The Mineral argus., 1884-04-24
REBELLION ECHOES.

From the Boston Journal
The famous charge of Longstreet's
corps on the third day at Gettysburg
has been often described, and it is bet
ter understood, probably, than any 9TH
er great battle scene OF the civil war. 1t
is therefore not my purpose in this arti-
Gle to give anything like a general de-
scription of the movement, but simply
to speak of it as seen by a little party
of men belonging to the first corps,
who were woundedin the first days fight
among whom it wa my fortune to be
cast. We were placed hors de
combat on the crest of Semi
nary Ridge, afterward the key of the
confederate position. When our troops
fell back we were left where we fell, and
were therefore obliged to accept the
Inequalities of the enemy. OF their
abilities as entertainers l do not care to
speak. Neither will it prove agreeable
to awaken too many of the recollections
of that terrible experience. 1t would
require the pen of a Dante to cover the
whole ground. Therefore, as was once
said by n doubtless more familiar with
the writings of Dante than L am, "we
will lave all that CO."
On the third day, when preparations
we're being made for the coup de main,
our little party occupied house within
the rebel lines, a short distance from the
o.oo H., ON rctroof fOrpon1
his attacking column. Not having
had our wounds properly attended
to, and being almost wholly without
food, it can readily be seen that Il
situation was anything but pleasant.
And vet, bad as this was, we were com
PEELED to endure something a great deal
worse, in the shape of naturalization and
insult from the hordes of sneaks and
bummers who were continually prowl-
ing about the building. Some of our
tormenters may have been genuine SOL
diers, who were simply passing and re-
passing in the line of duty. II so, to
them l make the amende honorable, but
toward the skulkers, 1 felt then and en-
terrain still nothing but the deepest
contempt. Among the buster to which
we were compelled to listen came the
following;
"You 'uns will hear plenty of music
pretty soon; Longstreet's going to
charge" said q blatant rebel captain
who had hung about us like a leech for
O day and a half, while his regiment,
the eighth Georgia, was preparing to
advance with the attacking column.
ooh, give us q rest" cried an indig-
nant boy in blue, lying helpless upon
the floor: "what do you know about it 2
II know this about it, Yank. In a little
while you'll hear a big gun. That's on
ly the signal, though; the fun is to fol
low. Then the artillery will open all
along the line. Then Longstreet will
charge, and if any of your fellows are
left alive when his men get there, they'll
have to git" And our F~alstaff, having
delivered himself of this bombastic ut
terence, strutted back and forth with
the air of one who had settled the whole
business with a wave of his hand.
"What does the reb mean ?" we whis-
pered to one another.
"Can it be possible there is any truth
in what he says? Do you suppose he
knows anything about it, or that if such
q movement is contemplated their whole
army knows it," asked a sergeant who
was lying beside me.
I eyes," 1 replied, sit may be true.
Perhaps he has got his news from some
courier or staff officer. I have read Of
i one battle in Europe, l have forgotten
where, in which the commanding gen
eral announced to his army in a general
2 order that one of his divisions would be
called upon for a desperate charge"
We felt certain anyway, that the
J rebels were up to some mischief, SO
many hints of it had been given and it
was SO still every where. Occasionally
we heard the clatter of hoofs, but this
was all; and we regarded this, even, as
ominous of amove of some kind. Those
q of us who could crawl got to the doors
I and windows. We were a sorry look
ing set of fellows-torn byshOt and shell,
D covered with blood and dirt, our faces
t haggard with WEAKNESS and suffering
5 but the grand old army of the POto-
mac contained no men who We're more
I anxious for success. Between Us and
q our comrades was an impossible
2 gulf nearly two miles wide, thickly
| strewed with the dead and dying of both
armies, bordered with angry lines III
: blue and gray-impediments to progress
more formidable than the waves of the
" storm-swept sea-yet in spite of this we
I longed to fly to them or in some way tC
I warn them of the coming storm. In
anxiety, in agony even, we watched AND
q waited for hours.
e At last the signal for onslaught came.
Is was the SharD report Of q WhltWOrth