Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-11-30
BATTLEFIELD OF SEVEN PINES.
Neglect OF the Bones Of the sisin-rhs
Sale Of Bogus Relics-A sharp Guide.


not gone over the ground OF one of the
hottest battles ever fought to believe
that twenty-four years afterward the
bones of the slain lie half-hidden by
leaves and brush by the score, and yet
such is the case. The theatre OF the
great, but indecisive struggle at Seven
Pines has been turned into q place
where few men can reach financial
profit by guiding visitors to the spot
where skulls protrude from the ground,
and where all that remains of many
brave lads who are numbered among the
missing lie. It is difficult to escape the
guides, but it pays the visitor to make
his own way over the field of battle.
He does not follow the beaten path in
which those who gain money by exhib-
iting the bones of the boys who died
amid the roar of cannon and the rattle
of musketry take their victims, and he
gains for himself positive information
Of the actual condition of things.
A correspondent in company with
several companions, slipped away from
these guides and were Mortified at what
they found. Under the leaves and twigs,
and among the thick brush of oak and
pines, which had sprung up during
the last twenty years, the bones Of many
brave men were found. They had an
swered to the order to charge the bat
teries which stood on the other side Of
the plowed field and laid down their
lives ere the outer intrenchment was
taken. As night fell on the 30th Of
May, 1862, many of the boys failed to
answer the roll-call and were placed
among the missing. 1t was partly cul-
tivated field then. Now pines twenty
feet in height cover the bloody ground,
and even stand on the breastworks from
behind which the cannons belched
forth death, and where the
marks of the wheels of the artil-
lery are still virible. The bones of many
of the fallen still lie there, although the
flag which flies from the staff in the
Seven Pines cemetery is within sight
Whether these bones were clothed in the
blue or the gray is unknown, but many
men are ready to testify that whoever
was intrusted with the duty of collect
ing those bones has failed in his trust.
The reason for the failure is manifest.
The fact that the bones still lie there
attract many people to the field of earn
age, and every one that falls into the
clutches of the guides must pay his toll.
A party of twenty-one. which included
several men from Philadelphia and
vicinity, had to pay $5.25 for walking
behind guide for an hour. This same
guide owns 700 acres of the land upon
which the battle was fought. He began
by purchasing one acre, for which he
paid S3. The same price was paid for
the remainder of the ground which he
has bought, and every cent of the money
was extorted from visitors to the battle
field. He was ordered by the govern
ment to pick up all the bones, disinter
the buried soldiers and see that they
were removed to the cemetery just
across the road. Instead of doing so he
has placed the skulls and other bones Of
the dead in various places and guild ~
the visitors by beaten paths to these
spots. He never takes them through
the thicket. Another dodge of this man
s to find battered musket-ball on the
ground and sell it to the visitor for 50
cents If he can. and for 10 cents il he
can get no more. The balls are dropped
by him when the visitor is not looking,
and picked up when he is looking. It
bothers the man, however, when the
the party be is guiding is large, and
when he dropped the ball last Sunday
afternoon the action was seen, and relic
selling for that day was at a very low
ebb.
This battlefield relic craze is carried to
a great length. More balls and burst
b, mbs have been sold represented as
having been picked up on the bloody
ground of Seven Pines than there were
used in the seven days battle. Battered
bayonets. rusty rifles, brass buckles and
buttons all find ready sale. When the
supply runs out the relic sellers get in
some more. 1t is believed that they buy
up old bayonets and bury them in the
ground for year. They come out rusty,
and little battering and bending makes
the crop as good as the original
Ten cents is charged for looking at a
room in which Gen. Mcclellan did not
make his headquarters during the battle.
No charge is made for looking at the
bullet holes in the old house; but if the
visitor happens to find ball imbedded
in the wood the guide will demand Is
cents for digging it out. The visitor
leaves with his prize and is ready to
swear that it came from musket in
the hands of friend who died in that
battle. The general belief Island a we'll
used rifle which hangs in the kitchen
bears out the idea-that the occupant
of the house shoots the balls into the
weather boards in the winter and digs
Them out in the summer. Pieces of
bomb are sold for 25 cents. A Philadel-
phia delegation to the general assembly
the Knights Of Labor has piece of a
bomb which he priced highly until some
one called his attention to the spout at
tached to ii. and then he tumbled to the
fact that he was carrying piec' of tea
kettle. There is no doubt that the old
house was riddled with bullets during
during the fight, but they were all gone
ten years ago. It is unsafe to buy any
relics on the Seven Pines battle field.
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