The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-28

F, ...sIs spay some more" and the General, VINO
| had apparently a soft spot in his heart TOT
children, made the band entertain tneh ioF an
| hour.
| neigh borhood, and during that time at least SIX
| teen hours out of every twenty-four were Spent
/ by me in prowlinr ~. and down the bluffs watch
ing them, In company sometimes with my u.~~.---
| ana sometimes with the negroes. Occasionally
sharpshooters would espy Us and fire few rifle
shots across which would cause US to dodge like
| cartridges, in the bushes and hide until the
balls stopped whizzing and rafting in the dead
leaves. We were not troubled with fears OF
| their crossing, for the stream was swollen by
| heavy rains in the mountains, and made the way
current swift and dangerous. One federal sol
| der, in fit of bravado or intoxication, at
tempted to swim his horse across. and was swept
away. horse and rider being drowned in the
| flood.
| From the bluffs above our house we had an
uninterrupted view of the valley of the James
| for miles. AT the junction of the Tye and
James rivers was the little village OF New Mar
| ket, which, Yankee soldier observed, should
have been called "Cabellton," since every acre
erty of members of the Cabell family Along
| the banks of the canal in the lower part of the
| village were several large tobacco warehouses,
| buildings that had been erected in the days
when the traffic of the country was carried on
by bateaux and long fat boats, such as Porte
| Crayon describes in his Virginia Illustrated"
TO these the soldiers speedily set fire, consuming
| large quantities of wheat stored in them for
shipment to Richmond. On the second day the
| wagon trains arrived, and with them the fear OF
the enemies effecting the crossing upon pontoons,
| but fortunately this fear was unfounded, as they
| had not pontcons enough.
On the third day the work of destruction be-
| gan. The fences had all been used for camp
fires and the plantations were thrown into one
| vast common. Tobacco houses barns, agricult
ural implements, produce Of all sorts, was
| burned and destroyed. corn houses were rifed,
| and smoke-houses emptied of their contents.
| The dwellings of the gentry were spared because
they were filled with women and children, but
| mischevious soldiery worked their destructive
| will on the contents. Furniture was broken,
curtains and carpets torn up, and the fragments
| given to the negroes china smashed and silver
carried off as lawful booty wherever found.
One lady had her piano moved out into the
yard to be played on by drunken roughs, and
| there it remained for nearly week. taking all
the weather, and becoming good for nothing
Another, fortunate, possessed several
hundred dollars in gold, which she had
brought with her when she ''refugeed" from her
| home in Gloucester She put the money in a
little old trunk and threw it down in an empty
| ice house, and raked the leaves and moldy straw
over it. There it remained unmolested until
after the raiders had departed. when she scram
bled down into the ice-house and fetched 1t up
| in triumph
| Among the things remember best is the
! burning of the plantation barn at Monte
yuma" the old homestead Of my grandparents.
| The family had been broken up shortly before,
and the place was occupied at the time OF the
| raid by family from Richmond, but it was
| home" STILL and fairly walled aloud when
saw the flames leap up and wrap around the old
| gray barn standing in the midst of huge straw
piles, down whose sides we children loved to
| slide. The soldiers lifted the slab Of marble off
had been concealed within the little bricked up
| space, but when l came to know about that,
while it seemed awful, of course, it did not hurt
| me like the burning OF the old gray barn.
Speaking of silver reminds me of O little story
| l heard the Richmond lady tell my mother some
time after the raid. She had a quantity of valu-
| ables and slowed them about in every conceiva-
BILE place for safety. Among other things she
had huge solid silver fireman's trumpet, which
| had been presented to her husband by the volun-
teer fire brigade of Richmond many years before
| in recognition Of his services their chief This
trumpet was forgotten in the general hiding of
| valuables, and the Yankees were fairly in sight
| when she discovered it resting ostentatouSly in
the middle of the center table in the parlor She
| was loath to lose it, knowing that her husband
| valued it greatly, but where to stow away the
| big thing she could not think. AT last she took
| it out to an old negro man who was very
| much attached to her husband explaining her
dilemma, and told him to take the thing away
| and hide it. Long before the end of the three
| days she gave the trumpet up for lost, as the
soldiers, not being hurried, poked about in every
1 u
| ity Of resource worthy of a better cause. But
the day after they departed the old negro pre-
septed himself at the house with smiles on his
countenance and the trumpet under his arm.
| On being questioned, he explained that he had
"toted de horn down de hill an jammed it up in
| one ole holler log whar was sorter layin' in de
creek an too soggy fur to make fire. He had
stuffed up the opening at the end with wet leaves,
and calmly watched the soldiers sitting the
| log by the hour at time without the faintest
Suspicion of its silver heart
| With the order to march was given another
| order, which has always seemed to me a cruel
one and which the stress of war can hardly
| Justify in my eyes, oven yet. All the available
and put in the place of the broken-down, worn
| out troop horses which were turned out on the
common. Nearly FIVE hundred of them there
Were and just before the bugles sounded boots
and saddles, squads of men were detailed to hunt
them up and shoot them where they stood
Never shall forget those voleys of musketry
| and the awful screams of the wounded and dying
| animals. The poor creatures galloped hither
and thither, terrified out of their senses, and the
men they had borne over many weary league
| followed them and shot them down.
Some fell in the house yards, some in the gar
| dens, some in the pastures The hillsides were
dotted with them. and for weeks the country
| reeked like charnel-house The people piled
f! dirt over them as they lay for want of means to
| remove Them and the birds Of prey and night
providers scratched 1t off again. Que family had
4 to drag the dead body of q horse out of their
| spring before they could get drop of water
And some of the poor, wounded beasts that es-
| capped to the woods suffered for days before
| death came to their release. 1t always seemed
to me such a terrible pity that brutes have to
| suffer for human evil passions.
| The evening of the third day saw the last
blue coated back disappear in the distance, and
we of the unmolested side of the river bestirred
ourselves to pull up our sunken boats and pad
die across to see if, haply, we might be of some
assistance to our less fortunate neighbors.
NJ G.. MoCLELLAND,
NoRwooD P. o., Nelson county, Virginia.
/ Rau