Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-02-12
Gales and Sketthes.
At Yorktown.
AN EXCONFEDERATE' RECOLLECTIONs OF
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TRENCHES.
Tan Ex-Confed's Letter. I

An EX-Confed'S Letter.
All! who that has participated therein
can ever forget the misery endured in
that memorable siege? The line of in
trenchments of the defense between the
two rivers, the York and the James, was
perhaps four or five miles long; and there
was not spot of ground in the rear for a
mile that was not constantly searched by
the cannon-s shot and rifle balls of the Fed
erals AS the force then present was not
more than sufficient to man the breast
works in case OF sudden attack. and one
was expected momentarily. it was neces-
sary to have the regiments within easy
reach. There are no such things as hills
and hOllOws in that GOd-forsaken country,
it is as flat as billiard-table; and to have
encamped the troops on open ground
would have been criminal on the part of
the general. Those, then. of the regi-
ments not in the trenches were compelled
to haddle in the bomb-proofs just behind
them; and, if He'll has any worse torture
than was experienced by the men in those
hideous dens. then | want to join the
church Immediately.
| In THE BoMB-PROOFs.
Dark. foul-smelling. without ventila-
ton, swarming with vermin. the floors of
rough split slabs. covered with two inches
of mud and filth, it was impossible to get
rest for moment, even when Overstrained
nature gave way to OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
| Added to this, the dens were so crowded
at all times that it was difficult to find
place to sit down, much less to recline.
1t was only on rainy, dark nights, when
the crackle of the sharp-shooters ceased
for while and only an occasional cannon
shot crashed through the brushwood that
the tortured troops could venture out
to breathe the fresher air This
misery continued for week at time be-
fore reliet was sent; and during that
time the men had not one morsel of warm
food or drop of warm drink, for all the
cooking had to be done two miles in the
rear, and it was strictly forbidden to light
a fire in or near the trenches. Numbers
were Frustrated with chills and fever and
other forms of malarial sickness and
selemniv assert that on several occasions
during the purgatorlal experience in these
foul holes in the ground men rushed out
in frenzy, preferring instant death to
the slow torture-and they generally got
what they sought tor.
DEAD MANS TREE
There was some of the finest sharp
shooting done in that siege that the war
developed. 1t was said-l know not with
what truth-that on the Federal side there
were number of English sportsmen ~oi
high degree, who getting tired of shooting
tigers in India, had come over 'to take a
pot shot at the rebels" At any rate, old
soldiers will recollect the story of dead
Mans Tree" This was huge dead
tree situated fully thousand yards from
the Confederate trenches and among its
limbs, forty or fifty feet from the ground
a Federal sharpshooter had made himself
an impregnable nest, so to speak. His
view of the rear of the Confederate works
was confined to a limited space on account
of jutting points of woods and it was al
most certain death for man to walk
slowly across that space. Everybody who
had occasion passed it on the run. One
day some men of the Seventeenth Virginia
infantry were set to work to dig a covered
way across the fatal spot, and. forgetting
themselves, rested for moment by sitting
on the side of the ditch Instantly Mr..
Sharpshooter got in his work by clippin Q
the head of one and mortallv wounding
another with one bullet. Every means
was tried to get rid of this champion shot,
even to training a rifled battery on him :;
but if he disappeared for time he always
came up smiling, perched in his eyre,
when his particular ground was invaded
During the siege he must have killed and
wounded fully dozen men.
In THE TRENCHES.
The discomfort in the trenches was
| nj f,tl NJ, :
life in the bomh-proofs. On account of
night. and the frequency of the cannon
shots, the reiefs were divided into six
hours on and six off. Now, it rained
almost every day while the siege was
maintained. and the whole country is
marshy and swampy, water being struck
almost anywhere two feet below the sur
face, so that the trenches always had a
foot and half up to two feet of water
in them. The troops were unprovided
with sufficient clothing for this work, such
heavy baggage as overcoats, extra blank
cts, ETC., having beer left behind. To
stand thigh-deep in water for six hours.
in the early spring nights, chilled to the
bone. and afraid to move almost tor fear
of getting bullet through the head, was
d very unpleaSdll experience out IL was
a relief at least from the horrors of the
bomb-proof
Owls.
If there is a place on earth more in
tested with owls-great white owls, bi q
horned owls, screech-owls, and all other
kinds of owls-then it has never been
set down in the books. No sooner had
night fallen than they commenced their
'who-whoing" and blood-curdling Shrek
ing and laughing in and among the
tall jumpers which stood between the
opposing trenches. and oftentimes they
would swoop down at the heads of the
sentries, brushing their faces with their
wings. as if glorying in the knowledge
that the disguised soldiers dare not fire
upon them. Oftentimes these devilish
birds would create false alarm by some
execrable and unaccustomed noise, and
then both sides would begin to load and
fire at will, the batteries joining in, with
all the noise and fury of a regular battle
These owls caused a greater waste of
Iammunition in that sipue than did fbo