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SHOT AND SHELL.intelligence was sent while the march beercontinued, and he was directed to com- off, municate it to those under him: “Bur-Oid Veterans’ Reminiscences Of 1 bridge's brigade has been surprised andthe War of the Rebellion.Embracing Anecdotes of Actual Expo rience and Colloquial Acquisition.Sleep On, Brave Boys.BY LILLA N. CUSHMAN.EHOLD on every hillside, our brave boys scattered lie!Some perished on the battlefield, some . sought loved homes, toV'VTi die!O’er them the first sweet flowers of spring we strew with reverend hand—Our Boldier boys 1—whose sons, in turn, must guard their native landbadly cut up. We are needed at Carrion Crow, and must be there by daylight. Tell the men to step out long.”It was a cool, starry night, there was a spice of excitement about this information, and the order was given to soldiers who had learned something about marching “against time/’ We did “step out long.” A march in column, protracted for some hours, was not usually regarded as a pastime; but I believe I rather enjoyed that one.We made that fourteen miles in fiveentforegroioutwithto n to 1' ^n,; Virfj undlt; serv the Yan ing tool hint for ihours. If the reader will stop to reflect artiThe dear flag waves above them, as in the 'S olden time;Yet vfe, who were but children then, haveaim by i dro1 had theIScompassed our manhood prime! muffled drum tears will tellHjnoo, ob*country’s flag, theseHow dear their memory is to us, and we will guard it well!Sleep on, brave boys! your sacred dust we strew with violets sweet;And laurel-wreaths your headstonos grace—for victors they are meet—For victors over death are you, and we will tributes layOf immortelles abovo theeo mounds on each Memorial Day!—St. Louis Magazine.^that the amateur pedestrian, unincumbered by gun end sixty pounds at leastof equipments, and not delayed by the moving of a column, does very well when he travels throe miles an hour, keeping it up for a day, he will agree that this was pretty good time. At least, Grouchy was much nearer Wat* , had erloo than that, and had he put his col- I Ger umns on a forced march when he first heard the guns at noon, he would have reached the English left in ample timeto have saved the dav.#We reached Carrion Crow at sunrise, quite ready to fight, but the enemy had withdrawn. They had ridden in on Burbridge from every direction, capturing 500 prisoners, killing and wounding hundred and fifty men, and taking on 1A Forced March.BY JAMES FRANKLIN FITTS.14** -N the fall of 18£3,midway between the Port Hudson and Bed River campaigns, the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Corps a t -tempted to march to Texas overland up Western Louisiana. At least that was believed to be the object upon setting out, and as we moved about a hundred and fifty miles up country, doing it in a very leisurely fashion, we still thought that such was the design, up to the 31st of October, when, beyond Opelousas, we of the Nineteenth received the order to fall back. The relrogade movement was begun on the next day, aud with some halts we reached Vermilionville on the 3d, and camped just outside the village.This sketch has little to do with the project of marching an army to Texas overland; but it has since seemed to the writer, os it has to others who were there, that enough ought to have been discovered in this futile campaign of the difficulties of supplying a large forca so far from its base, to prevent the folly of the Red River expedition in the following spring. The streams of Louisiana are bayous, fed by the Mississippi; sometimes they are navigable, and sometimes not, depending on the height of water in the parent stream. General Franklin found them unfavorable for his purpose, and reluctantly had to abandon the route to Texas.The enemy had an inferior but very active force under General Richard Taylor (a son of old “Rough and Ready”), a large part of which was composed of horse. There was some desultory fighting on the way up, but never a general engagement, which the Confederates could not afford. The campaign was an easy one for the soldiers, though it accomplished nothing; and by the middle of November the army was back again around New Iberia and Franklin, in winter quarters.Before retiring from Vermilionville a stirring affair happened which led to the incident which will presently be described.When the Nineteenth Corps fell back to Vermilionville the Thirteenth re-remained at or near Carrion Crow Bayou, some fourteen miles in advauce. Burbridge’s brigade of the latter corps was considerably in advance from the main body, and in an exposed situation. An attack was not expected; I remember hearing that a paymaster was engaged in paying some of the regiments at the time the disaster happened. ‘We at Yermilonville that night were enjoying a good rest after a day’s march. If my memory serves me rightly I was with the picket reserve; our pickets being thrown out three hundred yards from the camp.Wide awake, but very comfortable, we were talking of what this army had started out to do and hadn't done, when, about midnight, our attention •was attracted to a display of light from the steeple of the church in the village. It was soon made clear that the spire was occupied by tho Signal Corps, and that all this swinging to and fro of lanterns must mean that they were conversing with the signal officers up at Carrion Crow.We watched these proceedings for some time and speculated as to what they might mean.One man was sure that something was going on at the front, and that we were being cal'ed for. Another thought that it was “only those signal fellowsto ljty-etheprojHiswhewonthemara ! eraimuch camp and garrison equipage. Part of the brigade escaped and fellback to the main body, and there was a scattering fight, in which the enemy left a hundred dead and wounded behind, jpd a few prisoners. But, taken alfbgether, they scored a surprise and a success.The remainder of our corps was soon on hand. We were too late to take a hand in the fighting, but we were in time to see the ghastly evidences of it all about us. All that day the Thirteenth Corps were burying their dead. We saw rows of dead bodies laid out upon the grass awaiting burial. The buildings along the bayou were filled with wounded men, and the services of every surgeon were employed. We stacked our arms in column by battallion, and while waiting at rest for orders, heard the stories of some of the Thirteenth Corps about the bloody scenes of the surprise and the fignt the previous evening.The next morning both corps moved back to Vermilionville, halting there a few days, and then in a leisurely way went on to New Iberia. The enemv followed, much emboldened by their successes, and attempted several saucy little demonstrations on our rear. On the open prairie south of New Iberia a neat revenge was taken in the capture of one hundred out of one hundred and twenty-five men composing one of General Green’s mounted Confederate regiments which had ventured too far from its supports. General Taylor says of it in his book:. “So much for want of discipline and overconfidence. ” These 'several affairs that I have mentioned show that all troops on active campaign are Jiable to surprise, but it still remains true thatgood troops with vigilant officers never should be surprised.whitoldthineml141sliijmy44the44'Chfi4444side4 iaga44’to f44tliunot in 1 urerAbraham Lincoln's Mercy.R. LINCOLN was by nature singularly merciful. The ease with which he ouId be reached by persons who might profit by his clern-lt;j\ eney gave rise to many notable scenes in the White House during the war. Upward of twenty deserters were sentenced at one time to be shot. The warrants for tlieir execution were sent to Mr. Lincoln for his approval. He refused to sign them. The commanding general to whose corps the condemned men belonged was indignant. He hurried to Washington. Mr. Lincoln had listened to moving petitions for mercy from humane persons who, like himself, were shocked at the idea of the execution of more than a score of misguided men. His resolution was fixed, but his rule was to see every in a* who had business with him.The irate commander was admitted into Mr. Lincoln’s private office/ Withsoldierly bluntness he told the President that mercy to the few was cruelty to tho many; that Executive clemency in such a case would be a blow at military discipline; and that unless the condemned men were made examples of the army itself would be in danger. “General,” said Mr. Lincoln, “there are too many weeping widows in the United States now. For God’s sake, don’t ask me to add to the number, for, I tell you plainly, I won’t do it!” He believed that kind words were better for the poor fellows than cokl lead, and subsequent events showed that he was right.willesjnoilesjowsesotL(lougrtgetwlisto halt; t u iwhCosuimiterW:A Coward's Rise.practicing.” A third didn’t pretend to know what it meant, aud didn’t care,if they only wouldn’t have the bad manners at headquarters to disturb us at this unreasonable hour and send us “pumping off afoot.”But that was precisely what was about to happen. About one o’clockan order came out to me to withdraw the pickets and return to camp in all haste. I did so, and found the whole camp in motion. Weitzel’s brigade was under arms aud ready to move in ten minutes after the order came; the pickets fell into their places, and the column was soon stepping out at a lively pace toward Carrion Crow.Bo far, nobody but the signal men and those around general headquarters knew what the trouble was. It was not always on such occasions that it was deemed the correct thing to inform the rank aud file of what the movement was for; but on this night General Wei tael had been admonished to get his brigade, which was in advance, to Carrion Crow ju*t m soon as leg-power could do it, aud he wiselyconcluded to let the men know all about itT X T HILE some of W \ / the war veterans v ▼ who were guests of the Twelfth Regiment, of New York City, were exchanging reminiscences at the table, one of them who sat within earshot of Gen. Sickles told this story: “When reaching the Army of the Potomac as a recruit for the -• NewgegeJ°W:ni{agitineoianakgitforliuVO]loiskt e foiWlincutelorto\YCIIthYork Regiment, twenty-five years ago, just before the ChancellorsviUe campaign, I soon heard of a man in my company whose notoriety for cowardice had made him the subject of many jests during his short service in the I wi carnn. Plenty of men are bitten by j yu fear upon going into action, but this fellow had the rare reputation of being an incurable poltroon, and the mere crack of a rifle had often thrown him into fits so violent that two of his comrades had to leave the ranks to keep him in order,“lie was with the regiment at Chsu-celloravUle on the right when we be-lye\ravilshwiutgan to exchange shots with the enemy I anin that quarter, and he trembled soonviolently that he could not handle hisTo every company eommaudant the j rifle. A small rebel cannon that had so
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Forrest Rambler
Forrest, Illinois, US
Wed, Jun 13, 1888
Page 6
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USA 31 May 2019
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