Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-08-10


carded. Gov. Harris, Of Tennessee,
who served on the staff of Gen. Albert
Sidney Johnston at the battle Of Shiloh,
related an incident illustrating the point.
A regiment from -, which had often
boasted of what prodigies Of vslor il
would perform with the bowie knife,
broke badly under withering fire of
mimic balls. The general rode up TO
the shrinking, covering men and cried
out: You have Dragged about what
you would do with the bowie knife, and
now when the manlier weapon is put in
your hands you play the woman. II
there is manhoodin you follow mt" He
placed himself in front of the regiment
and rode before it until the enemy was
routed by the gallant attack. He led
into action several regiments on that the
last day OF his heroic life.
Gen, D. f. Butler, United States army,
was the first to use the word contra
band" as designation for the negro,
and he has, too, the honor of being the
first to encourage that class of persons
to desert their masters. 1t will doubt
less crafty him to know that the contra
bands made themselves very useful to
both sides. The Coniederates, at least,
were kept well posted about all that oc
Cured within and around Fortress Mon
roe The number of ships that McClel-
Ian brought, and the strength of his
army, were reported with astonishing
accuracy. 1t is certain that Yorktown
knew more of Fortress Monroe at this
period at least, than did Fortress Monroe
know Of Yorktown The opposite opin
ion would be a poor compliment to
Mcclellan. He certainly would have
attacked on the first day of his arrival.
before Magruder's long, weak line had
he known that there were many points
of it at which there was not a man for
hundreds of yards There is reason to
believe that Magruder kept Butler
amused for more than year with false
information conveyed through intelli-
gent contrabauds, while his own intelli-
gence was accurate in the minutest de-
gree. The tricks played off ny means o.
negroes at the beginning of the war
would be sufficiently curious; but the
time is hardly come for these revelations
to be made. But even when the in
stinct of freedom was true, the news
brought by the intelligent contraband
must sometimes have seemed very
strange. An officer Of McClellan's staff
told the writer, during flag of truce, an
amusing instance of this.
After Beauregards retreat from Cor
intb, Mcclellan was much exercised in
mind lest he should come to the relief of
Lee. A statement to that effect had been
published in the papers. Other papers
denounced the imprudentrevelation, and
said some wise things about the impor
tance of reticence. Mcclellan, as a
military man, knew this was the move
ment that ought to be made, and he
believed it had been made. However, to
make sure on this point, he determined
to examine, in person, an intelligent
contraband, just brought into his lines,
direct from Richmond.
Gen. MIS- Beauregard in Richmond
l. Cob, yes, massa.
Gen. M-How many soldiers did he
have with him
/. C.-Hundred tousand, tree tousand,
fifty tousand cars heaped up with so
gers, ebery day, two, tree weeks
Gen. M.-Are you sure that Beaure'
gard is there himself2 3D..
l. C.-Oh yes, him make a speech at
de captil; hear massa Letcher call him
Genral Boregar.
The news was sufficiently confirmatory
of McClellan's worst fears, and the in
tellipent contraband saw plainly that he
had made a sensation the thing OF all
others the most flatterlng to the negro
At last some one thought of testing s.ml
further the intelligent contrabands 8 accu-
racy and the examination was renewed.
Q. Did you see General Beauregnrd
yourself2
A. Oh yes, Massa me see him for
sartin
O. Wha, sort of looking man is he p?
A. Him great big fat man, stomach
tick ont so, quitting his hands two feet
in front of his stomach
This was too much for the gravity OF
Mcclellan. who laughed heartily with
his fears all relieved.
Beauregards s leanness was too well
known for the credibility of the contra
bands story. 1t appeared afterward
that the poor fellow had mistaken the
portly Price (who happened to be in
Richmond about that time) for the cele-
brated engineer. The fifty tousand, tree
tousand, hundred tousand, were the
troops of Holmes and Huger from North
Carolina and Norfolk.