The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-06-18
DARING UNION OFFICERS.
Entering n Confederate Camp to Witness
Rattery Firing.

oituatSd luC OIu DiGuiOId Y,
his brother being in charge. Their
principal duty was to fire at the Federal
batteries and dtaw theft Ore,
When the Confederates made demon.
stration they had bombproofs to run into,
of course, but at the same time, aud, as
might be supposed, they became more
familiar with pyrotechnic displays than
they cared for. There was one Union
battery in particular that always gave
them trouble whenever they fred at 1t.
1t was known as the RAILROAD iron" bat.
terry, and was very heavily armed. More.
over, the guuls1s therein had the exact
range of the Blanford battery, which
was tsice 100 large, and 1t rarely re.
quired more than ten minutes tc run the
Confed srates into their bombproof. It
was in .nis Blauford battery that one Of
the most curious and, at the time, myste.
rious events of the war occurred.
Zone night" says Sergeant Eggleston,
I'VE were working there in the battery
firing away in different directions, but
taking care to keep our hands of the
railroad iron battery, aud watching the
shells as they few around, occasionally
jumping into the bombpr0of when one
would light In our place, when two fine
looking men, whom ne all took for gen.
eral officers, suddenly walked into the
works. We could not tell their exact
rank, because they wore white waistcoats
and coats, but they looked as though
they were rank officers. They walked up
to George, addressed him as nleutennnt,
as though they knew him, and said that
they had come out to see some mortar
firing, aud he hoped that he would &C.
commodate them if it was not inconve.
nient. George replied that he would be
happy to ahow them anything in that
line, and turning to me, said, Touch up
the railroad iron battery, Joe.'
"Well, wished these chaps bad stayed
In the tents, but / Thought that 1t would
not be very long before they would be
glad to get into the hombproof, and that
the rest of US could 60 in also. So I
commenced to touch up that railroad
iron place. In less than three minutes
we had walked up the hornets nest, aud
they were raining shells :nto us at ter
rife rate.
"Those fellows over there seemed TO
know that the occasion was an unusual
one, and they were determined to give
US all that We could ask for. The shells
were dropped into our battery like bail.
stones, bursting all around us, and roll.
ing around like footballs, but there stood
thote 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
artillery. A shell came along and cut
that piece OF timber in two and scattered
splinters all ovtf the place bit dill that
they did was to lean against fresh place
and go on talking. don't believe that
either one of the three even winked. I
came to the conclusion that they liked
that thing better than did, and / told
one of the gunners to shift his gun
around and play on something else, and
pretty soon I shifted another, and the
fire gradually died down. L knew that
George would stand there aud be shot ut
till the crack of doom before he would
suggest anything about bombproofs, and
the other chaps didn't want to say any.
thing unless be did. Well, they talked
on for ten or fifteen minutes after tho FIRE
had died down, and then said they would
like to 60 on to the skirmish line, and see
what was going on there, if he would show
them the way. He told them to go out
Of the battery on certain side and fol.
low the path, they could not miss the
skirmish line. They left, after express.
ing their thanks for our kindness, but they
did not say what their names were, and
George was too polite to ask them.
"Now the funny part of 1t comes in.
The next day George tried to find out
who they were, but more of our officers
had been out there. The fact is, don't
believe that any of our officers had any
white clothes to wear, and if George had
thought minute he might have known
that none of them would Be roaming about
at night to see mortar firing. They could
stay in camp and get enough OF that.
But he could not find out who those men
were, though every effort was made, rs
the thing began to get mysterious.
"Abou: two years ago or longer George
was on m Ohio river steamboat talking
to man in the saloon wien o gentleman
came up and said, ARE you not the lieu.
tenant who was In command of O mortar
battery near Blnnford cemetery at Peters
burg7' Yes he answered. 'Aud don't
you remember two officers coming to
your battery one night and saying that
they had come out to zee some mor!ar
fringP Yes, and have been looking
for them ever since well, I am one
Of them, and my companion was General
-, also of the Union army Il am
very glad to meet you, said Lieutenant
Eggleston, but If had known who you
were at that time you would not be talk.
ing to me now 80 I. knew then,' was
the reply. we did start out to sec NOR
tar firing, just as told you; aud We al 70
intended to 60 on to the skirmish liz o.
But we got into the wrong battery. Yuu
remember that our skIrmish line ran up
to what was marsh when we first got TO
Petersburg, and that it really pointed
behind your line. Well, we got to the
end Of our line at the marsh, but it had
dried up, and after we had wandered
round there for awhile, confused by the
shells flying in different directions, We
suddenly found ourselves at your battery.
We sat there in the ditch for almost two
hours, wondering via: ne could do.
We could hear every word that your men
said. Had We been in uniform we should
have went right In and surrendered but
we knew that our white clothes would be
taken. as disguises, and that We would
have been arrested as spies.' 'Undonbt-
edly,' said Lieutenant +. 80 we con.
cluded TO go In and pretend that We were
all right, but without our names. After
We got out of your. battery we went .aok
to our lines easily enough. While We
were standing there talking TO you We
were getting our bearings 90 as TO get
.back."-Neo YorG telegram.
< Miss Frances E. Willard says tha.
"when the ideal woman comes no hus-
hand will dara ynofeser aA sCoh, aS,t,L