News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-01-22
A "REMINISCENCES OF WAR.
NIGHT ON THE FATAL FIELD OF
FREDERICKSBURG
a Grnp!,fc POl trayai of the Terrible Suffer-
ip8s That Followed IL Day OF CnRvailLnG
llerO!sui,


two years have passed since "Fredericks-
burg" OF what then was, rot much is
left but memory. Faces and forms Of
men and things that then were, have
changed-perchance to dust. New life
has covered some; the rest look but lin
gering farewells.
But, whatever changes may beRutify
those storm-swept ard barren slopes,
there is one chara ter from which they
can never pass. Death gardens, haunt
ed by glorious ghosts, they must abide.
No bloom can there unfold which does
not wear the itch token of the inherit
ance of heroic blood; no breeze be
waited that docs not bear the breath of
the immortal life there breathed away.
OF all that splendid but unavailing
valor no one has tod the story; nor can
l. The pen has 10 wing 10 follow
where that sacrifice and devotion sped
their flight. But memory may rest
down on some night scenes too quiet
and sombre with shadow to be wildly
depicted. and yet have their interest
from very contrast with the tangled and
lurid lights Of battle.
The desperate charge was over. We
had not reached the enemys fortifca-
tions. but only that fatal crest where we
had seen five lines of battle mount but
TO be cut TO earth as by sword swoop
OF fire. We had that costly honor which
sometimes falls to the ''reseIve" go
i'll when all is havoc and confusion,
through storm ard slaughter, to cover
the broken and depleted ranks of com
RACES anu take the battle from Their
hands. Thus we had replaced the gal
liant few still struggling on the crest,
aud received that whitening fire, which
nothing could withstand, by throwing
ourselves fat III slight hollow Of the
ground, within pistol shot OF the tremy's
works, and, mingled with the dead and
dying that stlewed the field, we returned
the fire TIL it Redeemed into night, and
at last fell away through darkness and
silence.
But out of that silence from the bat
ties crash and roar rose new sounds more
appalling still; rose or fell, you knew not
which, or whether from the earth or air;
a strange ventfICquism, Of which you
could not locate the source, a smothared
moan that seemed to come from dis
tances beyond reach OF the natural sense,
a wall so far and deep and wide, as if q
thousand diseOrds were flowing together
into keynote weird, uDeartbly, terrible
to hear and bear, yet startling with its
neaTness; the wTilhiGg concord broken
by cries for help pierced by shrieks of
paroxysms; SOM begging for a drop of
water; some caliing OH God for pity; and
some on friendly hands to- finish what
the enemy had so horribly begun; some
with deiirious, dreamy voices murlnur-
II tLa
bending over them; some gathering
their last strength to fire musket to
call attention to them where they lay
helpless and deserted; and underneath,
all the time, that deep bass note from
closed lips too Lopeless or too heroic to
artculate their agony.
Who could sleep, or who would Our
position was isolated and exposed. Offi-
GERS must be on the alert with Their
command. Bat the human took the
mastery of the official; sympathy of sol
diership. Command could be devolved.
but pity, not. So with a staff officer l
sailed forth to see what we could do
where the helpers seemed so few. TAX
ing some observations in order not to
lose the bearing Of our own position,
we guided oar steps by the most pite-
Gus If the cries. Oar part was but
litt!e-to relieve a painful posture, to
give a cooling d-aught to fevered lips.
10 compress q severed artery, as we had
learned to do, though in bunglng fash
ion; TO apply a rude bandage. which
yet might prolOng the life to saving: TO
take token or farewell message for
some stricken home; it was but little,
yet it was an endless task. We had
moved toward the right and rear of oGr
own positioE-the part Of the field i'm
mediately above the city. The further
We went the more the need deepened
and the calls multiplied. Numbers.
half wakenng from the lethaEgy of
death Or Of despair by sounds of succor.
begged lis to take them quickly to a sur
geon, and when we could not do that
imp}oYing us to do the next most merci-
fol service and give them quick dispatch
oat of their misery. Right glad we
were when, after midnight, the shadowy
ambu,ances came gliding along, ana the
kindly hospital stewards, with stletcheys
and soothing appliances, let us feel that
We might return to our proper duty.
And now we are aware of other fig
ures wandering, ghost-like, over the
field. Some on errands like our own,
drawn by compelling appeals; some
seeking n lost comrade with uncertain
steps amid the unknown, and ever and
anon lending down to sean the pale
visage closer, or, it may be, by the light
of briof match, whose blue, Pickering
flame could scarcely give the features a
more recognizable or more human look:
some man, desperately wounded, yet
seeking, with faltering step. before his
fast ebbing blood shall have left him too
weak to move, some quiet or sheltered
spot out of sound of the terrible APP
peals he could neither answer nor en-
durP, or out of reach of the raging bat
tie cC ming with the morning; one creep
ing, yet SC freely moving, from one life
less form to another if, perchance, he
might find a swallow of water in the can
teen still swung from the dead soldiers
side; or another, as with just returning
or just remaining console Isness, vainly
that he may not be buried with them
while yet alive, or some man, yet sound
of body, but pacing feverishly his
ground because in such a bivouac his
spirit could not sleep. And so we
picked our way back amid the stark,
upturned faces to our little living line.
The night chill had now woven
misty veil over the field. Fortunately,
a picket fence we had encountered in
our charge from the town had compelled
US to abandon our horses, and so had
saved our lives on the crest; but our
ovCrccats had been strapped to the sad
dies and we missed them now. Most of
the men, however, had their overcoats
or hlankrts-we were glad of that. Ex-
cept the few sentrles along the front, the
men had fallen asleep-the living with
the dead. At last, outwearied and de-
pressed with the desolate scene, my own
strength sank, and [ moved two dead
men a little ard lay down between them,
making pillow of the breast of third.
The skirt of his overcoat drawn over my
free helped also to shield me from the
bleak winds. There was some comfort
even in this companionship. But it was
broken sleep. The deepening chill
drove many forth to take the garments
of those who could no longer need
them, that they might keep themselves
alive. More than once / was startled
from my unrest by some one turning
hack the coat skirt from my face, peer.
ing, half vampire-like. to my fancy.
through the darkness, to discover if it
TOO were of the silent and unresistine;
turning away more Disconnected at NV
living word than if voice had spoken
from the dead.
Having held our places all the night
We had to keep them all the more closely
the next day; for it would be certain
death to attempt to move away. As it