Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1880-07-12
Soldiers Dreams.

OF the % michigan lnIantry, got up III
the morning looking very glum and
down hearted, and when rallied about
his fancied inconsistencies, he said:
~ 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 be
fought and thousands will be slain: My
regiment will lose over hundred men,
and | shall be killed while charging
across q field"
The men laughed at his moody spirit
but he turned upon them and said:
"Your regin On. will also be in the
fight, and when the roll is called after
the battle you will have nothing to be
merry over. The two sergeants whe
were here last night will be killed
smoug the trees. l saw them lying
dead as plainly as l now see you. One
will b. 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 Sd before the
fight was an hour old, and within
tweny minutes after the two sergeants
and six of their comrades were dead in
the woods, hit exactly where the
dreamer said they would be. More
than fifty men will bear witness to the
truth OF this statement.
Just before the battle Of Cedar Creek
a camp sentinel who was off duty tenn
porarily and trying to put in q 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 shell
ter, or was about to, when he heard
voices and discovered that the place
was already occupied. After little
investigation he sscertained that three
Confederate scouts had taken up their
quarters for the night in the place, and
he therefore moved away.
The sentinel aweke with such Wv
id remembrance Of details that he ask
cd permission to go over and confer
with 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 ex-
actly as it was, giving every hill and
turn, and the scout put such faith in
the remainder of the dream that he
took four soldiers, Ons Of whom was the
dreamer, and set out for the place.
Three Confederate scouts were asleep in
the straw, and were taken without q
shot being fired. The dream and its
results we're known to hundreds of
cavalry, and has been allud-
cd TO at reunions.
The night before the cavalry fight at
Brandy Station trooper who slept as
his horse logged along in column
dreamed that a certain captain in his
regiment would be endorsed in fight
next day, and while rising from bis
fall would be wounded in the left knee.
Everything was so clear to the dreamer
hat he took opportunity to find the
captain and relate his dream.
go 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 I'M
lorsed by the breaking OF the girth, land
pitched head over heels into q
patch of briars. As he struggled out h
she'll killed his horse and two men and
,ne Of the flying pieces of iron mashed
he captains left leg TO bloody pulp.
H. Is now resident Of Ohio, and HIS
wooden leg is indisputable evidence
that dreams sometimes come to pass.
While Mcclellan was beseigipg York
own the fun was not all on one side.
The Confederates had plenty of shot
Ind shell, and they sent them out with
ntent TO kill.
One morning Michigan man who
vas in the trenches walked back to a |
pot on which three officers were eating
heir breakfast, and warned them that
hey were in great peril. On the night
previous he mad dreamed that he had
ooked at his watch and marked that
t was a quarter of 7, when a shell hit
he ground behind him and tore up the
,arth in terrible manner. 1t was now
wenty minutes of I. and he besOught
he officers to leave the spot at once.
lis earnest manner induced them to
omply, and they had only reached
over when Confederate shell struck
he earth where they had been sitting
nd made an excavation into which a
lorse could have been rolled and have
DOM to spare.
Three days before the affair at Kel-
US Ford corporal in the 9Th Michi.
an Cavalry dreamed that brother OF
lis, who was a sergeant in another
ompany, would have his horse killed
n action, and would almost immediate
y mount a dark bay horse with a
,hite nose. Within Eve minutes both
orse and rider would be killed by a
hell. This dream was related to more
han a score of comrades fully two days
efore the fight. Early in the action
he sergeant's horse was struck square
a the forehead by bullet, and dropped
cad in his tracks. 1t was hardly three
minutes before white horse, carrying
blood stained saddle, galloped up to
be sergeant and halted. He remem-
cred the dream and refused to mount
he animal, and soon after picked up q
lack horse. The white-nosed animal
-ss mounted by second corporal in .
mother regiment, and horse and rider
,ere torn to fragments by shell in
ill sight Of four companies OF the ON.
These things may seem very foolish
ow, but there was a time when SOL
ier's dream saved General Kilpat-
iok's life; when dream changed Gus
,r's plans for three days; when a .
resm prevented General Tolberts
amp from surrender and capture,
nd when a dream gave General sheri'
an more accurate knowledge Of Ear
Us forces than all the scouts.-Dstroit