National Republican., 1883-05-31
The Weird Contest Of Invisibles With InvisbleS
in the Wilderness.
An Old Soldiers Recolections OF the
First Day Under Fwe.
The Wild Death Race Of One Whose Bravery Had
Been Uniustly Doubted.
wild, Spontaneous Charge Which
Nobody Ordered.
Wrnien for The Republiedn.

And what thrill sweeps along the nerves of
the old soldier as he lives over again the
moment that brought him squarcly face to
face with his enemyl Over highway aud
through tangled thicket, by devious forest
path, and across turbid stream, mile after
mile with weary feet, impelled onward by
tho instinct which nerves the sleuth-hound
to his merciless chase he has conquered the
space that lies between, and with the great,
inarticulate voice of battle commanding him
to put forth his strength, he stands at last on
the hither side Of tho narrow neutral ground
that lies between his open breast and the
flaming muazlcs of tho enemy's guns Neu-
tral ground, but swept by Kissing bullet and
screaming shell, oanopied by powder-smoke
and Uttered with shattered limbs silent it.
self as lpRnimato nature, yet territcally
vocal with tho fercest cries that ever rose
from earth TO heaven.
We wcro "in,n but the battle was like none
ever before fought by civilized armies Un-
der the awful fire that greeted our advent
tho line seemed to melt away into nothing
for moment thought the tale of the strag-
gler had become the truth, and that / was
1.-THE only man left" Coming up from the
rear toward line engaged have frequently
heard the panic-stricken coffee coolers
claim that he was the sole survivor, and
have often wondered, in the face OF the self
evident fiction, who II was that was keeping
up such a tremendous fire in the front while
this hero of the rear line was dining at his
leisure, mile or so behind.
The peculiar nature of the ground fought
over made this weird uncanny contest-a
battle Of invisibles with invisblcs. We had
had wood fights before but none in which the
enemy rs we'll as ourselves, were so completely
concealed as in this 1t was not even Indian
G,,ht I 1uxy frOnfnd
red brethren in n hostile way, but if any Gre
dence is to be given to the dime novels, of
which was an industrious reader in my
youth. the scalp-locks of the aborigines were
at least occasionally exposed
Hero nothing could bo seen of the enemy
or their doings but the white smoke which
belchcd out Of the bushes and curled and
wreathed in fantastic designs, as it slowly
mounted through the hot air. The cracking,
thunderous roll of our own firing effectually
shut out all other sounds. There may have
been savage cries rising like voices out of hell
for the human animal under circumstances
of this kind invariably accompanies the work
of death with his ierccst voice; there were
undoubtedly groans and shrieks, and moans
sitting up through the wild turmoil, but all
minor tones were overwhelmed and lost in
the great, majestic diapason which rolled
along the quivcring air.
Years before, when very small boy, had
Mexican war, who, as he stroked my hair,
gave me this good advice:
Never go where there is any fighting. my
boy, it's bad for the eyes"
Strangely enough, while standing in the
rear of the line and watching the progress of
the fight. SO far MS it could be seen, the words
of the griZzled old fellow came into my mind.
had disregarded his advice and in conse-
guence was in place Of great danger to the
organs of sight. i may as well confess now
though Mt the time l would not have
admitted the fact to any one for a
ton of diamonds--I was seized with
an almost irresistible desire to hunt very
large tree for protection. Unfortunately for
the execution of my project every tree was
occupied and behind each of these natural
Notifications the operation of loading and fir
ing was going on with the greatest possible
expedition. There were very few drones on
the line that day-those useless members OF
the hive were we'll out Of range and out OF
sight somewhere in the rear, speculating on
the result of the fight, and counting the
chances of being able to dodge the provo
guard.
Z Overcoming with an effort the thought,
which almost rose to the dignity OF pre-
sentiment, that before the day was out l
would be in Il condition to draw pension
for damaged eyesight, returned to duty,
which was simply doing nothing. AS a line
officer, should, of course, see that no man
went to the rear without the justification of q
hole somewhere in his corporation but this
was duty very easily discharged. was not
sufficiently settled in mind to take musket
and assist in the enforcement of Grants cat
tail policy, so l devoted my time to studying
tho details of the tragic, yet curious spectacle
As the battle moved ON and the men be-
came suffused with its pulsation and glow
many of them rose to their feet, and long
ling of blue capped heads came into sight
above the thick foliage Of the underground
Little ragged patches of white sprang into
view instantaneously on the trunks of the
trees, each one showing where bullet had
scored its mark, and necessarily twigs and
leaves and branches flew of from the parent
stem, whirled moment in the air and then
dropped out of sight. This was the harmless
work of the rabid little leaden cones, which
came hurtling across the narrow space. Here
and there man threw up his arms and
toppled over, OF dropped his gun, and with Il
hand pressed on tho wounded part, rushed tC
the rear. That was the effect of one or more
of the missiles which had discharged its duty
more faithfully than those that wasted thcii
venom OH the senseless vegetation.
Presently one of the men whom had lonl
suspected of a desire to fight with the wagon
train, turned short round and raced away tt
the rear holding his gun aloft with one hand
as he dashed through the brush.
"Aha! my fine fellow" thought l YOU'RE
of now, for sure, Dut Well see now lar you
get in that direction" and l started aftel
him.
He ran like a runaway horse, ploughinl
through thickets, which might have beer
avoided by step TO the right or left, nevel
noticing the stinging strokes of the branches
which slashed his face, or paying the slightes
attention to the yells, which | sent after him
Suddenly he went down with a plunge, and
in a moment was at his side. He lay on hi
face, and his body aud limbs quivered in q
strange way.
"Get up!" l shouted, seizing him by thu
shoulder.
As if in obedience TO the order he rolled
over, and as his face came up was looking
on the features of the dead. bullet had
struck him fairly in the forehead, and out o
the small oriGce brains and blood were slowly
oozlng / felt as if / were interviewing the
king of terrors in person.
Leaving him quieting down into the nm
changing stiffness of death, retraced my
steps TO tho line where / met the captain, ,whC
had been spectator Of the fight and pursuit
He placed his mouth close TO my ear and said
SO we got away from you after allY"
"Yes away from me and everybody else
in this world. He's as dead rs a mackerel.'
"Pm sorry. We did him an injustice, but
it can't be helped now, We are getting
badly cut up, but the boys are standing up tC
il like heroes"
moved of toward my station at the left o
4. .aNI. .t.tN. .afN l..