The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1868-11-05
EBENsBURG, PA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1865

thelr hamlng curves, and, bursting, rained
Jagged fragments of iron upon Them
And to many that was their last sleep.
The iron tore them in their tatte ed blan-
kets They rose gasping, and streaming
with blood. Then they staggered and fell;
when you passed by, you saw a something
lying on the ground, covered with the old
blanket. 1t was one of s'Lee's Misera-
bles," killed last night By the mortars, and
gone to answer ''Here!" before the Master.
The trenches !-ah the trenches -
Were you in them, reader Thousands
will tell you more of them than l cam
There, an historic army was guarding the
capital OF an historic nation-the great
nation of Virginia-and how they guarded
1t In hunger, and cold, and Rakedness,
they guarded it still. In the bright days
and the dark, they stood at their posts
unmOved In the black night>watches as
by day-toward morning, as at evening
they stood, clutching the musket, peer
ing out into the pitchy darkness or lay,
doing around the grim cannon, in the en-
brasures. Hunger, and cold, and wounds,
and the whispering voice of Despair, had
left them patient. When you saw the
gaunt faces contract, and tears flow, il
was because they had received some let
ter, saying that their wives and children
were starving. Many could not endure
that. 1t made them forget all. Torn
with anguish, and unable to obtain fur
ioughs for day even, they went home
without leave-and civilians called them
deserters. Could such men bexshot-men
who had fought like heroes, and only
committed this breach of discipline that
they might feed their starving children 90
And after all, it was not deserlion that
chiefly reduced Lees strength 1t was
battle which cut down the army-wounds
and exposure which thinned its ranks -
But thin as they were, and ever growing
thinner, the old veterans who remained
by the flag Of such glorious memories,
were as defiant in this dark winter of
1864 as they had been in the summer
days of 1862 and 1868.
Army of Northern Virginia old sol-
ders of Lee, who fought beside your cap>
tam until your frames were wasted, and
you were truly his ''wretched'' ones
you are greater TO me in your wreched>
ness, more splendid in your rags, than
the Old Guard of Napoleon. or the three
hundred of Thermopyle. Neither fam
inc, nor uakedness, nor suffering, could
break your spirit. You were tattered and
halt-starved your forms were war-worn;
but you still had faith in Lee, and the
great cause which you bore aloft on the
points of your bayonets. You did not
shrink in the last hour-the hour of su-
preme trial. You meant to follow Lee to
the last. If you ever doubted the result,
you had resolved, at least, on one thing
TO clutch the musket, to the end, and
die in harness.
Is that extravagance-ard is that pic
ture Of the great army of Northern Vir-
ginia overdrawn Did they or did they
not fight TO the end Answer! Wilder
ness, Spottsylyania, Cold Harbor, Charles
City, every spot around Petersburg where
they closed in death>grapple with the
swarming enemy Answer! winter of
'65,-bleak spring of '65,-terrible days
Of the great retreat when hunted down
and driven to bay like animals, they
fought from Five Forks to Appomattox
Court House-fought staggering, starving
and falling-but defiant to thelast
Bearded men were seen crying on the
ninth of April, 1865. But it was sur
render which wrung their hearts, and
brought tears to the grim faces.
Grants cannon had only made eLee's
Miserables" cheer and laugh.-Frona
ifohats, or the Last Days Of Lee and his
PaIadins, Jy John Esten Cooke.