Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-02-23
Libby Prison.

other evening with an interesting lee
tnre upon 1.-THE Bright Side of Life
in Libby Prison . The lecture was
made up of gleanings from his expe-
rience within the prison walls, and
hence had genuine force, wit and pa
thos. He said: When you heard the
title of my lecture l imagine you
said: sCould there have been a
bright side to that life? If there was,
it must have been on the outside.
There have been many dark stories
related of that life, and | do not
charge that they were exaggerated,
but | shall show you we had many
happy days-days when we forgot
we were hungry, days when we forgot
we had not sufficient clothing, days
we forgot all our suffering. knowing
we were playing our parts in the per-
petuation of the republic. l was in
Mallory's command. He was brave
too brave-and got into trouble. He
was looking for fight and got it. We
were at Winchester when Gen. Lee
undertook to transfer the seat OF war
to the north. The south tired of it
there. The cry was, "On to the
north.'' Editors took it up, and they
know a great deal about military mat
ters. Then, the orators took it up.
Mr.. Toombs, that most eloquent
southerner, created such a public SEN
| timent that Lee was compelled to go
ahead to transfer the fighting to the
other side Of the Potomac.
In our command were four musi-
clans. They were serenading our
general, and he was so pleased that he
was just aboutto make speech when
a scout came in and announced that
Lee was coming with his whole army,
and it was time for us TO get out. All
agreed that it was time to get out,
excepting Mallory. He stayed to
fight. He had 13, 900 men. Lee had
120, 900. We had six cannons Lee
had 280 pieces of artillery. Yet NAL
lory proposed to stop and fight. We
went out to feel our way. We were
driven back with great loss. We got
behind our intrenchments. Lee
scorned to fight US. He kept on the
road belt five miles away, because he
had gun that carried shell that dis
tance, and when they exploded, they
made it uncomfortable. Mallory kept
it red hot all day. Gen. Buell. charg-
ed us with Jackson's corps, the great
est the rebels ever had, but it never
won victory after the loss of the
great general. We were charged.
We were raw recruits. Mallory
thought we would finch He went
along the lines saying, "Keep cool. }"
That was good advice, but our hair
would rise. If you had heard that
yell you would never forget it. When
you see the weapons pointed at you,
determination on every feature, with
the prestige of victory after victory,
it is enough to make your hair stand
on end.
The general also said ''Fire low
and fire often That was good ad-
vice. 1t takes 1000 bullets to kill a
man. The reason is men fire over
each other. At Gettysburg one
quarter of million muskets were 60
ing three days and only 10000 men
were hit. You don't know that. You
hear such terrible noise that you
fear every one will be killed and you
too. But they obeyed the order, and
am glad they did. We held the po-
sition three days till our ammunition
gave out. Then at 2 o'clock in the
morning, June 10, 1868, horses were
hitched and we tried to get away.
Not q buckle was there to rattle, not
a soldier spoke loud word. There
is nothing so solemn as going through
an enemy's country, expecting every
moment sheet of flame to open upon
you. Marching along an officer whis-
pered to me, chaplain, what did
you do with that tent [ lent to you ?"
What difference did it make? Why
did he thus jeopardize our safety? |
leaned over and said /: s'I folded it
up and put''-then there came flash,
followed by the bullets of the enemy.
| ran one way; he the other. ! met
him two years afterwards in Ohio.
| ran up to him and finished my SEN
tence, telling him where l put the
tent. That was the longest time it
ever took me to say what | wanted
to.
We belonged to the One Hundred
and Twenty-second Ohio. One. of
the grandest regiments ever recruited
965 men went in service with Grant
from the Rapidan to Petersburg
were in all the great fights in the val
ley; were with Grant again, around
Petersburg and Richmond. Only $50
men were living when it was muster
ell out They fought themselves to
death, and if the war had continued
year longer, none of them would
have been left alive. Some of the
captains were shot through seven
times. and when the war was over
the old battered colonel was gathered
up in blanket | was left behind
with the doctor. We held council
of war. We decided to stay with the
sick and wounded. We got a pass
from Gen. Early to 60 over the field
on parole. We got fifty ambulances