Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-05

their coffee and ato their hard-bread
and bacon, grumblingly denouncing the
Of the c0Dfnissdridt, they
wondered II II we're yet possible for Tho
General 10 speak.
Eight o'clook-sick call. The order |
lies reported their latest candidates, |
the surgeons prescribed, the hospital |
stewards provided for them; and the
sick men, lying on their cots In nn-
guish, turned 10 inquire Of Their new
neighbors If the word had yet been
spoken. .....
Nine o'clock-guard-mounting The
First-Sergeants hastily summoned their
"details aud reported 70 the Adju-
tants on the parade-grounds. The cere-
mony over, the corporals proceeded to
post the FIRST relief p and each man
aS he resigned his charge and "fel
in" at Che rear, asked eagerly for the
news.
Nine-and-a-hat o'olock-the bugle
sounded "boots and spurs"
There were no more questions. From
the mere force of habit the men obeyed
the summons; and by ten o'clock the
whole division was In motion. Silently,
sullenly, the troops moved away from
camp, down the main road and,
one brigade after another, regi-
ment by regiment, we're formed in
hollow-square around a large vacant
sugar-feld adjoining the town. Tho
General and staff passed through the
line, moved forward TO the center of
the square, and, being drawn up in line,
awaited the appearance Of the solemn
cOrtege.
Slowly down the road from the guard
house it came, entered the square, and
marched along the inWard-facing lines
of troops, entirely around the open
space-the guard, the firing party with
arms reversed, the wagons drawn by
four large horses, with their sad-faced
driver seated above and in the wagon,
with their arms pinioned behind them,
each on his own coffin, facing the rear,
rode two men, and took their last leave
of their comrades.
This second man was a private from
the Fourth Cavalry, and was tried and
convicted by the same court as the
Sergeant, for desertion-the third or
fourth ofiense. He had been a yaga-
bond and criminal before he became q
soldier; and never having been pa
triot, he was deserter from the first,
and was paying the just penalty Of his
crimes, without even the pity and COM
miseration of his own messmates.
The sunshine; the cloudless sky; the
songs Of birds; the graceful swaying
of the long festoons of Spanish moss
in the near woods; the shallow, murky
river fastening away to the gulf; the
dreary old tumbled-down village, be-
hind its dilapidated levee, the long
haired, swarthy, cladremnants of the
late Confederate army gathered at the
street corners; the distrustful, impOv-
erished citizens moving about discOnso-
lately; the debris of two armies scat
tered in every direction; the outlying,
devastated sugar-plantations covered
with camps, and this one the scene of
an imposing military executions; these
were the obvious details of a never-tO-
be-forgotten picture. Down into the
hearts of five thousand men it sank
photographed by the indelible and inn
palpable chemicals of the mind, there
to remain forever. They felt the
wheels of that mOnstrous hearse tug
ging at all their heart-strings, as II
they strove to chain them with their
sympathies, and forever hold them
back from the end of that sorrowful
journey.
At last the procession reached the
place of entering, filed out into the
field, and halted a short distance in
front of the General and staff. The
men were assisted down from the
wagon and seated upon their coffins al
the foot of their graves. Eight men,
with pallid faces, halted in line a few
PAGES before them, and exchanged theiI
carbines for others specially loaded fol
the occasion by the Provost Marshal
who had charge of all the arrangements
He had loaded seven of them with ball
but the eighth with blank cartridge
leaving the men in merciful uncertainty
allowing each to think that perhaps hi,
was the harmless shot.
There was no more delay. Every
thing was done quickly, and with the
utmost precision.
The Provost Marshal read his war.
rant for the execution, drew the Aata
caps over the eyes of the prisoners
stepped back little, and, in the midst
of the most awful silence, commanded
Attention !-ReGdy" ..
The click of those eight locks was
horrible. The victims stirred little
as itwere involuntarily. The air seemed
sitting. The calm, monotonous regu
larity of the commands was excrutiat
ing. The apparently heartless and
business-like manner of the Marsha
was maddening.
Instantly he slipped to the side of the
Sergeant, and, lightly pulling his sleeve
led him few steps aside; then, before
the action could be fully realized, com
manded:
dim Fire"
There was crashing blsst-a clouC
of smoke--a dull, heavy "thud " a
the soldier fell back dead on his coffin
and the Sergeant fell limp and motion
less into the arms of the Marshal, WHIT
stopped down upon one knee to set hin
on the other, and, pulling off the blacl
cap, nursed him back to life and con
sciousness.
There was a murmur Of grateful ap
plause along the whole line. The Gen
eral had not been intimidated, and ye
had granted the prayer of his men. HI