INCIDENTS IN THE AMERICAN WAR

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1671, 5 March 1890, Page 4

INCIDENTS IN THE AMERICAN WAR

PBAYING ON THE BATTLEFIELD. During the fight a corporal who was noted for his quiet promptitude and unvarying good behaviour, becoming a little separated from the main command, found himself confronted by a rebel offiser, whose surrender he demanded. The officer refused, and the corporal fired, shooting him through the bt>dy. As he fell the corporal bent over him and told him he was very sorry he had to shoot him, and that he was a Christian, and if he wished he would pray with him. The officer eagerly assented, and the corporal knelt by his side. amid the drifting smoke and flying missiles, undisturbed by the roar of musketry and the ' shouts and groans of the combatants, and offered a fervent prayer for the parting soul of his dying foeman, hostile no longer. When he had finished they shook hands, and the officer gave the corporal his sword as a momento, and asked him to write to his wife and tell her what had befallen him. Then they bade farewell, and the corporal, who had been made a target of by the rebels, under the impression that he was rifling the officer's body, picked up his Spencer and went on firing. — " Springton Republican." A DITCH FULL. OF .SCARED MEN. There was a great many men in the army who suffered years of humiliation through losing grip of themselves for a single instant. I remember 1 that on one occasion one of the most reckless. men in our company, after fighting like a salamander foran hour, lost his head. After twenty minutes spent in the very fury of charge and counter-charge the man on his right dropped without a word, the man on his left fell across his front, and the branch of a tree cut off by a cannon ball dropped at his feet. He ' turned in a blind, datid way, lost control ■of his nerves, and started rearward like a frightened deer. Scores of others went with him, and the .men who turned and retreated. more slowly saw. with surprise these men spring, up, each with a shriek, and' jump one after another into a depression in the rooky ground. This cellar-like depression was riot more than four or five feet deep, and iV afforded no adequate protection- against the storm of shot and shell, but after one man had. jumped in all these frightened men followed like so many sheep,, and they continued to do this until the hole was full, men packed in one on top of the other. The men who retreated slowly, making the best fight they could, escaped. The panic stricken men who jumped into the hole lay there helplessly after our line passed, and were taken prisoners without a show of resistance. After months of weariness and suffering they came back to the regiment, and I have heard my friend of the reckless mood say a hundred times that one minute of panic-stricken foolishness so- injured his self-respect that he. was afraid he would never be a man again.—" Chicago Inter Ocean." , " THE IRISH IJRIGADB AX FAIR OAKS. We could foUow,tha fluctuating fortunes of the day by the. way the fire advanced and "retired, accompanied by the solid cheers of our men and the sharp oontinuous yell of the enemy; Presently the fire came nearer, with an increased crash on the other side', and a perceptible slackening pnours^ . In a few minutes stragglers and. wounded men began to emerge /from the timber. The. first brigade of our division was, being driven in. General Suraner sent' in the next brigade, Howard's ; and "with this fresh force the fire again resumed its full volume, reaching the climax "of this battle. A nearer approach of the. fire, another lull in our direction, and wild; yells, meant a 3 second repulse, and now we sa.w.,General l Sumper ride up , to the Irish Brigade, but a, bat-e quarter of a mile, on bur rigntfront." We saw his hat off and his grey locks bared, as he evidently made a short :i speeeh, probably the only -, one- of the old hero's life. We learned afterwards, that he told them that they. w,ere. his last hope ; if they failed him aU was lost ; but, he. said, 'I'll go my stars on,' you,', pointing to his shoulder straps., 'I w.anjb to see hhewo c w Irishmen fight, and when, you run I'll run too.' A hearty .cheer greefeed^ 'his last -words, and the brigade - moVed info; •the, Woods tritb the air of then wtiowere going to stop. A fresh crash- showed when they struck the enemy. For a few minutes, the rpafc msr deafening;; Ijhen it began to resre r r gave way to, long, continuous cheers, an aide galloped up to order a section of artillery to follow our advancing line; and the battle* of ' Fair Oaks was won, rtlt wssan-inspiririf dpening o| an heroip history, and from that day General Sumner ,swor,e, by the Irish Brjgaa>.^^!»deiphia Times.'? 4,COIffJSDIiRAT|? ; OBNEJIAL'S .HUMANITY. The following story is Aold.by, (general James B. Gordon, of Gejorgja :~J( ; Was the first day of Gettysburg. : The liattle was in progrew when I canYe into it with my dmi^n>and r struclc'th6 FedeTaliine'at an angle^whiok>vanscfd:i(rtcdbre ; «k^ dbub> }ing..on itself ,; so»that it was driven back in gam? disorder,.; t As,k/j«LS retreating and our ling advancing, in crossing a field I s'*w an officer lying on t£e A ground, and dismounted to see if I could render him any assistance. Raising Him up'the blood spurted -from nim', and I thought he mast be mortally wounded, my enquiry for his name he answered that he was Geneval Barlow, of Now York. I asked him: if I tsould . b^ of any -service jto, . hint He said f No,' and, tojjl me to t |eaye him and: go and' do my 4jptY.< ]jtot;onjniy pressing, the Officer, qt assistance, lie asked me to send a word to his,w§fo, whoVasiri the rear; of General M«W6's army. I sos»s««d that I; would 1 not only send 9 to her, but/send for.her,:.; I called ior bearers whe were coming qnthe field to .pile np the wounded, to.prjng a stretcher. They took; I»|m^.and' <sarned hira back to , the branch, the name', given at; the SbnW ! W • •tre»m, on which a camp Kbspftil^ had teen * improvised and I sent an tide with a flag of truce to the lines to_ fotKard the message to the wife oi the, wounded, and, as I supposed, dying oftioer. The mesuge readied it*

.djrotinatiop', although Mrs Barlow ( was 7 seventeen miles back, from the front and *at Jiwo o'clock in the morning word wag bniitfht to me that sh« was at the lines. t sent word tr> have her immediately passed through, but bade the 'me^aenirer toll her that her husband was 'desperately wounded.* I had no idea that sho would jfind. him alive. The next' inoniMi<j; tht> lj>£stle. was' resumed,:- and nil th.it had parsed was forgotten in the great struggle. It. was* nearly two, years more to the close of the war/ I remained in tho army to tlio last, and was with General Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox. , When all was over I returned home to Help to restore the fortunes of my State, if anything were left to her in the general ruin. Tears passed. on, and I was chosen tJnited States , Senator from Georgia. When in Washington I was invited one evening to dine ,at Mr Clarksori N. Potter's. I did not arrive till the guests were seated. Among the others to whom I was introduced I heard the name Barlow, but took no notice of jf, till an interval arrived in tae conversation,. when I turned to the gentleman so designated and said ; . ( Pray, sir, may I ask if you are a relation of the General Barlow, who was killed at Gettysburg ?' Imagine my astonishment at the answer : ' I am the "man !' ' And you, sir,' he asked, in reply, < are you the General Gordon who picked me up on' the Geld V I could not deny it. At this he sprang , to his feet, , and I thought would have leaped over the table. And . then he told the story of the scene in which we had met before, at which, not only the ladies but the men round the table found it difficult to control their emotion.— "Boston Traveller."