The Republican journal., 1872-11-14
sHELBYs ExPEDITIoNnTo MEXICO.
An unwritten Leaf spf Bur Civil War.

Immediately after collapse of the
southern ConfeJeraa one of the promi-
nent Confederate Generals on duty in the
trans Mississippi department - General
Joseph Shelby-went to Mexico with
about $50 armed followers mostly Mis-
sourians, with the. avowed intention of
settling with them ihk tina Kcountry. That
The enterprise proveSkf Unfortunate, and
that the men engagedkin it met with
many perlous advent Een nd personal
6" f not as t to def Es' Ga of f0 these
followers of shelb8is now publishing
n the Kansas Citys( Mo) Times a series
on the ''other side ofthe Rio. &rande" of
treat interest, bringing toSlight much
That was not publicly known before, and
following account of aFattace- by Mexi
can bandits some dayzEafter the men had
left Monterey for San Luis de Potosi is
taken:
The column had reached to within two
days Journey to Lampasas. Some spurs
Of the mountain ran down to the road,
and some clusters of palm trees grouped
themselves at intervals by the wayside.
The palm is a pensive tree, having voice
IN the wind that is sadder than the pine
"A SOBER solemn voice, voice like the
sound of muffled cerements when the
corpse is given to the coffin. Even in the
sunlight they are dark even in the tropics
no vine clings to them, no blossom is born
to them, no bird is housed by them, and
no tiutter OF wings make music for them.
Strange and shapely and coldly chaste,
they seem like human and desolate beings,
standing all alone in the midst of luxuri-
Gus nature. unblessed of the soil, and I'M
loved of the dew and the sunshine. In a
grove Of these the column halted for the
night. Beyond them was pass guarded
by GRO SEES. In that treacherous land these
are II growth indigenous to the soil. They
flourish nowhere else in such abundance
Wherever a deed of violence is done a
cross is planted; wherever traveller is
lett upon his face in a pool of blood, a
cross is reared; wherever a grave is made
wherein lies the murdered one, there is
seen cross. No matter who does the
deed-whether Indian. or dog, or COM
mandante, a cross must mark the spot,
and as the pious wayfarer journeys by he
lays all reverentlally stone at the feet of
the sacred symbols, breathing a pious
prayer and telling bead or two for the
souls salvation. On the left a wooded
bluff ran down abruptly to stream. Be-
yond the stream and near the palms a
grassy bottom spread itself out, soft and
grateful. Here the blankets were spread
and here the horses grazed their FILL A
young moon, clear and white, hung low
in the west, not sullen nor red, but a
tender moon, full of the beams that lovers
seek, and full of the voiceless imagery
which gives passion to the songs of the
night, and pathos to the deserted and de-
iected swain. As the moon set the horses
were gathered together and tethered in
amid the palms. Then deep silence fell
upon the camp, for the sentinels were be-
yond its confines, and all withinside slept
the sleep of the tired and healthy. 1t may
have been midnight; it certainly was cold
and dark The fires had gone out, and
there was Il white mist like shroud
creeping up the stream and settling upon
the faces of the sleepers. On the far right
single pistol shot arose, clear and reson-
ant. Shelby, who slumbered like night
bird, lifted himself up from his blankets
and spoke in an undertone to Thrankill:
"Who has the post at the mouth of the
passp" "Joe Macy" "Then something
is stirring; Macy never fired at shadow
in his life" The two men listened. One
a grim guerrilla himself. with the phys
ique of a Cossack, and the hearing of
Comanche; the other having in his hands
the lives of all the silent and inert Sleep
ers lying still and grotesque under the
white sllroud of the mountain mist. Moth