Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-05-23
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
From our regular correspondent
TIE COMING EXHIBITION.

extensive c8nvaSsing and several partial
settlements upon time, the date has been
fixed positively for 1888. That is, next to
1876, the memorable year Of our early his
tory, and nothing could be more fitting
than its selection for great national jubi-
lee Of practical kind. On the 10Th of
April, 1873, the close Of hostilities was Of
ficially proclaimed to Washington's army,
then at Newburgh. May 18th the Society
of the Cincinnati was formed with Wash
iDgton as President, and General Knox as
Secretary. On June Sth, Washington is
sued that famous letter to the Governors
of States, in which he pleaded so eloquent
ly for "An indissOluable union of the
States under one federal head; a sacred
regard to public justice; the adoption of
proper peace establishment; and the for
getting Of local prejudices and politics,
adding, ''these are the pillars on which the
glorious fabric of our independence and
national character must be supported"
Who can read these lines without asking:
.'Was Washington also a prophet that he
should look down the vista of a century to
come and see as clearly the precise danger
that should menace his beloved country at
its closer' There is more truth and states
manship in that single letter than the
ers for fifty years The celebration o. 1888
| will do much for our country's future peace
and welfare, if it does no more than turn
public attention to this prophetic utterance
| Of its great founder
September Sd, the final treaty was signed: /:
| November Sd, the army was disbanded /;
November 25th, the British troops evacu-
ated New York and Washington formally
| entered it, and on the 23d of December re-
signed his commission into the hands Of
| Congress. Richly freighted as the year
| 1888 is with hallowed memories and asso-
Citations, the people will find some means
of celebrating these events, and great in
| ternational convention and jubilee will in
| evitably give a force, completeness and
unity to these observances which could not
otherwise be attained.
THE LIGHT BRIGADE oUTDoNE.
Can you stand another war incident?
1t is not as grand a scene as Gettysburgh,
nor perhaps as big with results; hut the
luany ringing responses to my last
| (which confess was offered in your New
| York correspondence with many misgiv-
| ings) have somehow stirred the ghosts of
many thrilling memories which have chased
each other through my mind till silence is
| impossible. Few Americans ever dreamed
that among the dark and gloomy pines of
| Charlottesville was enacted a tragedy
wOrthler to live in epic verse than the IA
nous charge Of the Light Brigade at Balak-
| laYa. Only once in all the histories of the
war have seen it mentioned, and tonight
my thoughts brood oyer the nameless
graves of those unsung heroes till my soul
cries out in protest against the favoritisms
of historic fame, and for these humble he
roes must crave the meagre justice of a
passing mention in the ears of their coun-
trymen.
1t was the night Stonewall jackson re-
ceived his death-wound. He had COM
| pletely surprised Howard's Eleventh Corps
and was driving them in the widest CON
fusion along towards the centre of our line.
In their flight they passed through woods,
just beyond which, in a clearing, lay four
of Sickels' batteries, and flying artillery
battery and the Eighth Pennsylvania cav
airy of Gen. Pleasanton's. The batteries
were not in position but were 'parked, -
waited orders. Through their lines dashed
the panic-stricken fugatives hotly pursued
by Jackson's immense corps Of over twenty
thousand men. The field became a sight
for painter. Infantry, artillery, ambu-
| lances, pack mules, negroes and stragglers,
the worst scared men l eyer looked upon,
came tearing like mad past US. The bat
| teries had no common commander but each
captain excitedly acted for himself. BAT
tery-left wheel. Fire to the rear. In
Battery; Caissons pass your pieces, trot,
march," and frightened bugler caught
only the word ''trot" and sounded it and
no more. 1t rang out clear above the worse
than Babel; many took it for a general
I-E,r, ID 81 I IL q l. 1
across a stone wall near its foot, in that IA
nous rayine dashed several caissons and a
| few guns. Elk prolonge to fire retiring. -
"With canister-load. On came the fug-
itiTes, nearer and nearer through the sound
ing woods came that Confederate yell, and
and the rush of StoneWall Jackson's vic
torious legiOns. Sickles was a mile away,
pushing through the woods with his splen-
| did corps. Not Federal musket was in
sight except what the Eleventh corps men
were bearing to the rear as rapidly as legs
could carry them. We must make our
| fight against those tremendous odds alone
| five batteries of US and three hundred
cavalrymen-nOt over six hundred men,
| all told. On swept twenty thousand Con-
| federates, and we we're not yet ready to
/ fight. Our line was confusion worse con-
| founded; guns stood pointing whitherso-
| ever the excited cannOneerS listed, and at
the first fire one half of US would blow the
other half into eternity, and Stonewall
would have Hooker'S headquarters, and
double up our whole armv-a cheering
prospect that! The sun had set behind the
woods, and through them, yet faster, in
the thickening gloom, rushed Jackson's
troops. Suddenly out in front of our guns
rode the familiar form of General Pleas
anton. Above the din rang his shrill voice
| ''Ahgn those pieces" 1t was the work of
many minutes, and Stonewall was now Just
upon us. Time! Oh for ten minutes time
How to get it? There sat Major keenan,
with his three hundred horsemen. Here
was the sacrifice, which, if every man were
a patriot like Arnold WinkelIied, would
give us those precious minutes. General
Pleasanton said quickly to keenan,, ''Ma-
jor, you must charge in those woods with
your regiment. and hold the enemy till !
can get those guns into position. You
must do it at all cost" PleaSanton saws;
cit was just the same as saying you must
be killed, but with a smile he replied,
General, will do it," Oh what sight
was that! Would to God some American
TennysOn might see that sight, and lift
those humble names into Immortality
Three hundred troopers, with deep-set
spurs and flashing sabres, rushed at the
throats of twenty thousand armed men.
! Nobody had biundered, but somebody
must die to save the army-that was ali
So mad blow did they strike in Jaekson's
very teeth that he stopped his onward rush
to reform his lines-surely there must be
more coming-nO single regiment could be
| charging his army single-handed-and
| when no more bold riders came, then it
was that brave Keenan, died, at the head
of his regiment, and whole platoons perish
ed with their feet in the stirrupsl But
they did not die in vain. Ten minutes
purchased at that fearful price to US were
costlier still to jackson. When he came
on again, flesh and blood could not stand
up before our terrible canister fire. His
veterans quailed before that siroooo of
death. He rode up to rectify his lines,
was mistaken in the gathering darkness for
one of our cavalrymen, and shot by his
own men. Our ''three times three" had
hardly ceased to ring when Sickles. who
had dashed ahead of his veterans hurrYing
to our support, rode up among our guns
and called out: "You've done nobly, boys
Stand firm, and in ten minutes I'll have
fifteen thousand men here who don't know
anything but fight" He was as good as
his word, and quickly the old Third Corps
filed in behind the guns and Jackson's fa-
nous corps had received its first defeat.
Three hundred men made Thermopyle live
through the centuries; six hundred at Ba-
ILL j