Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-04

Lnb4EN lIt1 hAltW nAAAs anu nutAA Nit" W. =
had come out To see some mortar hrlnE,
aud hoped that he would accommodate
them il il was not inconYenicnt. George
replied tn2t he would be happy % show
them anything in that line, and, turning
to me, said, Touch up the railroad iron
battery. joe
''We1, l wished that those chaps had
stayed in their tents, but | thought thaJ
1t would not be very long before they
would be glad TO get into the bombprooi,
aud that the rest OF us could 20 in then
also. So | commenced to touch up tnat
railroad iron place. In less than three
minutes we had walked up the hornets
nest. and they were raining shells into us
az agte1iffc rate.
VI sHEIAs BURSTING All AROUND.
.HThdee fellows over there seemed 10
know that the occasion was an unusuaI
one. ana they were determined 10 give us
all that we could ask for. The shells
were dropped into our battery like hail
stope& Figsti9g all around US, and roll.
ing around like footballs; hut there stood
those two officers and George, leaning up
against piece Of timber and talking as
coolly as if they were leaning on fence
thousand miles away from piece OF ar
tilery. shell came along and cut That
piece0f timber in two and scattered spin
ters all over the place, but all that they
did was to lean against a fresh piece and
&c IN talking, | don't believe that either
one Of tlR}thrfe even winked. / came To
thR cone AsTDtt that they liked that thing
better that did, and ! told one Of the
gunners to shift his gun around and play
on something else, and pretty soon !
shifted another, and the fire gradually
died down. / knew that George would
stand there and be shot at till the crack
OF doom before be would suggest anything
about bOmbprOofs, and the other chaps
didn't want TO say anything unless be
did. Well, they talked on for ten or M
teen minutes after the fire had died down,
and then said they would like to 90 on to
the skirmish line and see what was gong
on there, if he would snow them the way
lie told them to 20 out of the battery on "a
certain side and follow the path; they
could not miss the sklrmish line. They
left, after expressing their thanks for our
kindness, but they did not say what their
names were, and George was too polite to
ask them.
IDENTIFIED AFTER THE WAR.
"Now the funny part Of it comes in.
The next day George tried to find out who
they were, but none of our officers had
been out there. The fact is, | don't be-
lieVe that any of our officers had any
white clothes to wear, and If George had
only thought a minute he might have
known that none of them would be roam
ing around at night 30 see mortar firing.
They could stay in camp and get enough
of that. But he could not lind out who
those men We're though every effort
was made, as the thing began TO get mys-
teriOus.
"A bout two years ago or longer George
was on an Ohio river steamboat talking to
a man in the saloon, when a gentleman
came up and said, Are you not the Lieu
tenant who was in command of mortar
battery near BIandiOrd Cemetery at Pc
tersburgY Yes he answered. And
don't you remember two officers coming
to your battery one night and saying that
they had come out to see some mortar tjr-
ingy' Yes, and l have been looking for
them ever since
'''Well, l am one of them, and my COM
paniOn was Gen. -, also of the Union
army Il am very glad TO meet you, said
Lieut.. EgglestOn, but il | had known who
you We're ut that time you would not be
taking to me now 80 l knew them
was the reply. we did start out to see
mortar firing, just as / told you; and we
also intended to 90 on to the skirmish
line. But we got into the wrong battery.
You remember that our sklrmish line ran
up to what was marsh when we first got
TO Petersburg, and that it really pointed
beyond our line. Wen, we got to the end
Of our line at the marsh, but it mad dried
up, and after we had wandered round
there for awhile, confused by the shells
flying IN different directions, we suddenly
found ourselves right at your battery.
We sat there in the ditch for almost two
hours, wondering what we could do. We
could hear every word that your men said.
Had we been in uniform We should have
gone right in and surrendered, but we
knew that our white clothes would be
taken as DISCUSSES, and that we would
nave been arrested as spies UndOubt-
edly,' said Lieut.. Eggleston. so we con-
cluded To 20 IN and pretend that we were
all right, but without our names. After
we got out of your battery we went back
10 our lines easily enough. While we
were standing there talking to you we
were getting our bearings 50 as to get
back.n