National Republican., 1885-07-30
THE PICKET LINE,
| INTERC0 JRSE BETWEEN
THE ARMY OUTp0STS.
Incidents That Help Enliven the
Retrospect Of the War-Some
Queer Stories-How Bodies
Were Inferred Limp and Warm.

At the outscs Of the war therl were
many practices INDUCED in on both sid
which as time elapsed were laid aside az
either foolish nr barba-ous. Your green
soldier, no matter what may be His nat,
ural disposiiio /, in time of warfare de.
velops all the thieyish and bloc thirsty
propensitios Of our fallen nature. until
the idea of discipline is implanted in his
head under the ifon rule Of the drill
master. bickpl by the army regulations
In the b inning this ferocity was shown
on both sides in the shooting down from
ambush Of unsuspecting pickets and
seniries.
When, arcr first Bull Run. the con
federate army advanced its picke,s to
within a short distance of Mason's and
Munson's hills, in front of Washington,
this murdefous practice was in full blast,
and not only did the pickets, when the
opposing lines were established within
rifle range of each other, fire at each
other whenever head or an arm was
shown, but there we're numerous scouts
on either side, attached to no military
organic uion whatever, who were accus.
toned to crawl and creep up to some
sentry uususppcting of danger, and,
thinking himself we'll under cover,
shoot him down with as little compunc.
ton as one might kill mad dog. These
scouts seemed to be as bloodthirsiy as
Comanche Indians, and they we're Just
as bad on one side as the other.
Such state of affairs was dsgraceful
a. ,,,,.l;v..i al of, I,a
men, as if by tacit agreement, stopped
vance either cause a particle. So that
after the fret year the opposing pickets,
unless advancing as skirmishers IN actual
battle, were accustomed to lounge about
in full view and rife range of each other
without thinking of firing shot. This
sort of truce was not, however, main.
tanned where there was almost a contn.
uous battle, as at Spottsy lvanla Court
p 3Uuse anu 'hG s,egcs vi iotNvown anu
ho'crsouIg' ne wotS was w sec.ouS
mere 10 aunt OF goou'ha'ereu chaihng,
anu lhe s',ua,ioh ca'leu lol s.eI" anu
steauy "a'cn'u'"eSS anu asS'esS'oh'
DRoLL INCIDENT.
/ recollect funny incident in front
of Washington. The colored servants
of the officers Of our regiment we're very
boastful Of what they would do when
next we met the enemy They would
show white men that the niger knew
how to fight. Now one of them, "Un.
Gle Joe," had been in the Ggit at Black
burn'G Ford, albeit he was b'hind big
tree throughout the encounor, and he
was very proud Of his experience. One
H., hn IN thn ~ NJ limo mill l,
a canteen Of apple brandy for his mas
ter, and it was evident that Joe had
sampled the quality on the way. Some
of the boys were chatting him, and ban.
tered him to go out and capture federal
picket, the CLINT Of whose rifle barrel
could be seen in the edge ofsome under
growth about hundred yards away.
"Whar lie? Lemme pistol an I'll go
ketch him." said joe
THE pIcKETs rRArERYIzE.
rLo .;or,o,o no,a an Good tar,, o,a
h,d ovpohnnno 80 uawsarers Um ,Lu, n,arn ~'
;n "u eo ,nhan tbn VII sou Ioa Sta,,
ms, 1I ,I,o vi" h;ni, I soos,.oni anI oJsanopp "eop
tnnard ,ho5 ,bou LOoy ioLe wa 6
ob""ad f'r Ia hrard;ShoJ t ,bo 'as 'rano,var
] obova liz % boaJ 40 # 70 Leer mn mn b;s conr.
90 ,.biio lie No stooJ wo,cb;no HIM Whe,
Is le oo, U;,h;n i;C,v vor5s of tbe n;cke,s
he SSO SoCon 10 c,i,or and wos met ,bont to
tn,u Laok whan ono or ,hem s,onneS
from cover md said. "Down on yonr
knees and pray, YOU black imp!'' Joe
dropped like a shot and such sulp'ira.
tions for mercy and pro estatious that he
was not it to die you never heard We
all yelled, "Run, Joe, run" With
n howl he sprang to his feet and
bounded towards us, doubling and
twisting like II rabbit, while the
federal pcke,s raised racket in the
rear by firing their guns into the air.
With his eyes as big as saucers, Joe
sprang over our rifle pit, and they say
he never stopped running until he got
to Fairfax Court House, ten miles away.
Oh such spRsms of laughter as assailed
us all. They left us go weak that the
Yanks might have come over and
Knocked us on the head and we couldn't
have raised finger When Joe was
asked afterward where was his boasted
courage, he replied, "Lookee hyar.
warn't skeered, but you see he got de
drop on me. What's er man to do when
de drap's on him ? sides, | doan wan
ter kill er white man, Yankee or nc
Yankee. Let er nigge.' Kill er white
man, even if he is Yankee, and dC
niger will git hung for sartain." Poo
Joe's logic was very good for that period
TIE TROOPS RESPECT EACH OTHER.
After the f;cbt in front of Richmond
tho iroons of s;thar army had ;n.n;raC
mutual resnact and On ,He % nccsaiop. % ~
n ,rnce for bnrying the dead thev wer,
Glad to meet and converse On sncl
oocasions The most ,crnnnloms conr,es,
was nbse,ved and II bottIas or crUn' oonn
Ma;ons we're rersrred to II was with th,