National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-09-12

tne men began To nag ana stfagglc pulltu
my bowie knife and cut the straps Of the
knapsnCks Of every man in the company.
At last the men began to pick up the grains
Of corn dropped by the horses In the road
way, and then they threw away their
rifles and acCoutcrmcnts In order
to be able to hObble along In the ranks.
Rear guards were of no earthly use-the
guards not being In much better condition
than the men they tried to keep up In the
ranks. And yet amid all this dGmOraliza-
ton the writer noticed many instances of
strong will aud unsclilshness. Frequently
men could be seen with their arms about an
exhausted comrade, helping him along,
while under heavy fire Of shot and she'll
know that II II had not been for the
pluck Of Two Of my men, Berry
(whOm once had hung up by
the tlumbsl and Harriet, a Conscript from
southwest Virginia, would never had the
honor Of saying that ] surrendered with
Lee at AppomattOX court house. was
completely exhausted, more by my efforts
to keep my men III ranks than even hunger
and WEAKNESS, and these two fellows placed
themselves on either side Of me and literally
bore me up for mics-that was on the sixth
day Of the retreat.
On the sixth day the situation was worse,
and the attacks of Sheridan more frequent.
Up to this time we had only to repulse at
tacks on our left flank; now, both TANKS
were ussniled The number Of men who
had fallen sullenly by the waysidc resolved
to submit to capture on the coming up of
writer's battalion, together with
the marines and sailors from the
gunboats on the James and battalion OF
boys from the school at Petersburg, none Of
whom were over III years Of age, marched
with the wagons and artillery to defend
them from the sudden onslaught Of cavalry,
who were endeavOring to cut the trains at
every country CrOssrOad.
THE FIGHT At SAILORS CREEK.
1t is not my purpose to attempt to de.
scribe the fight at Sailors creek, where
nearly all the artillery and wagons Of the
army were captured, In addition to the utter
humiliation of what remained of one Of oul
best corps (Ewel's). have heretofore
written Il brief account Of the battle of
Sailors Creek in The REPUBLICAN. 1t will
he sufficient to say that our io.
treat to Farmville was hurried and
disordcrly. After we had crossed
the Appomattox we supposed that in Farm.
vile we could get food, for we knew that
an abundance Of rations had been stored al
that point. The high bridge over the APP.
| pOmattoX was at that time burning, and oui
| light artillery Tor rather what was left of II
and cavalry were lighting ilerccly the cav.
airy of the enemy, who were not more
than five hundred yards from them on
the other side. The depot quartermas
ter and commissary was a red-tapC
sort of fellow, and even when the shell,
of the enemy had been blowing through
the village for half hour he still insisted
upon written acquisitions" for the doing
out to the men the small store of provision,
| hc had on hand. lie had evidently never
been in the field, and didn't appreciate the
| fact that ian emergency" overrides ever
military rules. | called two of my mos
stalwart sergeants, and we enveloped hin
in meal sack, and then my men and other,
took what they wanted in the way Of flour
hams, &c. We started to cook something
! but the federal shells soon drove us out O
the town. We resumed the retreat, and
recolect now wildly in one Of our frequent
rests, which had become absolutely neces
sary on account Of our enfcebcd condition
| how much fun the boys had in killing pool
weasel which they had surrounded in pile o
rails on the roadside. The poor weasels fate
was typical of our own, for we, too, were in {
trap that almost amounted to death. That
night We were informed that the Yankees
had got ahead of us at AppomattoX station
and were thrown clean across our way Il
Lynchburg. TIE only hope of joining
Johnston or of escaping to the mountain,
lay in brushing them out of our path.
At daybreak the men were on the march
and Gordon and Longstreet, with Fitzhugl
Lees cavalry, We're en- route for the attack
BY sunup the firing in front was heavy
and continued, both of infantry and artil
lery. Soon aftcrwam the wagons and ar
Ii lcry were ordered to he parked on
bleak and bare hillside on the right of tn,
road, and We all knew that the game wa
up. THOMAS D. MURRAY