New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-05-09
A STRANGE VISIT.
six DAYS IN A REBEL CAMP.

s..n rAt Xe.c. York Weekly T'ibumss New Sor'es OF
S'~'" ~ ne War-Copur0ht 1856.
wh..hor re ever made SIMILAR request at any
.xh.r time cannot say, though think not; but
sAortlv after the battle of Chanceorsviile ne re-
.r..tcd Hooker to make detail OF men to come
AVER into his lines and for our wounded lei, IN
Mis- hands as he had no means to give them ."e
needed attention; asking at the same time 'na'
medical and other supplies be sent tor 'he'r S"s'
<Anance and comfort. detail OF hiteeh meh was
made for this service, the writer among the hun-
her Two surgeons accompanied u.s. and we were
ordered to proceed to Banks's Ford ana cross inc
river for assignment TO duty In the enemy lines
Before dawn were ON our way keePins Jul
white flag at the head of the column after passing
onr outposts lest some OF the enemys cavalry
sbould let us have volley or two before we could
make ourselves known. The only incident of note
bovever was that we lost our way and went some
two miles further up the river than the place desig-
mated for our crossing. The point of our striking
fine river was long strip of land running out TO
pont formed by bend In the stream, aud as we
made our appearance at this point the Johhnies
cace ns an uncomfortable welcome, for not obscrv-
ing our flag they sent over a leaden messenger Vi
two. TO let us know they were yet alive ana s'iii
there They had an annoying way oil reminuhs us
every time we approached them that they "e'o NV
dead but ready foi almost any emergency We
succeeded however, in gaining the attention VI 'no
officer of the picket when one of our number was
permitted to approach within speaking dls'ahcc VI
tbe,r lines Our mission being made KNOWN IN
ou;rv was made for the ford, and having received
directions. we made our way to the place ueSig-
mated for orr crossing Here, after niue
marley q boat was sent across by the ohccl
of the picket and we were poled over W 'no
Dixie side of the Rappahannock IN hhe s'yle' i
have offer, wondered they did not dump us out ana
give Ms a duckng Just for the fun of the thing
Arrived npon the other side. guard was detaIied
IN act as our escort. The guard was composed OF a
sergeant and file of men from Georgia regiment
And desire to put it upon record Una, they wero
gentlemen in every sense of theword think that
old veterans will bear me out in saying that the
Georgian had less of the re-eater in him than any
other of the Confederate sOldiery. At any rate ne
was not so apt 10 let it out if he possessed IT, Iboo
Toombs. of course always excepted.) Our guard,
knowing our errand, was kind and considerable
But some of the multitude that followed III our
wske in the three miles we had to walk In Teachne
General Wllcox's headquarters were very onensNe'
aud applled TO us ephets hot pleasing 10 our ears.
have new doubted that their exasperatlon was
whetted 10 a keener edge by the loss OF Stonewai.
Jarkson II would have been a matter OF rejoicing
yy;th them If the earth had opened MP and swal-
lowed all the Yankees III Chrlstepdom. Anu
they had to give vent IN some way. -,
One of them suppOsing Us prisoners OF war, cTleu
ont a. They ongnt never to Richmond Bury
them with the rest of their kind But the ser
geant III charge of u.s. after reprlmana OF Two
came down 10 business and gave hlm 10 unuer-
stand that if he did not " LEI NJ on ms mouth ne
would put hole IN him" And have never doubted
that there would have been speedy execution OF
sentence mad he not thenceorth ceased ms aD D
Z he Georgian's eyes flashed hre as he Sald tneSe
men are in nv care, and no man sna Insult tH H
aQaIn without ting hurt we had quiet alter
that ,,ou4o., ,
were assigned to duty seven of our num5'r at the
rr;o ont le he
lines; while the detail with WHICH was connected
was left the vicinity OF two large barns some TWO
miles and half from Fredericksburg. Al seemed
strange. this peaceabe location III an enemy ianu
for our post of duty was about the centre OF tne
Rebel camp, and several brlgades had Ihelr
Ouarters but short distance from where we were:
Weary and exhausted with our DAYS maTch ana
its incidents. anu having mInistered as best we
could in the little daylight left us 10 our suffering
comrades we threw ourselves on the ground under
an old shed for our first nights rest IN Rebeldom.
Fully dd we realize that our stay was not 10 ne
play spell. but ,Ime of hard work and constant
care. Over seventy five OF our corps lay upon inc
floors of those two barns. while slxty-four more
were over at the Brick Church on the heights All
Of them were badly wounded, f0rthose more sIight-
iy hurt had been removed to kichmond as prison.
eIs of war. One, member OF my own company
Wesley Steel had bullet hole through his body
piercing his left lung, through which you couid
look as plainly through an eyeglass. he nVeu
to be carried the river. u look once more on
with our own hands on the brow OF hlll, AT whose
base Potomac Creek pped It's way I tbe bovs
was wrapped III his blanket ana lald III his iast
bivOuac. ,, or No
We awoke TO the drum and huge reyeliie or our
foes II was indeed a new eXper ience tnls Deins
in an enemy's camp and vet Tree. c'r'hge 20 sy
no restrictions placed upon us, no Dounuirles
were set We might have roamed at VIII. but we
wiled not very far; the reception OF Neser-
day Dy some of our hosts limited our pfopehsities
But pow another problem confronted us. What
were we to eat In the haste incident 10 our ue-
atinnSl had hppn
a strange oversight But this was our hX GER
tany IL not to be expected that we cOuia i've
oil the enemys country on such an Grand nave
read of a man OF the ancient time being sent 10
poor widow in Zarapeth for sustenauce, VINO
viii which to build fire, cook her last morse of
meal for herself and son. and then de Ana not
wlthstaudine famine was IN that land ne iiVed wei.
But we had barely days rations al inc start
bread coffee. sugar and pork, and that was ex-
bausted on our previous DAYS march. The outlook
would indeed have been better. II IKE EI1ann, we
had had the Lord at backs instead OF the Rebel
commissarv And as it turned out our own Stone
mans work had been more ohectually done than
was at first supposed, for when the surgeon IN
charge asked General Wilcox for days rations for
us and our wounded, he replied that MS own men
were living on SPORT allowances, as ot tba;,
lines of transportation. TIE real tntn, however
was that Lee was straining every nerve TO accumu-
late supplies for the campaign he was about TO be-
gin and in order TO do this it was quite necessary
that he should practise economy. NeverineieSs ne
gave us one days rations. Whatever may De sa,d
of the keeping qualities of the rebel hard bread III
was certainly sweet to the taste 1t was different
from ours. Some of ours would keep forever: |
have a piece before at this writing IN perfect
state of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS years old-and
see no reason why 1t may not last century,.
Fortunatelyfor me my.regment had received pay
lust previous to the Battle OF Chanceorsvllle ana
money being q commodity that can always be used,
/ was not left without hope. After some inquiry
made aggressive movement on farm house,
My purchase of Taions consisted OF one lone biscuit
dav The price, All the price! 1t was two dollars
in greenbacks. 1t made fellow open his
eyes when biscuit was placed in his hands
back for some time then sized it up by the side of
that biscuit, but it was that or nothing. And the
proprietor of the biscuit house-well he turned
that greenback over as though he understood the
value of it, and with sly twinkle in his eye. re-
marked: Il save all that kind of money, for am
not sure how this thing is agolng to end" lie
Thought il was wise to make friends with the man.
snon ~ nnrln hfeonsness so that when the COn-