Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-05-05

Not quite the same anil My inner being
Reasons and knows that all is for the BEST
But oh! the unstiled yea rning in my breast,
AS my souls eyes turn ever backward, seeing
The vanished self, that eyer more must be,
This side of what we call eternity,
Not quite the same.
-Ella Wheeler in the Boston transcript
A CAVALRY DASH.
The Story Of the Battle of Carter's Farm,
Virginia.
THE MEETING OF GENERAL AVERILL AND
GENERAL LILLEY, WHO LED THE CON-
TENDING FORCES, REvIvEs MEMORIES
OF THE FIGHT.
Philadelphia Press
Soldiers, won Il you kill this snake?''-
Thus spoke in a feeble voice wounded
Confederate Brigadier- General to half-a-
dozen Federal cavalrymen who belonged
to the command following his retreating
brigade. He had been shot in the charge
the Union forces had made upon his lines,
and was, when he called to the soldiers,
terribly wounded and weak from the loss
of blosd. A piece of shell had struck him
in the thigh and..a minnie ball had carried
away his right arm.
He had crawled beneath the shadow Of a
great rock in the edge of the woods in Or
der to escape from the fierce raya Of the
sun, which were beating down ON that Ju-
lily day in 1864. and he lay prone upon the
ground, to keep as much out of range Of
flying bullets as he could. A snake crawl
ed from beneath che stone and leisurely
drew it's Shiny length over his face just as
the victorious cavalrymen came up. For
few moments the soldiers were puzzled
at his request and thought chat his suffer
ings had made him delirious. They soon,
however, perceived the reptile that had
glided over the forehead of the helpless
man and stopped just beyond. Three OF
them alighted. Two of the soldiers rails
ed him up, 80 that his shattered body
might not be made a pathway for the
snakes return, while third killed it with
his sword. Then they carried the wound
ed officer back into the yard of the farm
house near which the charge began which
had resulted so disastrously for him and
his cause.
1t had not been great action; simply a
hot combat between two small bodies of
troops. 1t might be called an incident of
the war, when viewed in the light of the
many greater fights, the story of which
books record. But these incidents really
make up the interesting part of the histo-
ry OF the great struggle. Short and deci-
siye encounters and sharp skirmishes very
often had much to do with the result of
the great battles which they preceded
They rarely get in print. however, except
through the newspapers, and are seldom
reviewed except when the soldiers or off.
GERS directly interested meet and talk
about them.
Only a few days ago two gentlemen stood
in the rotunda of the Girard House. in
this city, and retold the story Of the Car
ter's Farm fight. which took place on the
afternoon of the Goth Of July, 1864, and
recalled the above incident. Both men
were alike in one sense, as their erect fg-
.ures and martial bearing told that they
had been soldiers. One of the gentlemen
was stout, of medium height, with large
and round face, clean shaver with the sx
ception of small goatee and moustache.
A ponderous under jaw and the penetra-
ting glances from pair Of light blue eyes
betokened the courageous qualities of the
man. He leaned on cane in such man
ner as to show that the traces of the dan
gers, exposure and hardships attendant
dress he resembled man from the North
and who had lived there all his life and
was welded to it's customs. The other
gentleman was also of medium height, but
SHINY built. He wore a full set of dark
brown whiskers, thickly strewn with gray.
A broad brimmed hat of such y size and
style as to at once proclaim the fact that
the wearer was of Southern lineage, COW
cred his head. The right sleeve of his
coat was pinned to the lapel and it was
empty.
The larger man was Major General W
W. Averill, OF the Federal army, and the
other, Brigadier-G eneral Robert D. Lilley,
who in the late war succeeded General Ju-
bal A. Early in command of the old bri-
gade he first organized and commanded
for the Confederacy.
Joined the group and found that these
men, who had opposed each other so often
during the late war, had met by accident
after this lapse of time and were engaged
in fighting the battle of Carter's Farm
over again. The arm which belonged in
the sleeve which hung empty on General
Lilley's breast had been shot away in that
fight by the troops which Averill COM
manded. and he was the officer who lay in
the shadow of the rock wounded, viii
the Union forces, who had inflicted the in.
juries upon him, were pushing his troops
beyond the woods.
MEETING THE ENEMY.
Carter's farm is situated on the magnifi-
cent turnpike road running from Martins
burg to Winchester, through the 10 wer
counties of the Shenandoah Valley. A
large mansion. built in style of architec
ture that can only be found in the South.
with roomy porches and huge chimaeys on
either end, stands but short distance
from the wood. The yard is now filed
with splendid shade trees. and a. far as