St. Mary's gazette., 1866-01-11

ces were cracked and tears of exhausticr
ran down manga dusty cheek. Every heart
was confident and gay-and SO we moved
forward
Suddenly the swapping of cap Yves
heard in the woods on our right, and then
the report of a musket, sounding strangely
sharp and clear. Instinctvely we turned,
and there in the woods, within few yards
of US, was long line Of uniformed men.
There was no time for thought auoJh,
rife shot was heard, and another ana an
other. without an instant's pause the red
fire flashed along the entire line, and 4
deadly volley was poured into Us Il WAS
as unexpected as the crack Of doom :
Could it be the enemy, or was it our own
men. None of US could tell , The troops
were for moment thrown into confusion,
but they rallied Immediately under the OK
hortations of their officers | SEQ it plain
" now as if it were but yesterday
Gen. Longstrect, curbing HIS harso,
which plunged with excitement. calrn and
intlexible as as tatutc of bronze, his head
turned defantly towards the firing like some
old lion whom the hunters had brought TO
bay; and Jenkins waving his hand to hi,
men, while in loud, clear tones he cried,
Steady, men for Gods sake steady :"
Poor fellow the words were scarcely ut
tered, the ma me of his God was still upon
his lips, when bullet pierced his heal
and rising convulsively in his stirrups, he
fell to the ground mortally wounAcd.-
Now Longstreet recled in his saddle; he
also was wound and, it was feared, IA
tally. The firing had ceased as suddenly
as it had begun. 1t was our own men
who had done US the harm.
jenkins. gallant fellow, was beyond all
earthly assistance, and it remained for US
but to grieve his loss. Loncstrcet WAS
lying by tree at the side of the road, the
blood flowing with terrible rap lity from His
neck General Ficl l. the senior division
commander, now assumed command, and
kneeIing by our beloved General, received
few words of instruction. The General
grew rapidly weaker, but as consciousn, s.
gradually left him, he still could summon
up energy enough to say in deep and earn
est tones. Press them or, General Field;
press them on, sir - \ litter was obtain
ed, and General Longstreet was carried
slowly to the rear his hat concealed his
features. and the mon anxiousy asked who
was wounded
1t was known too soon, and to honor
their General, as they thought for the last
time, the men gave a prolonged an} en-
thusiastc cheer The General heard tha,n:
he could not be deaf to their voicGs al it
Was touching SielIr rs he slowly, tlintlv
raised his hat, showing. fer rsom IL,
that well known face, now 50 gh4~tly and
pale One incident particularly struck
me. When the General was hit. a private
soldier took his horse he had montcd
him, fully equipped. with rifle. blanket and
cantcen, and was now riding behind the
litter. One of our couricrs toll him t.
dismount, and his reply was c!lractoris-
tic: NO. Sir-reel Look hyar, man
General Longstreet, gave me this hyra
horse to mind and all hell CAN'T get him
from me without his say-so'
Nor shall l ever forget the sad express
sion of General Lees face, when he, too,
heard Of our disaster nor his gentle sym
pathziug voice, as he said: II hope. Gen
eral, that you are not seriously hurt
At the time that Longstreet was disa-
bled. combined movement had been COM
ancnced which the Federals could not then
have we'll withstood but new plans and
deliberations became necessary, ana from
ten minutes past twelve. the hour of The
accident, nothing OF Importance was dome
no advantage was gained