Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-12-27
HARDsHIPs OF THE WAR.
Am ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Account 81 re
siege 81 Yorktown.

ALL who that has participated therein |
can forget the misery endured in that
memorable siege, writes an ex-Confed |
crate, speaking Of Yorktown. The line |
Of intrenchments Of the defense between |
the two rivers, the York and the James.
was perhaps four or five miles long, and |
there was not q spot Of ground IN the
rear for q mile that was not constantly
searched by the cannon-shot and rifle
balls of the Fe0crals. As the force then
present was not more than sufficient to
man the breastworks in case of q sudden
attack, and one was expected momenta-
rily. it was necessary to have the rcgi-
ments within easy reach There are no
such things as hills and hollows in that
God -forsaken country, as it is as fiat as
billiard table, and to have encamped
the troops on open ground would have
been criminal on the part Of the general.
Those, then, of the regiments not in the
trenches were compelled to huddle in
| bomb-proofs just behind them.
Dark, foul-smelling, without ventila-
ton, swarming with vermin. the floors
of rough split slabs, covered with two
inches of mud and filth, it was impos-
sible to get rest for moment, In the
/ OOahO-0tO0Acs CNEn WAACA OSGA-SAS6A
nature gave way to semi unconscious
ness. Added to this the dens were so
crowded at all times that it was difficult
! to find place to sit down, much less to
recline. 1t was only on rainy, dark
nights, when the crackle of the sharp
shooters ceased for q while. and only an
occasional cannon-shot crashed through
the brushwood, that the tortured troops
air. The misery continued for a week
at time before relief was sent, and
| during that time the men had not one
morsel of warm food or a drop of warm
| drink, for all the cooking had to be
bone two miles in the rear, and it was
strictly forbidden to light fire in or
near the trenches. Numbers were pros
trated with chills and fever and other
forms OF malarial sickness; and solemn
ly assert that on several occasions dur
ing the purgstorial experience in these
foul holes in the ground men rushed out
in frenzy, preferring instant death to
the slow torture-and they generally got
what they sought.
There was some of the finest sharp
shooting done in that siege that the war
developed 1t was said--I know not
with what truth-that on the Federal
side there were number of English
| sportsmen of high degree. who, getting
tired of shooting tigers in India, had
come over ito take pot shot at the
rebels At any rate old soldiers will
recollect the story of dead Mans Tree y
This was huge dead tree situated fully
thousand yards from the Confederate
trenches; and among its limbs, forty or
fifty feet from the ground, Federal
sharpshooter had made himself an i'm
pregnable nest, so so speak. His view of
the rear of the Confederate works was
confined to limited space on account of
iutting points OF woods: and it was
almost certain death to man to walk
slowly across that space. Everybody
who had occasion passed it on a
run. One day some men of the
Seventeenth Virginia infantry were
set to work to dig a covered
way across this fatal spot, and, forget
sitting on the side of the ditch. Instantly
Mr.. Sharpshooter got in his work by
clipping the heel of one and mortally
wounding another with one bullet. Every
means was tried to get rid of this
champion shot, even to training a rifled
battery on him; but, if he disappeared
for time, he always came up smiling,
perched in his eyrie. when his particular
ground was invaded During the siege
he must have killed and wounded fully a
dozen men.
The discomfort in the trenches was al
most as painful and demoralizing as the
life in the bomb proofs. On account of
the constant sharp-shooting by day and
night, and the frequency of the cannon
shots, the reliefs were divided into six
hours on and six off, Now, it rained al
most ever day while the siege was main
tanned, and the whole country is marshy
and swampy, water being struck almost
anywhere two feet below the surface, so
that the trenches always had foot and
a half up TO two feet of water in them.
| The troops were unprovided with suffi-
cient clothing for this work, such heavy
baggage as overcoats. extra blankets,
ETC., having been left behind. To stand
thigh deep in water for six hours in the
early spring nights, chilled to the bone,
and afraid to move FOR fear of getting q
bullet through the head, was q very un-
pleasant experience, but it was q relief al
least from the horrors of the bomb proof
IF there is plaee on earth more In
tested with owls great white owls, bic
horned owls. screech- owls, and all Other
kinds Of owls-then it has never been sci
down IN the books. No sooner had nighl