Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-08-11
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THE BATTLE.FIELD OF SEVEN PINES.

THE BATTLEFIELD OF SEVEN PINES.
RICHMOND, July 20, 1SSl.-"Have you
match, sir? All much obliged. Pleasan
morning 7"
The brown checked, gray-bearded old gen
tleman, clad in cool linen, who thus approach
ed me in capitol square, snugged his walking
stick up under his arm, and dexterously drew
Sire by scraping the bit Of birthstone upon tn
butt of the cane.
THAT was cleverly done," | said, seeing
that the wind was 50 strong as to blow th
tame squirrels, running here and there througl
the beautiful grounds, slightly sideways %hen
ever they attempted to spring from the gras
to the trunks Of the trees.
Exactly, sir. I learned how to make
match do its duty out of doors, when cam
paigning with that glorious old fellow there,
said the veteran, looking from under his cloth
lined straw hat, and pointing to the statue O.
Stonewall Jackson, few yards away. "Wa
taught me many lessons"
But there are few evidences of the wal
here in Richmond and around? ?"
"Why, sir, didn't you hear about that shel
out in Hanover, Wednesday evening-how &
shell was struck by lightning?'
"A shell struck by lightning?"
"a shell struck by lightning just so. II
Mr.. Faulkner's field, eight miles from the
city, there is tall tree, pine, which | re-
member seeing once During the storm OIL
Wednesday evening, and while some hands
we're at work in the same field, lightning
struck the tree and set it on fire. Faulkner
sent his men to pick up the brush to keep the
fire from reaching his fences. In less than
half an hour the men heard terrific explo
sion in the tree, and, with some fear, they
searched for the cause. They found that the
tree had been shattered by a shell, and they
picked up pieces of the shell that had torn
through the bushes near by. Theshell lodged
in the tree during the war, but no one knew it
was there. If that was not a relic of the war
and forcble one, too, what is? Or take a
drive out to Oakwood, and you'll see where
sixteen thousand of our boys are buried, and
in the beautiful Hollywood, just over there
where I'm pointing, granite monument
stands in the midst of graves containing four
teen thousand southern soldiers. Oh ! yes,
Richmond has many points of interest in
connection with the war; but, as you see,
this is now driving business city, and the
people here rarely think of things of the
kind"
GLIMPSE AT LIBBY.
Such an entertaining talker did the veteran
prove himself to be that the sun began to
whiten the Doric columns Of the capitol be.
fore l was fairly started, upon invitation
of my interlocutor, on our way to the WIZ
lamsburg road and Seven Pines battle field.
Passing out Main street the placard "Wash-
ington and Lafayette's headquarters" on a
small stone house with revolutionary slant of
roof, caused halt, but an object of keener
interest sat in plain sight square below on
the James, and thither we went. This was
Libby prison, squat building of brick, an
ugly warehouse sort Of place, the top of
which looked hot, even in the early morning
sun. The prison walls are full of windows,
but they are traversed with cobwebs of iron,
and the whole mass is so low-pitched and al
together so suggestive of toad that its re-
moval would be taking away Of what appear
ed to me to be an eyesore. Yet the sign,
"The Southern Fertilizer Company" over
one of its doorways, and the passing to and
fro on the wharf near by of sweating steve
dores, who pufed their pipes and cracked
their Jokes, serves to bring the mind away
from the past, and all feeling is lost in the
commonplace street.
RICHMOND IS FULL OF THINGS
to make one tarry, and what with stopping
at the Federal cemetery, on Williamsburg
road, where 842 known and 6,542 unknown
Union soldiers lie in grass plats, dotted with
blocks of granite and fringed with flowers, it
got to be 9 o'clock before we approached the
battle field seven miles east Of the city. We
moved in a slow jog, for the road is san
dy. As we neared the place of interest
thought there must be more like seven mil
lion than seven pines on the battle field. The
pines grow in thick woods, and upon their
smooth brown skaters, covering the ground
beneath them, the sun glistening all day long.
The fields are level and mostly fallow. By
the roadside are small trees and bushes, and
within sight of Seven Pines we shifted air
laden with the perfume of wild roses that
nodded pleasantly on either hand.
SEVEN PINES AND SEVEN CEDARs.
At the point whittier we were bound a
flag hoated above grove of NAPLES, and,
coming to the nine. mile-road, we found our.
selves in front of the national cemetery,
around which is the hamlet of Seven Pines
The first thing that one looks closely at is a
row of small, healthy pines, seven in number,
that stand along the cemetery wall. When
the battle was fought, on the last day OF
May, 1862, there grew close by this spot
seven pine branches from one stump. Those
branches gave the locality its name. Now
the seven shoots have disappeared, and not SC
much as the roots are dscoverable. But
nine years ago Storekeeper Lyme brought
seven little pines from the woods and planted
them where they now thrive, nut-brown and
scaly of trunk and dark green of color. Sew
en- cedars line the other side of the road di
rectly opposite, and, strange to say, seven
houses, clustering around, make up the little
village of Seven Pines. 1t is another case Of
"wE ARE SEVEN
the sad story that all of US used to read in oul
sing song way in the school books of long ago
None but Union soldiers were buried in the
cemetery, which contains the bones of 1857
men, of whom only $50 are known by name
1t is nicely kept and everything about the
place, from Keeper Barrows lodge to the far
ther edge of the acre and quarter grass plat
is trim and neat. A he'd ge runs around the
inclosure and besides the pines the grove con
tains many maple and cedar trees. Roses
pinks, geraniums, lilacs, and the spirea bloom
among the graves while what the superinten
dents mother called "the devils walking
stick" stands sentry near the gate. The visi
tor feels like rolling in the grass and making