The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-04-24
the first of McClellan's defeats had been

Inflicted.
We had retreated mile by mile tc
Malvern HILL Here we were to make q
last stand against the legions in gray
which had exultingly followed us
through the swamps and over the hills.
The great plateau blistled with cannon,
and was covered with lines of infantry.
On the slopes were other lines. Along
the base, making rife pits of the banks
of the meandering creek, were the men
who were to feel the first shock of bat
tie.
For two or three hours the ground
| trembled under the terrific fire of artil-
lery. Then Magruder's men broke GOV.
er from the pine woods and swarmed
across the cleared fields of the Crews
farm. Every gun on the plateau belched
shot and shell; every musket along the
creek sent its bullet into charging ranks.
We broke them again and again, but
again and again they reformed and
dashed forward to grapple with death.
In the last desperate charge, made
just as the sun was hanging on the tree
tops, the first lines almost reached the
creek We had fixed our sixty rounds
and been served anew, and more than
once our muskets had been laid in the
shallow rivulet to cool off Desperate
as had been the charges, reckless as the
gray legions were, none of them had
passed the creek. Shot and shell and
bullet had met them on the open mead
ow and rent and shattered their col
umns.
This would be the last charge. We
all realized it as we made ready to re-
pulse it. With cheers that told of brave
hearts they came on, and in moment
the cloud of smoke shut the heads of
columns from view. | had fired four or
five times, when a line of gray suddenly
appeared close upon us and gave us a
volley. Right in front of me--a wrath
rising out of ii deep sea fog-I saw the
fair-faced lad of Gaines Mill. His blue
eyes blazed again, his white teeth
showed between his lips, his breath
came hard and fast. l was down on
one knee, my musket covering him.
AS he looked into my face saw that he
recognized me. But l was there to
main and kill. What were the sobs
and tears and heartaches in Georgia
home to me? 1t is a soldiers duty to
desolate family hearthstones-to make
mothers and wives and sisters weep.
was a boy, however, and l had the
heart of boy. l shut my eyes as
pulled the trigger, and, fearing to see
him lying there with ragged wound
in his breast as the cloud of smoke lift
ed, l ran up the line thirty feet and
crowded into a new place.
We had checked the exultant foe who
had dogged us so many weary miles, and
our army was saved. tried to cheer
with the rest, but my voice would not
come. The boy whom l thought had
murdered at Gaines Mill had miracu-
lousy escaped my bullet, but this time
| must have killed him, and the thought
was a great weight on my heart. He
was lying there out on the green grass,
and his death glazed eyes staring up at
the stars. l could not cheer. l felt
more like weeping.
was sick in hospital when Jackson
and Longstreet drove Pope over the
plains of Manassas back upon Washing
ton, but when Mcclellan faced Lee at
Antietam | was again in the ranks.
Hooker had been fighting on the right
for an hour when our division moved in
to support his beaten troops. The dead
and wounded were thickly strewn over
the ground that morning. Jackson's
left was covering ford, and his right
+ spun out to connect with Lee, but we
could not break him. The bunker
church was just in front of us, and
about 10 o'clock we got the order to ad-
vance. We had 20 clear standing
fence, push across an open field, and
then meet another fence which the Con-
federates were using for cover. How
the shells dropped among us! How
! grape and canister moved our ranks
How the bullets flew about our ears! l
wondered how we could be so steady
under that murderous fire. l wondered
if our advance was supported, and how
many of us would cross the field and
reach the last fence.
1t was a nightmare. There was no
cessation of the terrible clash and din,
and the smoke was so thick that we
ran into the fence before seeing it. We
dropped down and began firing, hoping
for the lines of support to come up, but
through some blunder we were left to
fight it out alone. Fresh regiments were
brought up against us, and our thin
lines grew thinner and our fire gradually
slackened. Then there suddenly oc-
CURED a breathing spell. As if by
mutual consent the firing almost ceased,
and as the smoke lifted the Confederates
made a charge. Perhaps we were
ordered to retreat. l heard no COM
mands. 1t seemed certain death TO leave
the cover of the fence, slight as it was.
l supposed our policy would be to break
the charge by rapid fire, and was
loading and firing as fast as possible when
their first line reached the fence. The
few of us on line thirty feet long rose
up and fired in their faces, and then
used the bayonet to keep them off. They
gave back, but encouraged by their
officers they came again. Right in front
of me, bare headed, with curls of powder
smoke floating through his haxen locks,
with that same old fire of battle in his
eyes, was the boy whom thought had