The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-12-31
The Last Ration.
By AN Ex-coNFEDEEATE OFFICER.
rrOm the New orleans Sunday Crescent.

from the New Orleans Sunday Crescent
Few hear the immortals of Lees army speak OF
the retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox Court
house, the scene of that almy'5 apothesls, ana the
reason of that silence can be well UNDERSTOOD.
Knowing nothing and thinking little about the
condition OF the army outside OF their own com
mands, the great body of the men, in their reI-
ance upon their great COMMANDER, simply per,
formed the duties imposed upon them, suffered
thG agonies that necessarily fell to their lot, and
met calmly the death which ended those duties
aud agonles for many before tho memorable
ninth of April.
The suffering of the rank and file of the army
on that occasion were lnerclfully deadened by o
stupor, il not recklessness, superinduced by the
peculiar hardships to which they were subjected.
The enemy, with his overwhelming force OF splen-
didly mounted and equipped cavalry, held in ad-
dition the direct route to the point aimed at by
General Lee, retardlng his advance, compelling
him to fight while daylight lasted, and to do his
marching by night. The want of sleep, and du-
ring the last four days of the retreat the entire
lack of provisions, produced in the men the men
tai and physical condition / have mentioned. And
although after the surrender the men and of1cers
of the Federal army v ed with each other IN their
kindness, and exhibited a desire to do everything
III their power to relieve the necessities of their
fa..e foes, the destruction of a portion of their sup
ply train by Generals Rosser and Fitzhugh Lee,
and tie d~etentipn OF the balance by the awful con-
dItion of tic roads, left themselves in a critical
COuQl lOu, iuu-i hNnPoOAN Va ASAA0
the much needed supplies.
Great efforts were maze, and successful, to COM
plete, as soon as possible, tae parollnS OF the mon,
in order that they might be dNSseed from q pace
where there was no sustenan}eSS description
ready to leave were the first ind nSGisiana
srigades, then commanded bA Colono! WaggasSS,
asd with them portions of the Washington Artillery,
Louisiana Guard Battery, AMI Donaldsonvillc Ar
tille-y. all hail1ng from the same State, AID natu-
1 ro nv' ol,,storion foUaihLr whom nbOut tn return
once more to their dear Southern homes.
The condition of these men was really deplora-
BILE. Starved, worn out, and many OF them struck
en- with fever, they looked with dlsmay on the dis
ton. the nearest point at which tLey could expect
to find transportation. Colonel Waggaman and
many OF the officers did not believe half OF them
! would be able to perform the journey, and, as q
dernler r~esorte, aud also IN some measure to in
spire the men with hopes which he himself be-
lieved delusive, Colonel W. started the brigade
commissary ahead to ny and pick up something
for man and beast on the route which they were
travelling.
The commissary, withno more hope of success
than his commanding officer, started of, and
after travelling 4 few miles over a tract which gave
no promise of supplies, being rather dubious
| about the road the brigade would travel, ~accosted
an old, grayheaded aTl very ragged negro he
found sitting ut n cross-rQcd. and questioned him
replied intelligently, giving him the necessary
| directions, and the commissary was about to ride
on, when it occurred to him that the darkey might
possibly assist him in search for something eat
able. He began by asking If he knew where he
could get q feed for his horse.
After 4 moments hesitation and a rapid inspec-
ton of his questioner, the darkey replied in the
| affirmative, and Immediately led the way through
q gate TO a small clearing in the piney woods
Stopping in the yard of a small shanty, he went in
and got tho key OF q pretty good sized corn crib
| which he opened and displayed to the commissa-
rvs envious gaze forty or fifty bushels Of the finest
corn in the ear he had ever seen, even in Virginia.
He took out a liberal feed for the horse, and re
marked that ''The Yarks had spa'rd hirn tina
much" The commissary saw in his rllnds eye
his brigade once more eating q "square meal,
and assuming his most persuasive tone, com.
mencPd
Uncle, I have about six hundred men behint
here q little wars, who hate eaten nothing to speal
of for FIVE or six days. They have thirty or fort.
miles TO travel on foot, and they will never be abl(
to mako the trip in their present condition
/ Could you not let them have a couple Of ears o
corn APP zee, and save their lives 2"
Darkey.-'Is they Southern soldiers?"
Commissary.-"Yes."
Darkey.--"Well, reckon, young marster, they'i
the last I'll ever see. You Just tell them to come
along and take what they want" And having sale
this, the poor old fellow sat down on q stone an(
cried like q child,
In an hour or so the troops came along and were
marched up in single file to the corn CRIB and givcr
two ears apiece. The old daTkey, in the meantime
had knocked IN the head OF a barrel of sorghum
m%olasses, and nearly every man got a tin cupful
There were a few cases of collie that night among
those who were not fortunate enough to get an
sorghum, but that did not lessen the gratitude o
tue men for the last Confederate ration issued tt
the Louisiana troops in Virginia.