Wichita eagle., 1886-10-02
BEFORE PETERSBURG.
AN ALL-N!GHT HALT IN FRONT OF
CONFEDERATE EARTHWORKS.

!
CONFEDERATE EARTHWORKS.
A Timo When tho Second Corps Cooked
and Ate and Slept tho Time Away
What tho Early Dawn Revealed to the
Federals.
And we strobe on through the dense dus,
clouds, with parched throats, footsoro and
weary. Not q grumble did l hear. But with
set jaws we toiled on, intent on capturing
Petersburg before the Army Of Northern Vir-
ginia got behind tho works It was march,
march. march. No struggling now. 1t is far
better to march tonight than to assault earth
works defended by Lees men tomorrow.
Hurry along! Hurry, hurry, hurrym And
we marched our best We passed q group Of
soldiers who wore the distinctive badge of the
Second corps, cooking by the roadside. their
muskets stacked by their fire. We asked how
far it was to the battle line Only few hun
dred yards they replied. Then we asked what
Confederate troops were ahead Of us. They
answered with scornful laugh, Petersburg
militia" We asked what Union troops were
engaged, and they replied, "Some Of Buffers
men" With the dislike oil soldiers have for
unknown troops we said heartily, @D-n But
lcr's men! We do not know them We wish
the Fifth or Sixth corps were here instead of
them" Many soldiers anxiously inquired,
"Will Buffers men fght!" Then some private,
who was better informed than the most of US,
told us that Buffers men had been lying at
| Bermuda Hundreds, and that there were many
negro troops among them The noses OF the
Second corps men were cooked sharply in the
cir at this information.
THE COLOEED TROOPS
Word had passed among us that the negro
troops had had famous success that day; that
they had wrested heavy line of earthworks
from the Confederates, and had captured
eighteen guns. The soldiers halted for an in
slant They examined their rifles and shifted
their cartridge boxes to position where they
could get at them easily, and they drank
deeply from their canteens. Then belts were
tichtcned, blanket rolls shifted, the last bits
of harI tack that the men had been chewing
were swallowed, and their mouths again filled
with water and rinsed out, and then through
out the ranks murmurs arose of "Now for it,
GPut US into it, Hancock, my boy" 1--WE will
end this rebellion tonight" and we laughed
lowly and our hearts beat high. Soon we
heard commands given to the infantry, and
they marced off. My battery moved for
ward, twisted obliquely in and out among
tho stumps, and then the guns swung into bat
terry on a cleared space.
And then-God, how it angers me even
now after an interval of twenty-five years.
and then we went to cooking. That night
was made to fight on. A bright and almost
full moon shone above us. The Confederate
in }oi. h0fO
carthworks which we knew were bare of
soldiers. There was a noisy fire from tho
Confederate plckets in front of us. So un-
nerved and frightened were they that their
bullets sang high above Us. We cooked and
ate and fooled the time away. This when
every intelligent enlisted man in the Second
corps knew that not many miles away the
columns of the army of northern Virginia
were marching furiously to save Petersburg
and Richmond and the Confederacy. We
could almost see those veteran troops-lean,
squalid, hungry and battle torn, with set
jaws ard anxious looking eyes-striding
rapidly through the dust, pouring over
bridges, crowding through the streets OF
villages, and ever hurrying on to face us.
And we knew that once they got behind the
earthworl1s in our front, we could not drive
them out. They did not surrender cannon
and intrcnchments to disorderly gangs of
armed negroes They did not understand
how troops could lose carthworks when
assailcd by equal numbers of soldiers. Still
we cooked ard ate and sat idly looking into
one anothors eyes, questioningly at first, then
irnpatiently, and then angrily.
WERE NOT TO FIGHT.
Gradually the fact that we were not to
fight that night impressed itself on u.s. l
walked over to the timber of my gun, opened
my knapsacll and took out a campaign map
and pair of compasses. Returning to the
fire, the map was spread on the ground. As
measured the distances a group of excited
soldiers gathered around and watched the
work. We had the less distance to march,
about nine Eours the start, and allowing for
tho time lost at the crossing of the James
river we were, at IL p. H., four or five hours
ahead Of the Army OF Northern Virginia
"WIl they be il the works by morning,
rlen!r asked, and all answered: "By Goa
they will!' Discouraged, l put away the
map, loaded pipe, lighted it and strolled OF
down the line, stopping at almost every fire
/ came to to talk to the infantry soldiers.
The rage OF the intelligent enlisted men was
dcyilish. The most blood curdling blasphemy
l ever listened to heard that night, uttered
by the men who knew they were to he sacri-
feed on the morrow. The whole corps was
angrily excited. returned to my battery a
little after midnight. Seated on the ground,
rested my back against one Of the ponder
Gus wheels of my gun. Resting there slept
at early dawn l was awake and tried to
examine the Confederate line noticed that
the noisy, wasteful picket firing of the night
before had ceased, that the main line of
carthworks, indistinctly seen in the gray
light, was dead silent. Some Of our infantry
camc into our slight carthwork, and we stood
gazing into the indistinctness before us All
of us were greatly depressed. 1t grew lighter
and lighter, and there before us, fully re-
vealed, was a long, high line of intrench-
Incrts, with heavy redoubts where cannon
were ma:sed 1T the angles, silent. grim. No
w'aGteful fire shot forth from that line. Now
md then man rose up out of the Confetier-
ate rife pits, and rifle ball flew close above
US, no longer singing high in the air. Sadly
we looked ct one another. We knew that the
men wEo had fought us in the Wilderness, ct |
Spottsylvaaia. North Anna and Cold Earbor |
were IN the works sleeping, gaining strength !
to repulse olir assault, while their picllets
watched for them. While we slept they had
marched. Years aftorward, while crossin, |
northern Dakota in the service of the North |
orn Pacific Railroad company, met Gen.
Hancock and campcd with his party. That |
night, while talking around the carnp fire. |
esled him why he did not take Petersbur, |
the night the Second corps arrived there. In |
reply he told me that he had rot been orrieres,
to take the town, and added: Gafr. Grant |
said he s,nt ne the order. l never received |
it" No one has ever accused Gen Hancock |
of ixinr-EiauL WiIkeson in Chicaf-n Ti,nas