New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-05-09

aTorage Of their men and of thoughtful dsposl-
ton after some conversation upon matters Oh "a a
general character, turned TO the war, the causes
that led to it, etc. Or we held no beated ar
guments with them, our position as guests iyrYauU
that but simply friendly talks; But this io,oW
had something on his mind and expressed himself
"WelI. Yankee" said he. 81 confess, between you
anu me- that have no heart In TINS war. III o4Sis
never to have occurred. Ii is all wrong ihis
country was well enough off as II was. ana VIII
Lincoln was elected. we ought qmetiy 70 nav nav e.
mitted to the will of the majority ana wai,eu ,,c ho
some aggression our rights before taxing SUI
STEP | lie men in this army VINO are uolip t"I aan
ing are not the men who provoked secession: me- sn
of course the large mass 81 o. 'i in nv opinion, in
a losing game | have little hope that WIN yV W
resources aud advantages over MS, we can WIZ, ond
are already COMPLETELY hemmed III by sea anu "iu'
nd Will occasionally vessel may run the block,
ade il is not frequent enough to be OF any use W
am honest when say that nave Ios near 49,. 's.r
thing and every life laid down Is iiic III -,
awav m homeless game. This war VIII result. ~ III
my oplnion in losing an enormous aio,ii' ~ 20
property in slaves ana ~ oht 70 the end and lay
dawn orr arms when we are coinpelied TO- $1,000.
"WelI.r / remarked "are there many OF your .o,,
mon " no take your view OF the matter a"u W. '
talk this thing among yourselves a MANI. of
g More of them than you thinS. eoou li''h hrt na
them have no hope of winning III TINS contest; i16
more intelligent among us VIII" are acquaiiteu VIII
your almost inexhaustlble resources OF in"I anu
material plainly see that your army can constantly
be strengthened. If you lose man alo',nJ h ~
Ieaay 10 on IAN and along that line. Talk We
NOT helm taking If we can think and see The Con-
ederacy is as good as cut III Two M of
vour con0uering the South No people. they say,
were ever conquered who possessed the territory
we do and country admirable i9rdelencf ana a',ae
If our main armies were whipped. we couin keep up
n system of guerilla warfare indefinitely Bat mats
a faliacy. When the main armies are gone al Is
GONE While Won have not gained 1Ducn III the
East. vet in other parts of the field we have lost
without the power to regain And our SIDE continues
the contest because we are 100 PROUD I'd !ciu now
what, in my oplnon we snail nave u yei'o III 'i'o
Remember that this was before Gettysburg.
Grant however, was bringing VIcksburg to terms.
and the Confedcracy was literally cut IN twain.
And while the army in Virginia had been success
full in holding the Army OF the Potomac at bay, II
had not been done without fearful cost TO them
selves OF course. as he remarked, there were men
among them who thought they could never ne
whipped. One tall fellow with genuine southern
dialect said to me: -, - e.h+
we'uns We don't 20 up there to fight yonuns.
And you'uns never lick we'uns, reckon.
presume tina; fellow came from the mountains.
His mode of express 100 was more clearly under
STOOD however. than was that OF an Oh 1allner Ill
MARYLAND, a week or two after, when, after long
wearsome march, on our way TO Ge,t snnrg, Know
ing were going INTO camp near Manchester We
inquired how far it was to that place.
1.-Two looks and a right smart reckon" was the
reply. r ..,,.;,,, a,stonoes
What he meant was, that from the rise OF ground
where we then WERE the first look was TO Inc hrst
rise ahead; from that point the second look would
bring us to another rise. and it right smart
from the place of the last look though still slght
The RI .ht smart i'll this case compassed more road
than the two looks combined.
A tall Tcnnesseean who belonged to Georgia
battery was a constant visitor at our little camp.
An intimacy sprang up between US ana many a, an
hour we passed relating our army experiences Tell
ing stories of camp life, etc. one day, ana IL
proved to be the last of our stay. he SAID 10 me:
want you to go down to the battery and stay with
me over night ar.
Il don't know as to that" answered. 1T
might not be the right thing for me to DO i am
here under flag of truce, and would not Ike 10 90
anything that might he construed Us violation Oh
ooh. WE'LL" said he. al will attend to that. #
yOu will go with me. VIII see that you return al
right and are well taken care of while you stay. |
want to sleep with 1--we Yankee once, ana tnls
NAV he my last chance go
"All right" answered., II you VIII get permis-
sion from your commanding officer, and the sur
geon IN charge of us. in the form of a written pass
/ will 20 down and stay with yon over night" 1t
was long before he came back with the author
ity and off we started for the battery. .
snow" said /, I" If yOu are ordered TO move what
will you do 7" Bring you back here" SAID he.
| had observed symptoms OF movement among
them. 1t had been whispered that our wounded
would be sent across the river and good deal
her of DAYS rations and the issuing of additional
ammunition among the troops. In snch case, had
no desire to be found out Of my place.
II was nearly dark when we started, ana MS
camp was a mile and 4 half from the place where
we were CHARTERED 80
Now. Yankee said he as we neared the battery,
" AN going to introduce you as my brother t0ld
nv captain that had found my brother among
the fag-of- truce men, and wanted HIM to come down
and spend the night with Inc. and that's now got
the permit Now don't You let on
His battery was in hollow little distance back
from the heights. Our guns at Falmouth could
have pitched IA shell into it at any moment, beng
in full view from little opening to the right;
while the reflection of light rom our camp hres
on the other side was plainly to be seen. When we
. 1,ah haiti rv uIImlIpr
OF his men. were standing at ire, talking ana
laughing, when my host broke IN upon Their Joillty
by introducing me- shall never forget Tue lo3 90
those fellows gave me as we shook hands, with the
compliments usual to such occasions. The captain
opened the conversation by rcmarking: I" Aren't
you on the Wong side r.
Well" | replied, " that IS a matter of opinion:
NV brother here thinks he is OIL the right side |
certainly think am. And so we agree TO dIsagrec.
"What will be the end OF this tblngi" asked the
Il think" said !, eve shall come ont ahead.'
"You will have to do better than You did at
Charlottesville the other day. said he. we VIII
make lots of hot work for you before you whip us.
We are a tough lot to whip"
ayes" | remarked. lyon seem to nave the
advantage in these parts just now. But there's
ri suppose" spoke M q fellow: that You
Yankees are relolced to think that St0newall
Jackson is killed and out Of your wayr
We had not heard OF Jacksons death before our
arrival in the rebel camp, and it VAS day or two
then before we found IT out, as they little
shy in telling of it, The first heard of it was
from the Richmond papers.
"Oh." said j, "we have a sense of honor and
admiration for brave man like Jackson.
suppose we shall miss HIM about as much as you
will We had a great dread of StOnewall, and
never knew when or where he would come down
upon u.s.
"There is no man in this Confederacy to take his
place. said the captain. awe had better have
lost division of men,"
And so we kept up rood-natured conversation
until taps sounded then separated for nights
rest and as events proved. not to meet again even
in the morning. My host took me to his tent. AS
soon as my eyes rested upon it l saw that 1t was
part of Uncle Sans conilscated property. and so
contented myself with the reelection that if was
to sleep with rebel it would be under Yankee
canvas.
snow" said my entertainer. promised to take
care of YOU You take OF your shoes. can and
blouse and let mo have thom. for unless / hide
them you won't have the same articles to put OH IN
tie morning that you take off tonight. Some of
our fellows will make an exchange, shoe leather
is hard to get over here" And so the above
mentioned effects carefully hid away. AS we
silent in our trousers they were safe. And so Wa