The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1886-01-19
"REMINISCENCES OF A BAT
TLEFIELD.

Probably the scene of these events
(the battle of the CRATER is more visited
than any other spot among the battle
fields in the southeast OF Virginia The
man who owns the farm charges visitors
a quarter head, and conducts them
about. Bullets and other relics are still
plenty ] picked up several bullets in
the roughed fields. and also piece Of
shell inside the Crater itself There is
building full Of relies picked up BY Mr.
Griffin the owner Of the place. Three OF
them are particularly interesting. One
is made by two bullets meeting in the
air. striking point TO point in exact
range. The result Is a disc of lead a.
large as silver dollar. and about as
thick. with the base Of the Yankee bull
let showing in the center on one side
and the Rebel bullet on the other. Had
these bullets passed each other the fate
of the men urging them would not be
hard to reckon.
Another queer relic is a Confederate
musket. in the barrel of which two bull
lets met, splitting the barrel open like >
banana peel. There the two bullets can
be seen.
The Rebel bullet had got about one
third Of the way ont when it met the
prying Yankee bullet on its way in
and then there was trouble at once. OF
course the Yankee bullet had no business
in there or at least it should have wait
ed until the other got out, but it I'M
doubtedy was better for the holder of
the gun that il went in the barrel than
in his eye.
Another relic which tells a CHASTITY
story is Union cross belt plate. These
plates, as many will remember, were
circular, and worn on the cartridge box
strap, and so came about over the heart
while the belt plate was elliptical and
came about over the stomach. Both
bore the letters ~. 5" Through the
plate picked up had passed a bullet,
making a huge hole, and of course the
ball must have passed into or through
the body of the wearer.
One musket shown has the marks of
eight bullets upon it. Two of them are
flattened into the iron of the barrel and
remain there. 1t was evidently pretty
lively times in the vicinity of the soldier
who carried that gun.
There are thousands of other relics
cups, canteens, sabres, bayonets, pistols,
shells, shoes, pictures, letters etc, max
ing most interesting collection. There
have been tons and tons of lead and
iron carried away from the fields by
relic hunters and the supply seems in
exhaustible. Every fresh blowing and
rain discloses them, and you can hardly
dig in vain in the leaves and dirt in any
direction. Indian arrow heads, axe
heads and other Indian relics are found
also, and little deeper any quantity Of
fossil remains of marine life. Sharks
teeth, shells and huge bones of old
ocean monsters are plenty. 1t is locali-
ty with history that did not begin
with the Crater fight.
One day while Mr.. Griffin was show
ing party of northern men around,
one of them said: II am reminded of an
incident that occurred here. | had
charge of gun over there in the works
near Fort Morton. One Sunday while
there was no firing going on, and we
were loaiing about, l saw man come
over that hill by the cemetery and come
down across this slope toward the rear
of the Confederate lines. His comforta-
BILE and serene manner irritated me,
and | made up my mind to see how
close | could come TO him. and we all
chuckled at the idea of soaring the life
out of him. | took good aim and landed
a shot six feet from him. You ought to
have seen him get up and git. He was
the scartest and most demoralized
Johnny Reb you ever saw. He went on
at a rate that would run dog to death,
and we roared with cheers and laughter
to see him dust"
80 you are the man that fired that
shot, are you?" asked Griffin.
Yes; do you know anything about
it?'
We'll think do was the reply.
81 was the fellow you shot at. was
lad coming with something for my
father, who was in the works. did
not suppose that there was Yankee
fool enough or mean enough to shoot
cannon at one little boy carrying grub
to his father. But you don't exaggerals
the scare, | didn't grow another inch
in a year. - CiRciHnab Commercial
| Gazette.