Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-03-29

| a mud floor. Croucnlng In the opposite
corners of the hearth, over some shoulder
ing embers, were an old man and Little
boy, both crying bitterly. sat down be-
tween them, made up the fire, found crock
of water and few potatoes, and set to work
to roast them-and myself I made hearty
breakfast. Not one word passed between
US. They crying, | eating and drinking,
and rubbing my hands over the embers.
But ell was silent, except the musketry,
| which more than once drove me to the door.
| ought to go back; but, hang it said l TO
myself. this is too luxurious Preside to
leave vet At last came burst of fire that
! allowed no further doubt, and away | ran,
back to my company, was complimented on
my good looks and my early return; for
they said: "Oh, this is nothing yet. You'd
better come into the hut" Our servants
had by this time made a gypsy hut of
boughs, with plenty of dry straw in it;
where they could have got either, have no
notion; but they were handy lads Four of
us tumbled in, and plugged together. l
dropped asleep instantly, and knew nothing
more till was reused by their jumping up,
end followed their example Our generals
aide -de-camp was walking his horse by; he
turned his head towards us, and said very
coolly: "Enemigo The one word of
Spanish, and the knowing smile, told plainly
that old times were come again.
Now for it, then!
Without single word of command, the
men just walked to the piles of arms, and
formed their ranks.
Here comes the old quartermaster, radl-
ant; he has got something good for us.
Yes, a little very precious oil for the mus
ket locks; and the men seemed fully to
appreciate the value of ito feel that each
mans life might depend on his piece not
missing fire. Each proceeded to uncover
ond oil his lock; for I think there were
none who had not contrived some protection
against the rain; very many had stripped
off their wooden socks for the purpose. We
got the word to load :" the ramrods rang,
and one thousand rare soldiers stood ready
for anything.
short move brought us into our place !;
we formed a close column. The men stood
at ease, officers fell out, and lounged about,
chatting as at an ordinary parade. no
ticed our adjutant, an old Peninsula man,
lying down on his face, as If asleep; but
could make out that be was saying his
prayers.
We were just behind the ridge which
formed our position, so that we could see
nothing. pause. It seemed q long one;
even those chatter-boxes, the skirmishers,
were silent.
Bang went an English gun, on the ridge
just before us !; and, as it were a spell that
had raised legions Of devils, gun followed
gun, until all individual explosions were
swallowed up in one wild roar, under which
might be made out the sharp treble Of the
mnsketry. Clouds of smoke began to gath
err, and out of them, from time to time,
darted long shrill French scream. The
Americans in this last war appear to pride
themselves on what they call yelling" to
have reduced it to system, and to@look on
it as an important branch of the art OF war
But the English of that day did their bloody
work, for the most part, in silence. The
first cannon shots sailed over US sky-high;
but they soon began to fall unpleasantly
near. If you sit by the open window of
railway carriage, and if, quite unexpectedly,
an express train passes, you will hear some
thing like cannon-shot close to you. The
first thing struck in our ranks was horse.
Prince Regent had cost over hundred
guineas only few days before. 1t was only
a Craze AS far as | could see, it did not
draw blood or break the skin; but it broke
bone; there he stood, with one leg hang
ing loose. The next was a worse case.
our sergeant-major was expecting his en-
siga's commission, and another sergeant was
acting as his second, and daily looking for
his promotion. The rush of shot! near !!
nearer! Smack among us little hustle
one man down. 1t was the sergeant, his
leg crushed. In few minutes his life-blood
vi Of
Soon men begin to drop faster; the enemy
had got our range. The clever old soldier
in command just moved us about twenty
yards to the right. Such a change was re-
peated at intervals. did not see any of the
other regiments in the brigade doing So
Their losses were heavier than ours and |
have always attributed the difference to this
simple but sensible dodge.
The wetness of the ground was much in
our favor under this fire. Shells would sink
so deep that they exploded either not at all
or harmlessly, throwing up great fountains
of mud. But there were marvellous escapes.
[ saw one fall at the foot Of an officer, who,
instead of getting out of the way, stood as
if petrifed but it never burst. Another
went into the ground just behind man who
vas lying down he rolled lazily over on his
side, and began to scrape with his hand the
hole it had made, as if trying to find it.
That, too, did not burst And just by me a
shell struck mans knapsack, exploded,
and scattered it in all directions-tore 1t to
smithereens without hurting the wearer, who
stood gaping as if he could not understand
| why all his comrades were laughing at him.
Here comes our second in command, good
Sir Rowland Hill, on great fat coach
horse, and looking as if no less a creature
could carry him. But the composure with
which he and his staff walked by, while the
shot was dropping all around them, was
perfect The storm was so heavyin front
of us (Hougemont) that we began to think
it high time that something should come OF
it. and to feel, rather than acknowledge,
some anxiety on the subject. A group came
slowly towards us from that quarter-six
men CARRYING something in a blanket. We
must have lost some officer of rank lit was
Gen. Cookie; for IN those days men were
not allowed, except in special cases, to leave
| the ranks to attend on the wounded while
fighting was going on; nor were surgeons
allowed to be under fire.
The next sufferer got along without help
it was poor horse wandering slowly to the
rear, with his head hanging down, almost as
if he was grazing. ] thought at first there
was nothing the matter with him, but as he
came nearer, | saw he had only half head
a cannon-shot had carried away all the low
I er part One of the men was ordered to
take a musket, and put him out of his
misery.
There is yell, worthy of America, long
way off What can that be? Far out Of
the reach of shot was an immense patch Of
yellow, from whence these fierce sounds pro
ceeded it was a body Of .'tbrave Belges'