The Dawson journal., 1886-03-04
THE BATTLES or THE DEAD,
Detroit Free Press.

IL Is mIuidSHb III lue Orlch AdTLn
house at Charlottesville the
new building on the site of the one
partially destroyed when Hooker
marched his troops into the will
derness to get in the rear of Lee
at Fredericksburg. In the yard
are the rotting wheels of gun car
riages; in the South wall are q
dozen cannon balls firmly imbed-
ded; half a mile below is the stone
marking the spot where Stonewall
Jackson received his mortal
wound; here is the same dark for
est which sheltered friend and
foe.
GAre you asleep?r
"No."
The last stroke of IL had scarce
ly died away when the farmer
opened my bed room door to ask
the question.
''rhen maybe you'd like to see
it?"
"What?"
"The battle of Charlottesville.
The Federal troops are now in
sight on the Ely's Ford road"
I hastily dressed and passed
out into the yard with him. mo
ticed that he had on Confeder-
ate uniform, dusty and worn. l
looked at my own garments; they
were blue. He pointed his finger
down the road, and | saw through
the mist of the summer night a
great army approaching. There
was cavalry, infantry and artillery
there were flags and banners
and ambulances. In two minutes
more the head Of the column had
reached the Charlottesville plank
road. Some turned to the right,
some to the left, some plunged in
to the gloomy pine thickets be-
yond.
"But l hear no noise-not the
footstep Of a horse nor the clank
Of saber," protested.
"Hushl 'Tis a battle Of the
deadl The spirits of the thou
sands who fell here have come to
fight the battle once againw
l looked at him more closely,
and l saw the light of battle in
his eyes. His form grew erect,
his feet seemed impatient and he
scented the air as if eager to join
in the fray.
Now the highways and hyways
the cleared fields, the open
woods-the lonely thickets were
full of blue uniforms. Courii,s
and aides galloped here and there
staff officers turned heads OF
columns to the right or left. II
was so strange to witness those
thousands moving with such or
der and yet giving out no sound
"Look-seep' whispered my
companion as he pointed down
| the plank road.
There was a cloud of smoke
rolling up out of the pine woods
and hlotching the star-lit skv like
a stain of blood. 1t spread and
grew until half the stars of heav-
en- were hidden. Meanwhile, the
face of every man i'll blue was
turned that way. We saw bat
terry after battery, regiment after
regiment, briga lie after brigade,
move down to the scene Of con-
flict. Tongues of flame flashed
through the smoke-c.oud and
lighted. up thicket and field, but
there was no sound. The still
ness of night was almost painful.
"Here are the resultsl' whis-
pered the confederate; and / look
ed to the right and left to behold
the dead and wounded. | could
see them in the fields, under the
pines, on the highway. Some
faces show fear and horror 9th
ers expressed vindictiyeness.
There were horses lying dead
others hobbling about and seem
ing to appeal for mercy.
"It is horrible" I whispered.
"Ayel bat it is over"
l looked again and The vision
had faded. The highways were
barren Of life-the feld3 and for
ests at peace. The sTnoke-cloud
had disappeared, and the dead
and wounded had been spirited
aWaV.