. The crisis had come. 
 "Don't fire or yell, unless you are fired upon. In that case, charge 
 at once and directly upon the enemy, and let eveiy man use the 
 battle cry — 'Lewisburg !' " The column started once more on its 
 perilous journey. 
 
 Slowly the files moved, but in perfect order ; each man grasping 
 his gun in readiness for action, and almost holding his breath in ex- 
 pectation. Every soldier now knew that a column was close after 
 him and that a sleeping Confederate camp lay immediately before 
 him. He may not have known that this road, leading through that 
 camp, was the only route to the Confederate lines from this section ; 
 but the officers and the Kentucky boys knew it. Soon a row of 
 horses were descried through the darkness, tied to the fence upon the 
 left, but not a man was awake ; or, if awake, probably soothed him- 
 self with the reflection that another column of Pegram's force was 
 arriving, and returned to slumber again. Further on, both sides of 
 the road were lined with horses tied to the fences, but their riders, 
 too, were worn out and tired and were soundly sleeping. Reaching 
 the point of intersection of the Danville and Lancaster roads, the 
 point known in history as "Camp Dick Robinson," the advance file 
 of Wolford's cavalry was accosted by a sentinel with, "Boys, what 
 regiment?" A cavalryman responded quickly with the name and 
 number of the command that was known to be in the rear, and find- 
 ing himself close up to the sentry he raised his long saber, which he 
 was carrying drawn, and dropped it upon the sentinel's head with a 
 "dull, heavy thud" that extinguished life instantly and without 
 further noise. The head of the column turned to the right and 
 passed on toward Camp Nelson, while a platoon of the Kentuckians 
 halted at the junction to preserve the column intact in case of an 
 
106 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 alarm or an attack. Whichever way the men gazed, their eyes fell 
 upon horses by the roadside. The Confederate army was literally 
 asleep. They were taking their first rest since crossing the Cumber- 
 land mountains, and little did they dream that while they slumbered 
 a regiment of " Yanks" was riding unmolested through their camp. 
 
 Two miles beyond Camp Dick Robinson the advance ran uj^on and 
 dispersed the enemy's advance pickets, taking a few prisoners, but 
 thoroughly alarming the Confederate camp. Presently they met and 
 passed Carter's pickets near the Kentucky river. The column then 
 passed on across the river, and, finding plenty of "top rails," soon 
 had glowing fires and food and rest. They had done a deed that 
 could scarcely be credited, and for which neither General nor news- 
 paper nor "historian" has ever given them credit. 
 
 The reader will ask why Gilbert did not stop to ruin Pegram when 
 once inside his sleeping camp. Gilbert had in all about 700 men 
 with him, including Wolford's boys. Of these at least 500 were 
 armed with nothing but long Enfield rifles, unwieldy on horseback. 
 Pegram had nearly 3,500 men. Of these 2,500 were at Camp Dick 
 Robinson and asleep ; 500 were not over two miles away picketing the 
 Danville road, while another 500 were close ujjon Gilbert's rear, and 
 would soon be down upon him. All these men were armed with 
 Sharpe's carbines, Colt's revolvers and sabers. They could do first- 
 class fighting either on foot or on horse-back, while 500 of the Union 
 boys could only fight well, armed as they were, on foot. 
 
 LINCOLN IN JEFF DAVIS' CHAIR. 
 
 Colonel Lew Weitzel relates the following incident in President 
 Lincoln's career, which he believes has never been made public be- 
 fore : "After the fall of Richmond and the flight of the Confederate 
 government, my brother Godfrey was placed in charge of the city. 
 His headquarters wei-e in the Capitol, and President Davis' Cabinet- 
 room was kept just as it was when last occupied. President Lincoln 
 arrived the day after the occupation and called at the Capitol, and 
 several officers, among the number myself, accompanied him through 
 
INCIDEN TS OF ARMY L IFF \ 07 
 
 the building. When we reached the Cabinet-room my brother said : 
 'Mr. Lincoln, this is the chair which has been so long occupied by 
 President Davis.' He pulled it from the table and motioned the 
 President to sit down. Mr. Lincoln's face took on an extra look of care 
 and melancholy. He looked at it a moment and slowly approached 
 and wearily sat down. It was an hour of exultation with us soldiers; 
 we felt that the Avar was ended and we knew that all over the North 
 bells were pealing, cannon booming, and the people were delirious 
 with joy over the prospect of peace. I expected to see the President 
 manifest some spirit of triumph as he sat in the seat so long occupied 
 by the Confederate government; but his great head fell into his broad 
 hands, and a sigh that seemed to come from the soul of a nation es- 
 caped his lips and saddened every man present. His mind seemed 
 to be traveling back through the dark years of the war, and he was 
 counting the cost in treasure, life and blood that made it possible for 
 him to sit there. As he arose without a word and left the room 
 slowly and sadly, tears involuntarily came to the eyes of every man 
 present, and we soldiers realized that we had not done all the suffer- 
 ing nor made all the sacrifices." 
 
 LIVING HIGH ON A PAPER OF NEEDLES. 
 
 "After the battle of Chickamauga," writes an ex-Confederate, "one 
 of 'our mess' found a needle-case which had belonged to some poor 
 fellow, probably among the killed. He did not place much value 
 upon the contents, although there was a paper of number eight 
 needles, several buttons, and a skein or two of thread, cut at each end 
 and neatly braided, so that each thread could be smoothly drawn out. 
 He put the whole thing in his breast pocket, and thought no more 
 about it. But one day, while out foraging for himself and his mess, 
 he found himself near a house where money could have procured a 
 hue meal of fried chicken, corn pone and buttermilk, besides a small 
 supply to carry back to camp. But Confederate soldiers' purses were 
 generally as empty as their stomachs, and, in this instance, the lady of 
 the house did not offer to give away her nice dinner. While the poor 
 
108 WAB ANECDOTES 
 
 fellow was inhaling the enticing odor and feeling desperately hungry, 
 a girl rode up to the gate on horseback, and bawled out to another 
 girl inside the house: 
 
 " 'O, Cindy, I rid over to see if you couldn't lend me a needle. I 
 broke the last one I had to-day, and pap says thar ain't nary 'nother 
 to be bought in the country hereabouts.' 
 
 "Cindy declared she was in the same fix, and couldn't finish her 
 new homespun dress for the same reason. 
 
 "The soldier just then had an idea. He retired to a little distance, 
 pulled out his case and stuck two needles in the front of his jacket, 
 then went back and offered one of them, with his best bow, to the girl 
 on the horse. Right away the lady of the house offered to trade for 
 the one remaining, and the result was a plentiful dinner for himself, 
 and, in consideration of a thread or two of silk, a full haversack and 
 canteen. After this our mess was well supplied, and our forager 
 began to look sleek and fat. The secret of his success did not leak 
 out till long afterward, when he astonished the boys by declaring that 
 he 'had been living like a fighting cock on a paper of needles and 
 two skeins of silk.'" 
 
 AN ASTONISHING SHOT. 
 
 One of the remarkable casualties of the war occurred during the 
 siege of Port Hudson, in the killing of a Union soldier some distance 
 in the rear of the Twenty-first Indiana Volunteers, acting then as 
 heavy artillery, by a shell fired in the other direction. Sergeant 
 Rufus Dooley, who was sighting the gun and noting the eflfect of the 
 shots, says: 
 
 "The immense shell — more like a big iron nail keg than a shot — 
 went straight to the mark aimed at, and exploded just as it struck 
 the hard packed face of the Confederate work. In fact it timed the 
 explosion so well that the reaction was all one way ; it hardly 'fazed' 
 the work, and all the pieces flew back to us. One big piece sailed 
 high above our heads and struck in a hollow behind us. I only 
 watched it till I saw it clear of us and went on with my business, 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 109 
 
 thinking, though, that we were a little too near the mark for com- 
 fort. Soon after we learned that the big piece had struck a man who 
 was down in the hollow and crushed his skull." 
 
 CONFEDERATE MONEY. 
 
 When the first issue of the Confederate money was scattered among 
 
 the people it commanded a slight premium. It then scaled down as 
 
 fuUows: 
 
 Worth. 
 
 June, 1861 90c 
 
 December 1, 1861 80c 
 
 December 15, 1861 75c 
 
 February 1, 1862 60c 
 
 February 1, 1863 20c 
 
 June, 1863 8c 
 
 January, 1864 5c 
 
 November, 1864 4Jc 
 
 January, 1865 2Jc 
 
 April 1, 1865 Uc 
 
 After that date it took from $800 to $1,000 in Confederate money 
 to buy a one-dollar greenback, until the end came. 
 
 ''JOHN BROWN'S BODY!" 
 
 A member of the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment claims the 
 honor of originating one of the most famous refrains of the war, as 
 follows : 
 
 "The tune of 'John Brown' was adapted from a camp-meeting 
 tune, 'Say, brothers, will you meet us?' This, in turn, was mod- 
 eled from a song written for a fire company — 'Say, bummers, Avill 
 you meet us ? ' The words originated with members of the ' Tiger 
 Battalion,' Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; and as these members 
 subsequently enlisted in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteer In- 
 fantry (Webster Regiment), we naturally claim words and music of 
 the 'John Brown : ong.' It first appeared in April, 1861, in a 
 quartet of the 'Tigers' — Jenkins, Edgerly, Purnette and John 
 Brown — and was simply a sort of joke on the name of the last men- 
 tioned. He was a Scotchman, and failed to see any point in the 
 
110 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 witticism, which, of course, only made it more lasting. The Twelfth 
 Massachusetts sang it in Boston harbor, at Fort Warren, were the 
 first to sing it in New York City, July, 1861, where it made a sensa- 
 tion, and continued chanting it until it had become so common prop- 
 erty as to have lost all novelty. We claim the adaptation of the tune 
 and these words : 
 
 John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave, 
 His soul goes marching on. 
 Glory, Hallelujah. 
 
 "Our regimental band (Matlaxid's, of Brocton, Mass.) was the first 
 to arrange and play the tune. Two of the quartet are now living in 
 Boston, Mass. John Brown was drowned in Virginia, June, 1862, 
 and Jenkins' whereabouts are unknown. All were sergeants in the 
 Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers." 
 
 FOLLOWING THE CRACKERS. 
 
 The projected movement of the Union gunboats and trarrsports past 
 the Vicksburg batteries was supposed to have been kept a profound 
 secret. Especial pains had been taken to conceal the preparations, 
 even from the gunboats' crews, lest the wind should blow the ncAvs to 
 the Confederates at Vicksburg. 
 
 On the afternoon of that day a private soldier, a merry, devil-may- 
 care looking Irishman, presented himself at McPherson's headquarters 
 with an urgent request to see the General. Everybody was admitted 
 to see McPherson, and the private was soon in his presence, with a pro- 
 fusion of bows and military salutes. 
 
 "Well, my man, what can I do for you ?" asked McPherson. 
 
 "I've called, Gineral, to ax the privilege of going down the river 
 wid the thransports." 
 
 "Transports!" exclaimed McPherson. "Who told you any trans- 
 ports were going down the river ?" 
 
 "Well, Gineral, nobody towld me. But I've kept me weather eye 
 open, an' I see the motions goin' on wid the boats, and I've called to 
 put in me applicashun to go in 'em." 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE HI 
 
 "But even if they do go, they'll be shelled all the way past Vicks- 
 burg. You might get your head blown off. It's dangerous." 
 
 "Yis, I know, Gineral. But, beggin' your pardon, sir, I've noticed 
 that where the crackers go the byes always follow, an' I've made up 
 me mind I'd a good dale rather ride than walk." 
 
 The Irishman got his wish. 
 
 THE FIRST UNION FLAG CAPTURED. 
 
 The first Union flag captured in the war was taken about daylight 
 on the morning of July 19th, 1861, from Lieutenant Shurtliefl", by 
 Colonel J. M. Sandige, of New Orleans, then a member of a Virginia 
 cavalry company, who, the night before, had been ordered forward on 
 the Yorktown road toward Newport, then occupied by the Union 
 forces. In the darkness a Union force was heard approaching, and in 
 ignorance of its strength, it was allowed to pass by Sandige's squad, 
 but when returning in the early morning it was ambushed and nearly 
 all of them killed or wounded. Among the latter was Lieutenant 
 Shurtlieff, who was carrying a small L^niou flag. This was used as a 
 bandage and so was discolored with his blood. Shurtlieff" was taken 
 to Richmond and the flag was for some time displayed in the office of 
 Secretary Benjamin, of the Confederate cabinet, as the first flag cap- 
 tured in the war. Afterward it was returned to Sandige, who kept it 
 until after the war, when he returned it to Shurtlieff, then a well 
 known artist of New York. 
 
 A QUEER CHARGE OF DESERTION. 
 In 1861, when hundreds of volunteer regiments were being organ- 
 ized in haste throughout the North, there was, through the inexper- 
 ience or ignorance of the organizers, great confusion. Scores of things 
 were done on the spur of the moment that would not bear investiga- 
 tion. It was the rule that a company to be mustered in must number 
 so many men, and in not a few regiments it was the custom for com- 
 pany commanders whose companies were not up to the standard to 
 borrow men for that occasion only. On the day appointed for muster 
 
11 2 W A R A N E CD U TES 
 
 the Captain would arrange to have ten or fifteen men selected from the 
 other companies report to him under secret orders. Fictitious names, 
 to which these men answered, would be put upon the rolls and the men 
 from the other companies would take their place in line with the men 
 of the company to be mustered, would be sworn in and the mere 
 formality ended. 
 
 No one thought then that there could be any after-clap in the way 
 of serious complications or consequences, but on the first report made 
 to the headquarters the men had to be accounted for. If the company 
 had been recruited up to the standard, the real name of the recruits 
 had to be put on the roll in place of the fictitious ones carried on 
 muster day. The question was how to get rid of the bogus members, 
 and the easiest way out of the difficulty was to mark them deserters. 
 In a good many cases this was done with no thought of wronging any 
 one, but marking or reporting a man as a deserter was a serious busi- 
 ness, as many of the participants in this little scheme of deception 
 learned to their sorrow. 
 
 Old Major Burbanks, of the regular army, mustered a great many 
 of the volunteer regiments in 1861. He had a quick eye and good 
 memory. In one case a man sent over from another company answered to 
 the name of Thomas Tinkerman. He had a smooth, girlish complexion, 
 and a very impressive blue eye. A few days after that he was in line 
 with his own company for muster and was on the rolls there under his 
 own name. The Major remembered the face and the eyes, and without 
 explanation or remark that would in any way indicate his purpose, he 
 ordered the man to stand out of the ranks. 
 
 At the close of the proceedings the blue-eyed man found himself 
 under arrest, and two Captains of that regiment were in a panic. It 
 was deemed advisable to get the man known as Thomas Tinkerman 
 out of the way, and the next morning he was reported as a deserter 
 on both rolls. When the regiment was ordered on the field he joined 
 his company and served creditably for nearly a year. On one occasion 
 he was on guard at division headquarters, when who should accost him 
 but Major Burbanks. The mustering officer charged the blue eyes 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 118 
 
 with desertion and unsoldierly conduct, while the owner of the blue 
 eyes insisted that he never had deserted, and that he had never com- 
 mitted an act of which any soldier should be ashamed. This was the 
 truth, but it took a year to establish the fact, and in the meantime 
 Thomas Tinkerman played the part of the artful dodger. 
 
 THINGS SOLDIERS CARRIED. 
 
 Colonel Frederick Martin thus discourses pleasantly about the things 
 soldiers would sometimes appropriate and carry along : 
 
 "There were lots of funny things about the war, now that you think 
 of them when the tears are dried away, and about the funniest thmgs 
 I recall, were the the queer articles the boys used to pick up on the 
 march, and the eccentric way they'd tote 'em along to finally adorn 
 some ditch on the wayside. Stragglers were the worst at this, but all 
 the fellows were bad enough. Whenever the army went through a 
 fine family residence, the boys would capture what struck each as most 
 attractive, and some of their tastes were peculiar. They had a great 
 weakness for cradles. You may ask me what a man treading his way 
 to the front wanted with a mahogany cradle, and I'm blest if I know, 
 but they took 'em. 
 
 "Now, you'd suppose that any ordinary idiot would just look at that 
 cradle as it lay in the road and pass on, but they wouldn't. Some one 
 would be certain to pick it up and lug it a few miles further into the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 "I recall one cradle that traveled 100 miles on blue backs before it 
 went to increase the blaze of a mess fire. Somehow, they seemed to 
 think vaguely that there was a chance of getting the infant soother 
 home, but they never succeeded. 
 
 "The furniest thing I ever saw carried was a looking-glass five feet 
 high and two feet wide. I saw it first in the parlor of a central Vir- 
 ginia mansion, and next day on a soldier's back, headed for Peters- 
 burg. Then I lost sight of it for two days, and found it propped up 
 against a tree forty miles further along. The next day I saw it travel- 
 ing tenderly on a straggler's back. He had his gun in one hand, and 
 
114 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 had somehow strapped the glass so he could get along without holdinsr 
 fast to it. 
 
 "Well, this fellow must have got tired, for the next day a third 
 had it, and on the next a fourth. This chap toted it into the lines at 
 Petersburg. He sat it up against a tree, took a long, regretful look 
 at full length of his shabby self, and turned away with a sigh. 
 
 "It was just as well that he did. The next day along came a minie 
 bullet, buzzing like a hornet, and hit the glass square in the center, 
 and smashed it into a frame full of cracks radiating from around the 
 hole. 
 
 "The heavier and more useless things were, the more they clung to 
 them, even combining to escort pianos into untimely graves in mud- 
 holes ; but the man who could steal a rocking chair was a white-robed 
 angel in his own mind, and the object of universal envy. 
 
 "Another funny thing was to have the sutler strike camp loaded 
 up with condensed milk. I've seen a whole regiment sitting on a 
 fence, each man with a milk can in one hand, dipping out the sweet, 
 thick stuflF with his forefinger, and licking it oft with an expression of 
 beatitude that would make a Raphaelite saint look sick in com- 
 parison." 
 
 HOW SHERMAN GOT A DRINK. 
 
 When General Sherman's army was at Goldsboro, N. C, he made 
 a visit to the headquarters of General Howard. While there he felt 
 the need of a small draught of whisky to drive off the malarial effects 
 of the climate on his system. Now, all the officers of the army knew 
 of General Howard's rigid temperance proclivities, and were strict in 
 their respect for them. General Shermau knew there was no whisky 
 in General Howard's quarters, and therefore did not mention his wants 
 to the latter. Presently Dr. John Moore, the Medical Director, came 
 in, and after a little conversation, General Sherman gave him the 
 wink and said, "Doctor, have you a seidlitz powder in your quarters?" 
 The Doctor answered that he had. General Howard spoke up and 
 said: "General Sherman, it is not necessary to go to the Doctor's 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 115 
 
 quarters, I have plenty of Seidlitz powders here, and good ones, too; 
 I will get you one." If there was anything in General Howard's 
 quarters that General Sherman did not want, it was a seidlitz powder, 
 and therefore he said: "Never mind. General! Give yourself no 
 trouble." Howard was then getting the powder and glasses of water 
 ready. "I will be going by Moore's quarters after awhile." Dr. Moore 
 was a great wag, and quickly took in the situation and became a party 
 to the joke. He said to General Sherman: "By the way. General, I 
 don't think I have , a seidlitz powder in my quarters, and you had 
 better take the one General Howard has." By this time Howard had 
 the powder all ready for use, and handed the glasses to Sherman. 
 Rather than offend Howard by saying he meant whisky, he drank the 
 foaming stuif down, much to his own disgust, to the satisfaction of 
 General Howard, and to the amusement of the staff. 
 
 HE WAS OBEDIENT, BUT SLOW. 
 A Southern Army surgeon tells the following story of the battle of 
 Chickamauga : "The hottest part of the fight was on Saturday and 
 Sunday. On Saturday night Ave were expecting to renew the fight the 
 next day. I turned to a corporal, saying : 'Andrew, look in that am- 
 bulance, and you will find a two-gallon jug. Take it down in yonder 
 ravine and bring it full of water. If any of the boys get hurt to-mor- 
 row they might suffer for water.' He took the jug and went off, and 
 I neither heard nor saw any more of Andrew till Tuesday, after the 
 fight was over. He came up almost breathless vnth the jug of water. 
 'Doctor,' says he, 'I've found the water at last ; I would have brought 
 it if it had taken me three weeks to find it !'" 
 
 PREFERRED BEING A BABY, 
 At a recent reunion the following story was told by one who was at 
 Gettysburg: 
 
 "In my regiment, when the bullets were falling like hail, and the 
 shells were shrieking and bursting over our heads in fl way to make 
 the bravest heart tremble, a private dropped out of the ranks and 
 
IIQ WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 skulked back to the rear. He was well under way when, unfor- 
 tunately for him, he was met by General Slocura coming to the front. 
 
 " 'What are you doing here? Get back to your post,' the General 
 shouted. 
 
 "The poor fellow stopped still and trembled like a leaf, but made 
 no reply. 
 
 " 'Get back to your post, you miserable coward; aren't you ashamed 
 of yourself to be skulking back here when you should be in the front 
 with your brave comrades?' 
 
 "Still the man made no reply, but began to cry like a year-old 
 infant. 
 
 " 'You infamous, sneaking coward,' shouted the infuriated General, 
 'get back to your post; I'll ride you down like a dog. Why, you are 
 nothing but a baby!' 
 
 "I-I-I'll t-t-t-tell you what, G-g-general,' said the blubbering fellow, 
 'I'd g-g-give anything just n-n-now if I was a b-baby, aud i-i-if I had 
 my ch-ch-choice I'd r-r- rather be a female b- b-baby !' " 
 
 CAUGHT BY BUTLER'S YANKEE TRICK. 
 
 General Butler's first desire on taking command of New Orleans 
 after Jts capture by Farragut was to put the city in a proper sanitary 
 condition. Almost everybody who owned a horse and cart had either 
 fled the city or was hiding, as terrible stories had been circulated about 
 the "one-eyed Cyclops" of the Union army. One day while the Gen- 
 eral and his staff were seated on the piazza in front of his headquar- 
 ters a dilapidated-looking team was about passing. The mule was 
 spavined, broken down and resembled a moving hat-rack more than 
 anything else; the harness was bits of rope and the cart an ancient, 
 tumble-down sugar hogshead on wheels. Butler stopped the driver, 
 who was one of the "po' white trash," and asked him what he would 
 take for the team. "Fifty dollars cash in gold," said the driver. 
 "You team is worth $200," said General Butler, and he directed his 
 chief of staff to give him that amount for the whole rig, which was 
 moved around to the headquarters yard. The fortunate driver went 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 117 
 
 on his way with his money. The next morning about two hundred 
 horses and carts were drawn up in front of headquarters, their 
 drivers besieging General Butler to buy them. He confiscated the 
 whole lot and put the men to work cleaning up the streets of New 
 Orleans. 
 
 "HOW ARE YOU, IKEf" 
 
 Isaac Littleton, a member of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio 
 Infantry, was a good soldier, barring one great fault. He was not 
 reliable, and told a story with so much relish that he could actually 
 retell it without any of the contradictions which afford so much 
 pleasure to a lawyer to discover. Isaac was a butcher by trade, and 
 was detailed to slaughter beef for the brigade or to superintend the 
 work. This gave him a new field for adventure, and he improved it 
 in his own inimitable way. One day he came to the regimental camp 
 mounted on a grey mule. Some of the boys asked him where he got 
 the mule. We will let him tell his story in his own words : 
 
 "That mule has a history. I went out with a party of the Fourth 
 Pennsylvania to capture some cattle in Luray Gap. We secured 
 sixty-seven head of cattle and were quietly returning when a whole 
 company of Mosby's guerrillas charged on us. I had no gun, but I 
 had two revolvers, and as I rode along the line I brought down a man 
 at every pop. I kept on till I had dropped twelve men. My revolvers 
 being empty I took a saber from a dead guerrila and ran it through 
 the body of the Captain of the company. Then I found two revolvers 
 on his person, and armed with these and mounted on his grey mule, 
 the Confederates took me for their Captain. I returned, and at every 
 pop I dropped a man until I had emptied twelve more saddles. By 
 this time the guerrillas were whipped, but there was only five men 
 left of the Fourth Pennsylvania. Before the fight began I had driven 
 the cattle into a pen, and now we found them all safe. The Corporal 
 thanked me for my presence of mind and bravery, and said he owed 
 his life to me. He asked me if he could do anything for me. I told 
 him I only wanted the grey mule and the guerrilla Captain's pistols. 
 
118 WAE ANECDOTES 
 
 He said I won them and ought to keep them. On our way to camp 
 we met General Sheridan and his staff. The General stopped us and 
 asked me where I got the mule, I told him the whole story and 
 showed him the revolvers. The General took out his note-book and 
 asked me : 
 
 " 'What's your name?' 
 
 " 'Littleton.' 
 
 " 'But what's your first name?' 
 
 " 'Isaac' 
 
 " 'What Company?' 
 
 " 'Company E.' 
 
 " 'What regiment?' 
 
 " 'One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio Infantry.' 
 
 " 'What Brigade?' 
 
 " 'Second Brigade.' 
 
 " 'What Division?' 
 
 " 'Third Division.' 
 
 " 'What Corps?' 
 
 " 'Eighth Corps.' 
 
 " 'Well, Ike,' said the General, 'ray name is Phil; you must call 
 me Phil, and I will call you Ike. I would like to see you at my 
 headquarters. When can you come? ' 
 
 "I told him I had to attend to the cattle and slaughter them for the 
 brigade. 
 
 " 'Well,' said he, 'come to-night if possible; come on that famous 
 grey mule.' 
 
 "I was so busy I could not go until 10 o'clock that night. I found 
 the General sitting up waiting for me. As soon as I entered he jumped 
 up, stretched out his hand, and said : 'How are you, Ike?' I answered : 
 'How are you, Phil?' We talked over matters and drank a little 
 wine and parted good friends. He told me whenever I came near 
 his headquarters to be sure and call." 
 
 The boys were so delighted with his story that they told it over and 
 over until every man in the company knew it. Added to this every 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 119 
 
 unlucky fellow who rode either horse or mule past the camp was 
 greeted with, "How are you, Ike?" 
 
 The whole division and at last the corps got hold of it and even the 
 officer of the day was hailed, "How are you, Ike?" It actually 
 required an order from corps headquarters to stop the foolish questiou. 
 
 A SOLDIER'S BEST ACT. 
 
 A soldier of Morgan's command, distinguished alike for his courage 
 and modesty, being asked what was the best act of his soldier-life, re- 
 plied: "At Augusta, Ky., the Union troops were sweeping the streets 
 with shot, seemingly as thick as rain-drops, when a mother on the op- 
 posite side of the street from me stood wringing her hands in agonized 
 anxiety, regarding her little child that toddled in the middle of the 
 roadway, unconscious of danger and apparently enjoying the music of 
 the whistling 'minies.' Forgetful of possible consequences to myself, 
 I sprang into the street, seized the little innocent prattler, and un- 
 harmed, untouched by bullet, placed it in its mother's ai-ma. God 
 saw the act and smiled, and I live to tell the incident." 
 
 SHERIDAN'S QUAKER HEROINE. 
 
 A modest little Quaker woman in the redemption agency of the 
 Treasury Department wears a gold watch on which is inscribed: 
 "Presented to Rebecca L. Wright, Sept. 19, '67, by Gen. Phil. H. 
 Sheridan. A memento of Sept. 19, '64." The watch is attached to 
 a long gold chain, fastened at the neck with a clasp representing a 
 horse-shoe, a military gauntlet and stirrups. Hanging to a short end 
 is a sword, a key and a seal. The wearer of this is a lady of fifty, 
 and she appears ten or fifteen years younger. Her manner is quiet, 
 and her face expresses amiability and the gentler womanly qualities. 
 There is nothing strong-minded or warlike about her bearing — noth- 
 ing to suggest the wearing of military honors. Yet no soldier who 
 followed Sheridan into Winchester on the 19th of September, 1864, 
 did a greater service than did this little woman on that occasion. It 
 was due to her that Winchester was captured, and Sheridan always 
 
120 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 spoke with pride of his "little Quaker girl." She was little more than 
 a girl when he first met her. 
 
 When Sheridan was lying before Winchester in 1864 a family of 
 Quakers lived within the town, then held by the Confederate forces. 
 They were one of the very few Union families who remained in the 
 place during the war. As Quakers they were opposed to war, and 
 by the teachings of their faith they were loyal. During the heat of 
 the contest the father, an old man, was made prisoner by the Con- 
 federates, and died from confinement and hardships. The mother, 
 one daughter, and a little boy lived together, and were much re- 
 spected, notwithstanding their want of sympathy with war and re- 
 bellion. 
 
 The daughter was Rebecca Wright, and she it was who furnished 
 General Sheridan with information concerning General Early's forces 
 which led to the successful battle of September 19. She has been 
 married since then and is now Mrs. Bonsai. She is a refined and 
 very intelligent woman, and must have been a remarkably pretty girl 
 when she risked her life to serve the cause of the Union. She had 
 never seen General Sheridan at that time, and, knew nothing of him. 
 
 "I was engaged in some household duties," she said, in recounting 
 her story. "It was about noon on the 16th of September, '64. I was 
 interrupted by a knock at the door, and, on opening it, I found an 
 intelligent looking colored man, who asked to see Miss Wright. 
 There were two Misses Wright living in Winchester, and I asked 
 which he wanted. 'Miss Rebecca,' he said; 'the other is in sympathy 
 with the Confederates.' He would not say what he wanted, but, af- 
 ter looking about carefully, asked to be allowed to speak with me 
 alone. I Avas impressed by his manner, and took him into another 
 room. He at once closed the door, and I became alarmed, as my 
 mother and I were alone in the house. But he immediately said he 
 had a note from General Sheridan, who wanted me to give him all 
 the information I could concerning the Confederate forces. He took 
 from his mouth a little wad of tinfoil, which proved to be a letter 
 from General Sheridan written on tissue paper. The colored man 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 121 
 
 said he had carried it all the way in his mouth, and had been in- 
 structed to swallow it if molested by the Confederate pickets. He 
 was engaged in carrying provisions through the lines for the use of 
 the town, and General Sheridan had secured his services in this 
 mattei'. I was taken by surprise and did not know what to do. I 
 did not know how far I could trust the man, fearing that there might 
 be a trick to get me into trouble, and I told him that I knew noth- 
 ing about the Confederates. But the man spoke very intelligently 
 and gave such evidences of earnestness that I concluded to trust him. 
 While he was talking I was tearing the tinfoil. 
 
 " 'Don't, don't!' said he. 'You will need that to wrap the reply in.' 
 
 "He said be would return at 3 o'clock. 
 
 "After his departure I read the note. It was written on very thin 
 yellow tissue paper, which was greatly wrinkled and mussed from being 
 folded so tightly." 
 
 Mrs. Bonsai has preserved the letter, put in a small picture frame 
 behind a glass for protection. It Avas written in a very fine hand, evi- 
 dently by dictation, and signed by the General. The sheet was only 
 a little larger than ordinary note paper. It said simply this : 
 
 September 15, 1864. 
 
 I learn from Major General Crook that you are a loyal lady and still love 
 the old flag. 
 
 Can you inform me of the position of Early's forces, the number of divisions 
 in his army, and the strength of all or any of them, and his probable or reported 
 intentions? Have any more troops arrived from Richmond, or are there any 
 more coming, or reported to be coming? 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant. P. H. Sheridan, 
 
 Major General commanding. 
 
 You can trust the bearer. 
 
 "After reading the letter," continued Mrs. Bonsai, "I went at once 
 to my mother and told her what had occurred. We were almost over- 
 powered by the thought of the great danger we were in, but we con- 
 cluded to run the risk. 
 
 "If it had not been for an accident, that seems to have been provi- 
 dential, I should have known nothing to teli General Sheridan that 
 would have been of value to him. As it happened, I did not know 
 
122 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 how valuable the information I possessed might be. My mother and 
 I were known to be loyal, and the Confederates had very little to do 
 with us, so we knew nothing of them or of what was going on. But 
 a Confederate officer, who had been wounded and was then convales- 
 cent, was boarding Avith one of our neighbors. As a convalescent he 
 wandered about at will, and knew all about the strength and move- 
 ments, the dangers, the hopes, and the fears of Early's forces. It 
 chanced that just two evenings before I got General Sheridan's letter, 
 or before I had any thought of serving the Union cause, this young 
 Confederate asked permission to call on me. He had often observed 
 me from his window arranging or gathering my flowers, and he was 
 lonely and sought my company. So it chanced that two evenings 
 before I got the note this young officer Avas at our house. AVe Avere 
 strangers, with nothing in common to talk about, so the conversation 
 turned upon the war, and more especially the state of affairs directly 
 about us. He described the situation from his standpoint — how many 
 troops they had and what they must rely on. I asked questions without 
 any purpose except to keep up the conversation, and he answered 
 freely. I had no idea of what importance all this was, or that it 
 would ever come of use to me, but when I read General Sheridan's 
 letter it all at once occurred to me that I could tell him what the Con- 
 federate had told me. 
 
 "When the colored man returned I gave him an answer to the 
 General's letter, telling the number of troops, their situation, and 
 the fact that some had been called off* for service elsewhere. I told 
 him, in fact, the very things, as I see now, that he most wanted to 
 know, but I expressed regret that I could not give more information, 
 and said I would try to gather more for him if he Avould send the 
 messenger back in a day or two. 
 
 "The colored man put the letter in his mouth and left the house 
 quietly. Many times during the next day, Saturday, and the quiet 
 Sabbath that followed, I Avondered Avhat had become of the messenger, 
 and what would be the result from my note. 
 
 "When I was awakened Monday morning by the booming of can- 
 
INCID ENTS OF ARAIY L IFE 123 
 
 non my first thought was whether my note had anything to do with 
 it. It was a terrible fight, and in the afternoon, when the streets 
 were filled with troops, wagons,^ cannon, and the poor suffering 
 wounded, and the buildings were on fire all around us, my mother 
 asked me, with tears in her eyes, if I thought my note had anything 
 to do with this battle. I had thought of that all day, and I was 
 overwhelmed. I hid my face in my hands and cried: 'Oh ! no, no ! 
 I don't believe he got it.' It was the most terrible day of my ex- 
 perience. Houses about us were on fire, our own fence was burning 
 and shells fell so near that my mother and I went into the cellar for 
 safety. Finally the rumbling of the battle grew fainter and fainter, 
 until it got so quiet I could not endure to remain in the cellar in ig- 
 norance of the result. From the first floor I could see nothing; noth- 
 ing from the second floor, but from the garret windows I saw the old 
 American flag coming into the town. I dropped upon my knees. J 
 soon learned whether my note had to do with the battle. Hearing 
 sabers clattering against the steps, I started to the front door and 
 met two Union officers already inside the house. One introduced 
 himself as General Sheridan. He told me that it was entirely upon 
 the information I had sent him that he fought the battle, and he 
 thanked me earnestly, saying he would never forget my courage and 
 patriotism. I was so fearful of suspicion that I would hardly permit 
 him to speak to me. I knew that should the Southern people dis- 
 cover the part I had in the battle my life would not be worth much, 
 and I was afraid to have the General talk to me. I begged him not 
 to speak of it ; that my life would be in danger when the Union 
 troops went away. General Sheridan replied that the Confederates 
 would never come again. He wrote his report at my desk and called 
 in the morning to say good-bye before following Early to Fisher's. 
 
 "He rode a beautiful black horse that morning. I lived on quietly 
 at Winchester," she continued, "until 1867, and no one suspected me. 
 They knew nothing of the matter until this watch arrived, accom- 
 panied by a letter from General Sheridan. Then the Union people 
 gathered around me in astonishment. I remember an old man who 
 
124 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 took both my hands in his and said: 'AVhy, my little girl, there was 
 
 not a man in the place who would have dared do such a thing. As 
 
 much as I like the Union I would not have had the courage.' Most 
 
 of the community were wild with indignation, but the war was over 
 
 and they could do me no injury. But they showed their dislike for 
 
 me in many ways. The boys used to spit at me on the street. 
 
 "I had no conception of the service I had done until I received this 
 
 letter from the General : 
 
 " 'Headquarters Department of the Gulf, ) 
 New Orleans, January 7, 1867. J 
 
 "'My Dear Miss Wright — You are probably not aware of the service you 
 rendered the Union cause by the information you sent me by the colored man 
 a few days before the Opequee, on September 19, 1864. It was on this in- 
 formation the battle was fought, and probably won. The colored man gave 
 the note rolled up in tinfoil to the scout, who awaited him at Millwood. The 
 colored man had carried it in his mouth to that point and delivered it to the 
 scout, who brought it to me. 
 
 " 'By this note I became aware of the true condition of affairs inside of the 
 enemy's lines, and gave directions for the attack. I will alwavs remember this 
 courageous and patriotic action of yours with gratitude, and beg you to accept 
 the watch and chain, which I send you by General I. W. Forsyth, as a me- 
 mento of September 19, 1864.' " 
 
 This letter is put in a double frame, so as to show the writing on 
 
 both sides. On the back of it is an indorsement by General Grant, 
 
 in his own hand, asking an appointment for (then) Miss Wright to a 
 
 situation in the Treasury Department. While in the Treasury she 
 
 met and married Mr. Bonsai. 
 
 A LONG TIME BETWEEN. DEALS. 
 During one of the early years of the war Colonel E. Wolfe, of an 
 Indiana Regiment, and Major, afterward General Hatch, of the 
 regular army, occupied a log house as common headquarters, near 
 Memphis. One night some movements were in operation, and orders 
 were coming in thick and fast. To while away the tedium of the 
 time the two oflicers sat down to a game of poker. The play was 
 interrupted by the arrival of frequent orderlies, who were promptly 
 attended to, and then the game proceeded. After a while, however, 
 orderlies began to come in at both doors, and the situation grew critical. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 125 
 
 Major Hatch started to his feet with the exclamation: "Wolfe, this 
 thing is getting too hot. Mind, it's your deal!" and, leaving cards 
 and stakes on the table, he hurried from the hovel and mounted his 
 horse. An action soon ensued, and in the operations that followed 
 the two friends became separated. Not during the war did they again 
 meet, and not until twenty years after its close, when one day Colonel 
 Wolfe was at Winfield, Ark., and entered the hotel there to register. 
 A grey-headed, military looking gentleman was in the act of writing 
 his name on the book, which having done, he handed the pen to the 
 Indianian ; their eyes met, and recognition was mutual. "Hello, 
 Hatch," said the ex-volunteer officer, "who would have thought of 
 seeing you here?" A twinkle came to the eyes of the veteran 
 addressed, and extending his hand he dryly remarked : "Wolfe, it's 
 your deal !" 
 
 A BRAVE SERGEANT'S LAST SHOT. 
 
 Sergeant Albert Bunn belonged to the Seventy-first Pennsylvania 
 Regiment, which was first enlisted in Philadelphia by United States 
 Senator Baker, and was intended to be credited to California. For 
 some reason that State did not accept it, and it was disbanded as the 
 First California and immediately re-enlisted by Governor Curtin as 
 the Seventy-first Pennsylvania, though it had been one of the earliest 
 enlisted. The regiment saw very active service. It behaved nobly 
 at Ball's Bluff, where the heroic Baker fell, and was with McClellan 
 through his Peninsular campaign in Virginia. Young Bunn won a 
 name for unflinching courage, but the crowning act of his military 
 career was at Gettysburg, when, on July 3, 1863, he met his death. 
 The regiment was in the Second Division of Hancock's Second Army 
 Corps. It Avas located on the left center of the line at Cemetery 
 Ridge. Near by was a battery that suffered terribly from the devastat- 
 ing fire of the Confederates. Its men were being picked off by sharp- 
 shooters, and it was exposed to the full sweep of the fierce shelling 
 with which the Confederates covered the gallant charge that proved 
 their last. It was absolutely necessary that the guns should be kept 
 
126 TT^iJ ANECDOTES 
 
 in position, but the battery had become so crippled that they could no 
 longer be worked. In this emergency its commanding officer, who 
 was wounded in the leg and who was shortly afterward killed, asked 
 for volunteers to man his guns, and said he preferred men from the 
 Seventy-first Regiment. 
 
 Sergeant Bunn sprang forward and took charge of one of the guns, 
 and loaded it almost to the muzzle. Colonel Charles Kochersperger 
 shouted to him : "Sergeant, your gun is elevated too high." 
 
 "All right," he cried back, as he coolly adjusted it, although he and 
 all his comrades knew that he was looking death in the face. 
 
 "Sergeant, I'm afraid it will burst," said the Colonel, who had wit- 
 nessed the manner in which Bunn had loaded the weapon. 
 
 "All right. Colonel," he shouted ; "if it does it will burst some of 
 them !" and he stood by his implement of death with linstock in 
 hand. The Confederates were then making their final charge. Bunn 
 waited until they were at close range, as unmoved in that hail of death 
 as though he was on dress parade. When what he considered the op- 
 portune moment had arrived he applied the match. A comrade who 
 witnessed the result says: "It was like mowing grain down with a 
 scythe." The carnage from that one explosion was simply appalling. 
 When the smoke lifted they saw Bunn lying beside the gun. When 
 they went to him they saw that he was dead. Seven bullets were found 
 imbedded in his body. Generals and Admirals win high renown for 
 the military achievements of their men, but personal deeds of heroism 
 by simple privates or subalterns are rarely recorded. 
 
 HOW SHERIDAN WAS MADE COLONEL. 
 
 General Alger tells the following story of the way Captain, after- 
 wards General, Sheridan received his commission as Colonel of the 
 Second Michigan Cavalry: 
 
 "It was in 1862 and I was then on one of the campaigns of the 
 Second. Governor Blair came to the camp with General Robertson, 
 Adjutant General of State troops, and they departed for Pittsburg 
 Landing, thirty miles south. Colonel Gordon Granger was promoted 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 127 
 
 Brigadier General, and that left us without a Colonel. The officers 
 chose Captain Sheridan, at that time Acting Commissary on 
 Halleck's staff. I was charged with the duty of communicating the 
 officers' wishes to Governor Blair, and with Lieutenant Frank Wal- 
 bridge rode to Pittsburg Landing. I delivered my message, but the 
 Governor hesitated. I reiterated the fact that he was considered the 
 best man for the place. 'All right,' said the Governor; 'you officers of 
 the Second know better than I.' He wrote Sheridan's appointment 
 on a page of note paper. 
 
 "Walbridge and I rOde back to camp that night. My brother 
 officers deputed me to acquaint Sheridan with his promotion, and I 
 rode down to Halleck's headquarters. I had never seen Sheridan, 
 and was somewhat surprised when I was directed to a little bit of 
 a fellow weighing about 135 pounds, with a big head, a resolute eye 
 and broad shoulders. His form tapered down to his feet like an iron 
 wedge. Dismounting, I said, 'Is this Colonel Sheridan?' 
 
 " 'I'm Ca})tain Sheridan, of the army,' he replied, with a quiet 
 glance. The word 'army* with West Pointers meant 'regular army.' 
 
 "Well, you're my Colonel,' I said, handing him Governor Blair's 
 note. He was considerably elated. Other staff officers suspecting 
 something gathered around, and Sheridan handed them the note to 
 read. Then came a deluge of congratulations and hand-shaking and 
 an adjournment to a tent for refreshments. 
 
 " 'Colonel, here's your health,' said an officer, holding up a glass of 
 spirits, 'and I hope that it's only a step to a Brigadier's star.' The 
 toast was drank with enthusiasm, but Sheridan said: "No, thank you, 
 gentlemen ; I am now a Colonel of cavalry, and I have got all the 
 rank I want.'" 
 
 COOL AS A CUCUMBER. 
 
 General Pleasanton, who commanded the cavalry of the Army of 
 
 the Potomac, had a tendency to always look upon the humorous side 
 
 oi things. He said that even in action at the most critical period he 
 
 could always see something that made him laugh. It was at the battle 
 
128 Ji^AR ANP.CDOTES 
 
 of Brandy Station that one of these instances occurred. In the heat 
 of the engagement a cavalryman's horse was shot under him. A 
 shell had taken off the horse's hind legs clean, and the cavalryman 
 and horse rolled together in the dust. "That fellow," said the General, 
 "was the coolest man I ever saw. He got up and shook himself and 
 commenced to take off his saddle and bridle and carefully piled them 
 with his other traps in a little heap. Although the shot were scream- 
 ing past him and the air was full of bullets and shell, he acted with 
 as much deliberation as if he were getting ready for breakfast. That 
 is what attracted my attention. I watched that fellow, thinking that 
 was the kind of man I wanted in my escort. At that moment another 
 shell took off his horse's head, and he looked upon him a moment, and 
 then put his foot upon the horse's body, about the only thing that 
 was left of the animal, and shook his fist in the direction of the 
 Confederate battery over on the hill. It was the most comical sight 
 to me I ever saw, and I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it, although 
 we were in a pretty tight place. The next morning I sent over to the 
 regiment to which the soldier belonged and asked the name of the 
 man whose horse had been killed in the manner stated. My orderly 
 returned saying that he couldn't find him. When I inspected the 
 regiment, or what was left of it, that day, I rode down the line and 
 looked at every man to see if I could pick him out myself. Don't 
 you know that I never could find out that fellow ? You see, he had 
 probably stolen a horse from the quartermaster's department and 
 remounted himself, and was afraid to come forward for fear of a court- 
 martial. He was a brave fellow, and I have would have been glad 
 to have made him a sergeant." 
 
 A WAR DUEL AND ITS RESULT. 
 On the 12th of June, 1863, a singular duel took place in Greene 
 County, in East Tennessee, between Captain Jones, of the Union 
 forces, and Captain Fry, of the Confederate army. For months 
 these two oflScers had commanded an outpost on opposite sides of 
 Lick Creek, a stream too deep to ford and too shallow for a ferry- 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 129 
 
 boat, spanned by a bridge which both wished to preserve for the sake 
 of the crossing that might at any time become imperatively desirable, 
 but which each resolutely determined should not pass wholly into ihe 
 possession of the other. After fighting for months with varying suc- 
 cess, but no lasting advantage to either, they agreed to fight a duel 
 for the bridge, the victor to hold undisputed possession for the time 
 being. Jones gave the challenge, and Fry accepted. By the terms 
 agreed upon they were to fight with "navy sixes," at twenty paces, 
 deliberately walking toward each other and firing until their last 
 shot was discharged, unless one should fall meantime. Seconds were 
 chosen and a Confederate surgeon, the only one within reach, at- 
 tended in his professional capacity. Both were fine-looking men, 
 ideal soldiers in appearance, Fry being the taller, standing six feet, 
 slender, with long curly hair, dark eyes, and a nonchalance that was 
 more impressive than any bluster could have been. Jones lacked 
 two inches of six feet, and with his light hair, blue eyes and regular, 
 resolute features, seemed every inch a chieftain. Both were brave 
 to a degree. Fry was suffering from a severe flesh wound in the left 
 arm, but came on the field as cool and collected as his opponent. 
 
 The preliminaries settled, each took his position. Jones' second 
 won the word, and he slowly said, "One — two — three — fire!" They 
 simultaneously turned at the word "One" and instantly fired. Neither 
 was hurt. They cocked their pistols and deliberately walked toward 
 each other, firing as they went. At the fifth shot Jones threw up his 
 right hand and, firing into the air, sank slowly to the ground. Fry 
 was in the act of firing his last shot, but, seeing Jones fall, the 
 Southern chivalry within him rose and he silently lowered his pistol. 
 The sight of his opponent prostrate on the ground seemed to work a 
 revulsion of feeling, and he sprang to the side of the fallen man, 
 took his head into his lap and asked, with evident concern, how badly 
 he was wounded. 
 
 The surgeon and the seconds were quickly by the side of the men. 
 It was found that Fry had been wounded three times, one shot strik- 
 ing the right side, one the left arm and the third breaking the right 
 
130 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 arm. It was months before he recovered and returned to duty. 
 Jones' case was even more serious. Three balls had inflicted as many 
 frightful, though not serious, flesh wounds in the body, while the 
 fourth ball had struck near the stomach, but had fortunately been 
 deflected so as to barely escape that organ, coming out to the left of 
 the spinal column. He narrowly escaped dying, but got well at last. 
 Both fought the war out. 
 
 The most singular part of the story is the sequel to the duel. After 
 the war the men met. Their respect for each other's bravery led to 
 an acquaintance, which ended in the strongest friendship, and finally 
 the two whilom foes became partners in business. 
 
 ''DIED LIKE A GENTLEMAN." 
 General Lytle, just before he received his fatal wound at Chicka- 
 mauga, had made his brilliant charge into the midst of the enemy, 
 where all chances of retreat were cut off'. Suddenly he thrust his 
 hand into his coat pocket, drew forth a pair of kid gloves and began 
 putting them on. Asked by an aide the reason for this movement, 
 so unexpected under such thrilling circumstances, the General 
 answered : "Don't you see we are surrounded and that there are but 
 two alternatives left us — to die or surrender? For my part I propose 
 to die like a gentleman !" He drew on his gloves and soon after fell. 
 Those who knew General Lytle knew him to be almost punctilious 
 about the appointments of a gentleman, but no one ever supposed 
 him capable of such incomparable coolness. . 
 
 LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ORATION. 
 
 Hon. Edward McPherson, who was with President Lincoln when 
 the latter wrote his matchless oration delivered at Gettysburg, thus 
 describes the way in which it was composed and delivered : 
 
 "1 represented the Gettysburg District in Congress at the time of 
 the battle, and at the dedication of the cemetery Mr. Lincoln was 
 my guest. He was not sure that he could be present when he was 
 first asked, but said that he should go to Gettysburg if possible. I 
 
INCID ENTS OF ARMY L IFE 131 
 
 think he was not prepared to say positively that he would go until 
 a very few hours before the time set for leaving Washington, so 
 he could not have given any thought to the oration before. I was 
 his seat-mate in the car, and though he talked pleasantly, and spoke 
 of the country through which we Avere passing, yet I thought he was 
 laboring with one of those spells of profound melancholy with which 
 he was at times afflicted. He spoke of Mr. Everett, who was to de- 
 liver the chief oration, and said that Everett ought to be at his best. 
 I kncAV that Mr. Everett had given even more than his usual care in 
 preparing this oration, and looked upon his work as a masterpiece, 
 and I believe I told Mr. Lincoln so, and he said that the theme was 
 great enough to inspire such an orator as Everett to his best. Mr. 
 Lincoln, I think, had no thought of saying anything himself, but I 
 told him that he would be expected to make a few remarks, for it 
 would not be permitted him to be silent. He sat for some moments 
 absorbed in thought, and at last began to feel in his pockets, as if for 
 loose paper. I asked him if he wanted paper and pencil, and he said, 
 'Yes, a scrap of paper ;' and I opened my valise and gave him two 
 or three sheets of note paper. He drew up his long knees, and, 
 putting a book on them, wrote, jotting down, as I supposed, a few 
 heads or suggestions. He wrote right along, without hesitation or 
 erasure, and filled one page atid a part of another. Then he folded 
 it up and put it iu his pocket, simply saying that he had set down a 
 few lines that had occurred to him to say. 
 
 "At the cemetery, at the proper time, he arose, put on his spec- 
 tacles, and drew these sheets from his pocket. I do not think he had 
 looked at them again after writing them in the cars, and in a low 
 voice, which could be heard but a few feet away from the stage, he 
 read those splendid lines. The few who heard him were most pro- 
 foundly impressed, but upon the vast throng who saw him the oration 
 made no impression whatever, because few heard it. No proper re- 
 port of the oration was made, and Mr. Lincoln crumpled the manu- 
 script up and would very likely have thrown it away if I had 
 asked him for it. It was not until it had been printed in a 
 
132 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 newspaper and then widely copied that its wonderful beauty, both in 
 thought and literary workmanship, was recognized, and Mr. Lincoln 
 was very much surprised to learn that scholars were quoting it as the 
 best model of pure English and true eloquence the language had fur- 
 nished, at least in America." 
 
 CHEERED BY THE ENEMY. 
 
 At the battle of Stone River General Bragg ordered a charge by 
 Breckenridge's corps, which was gallantly made, but was repulsed by 
 the Union forces, the Confederates being beaten off with a loss of 2,000 
 men. Among the troops that charged so furiously was the division 
 of Major General J. P. McCann, who rode in gallantly at the head 
 of his men. Before the war he had been a Lieutenant in the regular 
 army, and his old command — the Fourth United States Artillery — 
 was just in his front. No One could have done more than he did on 
 that day to win success, and no troops could have done better than 
 those he led, but nothing could withstand the storm of grape and 
 canister that was sweeping the advancing ranks away, and they broke 
 and run. McCann, still leading, was at this time not more than fifty 
 feet in front of his old battery. Even through the smoke of their 
 guns the men recognized their old commander, Avhile he remembered 
 the faces of his former command, and although chagrined at defeat he 
 could not repress his feelings of admiration at the splendid work his 
 old battery was doing. Turning his horse straight to the front, he 
 rose up ill his stirrups, and, swinging his hat in the air over his head, 
 he yelled : 
 
 "Three cheers for the Fourth Artillery!" 
 
 Then turning, he slowly picked his way back from among the dead 
 and dying and rejoined his division, unhurt. 
 
 THE FIRST CONFEDERATE FLAG CAPTURED. 
 The first Confederate flag captured in the war was taken by Sergeant 
 John G. Merritt, of the First Minnesota Infantry, who thus described 
 his action : 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 133 
 
 "I applied to Lieutenant Holtzborn, of my company, for the privi- 
 lege of selecting four men for the purpose of capturing the first Con- 
 federate flag we could get. The Lieutenant told me it was a hazardous 
 undertaking, but said, after consultation with Captain Lester, I had 
 permission. * * * Xhe man who carried the colors was about 
 five feet ten or eleven inches, dark complexioned, with black hair, 
 slight mustache and black eyes. He, with others about him, wore 
 grey clothes and black slouch hats ; some one was trying to form them. 
 The color bearer had his coat unbuttoned, with his hat on the back of 
 his head. As I got within a few feet of him I commanded him in 
 a peremj)tory manner to surrender, and at the same time Dudley, 
 Durfee and myself cocked our guns. I grabbed the colors out of his 
 hand. He and one or two more said: 'Don't shoot! don't shoot! 
 
 *'The flag was a red one with a white stripe running through the 
 middle of it, Avith blue in one corner and some stars on it. As soon 
 as I grabbed the colors out of the bearer's hands I told him to follow 
 me quick, and at the same time told my men to get back to the regi- 
 ment as soon as possible. Dudley, Grim and myself were laughing at 
 the easy thing we had, and all of us running for the regiment as fast 
 as we could go, when — bang ! bang ! bang ! came a volley after us, 
 killing Grim and the comrade, whose name I have forgotten." 
 
 SAVED BY PETTICOATS. 
 
 A member of the Twenty-fifth New York Cavalry tells a good story 
 of his failure to capture a noted Confederate scout, William Baxter, 
 known as "Billy Bowlegs," at a time when he was known to be visiting 
 his mother's house near a little Virginia village about eleven miles from 
 Harper's Ferry. 
 
 "The scout had been described to us as of slender build, medium 
 height, fair complexion and dark eyes. Enough Avas known about his 
 nerve to know that he would not be taken alive if he had any show 
 to fight, and, therefore, as we approached the house about midnight, 
 from across a field, we were anxiously wondering how we should get at 
 him. If we knocked at the door he would be alarmed and have time 
 
134 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 to arm himself. If we broke in we might, and probably should, find 
 him in bed. It was a still, clear night, rather cold, and we hung about 
 for half an hour before adopting a plan. Then we decided to break 
 in the doors. Two of us went to the front door and two to the back, 
 while the fifth man stood ready to receive the scout in case he dropped 
 from a second-story window supposed to be in his bed-room. We 
 
 crept softly up, and at a signal both doors were burst . No, 
 
 they weren't! Neither of them gave an inch under the pres- 
 sure, and in response to the efforts we made, a woman's voice called 
 out: 
 
 " 'Who is it, and what's wanted?' 
 
 " 'Open the door or we'll break it downl' 
 
 " 'Wait one minute !' 
 
 "She struck a light and we heard her moving about, and in a couple 
 of minutes the front door was opened and a grey-haired woman of 
 forty-five stood there with a candle in her hand. 
 
 " 'Union soldiers, eh? Come right in,' she said, smiling as if glad 
 to see us. 
 
 "I posted three of the men around the house and entered with the 
 other, and as soon as I was inside I said : 
 
 " 'Madam, we have come for your son. We know he is here. We 
 shall take him dead or alive.' 
 
 " 'Oh, you have come for Billy, have you !' exclaimed a girl about 
 eighteen years of age, who came running down stairs at that moment. 
 'Excuse me, gentlemen, for not being fully dressed, but you see, you 
 didn't send us any word.' 
 
 "She laughed in a merry way, while the mother smiled good- 
 naturedly. She had on a neat-fitting calico dress, a ribbon at her 
 throat, and except that her hair looked 'tumbled,' she looked as well 
 prepared as if she had expected our coming. 
 
 " 'Yes, Jennie, they "want Billy,' said the mother, as she placed the 
 candle on a stand. 
 
 " 'And we are bound to take him, dead or alive !' I added, in aloud 
 voice, suspecting the scout was within hearing. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 13o 
 
 "'Oh, how sorry!' laughed the girl. 'If brother Billy had only 
 known you were coming ! But he didn't, you see, and so he went away 
 at dark. He'll never forgive himself — never !' 
 
 " 'We must search the house,' I said. 
 
 " 'Oh, certainly. Mammy, you light another candle and I'll show 
 the gentlemen around. Perhaps the sight of Billy's old clothes will 
 do 'em good.' 
 
 "Well, sir, we hunted that house from attic to cellar, and all we 
 found was an old suit of Billy's clothes. The scout had skipped, and 
 the best I could do was to apologize to mother and daughter, accept a 
 midnight luncheon at the hands of the latter, and take the backtrack 
 for the river. I'll own up, too, that I was 'dead gone' on Jennie be- 
 fore I left, and that I said to her, as I squeezed her hand at parting : 
 
 " 'When the war is over I'm coming to ask you to be my wife.' 
 
 " 'And — and — I'll say — say y-e-s,' she whispered in my ear. 
 
 "We got back to the ferry soon after daylight and there met a 
 Union farmer living neighbor to the widow. When he heard what we 
 had been up to, he asked: 
 
 " 'Was the widder all alone?' 
 
 " 'No ; her daughter Jennie was there.' 
 
 " 'Daughter Jennie! Describe her.' 
 
 " 'Good looking girl of medium height, black eyes and hair, and a 
 sweet talker. I'm going back to marry her after the war is over.' 
 
 " 'Bet you a farm you don't I That 'ar gal Jennie was nobody else 
 but that 'ar scout, Billy Bowlegs ! He jist jumped into some of his 
 mammy's clothes, and you pig heads couldn't see through it !' 
 
 "He was right. I met Billy at Harper's Ferry after the war, and 
 he wanted to know if I had taken out the marriage license yet." 
 
 GIVING THE ALARM AT VICKSBURG. 
 
 Before the war Dr. Horace Tibbetts, a wealthy planter living at 
 
 Transylvania Landing, some distance above Vicksburg and on the 
 
 opposite side of the Mississippi River, established a private telegraph 
 
 line to a point opposite Vicksburg, for his own private use. This line 
 
136 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 proved of great use to the Confederates, for, after the fall of Mem- 
 phis, they placed a telegraph operater at Transylvania to keep a strict 
 lookout for the moveraeut of Union troops and boats toward Vicks- 
 burg. Another was stationed at the terminus of the line opposite 
 Vicksburg and ordered not to be absent more than an hour at a time. 
 The batteries at Vicksburg had orders to respect his green flag in day- 
 time and his red light at night. 
 
 One dark and stormy night the last mentioned operator was at 
 Vicksburg and spent a longer time than usual with some old friends 
 whom he had met in a Confederate regiment there. Finally, and 
 after almost superhuman efforts, he reached the Louisiana shore in 
 safety. Hastily securing his boat, with a choking sensation of the 
 throat, for excitement at neglect of duty had rendered him almost a 
 paralytic, he rushed into the office, and, as telegraphers say, cut in. 
 Instantaneously he heard Transylvania calling "v," "v," with the 
 energy of despair, and answered, "i, i, i — v." 
 
 His first words were, "Great God, F , sixty-nine transports and 
 
 gunboats have passed since dark, and as far as the eye can reach up 
 the river they are still coming. Rush across and give the alarm. I 
 leave here, for this line will be destroyed and of no more service." 
 
 The storm had not abated, but without a thought of danger the 
 operator hurried across to A'^icksburg. 
 
 A great ball was in progress, at which the General and his staff*, as 
 well as all the beauty and chivalry of the city and the surrounding 
 country were present. The great house was a surging mass of dancers 
 and promenaders. 
 
 Singling out the General, he walked up to him respectfully, saluting 
 himself and lady partner. The General scowled at the sudden and 
 disreputable intruder, who was thoroughly drenched from head to foot 
 and muddy to a degree. Then he exclaimed, "Well, sir!" in a loud 
 and threatening manner. The operator handed him a piece of pajier 
 upon which he had hastily written the number of boats that had 
 passed, etc. 
 
 He glanced at it at first deliberately, but in a second he drew it close 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 137 
 
 to his eyes. His face paled, his brow contracted, and he exclaimed: 
 "Where did you get this information, sir?" The reply was: "I am 
 stationed across the river from this city, in charge of the telegraph, 
 by your order." 
 
 The great crowd had pressed around them, as his rerrtarks were in a 
 very high key. He exclaimed: "Well done, sir; thank you;" and 
 turning to the crowd exclaimed: "All officers of the army will hurry 
 to their respective camps at once. The enemy are within a few miles 
 of us and may land by morning. All families wishing to leave the 
 city will be furnished transportation by rail." In five minutes that 
 ball was a thing of the past. 
 
 TWO AT ONCE. 
 
 A Union soldier who was on picket at a lonely spot near Cane Hill, 
 Ark., the night before Blunt attacked Marmaduke, describes a sin- 
 gular accident by which no doubt the lives of himself and his com- 
 panion were saved by the death of two of the enemy. They had had 
 a very hard march and his companion had gone to sleep, despite his 
 carelessness would have meant court-martial and death if discovered. 
 Says the writer : 
 
 "When I found that no argument of mine would keep his eyes 
 open, my only recourse was to keep double watch, and so make sure 
 that the relief did not find him asleep when it came up. I was so 
 thoroughly tired out that I could not have slept even in camp. 
 
 "After the first hour had passed away and I had become accus- 
 tomed to the noises and the loneliness, there was nothing so very dis- 
 agreeable in the situation. My comrade had gradually fallen over, 
 until at last he was flat on the ground. I sat with my back to the 
 tree, facing the bend in the road and the bridge, and, though the night 
 was without a moon, I could have easily detected any one seeking to 
 cross the stream by the highway. An hour and a half had passed 
 when the silence was broken by a stifled cry. It acted on me like an 
 electric shock, and I sprang up, my heart in my mouth. I could not 
 tell from which direction it came, and as there had been only one cry, 
 
138 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 I soon made myself believe that it had been uttered by some bird or 
 animal. Nevertheless, my nerves were all on edge, and the loneliness 
 grew so oppressive that I determined to arouse my comrade. As I 
 moved over to him for this purpose my foot struck his musket, which 
 was leaning against the tree, and it fell down and was discharged. 
 The sharp report was followed by an "Oh! oh!" close at hand, and 
 the sleeper at my feet was awake and on his feet in five seconds. We 
 stood there, looking this way and that, and listening as only men can 
 when peril menaces, until the corporal's guard came trotting up to 
 ascertain the cause of the firing. 
 
 "Then, what do you suppose we discovered? Not over twenty feet 
 from the tree, in the woods by the roadside, lay the bodies of two of 
 the toughest-looking bushwhackers one ever saw. One was right be- 
 hind the other, and the ounce ball from the musket I had knocked 
 down had passed through both their bodies just below the breast-bone. 
 Each had a bowie-knife, and each knife was stained with fresh blood, 
 and when we investigated further we found that both men on the out- 
 post to our right had been assassinated — each being stabbed in three 
 or four places. You may call it Providence, accident, or whatever 
 you Avill, I am only giving you the facts in the case, and facts that 
 can be substantiated by scores of men still living." 
 
 HOW A REGIMENT WAS WIPED OUT. 
 
 At the battle of Pleasant Hills, La., a Texas cavalry regiment, 
 numbering 348 men, were seen forming for a charge against a Union 
 brigade of infantry. The latter had good cover and were fresh. The 
 cavalry had to dash across a field to reach the line, and before they 
 came the commander of the brigade passed along behind his two 
 lines and ordered the men to hold their fire until the word was given. 
 Each pair were instructed to fire at one cavalryman — or, rather, one 
 at the man and the other at the horse. 
 
 The cavalry made the charge in one line, but it was so much shorter 
 than the front of the brigade that three fires could be concentrated. 
 The Confederates came forward with a dash and a^yell, keeping a pretty 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 139 
 
 even front until they were within 100 feet of the line, when all the 
 muskets rang out together. One volley was enough. That regiment 
 was so nearly lilotted off the face of the earth that only four of its 
 members returned to the Confederate lines. Over 200 of their horses 
 were killed outright, and at least another hundred wounded. There 
 were not ten wounded men to pick up. Every Union soldier had a 
 dead aim and a close target. 
 
 TRUE TO HIS PRINCIPLES. 
 
 When the Confederate army was in retreat after Gettysburg they 
 pressed into service all the horses they could find in the country 
 through which they were passing, the quartermasters being very liberal 
 with pay — in Confederate money. Near Hagerstown they found an 
 old Duukard, with one horse, a good one, which was quickly appropri- 
 ated. The furuier protested, but without avail. Finally he was told 
 that there were many foot-sore horses in the command, one of which 
 he could doubtless secure. At once he made his way to the head- 
 quarters of General E. Porter Alexander, of the artillery, and 
 explained that as his only horse had been taken and his crop would be 
 lost unless he had one, he wished the General to trade him one of the 
 foot-sore horses for the one he had been despoiled of. He was most 
 courteously met by the General, who, appreciating the sterling 
 character of his visitor, was as anxious to do as well by him as was 
 possible under the circumstances. He at once offered oue foot-sore 
 animal, and payment — in Confederate money — for the Dunkard's 
 horse, besides. This was respectfully declined. Then Alexander 
 offered to give him an order on the United States, signed by General 
 Longstreet, for the value of his impressed horse, but this was declined 
 also. Then the generous Confederate offered to include the value of 
 the Dunkard's entire farm, without success. He wanted nothing but 
 the foot-sore horse. Alexander told him to take two or three of them, 
 as they would be left behind, anyhow, when the army should move 
 again. Replied the sturdy old man : Well, sir; I am a Dunkard, and 
 the rule of our church is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and 
 
140 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 a horse for a horse, and I can't breSk the rule." By this time Alexan- 
 der had become really interested in the transaction. He explained 
 that the Lord, who made all horses, knew that a good horse was well 
 worth a dozen worn-out, old battery scrubs, and after some time pre- 
 vailed upon the Dunkard to take two, by calling one of them a gift. 
 But at midnight on the following night Alexander was awakened by 
 approaching hoofs and he and his staff were out of bed and on their 
 feet in a minute, expecting important orders. It was the old Dunkard, 
 riding one and leading the other foot-sore horse ! "Well, sir," he 
 said, "you made it look all right to me to-day when you were talking '. 
 but after I went to bed to-night I got to thinking it all over and I 
 don't think I could explain it to the church, and I would rather not 
 try." With that he tied one old foot-sore to a fence and rode off 
 abruptly, leaving Alexander and his staff with an experience '*so 
 novel and entertaining as to largely compensate for the inconvenience 
 of being aroused out of sleep, even after the fatigue of the recent 
 great battle. 
 
 CAPTURED BY A WOMAN. 
 
 "During the retreat of Lee's army from the field of Gettysburg to 
 the Potomac," says a Confederate writer, "a great effort was made by 
 the officers to prevent straggling, but it would have required an officer 
 to a man to have carried out the programme successfully. We had 
 been beaten, and felt discouraged and reckless. We were on short 
 rations, the weather was dismal, and the rank and file were in no 
 mood to be nagged by strict discipline. 
 
 "The command to which I belonged left Gettysburg about 10 
 o'clock at night, and for the first three or four hours the men were 
 kept well in hand, under the impression that we were only changing 
 positions to secure an advantage over the Union forces. As daylight 
 broke and we realized that we were on the way home, squads and in- 
 dividuals broke away at every opportunity to forage for a breakfast. 
 In company with two private soldiers belonging to my company I 
 -lipped away from the column about sunrise, and, while a black-look- 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 141 
 
 ing thuuder-storm seemed close at hand, we bolted into a piece of 
 woods by the roadside, and then struck for a highway running at 
 right angles, on which we could make out three or four farm- 
 houses. We selected the first, or nearest, and as we entered the gate 
 a woman opened the door and stood waiting for us to approach. She 
 knew we were Confederates, and asked many questions concerning the 
 battle, and did not attempt to conceal the fact that she was a thorough 
 Unionist and an ardent hater of Jeff Davis. 
 
 "'Nevertheless," she added, as she turned to go in, "you men are 
 not altogether to blame, and you shall have a bite to eat as soon as I 
 can get it.' 
 
 "We went around to the back door, laid aside our guns and accou- 
 trements, and had a good wash-up in the rain-barrel. Then we sat 
 down on the grass to wait for breakfast, the odor of which came to us. 
 But for the suggestion of one of our comrades everything would have 
 gone well. Not far from us was a stone smoke-house, and through the 
 partly open door we could see pieces of meat hanging from the rafters. 
 He suggested that we further investigate, with a view of 'gob- 
 bling' some of the meat as we left, and we got up and went straight to 
 the house and entered it. There were two hams and two sidepieces 
 hanging up, and at the back end of the building, which was about 
 twelve by tAvelve, was a barrel filled with old rag carpet, on top of 
 which was a setting hen. As we came near she began to exhibit the 
 usual characteristics, and we were having considerable fun at her 
 expense, when the door was shut with, a bang and we heard the rattle 
 of a chain and padlock. It was a close, dark place, and it was a 
 minute or two before we reached the door and understood, the situa- 
 tion. We began to kick and shout, and presently the woman's voice 
 replied : 
 
 "'It's no use trying to get out! You are my prisoners, and kick- 
 ing won't do any good !' 
 
 "How nice and soft we talked to her, but it was no go. Then we 
 swore and blustered, but she only laughed at us. After awhile she 
 passed us some bread and butter through one of the ventilators, 
 
142 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 followed by a cupful of water, and there we remained all day, all night, 
 and up to 8 o'clock next morning, when we were turned over to the 
 Union cavalry." 
 
 TOO EXHUBERANT JOY. 
 
 In describing the exultation in the Union ranks at Appomattox 
 when it was known that Lee had surrendered, "Private Dalzell" writes 
 thus of the effect of the news upon the colored troops : 
 
 "The colored troops went wild — I think stark wild with joy. 
 They shouted, danced and sang. They embraced each other, and 
 rolled on the ground, kicking in the air, laughing, screaming, crying, 
 and 'blessing de Lord.' Five thousand colored troops were close upon 
 our right. Their exultation knew no bounds, and so transported were 
 they in their ecstacy, in obedience to their peculiarly emotional in- 
 stincts, that hundreds of them fired their rifles straight up into the 
 sky, and the bullets returning with the same velocity with which they 
 shot up, actually killed and wounded fifty of these happy fellows in 
 the moment of victory and the delirium of their joy. 
 
 PUNISHMENTS IN THE ARMY. 
 
 A writer who was an artillery private in the Army of the Potomac, 
 writes as follows regarding the punishments it was occasionally found 
 necessary to inflict : 
 
 "Breaches of army discipline were promptly and severely punished. 
 There is an unwritten military axiom which says that frequent courts- 
 martial convened to try enlisted men for petty offenses sharply indi- 
 cate that the regimental oflScers are inefficient. There was no com- 
 plaint on this score in the Army of the Potomac in 1863-64. There 
 was no necessity for punishing the volunteers. They were men of high 
 intelligence. They could be reasoned with. They could and did see 
 the necessity of soldier-like and decent behavior in their camps. They 
 cheerfully obeyed orders, because they realized the necessity of obedi- 
 ence. But with large bounties came a diflferent class of recruits, the 
 bounty jumpers. These men had to be heartlessly molded into soldiers. 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 143 
 
 **The punishments inflicted on the enlisted men were various, and 
 some of them were horribly brutal and needlessly severe ; but they 
 apparently served their purpose, and the times were cruel, and men 
 had been hardened to bear the suffering of other men without wincing. 
 One punishment much afiected in the light artillery was called "tying 
 on the spare wheel." Springing upwards and rearwards from the cen- 
 ter rail of every caisson was a fifth axle, and on it was a spare wheel. A 
 soldier who had been insubordinate was taken to the spare wheel and 
 forced to step upon it. His legs were drawn apart until they spanned 
 three spokes. His arms were stretched until there were three or four 
 spokes between his hands. Then feet and hands were firmly bound to 
 the felloes of the wheel. If the soldier was to be punished moderately 
 he was left, bound in an upright position, on the wheel for five or six 
 hours. If the punishment was to be severe the ponderous wheel was 
 given a quarter turn after the soldier was lashed to it, which changed 
 the position of the man being punished from an upright to a horizon, 
 tal one. Then the prisoner had to exert all his strength to keep his 
 weight from pulling heavily and cuttingly on the cords that bound his 
 upper arm and leg to the wheel. I have frequently seen men faint 
 while ndergoing this punishment, and I have known men to endure 
 it for hours without a murmur, but with white faces and set jaws and 
 blazing eyes. To cry out, to beg for mercy, to protest, insured addi- 
 tional discomfort in the shape of a gag, a rough stick being tied into 
 the suffering man's mouth. Tying on the spare wheel was the usual 
 punishment in the artillery for rather serious ofl'enses ; and no man 
 wanted to be tied up but once. 
 
 "There was another punishment which was much more severe than 
 the spare wheel, and which, because it was apt to cripple the men 
 physically, was very rarely employed. This was known as "tying on 
 the rack." Back of every battery wagon is a heavy, strong rack, on 
 which forage is carried. It stands out about two feet behind the 
 wheels. Its edge is not over an inch thick. The soldier who was to 
 sufler the tortures of the rack was led to it. His hands were dragged 
 forward as far as they could be without lifting his feet from the ground. 
 
144 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 and there they were bound to the felloes of the wheel. Then one foot 
 was lifted and bound to the felloe of one wheel, then the other foot 
 was bound to the felloe of the other wheel. The whole weight of the 
 soldier was thrown on his chest, which bore heavily against the sharp 
 edge of the rack. It is almost unnecessary to say that a gag was 
 strapped into the prisoner's mouth to prevent articulation before he 
 was extended on the rack. No man could endure the supreme pain 
 inflicted by this torture without screaming. I have seen a strong and 
 most determined man faint in less than ten minutes under the strain 
 of this severe and brutal punishment, to be cut down and never again 
 twirl sponge staff. I have heard men beg to be killed rather than to 
 be tied on the rack. 
 
 "To be bucked and gagged ? Yes, that was severe, but not danger- 
 ous. It was highly disagreeable and painful, too, if prolonged, and 
 at all times calculated to make a man's eyes stick out of his head as 
 lobsters eyes do. And then the appearance of a man while under- 
 going the punishment was highly discreditable. The soldier about to 
 be bucked and gagged, generally a drunken or noisy soldier, was 
 forced to sit on the ground ; his knees were drawn up to his chin, then 
 his hands were drawn forward to his shins, and there they were securely 
 bound together. A long stick was then thrust under his knees and 
 over his arms. A gag was then securely bound in his mouth. The 
 soldier who was bucked and gagged could not hurt himself or anyone 
 else. He could not speak, but he could make inarticulate sounds in- 
 dicative of his suffering, and he invariably made them before he was 
 released A soldier who had been bucked and gagged for getting 
 drunk would shy at a whisky bottle, as a high-strung colt at a burnt 
 stump, for six months. 
 
 "Daily men were tied up by the thumbs, and that was far from 
 pleasant. The impudent bounty jumper who had stood on his toes 
 under a tree for a couple of hours to keep his weight off his thumbs, 
 Avhich were tied to a limb over his head, was exceedingly apt to heed 
 the words of his officers when next they spoke to him. The bounty 
 jumper lacked the moral qualities which could be appealed to in an 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 145 
 
 honest endeavor to create a soldier out of a rough, but his capacity to 
 suffer physically was unimpaired, and that had to be played upon. 
 
 "Then there was the utterly useless and shoulder chafing punishment 
 of carrying a stick of cord wood. The stick that one picked up so 
 cheerfully, and stepped off with so briskly, and walked up and down 
 bef<n-e a sentinel with so gayly in the early morning, had an unac- 
 countable property of growing heavier and heavier, as the sun rose 
 higher and higher. One morning at 10 o'clock I dropped a stick that 
 did not weigh more than twelve pounds at sunrise. I sat down by it 
 and turned it over and over. It had not grown, but I was then willing 
 to swear that it had gained 188 pounds in weight during the time I 
 had carried it. 
 
 WHAT A WOMAN COULD DO. 
 
 The wife of Captain Ricketts, of the First Artillery, U. S. A., was 
 devotedly attached to her husband, and when the latter was wounded 
 and taken prisoner the wife went to the front, through the lines, and 
 found him, nursing him till he recovered. Her unselfish devotion 
 touched the sympathies alike of Union and Confederate soldiers ; and 
 Wade Hampton himself, then Colonel Hampton, of South Carolina, 
 red-hot Southerner as he was, brought with his own hand ale and 
 other refreshments to the wounded officer and his wife. Major Webb, 
 of North Carolina, once relieved the lady in her nursing while she 
 took needed repose, and "Stonewall" Jackson himself saw personally 
 to her comfort and that of her husband, and had both of them re- 
 moved to better quarters. 
 
 Some months later on, however. Captain Ricketts was sent to 
 Libby prison, and was one of the thirteen Northern hostages who 
 were held to answer with their lives for the lives of thirteen Southern 
 privateersmen who had been taken to New York. If these thirteen 
 privateersmen were executed in New York, Captain Ricketts and 
 twelve others were to be at once executed in a similar manner at 
 Richmond. This was retaliation. This was war. 
 
 But this was not what the devoted wife would submit to. She 
 
146 W^R ANECDOTES 
 
 day and night protested against it. She wrote to Hampton and 
 Webb, and then she called on and fell on her knees before Mrs. 
 Cooper, of Richmond, the wife of the Confederate Adjutant General 
 Cooper, and besought her to use her influence to have her husband 
 released from the number of hostages. If ever there was an out-and- 
 out "Southern sympathizer" it was Mrs. Cooper, but if ever there 
 was a true woman it was Mrs. Cooper also. 
 
 And the woman rose above the politician. She promised to use her 
 influence in her Northern sister woman's behalf, and she did. Mrs. 
 Cooper's motives were misconstrued ; she was even suspected of be- 
 coming disloyal to her cause ; she met with all sorts of obstacles ; 
 but she persevered till she saw Jefferson Davis himself, who coldly 
 referred her to the Secretary of War. 
 
 No sentimental, personal arguments could touch the Secretary. 
 Mrs. Cooper saw that at her first interview, but the ingenuity of her 
 sex came to her aid. 
 
 Just then the Confederate government was anxious for European 
 recognition, and desired to appear well in the eyes of foreign gov- 
 ernments. Knowing this, Mrs. Cooper took advantage of it, and 
 eloquently convinced the Confederate Secretary of War that it would 
 look very badly in the eyes of England and France for him to seize 
 as hostage, subject to a violent death, a very sick man with such a 
 devoted wife. Reluctantly convinced of this, the Secretary issued a 
 special order to the Confederate Provost Marshal, General Winder, 
 "that all wounded officers should be exempted as hostages." This 
 covered Captain Rickett's case, and he was released from his terrible 
 predicament. 
 
 And thus a general order was issued by the Southern government 
 really to oblige the wife of a Northern captive, and through the un- 
 tiring kindness of the wife of a leadiug Southern official. 
 
 Captain Ricketts was subsequently exchanged and came with his 
 faithful wife to New York. But Mrs. Ricketts never forgot the 
 genuine kindness of the Southern woman, and when Major Webb, 
 of North Carolina, was himself taken prisoner by the North, 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 147 
 
 Mrs. Captain Ricketts rested not day or night till he, too, was 
 released. 
 
 "0^, SEND THEM TO THE COOK'S TENT!" 
 
 While General Hancock, like all other West Point graduates, was 
 a rigid disciplinarian, he had one of the kindest of hearts. At one 
 time he undertook to superintend the drill of some raw recruits. For 
 a time they did fairly well. AVhen, in putting them through the 
 manual of arms, the order to "Make ready!" came, followed, by 
 "Take aim!" about half the recruits fired. A second trial was made, 
 after a sharp reprimand, and about sixty pulled the trigger at the 
 "Take aim!" The boys were again cautioned, and another trial 
 made. About six rifles were fired. For an instant Hancock was 
 furious. Calling up an aide-de-camp, he shouted : "Find out Avho 
 those men are that fired those guns!" After a search, the men were 
 found and ordered to step to the rear. The aide then inquired of 
 the commander what should be done with the men. The General sat 
 on his horse and reflected. The few minutes interval had given him 
 time to cool off". He did not feel like inflicting a severe punishment 
 on men whose only offense was greenness, yet, having begun, he must 
 do something. Finally, turning his horse to ride ofl^ and get rid of 
 
 the unpleasant dilemma, he blurted out: "Oh, , send them to 
 
 the cook's tent!" "Send them to the cook's tent!" became a by-word 
 of the corps, which lasted throughout their service. 
 
 WORDS OF PROPHECY. 
 
 On the evening of the 22d of January, 1861, JeflTerson Davis, of 
 Mississippi, on his way from Washington, where he had just delivered 
 his last speech in the United States Senate, and in company with 
 many other Southern Senators and Congressmen, resigned his seat in 
 Congress, stopped in Chattanooga on his way home. It had been 
 rumored during the day that he was coming, and in expectation of 
 seeing him a large crowd of people had assembled at the Crutchfield 
 House. At that time great excitement prevailed throughout the 
 
148 W^R ANECDOTES 
 
 Southern States. Secession was being talked of everywhere, as the 
 only remedy left them by the election of Abraham Lincoln to the 
 Presidency of the United States. Tennessee had refused to adopt any 
 such remedy, and as the fire-eaters retired from Congress and passed 
 through Chattanooga, they stopped over and made speeches to the 
 people, urging upon them to go with the South and take part in the 
 movement, promising Tennessee that the state should never see a 
 Federal soldier or ever be called upon to pay a dollar of the debt con- 
 tracted by war. It was under such circumstances that Davis arrived 
 in that city. After supper he came out of the dining-room at the 
 hotel, accompanied by his wife and several well known leaders in the 
 secession movement. Calls were made for him to speak, and a chair 
 being placed in the center of the room, he stood upon it and spoke 
 substantially as follows : 
 
 "Gentlemen — The South has had a great wrong imposed upon it by the 
 election of Abraham Lincoln, an Illinois railsplitter, to the Presidency of the 
 United States. Our only resource is to secede from the Union and establish a 
 government for ourselves. Calling on the people of Tennessee to go with the 
 South, he pledged them that he only wanted their strength and influence; that 
 the Cotton States would pay the debt of the war, and that Tennessee would not 
 have a dollar to pay. Telling them that Mr. Buchanan was powerless and 
 could not protect them; that they must unite the South in a solid body, march 
 on their cities, and lay them in ashes, for in that consisted their wealth and 
 strength, and that the way to touch a Yankee's soul was to strike his purse. 
 The South had the material — cotton was King. France and Old England, he 
 said, could not do without it, and would be forced to side with the South to 
 keep their factories in operation and their people from starving. That the 
 spindles of New England would rust for want of cotton — that the South had 
 the wealth, strength and the power — in reality, the life of the Government. 
 Calling on the Tennesseeans to go with the South in this struggle, he eulogized 
 them for their courage, boasted of their deeds of daring on the fields of Mexico, 
 saying that he knew full well the meaning of the click of their trusty rifle. 
 In ties, associations, Tennessee was directly interested and ought to go with 
 the South." 
 
 He felt satisfied, he said, that the people would not prove recreant 
 to their trust. When the time came she would lock shields with her 
 sister States and meet the vandal foe. As or himself, in the 
 language of the great patriot, he would say, "Give me liberty or 
 give me death !" The election of Abraham Lincoln by the party 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 149 
 
 sustaining him, was equivalent to a direct war upon the South. Her 
 peculiar institutions were no longer safe, and there was now nothing 
 left but to fight. As for himself, he preferred death before dishonor. 
 This speech created intense excitement. Davis was a finished ora- 
 tor, and on this occasion he exerted all his powers to convince his 
 hearers of the justice of the cause into which he had thrown himself 
 axid his fortunes, and in which he desired to persuade them to aid. 
 For a few minutes no one attempted any reply to Davis, when sud- 
 denly William Crutchfield, who happened to be in the hotel, which at 
 that time was owned by his brother, mounted the counter and re- 
 plied with vehemence, aided by the rage which burned within him at 
 having listened to such language. He said : 
 
 "Gentlemen — You have just heard the honorable gentleman. Senator Davis, 
 of Mississippi, a gallant soldier, who, on the plains of Mexico and before 
 Monterey, bared his bosom to the storm and periled his life under the flag for 
 you and I. For that I love and respect him, but now he is growing old and 
 grey, and, Caesar like, ambitious ! 
 
 "Behold your future military despot. The gentleman says that we are 
 powerless, that we must appeal to arms for our rights, that Mr Buchanan can 
 not help us, that we must secede and appeal to the sword. I deny it. I de- 
 nounce him as a renegade and traitor. If he was contending for the rights of 
 the South, and the interests of Tennessee, he would be in the Senate Chamber 
 and with our Tennessee Senators and Congressmen, defending our rights. On 
 joint ballot we had a majority of fourteen. No odds what the North desired, 
 they were powerless. Four years was a short time, an appeal to the ballot-box 
 was the place to settle the trouble, not secession. Tennessee never stooped so 
 low as to dictate to other States the course that they should pursue. I deny 
 you the right to tell us what we shall do. We are freemen, and as such claim 
 the right to think, speak and act for ourselves. 
 
 "We are not to be hoodwinked, bamboozled and dragged into your Southern, 
 cod-fish aristocratic, Tory-blooded, South Carolina mobocracy. 
 
 "Well you may boast of the Tennesseean and the click of his rifle, for with 
 our trusty rifle and our mountain boys we can whip out your Southern Con- 
 federacy and the balance of the world combined. We fight for the 'Union, 
 the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws,' with our trusty rifles and 
 our banner aloft, and the gentleman will live to see the day when the keen 
 crack of the Tennessee rifle will not sound so pleasant in his ears." 
 
 The sharpest point made by Crutchfield was in the neat turn he 
 made on Davis, who said : "You Tennesseeans were born in .secession 
 and rocked in the cradle of revolution." This was a reference to the 
 
150 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 attempt to organize and set up the State of Frankland, against the 
 authorities of North Carolina. This Crutchfield, with vivid force, 
 turned to advantage by the quick reply: "Yes, Tennesseeans, we 
 were born in secession as the State of Frankland, and rocked to death 
 in the cradle of revolution — as we deserved — and such will be the re- 
 sult in this case, as it ought to be." Crutchfield concluded in a frenzy 
 of excitement ; "Talk of Tennesseeans following the nullifying South 
 Carolinians and repudiating Mississippians ! It is an assault upon our 
 citizenship, and an insult to our manhood !" 
 
 "Stop, brother," said a voice from the crowd, "you will offend guests 
 of the house !" 
 
 "Go on, go on, Crutchfield!" shouted excited Unionists. 
 
 "No, I will stop — the proprietor wishes me to stop, and it is his 
 house." 
 
 During the delivery of this bold speech the crowd present listened 
 with breathless attention, and at its conclusion the silence that ensued 
 was unbroken except by the sound of the click of pistols, as those 
 present prepared themselves for what every one expected to be a bloody 
 fray. When Crutchfield uttered the words, "Behold your future mili- 
 tary despot !" Davis was standing in the door-way, about six feet from 
 him. Crutchfield's voice was lowered, and in slow, measured tones, 
 shaking his finger at him, the prophetic language was used. The ex- 
 citement was intense. The people were divided in sentiment and every 
 man present was armed. Speeches of inflammatory character had 
 been made by Benjamin and others previously, and the public mind 
 was greatly excited. Suddenly a voice, quivering with passion, rung 
 out in the hotel lobby : 
 
 "If there is any gentleman in the house who endorses the words of 
 that scurrilous puppy, I'm his man !" and the tall form of Davis was 
 seen standing on a chair in the midst of the crowd, his eye gleaming 
 at Crutchfield. 
 
 "I'm your man !" yelled Crutchfield. 
 
 The effect was electrical. It was wonderful how by instinct, in a 
 flash, that dense packed I'hrong had divided into two lines, one around 
 
INCIDENTS OF ARMY LIFE 151 
 
 Crutchfield, the other around Davis. There was a period of deadly 
 silence. Not a word was spoken, but every man's hand was on his 
 pocket. New arrivals, of which there Avas a constant stream, curious 
 to see the distinguished guests of the hotel, stopped in amazement as 
 they passed the threshold. Every man in those lines felt the presence 
 of death. It seemed that there was full ten minutes of silence. The 
 crush of the arriving visitors alone saved a deadly affray, Avhich was 
 fortunately for all averted, but which, if it had occurred, might have 
 changed the history of the Southern Confederacy. A loud word, or 
 the motion of an arm, would have affected National history. 
 
 A MILLIONAIRE PRIVATE. 
 
 At the outbreak of the rebellion, when Elias Howe, the inventor 
 of the sewing machine, was a millionaire, he enlisted as a private to 
 shoAV patriotism and independence. Money grew scarce, and his regi- 
 ment, which Avas sent South, was left unpaid for three months. At 
 the end of that time Howe, in his private's uniform, one day entered 
 the office of the quartermaster and asked when the soldiers of the reg- 
 ment were to be paid. 
 
 "I don't know," replied the quartermaster. 
 
 "Well, how much is owed them?" blandly asked the private. 
 
 "What is that to you?" asked the officer, with a look of surprise. 
 
 "Oh! nothing," replied Howe, nonchalantly : "only if you'll figure 
 out the amount, I'll give you my check for the whole business." 
 
 "Who are you?" gasped the quartermaster. 
 
 "Elias Howe, and my check is good for the pay of the entire division.'' 
 
 The quartermaster made out his bills, and Howe gave him his check 
 for three months' pay for his regiment. The Government afterwards 
 reimbursed him. 
 
 IT WON HIS SHOULDER STRAPS. 
 It was during the siege of Wagner, and the Union parallels were 
 but a few hundred yards away from the grim black tubes that ever aud 
 anon "emboweled with outrageous noise the air, disgorging foul their 
 
152 WAR ANECDOTES 
 
 horrid glut of iron globes." A line of abattis was to be built across a 
 clear space in point-blank range of the Confederate gunners and sharp- 
 shooters in front. 
 
 "Sergeant," says the officer in charge, "go pace that opening and 
 give me the distance as near as possible." 
 
 What followed is best told in the words of the sergeant himself, who 
 says : 
 
 "I started right off. When I got to the opening I put 'er like a ship 
 in a gale of wind. With grape, canister, round shot, shell and a reg- 
 ular bees' nest of rifle balls, I just think there must have been a fearful 
 drain of ammunition on the Confederate Government about that time- 
 I don't know how it was, but I didn't get so much as a scratch, but I 
 was powerfully scared. When I got under cover I couldn't 'er told for 
 the life of n)e whether it was a hundred or a thousand paces. I should 
 sooner have guessed a hundred thousand. 
 
 "Says the Captain : 'Well, sergeant, what do you make of it?" 
 
 "Soon's I could get my wind, says I, 'Give a guess. Captain?' 
 
 "He looked across the opening a second or two and then says, 'A 
 hundred and seventy-five paces, say.' 
 
 " 'Thunder, Captain,' says I, 'you have made a pretty close guess. 
 It's just a hundred and seventy-one.' 
 
 "And that's how I got my shoulder-straps." 
 
 j;jVZ> PART I. 
 
Contents, 
 
 The Last Man to Surrender 1 
 
 The First Union Volunteer 2 
 
 The First Three Years Regiment 2 
 
 The Number of Battles 3 
 
 The Largest Regimental Loss 3 
 
 When Did the War End 3 
 
 A Heroism Born of Whisky 6 
 
 The Telegram of Appomattox 7 
 
 The Appomattox Flags of Truce 
 
 He Met Death at Last lo 
 
 A Special Providence 10 
 
 How it Feels to Be Killed 11 
 
 The Proper View of It 13 
 
 Why The Pickets Ceased Firing 14 
 
 A Ready Retort 14 
 
 The Story of Barbara Fritchie 14 
 
 Before a Little Child 17 
 
 Bound to Have Spoils 1*^ 
 
 The Vermont Brigade !•' 
 
 A "Colonel" Without a Commission... 21 
 
 What He Fought For 22 
 
 Who Did the Bravest Fighting 22 
 
 Captured by His Old Colonel 23 
 
 Going One Eye on It 23 
 
 Wasn't at all Finical 24 
 
 Perfectly Unsophisticated 'A'' 
 
 The Power of Coffee 2') 
 
 Wouldn't See a Soldier Defrauded -M 
 
 Came Near Missing Him 27 
 
 "Gee Them, Sir, Gee Them !" 27 
 
 A Revelation in Slang 28 
 
 "Oh, You Sweet Darling!" 28 
 
 Schwartz's Battery is Took!" 29 
 
 Never Had Died and Wouldn't 29 
 
 The Colonel's Excuse 30 
 
 A Key to Shlloh 31 
 
 Capturing a Mile of Pickets 32 
 
 Governor Curtin's Fiery Dispatch 33 
 
 A Tale of Gettysburg 34 
 
 Jackson's Sign of Battle 36 
 
 The Peach Raiser's Mistake 36 
 
 A Chivalrous Skirmisher 38 
 
 The Man Who Cowed Stanton 38 
 
 A Cool General 39 
 
 Respect for a Hero's Blood 40 
 
 Morgan's Sang Froid .' 41 
 
 A Brutal Commander 42 
 
 Fighting and Forgiving 43 
 
 The Editor's Awkward Salute 44 
 
 How a Hatchet Replaced a Sword 45 
 
 An Irishman's Charmed Life 46 
 
 Sheridan's Compliment on Emory 47 
 
 The Army News-gatherers.. .X....- 48 
 
 Disseminating Information 50 
 
 The Boys Were Tired 49 
 
 The Spring at Andersonville 51 
 
 The Origin of Postal Currency 52 
 
 A Fearful Ride -^3 
 
 A Short but Grim Probation 55 
 
 A Friend in an Enemy 55 
 
 Fighting for a Mule Tail ''7 
 
 Tom Black's Surrender 58 
 
 What Lee Surrendered 59 
 
 Why Jackson Was Brave 60 
 
CONTENTS CONTINUED. 
 
 An Unappreciated Reward 60 
 
 The Telegraph in the War 61 
 
 How Lytle Quelled a Mutiny 6-i 
 
 Sherman and thf- Planter 6-1 
 
 Why John Ryuer was Pardoned 67 
 
 The Same Name for Two Men 68 
 
 Well Meaning, hut Not Truthful 68 
 
 "Huddle, Gol Darn Ye!" 69 
 
 A Chaplaincy Declined 70 
 
 A Veritable Rip Van Winkle 70 
 
 Union Deaths in the War 71 
 
 Braver Than They Meant to Be 74 
 
 Htantou as a Reporter 7o 
 
 A Deserter's Extraordinary Case 76 
 
 How a Refrain Originated 78 
 
 An Unsung Balaklava 79 
 
 Couldn'tSurrender to Him 81 
 
 The Opening at Shiloh 82 
 
 Mutually Saluting the Fourth 83 
 
 A Bridge of Cotton 83 
 
 "Sherman's Bummers." 84 
 
 A Soldierly Apology 87 
 
 The Right Countersign 87 
 
 A Bluff of $100,000 88 
 
 Rough on the General 90 
 
 Mahone at Appomattox 91 
 
 Farragut's Hot Coffee 93 
 
 A Contrast in Prices 93 
 
 A Curious Complication 94 
 
 Calm and Candid 97 
 
 Almost Surrendered bj' Mistake 97 
 
 Turning Coats Under Fire 
 
 Profanity Effectually Rebuked 99 
 
 General Lee's Prayer 100 
 
 The Biggest Army Mail 101 
 
 Saved from a Mob 102 
 
 Through a Sleeping Army 103 
 
 Lincoln in Jeff Davis' Chair 106 
 
 Living High on a Paper of Needles 107 
 
 An Astonishing Shot 108 
 
 Confederate Money 109 
 
 John Brown's Body 109 
 
 Following the Crackers 110 
 
 The First Union Flag Captured Ill 
 
 Things Soldiers Carried 113 
 
 How Sherman got a Drink 114 
 
 He was Obedient, But Slow 115 
 
 Preferred Being a Baby 115 
 
 Caught by Butler's Yankee Trick... 118 
 
 "How Are You, Ike?" 117 
 
 A Soldier's Best Act 119 
 
 Sheridan's Quaker Heroine 119 
 
 A Long Time Between Deals 124 
 
 A Brave Sergeant's Last Shot 125 
 
 How Sheridan was made Colonel 126 
 
 Cool as a Cucumber 127 
 
 A War Duel and Its Result 128 
 
 "Died Like a Gentleman." 130 
 
 Lincoln's Gettysburg Oration 130 
 
 Cheered by the Enemy 132 
 
 The First Confederate Flag Captured..l32 
 
 Saved by Petticoats 133 
 
 Giving the Alarm at Vicksburg 135 
 
 Two at Once 137 
 
 How a Regiment Was Wiped Out 138 
 
 True to His Principles 139 
 
 Captured by a Woman 140 
 
 Too Exhuberant Joy 142 
 
 Punishments in the Army 142 
 
 What a Woman Could Do 145 
 
 "Oh, Send Them to the Cook's Tent !".147 
 
 Words of Prophecy ,.... 147 
 
 A Millionaire Private 151 
 
 It Won His Shoulder Straps 151 
 
Brewers and Bottlers 
 
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 MOERLEINS WIENER. 
 MOERLEIN'S DOPPEL. 
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 MOERLEIN'S REGULAR. 
 
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 MOERLEIN'S NATIONAL EXPORT. J nent Physicians 
 
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 CHARLES READE, in his work on "The Coming Man," 
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 WYKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT, 
 177 W. Fourth Street, Cincinnati, O. 
 
Cutshows Filter Disc used in 
 all our Filters, and Sepa- 
 rate Patent Ice Chamber. 
 
 Gate City Stone and Filter Company, 
 
 46 MURRAY STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 B^'Fine China and Gray Stone-ware 
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 B^A NATURAL STONE for a Filter- 
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 B@"Fitted ^A7■ith separate Patent lee 
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 fi^^'As Easily Cleaned as a Water 
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 B^'No objectionable material used in 
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 All water is Filled ^A^ith impurities 
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 fi@=-This Filter will ABSOLUTELY 
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 Address as Above for Descriptive Price List. 
 
 TIBIE 
 
 IMPROVED 
 
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 Tne Best and Most Popular Chair of the Age. 
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 PATENTED FEBRXTARY 1, 1876. 
 
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 mm ADJUSTABLE FOLDING mi CO. 
 
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 Sole Proprietors and. Manufacturers. 
 MAIN OFFICE AND SALESROOM, 
 
 930 BROADWAY, Bet. 21st and 22d Sts., NEW YORK. 
 
LADIES 
 
 AVlio Value a Refined Ooiiaplexioii. 
 
 IVI IT S T IT S E 
 
 POZZONI'S 
 
 MEDICATED 
 
 COMPLEXION 
 POWDER. 
 
 It imparts a brilliant transparency to the skin. Removes all pimples, 
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 It contains no lime, white lead oi arsenic. In three shades ; pink or flesh; 
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 FOR SALE BY 
 
 All Druggists and Fancy Goods Dealers Every^?vhere. 
 
 BEWARE OF IMITATIONS. 
 
OHIO AND 
 
 Mississippi Railway 
 
 A well equipped and popular Hue connecting the three impf ^nt 
 Commercial Centers — Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis. 
 
 The OHIO & MISSISSIPPI was the first railway constru-jted 
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 one of steady improvement in physical condition and traffic resources. 
 
 At the present time, four through passenger trains each way, be- 
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 and constantly-increasing volume of travel ; thx'ee between Cincinnati 
 and Louisville and two between Louisville and St. Louis. 
 
 The time of its fast daylight train between Cincinnati and St. 
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 Its trains all enter Union Depots in Cincinnati, Louisville and St. 
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 Travelers going to any point. East, West, North or. South, should 
 make it their business to ask for tickets via the OHIO & MISSIS" 
 SIPPI RAILWAY. 
 
 Further information in regard to the route, if not obtainable 
 from the ticket agent, will be promptly furni.shed on application to the 
 undersigned. W. B. SHATTUC, Gen'l Pass'r Agent, 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
 
Queei] Biiil Cresceiil l|oiite 
 
 (CINCINNATI SOUTHERN AND ASSOCIATE ROADS.) 
 
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 FRO M 
 
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 The Leader Among Southern Roads in 
 
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 rr 
 
 riivel Siiiitli viii tlie l)oceii iind Immi lloiik 
 
 irL't'T [U'Hri^X ^ ^"^ West Fourth Street 
 M }\Ll lirrn rA^( and Grand Central station. 
 
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 R. CARROL, Genl Supt. H. COLLBRAN, Gen'l Pass'r Agent. 
 
 OINOINlSr ATI, OHIO. 
 
CRESCEP BIjEWP COMPJliy 
 
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 THE UNION GENTRHL 
 
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 Under tliese Policies the insured PROTECTS HIS FAMILY if he dies, 
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 BD L04. 
 

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