The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-03-28


. mud door. Crouching in the opposite
corners Of the hearth, over some shoulder
ing embers, were an old man and ittl'
boy, both crying bitterly. sat down be
tween them, made up the FIRE, found crocl
Of water and q few potatoes, and set to worl
to roast them-and myself. made hearty
breakfast. Not ono word passed between
US. They crying, eating and drinking
and rubbing my hands over the embers
But oil was silent, except the musketry
which more than once drove me to the door
| ought to go back; but, hang il said u
myself, this is too luxurious freside to
leave yet. 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: sob, this is nothing yet You'd
better come into the hut" Our servants
had by this time made 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 pigged together.
dropped asleep instantly, and knew nothing
more till was reused by their jumping up,
snd 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. radi-
ant; he has got something good for us.
Yes, 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 | think there were
none who had not contrivcd some protection
against the rain; very many had stripped
of their WOODEN socks for the purpose. We
got the word to load - the ramrods rang,
and one thousand rare soldiers stood ready
for anything.
A short move brought us into our place !;
we formed close column. The men stood
at ease, officers fell out, and lounged about,
chatting Is at an ordinary parade. no.
ticcd our adjutant, an old Peninsula man,
lying down on his face, as if asleep; but
could make out that he was saying his
prayers.
We were just behind the ridge which
formed our position, SO that we could see
nothing. A pause. II seemed long one;
even those chatter boxes, the skirmishers,
were silent.
Bang! went an English gun, ON the ridge
just before us; and, rs it were 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
musketry. Clouds of smoke began to gath
er, and out Of them, from time to time,
darted a long shrill French scream. The
Americans in this last war appear to pride
themselves on what they call cycling" to
have reduced it to system, and to look on
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,
m 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 q hundred
guineas only few days before. TWAS only
| q Craze. As far rs l 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 worse case.
our sergeant major was expecting his en-
1 signs 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. It was the sergeant, his
leg crushed. In few minutes his life-blood
was on the field, and he at rest.
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 . 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 hsrmlessly, 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 IS
II 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, rs if trying to find it.
That, too, did not burst. And just by me
shell struck q mans knapsack, exploded,
and scattered it in all directions-tore it to
smitherseps 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 II no less 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 heavy in front
Of us (IIougemont) that we began to think
il 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 o blanket. We
must have lost some officer Of rank lit was
Gen. Cooked; 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 Ere.
The next sufferer got along without help;
it vas poor horse wandering slowly to the
if he was grazing. thought at first there
was nothing the matter with him, but Is he
came nearer, saw he had only half q head;
cr part. One of the men was ordered to
take musket, and put him out Of his
misery.
There is yell, worthy of America, long
way off. What can that be? Far out Of
yellow, from whence these fierce sounds pro-
- hol 80 Ek hvou no1 ~