The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-09-23

to religion, that he gave his heroine the
name of Rebecca. True or not, the story
Is beautiful one, and there il nothing in
it that is not honorable to ALL Miss Gratz
died, aged SO.
FrederfeI<sbmrR, virgfmia----NOyv
and Then.
Al writer in the Springfield Republic
can communicates the following
have been in battIe-stricken towns
before, hut Fredericksburg is the most re-
naarkable one have yet seen. The peo-
pie have an Italian rapacity for monopo-
liking strangers, but they do not carry out
the parallel by asking them for small con-
tributions. Enter any public place, and
breach the subject of the great battles,
and you touched the vital topic. The
majority Of the towns-people still move
and think amid the. frightful scenes of
seven years ago. Their normal faculties
are deadened to the present. The boys
employ their time in dragging up bullets,
and continue to find an unfailing store, al
though the gruond has been pretty
thoroughly dug over There is skull or
thigh bone in almost every show window.
The church steeples show curious patch
work, which testifes that they were not
spared by the shot Every merchant who
was there In 1862 had some dismal tale to
tell. Those same Irishmen who could
FIGHT So gallantly, those Americans who
could face death without blenching, be-
haved rather rudely to the towns-people.
One old man told me, with evident de-
a
stock of tobacco, and threatened to shoot
him when he demonstrated. s1n lessfn
an hour they was both back here ON this
very floor, shot through and through. -
One of 'em begged my pardon, before he
died, for what he stole-he did," An old
lady, who tells so complete and graphic a
story of the battle that | suspect she has
posted up on it since the terrible day, to
accommodate travellers, said that the morn
ing after Burnside attacked the rebel
lines, one could go over the battlefield,
and pick up anything he might wish for.
''Why," said she, lone man fell dead in
side my door here, with four-quart Jug
of molasses in his hand" What did the
soldier mean to do with SO much sweeten-
ings Money had been dropped hilter-skil-
their fight; the kitchen utensils and par
Tor furniture strewed in the fields for
miles. One old man, who has been In
the town twenty years, and now keeps
little restaurant on the very street corner
round which our troops, as they came up
to the charge, were compelled to appear,
gave me very graphic story of his trou-
bles. just as fast as he could bar up his
saloon door, il would be knocked down by
new-come soldiers, who insisted on some
thing to drink before they went down to
the battle. He watched them start out,
and said that ia many cases they were not
gone ten minutes before they were brought
back, manned and crushed, to be laid on
CHASTITY floors, in the extemporized hos
pitfalls. The sightat the principal church,
after the battle had been in progress an
hour, was horrible beyond description,
and the whole village echoed to the wall |
ing Of the wounded. The old ferryman, |
who took us across to the hills opposite |
Fredericksburg, gave a allowing picture of
If the laping of the pontoon bridges, and |
allude especially to the fact that the guns
If our own batteries, too far off, killed |
many OF our soldiers as they advanced ND /
he slopes. Stonewall jackson was his
BET hero, and he RECALLED MS with anecdo-
es of that queer but valiant General
de was in the Wilderness when jackson
ell, and confirmed the accepted story
hat he was shot by his own men. How
le knew could not make him tell: he
My responded by leaning on the boat
ail, and saying, with MYSTERIOUS intona-
ion Il was thag.
IL was very hard to find any one at
fredericksburg who would acknowledge
hat he was not in the battle, either Of ]
december or May. The repnlse of Burn
ldes attack was mentioned BY almost
very man with whom I had any CONVEX
alton. Old people delighted to go over
le ground, and point out where such and !
lch heap of Federal dead had LAIN .
me man told, with much glee, how he
Dent all night after the battle in looking
yer q pile Of soldiers and taking out Of
leir pockets the whisky bottles they had !
Glen from him on the morning previous. !
I rot back all but three pints. said he.
and them helped to swell the general J
,ufage. !
Picket firing across the river at Freder-
ksburg, say some historians, was indul- b
"a IN to barharous extent. Barks- =
les Mississippi sharpshooters are accused ! !.
having taken the lives Of our soldiers !
every occasion possible when twas di- n
city in opposition to the laws of war. 9
ut the towns-people tell different story. \
hey say that no piekets ever fired upon 4
ch other save ut the beginning Of the a
ecenaber battle. One old negro inform z
me that the abope-mentioned ATissis- + +
1pi marksmen were won't to send invita-
ms 20 cur officers to cross the river ID the {.
mt, and disguised In Confederate i
'thes. attend the extemporized balls 8 8
itch frequently occurred IN The town. =.
d that the invitations were accented. al
hen the breeze was right, lie niekefs a
'uld trade tobacco for newspapers IN v
lHing across little wooden boats viii s.
per sails, and the officers use Is send q q
Iets dostx to the ladies whom they met v
the balls. The sharpshooters didst Is Y Y.
,ssly missue their chances al they might | - -
Ve done, for both Hooker and Frank II
often appeared on the river bank.
il the Federal pickets. excellent targets !,
eRen the poorest marlksmen, III