Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1880-07-15
SOLDIERS DREAMS.
Some Remarkable Stories that
are Said to be susceptible
of Proof.

are SAID 20 De SuSccpblDie
of Proof.
Detroit Free Press.l
A week prcvions to the hattie OF Fair
Oaks New York voiupteer who passed
the night in tent Of member of the
Third Michigan Infantry got up in the
morning looking very glum and down
hearted, and when rallied about his
fancied home-sicknes, he said:
81 have only week to live! had q
dream last night which has settled the
business for me and lots of others. A
week from to-day battle will he fought
and thousands will be slain. Ny regi-
ment will lose over a hundred men, and
shall be killed while charging across
| field"
The men laughed at his moody spirit,
but he turned upon them and said:
"Your regiment will also be in the
fight. and when the roll is called after
the hattie You will have nothing to
be merry over. The two sergeants who
were In here last night will he killed
among the trees. | saw them lying
dead "a plainly as | now see you. One
will he shot in the breast, and the
other in the groin, and dead men will
| be thick around them"
The battle took place just week af-
| ter. The dreamer was killed in full
sight of every man in the Third before
the fight was an hour old, and within
twenty minutes after the two sergeants
and six of their comrades were dead in
the woods, hit exactly where the dream
er said they would be. More than fifty
men will bear witness TO the truth of
this statement.
just before the Battle of Cedar Greek
a camp sentinel, who was off duty tenn
porarily and trying to put in little
sleep, dreamed that he went out on a
scout. A mile to the right Of our camp
he came upon log barn, and as it be-
gan to rain just then he sought shelter,
or was about to, when he heard voices
and discovered that the place was al
ready occupied. After little investi-
cation he ascertained that three Con-
federate scouts had taken.up their quar-
ters for the night in the place, and he
therefore moved away. The sentinel
awoke with such vivid remembrance
of details that he asked permission to go
over and confer with one of the scouts.
When the log barn was described to
this man he located it at once, having
passed it dozen times. The dreamer
described the highway exactly as it was,
giving every hill and turn, and the
scout put so much faith in the remainder
of the dream that he took four soldiers,
one of whom was the dreamer, and set
out for the place. Three Confederate
scouts were asleep In the straw and
were taken without shot being fired.
The dream and it's results were known
to hundreds of Sheridan's cavalry, and
has been alluded to at reunions.
The night before the fight at Brandy
Station trooper who slept as his horse
logged along in column dreamed that a
certain captain in his regiment would
he unhorsed in fight next day, and
while rising from his fall would be
wounded in the left knee. Everything
was so clear to the dreamer that he took
opportunity to find the captain and re-
late his dream.
$50 to Texas with your croaking,"
was all the thanks he received, but he
had his revenge. In the very first
charge next day, the captain was un-
horsed by the breaking of the girCh,
and was pitched head-over- into a
patch Of briars. AS he struggled out a
shell killed his horse and two men, and
one of the flying pieces of iron mashed
| the captains left leg to bloody pulp.
He Is now q resident of Ohio, and his
wooden leg ia indlsputable evidence
that dreams sometimes come to pass.
While Mcclellan was besieging York
town the fun was not all on one side.
The Confederates had plenty of shot
and shell, and they sent them out with
intent to kill. One morning Michigan
man who was in the trenches walked
back to a spot on which three officers
were eating breakfast and warned them
that they were in great peril. On the
night previous he had dreamed that he
had looked at his watch and marked
that 1t was quarter of seven, when
shell hit the ground behind him and
tore up the earth in terrible way. 1t
was now twenty minutes of seven, and
he besought the officers to leave the spot
at once. His earnest manner induced
them 10 comply, and they had only
reached cover when Confederate shell
struck the earth where they had been
grouped and made an excavation into
which a horse could have rolled with
room TO spare.
Three days before the affair at Kelly's
Ford a corporal in the Sixth Michigan
cavalry dreamed that brother of his,
who was sergeant in another company,
would have his horse killed in action,
and would almost Immediately mount
dark bay horse with white nose.
Within five minutes both horse and
rider would be killed by shell. This
dream was related to more than score
of comrades fully two days before the
fight. Earlyi in the action the sergeant's
horse was struck square in the forehead
by bullet, and dropped dead in his
tracks. 1t was scarcely three minutes
before white horse, carrying blood
stained saddle, galloped up TO the SER
geant and halted. lie remembered the
dream and refused to mount the ami
NAL, and soon after picked up black
horse. The white-nosed animal was
mounted by second corporal in another
regiment, and horse and rider were torn
to fragments by shell in full sight of
four companies of the Sixth.
These things may seem very foolish
now, but there was time when SOL
dier's dream saved General Kilpatrick's |
life; when dream changed Custer's |
plans for three days; when dream
prevented General TOlbert's camp from
surprise and capture, and when q |
dream gave General Sheridan more ac- |
curate knowledge Of Early's forces than
all the scouts.