New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-10-21
: HAND IN LETTER.

Il
| IN :Iscidsnt AfDsr the BastIe 81 Antietam.
Gathered about an Office window,
overloo Market square, was q
group Of veterans Of the late war, who
had been with Grant and the death Of
/ the great military captain, and the
noble tribute which the nation had
paid to his memory, was the subject
OF conversation Many and interest
ing were the bits Of PERSONAL reminis-
cence related on that occasion, and as
the twilight shadows gradually gave
way to the: deeper darkness of the
night, and clouds of purple smoke
curled upward and hung like a. grace
full undulating web overhead, the
mind was insensibly carried back to
those days OF anxiety and. dread,
when the national life trembled in the
balance. Memory like huge pendu-
lunl swinging imperceptibly between
the past and the present brought
wildly to mind the SCIENCES of
other days, and the veterans
gave themselves up to a. season
OF "reminiscences, and striking incidents
OF blvouac, camp and battlefield
where narrated with. that directness
and impressive effect which only a
man who has been an actor in the
scenes described can give to his story.
The season OF storytelling had con
tinued for some time when one of the
party who had previously been
an interested listener to the narratives
Of his friends said as he tilted his
chair against the wall: s.There was
one incident in my army experience
which above all others has impressed
itself indelibly on my mind. It is but
simple thing, and possibly you may
smile when.I tell you that amid the
awful scenes at the battle of Antietam
no incident fixed itself so. strongly in
my memory as the finding Of a little
letter belonging to a rebel artillery
man who had fallen, under our fire.
You remember that battle as,well as
| do, so that / need not go over the
details OF the engagement. Our bat
terry, with several others, had a posi-
ton on the right of our line,
and we had been. pounding
away for some hours at Lees
left, when, we were ordered to another
position: Later in the day we were
sent back to our old, position. on the
right and again went at it.. The en-
gagement was terrific: Lees left,
which was directly in front of us. was
held by several batteries, and T tell
you they made it warm for us. The
next day after Lee had withdrawn his
army some of the boys wanted to go
over the ground occupied by the rebel
batteries so as to ascertain how effect
i've our fire had been. The necessary
permission was obtained. and party
OF four or five started. When we
reached the rising ground: occupied by
the rebel artillery the scene which met
our view was, a, terrible one On
ground plowed and furrowed by our
shot and shell lay in chastity confusion
the dead bodies of men and horses.
wrecked caissons and splintered tim
bers, while in an irregular, wavy line,
stretching as far as the eye could
reach, the earth was strewn with
the rebel dead Such scenes did
not affect us much, for we
had become Injured to those spectacles,
and so we passed on taking mental
note of the accuracy of our fire as
shown In the number and positions OF
the dead. While thus engaged we
found lying on the ground the BODY Of
a rebel artilleryman who had been
killed by bursting shell. His KNAPP
sack had at the same time been shat
tered SO that part Of it's contents had
fallen on the ground near him. There
was nothing in his appearance to at
tract special attention any more than
the thousands who like him had fall
len, but out OF curiosity picked up a
letter much soiled by frequent hand
ling and proceeded to read it. NV
comrades gathered around me, and at
their request read the missive aloud.
1t made no pretensions to elegance of
diction, nor was the spelling Of the
words employed always correct, but
it was the message OF young wife,
who, from her home in a small Ala
bama town, had sent to her husband
the tidings Of the birth of a daughter.
1t had been written in September,
1861, nearly year previous, and in
its simple phrases Of love and solicit
tude was truly touching. The letter
made it's impression upon us, but on
turning it over we noticed the
outlines Of a baby's hand. Themoth-
er had evidently taken the little ones
hand, placed it on the paper and then
with a pencil traced it's outlines. This
outline was then dotted with ink so as
to bring it out more clearly. Within
the lines were written the simple
words "Martha Virginia, her hand
sent to her Pa" while on the outside
the message appeared, "Hyou want to
kiss the baby you must kiss this
hand" The boys drew around me
and gazed at that little sketch, and
am not sure that most OF them did
not take off their caps. When look
ed up from the missive saw lips quiv-
er and now and then tear take it's
course silently down cheeks bronzed
and hardened. What was there in
that little letter to make men who
could gaze without emotion on slaugh-
tered thousands softer, ,,v 1o,. ;+c ~