The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-05-14
VOL. XVII.-NEw SERIES.
REMISCENoES
OF THE
MACBETH LIGHT ARTILLERY,
By ONE OF THEM,
No. 3.

cesSionVllie, thc tederal soldiers on James
Island were more like lambs and less like Ii ons
They were neither as demonstrative along the
picket line nor so musical in camp. Their bands
no longer disooursed Yankee doodle to tease, O,
Dixie to please us. Indeed, they were so pas
eive that our government concluded to with
draw some Of our troops from the Island. II
was, especially, decided that this could now
be safely done, since it was quito apparent that
the fight at Seoessionville had been made more
for the purpose Of screening some plan Of Gen
Mcclellan than with any solid hope of carrying
our works. So Gen. Evans brigade to which
the Macbeth had been attached, was ordered to
report at Richmond, Virginia. Gen. Leo had
already anticipated the move Of Gen. Mcclellan,
"took the initiative and struck the first
blow" And it was we'll known to the troops
on the Island that Gen. McCellan's army had
been badly cut to pieces, hurled back on the
James River and was now covering under the
protection Of their gun.boats. The wise men
Of the camp began to guess at Gen. Lees pur-
pose in reinforcing his victorious army, before
the PROSTATE form his Of antagonist showed any
sign of recuperative strength.
We reached Richand only to be hurried en- to
join Gen. Lees army, then in camp near Nal
vern's Hill. Confederate soldiers had great
fears of gun boats, and we were O little appre-
hensive, less Gen. Lee designed driving Gen.
Clellan's army further South, in spite of his
gun-boats.
The cartel for exchange of prisoners had been
effected, and in q day or two after we went into
our first Virginia camp and the Federal aud
the Confederate prisoners began to pass by, re-
turning to renew their allegianccs to their re.
speotive governments. l looked into the faces
Of our many thousand returning prisoners and
did not see one whom l recognized. One of
them said, in passing, "boys if you had our ex-
perience you would never surrender" They
looked dirty, and hagard, and bore other
marks of hard prison life. Late one evening,
just after the last exchanged prisoner had
passed by, Gen. Lees army was drawn up in
line Of battle, and as we, with the long column
of soldiers to the right and left of our position
ia thN road, moved forward towards the enc
mics stronghold, I MAS Impressed with the
- III. =; hastyc Was shcnt to Be Souaht
that would decide for ell tims the fate Of the
United States and the Confederaoy. Gen. Lee
had hurried troops from the South and made .
demonstration towards the Federal line, to
throw Gen. Mcclellan and his government of
their guard. How well he succeeded, was at
each other in rapid succession. Gen. Leo had
thoroughly analysed Gen. McC;ellen's oharao-
ter, and seeing how we'll developed his bump Of
caution was, concluded that the Washington
Government would have to nurse him long
time before he would be sufficiently GONZALES
cent to take the offensive again. Gen. Lee
could not sit down and wait for Gen. Mcclellan
to become beligerent, while his own army was
wasting away before the insidious attack Of the
malarious fever. Necessity with him, was the
mother Of grand conception. The plan he
adopted to relieve Richmond from the attack of
strong menacing army and at the same time
protect his men against the malaria of the Chi
oahominy swamps, was ec'ipsed boldness only
by the daring of its execution. 1t was, perhaps,
thenext morning after Gen. Lee had threatened
Gen. McClellans position, that we moved
toward Richmond, and in the afternoon Of the
same day found ourselves north Of Richmond,
marching towards Washington and in the di-
rection that Jackson had gone the previous
week. We were moving On as ignorantly Of
Lees objective point as the heather is Of the
attributes of his God. But what Of that. His
men idolized him and were willing to follow
blndly where he led.
Lee left one or more divisions below Richmond
10 scare off the timid Mcclellan while he was
making bold dash towards Washington.
What grand opportunity that was for Nc
Clsllau |! Had he seized and pursued it with
yigor, he might have speedily crushed the re-
bellion, immortalized himself, kept Gen., Grant
out Of history and died himself an ex-President
of the United States of America. A Lee or a
6t,newall would have coveted no better chance
TO have marched into the Federal Capital. But
Lees bold stratagem and the celebrity Of his
moves put the Federal generals at sea, all was in
confusion. Our march was continued orth-
word until we reached Gordonsville where we
bivouaoed for few days, taking breath aud
making preparations for that memorable cam
paign that terminated at the second Manassa,
in Pope's defeat and humiliation. Gen. Jack
son had already fought the battle of Cedar Run,
worsted his enemy and, as decay, as we'll
~ to prevent overwhelming numbers from be-
ing concentrated on his fanks, fell back 10
: Gordansyills 10 await the arrival and co-opera-
HON Of Gen. Longstrest
Our soldiers now began to hear, for the first
) time, Of one Gen. Pope ind his braggadocic
J speeches. 1t begat such an antipathy for him
!. ,thatevsn private soldiers wore anxious for an
occasion when they might give expression to
their feelings in battle. Gen. Lees plan wa.
70 press forward rapidly, get Pope in coil and
crush him before Mcclellan; oouli reinforce
him from the Peninsula. The success depend
Cd sn quick and rapid moves. So impressed
was Gen. Lee with this fact that he left Cor
&snsvills with an imperfect commisssrist IL th'