Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-08-30
A Great Artillery Duel.

uo mural euecJ Is tItiucAuouo,
generally, but the physical results
don't amount to much" remarked the
| gallant little soldier, General Thomas
F. Neil, one peaceful evening, under
the shady trees just beyond Chain
Bridge, where we we're bivouacking
shortly after the second battle of Bull
Run.
"That is to say" observed a pert
lieutenant, ''your brains tell you that
you are in no. danger, while your legs
are all the time urging you to run
away"
Eyes, sir yes, sir," said the general
sharply. eIt has that effect upon ner-
vously constituted people"
The subject of artillery fighting was
under discussion, and the late great
artillery duel at Rappahannoek Station
was being talked over, having been
brought forward by the presence in
our little party of Captain Jamison, of
General McDowelrs staff, who had
been a participant in that noisy affair.
and to whom General Neill appealed
for description of the affair Of August
20, 1862.
Well" said the captain, as he dug
the point of his saber scabbard re-
flectiyely into the soft turf, II can
only tell you something of my own
experience and impression. because I
was kept moving about too much to
see any considerable results in our 10
cality.
"You see, the battle of Cedar Noun
tain was just over, and the results
were anything but satisfactory. There
was no use in denying the fact that
General Pope had. been again out
generated and outnumbered, and on
the 18th of August we received def
mite information that the whole Con-
federate army was advancing on us in
overwhelming numbers, and we were
ordered to fall back. Tents were
struck at P. NJ, and then came one
of those long waits which are so an
noying to the soldier. For eight long,
TEDIOUS hours the troops waited for the
interminable wagon train to get out
of the way. At last, about midnight,
we moved out into the road to march
quarter of mile and halt an hour,
then start and halt again. All night
long the staff were busy riding about
trying to keep that endless train NOV
ing, SO that l for one, at least, when
morning came, was literally disgusted,
played out, and wanted to go home
There was one prolonged and unani-
nous howl at General Siegel's wagon
train, eleven miles long, which was
keeping us back, and which we knew
was not at all retarding the move
ments of the alert enemy behind us.
Grain had fallen plentifully during
the night, and the sun came out hotter
and hotter as it mounted to the zenith.
To aggravate the situation we were
hating every few minutes. Add to
this that the men were suffering for
water. With the coming of daylight
the staff found another nuisance. If
the soldier couldn't march straight
ahead he could straggle and forage,
both of which he did with an unanim-
ity of sentiment that was hugely dis
gusting to the tired staff, who had to
spur exhausted horses back and forth
with irate messages from the genera
to brigade and division commanders to
know what they meant by derloying
all their men as skirmishers.
!" / think this was the hardest days
march l ever experienced, and night
brought neither rest nor food. 1 was
leaning against tree, giving my horse
rest in lieu of food, when Lieutenant
Shepp, Of siegers staff, rode up and
, said:
"'Hallo, Cap, you look ausgespielt.
/ cts get lost and hunt something to
! eat
"'It's go, my noble Roman. Lead
on
"'Getting lost in this sense simply
means taking yourself off without
leave to seek creature comforts, and
when you bob up serenely again you
explain with all the cheek Of a light
ming agent that you got lost OF
course no one believes you, but as they
have not the persons and papers to
prove your falsification you come off
triumphant. In this instance Shepp
and l rode slowly more than mile
across the country before we found a
house that promised anything to eat
When we did find one it was occupied
by a half-dozen struggling Ohio
soldiers, to whom fellow feeling of
hunger made us wondrous kind. and
we helped them punish Confederate
muttjn until the great vacuum from
wLirla we suffered was flied. Our
horses in tae me lntime hal ben flied
by all the corn they could eat. and we