Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1868-10-22

Their old blankets were in shreds, and
gave them little warmth when they wrap
ped themselves in them, shiyering in the
long cold nights. Their old shoes, patch
ed aud yawning. had served in many
march and battle-and now allowed tie
naked sole to touch the hard and frosty
ground.
Happy the man with new blanket -
Proud the pnssessor of new roundabout
What millionaire or favorte child of for
tune passes yonder- the owner of an IN
patched pair of shoes?
Such were the rations and clothing of
tie army of that epoch rancid grease,
musty meal, tattered jackets, AID wornout
shoes And these were the fortunate ones,
Whole divisions Often went without bread
even, for two waoIc days Thousands had
no jackets, no blankets, an no shoes
Gaunt forms. in ragged old shirts and torn
pantaioous only, cIutchey the musket.-
At night they nuddled tose;htr tor warmth
in the trenches. When they charged,
their naked feet left blood marks on the
abatis through which they went at the en-
envy
That is not an exaggeration, reader
! The facts are of record.
And that was part only. l. was not
ony famine aud hardship which they uu-
dcrwent, but the incessant combats--and
moral tedium of the trenches All, the
trenches Those words Slammed up
whole volume of suffering No loagcr
fighting in open field, no longer in winter
quarters, with the power to range; No
longer freedom, fresh air, healiLful move
ment-the trenches!
Here, cooped up and hamperod at every
turn, they fought through all these long
months Of the dark autumn aud winter Of
1864. They were no longer men. bat
machines loading and firing the ausket
and the cannon. Burrowing in their holes,
and subterranean covered ways, they
erouchad in the darkness rose at the sound
Of coming battle, manned the breastworks
or trained the cannoa-day after day,
week after week, mouth after mouth, they
were there in the trenches at their grim
work some fat of Destiny seemed 70
lave chained them there to battle forever!
At midnight as at noon they we're at their
posts In the darkness, dusky figures
could be seen swinging the sponge staff.
swabbing the cannon, driving home the
charge. In the starlight, the moonlight,
or the gloom lit By the red glare, those
figures, resembling rhantoms, were seen
marshaled behind tie breasiworks to repel
the coming assault. Silence had fed the
,rencbes-the crash of muslzetry aud the
below of artillery had replaced it. That
seemed never to cease. The men were
rocked to sleep BY it. They slept on in
dark trenches, though the mortar shells
rse, described their flaming curves. and,
bursting, raincd jagged Fragments of iron
upon them And to many that was their
last sleep. The iron tore them in their
tattered blankets. They rose gaSping, and
streaming With blood. Then they stag
gered and fell; when you passed by, you
saw a something lying on the ground, COW
cred with the old blanket. 1t was one Of
Lees Miserabes." killed last night by
mortars and gone to answer, Here :"
before the Master
The trenches .-ah ! the trenches Were
you in them, reader? Thousands viii tell
YOU more of them than I can There, an
historic army was guarding the capital OF
an historic nation--the great nation ct
Virginia--aud how they guarded it In
hunger, and cold, and nakedness, they
qua aed it STILL La the bright days and
the dark, they stood at their post unmoyed.
In the black night watched as by day
toward morning, as at evening--they stood,
clncthiug the mushet, peerlng out into the
pitchy darkness or lay, doing around
the grim cannon, in the embrasarsFs -
Hunger and cold, and wounds, and the
whispering voee of Despair had no effect
on them. The mortal tedium left them
patient. When you saw the gaunt faces
contract, and tears flow, it was because
they had received some letter. saving that
their wives and children were starving
Many could not endure that. 1t made
them forget all. Torn with anguish, and
unable to obtain furloushs for a day even,
they went home without leaye-and civil
ians called them dcserters. Could such
men be shot-nen who had fought like
heroes. and only committed this breach of
discipline that they might feed their stary-
ing children? And, after all, it was not
desertion that chiefly reduced Lees
strength. It was battle which cut down
the army-wounds and exposure which
thinncd its ranks But thin as they we're,
and ever growing thinner, the cid veter-
ans who remained by the flag OF such glo-