Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-06-19
"REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR.

e-.
MACK, a well known correspondent
Of. the Cincinnati Commercial sends fron
= ashville some "reminiscences of the war;
which were communicated to him by an
ex-rebel officer Gois S ID. Morgan. The
following are Interesting S.!
u When Gen. A. s johnson Fas forced,
to eVacuate Nashville, and was about to
concentrate for the battle of Shiloh. hs
sent Col. Morgan to Huntsville to watch
the movements Of Buellg and to let, hin,
know Ia time SO that. he could strike
Grant before Buell. joined him. A few
days before the battle of Shiloh Morca5
telegraphed to Johnston, at Corinth that
Buell. had crossed Duck River with 3d.
400 men; that he had lost 400 men By
sickness and exposure Oh the succeeding
70 miles march, and that he would reach
lPittsburg Landing at furthesb on Satag.
day nlght.1ei He. concluded the dispatch
by urging Johnston to fight ON Friday ",
Saturday. Johnston replied ''Yeus
dispa ch has beer received and gouy
suggestion will be complied with !" Bato
what may be termedH an accident prefeas
ted the carrying out of this plan, and
saved Grants army There was laY9a
open marsh between Corinth and the Fed
eraf position The shortestway tothe IN
tended battle field lay through the marsh.
The engineers OF the rebel army, after
careful survey, reported that the artillery
could be hauled across this route but at
ter the first division had gone through
the roads were SO badly cut us as to hs
inapasslble for the rest. Another road
had to be selected, and the march of the
entire army had te be changed This de.
layed matters so much that the rsbeis
were not ready to open the battle until
Sunday morning, which, though Little
too early for our side, proved quite too
late for them. There have been various
statements of the cause Of Sidney John. Z
ston's failure to attack G rant before Suns
day morning. butfI am CONVINCED the. ona
l have jnst given is correct. .-..s.r..
While we were talking in a general
way about the war, Coll ia Morgan said ha
had had a tolerably good time of it, ali
things considered, and he didn,,ss believe
he lad lost more than one nights sleep
from, the first to the last Of it. And that
was the night I lay awake to hear the
lronsidesoblown ap.poy He then related to 5
me the. plan bylwhieh the Ironsides was
to have been destroyed-but. wasn't: <
Gen. Raines, Of the rebel army-a West
Pointer, somewhat celebrated as a chem
ist-had conceived the idea Of blowing
her out of the water as she attempted to
pass up the channel near Charleston To
this end he had prepared an iron boiler
AZ feet long and 40 inches IN diameter,.
Whica. he filed with powder and sunk dit
rect1y IN the channel33 in such a positioa
that the doom ed ship must pass ever it In
going up. A wire extended from th8
boiler to the shore. and by means of IL
and galVanie battery the powder was to
be ignited. The Ironsides was watched
with intense interest, until one day she
made steam, and after moving about in
different directions, cast anchor in. the
channel, directly over the magazine pre-
pared for her destruction. AS the old
gentleman said ii relating the matter,
"she could mt have-come up>niccr if we
had steered her there ourselves" AL
that Was necessary now was. TO work tbs
battery, and away would gothe. Ironsidess
But the battery. Wouldn t Hark-somee
thlngoWas wrong-7after all possible effort
no exp ,es}ea eeuldrbe +, oduced, and there
RODE the big ship in perfect safety9 though
if those Gu beard bad. known whae was
under them they wouldn't have feltesafe,
L think ne The experiment Of Gen. Rainsa
WIS 6naily abandoned, A sub nlatina
torpedo boat was sent down against tho
Irousides, which damaged her, but nos
materially; and after a short time she
weighed anchor and went away, The
rebels then raised the snnken boiler to
ascertain, what was the cause Of It's failtlra
to mplish what was expected O. IT,
All the powder was taken out, and the
boiler was subjected to hydraulic pressure
to rcertain if the defect was in it. Il
was then discovered that hole, not large
er than might be made with g cambrie
needle in piece of cloth, had spoiled the
powder ond saved the Yankee ship