The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-05-14
REMISCENCBS
OF THE
MACBETH LIGHT ARTILLERY,
REMISCENCES
BY ONE OF THEM.
No. 3.


Island were more like lambs and less like Ii ons
They were neither as demonstrativc along tn,
picket line nor so musical in camp. Their band.
no longer discourscd Yankee doodle to tease, ol
Dixie to please us. Indeed, they were so pas
sive 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 quite apparent tha
the fight ut Secessionville had been made more
for the purpose CT screening some plan OF Gen
Mcclellan than with any solid hope Of carry ing
our works. So Gen. Evans brigade to which
the Macbeth had been attached, was ordered to
report at Richmond, Virginia. Gen. Lee had
already anticipated the move Of Gen. Mcclellan,
"took tho initiative and struck the first
blow. And it was we'll known to the troops
the Island that Gen. McClellans army had
been badly cut to pieces, hurled back on the
James River aud was now covering under the
protection of their gunboats. 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 Richland only to DO hurried on to
join Gen. Lees army, then in camp near NAL
vern's Hill. Confederate soldiers had great
fears of gun-boats, and We were little appre-
hensive, less Gen. Lee designed driving Gen
Clellans army further South, in spite Of his
gun-boats.
The cartel for exchange of prisoners had been
effected, and in a day or two after we went into
our first Vjrginia-samp and the Federal aud
fho ~ foil pria hoo, b,,
turning to renew their allcganccs to their re-
spective governments. | looked into the faces
of our many thousand returning prisoners and
did not sec one whom l recognized. One of
them said, i'll passing, "boys if you had our ex-
perience you would never surrender" They
looked dirty, and hagard, and bore other
marks Of q 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 Us we, with the long column
of soldiers to the right and left of our position
iu tho road, moved forward towards tho enc
mics stronghold, was impressed with the
- ~ -: hat.,,c wns about to be fought
that would decide for all time the fate of the
United States and the Confederacy. Gen. Lee
had hurried troops from the South and nado a
towards the Federal line, tv
throw Gen. Mcclellan and his government off
their guard. How well he succeeded, was at
tested by the events that immediately followed
each other in rapid succession. Gen. Lee had
thoroughly analyzed Gen. McCelen's charac-
ter, and seeing how we'll developed his bump of
caution was, concluded that the Washington
Government would have to nurse him a 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
maarious fever. Necessity with him, was the
mother of a grand conception. The plan he
adopted TO relieve Richmond from The attack Of
q strong menacng army and at the same time
protect his men against the malaria of the Chi
cahominy swamps, was ec,ipsed i'll boldness only
by the daring of its execution. 1t was, perhaps
thenext morning after Gen. Lee had threatened
Gen. McClcllan's position, that VIC moved
toward Richmond, and in the afternoon of the
same day found ourselves north of Richmond,
marching towards Washington and in the di-
rcc,ion that Jackson had gone the previous
week. We were moving On aS ignorantly of
Lee 8 objective point rs the heather is of the
attributes OF his God. But what of that. His
men idolized him and were willing to follow
blindly where he led.
Lee left one or more divisions below Richmond
ko scare off the timid Mcclellan while he was
making bold dash towards Washington.
What grand opportunity that was for Nc
Clellau Had he seized and pursued it with
vigor, he might have speedily crushed the re
bellion, immorta!izei himself, kept Cen Grant
out of history ami died himself an cx-presidcnt
of the United States of America y Lee or a
Stnewall would have coveted no better chance
TO have marched into the Federal Capital But
Lees bold stratagcm and the celebrity of his
moves put tho Federal generals at sea, all was in
confusion. Our march was continued north
word until We reached Gordonsvillc: where we
bivouaccd for a few days, taking breath aud
making preparations for that memorable cam
paign that terminated at the second Manassas
i'll Popes defeat and humiliation. Gen Jack
son had already fought tho battle of Cedar Run
worsted his enemy and as n decay, as we'll
as to prevent overwhelming numbers from be-
ing concentrated his hanks fell back to
Gordansville to await the arrival and co-opern-
lion Of Gen. Longstreet
Our soldiers now began to hear for the first
time, Of one Gen. Pope and his braggadocio
speeches. 1t bcgat such an autipatlIy for him,
that even private soldiers were anxious for an
occasion when they might give expression to
their feelings III battle Gen. Lee plan was
to press forward rapidly, get Pope in coil and