, 1885-01-01
A TRYING ORDEAL.
An Incident of the Battle of Dead
Angle.
An ex-confederate Omcer's Expert.
ence While on n Night Inspec-
lion Tour-AgaInst n Mus
ket Muzzie-ReactIon.


l80aAAIAA hOuAlsI
On the night Of the 3rd OF July, 1854, WI
were ordered back from the line at the Dead
angle, and, As luck would have it, the
writer Of this was detailed with twelve
men as a vidette to crawl on our hands and
knees out about ten yards in front of the
works through the abattis and other obstruc.
tions to watch the enemy while the line was
gradually falling back. First went the linz
Of battle and then the skirmishers, and then
10 our great joy we left our posts and fell
back too. In crawling out TO our posts that
night we ran a great risk. for II we shook q
bush or made the least noise, we would hear
the unwelcome firing Of a mimic bullet al
once, and they came pretty close, too, II they
were fired in the dark We had orders not
to lire our guns under any circumstances 80
we could not reply to the calls we had. Ii
was our province to witch and listen, and, IL
crowded, to jump and run.
Well, tho men were placed, one by one, in
a zigzag line as well us they could be In the
dark by the writer, he having to crawl out
and post one and then come back after
another until they were all arranged. Then
1t was the duty OF the officer to 20 along the
line and see il they were all doing their duty,
that is, lying down and keeping awake-not
much trouble TO keep awake that night, / us
sure you. Well, on one of the tours OF in
spection the officer got a little off the line
and it being crooked. too, he got clear out
side Of the line and got turned around SO
that he could not telb whether he was going
10 his own men or not While creeping
along in this frame OF mind l ran ullagainst
Ia mnzzie OF u musket right against my
bosom. and then hear the click, click Of tho
eek. We'll. tiIs pat lie OF the writer came
Ap 1 efore Lin All t,ie mean things be eyrr
iii were passed ia review in "a few second,
fer it was only a s4ort time that it took 10
pass through ibis trying ordeal.
~ d5e w Na1,., s TEs Inn IN s G~aa iSh adTn I'M mfA1yigrr
pull tic r ssea, and th,n goodbye. So no
asked, Who is thntf' No answer. Then
he said, IF you are Fe ~lerAls, 1 am your
meat" Still no answer. "If you are rels,
| am your %oflccr.r Nc answer yet. Tho
sweat was pouring down my face about this
time, | tell you. The soldier took his gun
down then, l don't know why, for he took
me for a Federal soldier as my clothes were
dark and | had on n black hat. However.
the gun was down and the writer was down,
too, lying prone on the ground by the
soldier, and he saw who it was that held tho
gun. 1t happened to be "A man in the regi.
Inent that was considered n little of about
the head, in fact "acrter queer AMI thea
the scare came on good, for he Ind no more
sense than to shoot anyhow; II he had been
one of the other men they would not ave
cockei their guns, and would have tried to
find out who it was creeping along there.
Well, the reaction came to my merry Gus
system and l was rs weak as water; If the
enemy had come ON us then, l could ave
been taken in sure, AS it would have been i'm
possible to get up off the ground. Well, the
poor fellow was frightened, too, when he saw
how near he had come to sending me to my
lone home. At II given signal, which was
about IL O'Clock, we moved back to the
works, and then we lost no time in catching
up with the rear guard, which we found
about two miles ahead OF us. l should add
that the vidette line right along there did
not get inspected any more that night