Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-10-06

been borne away long ago. | was of the
mind to kick the dead leaves from every RI
hepit, of which there were scores. even
searched for the spot whence had been drawn
the stump of the red oak that was hacked
down by minnie balls, and no doubt in the
eagerness of the hour made myself an OBJ
iect of suppressed merriment to Mr.. Ashby,
in whom familiarity with the place had bred
contempt. If such were the humor of my
genial guide he concealed it with the grace
Of his family and led me pleasantly along the
crest of the works, which curve to the south
and come to an end at last more than a quar-
ter of a mile from the cabin at the apex.
Half way around the horseshoe wesaw an old
man sitting on log and picking blackber-
ries, which grew thickly at his right hand.
ayes, SIR" he said, in reply to question
"they tuck me right heah at this heah spot.
was with Johnson's Brigade, Ewell's Goa,
and on the mo'nin' of the twelf' of May,
sixty.foah, I had my ole gun stickin under
this heah very old log-this un right heah-
b'long up in Orange, and bein's as | was at
Fredericksburg thought I'd come over and
look at her. Damme if taint the same ole
log-she right heah." ....
"Then you were captured along with the
1000 other Johnnies?'
| "Well, now, want ye to hush. Wish
may drap dead if want bangin' way bout
daybreak in the mo'nin' when see some
Yanks a.comiu' cross from that house thare
away. l picks out fat Dutchman and says
to Jerry Milroy, of Culpepper, says / Jerry,
my dear, jes see me pepper that d-n Dutch
Yank. I pulls and the Dutchman drops, and
starts to bite cartridge agin' when | hears
some 'un kind o'cold like say "Drap that
gun" looks over my shoulder, and, dam
me, gentlemen, if thar want Yank with
sword drawn standin' over me right at my
back. Mo- an that wish l may die if the
woods want full of 'em-chuck full of Ysnks,
and how they got behind US do'an know.
But drapped her quick and walked off to
Washington.
RELICS AND BURIED CANNON.
This further end of the salient is now GOV.
cred with young pines and persimmons. The
bitches, dug in such haste with spade and
bayonet seventeen years ago, are now partly
filled with leaves and skaters, while briers,
wild vines, and the OK eyed daisy and blue.
lowered nettles now set traps to trip the
footman in his rambles. Mr.. Ashby tells me
that the lead picked up on the McCool prop
erty after the battle sold for twice as much as
the property was worth. For months the
darkeys of the county dug among the intrench-
ments in search of bullets shells and scraps
of brass 1t is bit of local tradition that
four brass guns are buried in the corn field
near old Jett's hut, which is not more than
two hundred feet from the place where the
famous red oak stood. These delightful even.
ings, when the good people of the country
the story of the cannons, comes up and it is
decided that they ought to be dug for, but
Mr.. Jett hoes his corn 10 peace and without
fear He isn't afraid of ghosts, and though
many skeletons no doubt lie under their thin
crust within sight of his door, he has yet to
hear the midnight sound that startles him
from slumber. Here more men than there
are ears of corn in his clearing, or hairs in
his bushy, gray beard, gave up their lives,
but this tenant of the bloodiest corner Of a
bloody battle field smokes his pipe and scratch
es his head in utter unconcern.
THE GLORY OF THE VOLUNTEERS.
Here was the most perfect realization of
the glory of the volunteer, and he who walks
upon this ground must perforce pay tribute,
not to Grant, not Miles, but to the man with
the knapsack and the gun. When the Un.
ion lines wavered the day before, officers spoke
of the men as towards. The truth was that
the officers were at fault and the men knew
it, When the attack upon this salient was
made the soldiers saw that the right thing
had been planned, and then they moved to
the slaughter with faultless step and incom-
parable steadiness.
A sunny, sultry day had closed in thun-
derstorm, and the 10000 men of Hancock s
second corps found the night wet and raw.
When the first gray streak of dawn stretches
along the sky to the east they form for the
charge, and at halfpast four they move silent.
ly and swiftly up aslope, through thick woods,
across clearing and strike the enemy. They
bayonet hundreds of Ewell's men in the
trenches and capture 1000 more. They give
and take, and for two hours work with spade
and gun to hold what they have gained.
Then the sixth corps, New Workers, Pennsyl-
vanians, Green Mountain boys. men from
Ohio, plant themselves around the angle of
captured works, and for twenty hours fight
6ercely in the never ending roar. Lee has
lost point and with desperate purpose, time
and again he hurls the pick of his veteran
hosts savagely down into the woods. On one
side of the bank of earth floats the flag, bull
let.spotted and in shreds and tatters, and on
the other droops the torn banner of the South.
The trenches on one side are filed with Union
dead and the other are heaps of rebel slain.
Trees as thick as mans body are torn down
in the terrific storm of shot; rain falls in tor
rents and thousands of mud covered fellows,
with guns that almost refuse the powder,
wrestle hand to hand, without rest, from sun.
rise until long after dark. Such was the
struggle at the Bloody Angle-"The Slaugh.
ter Pen," of veteran memorY-an all.day
combat of unparalleled ferocity and awful
sacrifice. G. NJ.
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