The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-01-05


nel and were the first to take advantage
of this. to have him reft our uniforms We
procured black stuff for trimming our cuffs,
and We also had our Sergeants and Corpor-
ais stripes of bright red stitched on our
sleeves, and a narrow binding of red was
sewed down in front Of the coat. Itwas In this
rather neatly-trimmed rebel uniform that /
boldly walked the streets Of Richmond, Sc
cured entrance TO houses and places Of inter
est from which ] had heretofore been eXclud-
ed, during the rest of my eyentful stay in
that city.
twill be seen from the personnel Of our one
gun so-called Maryland Battery" that there
was bat one genuine Maryland refugee in its
outfit outside Of ElktOn, and that was the Ser
geant, who is :" the Colonel" Of our story. was,
Of course, supposed to be another Marylander;
but tie Confederate army was conglomerate as
our own was.
The other sections Of our battery were COM
posed principally Of the aforesaid recruits"
from the railway labOrers, who were mostly
refugees from Ireland and Germany.
Our other Lieutenant was Mr. Claiborne,
one of the genuine sons Of the South, native
Of Mississippi, and as clever and courteous
young gentleman as il has ever been my pleas
Ure to meet. ] recall very pleasantly my &C
onsiataHee with Lieut.. Claiborne as one Of the
most agreeable have ever made. If it shall
50 happen that this writing may meet his eye,
he viii understand some OF my actions toward
him, which were at the time, to say it briefly,
inexplicable. Lieut.. Claiborne, think, followed
the Confederate fortunes 10 the end; am sure
he did SO If he lived TO see the end, for he was
earnestly sincere IN his devotion to the cause Of
the South.
The Captain Of the company had been, 1
understood, a lawyer in Baltimore He was
small man In stature small IN mind, and about
IA
LITTLE AND THRILLING ~ EVERY Way
as any soldier that have ever met.
Perhaps some allowance should be made for
the Captain on account of the fact that he
was q cripple one leg being shorter than the
other. His face wore an expression Of pain or
s0urness thatis peculiar 10 many persons whom
have met that are similarly afflicted, and, like
many other natural eripples, was q veritable
tyTaHt There was disposition On the part Of
First Lieut. Elkton TO resist the Captains over
bearing manner: aud IN this rebellion within
q rebellion, we Of the section sustained the
Lieutenant Lieut.. Claiborne was ia constant
friction with the Captain, aud as his squad sus-
tanned him, we were in hot water right along.
Big Nike, Of our section, was one of the fel-
lows who had grievance, because he had not
been made Sergeant IN charge Of the gun, with
his Own squad Of Irish 10 work it. de took
eveTy complaint 70 the Captain, who would in
vite Nike into his quarters, where he would
discuss with him the minor affairs Of the COM
p2ny. ANY old soldier VIII see how this sort Of
thing would work; and If any Of you imagine
for moment that al the Southern soldiers
were band Of brofhers harmoniously bound
together, fighting OILY against the Yankee in-
yaders. y0u are all very much mistaken.
have seen more Of
THE Ugly, BITTER JEALOUSY
betReen JET Davis and his Generals (Beaure-
gard and Johnston), IN close association Of
nine months among them, than / did subse-
queutiy in three years between Stanton and
Halieck and al the commanders Of the Army
Of the Potomac, from Mcclellan down TO Grant
and as between the men themselves there has
been no just comparison as 10 their patriotism
EBd true devotion.
The South gets the credit fer putting forward
only Der best citizens, as against the aliens and
foreigners Of the North. Dear me. il would III
& good-sized book TO tell the story.
Ii was only recently that an ex-Confederate
officer, and relative Of Gen. Lee by marriage
laughingly volunteered the information that
his section Of the greatly-celebrated Rockbridgt
Artillery was recruited from lot Of conyictl
IN the Georgia penitentiary, whom he described
as the hardest looking set Of human beings
have ever sen"
Our company was stationed at the fai
grounds, Just on the outskirts Of Richmond
which in after years became widely known a
"Camp Lee As is usual at fair grounds,
1lgh board fence InciOsed several acres o
ground inside this inclosnre were a numbe
OF temporary wooden sheds or houses, whicl
had been turned into barracks for the Confed
crate soldiers.
Troops were arriving AZ this camp every da,
from be South, and as fast as they were organ
lied and provided with arms and clothing the
: were shipped Of 10 Manassas or tbereabouts.
vas always glad 10 see the trains stop 10 loa
up some Of the troops for the North. because
fell every time ! saw it that our turn woul
soon come, ana ] should again be at the from
whence ] could easily skip over the line int
Washington city.
Those bal5 days were put in IN regular mill
t2Ey routine. There were the usual roIl-eall
anc drills II the old iron cannon. which wa
az that the entire camp possessed. Each I
the sections took turns az this one piece: so
was that between Us all We managed 70 kee
il bot pretty near all day.
THIS DRILL WAS REGULAR CIRCUS TO su
because as Gun Corporal / did not have yer
much exercise. Lanyard, who stood by M
and ] bad SO much fun together over the tW
big lrishmen. who would so violently ram hon
the imaginary charges Of powder and ball an
swing the sWab around as wildly as If it were
big sbillalah. Fatty" the Virginia refuge
whose place WAS across from US, was full Of fu
himself, and kept us all amused by his antis
during the drill. The two big Irish brother
were aiways IN sweat and swearing at th
disguised Duke because he was so dignified /
ma bearing that he could not be made TO SC
the necessity of rushing frantically from th