Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-03-11
"reminiscences Of virginia Battle Field.

i Probably the scene Of these event
! (the battle of the Crater is more Wis
tied than any other spot among TIL
battle fields in the southeast Of Vir
ginia. The man who owns the faru
Echarges visitors quarter head, -ant
Icondacts them about. Bullets ant
other relics are still plenty. Ipickel
Iup several bullets in the ploughet
fields, and also a piece Of shell insid,
the Crater ITSELF There is building
full ofsrelics picked up by Mr.. Grit
fin, the owner Of the place. Three o.
them are particularly interesting. One
is made by two bullets meeting in the
air, striking point to point in exact
range. The result is a disc of lead al
large as silver dollar, and about al
thick, with the base of the Yankee
bullet showing in the centre on one
side, and the rebel bullet on the other
Had these bullets passed each other
the fate Of the men firing them would
not be hard to reckon.
Another queer relic Is a Confeder.
ate musket, in the barrel Of which two
bullets met, splitting the barrel open
like banana peel. There the two
bullets can be seen. The rebel bull.
let had got about one.third Of the way
out when it met the prying Yankee
bullet on its way in, and then there
was trouble at once. or course the
Yankee bullet had no business in there
or at least it should have waited un.
til the other got out, but 1t undoubt.
eddy was better for the holder Of the
gun that it went in the barrel than
in his eye.
Another relic which tells ghaatly
story is a Union cross belt plate.
These plates, as many will remember,
were circular, and worn on the car
fridge box strap, and 80 came about
over the heart, while the belt plate
was elliptical and came about over
the stomach. Both bore the letters
~. s." Through the plate picked
mp had passed bullet, making Q
hinge hole, and Of course the ball must
! heya passed into or throup Nthe ba ,l K
81 SnG NszssI. --'y Y : :
One musket shown has the marks
of eight bullets uponit. Two Of them
are Aattened into the iron Of the bar.
rel and remain there. It was evi.
IDENTIFY pretty lively times in the VIZ
cinity Of the soldier that carried that
gun.
There are. thousands OF other relics
--cups, canteens, sabres, bayonets,
pistols, shells, shoes, pictures, letters,
etc, making Q most interesting col
lection. There have been tons and
tons Of lead and iron carried away
from fields by relic hunters, and the
supply seems inexhaustible. Every
fresh ploughing and rain disclosed
them and you can hardly dig in vain
in the leaves and dirt in any direc-
tion. Indian arrow heads, axe heads,
and other Indian relics are found also,
and a little deeper any quantity Of
fossil remains Of marine life. Sharks
teeth, shells and huge bones Of old
ocean monsters are plenty. 1t is .
locality with a history that did not
begin with the Crater fight.
: One day while Mr.. Griffin was show
ing a party of Northern men around,
one Of them said II am reminded
Of an incident that occurred here. ]
had charge Of q gun over there in the
works near Fort Morton. One Sun.
day while there was no firing going
on, and we were loaAng about, I saw
q man come over the hill by the Gem.
stsry and come down across this slope
toward the rear Of the Confederate
lines. His comfortable and serene
manner irritsted me, and I made up my
mind to see how close I could come Il
him, and we all ohuckled at the idss
Of soaring the life out Of him. Itool
good aim and landed . shot about si1
feet from him. You ought to hay'
seen him git up and git. He was th'
scardsst and most dsmorslized John
ny Rsb you ever saw. He went OF
at rate that would run . dog h
death, and We roarsd with cheers and
laughter to see him dust"
80 you are the man that Arsd this
shot, srs you r. asked Grifsn.
/ "Yss; do you know anything aboa
iti"
well, I think I do, was the 70
| ply, II was the fellow you shot at.
was q lad coming with something 70
my father, who was In the works.
did not suppose there was Q Ysnks
fool enough or mean enough 70 shoe
q cannon at one little boy carrying
grub to his father. But you don