The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-05-26

Jack~on came down through the forests
and thickets beyond the Rsppahannock,
and struck the Federal camps and open
ed the battle of the Wilderness. The
eight old veterans of Company G were
there, and the new men made up band
of forty strong. As We heard The crash
Of musketry over on the left. our poor
skeleton brigade, NUN bering twenty
three hundred instead Of four thousand,
fell into line and pushed on through the
stunted pines after ihe line of skirmish-
ers. Company @ was on the left on the
skirmish line, and We found the enemy
irst-a heavy line of gray coming
through the wilderness at I half run.
Down we knelt among the vines and
bushes. and our fire checked them.
They fired few wild shots, and retreat
ed little, and then we leaped up and
drove them-a band of forty drove a
double line of skirmisherz, supported
by a line of battle! History has not
told it TO the world, but blood was left
on the vines and corpses on the ground
to prove it. They were feeling all over
strange ground. after foe " hose strength
was not known, and that was the reason
of our success. We pushed them back
to the line of battle, and then we we're
tossed back torn and bleeding, almost
bloted out of existence as a company.
OF the eight old veterans six were ly-
ing dead under the trees; of the new
men twenty five answered roll call after
the Wilderness Was that war or
slaughter? A captain and a second
lieutenant were only left TO represent the
one hundred and three.
The end was not yet, but the end was
coming. There were no new recruits
for my company, but we marched toward
Richmond numbering twenty seven.
Has the conntry forgotten the fierce
conflict at Petersburg? AS we fell into
line to make twenty seven more in the
brigade, / saw the lieutenant looking a,
! me. Poor fellow! there was no need for
| him to speak. Would this fight wipe
out the old company entirely, or would
one be spared? And which one? He
had wife-I had none / hoped he
might live to call the roll after the bat
| tie was over, and that death would have
| taken me.
| The line quivered as they felt the or.
! Ta- q -
earthwork, went forward with the same
! old cheer which had been its own ever
| since its bronzed veterans heard the
/ whistle of bullets. But it was too much
| for US. They had forgotten how weak
we were, and some one had bIunderrd
! The line withered before the storm o1
shot; We fell back; were charged in turn
and | went down among the heaps oil
dead and wounded. The roar of battle
died away in a moment; daylight chang
ed to darkness, and when ! opened my
eyes again the surgeons stood over me-
and my left arm was gone.
There was no one to call the roll. The
rtdAhf SllI Az iltliteildnt uHu
been given TO earth, and the seven men
who represented Company G looked to
themselves. Fate had a choice who
should be taken and who left, and death
passed me By. alone of the one hun.
! dred and three veterans returned to the
country village to tell them how this one
and that one died; to hear the sobs O.
widow and orphan, until my heart ach
ed. Sometimes in my day reveries OIL
night dreams ! cali the roll again, anc
shadowy forms stand in line, and ghost
ly voices answer AYE" and "aye" until
start up with a sob in my throat at th,
remem brance of those who sleep in tn,
trenches beside the Potomac, meath tn.
shadow Of Round Top, along the Rap
pahAnnock, and down among the darI
thickets of the Wilderness, sleeping
there never to know war again.