Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-02
Virginia BattIefelds.
Cold Rarbor as it Now Appears-Whnt the Great Armies Left Behfnd-BONes, Bullets and EarthSvOrks.

Bullets and EarIhyvorks.
 [Cold Harbor letter to Philadelphia Timesl
 The little darkey who brought me hither behind well -lathered horse pokey and tired from ten-mile trot chuckled he said :: -stBoss, Pse a-thinkin' a-wunnerin' why dey calls desc heah surroundins Cole Haboh. ," Something of that kind had oc
 cured to me, for the ride from Richmond had been tedious, the ruts of the sandy roads this side the Chickahominy were deep, and shimmering lines of heat constantly waved above the white earth to the right and left.
 The morning had been s'bilin' time, !" as the boy frequently remarked, and the approach of noon had made the air no better. The country around is flat, and the woods cover more space than the clearings. AS we passed slowly along the road from the New Cold
 Harbor store I saw line of intrenchments, running off from either side, and short dis
 tance further second line, higher and ap- parently of more substantial build. The first line was Lees, the second Grants, and at this point think I could have thrown a stone from one to the other. Just down the road we saw flag, hanging motionless from it's staff above the trees, and to that point the horse was whipped with as much speed as wheels that sank in soft sand would permit. The flag floats above the federal cemetery. At sunrise, rain or shine, it is sent up its towering pole, and, unfolding, there floats or idly droops until the day is done. Beneath it are hundreds of little blocks of stone. which mark the graves of men who fell roundabout while naples, weeping willows and Towering plants grow thlckly along the walks of the pretty enclosure. Keeper May and his son were at work among the flowers
 but they dropped their hoes and watering pots to show their visitor the sights of the cemetery and field. I was already familiar with the things to be seen in government graveyard - the well kept grass, the choice plants, the thriv- ing trees and the clean, neat, pretty lodges so Keeper May brought out some relics gathered from the trenches in which fell those who now sleep at our feet. Of Mimic balls there were great numbers. Some were flattened, some rusty, some mouldy, and a few kept their original shape and color. Leaning against a rosebush at the side of the lodge were half dozen rusty gun barrels, all loaded and any one of which could yet kill its man. Specimen bits of grapeshot, pieces of shrapnel and shells as big as one's head were also plentiful. Pleasantly chatting, the su- perintendsnt led me a half mile down the road to Farmer Burnet's, a house that bears the name ''Cold Harbor." It is old fashioned frame building, dark and stained from hundred storms. There have been no material changes about the place since the battle, during which the house received several hard hits from shrapnel and round shot sent humming hither by Lee. The yard retains it's oaks, the shade of which looked so inviting to the troops as they marched by un- der the summer sun. The local story, retold from father to child for many generations, has it that one severe winter traveller was frozen to death by the fireplace of the house, thus giving it 8 name now historical for all time. Somewhat nearer the cemetery is the Cartwright house, which is also 8 point of interest. It stands in the center of an untitled field, and in the chimney are score of grapeshot holes. When Wright and Smith fiercely assaulted Lees line at the edge of the woods beyond, two thousand brave fellows fell around the dwelling. Mrs. Gath wright was on her knees in the cellar, and yet peals and shocks so cracked the air that she could not tell herself the words she said Down through the roof, the partitions and the floor came crashing great ball of iron, but as the neighbors say, Mrs. Gathwright was at her prayers, and, without exploding, the shell rolled harmlessly upon the hem of her gown.
 With the purpose of following the line of federal earthworks from point near the cemetery to the extreme left I made my way alone through hedge of briars that topped a fence, and struck out across a field. Though the plough has many time scratched it's mark in the soft soil, it has failed to oblit crate the intrenched line, which lies in a low ridge. stretching far sbeforesthes eye Even. where the ridge sinks to the level of the rest of the ground the color of the sub-soil makes the breastworks plainly traceable Having passed over the fields, in which found not so much as a bullet or bone. l came to a tract heavily timbered with oak, pine and holly. Here agaln the parapet was high and the trench deep, for the works have never been disturbed and have suffered only ture's slight changes. Here it is brown with cast-off foliage scattered from thousand pines again it has touch of green as it sinks into swampy stretch, but for all it's length it is as clear ly marked as though banked up year ago. What to me was most mysterious and that to which my attention constantly was drawn I found just under the heaviest banks of earth. At first l thought certain little seooped out places must have been made by men who sought protection In the sand, but I was not long in concluding that from every one of the holes, after bat tie, dead man had been dug. And so it was. Many poor fellow had quick inter ment in the trenches where he fell, and these little scars in the ground each did duty as & soldiers rude shroud. The line leaves the dense woods to cross a road that runs from the Cold Harbor House to the Chickahominy. In field to the left are remains of artillery works, and along the road, just at the eastern side, the infantry breastworks stretch as far as Barker's mill, fully three miles from my starting point. But by the time I reached the intersection of this Chickahominy road with road leading to New Cold Harbor store was tired enough to give over the at tempt to follow the line on foot No doubt many people have it in their minds that battlefield is single field-a piece of land that may be walked across in ten minutes, 8 circumscribed place, spot. When Grant assaulted Lee on this ground, at daybreak on the third of June, his line of battle was sew en miles in length. More than 8 hundred thousand federal soldiers moved forward at the tick of the watch. Storekeeper Tucker, whom met at Gaines mill few weeks ago, went with me from his store at New Cold Harbor to the place on Lees line where Han. cock caught on, and there saw number ot wonderful evidences of the fierce fight: The trunk of ''honeyshuck' tree-a kind of locust, thorny and of hard wood-rests against the earthworks, and MT. Tucker says that it was so hacked with small shot that the next high wind blew it down.