The National tribune., 1883-04-05


We're hidden from sight by the piles of dead
and we did not charge again. Six of the twenty
four were left close to the walls, and eleven OF
the new men never answered roll-call again.
1t was not war, it was not murder-it was
butehery. But no one murmured. The order
had come to charge, and we had charged, though
every soldier knew that he was charging into
the open jaws of destruction.
Not soldier in company G had been
wounded; not one of those who fell back to the
rivers bank could show scratch from bullet
or bayOnet. 1t had been thus ever since our
first battle. There was nothing to report un-
der the head OF wounded" and missing -
bat ali the names of those who had heard their
last roll-call went down under the head OF
" killed in action" When they fought it was
TO death.
After Fredericksburg more recruits were sent
/ down to us. We received them kindly, but we
kept on counting eighteen, just as if company
1 q would be wiped ont when the last old vet
eTan went And they said my company was
fated. Other companies had been decimated,
/ aud other companies could show long lists of
captured and wounded, +" but no other COM
pany in the brigade had suffered like G.
Then came Gettysburg. The eighteen old
veterans were there, and the company num-
! beTcd sixty-eight with the new men. Other
divisions were held in reserve. or escaped the
hottest Of the fight, but ours was to beat back
4 the fiercest charge of the bloody war-the
1 charge against Round Top. Somehow company
q was al the front again, and as the fierce wells
I Of the coming CoafederateS were heard above
/ the mighty roar Of the cannon, looked down the
+ line. Some of the new men were looking this
/ way aud that, as il seeking cover, but the old
/ veterans peeTed coolly through the smoke and
waited with leyelled muskets TO catch the first
glimpse OF gray uniforms. On across the fields
came the charging, cheering host, up the steep
hillside, and then sheet of flame leaped out
and WitheTed them. The gray line was alb
! sorbed IN That flame Of death Just as water
olssoiyes salt. But a second line spTang at us
and third and fourth, and then they were at
4 TIE guns which we were supporting. Some one
gave an order. no one exactly understood it.
I but all rushed for the guns. Shrieks. groans
I shots, shouts, and then the line of gray pushed
/ back the line of blue. They were all around
us-r3nt, right, left-and men neither asked
nor gave quarter. Back, back, went the line of
blue, and Round Top, the key of Gettysburg,
was Won for the Confederatcs.
But only for moment. 4 double line of
biue pushed its way up through the smoke.
hurled itself forward, and Round Top was won
again. And hOw won! Men slipped and fell
On the bloody grass heaps of dead were piled
mp like logs. and the shrieks and groans of the
wounded were awful TO hear.
And when Lee faced southwark, fighting rs
he marched ] called the roll again. None
wounded none missing. but upon the crest of
Round Top we left ten old veterans and four
teen new men. Ten ont of eighteen, twenty
four out of sixty-eighti The blood-thirsty
hend who wields the sword of var should have
been satisfied with that. Sixteen more widows
back in the little country village mora sobs
and tears. Not one OF the living could show a
wound but each Of us would have rejoiced at
The loss OF an arln-at some grievous wound
which would have made the surgeons shake
their heads and look serious.
Only eight left Only eight men of the one
hundred and three who marched out of the
hamlet that May morning. The new men had
tonight well, and we respected them, but we
went or counting eight Three held COM
mIssions-the other five were sergeants-aot
enough to officer the company!
IN the dusk Of evening Stonewall Jackson
came down through the forests and thickcts
beyond the Rappahannock, and struck the
Federal camps aud opened the battle of the
Wilderness. The eight old veterans of COM
pany q were there, and the new men made up
q band OF forty strcng. As we heard the crash
OF musketry over or the left, our poor skeleton
brigade, numbering twenty-three hundred in
stead of four thousand, fell into line and pushed
I on through the stuuted pines after line of
sllirmishers. Company was on the left OF
the skrmish-line. and we found the enemy
nrst--a heavy line of gray coming through the
Wilderness at a half-run. Down we kneit
among the vines and bushes, and our fire
Checked them. They fred few wild shots
retreated a little, and then we leaped up and
drove them-a band of forty drove a line of
ssirnishers, supported by line of battle!
History has not told il to the world, but blood
was left on the vines and corpses on the ground
10 prove 1t. They we're feeling over strange
ground, after a foe whose strength was not
known, and that wss the reason Of our success
We pushed them back to the line of battle.
attacked that. and then we were tossed back
torn and bleeding, almost blotted out Of exist
enee as company.
OF the eight old veterans, six were living
dead under the trees; of the new men. twenty
I'VE answered roll-call after the Wilderness,
Was that war or slaughter? A captain and
second lieutenant only were left 10 represent
the one hundred and three
The end was not vet, but the end was com
inc. There were no new recruits for my com
paaY. but We were marching towards Rich
In9na numbering tweHty-scven. Has the
country forgotten the fierce conflict at Peters
barg? As we fell into line 10 make twenty
seven more in the brigade, saw the lieutenant
looking at me. Poor fellow. there was no need
for Inn TO speak. Would this fight wipe out
the old company entirely, or would one be
spared And which one? He had a wife-I
had none. ] hoped he might live to cali the
roil after the battle was over, and that death
would bave taken me.
The line qniverod IS they felt the ortlercom-
ing, and then il dashed at an earthwori went
forward with the same old cheer which had
been It's own ever since its bronzed veterans
heard the whistle of bullets. But Il was too
nucA FOR Us They had forgotten how weak we
were, and somebody had blundered. The lines
Tlthcred before the Storm OF shot; we fell back
were charged IN turn, and | went down among
the heaps Of dead and wounded. The roar of
battle died away in moment: daylight changed
10 darkness. and when ! opened my eyes again
the surgeons stood over me, and my left arm
was gone.
There was no one to call the roll The
stark, stiff form of the lieutenant had been
given to eaTfh, and the seven men who repre-
sented company G looked 10 themselves Fate
had choice who should be taken and who left.
and death passed me by. [ alone OF the one
hundred and three veterans returned To the
country village 10 tell them how this one and
that one died: 10 hear the s,1hs of widow and
orphan, until my heart ached Sometimes in
my day reYeries or night dreams call the roll
again, and slladowy forms stand in line. and
ghostly voices answer aye and aye" until
start up, son in my throat at the remembrance
of those who sleep n The trenches beside the
Potomac, meath the shadow OF Round Top.
along the Rappabannocis and Down among the
dark thickets Of the Wilderness, sleeping there
never 10 know war again