Litchfield enquirer., 1869-09-16
FIRST NIGHT ON PICKET.

interesting femlnlScenSeS. One or tneSo letters is as follows: oA
 FIRST NIGHT ON PICKET.
 'tN BOSTON, August 20, 1869.
 Dear sir:7 You spoke oe the Relay House in your last letter, and said that ,bhe hill where Butler camped looked about as it used to. Please be SD kind, the next let ter you write, as to tell the readers of your paper about the first night Butler camped in the rear of the R day House. l was in the Eighth New York, and was sent of on picket with five others down near the riv- CT. never had been on picket before, and really thought it was marching right up to the clunon's mouth. Some time in the fore part of the night we heard 6 furious splashing in the water, and we were all mighty sure it was rebels in full force. Not one in the party dared to fire off his gun as the officers told us to do, and after thinking of it few minutes and hearing some more splashing, we ''cut stick" and ran. l never ran so in nv life. l did real ly think the whole Southern Confederacy that they talked of getting up was after me I have laughed since to think what green ies we were. We ran up over the railroad, and then up through the brush, and over through the fields until we got close to the camp, when one of the men got us to stop and told us we were making fools of our- selves, and if it was not rebels that were coming after us, General Butler would pei us' from the army. So we concluded to say nothing for 8 minute or two and wait. We dida't hear anything of the inn aginary rebels, so we lay down on the grass little way from one of the old houses, complaining of the recklessness of the off cer whoowouid expose us by putting us on picket so far from camp. While we lay therA Snr nnlnnal and Q couple of officers came down from the knoll on when weEo two guns of McCook's Boston Battery. One of them, I have always believed, was General Butler. Coming toward the camp they came right along beside us, but in the dark couldn't see us; General Butler stum- bled over one of our fellows muskets and fell almost fat. None of them thought it was musket, and as we held our breath they didn't dream that it was us. should be ashamed to tell of it if hadn' been in big fights and got wounded since; but that whole living night we five skulkers dare not go back to camp for fear it would be known that we rau. Neither dare we go back to the river, and we lay down in the hollow, shiverlng, until the daylight began to come, and We skulked back to our post I never knew whether the officer of the day made his grand rounds" or not; at least he never told of it if he did find us missing I think he was alittle too''skeery" himself to come around. However, when we got back to the place and it was light enough, we saw lying exactly where the picket stood where we were stationed the night before, pair of shoes and 8 velvet vest, with box of percussion caps in the pocket. Both were dripping wet, and l know they were not there when I left. We never dared to tell of it, because it would show that we were away, but as all the fell lows who were so sheeplsh that first night on picket have since done some hard fight ing, may tell you about it. have the vest now. and the. sight of it yesterday morning in my wife's collection of carpet rags" was what put it into my head to send thls note to the Ira0elsr. --.-l-g8a
 19 .G' Yours, &c, BERTRAND.