Daily clarion and standard. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1866, 1866-05-30
For the Clarion and Standard
Reminiscence Of the Second Battle OF
Fredericksburg.
soLox L. wHITTTGToN.

soLox l. wHITTIGToN-
The brigade, (Barksdale's, to which
l belonged, was posted the night OF I'd
of May, 1863, upon the heights in rear
of the city of Fredericksburg. General
Hooker had begun his % on to Rich
mond" movement, and Gen. Lee had
moved to Charlottesville to thWart
him. We were left to prevent General
Sedgwick from crossing the river at
Fredericksburg, and advancing upon
Lees rear bv the Orange c. Ii. and
Fredericksburg plank road. General
Earlv's division was to support US.
But | am not going to attempt to give
a detailed account Of the battle, or the
maneuvering of the forces
The 18th Mississippi was stationed
at the Howerson House; the 18th i've
hundred yards to the left, at the foot
Of Lees Hill; the 18th at Marye's
Heights. and the 21st two hundred
wards to the left. This was the posi-
ton at day dawn on the Sd.
1t was not yet light, when the enemy
began to pour their iron hail upon US,
from the hills across the river and the
valley around us The whole earth
seemed in a blaze, while the howl OF
the shells, and the dull ''whirr'' OF the
grape, were continuous. When 1t be
come lighter. the whole country ap-
peared to be covered with men, in blue,
and batteries were as thick as leaves IN
Vallombrosa.
Upon Lees Hill we had a battery
stationed the enemy concentrated their
| fire upon it as soon as it was perceived.
Our Generals headquarters were there
also. All ofthe staff and the artille-
rists had ensconced themselves behind
the earth-work which crowned the hill,
while stragglers from the bomb-prooi
departments, that had collected there
with a hope Of viewing the battle from
afar. we're suddenly reminded OF i'm
portant business at the wagon yards,
! that needed their attention. But there
was one-a private-whOse noble,
manly soul knew not what it was to
dread that death which ''dOes make
towards Of US all | think / see him
now, in his position Of peril upon the
work; on the lookout for the advance
of the enemy. He was repeatedly ad-
vised by his friends the writer among
| others to seek more secure posi-
| ton. He had been directed to keep
| the General (who was at the time on
another part of the line advised of
| any movement of the enemy He
| knew that was the place for reconnois-
| ance; he felt that a soldier first duty
was to obey orders; and he scorned
that safety which could be had only by
the negligence of duty. Every mem
Der of his company will bear witness
that he did his duty, upon every march
and in every fight; at Manassas,
Leesburg, Malvern Hill and Sharps-
burg, at First Fredericksburg and this
| his last.
Just as he was about to be relieved
a shell bursted in his front, and frag-
ment entered his forehead he fell up
on the bosom of his native South /;
his last act one of devotion to her
There was no tree about the place,
So meath the fortress shade
| We carried him, and carefully,
Upon the red earth laid
| nus Qltu one VI AioSlSSlp pi ,
bravest soldiers; Scion L. Whiting
ton. Co. b, 18th Miss Vol, acting as
courier to Gen. Barksdale Had he
lived he would have been one of the
shining lights of the State. At the
age of twenty one, by his own exer-
tons in his chosen profession, THAT
of printer, he had risen to be editor
of one of the leading Journals of North
Mississippi He now sleeps in the
cemetery at Fredericksburg, Va No
tomb marks his resting place; but his
memory will ever be cherished by his
| comrades. l.. II. Is.
RS- The following exquisite piece
of word painting is from the brush of
the hugely imaginative local of the
Mobile Register and Advertiser. Who
shall say that we have no Southern lit
erature?
Old Mary Jackson is never sober eX-
cept through some unavoidable and I'M
foreseen accident She is such n regu-
lar guest of the calaboose that her plate
and name has lately been nailed on the
door of her cell. She no sooner gets
| discharged from one drunk and
down than she strikes petroleum at
the nearest grocery and goes in again
under a steady pull. Yesterday Mary
put her mug to the mouth of a stone
jug of calamity water, and kept it there
until she refrigerated to a state Of su-
perb indifference as to when and how
she was going to put hernext best foot
forward. Mary was evidently looking
with anxious sOlicitude for the bridge
of her nose which she appeared to have
lost, when the policeman hooked on
to her arm. This made Mary very in
dignant, and she took a seat suddenly
on the back of her head, while her feet
flew around like a pair of threshing
fails. With the aid of six policemen,
Mary was carried to the station house,
followed by a long procession of
darkeys, boys and barking dogs. This
morning the policeman thus POLITICALLY
described the condition in which he
found Mary:
No useless coffin enclosed her breast,
Nor in sheet NORM shroud we wound her;
But she lay like dead duck taking her rest.
With her skirticoats scattered around her.
The court made out a bin of So, in
Guiding the scattered crinoline, and
Mary went up to work it out.
II Having lost our way in the depths of
Kansas, in the spring of 1861, we espied a
lone cabin in a grove, at some distance from
the road, and going thither, we found the
whole family, some out of bed and some in,
shaking violently, as we thought, with chillS
except such portion as were burning up with
fever; but the old man stoutly denied that
they had any chills thar" but cover thar TO
Jim Keenans, a matter of five mile away,
they deou shake powerfully" Thus does
Providence temper the wind TO the shorn
Lamb" thought we, for if their bodies are
sorely afflicted, their imaginations at least