Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-01-10
DURING THE WAR.
How Baby RansOmed the Lives OF
Confederate SOldieTs-ThriiIiDg EX-
perience Of "a Gray-bEaired Soldier.


Confederate Soldiers-ThriiIiDg Ex-
perience Of "a Gray-Haired soldier.
Grizzled and gray, dazed and indo
lent, looking as If he had missed the
train in the progress Of this life; as il
the world had gone by and left him
hopelcssly behind-no Christmas tur-
KEY for him this year; not for the
twenty years past / reckOn-the old
Confederate soldier (wholimped about
awkwardly, for he had a lot of lead to
carry sold ms the story, the other day,
in the Shenandoah. If it is untrue or
dull, blame him, not me. | only gave
it as / got it.
Gen. "Jeb. y Stuart was hanged on
the Federal flank. His midnight camp
was pitched on tina hillside. Up the
hill little way lay farm house two
or three haystacks hung upon the hill
side. The worn out horses fed there
and nodded their drowsy heads 10 the
hav. All around on the ground under
the trees IN camp the troopers lay
black men, white men, brown men,
men who were gray and old, little
lads, boys who had seen dozen bat
ties and hardly yet as many years q
mixed and a motley lot; ragged,
wretched, hungry. They lay on their
bellies before the fire, munching roast
ed corn. gnawing itOH the cob greedl-
~, husking it, roasting 1t, rolling 1t
IN the ashes on the coal. singeing it in
the blazing fire of old Virginia fence
rails. Now and then a shot rang out
in the clear still night away where the
tired pickets met too closely for peace
and now and then better disposed
men on the picket lines, or more
favored and fortunate, met together
and reached each other on their bay
onets tobacco and old ragged newspa-
pers in a sort of exchange of prisoners
of war. The moon rode high and
white in the great blue sea above, and
the stars of heaven looked down in
pity and in silence.
Then a song burst out The black
men were slngin. louder, sweeter,
with more pathos and memories of
home, than the white men, 1t is q
sad, erotesque weired and unique
picture. Suddenly Stuart stood in
the midst of the ragged and uproar-
ious lot.
discipline Look here, Sergt Zeb,
| want discipline or death. Discipline,
say DO you expect me TO fight bat
ties and win victories with a bowling
mob like this, and the enemy right
here waiting to recoil on us the mo
ment we give him a chance! Disci-
pline, | say Hang your blacks and
shoot your whites. or have disCi-
plinel
smENCE OVER THE WHITE ANE BLACK.
Silence in second And the long.
lean men and the sleeping lads pull
ed themselves together and tried to
lock and act like soldiers, while the
blacks, at the suggestion of their be
ing hung up, melted back from the
htful embcrs into the night, as if they
We're a part of it.
Then the weary, bearded chief
threw himself ON a heap of saddles at
hand and forgot his sternness as he
looked about over the wretchcd group
of poor fellows gathered there for a
little rest under the oaks.
Boys I'm hungry, hungry as a
wolf, What have you got to eat}'
A dozen men sprang up, "A half
dozen young, beardleSs troopers rush
ed forward, and from out the night
back under the trees there came many
black forms. And each and every
one, black men and white men. old
men and little boys, reached up and
thrust into the chieftain's face, with
a generous alacTty, an ear of roasted
corn. Some of these ears of corn had
only a few teeth-msrks in them, be-
ing almost entirely intact Others
again were pretty well gnawed down
TO the cob. But they were all alike
offered with prompt generosity.
Corn" and the Confederate chief
shook his head with a grim and sickly
smile as he muttered 70 himself.
Corn, billed corn, roasted corn, raw
corn, white corn, red corn-all kind,
of corn. No, no, boys I'm hungry
but | can't eat any corn tonight
The men melted back in respectful
silence into broad circle. And there
suddenly, somehow in the center o.
that circle stood a child; a little boy
who had been aroused from his sleeI
on the pile of saddles in the commo
ton that attended thechieftaiu' S com
ing And now, wide awake. with s
title toy flag in one hand and a rec
apple IN the other, this little boy stooC
there Ia the midst of these Wild anC
ragged men with cheeks as rosy as tn,
apple he held in his little dimple,
hand
THE INNoCENT's RED APPLE.