v>\' '%, J'*' ?^€^^r " ■':. A^- ^'"'''s}' ■%>/ . O^f' Kc^ V V ^ ■V * -^^._^- . ■'f c^^'' .^'^"% './^ -^ V x\^ "/v ^^^ . '^ "^y V"^^ \ -" . :> .^^ 0,'^-^. .i^' ■Sr' ^^ A> r^r cS o5 ^^ ^^iiy^ V y •k< .^'^-O x^^. ^It: c*-, /- ^^ -^^. ^■«>' »■ -e^. ^<-^-' "^r- » aV --^^ ** ' o ■, -^o. '%% ■' 0^ ^-' '^ u "o N^' ^*- ■r- ^ ■^ "' » 0, %%.=: .^' x^ij -^^ o^ .0^ ^^,^SS^E^^^S^i^^:£m^ Under the Stars and Bars I 'A I OR. Memories of Four Years Service WITH THE OGLETHORPES OF Augusta, Georgia. By WALTER A. CLARK, ORDERIvY SERGEANT. ■ •/•w R-THE STARS AND BARS c^n Memories of Four Years Service WITH THE OGLETHORPES, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, WALTER A. CLARK, Orderly Sergeant. Augusta, Ga Chronicle Printing Company 1»00. 82389 iresal Library of Cong Iwo Copies RECf NOV 3t0..l>9fla Copyrignt enttvy SECOND COPY Oelivwfld to OROtfl DIVISION DEC 13 1900 Elmos' \ DEDICATION To the surviving members of the Oglethorpes, with whom 1 shared the dangers and hardships of soldier Hfe and to th e memory of those who fell on the firing line, or from ghojintly cots in hospital wards, with fevered lip and wasted forms, "drifted out on the unknown sea that rolls 'round all the world," these memories are tenderly and affectionately I'nscribed by their old friend and comrade. / PREFACE. For the gratification of my old comrades and in grate- ful memory of tlieir constant kindness during all our years of comradeship these records have been written. The writer claims no special qualification for the task save as it may lie in the fact that no other survivor of the Company has so large a fund of material from which to draw for such a purpose. In addition to a war journal whose entries cover all my four years service, nearly every letter written by me from camp in those eventful years has been preserved. Whatever lack, therefore, these pages may possess on other lines, they furnish at least a truth- ful portrait of what I saw and felt as a soldier. It has beeen my purpose to picture the lights rather than the shadows of our soldier life. War is a terribly serious bus- iness and yet camp life has its humor as well as its pathos, its comedy as well as its tragedy, its sunshine as well as its shadows. As Co. B, of the Oglethorpes was an outgrowth of the original organization, its muster roll before and after reorganization, with a condensed sketch of its war ser- vice has been given. For this information I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Frank H. Miller and Mr. Brad 6 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. Merry, as I am to the former also for data pertaining to the early history of the Oglethorpes. Aside from the motive already named, there is another which has had some influence in inducing me to publish these memories. In the generation that has grown up since the '6o's, there is a disposition to undervalue the merits of the "Old South" and to discount the patriot- ism and the courage, the sacrifice and the suffering of those, who wore the grey. If these pages shall recall to my old comrades with any degree of pleasure, the lights and shadows of our soldier life, or shall bring to the younger generation, to whom the Old South is not even a memory, a truer conception of ''the tender grace of a day that is dead" I shall be more than repaid for the labor involved in their preparation. INTRODUCTORY. EARLY HISTORY OF THE OGLETHORPES. On a winter's cry in '51, in the old Capital at Mil- ledgeville, Ga., Howell Cobb, then Governor of Georgia, gave his official Fr'iccion to an Act of the General As- sembly incorporating a new military organization in the City of Augusta. If he had been told that ten years from that date he would be wearing the wreath of a Brigadier General in actual v/ar and that the Company, to whic:- his signature had given legal existence would be camped on Virginia soil, attached to the command of an officer, v/ho will go down into history as one of the greatest cap- tains of the ages, he would have smiled at the statement as the outgrowth of a distempered fancy. And yet such a prophecy v/ould have found literal fulfilment. In honor of the founder of the Georgia Colony the Company was named the Oglethorpe Infantry. Hon. Andrew J. Miller, was its first commander. Represent- ing some of the best blood of one of the most cultured cities of the Old South, the company, by its proficiency in drill and its military bearing soon gained a distin- guished position among the citizen soldiery of the State- On the death of Capt. Miller in 1856, Judge Ebenezer Starnes was chosen to succeed him. He, in time, was fol- 8 T'XDEK THE STARS AND BARS. lowed by Jolin K. Jackson, afterwards a Brigadier Gen- eral in the Confederate Army. During the caiptaincy of the last named, the volunteer companies of the State were ordered into camp at Milledgeville, Ga., by Gov. Herschel V. Johnson. Capt. Jackson, on account of ill- ness in his family, could not attend and the Oglethorpes were commanded by Lieut. J. O. Clark. In the military drill and review, that occurred during the encampment the Oglethorpes presented the best m-arching front of any company present. Mr. Frank H. Miller, then Ordel- ly Sergeant, attributes their success on this line, in part at least to the fact that nature hact failed to endow him Vvith a full share of what my fa+herwasw ont to term "leg- ability," and his shortenend- step, as Company Guide, rendered it an easier task for his comrades marching in column of companies to preserve their alignment. On the organization of the Independent Volunteer Battalion in 1857, Capt. Jackson was elected Lieut. Col., and Lieut. J. O. Clark succeeded to the captaincy, retain- ing the position until the Company was mustered into the Confederate service in 1861. Of the original roll as organized in 1851, if my information is correct, only Mr. \\'illiani Richards now survives. Capt. Horton B. Adams, who died during the present year (1899) was the last surviving mem'ber of the original roll, who retained active connection with the Company from its organiza- tion until its enlistment in the Confederate Army, IXTKODVCTOKY. ^ OFF TO THE WAR. Prof Joseph T. Derry, who served with the OrIc- thorpes from their enhstment until his capture at Ken- ,.esaw Mountain; in July, 1864, has kindly furnished the following sketch of their war service prior to my con- nection with the Company: "Following the lead of four of her sister States Geor- oia passed an ordinance of 'Secession/ Jan. 19, 1861. Gov. ?>rown ordered the seizure of all Federal property within the limits of the State, and on Jan. 24 the volun- teer companies of Augusta, consisting of the Oglethorpe Jnfantrv, Clinch Rifles, Irish Volunteers, Montgomery Guards. Washington Artillery, Richmond Hussars, and two companies of 'Minute Men.' afterwards organized into the W^alker Light Infantry, with a company of infantry from Edgefield, So. Ca., and two hundred mounted rn^en from Burke county, marched up to the Augusta Arsenal and demanded its surrender, Capt. Elzey, afterwards a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, was in command, and having only a small force in tlie barracks, he promptly complied with the demand. ORGANIZATION OF FIRST GA. REGIMENT. The efforts to secure a peaceable separation from the Union having failed, the Augusta companies promptly offered their services to the Confederacy. The Ogle- Ihorpes and Walker Light Infantry were the first two 10 UNDER THE '^ TAES AND BARS. accepted. On March i8, 1861, the Hsts for the Ogle- thorpes were opened at their armory on Reynolds street. Sterhng C. Eve was the first to enroll his name, and Virginius G. Hitt was the second. As the Company had in its ranks a larger number than would be accepted, married m^en were excluded, except as commissioned officers. In the closing days of March, orders were received from the War Department for these two companies to rendezvous at Macon, Ga. On April ist they were escorted to the Central R. R. Depot by all the volunteer companies of Augusta, while the entire city, apparently, turned out to witness their departure and to bid them God speed on their mission. On April 3rd the First A^olunteer Regiment of Ga. was organized with the following corps of field officers: Colonel, James N. Ramsey, Columbus, Ga. Lieut. Colonel, James O. Clark, Augusta, Ga. Major, Geo. H. Thompson, Atlanta, Ga. Adjutant, James W. Anderson, Newnan, Ga. Quartermaster, Andrew Dunn, Forsythe, Ga. Commissary, Geo. A. Cunningham, Augusta, Ga. The enlistment dated from March 18, '61, and the reg- iment was composed of the following companies: A. Newnan Guards, Capt. Geo. M. Hanvey. r.. Southern Guards, Capt. F. S. Wilkins. C. Southern Right Guards, Capt. Jno. A. Hauser. D. Oglethorpe Infantry, Capt. Horton B. Adams E. Washington Rifles, Capt. S. A. H. Jones. INTRODUCTORY. 11 F. Gate City Guards, Capt. W. L. Ezzard. G. Bainbridge Independents, Capt. Jno. W. Evans. H. Dahlonega Volunteers, Capt. Alfred Harris. I. Walker Lignt Infantry, Capt. S. H. Crump. K. Quitman Guards, Capt. J. S. Pinkard. The patriotism of Augusta is evidenced by the fact ihat in this, the first regiment organized, she had larger representation than any city in the State. On the date of i's organization Gov. Brown reviewed the regiment and delivered an address that aroused much enthusiasm. A few days later we left for Pensacola, via Montgomery, Ala., then the Capital of the new Confederacy. Between Garland and Evergreen, Ala., there was a gap of sixteen miles, over which the boys had to take the peoples' route as there was no railway connection. It was their first march and as their feet grew sore and their untried mus- cles wearied by the unaccustom^ed strain upon them, they began to ask the citizens they met: ''How far to Evergreen?" "After you pass the next hill and reach the rise of another it will be five miles," said one. This point reached, another was asked the question. "Six miles," he said. Tramping along the dusty highway, another traveler was met, ''How far to ." "For the Lord's sake," said Tom Eve, "don't inquire again. The road gets longer every time you ask." 12 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. AN AMENDMENT TO THE TABLE OF LONG MEASURE. AMiile not germane to the matter under discussion my friend. Joe Derry will pardon I know a slight interrup lion in his story, suggested by the incident just related. Passing through the piney woods of Richmond county som years ago the writer stopped at a country home to secure proper direction as to his route. A lady came to the door and in answer to my questions, said she was unable to give the information, but suggested that I might be enlightened at the next house. "How far is the next house?'' I asked. "About twict out o' sight," she replied, and I went on my way with at least the sat- isfaction of having secured for the "table of long meas- ure," that had worried me in my school boy days, an amendment, that in originality if not in deiiniteness, was literally "out o' sight." "Straggling into Evergreen, next morning, we reached Pensacola by rail that evening, spent a day in the town and then sailed down the beautifurbay, past the navy yard at Warrenton, and so close to Fort Pickens that its guns could have blown us out of the water. Landing near Fort Barrancas, we marched to our camping place, half a mile beyond and near the magazine. Our stay here was marked by no special incident, the time being spent in drilling, regimental and picket duty, unloading powdei from a sloop and filling sand bags to strengthen the fron', of I'^ort Barrancas. INTKODUCTOUY. 13 About the last of May, orders were received for the transfer of the regiment to Mrginia. Steaming back to Pensacola, the Oglethorpes were met by a delegation from the Clinch Rifles, 5th (la. Reg., by whom they were conducted to the quarters of that company and roy • ally entertained until our departure next day. The pleas- ure of the occasion was marred, however, by the death of Bugler Parkins, of the Clinch, caused by the bite of a small ground-rattlesnake. -On reaching Augusta the Company received an ovation as great as that accorded them on their departure for Pensacola. Three days in Augusta and then we were off for Richmond, where we met wirh a vGvy hearty reception. At our camp we were reviewed by President Davis and Gov. Letcher, bot'h of whom addressed the regiment. About the middle of June we were off for Staunton by rail, stopping at Waynesboro to partake of a bountiful feast prepared for us by the ladies and served on rough pine tables in pic- nic style." (Col. C.H. Withrow, then a resident of Waynesboro,, recalls the incident and says that he was strongly im- pressed with the appetite shown by the boys on that occasion, that the presence of beauty did not prevent them from doing ample justice to the spread.) ''At Staunton the regiment was entertained by a con- cert, in which "the children of the Blind Asylum sang patriotic Southern airs. A few days later we were on the march to re-inforce Garnett at Laurel Hill. About mid- 14 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. day of the first day's march the patriotism of the Virginia la-dies manifested itself again in a bountiful feast pre- j)ared for us in a beautiful grove, while from a rock near % there gushed forth a bold spring of almost ice-cold water. A night or two afterward, we camped at the foot of Cheat Mountain, in a beautiful valley, at the Southern end of which some time later we were stationed tor sev- eral months, confronting a Federal force under Gen. Reynolds on Cheat Mountain. A young lady living near our camping ground entertained us with Southern •songs, with a melodeon accompaniment, some of the boys singing with her. Two nights later, at Beverly, we encountered a fearful storm, which blew down every tent and repeated that interesting performance every time we put them up. Reaching Laurel Hill we found that service in West Virginia was far more serious business that at Pensacola. Picket duty was heavy and soon became dangerous. McLellan with 20,000 men, began his advance early in July. To oppose this force Garnett had only 4,500 men, jnany of whom were in the hospital. Exposure had pro- duced much sickness and here occurred the first death among the Oglethorpes, that of Dillard Adams, a good soldier and a true man. On July 7th Gen. Morris took position m our front with 8,000 men, while McLellan, with the remainder of his force advanced on Rich Moun- tain, held by Col. Pegram with 1,300 of Garnett's com- mand. On July 8th the ist Ga. moved out in front of INTRODUCTORY. 15 i.anrel Hill to feel the enemy's position. We soon encountered their skirmishers, who after shelling woods, attempted to seize a small round hill in front of Beling- lon. Lieut. Col. J. O. Clark quickly deployed his men o this point they retired by easy marches to Monterey. The campaign, undertaken with a small force, to hold an unfriendly section, had proven an expensive failure." CHAPTER DONNING THE GREY. About m'idday on Dec. 20, i860, the writer sat in an audience room in Macon, Ga., listening- to an address delivered by Hon. Howell Cobb to fhe Cotton Planters' Convention, then in session in that city. After all these years my memory retains no trace of that address in either theme or outline. I do recall, however, an inter- ruption in its delivery, remembered, possibly, because it threw a crimson tint over the years that followed it, and for the further reason that if there had been no occasion for such an interruption, these records might never have been written. While Mr. Cobb was speaking, a messen- ger entered the hall and handed him a telegram. He broke the seal, glanced over its contents and then read the following message to the audience: "The South Carolina Convention has just passed the Ordinance of Secession from the Union." From that moment the ''Cotton Planters' Convention " was no longer in it. The audience becam'c a howling mob. That night there was a torchlight procession with brass band accompani- ments. The streets were packed with a solid mass of excited, fevered, yelling humanity. The people were simply wild for Southern independence and the scene was probably duplicated in every Southern city. 18 UNDER THE STARS AXD BARS. In the early months in '6i, when all hope of a peace- I'ul separation had passed, the war fever attacked first th- tow'ns and cities where the people were in constant touch with each other and where the daily press kept the pub- lic pulse at more than -normal beat. As the demand for ^'troops increased, the infection spread to quiet country "places with their monthly church service and their w^eek- ly mail. And so in due time it reached the community in which I livx^d, a com'munity of quiet, well-to-do farmers, whose knowledge oif Jamini and the art ol war was decidedly limited. A military organization of thirty of forty men was, ^however, efifected and Mr. John D. Mon- gin, the only member who knew the difiference bteween ''shoulder arms" and "charge bayonet," was elected cap- tain. Our weekly drills at the academy grounds were •xonlined largely to marching in single rank to the music ♦of a rustic drummer and fifer, v/ho seemed in blissful I ignorance of anything but "slow time." There was a •short-legged Frenchman in the company, whose num- I'cr was ''32" and, who in counting off, always respond- ed with "dirty too." A year or two later those of us, who ■had seen actual service, could probably have made the -same response without impairing in the least our repu- tation for veracity. As there was not sufficient m'aterial in the community to form a full company, my brother and myself, with D. W. Mongin, A. J. and J. H. Rhodes, made application to the Oglethorpe Infantry, ist Ga. Regiment, then at Laurel Hill, Va., for admission into its DONNING THE GREY. 19 ranks, and were accepted. Leaving Augusta July 31. 1 86 1, in company with George Pournelle and Ginnie Hitt, who were returning from a ten days' furlough, we stopped over in Richmond a day and visited the Con- federate Congress then in session. Sitting in the gallery of the Senate Cham'ber looking down upon Alex Steph- ens in the chair and Bob Toombs, Ben Hill, E. A. Nisbet R. M. T. Hunter and other worthies in the Hall, Luke Lane, an old college classmate, wrote on the fly leaf of tlie pocket diary, froni^ which these records are partly taken a sort of preface, closing it with these words : "Here's hoping that every Yankee may find a bloody grave;" and Ginnie Hitt, sitting by, wrote beneath it: "Amen, say L" Luke appended my initials to the senti- ment, but as it was stronger than my inclinations prompted me to endorse, I erased them. We visited also the prison hospital where the Federals wounded at Ma- nassas, were being cared for. It was my first contact with "grim visaged war." To a strippling boy, reared in a quiet country home and in a community in which there had never occurred a seriotis personal difficulty, I had neither inherited nor acquired any taste for carnage or bloodshed, and the scene was not a pleasant one. And yet the battlefield imfortunately soon dulls our natural sensibilities and be- gets an indifference to suffering that would shock us in civil life. On reaching Monterey, Va., where the Oglethorpes 20 UNDER THE STARS AXD BAKS. were recuperating from the hardships of the "Laurel Hill Retreat," we found every tent occupied and wc remained at the village inn until quarters could be pro- vided. I rem^enber that I slept, or tried to sleep, on the bare floor of our room as a sort of preparation for the life on which I was entering. In this connection I recall another fact, a peculiarity of t'his tavern, and that was its capacity for the titilization of green apples as an article of public diet. My experience with hostelries is not claimed to be at all extensive, but among those whose hospitality I have had the good or bad fortune to enjoy, or endure, this particular inn, on the line named, cer- tainly ''took the dilapidated Hnen from the lonely shrub." We were treated to apples baked and stewed and fried, to apple tarts and custards and dumplings, to apple but- ter and it would probably be no exaggeration to say, ''there were others." After paying O'ur bill Dan Mongin remarked, "When green apple season plays out this hotel is going to suspend." In verification of his prophecy, when we passed through Monterey en route to join Stonwall Jackson in December, its doors were closed, its lights were gone and all its halls deserted. Whether its demise was due to the green apple theory, I am unable to say. My first month in camp was devoid of incident^ its mo- notony being varied only by squad drill, guard duty, for- aging for maple syrup and other edibles among the Dutch farmers of that section and digging graves for DONNING THE (tREY. 21 the unfortunate victims of the campaign just ended. One of the graves which the v/riter helped to dig in very hard clay, was appropriated by a burial squad from- another ^egiment for one of their own dead. I am not lawyer enough to say wiiether the act was petty larceny, forci- ble entry anrl detainer, or what an old colored friend of mine once diagnosed as "legal mischievous" with the accent on the second syllable. MY FIRST MARCH. On Sept. 7, '6i, Sterling Eve, Ginnie Hitt, Dan Mon- gin and the writer, not having been favored with the confidence of Gen. Lee as to his military plans, went into the country on a foraging expedition. This trip was probably inspired by a triumph in the culinary line achieved by Dr. Hitt and George Pournelle in supply- ing our table with two varieties of dumpling, apple and huckleberry, on the same day. We had no bag, in which to boil the dumpling and were forced to use the mess towel as a substitute. How long it had been subjected to its ordinary uses before being utilized in this way I do not now recall. Dr. Hitt remembers, however, or says he does, that the entire outer surface of the dumplings was towel-marked. The nature of the mark referred to is left without further discussion to the imagination of the reader. In this connection I recall another incident in the culinary line, which may be as well recorded here as elsewhere. A.bout twentv vears after the war I met Dr. 22 UNDEK THE STARS AND BARS. Hitt in Augusta and taking something from my pocket. 1 handed it to him. and asked if he could give me any information as to its character. He examined it very carefully by sight, touch and smell, and then said very confidently: ''Oh, yes, I know what that it. It is a stone taken from a deer's liver." His diagnosis was not ''reas- onably" correct. The article under examination was a Confederate biscuit baked in our camp at Jacksonboro, Tenn., in 1863, sent to my father's family as a specimen and preserved during all those years. If I had taken the precaution to have imm'crsed it in insect powder it would probably at this date have been still in the ring, though possibly a little disfigured. A few years after Dr. Hitt's examination, I found that it had — "Like an insubstantial pageant faded Leaving not a wrack" — but only a little dust behind. On our return from the foraging tour with a good supply of potatoes, onions and maple syrup, we found the camp deserted — a camp favored with the purest mountain air and the finest spring water, and yet where Dan Mongin wTOte to his father for brandy to counter- act the effects of malaria. The entire force at Monterey had been ordered to report to Gen. Henry R. Jackson on Green Brier River, and had broken camp two hours before our arrival. After resting an hour we began the tramp, trudging over the mountain roads for eight miles in the mud and rain and stopping for the night at DONNING THE GREY. 23 the residence of a Col. Campbell in Crab Bottom-. Here we had the pleasure of meeting the first two heroines of the war, Miss McLeod and Miss Kerr. They had ridden seventy miles on horseback without an escort to notify Gen. Garnett of McLellan's approach. My first day's march, though a short one, had broken me down so thoroughly that I was compelled to tax the kindness of a 3rd Arkansas Regiment wagoner for a ride next dav- The entry in my journal for that date begins with these Avords: 'Took the road with a heavy heart and a heavier load." Three years later, under the hardening process of camp life I was enabled to march, on Hood's tramp to Nashville and back to Corinth, Miss., twenty miles a day continuously and rode only one of the eight hundred miles covered in that campaign. During my two days experience as an "Arkansas Traveler" I think I heard more expletive, unadulterated ''cussin" from' the driver of that wagon than it has ever been m.y misfortune to lis- ten to. His capacity in this Hne seemed to be not only double barreled, but of the magazine gun variety. If he had failed to pass his examination in the school of profanity I have never seen a man who was entitled to a diploma. I appreciated the ride, but was glad to reach our new camp, since it relieved me of his presence. MY FIRST SKIRMISH. Gen. Jackson's force on the Green Brier consisted of ihe 1st and 12th Ga., the 3rd Ark. and the 23rd and 37tk 24 UXDER THE STARS AND BARS. Va. Regiments. Ten or twelve miles northwest of us, on Cheat Mountain, lay a Federal force of 5,000 men under Gen. Reynolds. Gen. Lee had planned an attack to be made on this force on the morning of Sept. 12th, two days after our arrival at the Green Brier. On the even- ing of the nth an advance guard of ninety men from the 1st and 12th Ga. under command of Lieut. Dawson, was formed with instructions to flank, by a night march, the Federal picket, secure a position in their rear, cap- ture them and thus prevent notice to Gen. Reynolds of the intended attack. For this guard there were detailed from the Oglethorpes, Wilberforce Daniel, Joe Derry, Tom Burgess, W. H. Clark and the writer. Leaving camp at 7:30 p. m., under the pilotage of a citizen of that section we reached a position within half a mile of the Federal camp about sunrise, after a fatiguing march, in the rain and mud, being compelled to draw ourselves up the slippery mountain side by the undergrowth that lay in our route. Soon after reaching our place of am- bush we heard the drums beat for ''Guard Mount" and then the bands began to play "Annie Laurie," "Run, Nigger Run," and "Jordan is a Hard Road to Trabble," were three of the selections rendered. The first suggested pleasant memories of our far away homes; the second, the possibility that in a little while there might be a practical illustration of the refrain, while the tramp we had just taken satisfied us that "Jordan" was not the only hard road to travel. The selection of these airs re- DONNING THE GREY. 25 calls the singular fact that in actual service military bands do not as a rule play national or military music. The writer had other opportunities than the one named of hearing Federal bands during his term of service, but does not recall a single instance in which a national air was rendered. Lulled by the music and overcome by fatigue and loss of sleep, I fell into a doze, from which I was awakened by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of one of the guard. A Federal sergeant from the picket post, hearing the noise, came down the road to investigate. On reaching a point opposite the left of our line he heard the ominous click of the rifle hammers and started in full run for his camp. Six or eight balls crashed through him and the poor fellow fell dead in the road. Attracted by the firing, about twenty-five of the Federal pickets came hurriedly down the road and on seeing their dead comrade fired a volley into the woods, which concealed us, but failed to do any execution. ''Charge!" sang out our commander, and we broke for the road. Before reaching it, the pickets had scattered into the woods beyond. Tom Burgess, as he leaped into the road saw one of them rise from a stump behind which he had been hiding, and run. Tom^ raised his rifle, took deliberate aim and fired. As he fell, Tom pointed his finger at him and said, "Got you." I was standing only a few feet from Tom and it has always been a mat- ter of gratification to me that my gun had been fired before reaching the road and that T had no opportunity 26 UXDER THE STARS AND BARS. ^ to reload. At siich close range it would have been almostr impossible to have missed my man, and whatever my feeling at the tim.e may have been it would have been a source of life-long regret to me to know positively that ''some mother's boy" had fallen by my hand, even in war. Sevcial others were killed as they ran through the woods. No member of the guard received even a scratch, and the affair had more the appearance of a rabbit hunt than a skirmish. After the firing 'had ceased, Lieut. Daw- son, feeling that it was unsafe to remain so near the Fed- eral camp with so small a force, reformed the guard and. we began our march down the mountain. We were ex- pecting to meet the reserve picket of the enemy and '.!* a sharp curve in the road were confronted by a column of troops marching in fours and only a hundred yards away. One of the guard sang out, "Here they are boys," and the firing began. Three men were shot down and seeing that we were outnumbered, Dawson gave the command: 'Tall below the road." Believing that implicit obedience to orders was the first requisite of a soldier, I responded with considerable promptness. The fire slack- ened a moment and then came the order: "Charge 'em." Up into the road we clambered again, Avhen -we discover- ed that we were fighting our own regiment, and "Cease firing, we are Georgians," rang out from nearly a hund- red throats. Ed Johnson, then in command of the 12th Ga., afterwards a Major General, was riding towards the head of the column and hearing our cry, sang out: "They DONNING THE GREY. 27 are liars, boys. Pop it to 'em! Pop it to 'em." The mistake was soon discovered, however, and the firing ceased. Three m-en had been killed and a number wounded by this mutual and unfortunate error. After the skirmish had ended and order had been restored. Dr. Hitt told me that he had drawn a bead, squirrel or otherwise, on my anatomy, and was in the act of firing when Col. Ed Johnson, in his anxiety to reach the front, rode directly between us and possibly saved him the horror of having killed a comrade and messmate. One of the victims of that encounter, Felder, of the Houston Guards, told his mess on leaving camp that he would be killed, a presenti- ment t^hat v^as unifortunately too true. Another poor fel- low was shot through the thigh, the ball cutting an artery. He lay there until the blood ran dowm the road for a distance of fifteen feet. The sight caused another soldier to have a nervous chill and lie begged piteously to be moved away. After the wounded had been cared for, the guard was reform.'ed in front of the brigade and we were marched back to a position in front of the Federal camp to await the attack on its rear by the 3rd Ark. and the 23rd Va. Why this attack was never made seems to be a sort of unsolved problem. Gen. Lee is said to have made a ver- bal explanation to President Davis, but if there has been any published statement of the reason I have failed to see it. As the attack on the rear had for some reason failed to materialize. Gen. Jackson, after remaining on ihe mountain for four days, returned to his old camp. 28 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. In connection with this, my first skirmish I am glad to have the opportunity of paying deserved tribute to a comrade, who has since passed over the river, but who, on that day, as on every other in which I had the honor to serve with him in time of peril, was conspicuous for his courage and his cool indifference to danger. When the order was given to fall below the road in order to secure some protection from the rocks and trees. Will Daniel refused to do so and kept his exposed position, coolly loading and firing until the skirmish was over. In devotion to the cause, for which he fought, in readi- ness to accept the gravest personal risks, in apparently absolute unconsciousness of danger, he was every inch *i soldier. And now what were my own sensations in this, my first baptism of fire? A candid confession is said to be good for the soul, but whether it would be good for the reputation in this particular case is another matter. Un- der the law of testimony a witness is not compelled to incriminate himself. Besides, after the lapse of nearly forty years, my memory can not be expected to retain very accurately such minor details. I will only say, there- fore, that while the excitement produced by the crack of the rifles and the hiss of the minies did in some degree lessen the sense of personal danger, I have been able, even in my limited experience as a traveler, to find quite a number of places that were to me equally as pleasant as being: under fire even for the first time. I speak, of DONNING THE GREY. 2^^ course, only for myself. Men's tastes differ in this as widely perhaps as in other matters, and I do not claim that mine was a universal or even a common experience. 1 only claim that while I had been curious to know how I would feel under such circumstances, my curiosity was satisfied in a little while, in a very little while. This ma\ have been due to the fact that my temperament is con- servative and that I did not care to be an extremist even in a little matter of this kind— possibly, ah, yes, possibly. MY FIRST PICKET DUTY. For several miles in our front, the road leading to- wards Cheat Mountain ran throug-h a narrow valley and then crossing the river, wound up the mountain side. On an outpost near this road my first picket service was ren- dered. From an aesthetic, rather than a military poinc of view the scenery from this post was really enchant- ing. Just beyond the river lay a range of mountains broken in its contour by a partial gap. In its rear and forming a background, rose a loftier range, the whole constituting in appearance a mammoth alcove. The fol- iage of the forest growth, that studded the slopes from base to summit, alchemized by the autumn frosts had changed its hues to gold and crimson and with its blend- ed tints forming to the eye an immense boquet, the pic- ture was worthy an artist's brush and has lingered in my memory during all these years. But the scene changes. Night comes on cold and drizzlv and starless 30 UXDER THE STARS Ai^D BARS. No fire is allowed by the officer of the guard. Standing alone on an outpost in Egyptian darkness and numbed with cold, while the muffled patter of the rain drops on the fallen leaves continually suggests the stealthy foot- fall of an approaching foe, I reach the conclusion that It subjects a man to some inconvenience to die" for his country. A few nights afterwards the picket at tliis post was attacked by the enemy and driven in. As they retired un- der fire Joe Derry was knocked down by a buck and ball cartridge that riddled his cap and grazed his scalp but inflicted no wound. When they had rallied on the reserve post and Joe had opportunity to take his bearings he found that while unwilling to remain and e.xtend to his Northern friends any social courtesies, he had been kind enough to leave with them a lock of his hair. The clipping was made without pecuniary charge, but Joe has probably preferred since to patronize a professional barber even at the expense of his bank account. MY FIRST BATTLE. On Oct. 3rd, '61, Gen. Reynolds, thinking, possibly, that military etiquette required that he should return the call we had made him on Sept. 12th, came down, attend- ed by his entire force and knocked at the door of our outer picket posts in the early morning hours with th» ovident purpose of making an informal visit to our camp The knock was loud enough to aronse Col. Ed. Johnson DONNING THE GREY. 31 who went out and took command of the pickets in per- son in order that the reception given our visitors might be sufficiently warm and cordial. Under his personal direction every foot of the Federal advance was stub- bornly contested. A little fellow belonging to our regi- ment finally grew tired of falling back and running up to Johnson said: "Colonel, let's charge 'em." Johnson, with that peculiar nervous twitching of the lip that char- acterized him in battle, commended the little fellow for his grit, but did not think it good military judgment to charge an entire army of five thousand men with a squad of fifty pickets. By 8 a. m. Gen. Reynolds had taken po.^ition in our front and his artillery had opened onour line. The main attack was expected on our right, and to its defence the ist and 12th Ga. were assigned. Forming into line and lying down to escape, the shot and shells from the Federal batteries, we awaited the attack. A nervous officer in the regiment kept walking up and down the line saying: "Keep cool, boys, keep cool," until Lieut. Ben Simmons of the Oglethorpes, suggested to him that he was wasting his breath, that the boys were cool. Gen. Jackson came down to our position to overlook the field, and while there a courier rode up and said: "General, the wagoners are cutting the traces and running of¥ with the horses." The General grew very much excited and turning to his son, Harry Jackson, said, "Go up there, Henry and shoot the first wagoner that cuts a trace or leaves his team." Harry 32 UNDEK THE STARS AND BARS. galloped off, trying to get his pistol from the holster After the cannonade had lasted several hours an infant- ry attack was made on our left and was repulsed. Then Gen. Reynolds ordered an assault on our right. As the attacking column debouched from the woods on the fur- iher bank of the shallow Green Brier, we were doubU- '{uicked to the front to oppose their passage. Just thea Shoemaker's \'a. Battery began to throw grape shot into ^heir ranks and the men refused to cross The officer.- stormed at them and rode their horses into the ranks in the effort to force them to advance, but without avail. The column fell back to the road where they were joine^l by their right wing and by i p. m. the entire force was making tracks for Cheat Mountain. Thus ended my sec- ond lesson in ^Jomini." or my first battle, if battle it can be called. The losses on both sides, probc^blv, did not aggregate two hundred. The official report of the engagement was, however, so elaborate that it was sub- jected to criticism and ridicule by the merciless pen of Jno. M. Daniel, of the Richmond Examiner. It was re- ported that he said that there were more casualties from overwork and exhaustion in setting up type for that re- port ttiau from shot and shell in the battle. Among the wounded that day was a member of the Bambndge company of our regiment, who had been shot down in the early morning as the pickets were retir- mg before the Federal advance and, whose comrades were forced to leave him where he fell. As the Union DONNINC; THi: GHKY. 33^^ t troops passed him again on ilieir return a surgeon was asked as to the propriety of taking- him along as a pris- oner. "No," said he. "Give him a canteen of water. He'll be dead in a few nours." The wounded man looked up at him- and quoting, as Dr. Mclntyre would say, very lib- erally from profane history, told him that he didn't in- tend to die. They left him, nevertheless, and when, at 3 o'clock next morning, he was brought into camp, both of our surgeons pronounced his wound fatal. He dis- sented very strongly from their opinions, was sent to the hospital and came out a well man, saved largely, as I believe, by his dogged determination not to die. A NIGHT STAMPEDE. There are panics commercial and panics military^ bearing no special relation to each other and yet pro- duced possibly by similar causes. One is attributed to a lack of confidence in others; the other is possibly due to a want of the same mental condition in regard to our- selves. In war fear as well as courage is contagious. The conspicuous bravery of a single soldier has sometimes steadied a wavering line, while one man's inability to ta<'e ihe music has begun a rearward movement that ended in a rout. Gen. Dick Taylor says that in Jackson's Val- ley Campaign he one day .juieted the nervousness of his men under a heavv fire by standing ont he breastworks and coolly striking a match on the heel of his boot to light a cigar. His apparent indifference to ihc danger 34 UNDER THE STARS xVXD BARS. was probably feigned but it produced the desired result. Heroism in battle and out of it is probably not so much the result of what is termed personal courage as it is the effect of lofty pride of character, backed and strengthen- ed by a God-like sense of duty. Napoleon once ordered one of his colo-nels to charge a battery that was playing havoc with his lines. The of^cer turned pale as the order came from his commander's lips, but he went to his post promptly and led the charge and Napoleon said to his ^tafif: 'That's a brave man, he feels the danger, but is willing to face it." There are tim^es, however, in war, when men, from some cause, real or imaginary, los;» their self-control and give way to an unreasonable and unreasoning fear, when the instinct of self-preservation is uppermost and patriotism and pride alike lose their ;power. A few^ occasions of this kind I recall in my term ^of service. One of them occurred on the night of Oct. 26, '61, at Green Brier River. A picket from one of the outposts came in and reported the presence of a body of Pederal troops near his post. Two companies from the 1st and 1 2th Ga. and 37th Va. each, were aroused from 5.1eep and sent out to capture or disperse these disturbers of our dreams. Few occasions in war test a man's ner\'es more thoroughly tha^n being suddenly awakened at night by an alarm-. I have known men at such a time to suffer from nervous chills and on one occasion it brought on a member of the regiment an attack of cholera morbus. As this was the only instance within mv observation DONNING THE GREY. 35 when such a result was produced, I am not prepared, without further evidence, to recommend it to the medical profession either as an emetic or an aperient. Tlie six companies, includino: the Oglethorpes. had passed the last vidette post and crossing Green Brier River had begun the ascent of the mountain beyond. We had reached the point where the enemy had been seen and the location was an ideal one for an ambuscade. The dense forest growth overarching the road, shut out the starlight and we were unable to see six feet in our front. The head of the column had passed a sharp bend in the road and was doubling back, after the manner of mountain highways, when a soldier near the front stepped on a stick and it broke with a sharp snapping sound resembling the click of a rif^e hammer. Some one in his rear, not knowing that the column had changed direction, and mistaking the sound for evidence of an ambush, said: "Look out boys," and stepped to the side of the road. The next file followed suit and the move- ment increased in volumn and force as it came down the line, until the hurried tramp of feet sounded like a cav- alry charge, as most of the men thought it was. For a few minutes everything was in confusion and panic reigned supreme. There was an undefined dread in every man's mind of a danger whose character and extent was hidden by the darkness. Several guns were fired, but fortunately there were no casualties save a few skinned noses from too sudden contact with the undergrowth 3G UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. that walled in the road. Order was finally restored and the command proceeded on its mission, but failed to locate an enemy, which had probably never existed ex- cept in the perverted vision of a nervous picket. THREE LirrLE CONFEDERATES. Thomas Nelson Page has written very charmingly of "Two Little Confederates," but an incident that occurred during our stay 9t Green Brier shows that ''there were others." On Nov. 14, '61, three Virginia boys living in vicinity of our camp, and all under fifteen years of age, were out squirrel hunting on the Green Bank road, which led partly in the direction of the Federal camp on Cheat Mountain. Rambling through the woods in search of game, they came in sight of Yankee soldier, who was out on a similar errand, or possibly on an independent, scouting expedition. As he was a ''stranger" they decided to "take him in." He had laid aside his gun and cartridg*- box and was sitting by a tree eating his lunch. Slipping up noiselessly in his rear they captured his arms and then presenting their squirrel rifles they offered to serve as an honorary escort to our camp. He was rather loth to comply with the request of his youthful captors, but th-- muzzles of their guns were very persuasive, and with true ^^irginia pluck, they marched their mortified prisoner to Gen. Jackson's quarters. I regret that I failed to preserve the names of those three brave little Confederates. But few other incidents worthv of record in these DO.NNlNCi THE GKEY. 37 n,e,nones occurred during our stay on the Green Brier. Oti Nov 17 there was a hotly contested snow ball fight between the ist and I2th Ga. Regiments, resulting m a drawn battle. Two days later at 2 a. m., in response to the rattle of musketry at the picket post, we were arous- ed and marshalled into line in the wintry night air to repel an expected attack on our camp. It was on this occasion that the cholera morbus incident, to whicli allusion has been made, occurred. The alarm proved groundless, as the pickets had mistaken an old grey mare and her colt for a body of tlie enemy. As the ani- mal was clothed in grey, the Confederate color, the mis- take was all the less excusable. CHAPTER II. A CHANGE OF BASE. For some weeks rumors, or '^grape vine" bulletins, as they were called, had been afloat in camp that our regi- ment was to be transferred to coast service. To boys reared in the milder climate of Georgia the taste we were having of a Virginia winter rendered these rumors very palatable. And when, on Nov. 21, orders came to break camp we felt rather confident that we were bidding a long farewell to ^Traveler's Repose" and Northwest A'^irginia, and were off for Georgia. The baggage wag- ons, of which the ist Ga. had at that stage of the wa"r, enough, in Gen. Loring's opinion, to equip a division,' were loaded and went their way. All the afternoon we lay around the dismantled camp awaiting order to "fol- low pursuit,'' as a friend of mine once said, but thev fail- ed to come. Night settled down cold and cheerless", with our tents and blankets ten miles away, and we had to make the best of it. My bedfellow and I slept on an oilcloth, covered with an overcoat, and tied our four feet. up together in a flannel shirt. Next day we crossed Allegheny Mountain and after three days' march, buoy- ed with the hope of spending the winter under a warmer sun, we reluctantly turned our faces Northward ao-ain A CHANGE OF liASK. 3l> \\ith the feeling in our hearts if not voiced upon our ]-:ps, "O. ever thus from childhood's hour I've seen my fondest hopes decay." After a week's march my feet grew very sore and as 1 limped through Harrisonburg, a sweet-faced Virginia matron, with music in her voice and the light of heaven in her eye, beckoned to me from the window where she was sitting and gave me a nice pair of woollen socks. Passing through Newtown, Middletown, Kernstown and a number of other towns in a section made famous af- terwards by Jackson's Valley Campaign, we reached Winchester Dec. 8, 1861. A few days later a supply o[ l^lamkets contributed by the good ladies of Augusta, was received by the Oglethorpes. One of the contributors had no blankets, and in lieu of them, donated a hand- some crumb-cloth, which like Joseph's coat, was of many colors, red and green being the prevailing tints. In t'he distribution this fell to Elmore Dunbar, the wag of the Company. Not needing it as a blanket he took it to a tailor in Winchester, had it transformed into a full suit, cap, coat and pants, and donning it had an innum- erable company of gamins, white and black, foll(^wing in his wake all over the town. He and Harrison Foster were messmates. There was no discount on either of them as soldiers. Enlisting at the first call to arms, they were always among the first 40 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. to toe the line at every beat of the longroll and in the closing months of the war, when hope of success had well nigh passed and so many were dropping by the wayside, they held out bravely and manfully to^the end. But as cooks they were not a brilliant success. One even- ing Harrison had gathered a few brush to make a fire, when he called on Dunbar to assist in his preparations for the evening meal, an appeal, to which the latter failed to respond. ^Wel]," said Harrison, ''if you don't help, I'll swear I won't cook any supper." "All right," said Dunbar, "My supper's cooked," and fishing out of his coattail pocket an antiquated biscuit of uncertain ^ge, he began to nibble. ''Well," said Harrison, "I won't build any fire. You'll have to freeze," and Dunbar gently drew from his haversack an old-fashioned silk beaver hat, that he had worn in the march up the valley and quietly placed it on the fire as liis contribution to the evening's comfort. A SOLILOQUY— (NOT HAMLET'S.) Among the original members enlisting with the Ogle- thorpes, was one H— H— , who, in civil life, was'' so scrupulously careful with his dress that in these latter days he would have passed a creditable examination as a dude. Camp life is not specially conducive to personal neatness and eight month's service had left to him on this line only the memory of better days. Returning from Winchester one night in a condition not promotive of A CHANGE OF BASE. 41 mental equilibriunv, he failed to find his tent and spent the ni-ht around the camp fire He awoke next morn- ing wit'h his head m a camp kettle and his clothing soiled an"d blackened by contact with the cooking utensils, that had been his only bed-fellows. Running his han.l through his matted locks and surveying his discolored uniform he was overheard to indulge in the following soliloquy: ''Is this the gay and fascinating H— H— , that once perambulated the streets of Augusta in faultless attire? When I think of what I am and what I used to was, I feel myself blamed badly treated without suffi- cient cause." -LIABLE TO DISAPPINTMENTS." On a Saturday afternoon in my boyhood days, in com- pany with a schoolmate, I was rambling through the woods in the enjoyment of the hebdomadal relief from the restraints of the school room and the unpalatable mysteries of the Three R's taught with a hickory attach- ment. Reaching a country bathinghouse half-filled with water and used by a neighboring colored Baptist church for baptismal purposes, we proceeded to draw off the Avater in order to catch the tadpoles that were enjoying their otium cum^ dignitate on its mud-lined bottom. On the next day the preacher and congregation assembled at the place to administer the rite of baptism to a num- ber of applicants for membership. Owing to our tadpole hunt of the preceding day, they found that unlike the 42 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. place ment,o„ed in the Scriptures, there was not "much -.vater there," and they were compelled to defer the cere- mony to a more convenient season. In dismissing the congregation the colored brother took occasion to re- mark that "We are liable, brethren, to disappintments ;n th,s life,'- On Christmas day in -61, in our camp, near ^Vmchester, the n.ess to which the writer belonged ■ound sad occasion to verify the truth if not the orthc- raphy of our dusky brother's observation. With a lauda- ble desu-e to celebrate the day i„ appropriate stvle w. had arranged with a colored caterer to supplv ou^ mess table with the proverbial turkey and such other adjunct, as the depleted condition of our financial bureau would permit. The day dawned and in the early morning hour, our appetites for the coming feast were whetted bv an cggnog kindly furnished the entire company by Lieu- J. V. H. Allen. The Christmas sun passed its meridian and traveled on toward its setting with no Tosln.a to stay Its course. The appointed dinner hour came as all appomted times do, but the proveri>ial turkev came not with adjuncts or without. With our gastronomic hopes' knocked finally into pi, but not mince pie, we sat down at last to our hardtack and bacon, lamenting in our hearts the uncertainty of "aught that wades, or soars, or shines beneath the stars." Whether the roost, from whic!, our c.aerer expected io supply our larder was too well guard- c and tlic town after dark, we were standin.cr in the ron(^ awaitincr orders when a sudden flash illuminated the heavens and the regiment sank as one man into the snow. We thought we had struck a masked battery, but it was our own guns throwing grape shot into the woods in front. After standing an hour or two in the snow withou fire we bivouacked and I slept, or tried to sleep, on three rails with their ends resting on a stump. We had built a fire of rails, a favorite army fuel in those days. I do not remember from what species of timber diey were made, but I do recall the fact that it was a popping variety when subjected to heat. All throug;h the night our sleep was disturbed by the necessity of rising at frequent intervals to extinguish our burning blankets, and one man had his cap nearly burned from his head before it awoke him. Next morning Turner Ashby went over under liag of truce to demand the surrender of the town. During his absence on this mission it was rumored that he had been held as a prisoner and his cavalry were preparing to storm the town to secure his release. The report proved t fake and he returned, bringing Gen. Lander's refusal to comply. An artillery duel ensued. The Federal guns had to be elevated to reach our position and their balls striking the frozen ground would rebound Some of tlie boys, who had played ''town ball" at school would pre- tend to catch them, and would sing out: ^Caught hi:i\ out," wlien another would reply: "Don't count, "twa^, 46 T^XDER THE STARS AND BARS. second bounce." It seemed more like a frolic than a fight. That night I laid aside my shoes and found them next morning filled with snow, while my blanket was covered with an inch or two of the same white mantle. Water was scarce and I tried to secure enough for a cup of coffee by melting snow in a tin cup, but found it a tedious process. On the morning of the 7th the force was withdrawn I0 operate against Romney. The weather at this time re- calls an old riiyme learned in my boyhood, which fits the case better than any description I could give and which runs thus, "First she blew, Then she snew. And then she thew, , And then she friz." The roads were as slick as glass. The horses had to be rough-shod and the wheels roug'h-locked with chains to cut the frozen sleet and snow in descending the hills, and even with these precautions the horses would fall and be dfagged to the bottom of the descent before a halt could be made. Twelve horses would be hitched to a single piece of artillery and details were made from each com- pany to push the wagons up the hills. To men not inured to such hardships the experience was a pretty rough one and the criticisms of the winter campaign made by some of them would not look well in a Sundav school book. A C'llANCrE OF iJASK. 47 r Osborne Stone's Presbyterian training- would not allow liini to use any cuss words, but I remember that his \ "doi^-on-its" were frequent anrl emphatic. On Januar> 8 we reached the "Cross Roads," and those who were ]-ronounced by the surgeons unfit for further winter ser- vice were returned to Winchester. With them went the writer, to worrv for four weeks with typhoid fever, while the command went on to Rom^ney. Of the Romney trip 1 can not speak from personal knowledge, but from the accounts given 1\v those who can. it was a repetition of the return from Hancock with its hardships, perhaps intensified. Jackson accomplished his purpose, to drive the enemy from his department, though at the expense of a good deal of exposure and sufifering to his men. ASHBY AND JACKSON. \s hard as the service was, I am glad to have had the opportunity of sharing it with such a man as Turner Ashby. He was then a colonel of cavalry. Mounted on his milk white steed, \vith the form of an athlete; coal black hair, a silky brown beard reaching nearly to his waist and a velvety, steel-grey eye, he was, in soul as well as body, an ideal cavelier. His command embraced some of the best blood of Virginia and he and they were ^it types of the Old South, worthy representatives of a civilization, that in culture, courtesv and courage, in 48 UNDER THE STAES AND BARS. honor and in honesty, the past had never equalled and the future will never repeat. Jackson had not then developed the military genius that afterwards rendered him so famous. The campaign furnished but little field for generalship, but it gave evi- dence of one trait in his character — to halt at no obstacle m the accomplishment of a purpose to benefit the cause ior which he fought. In personal appearance and bearing he and Ashby diiTfercd widely. Without gTace as a rider, and indifferently mounted, there was nothing in his ap- pearance to indicate or foreshadow the height to which he afterwards attained. And yet I can but cherish with pride the recollection that in this campaign I had the privilege of serving under one, who in the blood-stained years that followed 'Svent down to a soldier's grave with the love of the whole v/orld, and the name of "Stonewall Jackson." "AUNT HANNAH." In this connection my heart prompts me to pa^• its earnest tribute to one, whose memory the sketch above '•ecalls. Dear old Aunt Hannah. How her name brings I)ack to my heart and life today the glamour of the old,, old days, that will never come again — days when to me a barefoot boy, life seemed a tong and happy hoUday. I can see her now, her head crowned with a checkered handkerchief, her arms bared to the elbows, her spec- tacles set primly on her nose, while from her kimllv A CHANGE OF BASE. 4» €yes there slicnc the hght of a pure white soul within. She was only an 'humble slave, and yet her love for me was scarcely less than that my father and mother bore me and when on a summer's day in '6i my brother and myself left the old homestead to take our humble places under a new born flag, there was not a dry eye on the whole plantation and old Aunt Hannah wept in grief as pure and deep as if the clods were falling on an only child. Long years have come and gone since she was laid away in the narrow house appointed for all the living. No marble headstone marks the spot, yet I am sure the humble mound that lies above her sleeping dust, covers a heart as honest and as faithful, as patient and as gentle, as kindly and as true as any that rest beneath the proud- est monument that art could fashion, or aiTection buy. She reared a large family of sons and daughters. Rev. Charles T. Walker, the "Black Spurgeon," among them, transmitting to them all a character for honesty and vir- tue marked even in those, the better days of the repub- hc. Wisely or otherwisely, in the order of Providence, or in the order of Napoleon's "heavier battalions," we have in this good year of our Lord not only a New South, but a new type of Aunt Hannah. The old is, I fear, a lost Pleiad, whose light will shine no more on land, or sea^ or sky. .30 UNDER THE 8TARS AND BARS^ A RIDE WITH BELLE BOYD, THE CONEEDER- ATE SPY. f On a page of the writer's scrap book, underneath a roll of the Oglethorpes and in friendly contact with the parole granted me at Johnston's surrender, is a slip of paper pocket-worn, and yellow with age, which reads as follows: ••Winchester, Va., Mar i, 1862. Pass W. A. Clark and brother today on Valley Road. By order Maj. Gen. T. J. Jackson. M. M. Sibert, Captain and Provost Marshall." Thereby hangs the following tale: On my return to Winchester, after the tramp to Hancock, I had secured lodgings at the home of a Mrs. P'olk^ where for uearly four weeks, I lay with my pulses throbbing with fever. From that sick bed two incidents come back vivid- ly today over the waste of years that have intervened. My hostess, whose kindness I shall never forget, had a daughter, Nellie, who, as a rustic friend of mine would say, was something of a "musicianer." Patriotic songs were all the rage and one evening as I lay on my bed restless from fever and trying to sleep, she began in the parlor below to sing the "Bonnie Blue Flag." The copy used had, I think, eleven verses, and in my nervous con- dition the entertainment seemed endless. Just as I had congratulated myself on its conclusion, a young gentle- man called and insisted on a repetition of the program with his vocal accompaniment, and she was kind enough to comply, without skipping a verse. I can not recall a musical entertainment that my condition forced me to A CHANGE OF BASE. ;j, appreciate less though cheerfully acqiiittino- her of any malice aforethought in the matter. As I lay on my bed during all those weeks and looked on the white-mantled hills that environed the town T remember distinctly how intensely- my parched lips craved the cooling touch oi the pure white snow. But like l^antalus, I was forced day after day to gaze on a Juxury I could not enjoy, for the medical science of that day said nay. Tempora mtttantur, and doctors change with them. Before I had recovered sufficiently to leave my bed Stonewall Jackson decided to evacuate Winchester and ordered all the convalescent sick to be moved. Having no desire to complete my recovery in a Federal prison my brother secured the pass above referred to and seats in the hack to Strasburg. There were nine passengers and among them was Belle Boyd, the Confederate Spy. Her home was in Martinsburg and her father a Major in the Confederate army. Her mother had forced her to leave home on the approach of the Federal army. On its first visit to Martinsburg she had remained there. Hav- ing a soldier friend in the hospital and uncertain as to the treatment he would receive from the enemy, she had taken two of her father's servants to the hospital wnth a stretch-er, had him placed upon it and walked by his side through the streets to her home with a loaded pistol in her hand to protect him from insult or injury at their hands. A few days laiter a Federal soldier attempted to 52 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. place a Union flag over the door of her home and she persuaded him to desist by the use of a leaden argument from her pistol. Another attempt to remove a Confed- erate flag that waved over the mantel in her parlor met with a similar counter-irritant, and she was molested no further. Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, neither of her shots hit their mark. In view of these facts her mother thought it prudent to send her away before the Union forces occupied the town again, and she was en route to the home of a relative in Front Royal. To protect myself from the chilly air during the stage ride I was wearing a woollen visor knitted for my broth- er by Miss Lucy Meredith, of Winchester, and covering my head and throat, leaving only my eyes exposed. With a woman's instinct she saw tha't I was too weak to sit up and arranged to give me possession of an entire seat, improvised a pillow of a red scarf she was wearing on her shoulders and in every way possible contributed to my ease and comfort. On reaching Strasburg she aided my brother in getting me into the hotel, arranged a lounge in the parlor for me, brought my supper and en- tertained me durmg- the meal, refusing to eat anything herself until I had finished. After supper she sat by me and talked to me for an hour, and then, thinking I was weary, she moved the lamp in a corner of the room shading it from my eyes with her scarf, so that I might sleep. After all these years my memory retains some in- cidents of that conversation. I remember that she told A CHANGE OF BASE. 53 ine something of her child Hfe; that when a httle girl she iiad been a member of Dave Strother's party in his tonr through Virginia, which he described so charming- ly in the early numbers of Harper's Magazine over the nom de plume of 'Torte Crayon;" that Gen. Lander, \vlio commanded the Federal troops, that we had driven from- Bath into Maryland, was an old sweetheart of her's; that Dave Strother was a member of his stafT. and she intended to cut his acquaintance. I remember that she said further that she had ])cen hurt by a remark made to her that day by a soldier about the seeniing boldness of Virginia girls; that soldiers mistook kindness and the expression cf a desire to serve ihem for boldness; that she intended coming to Georgia after the war to get married She left on the next train for her destination, and I saw her no m.ore. She had impressed me as one of kindcj^t and gen- tlest of women and yet a year or two later she forded the Potomac alone in a storm at midnight to carry important information to her brother in Stuart's cavalry. Perhaps with w^oman as well as man "The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring." If necessity had required it I believe she w^ould have led the charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg with- out a tremor. In the years that follov/ed she became a noted spy, 54 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. going into the Federal lines and securing information, which she sent or carried to the Confederate army. She was finallv arrested and sent tO' Washington as a prisoner. It was reported that slie married the Federal officer, to whose oversight she had been entrusted and that he joined the Confederate army. Some of her methods as a- spy subjected her to harsh and hostile criticism, but in grateful memory of her kindness to one, who was only a private soldier, without rank or social prestige, one who had no claim upon her service save that in an hum-ble way he had tried to serve the cause she loved and in that service had grown sick and helpless, her name has never passed my lips except in tones of fervent gratitude and reverent respect. VIRGINIA. As my service as a soldier on Virginia soil was now about to end and as that service carried me afterwards into six other states of the Confederacy, in four of them lengthening into months or years, it may not l)e amiss to say in this connection that judged by that experience, Virginia stood above them all in kindly feeling and hos- pitable treatment to the Confedereate soldier. Furnish- ing to the army perhaps a larger quota of her sons than any other State, her territory tracked by the tread of hos- tile armies for four bloody years, her homes destroyed and her fields laid waste, her generous kindness and her active sympathy for the suffering soldier never wavered to tihe end. A CHANGE OF BASE. 55 While the South as a whole gave to the world the highest type of civilization it had ever known, Virginia, as I believe, stood at its head, the capstone in the fairest structure the sun has gilded since the morning stars sang together, an.! garlanding its summit like a glisten- ing coronal, bright with the light of immortality stands the name and fame of Robert Edward Lee. HOME AGAIN. The 1st Ga. Regiment was the only infantry organiza- tion from this State mustered out at the expiration of its first vear's service. The Conscript Act became effective in the spring of '62, and succeeding regiments, whose terms expired later were under its provision retained in the service. On the return of the command from Rom- ney the ist Ga. was ordered to Tennessee. Going by rail to Lynchburg, a railroad accident occasioned some de- lay at that point and as their time would have expired in a few days they were sent to Augusta to be mustered out. Mv brother, knowing that I would not be strong enough to rejoin the command before its term of service ended decided to take me directly home. And so by stage and rail, with tiresome delays at every junction, in the deepening twilight of a fair spring day, weak and weary, I came in sight of the old homestead once more. Over the joy and gladness of such a meeting after an .'jbsence, everv dav of which had seemed to those 1 hul 5o UNDER THE STARS AKD BARS. left ])e]iin.1. an age of agony and dread, it is meet that the man.tle of silence should fall. Tlie halo tha^t came to :ath- €rs and mothers hearts in those old days when their ''boys" came home from, the war, seemed like a breath from Heaven. It was sacred then and to me it is sacred stiil. Loving lips, that gave me glad welcome that spring day have long been cold and silent, and eyes that shone through misty tears are dim in death. Some time in the coming months or years, I know not when, and yet in God's good time, in weakness and in weariness at even- tide on some spring day again, it may be, I shall, I trust, go "home again:" not to the old homestead hallowed as it is by a mother's love and a father's prayers, and yet to find hartl by the River of Life from lips long silent, a v/elcome just as loving in "a city whose builder and maker is Tiod." ROSTER OF OGLETHORPE INFANTRY, Co. D, 1st Ba. Regt Capt. J. O. Clarke, promoted Lieut. Col. ist Ga. Rtg. Capt. Horton B. Adams. 1st Sieut. J. V. H. Allen. 2d Lieut. Geo. W. Crane. 30 Lieut. S. B. Simmons. 1st Serg. A. J. Setze. ■2d Serg. W. S. Holmes. ,3(1 Serg. S. C. Foreman. -iLM Serg. L. A. Picquet. A CHANGE OF BA8E. 57 1st Corp. O. M. Stone. 2d Corp. Jesse W. Rankin 3d Corp. Chas H. Roberts 4th Corp. Bnrt O. Miller. PRIVATES Alfred M. Averill. Dillard Adams A. E. Andrews. A. W. Bailey. F. A. Beall. A. W. Blanchard. R. M. Booker. Jno. M. Bunch. Thos. Burgess. Milton A. Brown. A. J. Burroughs. \Vm. Bryson. Chas. Catlin. H. A. Cherry. H. B. Clark. F W. Clark. V/m. H. Clark. Walter A. Clark. W. J. Cloyd. Jno. R Coffin. E. F. Clayton. €. S. Crag. 58 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. Wm. Craig- J. B. Crumpton. Wilberforce Daniel. Ed. Darby. Joseph T. Derry. T. J. Doughty. C. W. Doughty. W. R. Doyle. B. B. Doyle, Jno. P. Duncan. S. H. Dye. E. A. Dunbar. Geo. \V. Evans. Robert C. Eve. Sterling C. Eve. L. F. Flming. H. Clay Foster. W. Harrison Foster. John P. Foster. Willie Goodrich. J. P. Goodrich. C. M. Goodwin. W. A. Griffin. A. G. Hall. E. H. Hall. ^Vm. Plaight. J. J. Harrell. Frank M. Hight. A CHANGE OF BASE. 69- Jno. C. Hill. Harry Hughes. Jno. T. Hiingerford. V. (\. Hitt. H. B. Jackson. W. F. Jackson. A. M. Jackson. Whit G. Johnson. W. H. Jones. W. E. Jones. G. A. Jones. Matt Kean. W. H. Kennedy. W. T. Lamar. Jas. Lam-ar. Geo. G. Leonhardt. D. W. Little. P. E. Love. A. D. Marshall. C. O. Marshall. Geo. W. McLaughlin, C. E. McCarthy. J. T. McGran. D. W, Mongin. R. B. Morris. W. B. Morris. Z. B. Morris. W. T. Miller. €0 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. Josiah Miller. Geo. D. Mosher. M. C. Murphey. W. E. Peay. A Pilcher. J. T. Newberry. F. M. Pope. Geo. P. Poumelle. W. P. Ramsey. J. T. Ratcriff. J. fl. ReviU. A. J. Rhodes. J. A. Rhodes. J. P. Roberts. J. C Roebuck. W. A. Roll. J. W. Rigsby. S H. Sheppard. L W. Shed. L. W. Stroud. Fred W. Stoy. Jno. W. Sroy. Alonzo Smith. Miles Turpin. Thomas J. Tutt. J. E. Thomas. Geo. J Verdery. R W. Verderv. A CHANGE OF BASE. 61 G. F. Wing-. B. H. Watkins. C. D. Wakins. Jas. E. Wilson. Jas. D. Wilson. Walter A. Wiley. Wm. T. Williams W. T. Winn. Wm. Whiting. CHAPTER REORGANIZATION WITH 12th GA. BATTAL- ION. On May i, 1862, the Oglethorpes were re-organized at Camp Jackson, on the Carnes Road, near Augusta, Ga., as an artillery company under Capt. J. V. H. Allen. Three other companies from the ist Ga. Regiment, and the "DeKalb Rifles" from Stone Mountain, joined us and the 12th Ga. Battalion was formed, with Major Henry D Capers as commander. We remained at this camp drilling for two months, and our parade ground became a favorite afternoon resort for the young ladies ■of Augusta. A "LIT1XK LONG." Among the fair visitors, who honored us by their pres- ence. v;ere the Misses Long, two pretty and attractive girls, who were guests at the Savage Place, near our •quarters. Miles Turpin, one of the company witS; fell a victim to the charms of the younger one. wl.'o in physi- cal make-up was rather petite. When his attack had reached the acute .vtage, he was being joked about it one OFF TO THE FRONT Buell was threatening Chattanooga, and Maj. Capers- was ordered to report with his battalion to Gen. Mc- Cown at that point Leaving Augusta July 5th in two special trains, we were detained at Ringgold, Ga., for a day or two by a collision with a freight train, which re- sulted in the death of ten or twelve men and fifteen or twenty horses, and in injuries more or less serious to a larger number. Reaching Chattanooga July 8, we re mained there ten days and were then transferred by N. & C. R. R. to a point near Shell Mound, Ala. Picketing here for two weeks in front of Buell's army we returned to Chattanooga Aug. i, and on the next day left for Knoxville with the intention, I suppose, of accompanying Kirby Smith's army into Kentucky. Two days at Knox- ville and we are off for Clinton. En route a courier brings information that the enemy has attacked our forces at Tazewell, twenty miles away, and we are order- ed to hurry forward to reinforce Gen. Stevenson at that point. An hour later another dispatch is received that the attack has been repulsed and we are sidetracked at Clin- ton to aid in the capture or dispersion of the 7th Tenn. Federal regim-ent, then occupying a fortified camp near Huntsville, Tenn. COL. HOGELAND AND HIS WAR DIARY. How strangely human events sometimes shape them- selves without apparent effort to control them Sitting 66 UNDEK THE STARS AND BARS. in my home some weeks ago in the dreamy haze of an October Sunday afternoon, there chanced to fall under :my eye in the editorial column of a Sunday school paper the statement that Col. Alexander Hogeland of Louis- ville, Ky., had visited Nashville, Tenn., in the interest of the ''Curfew Law." Other items in the column caused a •momentary disturbance of my brain cells, then passed •away to be recalled no more. But this one lingered in my memory and would not down, for thereby hangs the following tale: The expedition against the Federal force at Hunts- ville was commanded by Col. Gracie, of Alabama, and consisted of the 12th Ga. Battalion, a portion of an Ala- bama regim.ent, and a few cavalry. Leaving Clinton at 4 p. m., Aug. 12, we camped near Jacksonboro on the night of the 13th and on the morning of the 14th started for Huntsville by a rough mountain path that crossed a spur of the Cumberland range. After a toilsome tramp we halted at 9 p. m. and after an hour's rest were again on the march. The path is narrow and the overarching trees shut out every ray of starlight. Groping along in the dark we follow the tramp of the feet in front, reachino- out occasionally to touch the file just ahead, lest our ears have deceived us Our pathway passes on the edge of a precipitous bluff and my brother in Crump's company loses his footing and topples over it. The fall fails to dis- able him, but he loses his hat and in the darkness is unable to recover it. Hatless he rejoins the command REORGANIZATION WITH 12th GA. BATT'N. 67 and. the procession moves on. Just before daylight we bait for another rest. At 5 a. m. we resume the march and in the early morning reach the vicinity of the Fed- eral camp. Deploying into line of battle we advance through a belt of woodland and entering a cornfield be- yond, onr right is fired upon by the Federal pickets. As we drive them in a scattering fire is kept up until we come in sight of their camp and near it a rude log forr built upon the crest of a tall hill,, over whose precipitous slope the forest trees have been felled, making an al- most impassable abattis. While arrangements are being made for an attack upon the fort, Tom Tutt and the writer, who are both on the color guard, see a thin line four or five hundred yards to our right, near a church, and whom we take to be the pickets, who had been re- sisting our advance. Tom, whose rule is to shoot at everything in sight, selects his man and fires and the writer follows suit. We load and fire again. After a few rounds I become convinced that it is a portion of Capt. Crump's company, which had been detached and sent to the right and in which I have two brothers. As Tom raises his gun again I said, "Hold on, Tom, you are shooting at your o nu company." He made no reply and continued firing until the order to advance was given A deep gully lay partially in our front and as its passage caused some confusion in the ranks, we halted to reform the line. Crump's company was hurrying forward to join us and before they had reached their position in fine Col. 68 rXDER THE STARS AND BARS. Gracie gave the command, "Charge." From underneath the head logs of the fort the Belgian rifles were barking at us and the heavy balls they carried whistled by us like young shells. We were waiting for Crump, and Gracie, ignorant of the cause of the delay, shouted: ''What is the matter with the 12th Ga. Battalion?" Just then a lone cavadrymiaii passed Lhe line on foot and with drawn sabre made his way towards the fort with the evident intention of capturing the whole business himself. Crump's company came up at a 'double quick" and the whole line moved forward with a yell. Sergeant Harwell, our color-bearer, had never been under fire and the boys, uncertain as to his grit, had asked Tom Tutt, who d'd not know what fear meant, to take the colors when the charge began. Tom made the effort to seize them, hut Harwell, a tall, gaunt man, and brother of two honored Methodist preachers, decHned to give them up and bore them forward bravely. As we advanced the fire from' the fort suddenly ceased and we thought they were waiting to see the whites of our eyes. Reaching the steep ascent we climbed up over logs and brush until the fort was gained. Lieut. Joe Taliaferro, of Augusta, was the first to enter, and with his sword cut down the floating flag. The fort w^as empty— not a Yankee to be seen. Under cover of the thick forest growth in their rear they had hied to other haunts, under the idea, perhaps, that "He who fights and runs away, Will live to fight another dav." REORGANIZATION WITH 12tii GA. BATT'N. (31) 'llieir camp, located just below the fort gave ample evidence of their hasty exit Our attack was somethings of a "surprise party" and their unfinished morning meal was boiling, baking and frying on the camp fires. We were unexpected and uninvited guests and yet our recep- tion was v;arm, although unfriendly Our all-night tramp enabled us to do full justice to the breakfast they had prepared, as well as the sugar cured hams and other su.p- pHes their commissary had kindly left for our use. We appropriated an ample outfit of blankets, canteens, haversacks, etc., and burned what we could not carry away. The skirmish on our side, and probably on theirs ^^•a^ almost bloodless. W. W. Bussey, of the Oglethorpes, and Garyhan, of Crump's company, were slightly wounded. I recall no other casualty except the kiUing of a nice horse ridden by Col. Gracie. And now what has all this to do with the item I read in a Sunday school paper? Simply this: Among the assets and effects secured that day by the writer from the ofH- cer's tent aaid administered upon without "Letter's Tes- tamentary" was a pocket diary belonging to Capt. Alex- ander Hogeland, of the loth Indiana Regt. On reading the paragraph referred to, the coincidence in names sug- gested the possibiHty that Col. Alexander Hogeland, of Louisville, Ky., 'Tather of the Curfew," might have been Capt. Alexander Hogeland, of the loth Ind. Regt., whose property had been in my possession for thirty-seven 70 UNDER THE STAES AND BAES. years. To test the matter, I wrote Col. Hogeland and from his reply the following extract is taken: "Your deeply interesting favor of the 4th inst received and for the information it contains accept my hearty thanks I am the identical person referred to in your letter. Was first lieutenant Co. D, loth Indiana Regiment in the West Virginia campaign and afterwards Captain of Co. G. In May, '62, was made lieutenant-colonel of 7th East Tennessee Regiment, commanded by Col. Wm. Cliff, a'nd stationed at Huntsville, Tenn., in August, '62. We lost everything on the occasion you refer to and this is the first information I have received as to the where- abouts of my effects. I am very glad to avail myself of your proffer to return my diary and enclose herewith necessary postage." Col. Hogeland's diary was duly re- turned to him and in acknowledging its receipt he took occasion to thank me for looking him up after all these years and assured me that he would endeavor to return that kindness by visiting Augusta in the early future and giving the citizens of this goodly city the benefit of the "Curfew Law." It will furnish additional evidence of the truthfulness of the opening statement in this sketch if the capture of a war diary nearly forty years ago, should result in the adoption of a "Curfew" ordinance in Au- gusta. In illustration of the adage that "Ever}- dog has his day," it may not be amiss to say that Col. Hogeland's escapade from Fort Cliff at the instance of four com- KEORGANIZATIOX WITH 12Tn GA. liATT'X. 71 panics of the old First Georgia Regiment, was only par- tial compensation for the loo-mile run made by those self-same companies from Laurel Hill, Va., in '6i, with Capt. Hogeland's regiment as one of the exciting causes. JACKSBORO. On our return from Huntsville, Joe Derry and J. W. Lindsay, of the Oglethorpes, unable to keep pace with the command, straggled and were captured by ''bush- whackers " Joe was exchanged a few days, later, Lind- say preferrng to remain a prisoner. After a short stay at Clinton we moved up to Jacksboro and remained there until Oct. 9th, guarding Bragg's line of communi- cations. Our service at this place was uneventful. BuelFs army had retreated into Kentucky and there was nothing to disturb our ''otium cum dignitate" save a moderate amount of picket duty and the one subject ever upper- most in the soldier's mind — "rations." The following inci- dents of our stay at this camp furnish some illustrations of this fact: THE PARSON AND THE GRAVY. A continuous diet of salt bacon had made the boys ravenous for fresh meat and as war has no tendency to strengthen respect for property rights where a soldier's appetite is involved, they were not, as a rule, very scrupu- lous as to the methods adopted to procure a supply. The means most in use at the date referred to were known in camp parlance as 'flip ups." As no encyclopedia of my 72 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS acquaintance describes this mechanical contrivance and its specifications have never encumbered the records of the patent office, it may not be amiss to say that it con- sisted of a bent sapling, a slip noose with a trigger at- tachment and a bait of corn. The unsuspecting porker, tempted by the bait, sprang the trigger and the sapling freed from its confinement, sought to resume its normal position, wliile the shote caught in the noose and par- tially suspended in the air gave noisy notice that the game v/as up. On one occasion the catch, by right of discovery or otherwise, fell to a mess, of which Parson H — , a min- ister of the Presbyterian persuasion, wa.s a member. When dinner was served that day a dish of smoking pork chops was passed to the Parson, but he declined with the remark that his conscience did not allow him to eat stolen meat. As the meal progressed the fragrant odor froni' the dish struck his olfactories with increasing- ly tempting force and he finally passed up his tin plate and said: 'T'll take a little of the gravy if you please." He had made a brave fight for principle and his final compromise was probably due to the fact that Paul's vow, 'Tf meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh While the world standth," failed to include gravy in its inhibtion. Pie may have been furthr influenced' by the reflection that his refusal to indulge could not possibly restore the porker to hfe again. As Jim Wilson said, " 'Twas Greece (grease), but living Greece no more." KKOH(iANIZATI()X WITH lirii GA. HATT'N. 73 This incident recalls the fact that Jim and the writer had on this subject the same scruples as the Parson, and in order to place ourselves on the line of strongest resis- tence we entered into an agreement with each other binding ourselves to total abstinence from all meat of questionable origin until mutually released from the obligation. The compact was religiously observed until Hood's campaign in Tennessee in the winter of'64. Transportation was scarce and rations were scarcer. On one occasion two ears of corn were issued to each sold- ier. Some wag in the company, probably Elmore Dun- bar, seeing that horse rations were being furnished sang out', -come and get your fodder." On another occasion beef was issued but no bread. We had neither lard to fry nor salt to season, but our digestive apparatus was not then fastidious as to condiments. It was unimportant whether it was taken ''cum grano salis" or without, so the void was filled. A fire was built of dried limbs from a brush pile and the beef placed in a shallow frying pan to stew, Frank Stone being the chef de cuisine. The mess sat around with anxious faces and whetted appetites. Finally one of them, in shifting his position, struck the end of a limb on which .the pan was resting and dumped the whole bus- iness into the dirt and ashes. The catastrophe placed us rather than the beef in a stew and we went to bed sup- perless. Under such conditions it is, perhaps, but natural that 74 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. the case should be re-opened, a new trial granted and a verdict rendered to follow Paul's other injunction, "Whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no questions for conscience sake." I can not recall positively that either of us ever in- dulged even as to gravy, but I think I can say that neith- er of us was particepts crimdnis in the act of impress- ment. If guilty, we were only accessories after the fact. "THEM MOLASES." During our stay at Jacksboro tlie farmers in ^hat section were making sorghum syrup, which most of them called "them molasses." Near one of our picket posts lived a Baptist minister named Lindsay, from whose bet- ter half we purchased vegetables and other edibles. On one occassion I was unable to make exact change and left owing her 12 1-2 cents in Confederate money. Two weeks later I was on picket againand paid her the bal- ance due. She was so much surprised that a soldier should have the moral sense to recognize and meet such an obligation that she formed ai very exalted estimate of my honesty and when I afterwards went to buy some of "them molasses" she requested her husband to take it from a barrel she had reserved for her own use "for," he said "she likes 'em powerful thick." I had occasion to regret her kindness, for it was so thick that it was with difficulty that I could get it either into or out of my can- teen^ and in view of her partiality I did not have the heart KKOHU ANIZv\TION WITH 12tii GA. BATT'K. 75 to sngg-est that a thinner grade would be preferred. She was a kind and motherly soul, and yet some of the sold- iers would steal from her. To prevent or minimize their depredations she cooped a noisy rooster undernearth her bedroom as a sort of watch dog to notify her of any mid- night foragers A few mornings afterwards she awoke to find, aside from other losses, that her feathered sentinel had' been caught asleep upon his post by som^e soldier, who was chicken-mouthed, if he was not chicken-hearted. RATIONS. Rations as one of the sinews of war, deserve something more than incidental mention in these memories and as no more favorable opportunity may occur, it may be as well to give them more extended notice in connection with the incident just related. Confederate rations during the early years of the war were as I recollect them, not only fair in quality but am- ple in quantity. As evidence of this fact I remember that the bovs were sometimes so indififerent when rations hour arrived that it was dif^cult to induce them to draw their allowance promptly. Charles Catlin was our com- pany commissary and I can hear now his clear, sharp tones as they rang out on the frosty evening air among the Virginia mountains in '6i, "Come up and get your beef. Are you going to keep a man standing out here in the cold all night?" As the war progressed the resources of the Confeder- 76 UXDER THE STARS AND BARS. acy, limited to Its own production by the cordon of hos- tile gunboats that girded its ports, became more and more heavily taxed and its larder grew leaner and leaner. But little wheat was raised in the Gulf States and few beeves except in Texas. We were reduced largely to meal and bacon rations, and the supply of these sometimes recalled the instructions in regard to loading a squirrel rifle g"iven by its owner to a friend to whom he had loan- ed it: "Put in very little powder, if any." Cooking squads were detailed from each company and once a day the wagons would drive up and issue three small corn pones to each man. Some of the boys, whose hunger was chronic, would begin on theirs and never stop until the last pone had been eaten. Bob Winter belo^ngcd to this class and eight or ten hours after his daily rations had disappeared Dick Mor- ris would draw a pone or half a pone from his haversack and say, "Bob, here's some bread if you want it," and Bob would reply, "Dick, I don't want to take it if you need it," and Dick would answer, ''Bob, I've told you a thousand times that I wouldn't give you anything that I wanted," and Bob would succumb and so would the bread . When our changes of base were rapid the squads would cook up two or three days' rations and in hot weather the bread would mould and when broken open the fungus growth looked very much like cobweb. Some of the pones had also the appearance of slow convales- KEOKGANIZATION WITH I2i !i GA. liATT'N. 7^ cence from chill and fever. Under such conditions it could hardly be considered very palatable except upon the idea of a rustic friend of mine, who, in commending the vir- tues of India Qiolagogue, was asked as to its palatability. "O," said he "it's very palatable, but the meanest stuff to take you ever saw." Most of the boys had left well-to-do homes to enter the service and wiiile they bore privation and hunger with- out a murmur, there would sometimes come into their hard lives a craving for the good things they had left behind. Gathered about the camp-fire, cold and tired and hungry, they would discuss the dish that each liked best and their lips would grow tremulous as they thought of the day when hope would become realization. Joe Derry,, I remember, could never be weaned away from the memory of his mother' nice mince pies and black-berry jam. I can see his eyes dance now as he magnified their merits. Bob Winter's ultimate thule in the gastronomic line was sliced potaitoe pie, while Jim Thomas would never tire of singing the praises of 'possum baked with potatoes. Louis Picquet said to him one day, "Jim, if I ever get home again I am going to have one dinner o' 'possum and 'taters if it kills me " But it was left to the epicurean taste of John Henry Casey to reach the acme of these unsatisfied longings when, recognizing the val- ue of quantity as well as quaUty he declared that nothing less would satisfy him than "a chicken pic big enough to trot a horse and buggy around on." 78 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. But for extending this ration sketch to an irrational length I might have said something of the May Pop leaves that we cooked for '"greens" in North Georgia, of the half hardened corn transformed into meal by means of an improvised grater prepared by driving nails through the side of a tin canteen, of the pork issued to us in Tennessee with the hair still on it, of the hog skins that we ate at Inka, Miss., and of many other such things, but they would probably fail to interest the read- er as they did the actors in those far oflf days. CHAPTER IV. TRANSFERRED TO THE COAST. Our enlistment as artillery had so far proven a delusion and a snare. The Confederacy had no guns with which to equip us and we had found no opportunity to capture any. During our stay at Jacksboro Capt. Allen suc- ceeded in securing from the War Department the trans- fer of the Oglethorpes to the 2nd South Carolina Artil-^ lery, then in service at Charleston. Oct. 9, '62, at 6 p. m. we fell into line, gave three cheers for our late com- panions in arms and as the setting sun crimsoned with its last rays the lofty summit of the Cumberland, we filed out of the village to the tune of "We are sons of old Aunt Dinah, And we go where we've amind to And we stay where we're inclined to, And we don't care a cent." and our sojourn in Jacksoi^iboro was a thing of the past. Reaching Augusta Oct. 13, we were dismissed until the 23rd, when we went into camp at the Bush Ground, near the city. Why we did not proceed at once to our command in Charleston has always been to the writer an unsolved oroblem. We remained in Augusta until Dec. 80 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. 9, when orders were received to report to Gen . H . W . Mercer, at Savannah. Col. Geo. A. Gordon, in com- mand of the 13th Ga. Battalion was endeavoring to raise it to a regiment. As he lacked two companies and as the Oglcthorpes had 120 men on its roll an effort was made to divide the company. On Dec. 11 a vote was taken, the result showing a majority against division. Dec 15 we were formally attached to the 63rd Ga. Regiment, ranking as Co. A. Our quarters were located just in tlie rear of Tljunderbolt Battery and here w^e remained for more tlian twelve months in the discharge of semi-gar- rison duty. A .STUDY IN INSECT LIFE. The period covered by our service on the coast foim- ed a sort of oasis in our military life. The Federal gun- boats were kind enough to extend social courtesies to us only at long range and longer intervals. We fought and bled, it is true, but not on the firing line. The foes that troubled us most, were the fleas and sand fles and mos- quitoes that infested that sections. They never failed to open the spring campaign promptly and from their attacks by night and day no vigilance on the picket line could furnish even slight immunity. If the old time practice of venesection as a therapeutic agent was cor- rect in theory our hygienic condition ought to have been comparatively perfect. During the ''flea season" it was not an unusual occurrence for the bovs after fruitless TRANSFERRED TO THE COAST. sL efforts to reach the land of vlroanis, to rise from their couclies, divest themselves of their hickory shirts an^' break the silence of the midnight air by vigorously threshing them against a convenient tree in the hope of finding temporary "surcease of sorrow" from this ever- present affliction. It was said t'hat if a handfull of sand were picked up half of it would jump away. I can not vouch for the absolute correctness of this statement, but I do know that I killed, by actual count, one hundred and twenty fleas in a single blanket on which I had slept the preceding night and I can not recall that the morn- ing was specially favorable for that species of game either. I remember further that as we had in camp no "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," I corked up an average specimen of these insects to see how long he would live without his daily rations. At the end of tw^o weeks he had grown a trifle thin, but was still a very lively corpse. But these were not the only "ills, that made calamity of so long a life," for as Moore might have said, if his environment had been different, "Oft in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain had bound me, I felt the awful bite Of 'skeeters buzzing 'round me." TheJr bills were presented on the first day of the day of the month and, unfortunately, on every other day. At our picket stations on Wilmington and White marsh Islands and at the "Spindles" on tlie river where 82 UJ^DER THE STARS AND BARS. the young alligators atmised themselves by crawling up on the bank and stealing our rations, there was a larger variety known as gallinippers, from whose attacks the folds of a blanket thrown over our faces was not full protection But there were still others. On dress parade in the -afternoons, while the regiment was tanding at "parade rest" and no soldier was allowed to move hand or foot until Richter's band, playing Capt. Sheppards Quick step, had completed its daily tramp to the left of the line and back to its position on the right, the sandflies seem- ed to be aware of our helplessness and "in prejudice of good order and military discipline" were especially vic- ious in their attack upon every- exposed part of our anatomy. Capt. C. W. Howard, I remember, was ac- customed to fill his ears with cotton as a partial protec- tion. I have seen Charlie Goetchius, while on the officers' line in front of the regiment, squirm and shiver in such apparent agony that the veins in his neck seemed ready to burst. Neither whistling minies, nor shrieking shells, nor forced marches with no meal in the barrel nor oil in the cruse ever seemed to disturb his equanimity in the slightest degree. Quietly and modestly and bravely he met them all. But the sandfly brigade was a little too much for him In addition to these discomforts, the salt water marsh, near whicli we were camped, never failed to produce a full crop of chills and fever as well as of that peculiar TRANSFERRED TO THE COAST. 83 Species of crabs known as ' ' fiddlers. ' ' Gen . Early was once advised by one of his couriers that the Yankees were in his rear. ''Rear the d — 1," said old Jubal. *'T've got no rear. I'm front all round." These fiddlers seemed to be in the same happy condition. Their physical conforma- tion was such that no mattre from what side they were approached, they retired in am exactly oppsite direction without the necessity of chaing-ing front. But of the chills. Of the one hundred and fifteen men in our ranks only three escaped an attack of this disease. The writer was fortunately one of the three. One man had fifty- three chills before a furlough was allowed him. Quinine was scarce and boneset tea and flannel bandages saturat- ed with turpentine were used as substitutes. Whiskey was sometimes issued as a preventative. In pursuance of a resolution formed on entering the service I never tasted the whiskey and as soon as my habit on this line became known, I was not subjected to the trouble of looking up applicants for the extra ration. The dearth in medical supplies recalls other facts showing the straits to which the Confederacy was reduced on other lines by the blockade O'f its ports. Letters written in '63, and now in my possession, show that my brother, then Assistant Surgeon at Tallahassee, Fla., could not purchase in that place a pair of suspenders nor a shirt collar — that my mess could not buy an oven in Savannah, though willing to pay $30 for it and that I ordered shoes for Capt. Pic- quet, and other members of the company from a Mr. 84 UNDEK THE STARS AND BARS. Campbell at Richmond Factory, as no suitable ones conld be had in Savannah. Our service at Thunderbolt was entirely devoid of any exciting incident or episode in a martial way. If the company fired a single shot at a Yankee during our stay I can not recall it. On one occasion 8 or lo voluteers from each reg-iment stationed there were wanted for "a secret and dangerous expedition," as it was termed in the order There was a ready response from the Ogle- th'orpes for the entire number wanted from the regiment. Among those voluteers I recall the names of W. J. Steed, J. E. Wilson, R. B. Morris, J. C. Kirkpatrick and F. T. Stone. We never knew whether it was a contem- plated attack on Fort Pulaski or the capture of a Fed- eral gunl^oat; as "he expedition failed to materialize. April i8, '6s, Henry Wombke of the Oglethorpes, was drowned while bathing in \\ arsaw Sound, and on Julv 12. '63, John Quincy Adams, while returning from picke:. at the S}3indles was accidentally shot bv George Mosher, who had gone up on the boat to kill alligators. Some official changes tQok place in the company dur- ing our stay at this camp. To fill the vacancv occasioned by the resignation of Lieut. W. G. Johnson. Charles T. Goetchius was elected, but I have no record of the date. On July 5, '62,, the death of Major John R. Giles resulted in the promo'tion on July 12, of Capt J. V. H. Allen to that field office in the regiment. Louis Picquet became captain of the company, and on July 14, Geo. W. ^Ic- Laughlin was elected [r. 2nd. Lieut. TRANSFEliliEI) TO THE COAST. 85 As a part of the ''res gestae" of our soldier life at Thunderbolt, the following- incident may be of some interest: SOAP AND WATER. Yly earliest recollections of Thunderbolt is associated with a fruitless effort to mix turpentine soap and salt water. We had reached the place tired and dusty and dirty. As soon as the ranks were broken, the boys divest- ed themselves of their clothing and soaping their bodies thoroughly plunged into the salt water for a bath. The result may be imagined. The dirt and dust accumulated in streaks, which no amount of scrubbing could dislodge for it stuck closer than a postage stamp. A SUGARED TONGUE. Col. Geo. A. Gordon was a pleasant, persuasive speaker and in his address to the company urging its division so as to complete the quota necessary for a regi- mental organization he held out to us a tempting array of promises as to our treatment if his wishes were com- plied with. An Irish member of his old company heanl the speech and in commenting on it said. 'Taith, the sugar on his tongue is an inch thick." The Oglethorpes, though serving as infantry, had re- tained their artillery organization and Gordon in his plea for a division, said that the incorporation of such an or- ganization into an infantry regiment would be an 86 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. anomaly— that we would be "nyther fish, flesh nor fowl," giving the English pronunciation to the word ''neither." Some time afterward the Colonel was making his Sun- day morning inspection of quarters and had reached Elmore Dunbar's tent. As some of Dunbar's mess were sick, he had hoisted a yellow handkerchief over the tent and with a piece of charcoal had placed on its front the sign, ''Wayside Home." Gordon saluted as he came up, and then noticing the sign said, "Sergeant, what is your bill of fare today," "Nyther fish, flesh nor fowl," said Dunbar, and the Colonel smiled and went his way. FIRE AND FALL BACK The monotony of garrison duty a-nd our comparative exemption from danger during our stay at Thunderbolt, developed the spirit of mischief in the boys to an inor- dinate degree and no opf)ortunity for its exercise wao al- lowed to go unimproved. Bob Lassiter, while off duty one day, was taking a nap on a "bunk" in his cabin. His unhosed feet protruded from the widow, probably with a view to fumigation by the salt sea breeze. Jim Mc- Laughlin passed by and taking in the situation called Jim Thomas. Twisting and greasing a strip of paper they placed it gently between Bob's unsuspecting toes, fired the ends and then made themselves scarce in that local- ity. As the lambent flame "lipped the Southern strand" of Bob's pedal extremities, he, doubless, felt in the lan- guage of Henry Timrod, "Strange tropic warmth and TKANSFERRED TO THE COAST. 87 hints of summer ;>cas" and probably dreamed of "A Hot Time m the Old Town" that day. But if so his drean.s were short-hvt.d Willi a yell of pain he fell back on the fl^.Mir of bis cabm. .in.l then, He ha;lv hurried to and fro, To find the author of his woe; The search was vain for chance was slim To fasten guilt on either Jim. SKIRMISHING FOR PIE Dessert was not a standing item on our army bill of fare and when, by chance or o^therwise, our menu cul- minated in such a course, m.oderation in our indulgence was one of the lost arts. One dav in '63, AV. J. Steed and I. with several other comrades chanced to be in Savan- nah at the dinner liour. Our rations for a long time had known no change from the daily round of corn bread and fat bacon, and we decided to vary this monotony by a m-eal at the Screven House. The first course was dis- posed of and dessert was laid before us. Steed finished his but his appetite for pie was still unsatisfied. Calling a waiter he said, "Bring me some more pie." "Wc furnish only one piece," said the waiter. The lirst course plates had not been removed from the table, but simply shoved aside. The waiter passed on and Steed pushed the dessert plate from him and gently drawing the other back in his front, awaited results. An- other waiter passed and thinking Steed had not been 88 UNDER THE STARS AXD BARS. served, brought him another piece of pie This being disposed of the program was again repeated and still another waiter supplied dessert. The shifting process was continued until his commissary department could hold no more and he was forced to retire upon fhe laurels he had won in the field of gastronomic diplomacy. STEED AND THE SUGAR My friend's penchant for pie may have had its Iniluence in the origin of a problem in the company, which like the squaring of the circle has never received a satisfac- tory solution. He held during his term of service the office of commissary sergeant for the companv, a posi- tion in which it was difficult at any time and impossible when rations were scarce, to give entire satisfaction. These difficulties in his case were, perhaps, enhanced by the peculiarities of his poetic temperament, which caus- ed him to live among the stars and gave him a distaste for the bread and nieat side of life, except possibly as to pie. Try as faithfully as he would to show strict impar- tiality in the distdbution, there was sometimes a dim suspicion that the bone in the beef fell oftener to other messes than his own and that the scanty rations of sugar issued weekly were heaped a little higher when his mess had in contemplation a pie or pudding on the following day. These suspicions finally culminated in an inquire-, which became a proverb of daily use; an inquiry, which formed the concluding argument in every camp dis- TKANSFERliED TO THE COAST. 89 cnssion, whether on a disputed point in miHtary tactics or on the reconcihation of g-eologicajl revelation with the Mosaic cosmogony; an inquiry with which Jim- Mc- LaughHn and Jim Fleming still salute their former com- missary: ''What has that to do with Steed and the sugar?" Of course there w^as never any foundaion for such a feeling and probably never any real suspicion of favor- itism in the matter. These things formed the minor key of our soldier life and served as they were intended^ to enliven its sometimes dull monotony. My friend, and I am glad to have been honored so long by his friendship, will pardon, I know, in the gentleness of his heart a revival of these memories. Aside from the faithful dis- charge of the difiiicult duties of his position, it gives me pleasure to add my willing testimony to the silent wit- ness of his armless sleeve, that on the firing line and in all the sphere of duty, to which the service called him, he was every inch a soldier. "BUTTER ON MY GREENS." For the convenience and comfort of the soldiers going to and returning from their commands, "Wayside Homes" were established at different points in the Con- federacy where free lunches were served by the fair and willing hands of patriotic young ladies living in the vicin- itv. A uniform of. grey was the only passport needed. One of these "Homes" was located at Millen, Ga. De- tained there on one occasion, en route to my command 90 UNDER THE 8TAKS AND BARS. at Thunderbolt I was glad to accept their hospitality. Seated at the table enjoying the spread they had pre- pared one of these fair waiting maids approached me and asked if I would take some butter on my ''greens." My gastronomic record as a soldier had been like Jos- eph's coat, "of many colors." I had eaten almost every- thing from "cush" and ''slapjacks" to raw corn and uncooked bacon. I had made up dough on the top of a stump for a tray and cooked it on a piece of split hickory for an oven. I had eaten salt meait to which the govern- ment had good title, and fresh meat to which neither I nor the government had any title, good or bad. But but- ter on "greens" was a combination new to my exper- ience and as my digestive outfit had, during my school days, been troubled with a dyspeptic trend, I felt com- pelled to decline such an addition to a dish that had been boiled with fat bacon. Notwithstanding the absence of my friend Steed the supply of pie that day was short, and with a degree of self-denial, for which I can not now account, I asked for none A soldier next me at the table, however, iiled his application and when our winsome waitress returned, she handed the desert to me and left my neighbor pieless. I could not recall her fair young face as one I had ever ever seen before, and I had always been noted for my lack of personal comeliness. I was at a loss therefore to understand why the unsolicited discrimination in my fa- vor had been made. A few minutes later the problem TRANSFERRED TO THE COAST. '.)! was solved. Standing on the porch after the meal had ended, this self-same maiden approached me a little timidly and asked, "When did you hear from your broth- er Sammie?" She and my younger brother, it seemed, had been schoolmates, and, as I learned afterwards, "sweethearts" as well, and the pie business was no long- er a mystery. If she still lives as maid or matron and this sketch should m'cet her eye, it gives me pleasure to assure her that the fragrance of her kindly deed though based upon no merit of my own, still lingers lovingly in my memory, like the echo of "faint, fairy footfalls dow^n blossoming Avays." OUR CAMP POET. "Dropping into poetry" has not been a peculiarity confined to that singular creation of Dickens' fancy. "SilagWef g." While not a contagious disease, it is said that a majority of men suffer from it at some period in life. Like measles and whooping cough it usually comes early, is rarely faital and complete recovery, as a rule, furnishes exemption from further attacks, without vacci- nation. Under these conditions it is but natural that the Oglethorpes should have had a poet in their ranks. In fact we had two, James E. Wilson and W. J. Steed, who has already figured somewhat in these memories, and w'ho w^as called Phunie, for short. The latter was, however, only an ex-poet, not ex-ofihcio, nor ex-cathe- i)2 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. dra, but ex-post facto. His attack had been lig-ht, very light, a sort of poetical varioloid. He had recovered and so far as the record shows, there had been no relapse. On the first appearance of the symptoms he had mount- ed his "Pegasus." which consisted of a stack of barrels in rear of his father's barn, and after an hour's mental labor, lie rose and reported progress, but did not ask leave to sit again. The results are summed up in the fol- lowing poetic gem: ''Here sits Phunie on a barrel, With his feet on another barrel." He has always claimed that while the superficial read- er might find in these lines an apparent lack of artistic finish, with some possible defects as to metre and an un- fortunate blending of anapestic and iambic verse, the rhyme was absolutely perfect. I have been unable to dis- cover in them, the rhythmic and liquid cadence that marks Buchannan Reade's "Drifting," or the perfection in measure attributed by Poe to Byron's ''Ode" to his sister, yet my tender regard for my old comrade disin- clines me to take issue with him as to the merits of this, the sole offspring of his poetic genius. My inability to find it in any collection of poetical quotations has induc- ed mte to insert it here with the hope of rescuing it from a fate of possibly undeserved oblivion. Jim Wilson's case was different His was a chronic attack. "He lisped in numbers for the numbers came." TRANSFERRED TO TflK COAST. 9^ As a poet he was not only a daisy, but, as Tom Pilcher would say, he was a regular g-eranium. I regret that my memory has retained, with a single exception, only frag- ments of his many wooings of the muse. A young lady friend, Miss Eve, of Nashville, asked from Jim a christening contribution to an album- she had just purchased. He was equal to the occasion. The man and the hour had met. He was in it from start to finish. He filled every page in the book with original verse. I recall now only the following stanza : "Newton, the man of meditation. The searcher after hidden cause. Who first discovered gravitation And ciphered out attractions laws, Could not, with all his cogitation. Find rules to govern wo'man's jaws." But his special forte was parody. A competitive exam- ination was ordered at Thunderbolt in '63 to fill the posi- tion of second sergeant in the company. After studying Hardee's Tactics for a week Jim relieved his feelings in the following impromptu effort: Tell me not the mournful numbers From a "shoulder" to a ''prime," For I murmur in my slumbers Make two "motions in one time." The Oglethorpes, though sen-ing a? infantry had clung tenaciously to their artillery organization and to "94 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. the red stripes and chevrons which marked the heavier srm of the service. On our assignment to Gordon's reg- iment, the Colonel had made a very stroing appeal to us to divide the company and to discard our artillery trim- mings. At the next Sunday morning inspection Jim's tent bore a placard with this inscription, intended for the Colonel's eye: **You may cheat or bamboozle us as much as you wiP, But the sign of artillery will hang round us still." Probably his masterpiece was a parody on "Mary- land," written at Jacksotibofo, Tenn., on the eve of our transfer from the 12th Ga. Battalion. That the reader may understand the personal allusion in the verses it is necessary to say thait Edgar Derry, Jim Russell, Ed Clayton and Alph Rogers had been detailed by Col. Capers to fill certain staf¥ positions with the battalion; that Miles Turpin was company drumm p. m. 18. Fell back four miles below Kingston. 19. Advanced and took position 2 miles from Kings- ion. Under fire from sharpshooters and skirmishers H. L Hill killed and T. F. Burbanks wounded. 12 or 15 casualties in regiment. Retired to Cass station and form- ed line of battle. Johnston's battle order issued. 20. At 1 a. m. crossed the Etowah and fell back to within two miles of Altoona. 21-22. Quiet. (23). Marched five miles in the direc- tion of Dallas. 24. Aroused at daylight and marched 15 miles, camp- ing near Powder Springs. 25. At I a. m. marched four miles back. At 2 p. m. moved forward a mile and formed line of battle. After night moved three miles and bivouacked. 26. At 3 a. m. went formard and took position in rear of Stewart's division. Skirmishing in front all day. LofC. 100 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS 27. Moved to the left near Dallas and then a mile or t^A^ to the right. H. B. Jackson wounded. Oglethorpes and Co. I thrown out as skirmishishers. At 11 p. m. brigade ordered away, leaving us on skirmish line with- out support. 28. Skirmishing all day. Capt. Picquet wounded in leg, A. W. McCurdy in head. 29. At 4 p. m. relieved from duty on skirmish line and rejoined regiment on Ellsbury Ridge. 30- June I. Quiet. (2). Heavy rain. Division moved four miles to the right in rear of Stevenson, slippery march. 3. Quiet day. At 11 p. m. moved off to the right. Jackson's brigade and a portion of ours detached in the darkness, lost their way and forced to lie over till morn- ing. 4. Rejoined division and built breastworks. Ogle- thorps and Co. G on picket. Skirmishing with the ene- my. At 12 p. m. reheved by Wheeler's cavalry and told to 'git," as our army had fallen back. Overtook regiment after five mile tramp over muddiest road I ever saw. Moved 3 miles further and took position in rear of Gist's brigade. {6-y). Quiet. 8. Brigade on picket. 63d Ga. in reserve. 9-1 1. Quiet, and rain, rain, rain. 12. On picket. Wet time. 13. Brigade on picket. Skirmishing between the lines. 14. Quiet. (15). Brigade on picket. Shelled by Federal THE DALTON ^VND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. lOl batteries. Lowry's pickets retired leaving our flank ex- posed. Took position on left of Cleburne's division. At II p. m. moved to the rear of Lowry's brigade. j6. Shelled by the enemy. Some casualties in regiment 17. Moved several times, built breastworks. 18. Six companies from regiment sent out to reinforre skirmishers. Heavy fighting between the lines all day. Carroll, Casey, Knox, Miller and Smith wounded. 25 casualties in other companies of the regiment. Relieved at 8 p. m. Moved 2 1-2 miles towards Marietta. 19. Moved up to the summit of a ridge as a picket re- .-erve. At night moved down in rear of breastworks and then half mile to the right and had orders to fortify but slept. 20. Dug trenches on Kennesaw line of defence. Heavy skirmishing and artillery firing on our right. 21. Remained in the tienches. Skirmishing in our front. 22. Artillery duel between the enemy and our batter- ries on Kennesaw. Six companies from our regiment sent out on picket line. 23. Skirmishing on picket line all day. No casualties in Oglethorpes. Relieved at 8 p. m. 24-25. Artillery firing and skirmishing. 26. W. A. Dabney wounded last night in arm while asleep. Seven companies and a detail of 47 men from the Oglethorpes sent out from the legiment on picket line. 2y. Battle of Kennesaw began at 8 a. m. and ended at J02 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. II :30. Enemy repulsed all along the line, with heavy loss. Oglethorpes lost twenty-three in killed, wounded and captured. Loss in regiment 88. 28-July I. Quiet. (2) At 10 p. m. right wing of the army fell back to a position 5 miles below Marietta. 3. Federal army lined up in our front. 4. Some indication of a general engagement. Yankees seem disposed to celebrate the day with their artillery. Co. A with five other companies from the regiment on picket. Heard some excellent music by the Federal bands. 5. Army retired to a position near the Chattahoochee. 6. Entrenched and moved to the left. 7. Quiet. (8). Co. A with five others on picket. 9. Retired a,nd crossed river to rejoin brigade. 10. Johnston's entire army crossed the Chattahoochee last night. 11. Having been quite unwell for several days, through advice of Lieut. Daniel and Dr. Cumming I went to Di- vision Hospital. On the 15th was sent by Medical Board to Atlanta. On the 17th went to hospital at 0:?cford, Ga. I did not rejoin my command again until Aug. i8th. During my absence Gen. Johnston had been superseded by Gen. Hood as commander of the Army of Tennessee, the battles of Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta had been fought. Gen. W. H. T. Walker, our division commander had been killed and our brigade had been transferred to Pat Cleburne's division. In the battle of Peach Tree THE DA].TOX AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 103 Creek July 20th, onr regiment was only partially en- gaged and suffered but little loss. Eugene Verdery and Henry Booth of the Ogletliorpes were wounded. The for- mer had volunteered for service on the skirmish line that day and while driving in the enemy's picket line received a wound in the "head, which caused him to spin around like a top. In the battle of Atlanta, July 2.2, the regiment was in the thick of the fight and lost more heavily. Of the Ogle- thorpes. S. M. Guy was killed. Ob. Rooks was mortally wounded, M. H. Crowder lost a leg, R. W. Lassiter an arm, Jim McLaughlin the bridge of his nose, while George Leonhardt, John Bynum, Clay Foster, Hugh Ogilby, John Quinn and J. O. Wiley were otherwise wounded. After my return to the company, near East Point, on the i8th the regiment was sent to the picket line on the 19th and when relieved on the morning of the 20th, was placed on the reser\^e line, where we re- mained until the 30th. At 2 a. m. that day we were aroused and ordered to "fall in," but did not move until daylight, when we shifted position 3 or 4 miles to the left. At II p. m'. we were again on the march and after a fatiguing night tramp reached Jonesboro about dav- I'ght on the 3Tsr. BATTLE OF JONESBORO. After investing and bombarding Atlanta for a month, Sherman ha-l beerun his flankncr tactics aeain bv sending 104 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. five of his corps to seize the M. & W. Road at Jonesboro, and Hardee, v.ith his own lvA Lee's corps, had been sent down to checkma-te the movement After resting a few hours we v^ere formed in Hne of battle across an o!d field with only Lowry's brigade on our left. For the only time in my experience as a soldier, the plan of battle was read to our command. Lee's corps and two divisions of Hardee's were to alrtack the enemy in front while Cle- burne's division, to which we belonged, were to ad- vance, then wheel to the right and attack in flank. Lying for several hours under a hot August sun awaiting orders to advance, I remember that, being uncertain as to my fate in the coming fight, and unwilling to allow the let- ters in my possession to fall into the enemy's hands, I tore them up, leaving only one for the identification of my body in case of my death. At 2 p. m. we were ordered forward. Crossing the open field and advancing through a piece of w^oodland, a battery of artillery opened on us but their shot flew high. Sol Foreman of the Ogletliorpes, was struck by a piece of shell, but there was no other casualty in the company. After advancing nearly a mile we struck a boggy swamip a-nd on its farthest edge Flint river. Will Daniel plunged in aud turning to me said, '*Come on sergeant." Lie had gone but a little way when the water reached his arm pits and sword in hand he swam across. Knowing that my cartridges would be use- less if I followed suit, I ran up the stream and found dry passage on a log that lay across it. Reaching the crest of THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 105 the hill beyond, we halted to reform the line. The horse ridden by Col. Olmstead, our Wgade commander, had mired in the swamp, our regiment was without a field officer and Will Daniel offered to take command of the brigade in the final charge, which we all felt to be ahead of us. The hill on which we stood had been occupied by Federal cavalry and artillery, who had retired as we ap- '.^roached. the roar of battle giving evidence of a fierce engagement on our right, came to us over the hills and valleys; Capt. Dickson of Cleburne's stafif, with his ^iorse all afoam, his coat and vest discarded and the per- spiration trickling from liis face, was riding from point to point in the line giving his final orders and the sultry simim'cr air smelled viciously' of powder and lead. At this juncture a courier from Cleburne dashed up with orders for us to retire. We had gone some distance beyond the point intended and had become entirely detached from the line on our right. The attack in the enemy's front had failed to dislodge them and our two brigades could hardly have accomplished much against five corps of the enemy. By dusk we had resumed our original position and our regiment was placed on the picket line. On Sept. I. Lee's corps returned to Atlanta and Hardee was i'eft with his two divisions to face an enemy whose strengh was five times his own. Relieved from- picket by a detail of Cheatham's division, we were placed in the trenches vacated by Lee's corps. At 3 p. 'm. the enem.y massed heavily in front of Lewis' Ky., and Govans' Ark. 106 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. brjg-ades and assaulted in three lines of battle, but were repulsed. They then formed in column of companies, makino- ten lines of battle, and renewed the attack. Our breastworks at this point were inferior and were manned only by a line in single rank . With such odds the issue could not long re- main in doubt. Govans' line was broken and a part of his brigade was captured. No assault wras made on the line held by us, though we were subjected to a heavy fire from their skirmish line. At lo p. m., Hardee evacuated his position and at daylight on the 2nd, occu- pied another, near Lovcjoy Station. Sherman secured a foothold on the M. & W. Road and Hood, compelled to give up Atlanta, formed a junction with Hardee on the 3rd. The enem}' had again taken position in our front an<1 skirmishing was kept up until the 8th, when they w^ere recalled by Sherman and the Dalton and Atlanta cam- paign w-as ended. FURTHER MEMORIES OF THE CAMPAIGN. The following incidents oscillating as they do "from grave to gay," and marked perhaps as much by comedy as by tragedy, wall probably be of more interest to the reader of these records than the details just ended: 'TWO AND A DOG." At the da-te of our transfer from the coast to Johnston's armv, our uniforms were in fairlv good condition and THE DALTOX AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 107 Lore in almost evcrv case the insignia of rank held by the wearer. The writer's jacket had on its sleeves the reg- ulation chevrons of an c-rderly sergeant, three bars or .^tripcs with lozenge or diamond above them. The troop<^ who had followed the fortunes of the Western army from Shiloh to Chickamauga were not so well clad and had, lo a large extent discarded their official insignia. For this reason they were disposed to guy us as bandbox soldiers. Passing some of these veterans one day on the march one of them noticed my chevrons and sang out to his comrades: "Look there, boys. I've often hearn of ''two and a dog" but I'll be blamed if there ain't "three and a dog." I reckon that's the way they play kyards on the coast." The laugh that followed convinced me that my lack of familiadty with the mysteries of the card ta^>;e Avas not shared bv^ tho-se who lieard the jest. STRIPES ON THE WRONG SIDE. While we suftered from deficiencies on other lines v.i the summer of '64, there was certainly no lack of rain\ weather during that campaign. The roads over which we tramped were composed largely of a red. adhesive clay. The writer's physical conformation gave him some righ' to be classed with the knock-kneed species of the genus homo, and in marching over the wet clay hills, the red pigment began at his ankles and by successive contact, traveled g^radually up the inside seams of his grey trous- ers until those seams and an inch-wide space on either 108 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. side were covered for almost their entire length. Passing one day a division resting by the roadside, one of them noticetl the pecnhar condition of my bifut'cated garment, and sang out to me: "Hello, my friend; you've got the stripe on the wrong side of your pants." I could not deny the soft im'peachment and enjoyed the laugh raised at my expense as much as did my comrades. A CLOSE SHAVE. The battle of Resaca began May 14, '64, Walker's division, to \vhich we belo'nged, wa's held in reserve dur- ing the morning and at 12 m., as the fighting grew fiercer, we were oirdered up to reinforce Stewart's divis- ion in our front. A pontoon bridge had been laid across the Oostenaula river and a courier stationed on its bank to hurry the men across, as the railroad embankment on the other side would protect them from the fire of a Fed- eral battery, which had secured the exact range of the road over which we were passing. As we approached the bridge Capt. Martin, commanding the company next in Qur front, halted the column a moment to hear what the courier was saying. As the march was resumed, a solid shot from the battery struck directly in a file of fours in Martin's company killing two and wounding a third, not mare than ten feet from where I stood. The time occu- pied in the halt would have about sufficed to have cov- ered the intervening distance, and certainly saved the lives of som.e of the Oglethorpes and possibly my own. THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 109 Crossing the river, Gen. W. H. T. Walker passed us going to the front and as he rode by, another shot from the battery struck immediately behind him, barely miss- ing his horse. Glancing around ait the dust it had raised and turning to us with a smile on his face, he said, "Go it boots," and galloped on to the head of the division. On this, as well as on every other occasion when under fire, he seem-ed not only absolutely indififerent to danger, but really to enjoy its presence. Gen Cabell, in recalling his association with Gen. Walker in the '6o's, said that battle always brought to his eyes an unusual glitter and that he thought him the bravest man he had ever known. A hero in three wars, severely wounded at Okeecho- bee, Fla., and at Molino Del Rey and Chapultpec, Mex., he fell at last gallantly leading his division at the battle of Atlanta, July 22, '64, and I am sure no battle soil on God's green earth in all the ages was ever stained by braver or by nobler blood than William Henry Walker's. A TWILIGHT PRAYER MEETING. On May 19, '64, Sherman and Johnston were fronting each other near Kingston, Ga. In the skirmishing that day the Oglethorpes had suffered some casualties, among them' one t'hait saddened all the company. Hugh Legare Hill, son of Hon. Joshua Hill, a beardless boy, had been shot through the head and instantly killed He had join- ed us some months before at Thunderbolt and becom- ing restive under the inaction of coast service, had ap- 110 UNDER THE STAKS AND RAT^S. plied for a transfer to Johnston's army. Chafing- under the delay brong'ht on by military red tape in such mat- ters, and anxious to secure a place on the firing line he had urged the offtcers to press the matter as he wanted to reach his new command in time for the opening of the spring campaign. Before the papers were returned our regiment was ordered to Dalton and the transfer was abandoned. Poor Legare! The spring campaign had not yet drifted into summer before his bright young life, that knew no •other .season, but its spring, had found its sad and sud- den ending on the firing line, a place for which he long- ed so ardently and met so bravely. In. the evening of that day we occupied a line near Cass Station, a line chosen by Johnston for a general and decisive engagement with Sherman's atmy. The Fa- bian policy, that had marked the campaign from its opening, was to be ended. The gage of battle was thrown down and Atlanta's fate was to be settled before another sunset. Every arramgemenit for the coming conflict was made and the men ready and anxious for the fray were lesting on their arms. At the twilight hour two mem hers of the Oglethorpes left their places in the ranks and retired to a quiet spot in the forest not far away to talk with God. No church spire raised its lofty summit heavenward. Under the open sky in one of "God's first temples," as dusk was deepening into night, they kneeled together and each in turn, in tones of earnest supplica- THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Ill tion, asked for God's protecting care upon themselves and on their cofnirades in the coming battle and for His blessing on the ilag for which they fought and prayed. And when their prayers were ended, they pledged each other that if it was the fate of either one to fall, the other would act a brother's part and give such aid and comfort as he could. Returning to their places in the line, they wrapped I heir worn, grey blankets around them and lay down un- der the starlight to pass in calm and quiet sleep, the night before the battle. I have attended many larger prayer meetings since that day; I have heard many peti- tions to a Throne of Grace, clothed in more cultured phrase, and yet but few that seemed more earnest or filled with simpler trust in God. Under the urgent protest of Hood and Polk, Joe Johnston's plans were changed and the promised battle beside the Etowah was never fought. I know not what the issue would have been, personal or national. I know that if the hundred and fifty thousand men marshalled upon that field on that May day had met in deadly strife, the shadows would have fallen on m.any a Northern and many a Southern home. And yet somehow I can but feel that if that evening's bloody promise had been fulfilled and in the gathering twilight at its close our company roll was called to mark the living and the dead, my friend and comrade, Steed, and I, whose humble prayers had broken the silence of the evening air to reach no 112 U^sDER THE STARS AND BARS. other ears but ours and God's, would in in His kindly ])rovidence have answered, "Here." TOM -HOWARD'S SQUIRREL BEAD. On May 28, '64, we were on skirmish line near Dallas. Ga. The remainder of the brigade had left the trenches in our rear to reinforce some other point in the line anci the pickets were holding the fort alone. A Federal sharp- shooter had secured a concealed position at short range and was picking off the men in a way highly satisfactory ro himself, perhaps, but decidedly unpleasant to us. We Jiad been on duty all the night before and worn out from loss of sleep, I sat down with my back to a tree as a pro- tection from careless bullets and fell asleep Will Daniel, in a similar position and for like reasons, was dozing at the next tree twenty feet away. A courier came down the line and waking me asked for the officer in con;- majnd. I pointed to Will and as the courier laid his hanil on Will's shoulder to wake him*, a ball crashed through his knee, causing him to scream with pain. A little while before Louis Picquet had received the wound that cost him his leg, and a little later McCurdy of our company, fell with a ball through his head. Tom Howard had been watching the progress of events and they seemed to him entirely too one-sided. Gripping his rifle more tightly aind with the peculiar flash that came to his eyes when excited, he said, ''Boys 'A I can get a squirrel bead on that fellow I can stop his THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 115 racket." Slipping from tree to tree until he located tl'C picket by the smoke of his gun, he drew his squirrel bead and nred. This time the yell of pain came from the other side, and Tom, with his eyes dancing and his face all aglow, turned to us and said, "Boys, I got him. I heard him holler." Tomb's bead had stopped the racket. -WHEN THIS CRUEL WAR IS OVER.'^ Tom was one of the ''characters" in the company. Brave and generous, full of life and humor and always ready for duty, he would sometimes grow a little home- sick. One day, Ab Mitchell, sitting on the edge of the trenches, began to sing, ''When this cruel war is over." So far as I know, Ab. had never taken first prize at a singing school, but as Tom listened, the plaintive melo- dy of the air and the undertone of sadness in the verses carried him back to his old hbme in Oglethorpe. Every feature of the old plantation life rose vividly before him. He heard the "watch dog's honest bark bay deep-mouth- ed welcome" as he drew near home. He slaked his thirst from the "old oaken bucket that hung in the well." He heard the lowing cows and saw the playful gambol of his blooded stock cantering across the barn yard. He saw the blooming cotton fields and heard the rustling of the waving corn. But last and best of all, he felt the pressure of tiny arms about his neck, the touch of loving lips upon his own and then his dream was over. With tears in th. heart if not in liis eye, he thought of the life that lay be- 114 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. before him; of the weary months or years that woukl come and g'o before these old familiar scenes would glad- den his eyes again, and he could stand it no longer. Ris- ing suddenly he seized his old rifle and turning to the singer, he said, "Ab Mitchell, if you sing another line of that song, I'll blow your blamed head off." x\nd the con- cert ended without an encore. [ ' "JIM, TOUCH OFF NO. i." "During this campaign, Major Bledsoe of Missouri, comimanded a battalion of artillery in Cleburne's divis- ion. A veteran of two wars, combining in his person- ality both the Southern and Western types, tall and gaunt, with no tface of Beau Brummellism in his phy- sical or mental make-up, he was as stubborn a fighter as the struggle produced on either side, and yet away fromi the battlefield he was as gentle and as genial as a woman. So accurate were his gunners and so efifective their fire, that it was said that no Federal battery had ■ever planted itself in range of his guns, when they were once unlimbered. As he sat by his battery one day in May, '64, reading a newspaper, a stranger approached him and said, ''Ma- jor, where are the Yankees?" Raising his eyes from the paper a moment he turned to one of his gunners and said: "Ji^^' touch of¥ No. i," and resumed his rcadin/j:. **Jim" pulled the lanyard, there was a puft of smoke, the earth trembled from the concussion and the six-pound THE D ALTON .VND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 115 messenger sped on its mission of death. As it reached its mark, which had been hidden by the undergrowth in front, the *'bhte coats" were seen scattering in every direction. The stranger was answered. As I ma}^ have no further occasion to refer to Major Bledsoe in these records, an incident or two occurring some months later may not be amiss in this connection. On October 29, '64, near Courtland, Ala., on our trip to Nashville, a grey fox crossed our line of march, passing between two of the regiments. The Major was riding by and spurring his horse to full speed, he gave chase, trying at every step to disengage his pistol front the holster for a shot at the animal. I think he failed to secure the "brush." The Reynard tribe must have been numerous in that section, for on reaching our camping place that evening, we found Pat Cleburne and his entire ftafif chasing anoither fox through an old field. After the retreat from Nashville our division was or- lered to North Carolina and in the transfer the trip from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., was made by steam-er. The boat was old and slow, and the voyage monotonous. To enliven, it, the boys, for lack of better game, would L.'*y their marksmanship on every buzzard that in silent dignity sat perched on the tall dead pines that Kned the river bank. Major Bledsoe was with us, and constituting nimself a "lookout" for the game, he entered into the ^port with all the zest and ardor of a boy. He was prob- ably no blood kin to "Jim Bludsoe" of Prairie Belle 116 UNDER THE STAKS AND BARS. fame, but under similar conditions I believe that Kkr 'Jim" he would, regardless of his own fate, have ''Held her nozzle to the bank, Till the last galoot Vv-as ashore." ANOTHER STAMPEDE. Mention has been made of a panic that occurred on a night march near Green Brier river, Va., in '6i. A sim- ilar stampede occurred on the night of May 25. '64, near Powder Springs, Ga. We were in reserve and were shift- ing position to the right. The night was dark and none of us knew the object of the movement or our destina- tion. Tramping along quietl}^ under a moonless sky over n country road darkly shaded by a heavy forest growth, a sudden rumbling was heard, increasing in volume as it approached and then the colum^n in front dimly seen in the starlight, swayed to the right and there was a unan- imous movem^ent to get out of the way and to get quickly. One man, thoroughly demoralized, broke through the woods at full speed in the darkness, ran into a tree, that stood in his pathway, and dislocated his knee cap. Most of the men thought the enemy's cavalry were charging doAvn the road upon them and they took to the woods and did not stand upon the order of their going. The rumbling was caused by the hurried tramp of feet as the men left the road. It was simply a causeless stampede and no one knew how it began. It was said that a deer THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 117 ran across the road in front of the column, but I can not vouch for the correctness of this explanation. I do not know how it may have been with others, but to the writer the expectation of meeting- an unseen enemy in the dark, with no means of ascertaining his numbers or location, was never a pleasant sensation. It would have modified the feeling-, perhaps, if I liad borne in mind always the advice oi a Confederate general to his men to "remember tliat ;the other side is as badly scared as you are," A SUMMER DAY ON THE FIRING LINE. It Avas a day in June, but neither a perfect nor a rare- June day. For two weeks and more it had rained almos, continuously. Every day o'r two Jabe Poyner, the weath- er prophet of the company, had said, ''Well boys, this is ihe clearing up shower." And still it rained and rained arnd rained until Poyner's reputation on this line had p-one where the woodbine twineth. In the early morning of ihe 1 8th there was another of Jabe's clearing up showers and at its close the boys were lying on the v/et ground, a hundred yards in rear of the breastvvorlrs, awaiting orders. They had amused themselves for a lime by shooting pebbles at each other, when Bill Byrd's foot was struck and he said, "Boys, don't shoot so hard — that one hurt." Looking down at his foot, he found that mother partner had entered the game as it had been hit by a minnie ball from the skirmish line. 118 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS. The. firing had begun at daylight and was growing heavier. At 8 a. m. six companies of the regiment were vjrdered to the front to reinforce our skirmish Hne, which ^vas being pressed back. "Over the breastworks, Ogle- ihorpes," sang out Lieut. Daniel, and we went over with a yell. Advancing and deploying under fire, we reached a position within 250 yards of the Federal line and having no rifle pits, we availed ourselves of such protection as the larger forest trees afforded. Selecting a post oak, I had been there only a little while when the man on my right, belonging to another company, was shot down. The woods were very thick in my front and not relishing the idea of being killed with such limited opportunity of returning the favor, I shifted my position to the leeward side of a red oak, twenty or thirty feet to the left where the woods were more open and a Federal rifle pit in front was only partially hidden from my view. The diameter of the tree about covered my own and there for twelve hours, in a drizzling rain, I cultivated the acquaintance of that oak more earnestly perhaps than I had ever fostered a personal friendship. For that day at least it was "my own familiar friend in whom I trusted," and if on bidding it adieu, I had m^et the owner, my prayer to him would have been. Woodman spare that tree. Mar not its noble shape. Today it sheltered me From "minnie" and from "grape." THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 119 All day long- leaden messengers were knocking at the door of my improvised breastwork in search of my long and lank anatomy. It was barked and scarred and torn from the rooit to twenty feet above my head. Twice the bark was knocked into my eyes and once a ball striking at the foot of the tree filled them with dirt. On one of these occasions I must have flinched a little as George Harrison, who was cultivating friendly relations with the next tree on my right, turned anxiously and asked if I was shot. The Federal line as a rule stuck rather closely to their pits and not feeling authorized to waste my ammunition T fired only when there was a blue target in sight. Some of the boys, less careful of their cartridges expended So or 90 rounds during the day. John Carroll, ten feet to my left, kept firing when I could see no game, and I said to him, "John, what are you shooting at?" "Well," he said, "they are down that way." Before the day was ended some of them "down that way" had shot him through the thigh, and the poor fellow died of the wound. In addition to the incessant infantry fire, which made small lead mines of the friendly oaks, the Federal artil- lery, not wishing to be lacking in social attentions, com- plimented us at short intervals with volleys of grape. These came over us like the whir of a covey of over- grown partridges, but fortunately flew high, causing more nervousness than execution. Ninetv thousand rounds of ammunition were fired on 120 UNDER THE STARS AND BIRS. Hardee's line alone that day and our friends on the oither side expended probably an equal or larger number. There was no intermission for lunch. Our rations were nearly half a mile away and the Northern exposure of the route towards them, somehow dulled our appetites. There are feveral incidents that come back very vividly today from that twelve hours' flight in the woods. A SQUIRREL HUNT UNDER DIFFICULTIES. One of these incidents furnished an exhibition of cool- ness under fire and indifference to danger that had no parallel in all my term of service. About midday I heard several shots fired a short distance in my rear. Fearing that some excited soldier might fire wildly and shoot me In the back, I turned to investigate, and saw a mem-ber of the regiment standing in an exposed position and coolly and deliberately firing, not at the enemy, but a": n squirrel he had discovered in the branches of the tree above our heads. Grape shot were tearing the limbs from iheir sockets, minies were making music in the air, or striking the oaks with a dull, dull thud, but that soldier, was oblivious to everything save a determination to have fried squirrel for supper. If I knew his name i cannot now recall it, nor do I remember whether the squirrel was included in the casualties of that day. JIM THOMAS' DILEMMA. During the afternoon Jim and a Yankee picket had been takins: alternate shots at each other and it was the THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 121 Yankee's time to shoot. Jim was nestlin^- np to the Southern side of his tree and thinking^ possibly of all the meanness he had ever committed in order to feel as smaU as possible, when a cannon ball crashed through the tree, cutting oft' its top and sending it by force of gravity, io. :he direction of his head. lie was in a dilemma. If he re- mained where he was he was liable to be crushed to death by the falling timber, and if he left his cover the picket would probably kill him. Under ordinary circumstances ]im may not haA^e been averse to taking a "horn," but in this dilemma he was undecided which horn to take, whether to bear the ills he had or fly to others," that un- fortunately he knew too well. "All things come to him who waits," but in this case ihere was something coming that Jim didn't care to wait for. Doing perhaps the rapidest thinking of his life he decided if he had to shuffle off this mortal coil, he would do so in a soldierly way, and leaving the protection of his tree he gave his antagO'nist a fair shot. Fortunately the aim was bad and Jim lived to laugh over his deliver- ance from a sea of troubles. A POOR GUN OR A POOR GUNNER. Obliquely to the right of my position in the line, and about 250 yards distant as I estimated it, there was a shallow ravine or valley and 20 or 30 feet beyond, on its further slope, a Yankee rifle pit. For reasons which read- ily occurred to the writer at the time and which will 122 UNDER THE STARS AND BARS probably suggest themselves to the reader, I did not take the trouble to verify my estimate of the distance by stepping it. About the center of this depression in the land was a very large tree— a pine, as I recollect it. On the farther side of this tree and hidden by it entirely from my view for the larger part of the day was a six-foot Yankee soldier, an officer probably, for he had no gun in his hand. During the afterno'on, to protect himself from the fire of other skirmishers on my right, he had 'inched" around the tree until his body from his knee upward was in plain and unobstructed view of my posi- tion. It was drizzling rain and his shoulders were pro- tected by a blue blanket thrown across them. It was the fairest, prettiest shot I had enjoyed during the day and fearing that he would change his position, I aimed at his breast rather hurriedly and fired. The shot failed even to scare him for he didn't move an inch. Reloading as rap- idly as I could, I steadied the gun against the red oak and with as deliberate aim as I had ever taken at a squir- rel in my boyhood I fired again. And still he moved not. Reloading again I took even longer aim and when the smoke cleared from the muzzle of the gun he had disap yeared. I do not think that he was either killed or dis- abled as in such event I would have seen him carried to the rear. I am glad to believe that my third shot simply convinced him tha't a change of base was desirable and ihat he acted upon that conviction while the smoke obstructed my vision. THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 123 And now in at least partial extenuation of what seem- ed very poor merkmanship it may not be amiss to say that the weapon used was an Austrian rifle and was con- sidered a very inferior gun. With an Enfield or Spring- field rifle I think I could have made a better record, pro- vided always that my nerves had not been rendered un- steady by the necessity for dodging minies for six or" eight hours. George Harrison, who took care of the tree nearest me on the right has always insisted that I did redeem my reputation on that day, but with so many guns in possible range of the same point it was impos- sible fo