The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-10-21
STORIES OF THE WAR.
INTERESTING ANECDOTES OF
BOTH THE BLUE AND GREY.
An Incident of the Battle Of Murfrees-
boro, by the Author of Company
ssAytch.''

boro, by the Author of Company
ssAytch.''
On Christmas Day, 1862, Bragg's
army at Murfreesboro was lowering
over smoky fires, having recently come
out of Kentucky, after the battle of
Perryville, the raggedest, dirtiest, lou
siest set of soldiers that ever carried
musket or knapsack. Wood was scarce
and sobby, and mud and slush were
everywhere While standing around
our camp fires discussing the situation
and defending old Bragg's bad gener-
alship, the assembly suddenly sounded
and we were double quicked to Law
cirque, about ten miles from Murfrees-
boro, toward Nashville, as Rosecrans,
the fox, was advancing.
After skirmishing for two days we
were driven in and found our army in
line of battle on the bank of Stones
River, on the 2Sth of December, which
was Sunday. The battle was fought
on Wednesday the 31st,
I was skirmisher that day for the
First Tennesse Regiment. Our brig
ade made half wheel, thus throwing
us upon the enemy's flank, when the
cry was raised, "you are firing on
your own men r' 'iYou are firing on
your own men! Cease firing! Cease
firing" The most terrible confusion
that I ever beheld on any battlefield
then occurred. Every man was hal
looing at the top of his voice, "You
are firing on your own men, Cease
firing! Cease fringp' hallooed in
6, ~ = tbo ,h11 c1y 1i,,o 1xo,,f
yelling to "shoot shoot! d-n it
shoot, they are Yankees shoot p
Gen. Frank Cheatham sent forward
several members of his staff, and they
were all killed, We were not twenty
yards off from the main Yankee line,
and they were pouring the hot shot
and shells right into our ranks, and
every man yelling at the top of his
voice, Cease firing! You are firing on
your own men p
The crest held by the Yankees was
belching loud with fire and smoke,
and the rebels were falling like leaves
of autumn in hurricane. They con-
tinued to load and shoot. The leaden
hailstorm swept them off the field.
=, They fell back and reformed, General
Cheatham came up, and advancing
right upon the enemy's ranks, begged
his men to follow. 1 advanced in their
very midst when a quick, sharp pang
like lightning seemed to shoot from
temple to temple, furrowing through
the brain but on l pressed up to the
very cannon's mouth, when another
ball struck me on the arm and SEEM
ed to jerk it out of its very socket. [
saw the blood running down my arm
and felt it trickling over my face in
perfect spurts, and just as we reached
the battery that we had been charging
and the Yankees had given way, I
tainted and fell from the loss of blood.
This is the last thing Of the battle of
Murfreesboro that 1 can remember.
l remember trying to cheer, when
all at once I lost consciousness and fell
like a corpse in the midst of corpses.
/ knew that both armies were in
their death grapple. that they had
met, for seemed to hear the fierce
rebel yell, the clash of steel and the
continued roar of musketry; the wild
shrill cry of neighing steeds, and the
quick wheel and tramp of heavy bat
tallions, while the shouts of the war
rior men seemed to fairly ring through
my ears. And now and then my hot
blood seemed to stagnate and freeze,
and the dead seemed to be piled on
me in heaps
How long 1 had lain there 1 know
not; but when / came to myself it
was night and. every thing was as ST.
lent as death, and I was-O SO cold
Clouds were flying across the cold,
grey sky. and 1 saw the upturned faces
of the dead lying all around me. l
could not move, and my arm seemed
as if it weighed ten tons. I tried to
move, and shrieked out with intense
pain. felt that some awful power
had brought mountain ten thousond
feet high and placed it on my head. I
tried to cali some one, but my voice
was nothing but groan. / fell back
on my face and seemed to go off in
kind OF dream. All my life seemed
to pass before me in the aost beauti-
full colors. 1t seemed that all the
colors of the rainbow were blended to-
gether, yet every now and then alter
mating in each seperate shade.
l remember that | thought, if this
be death, it is 0 SO beautiful re-
membered how good and kind my pa
rents had been to me. I remembered
all the boys and girls that l mad ever
played with in my youth. I remem-
bered the church and Sunday-schooi.
I remembered my little dead sister !;
l could see the dimple in her cheeks,
her curIv hair falIinu all tvar har
shoulders, her bright and happy smile
while a halo of light seemed to cover
the scene as If entranced. + thought,