Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-07-13

marching through the then gloomy, fagless
defiant streets Of Baltimore, fully equipped
for service, with uniform gray, blue, red
or green-it then msttered not with kDsp
sack, cartridge box. musket aud bayonet
his outfit was all that was required.
| He was little awkward, his arcoutre
ments much awry, his will unsubdued.
lie did not keep step to music nor al
ways lock step with his companions. Hc
had scarcely ever fred musket, but he had
become a soldier, put on the soldiers garb
set his face toward the enemy. and God
willing, he purposed never TO turn back till
the soldiers work WAS done.
You meet him at Washington ION Meridi.
an Hill perbaps); discipline and seize upon
him, restrain his liberty, and mould his
body. Colonels, captains, lieutenants. and
ueergeants, bis former equals, order him
about, and he must obey them. Oh what
days and what nights Where is home
snd affeetieuf Where is the soft bed and
the loaded table2 Change of climate,
change of food, want Of rest, want Of ali
kinds Of old things, and an influx of all
sorts of new things, make him sick-yes,
really sick in body and soul.
But 10 spite Of a few doses of quinine
and wholesome hospital bed and diet, las
the soldier Of '6l remembers them,) bis
vigorous constitution and indomitable heart
prevail, so that he is soon able to cross the
Long Bridge and invade the sacred red clay
OF Virginia, with his companions in arms
Yet perhaps, should you now observe him
very closely you will perceive his. enthusi-
ssln increasing faster even than his strength.
He is on the enemy's side Of the river !;
now for strict guard duty now for the lone.
l,,, olcto 81 a. oL u
killed by ambushed foes.
How the eye and car, and, may l say it,
the heart are quickened in these new and
trying vigils 49,
Before long, however, the soldier is Injured
to these things; be becomes familiar with
every stump, tree, and pathway OF approach
and his trusty gun and stouter heart defy
any secret foe.
Presently you find him on the road to
battle the hot weather of July, the usual
load, the superadded twenty extra rounds
OF cartridges and three days rations, strung
to his neck, and the long weary march quite
exhaust his strength during the very first
day. He aches to leave the ranks and rest,
but no no! He did not leave home for
the ignominious name Of "straggler" and
"skulker." Cost what may, he tolls on.
The Acotink, the Cub Run, the never to.
be-forgotten Bull Run, are passed. Here,
OF sudden, strange and terrible sounds
strike upon his ear, and bear down upon
his heart; the booming of shotted cannon;
the screeching of bursted shell through the
heated air, and the zip, Zip zip Of smaller
balls |, everything produces singular effect
upon him. Again, all at once he is thrown
quite uuprepaTed upon new and trying ex-
perience for now he meets the groaning
ambulance and the bloody stretcher. He
meets limping, armless, Iegloss, disfgured,
wounded men. To the right of him and to
thetlett Of him are the liteless forms of the
slain.
Suddenly large iron missile Of death
strikes close beside him, and explodes, send
ing out twenty or more Jagged fragments,
which remorselessly main or kill five or six
Of his mates, before they had the oppor-
tunity to strike one blow for their country.
His face is now very pale; and will not
the American soldier finch and turn back
There is stonewall there is building;
there is stack Of hay-it is so easy to hide
But mol He will not be coward "Oh
God, support and strengthen me |" This
is all his prayer.
Soon the cry comes, "Our flank is turned
our men retreat |" With tears pouring
down his cheeks, he slowly yields, and joins
The retiring throng. Without any more
nerve and little strength, he struggles back
from lost field.
Now he drinks the dregs Of suffering
Without blanket for the night, without food,
without hope, it is no wonder that a panic
seizes him, and he runs demoralized away
This disreputable course, however, is only
temporary. The soldier before long forgets
hio DEF ah1 HE c,,@a hr,o
his armor, and resumes his place on the
defensive line.
He submits for weary days to discipline,
drill, and hard fare he wades through the
SHOWS Of winter and the deep mud of q
Virginia spring.
He sleeps upon the ground, upon the
deck OF transport steamer, and upon the
floor of the plstform car. He helps load
and unload stores; he makes fascnes and
gabions; he corduroys quicksands, and
bridges creeks and bogs. Night and day
he digs or watches in the trenches.
What world Of new experience What
peculiar labor and suffering he passes
through, the soldier alone can tell you.
He now marches hurriedly to his second
battle soon after he is in series of them.
Fight and fall back Fight and fall back
Oh those days of hopelessness, sorrow, toll
and emaciation. How vividy the living
soldier remembers them, those days when
he cried from the bottom of his heart, "Oh
God, how long how long r.
Would you have patiencs to follow him
through the comminsling of disasters from
the battle OF Cedar Mountain to the same
old Bull Run; you would emerge with him
from the chaos and Behold his glistening
bayenet again on the successful field Of
Antietam, where glimner of hope lighted
up his.heart. -,
Would you go with him to- the blooiiy
fields OF Fredericksburg, staunch his wounds
in the wilderness OF ChanoeAorsviiley and
journey on with him afterwards to this hal
lowed ground of Gettysburg, and cotld you
be enabled to read and record his toils, ms
sufferings, and all his thoughts, you night
be able to appreciate the'true Americahisol-
dier. fou might then recite the first chap
ter of the cost OF the preservation OF the
American Union. In September, 1868,
after the battle of Gettysburg, the Govern
ment sends two army corps to reinforce our
brethren in the West.
The soldier is already far from home and
friends, but he is suddenly apprised that he
must go two thousand miles father. He
cannot visit his family to take leave of them
He has scarcely the opportunity Of writing