Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-12-12
Hu1nors of the Battlefield.

From The Century.
Many humorous incidents occurred
on battle fields. A Confederate colon
ell ran ahead of his regiment at Malvern
Hill, and discovering that the men were
not following him as closely as he
wished he uttered fierce oath, and ex-
claimed: "
"Come on! Do you want to live for
ever?" ,~-
The appeal was irresistible, and many
poor fellow who had laughed at the
colonel's queer exhortation laid down
his life soon after
A shell struck the wheel of Federal
field piece toward the close of the en-
gagement at Fair Oaks, and, shivering
the spokes, dismantled the cannon.
"Well, isn't it lucky that didn't
happen before we used up all our an
munition, remarked one Of the artil-
| Ierists as he crawled from beneath the
gun.
When General Pope was falling back
before Lees advance in the Virginia
Valley, his own soldiers thought his
bulletins and orders somewhat strained
in their rhetoric. At one of the mum
erotls running gements that marked
that disastrous campaign, private IN
one of the Western regiments was
MORALLY wounded by o shell. Seeing
the mans condition, chap7'! ! knelt
beside him, and opening his Bible at
random read out Samson's slaughter OF
the Philistines with the jaw bone OF an
ass. He had not quite finished when,
as the story runs, the poor fellow inter-
! rupted the reading by saying:
Hold on chaplain. Don't deceive dy~
1 ing man. Isn't the name Of John Pope
signed to that?"
A column Of troops was pushing for
ward over the long and winding road in
Thoroughfare Gap to head off Lee af-
ter his retreat across tho Potomac at
the close OF the Gettysburg campaign.
Suddenly the signal otticer who &C
companied the general in command
discovered that some Of his men, posted
on a high hill in the rear, were report
ing the presence of considerable body
of Confederate troops on top Of the
bluffs to the RICH. A halt was at once
sounded, and the leading brigade
ordered forward to uncover the enemy's
! position. The regiments were soon
scranbling up the steep incline, Of
. ficers and men gallantly racing to see
! who could reach the crest first. A
young lieutenant and some half dozen
! men gained tile advance, but at the end
Of what they deemed d perllous climb,
they were thrown into commissions of
! laughter at discovering that what the
signal men took for Confederate troops
were only to!e7ahly large dock of
sheep. As the leaders in this forlorn
hope rolled On the grass in paroxysm
OF nerriment, they laughed all the
louder at seeing the pale determined
faces Of their comrades, who, Of course,
came up fully expecting y desperate
hand-to-band struggle.
It is perhaps needless to say the
brigade supped on mutton that even
ing.
AS the army was crossing the South
i Mountain the day before the battle of
Antietam, General Mcclellan rode
along the side of the moving column.
! Overtaking a favorite Zouave regiment.
he exclaimed with his natural bon
homie
well, and how is the Ola Fifth this
EVENING""
First rate, General. replied one of
j the Zouaves. "But we'd be better off
If we weren't living SO much on supposi.
ton"
Supposition?" said the General, in
a puzzled tone. "What do you mean
by that2"
"Lts easily explained, sir. You see
we expected to get oul ratious yester-
day, but as we didn't we're living on
the supposition thac we did"
"Ah, l understand; you shall have
your rations, ZouZous, Tonight" re-
piled the general, putting spurs to his
! horse to escape the cheers Of his regi-
ment. And he kept his promise.