The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-10-10

the soldier marched with his command or
not pretty much as he pleased, went home
and came back very much as he felt lie
clined. Apremium having thus been put
upon struggling, it was not long till it de:
generated into deSertiOn. In its turn, de-
sertiull, which was ofrare occurrencein the
first year of the war, increased by degrees,
because seldom punished, until it finally
assumed trightfi,l proportions This loose
state Of things was not due to an insubor-
dinate spirit in our troops. They would
have submitted to any degree Of just re-
straint or healthfhl discipline. The fault
lays in the neglect of officers to enforce or
dars, not in wantOn spirit of dis0bedience
on the pant Of the men. But disregard for
authority having been once established, a
most free and easy state Of things, existed
between ralers and ruled. The badge of
the officer was but little regarded: hs was
respected or despised as o man and not as
commander. The qualities Of the ind;-
pidaal were those, which won the admira.
ton or provoked the sarcasm of the sol.
diery. We will give few anecdotes show.
ing this, remarking that among the many
causes which led to the failure of the Con.
federacy not the least important is illustra.
ted by the relative position of Lee and
Burnside at the battle Of fredericksburg,
In the Army of Lee, of Johnston, of the
Trans-Mississippi, or in some OF the numer-
Gus Departments Of the South, there was a
General officer, who had established a
reputationas good fighter, but who had
morbid desire to be popular with the
men. Tho craving for popularity had made
him claim on the occasion the honor ofsug-
gestihg the issue Of q ho,ciay ration to the
men. And he was by no means neglectful
in improving every opportunity for inform
| ing them Of their indie btedness TO hint for
the favor. The same thirst for applause
caused him to wish for sobriquet, which
would the more idenify him with the men
and endear him to them. So one day he
intimated as delicately as might be; his
wishes to some priyates who had been un;
der him when in subordinate position
These men readily assured him of their
Willingness to crafty him, but asked for
little delay that they might select suita-
bic cognonien. The delay was granted and
a day appointed for the return Of the
ambitions hero. Punctual to the moment.
he was there and thus gracefully introduced
himself and his subject. "Well boys, ]
suppose that you have been thinging over
the thing, which you limited to me about the
other day. reckon that / onght not to
have any more scruples about it, or feelings
Of false dclicacy, so willleave the matter
with my friends . Jackson Is called q Old
Stonewall;n Loringis called g oldblizzard,"
and Dick Taylor fighting Dicks" I don't
know why it is but SOME Of the boys over
there ,dill call me fighting -s-S.' The
boys not taking the last hint, SO delicately
given, replied, " we have been thinking Of
our great obligation to you for that nice
ration you got us the other day, and so We
have all agreed to call you old hominy!!"
! 1t is said that the largest dictionaries on
| the continent do not contain some Of the
words, which the astounded General used
on that OCCASION
| A private soldier sends us the subioined
/ anecdote, which is to the same purport IA
that given above During the beige of
Petersburg in "a and '65, an officer was
thought to be too fond of his bomb-proof,
when the mortar shells were in the air.
One day, there being lull in the storm of
shot and she'll, a fatigue party Was sent ont
to work on the trenches with their sentries
to give notice Of the approach Of a danger.
Gus visitBf, by the cry" look.out, shellm
Our hero took advantage of the quiet To
make a regular spreading speech to his
men. Now the rebel soldiers had a great
contempt for speechifying They had heard
many eloquent, thrilling speechs before the
war, but some how or another, the orators
had nearly all stayed at home. Hence the
universal belief with them was that good
war-talker was a poor fighter. The work
ing party, then listened impatiently to the
fiery appeals made to their courage and
patriotism, without ever deigning ts stop
the regular ply Of spade and shovel.
Human endurance had been tested to the
utmost when q low conversation began
between John L. and Tom b. Amt you
getting sick Tom2" :" Yes, powerful, let us
make him dry npn Agreed" John L.
turned hisface to the sky aud cried in tones
Of the greatest alarm lookout, SHELF"
The word " liberty = was in the mouth of
the eloquent speaker, but it was only half
uttered, when hasty bound placed him
safe in the bOmb-proof. The shell did not
exploden hut . whole Brigade Of laughter
did and SO loud and so animated that the
Yankees thought that it was the old rebel
shout before q charge. We take it for
granted that Tom B. was never made sick
ii that precise way again.
| The red-breeches Of the Zouayes made
quite an impression upon our men at the
outset Of the war ind their application of
the word "red-breeches" was often ludi-
crous enough But probably no more
singular use Of it was made than we once
heard on night visit to the trenches at
Petersburg occupied by a n. Carolina
Brigade. The enemy, was keeping up a
slow mortar firing and the shells with their
burning fuses wero making parabolas in
the air, very beautiful to behold at a dis
lance. As one of these fiery messengers
was burning and creaking in the sky, the
sentinel OF tire lookout gave the warning
Icfy in long drawling tones shere-conles.
4 0ne-of them-red-breeche devils.again. ~
The crash that accompanied the last word
announced the arrival of tho serial Zouaye.
When Gen. Butler was bottled un . in
/ Bermuda Hundreds on the20th May, 1864.
no troops were more expert in the bottling
up process than Gen. --A--'s, N. G. Brigade,
who on that day gloriously COMMUNICATED
the 89th Anniversary Of the Mecklenburg
Declaration Of Independence AS soon as
Buffers rife-pits had been taken; Gen.
s. who had greatly distinguished him.
self by his skill aud gallantry istt his men
to entrench the new position. The Gen.
wore white straw hat and as he was
greatly exposed while laying off the line Of
work, the frequent whizzing Of minnies by
his ears aIlrlcunced that his head. gear was
the target far the sharp-shooters from the
Opposite intrencllments. Hiswatchful and
anxious men were non slow to perceive the
danger Of their leader and it's cause and
they earnestly entreated him to take off
the too conspicuous panama" He com.
piled with their wishes, but unfortunately
there was only a smooth surface on the
crown, where the hair ought to grow"
Gas says the touching song) and the in
creased vehemence Of the fire showed that
the reflection Of the suns rays from the
polished Uranium was guiding the deadly