Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-03-13

ing day, and Carroll's regiment was called
into requisition. He had taken part in
several sharp trays before, but not the less
did his heart beat high now with excite
ment and anticipation, almost as if some
thing delightful was in store. Orders were
given that the men should take brie
Season for repose, but though he closed his
eyes he could not sleep. Visions of Warner
Grove and it's occupants haunted him, and
the figure of Marion floated continually be-
fore him. They had parted in anger; the
brief tie between them had been dissolved
by few cruel, unguarded words, and the
actual distance of material earth that sepa
rated them was nothing compared to the
immeasurable gulf which those words had
wrought, putting the past and present as
widely asunder as though no link of love
had ever joined them together. Reproach
haSty perhaps, on his part, accusations toe
rashly made, had been met with naughty re
sentiment on hers; too proud even to offel
explanation or excuse when so unJustly
blamed, she had unhesitatingly dissolved
their engagement, and under this condition
they had parted, Carroll's short bright
dream dispelled by stern reality which
| filled his heart with bitterness and made
| life seem blank.
"Well, better so," he thought. eff q
Yankee bullet finishes me tomorrow, as
hope it may, she won't need to grieve sc
much as she would have done if she had
remained my betrothed wife. And yet
gracious heaven! can a mad, unreasonable iii
of anger really make such difference-can
she really cease to care? All, she never
truly loved me. | was fool to think she
did to persuade her into thinking so her
self. / wish had never got that unlucky
| furlOugh-then at any rate l could have
died in the blissfll belief that her heart was
mine."
With these and many other weary ret1ec.
tions he tossed upon his hard couch, until
the summons came to be up and stlrring-a
summons never more eagerly welcomed and
obeyed.
The twenty-ninth day of August saw q
| close, obstinate contest, the conflicting for
ces sometimes delivering their fire at a dis
tance of only few dozen PAGES. The Con-
federates, animated by the knowlege OF
| their late repeated success, were resolved
that nothing should take from them the
honors of this day, and set their faces with
grim determination towards victory; while
| the Federals seemed bent on winning their
revenge and turning the obstinate contest
| into final triumph for themselves. Now
forward, now backward, wavered the long
| lines of battle, the blue and gray almost
| mingling, 50 near together did they press
Once the enemy, with sudden fury, pene.
trated space between Gregg's brigade and
that of General Thomas. Down, down.
Went many a gallant Confederate beneath
their feet. Shall this onslaught turn the
tide in their favor? For brief while il
seems so !; but with equal fury and force the
Confederates sweep forward to the rescue
back, back, they press the advancing horde
with steady strength that makes resistance
Tln,I cln1 1n
that long hours Of stubborn conflict are still
in store for us. The day shall be ours-hope
beats high in gallant hearts and shines in
resolute eyes in the supreme excitement OF
that glorious charge, there is no room fol
doubt or misgiving, no leisure for one SAD
recollection or gloomy thought! Let sweet
hearts be unkind and true lovers deserted,
all follies such as these are cast to the winds
for brief while, by more engrossing claims
yet in the rush and whirl, for one swift mo-
ment before Carroll's mental vision the
face and form of Marion seems to rise, clear
and plain amid the smoke of battle, and he
ing ms name ii IS ills iasv UvI,oviGus iItu
f1eeting as dream he is dimly aware of a
sudden binding shock, is borne down by
the resistless advance, and knows no more
For long hours the battle continued tc
rage, until, weary and exhausted, the troops
at nightfalI were compelled to rest, the Fed
erals having retreated to strong position
which they held with large force.
Another day of fierce conflict paSt-anOth'
er night come, with kindly healing, to bring
rest to the worn contestants-tO many, alas
rest that will be broken never again. On
the battlefield lie many manged and
disfgured form hearts, that in the morning
bounded with eager hope and anticipation
now forever stilled; eyes that flashed with
resolve or sparkled with excitement, now
sealed, or staring blindly, with awful, fixed
intensity, upward at the ebluesky-the peace
full, quiet sky, whence the silent stars look
down with their pure gaze on those poor
children of earth.
Among the rest, is stretched the form OF
Carroll Gray, left there as dead among the
dead. A little woundshoWs on the forehead
whence a small stream of blood has slowly
trickled, and left stain. He is not other.
wise disfgured, and his fair, handsome face
is tranquil in it's repOse, as though he slept
Nothing to MIN now are the stirring impul'
ses and high thoughts that animated him
so lately; the echoes of battle have died out
from his ears as completely as though they
had never sounded there far, far away from
his numhed senses all human sights and
sounds are removed, leaving a complete
blank-the blank of oblivion, or of death
1t is not death, though to hurried eye il
might we'll appear so. Lying as he doe:
amid hundreds of stiffened forms, white and
mOtiOnless as the rest, without the power tC
stir or give sign Of feeble, lingering vitality
it is not to be wondered at that he is already
reckOned among those whose part in the
great struggle is over. The night passes
and with morning come awakening signals
of strife renewed, but he does not heal
them the sultry hours of the day wear on
the old scenes are enacted again, but he
knows nothing of what is happening his
comrades are far away now, for the tide OF
battle has swept onward and he is left be-
hind.
With the return of night, while the Fed
erals were still retreating and our forcesstil
in pursuit, came gathering clouds, and then
a heavy down-pour Of rain. With the first
dash of the cold drops in his face, Carroll fell
thrill of returning consciousness stir his
being. There was slow, painful struggle
back to reality, out of the deep gulf of dark
ness and nothingness in which he had been
buried, and then he awoke to the knowledge
and horror Of his position. Alone, deserted
with corpses for his only companions-una,
BILE to move, out of human reach, beyond
human aid-left there to die an awful, lin
gering death-was this the end he had long
ed for? A sckening terror filled his soul, q
wild, Intellectual cry for help rose to his lips
he made an effort to move-in the effort, his
hand touched dead face close by him, and
he tainted away again.
BY and by, however, he recovered from
this second swoon, less deadly than the first
Nature was beginning to re-assert her pow
er, and to give some faint hint of returning
strength. Weak and dizzy as he was, he
managed by slow degrees to drag himself tt
little distance from his present position