Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-07-24
Charging a Funeral Procession.

Farewell! L shall see you later
Charging Funeral Procession.
ITO the Editor of the Courier-Journal.l
In the dark days of the Confederacy
and not long before its sun went down
at Appomattax, 1 left the grand old hills
of Virginia and drifted down among the
orange groves of Florida, and there en-
listed under the flag of the Fifth Florida
cavalry. This command was a strange
mixture of odds and ends; here had come
the sharp Spectator when he could keep
out no longer; here was the wealthy man
of over forty-five, and here was the
wealthy mans favOrite son, whom he had
slipped in because it was a soft place;
and here too was the hardy backwoOds
man, and few of the best soldiers from
the shattered ranks of jackson and
Hampton, whose hopes had been blighted
and whose companies had all been killed
or captured They had drifted here from
disgust and disappointment simply as a
place of refuge, till the storm spent its
fury. Among such a strange mixture of
men, it is no wonder that, left as they
were without much discipline, the means
diversified. Fishing, hunting, horse-rac-
ing and piney woods "shindigs." dance
in which 'sgo- as-you-please'' was the
only etiquette, were prominent among
the pastimes. The company | joined was
an improvement, If possible, on the bal
ance of the command. 1t could boast OF
men from more different States and differ
ent walks of life. more dogs and fiddles,
more blaze faced horses-all males at
that-than any other company, and the
duties we were called upon to perform
were equally as diversified as were the
component parts of the company, but
principally, it seemed to me, we. were
used to annoy and steal from our own
citizens But if we did the Confederate
service little good we did it little harm,
at least two departments of it-Quarter-
master and Commissary-as to my certain
knowledge we never drew dollar or a
ration. But amid all this fun and frolic,
we were occasionally called on to do some
duty, and that sort that the bravest
dread. He is sad coward who cannot
face death amid the roar of cannOns and
the rush of thousands, but to take it sin
gle handed, man to man, is different
thing, and, worse than that, to be shot
off your horse as you ride along, by
man hid in the swamp, is enough to try
the nerves of the bravest.
But when the call was made it was al
ways responded to by few at least who
never failed a friend or foe. One night
as l lay on my pallet of straw despair
ately battling with the mosquitoes and an
empty stomach, vainly trying to get to
sleep. a hand was laid on my arm, and in
low voice was asked if wanted to
take stock in game with the bush
whackers; if so, to get three days, rations
for myself and horse, and report to the
Captains tent in an hour. Get three
days rations for myself and horse! There
had not been that much in camp in that
many weeks But by little begging and
a good deal of stealing had three feeds
for my horse and pint of mean whiskey,
and was shlvering and trying to see how
small bundle I could make of myself,
while noble old Dan impatiently champed
his bits in front of the Captains tent,
when the hour passed Our orders were
few and simple: "Two abreast, perfect
silence and follow me-" This came from
the lips of fighting Dick, the only officer
we had who would diligently hunt up
fight and stick to it to the last. There
fore we were not surprised to find our
selves Laundering in the dark waters of
the Chippola river and heading directly
for the heart of the bush-whacker settle
ment. Out of the swamp at last, the
beautiful little town of Mariana, with
it's sleeping girls and barking dogs, was
left behind, and on through the pine bar
rem, with it's palmetto and wire grass,
moss and hooting owls, through the long,
weary hours of the night we rode, till the
freshening breeze and gray streaks in the
east warned us that day was coming: then
we rode to what is called s'Tite-eye"
pond, and there hid ourselves and horses.
Then learned that noted bush whack-
er was to be buried that day, and that
Capt. Sanders, their chief, and the most
desperate among them, was to be at
the funeral, and our object was to
capture him. Scouts sent out returned
soon and stated that all was ready. To
horse, and we were riding round the pond.
What sight for charge of cavalry
Out in front of us in large clearing
slowly crawled along an OK team, draw
ing a wagon with the corpse, and a soli-
tary man mounted on the front end of
the coffin Behind struggled some hun
bred more men, women, children and
dogs. A steady trot at first, then with
hats pressed hard on our heads, sabers
drawn and a yell that cut shrill and
sharp through the stiffness, around, we
dashed forward with that wild fury only
experienced in charge of cavalry when
rider and horse concentrate every energy
of thought and action into the one OBJ
ject of going forward. The dogs hear
the rush and turn on us, but as we hear
them their nerves give way, and each
seeks its owner to mingle its bowls with
that of the general crowd. The men
singly and in squads dash for the swamps.
Some of the women try to follow, but
most of them sink down paralyzed with
fright. Around these helpless beings the
children and dogs crouch and make the
air hideous with their howls. In rein
ing noble old Dan aside to spare one of
those helpless beings, I stop him. and,
overcome with the novelty of the scene,
forget that am soldier, but only for
while, for far out in the field hear a
shout and amid clouds of dust / see the
magnificent gray of Lieut.. Dick plunging
forward in close pursuit of some plung-
ing objects; steadying myself in the sad
die and touching Dan with the spur, l am
soon lost in the dust, and, rushing for
ward, nearly collide with some flying OBJ
ject. What is it? The OK team. The driver
l. L