New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-18
WAR MEMORIES.


,ssa1sss Published by the Commandery. Vol l.
svo. pp 43s Cincinnati Robert Clarke g. Co.
These papers were read at various times before
the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion Ihey
embody personal "reminiscences OF war incidents
and events. For the most part they are without
prctenson to literary style or finish beng the SIM
nile straightforward recitals OF eye-wltncsses gen
orally of q strongly practical turn Yet there Is
surprising proportion OF sterling literary ma'erai
IN the volume and If art be sometimes wahtihs III
the narratives the naturalness when IS pe'tei
than art more than compensates for 1t. Inc choicc
Of subjects is free and extended. sometimes uhcro
is careful description OF great BATTLE like ,na'
Tho hattie Of Winchester, by First Lieutenant
NJ L. Hawkins. Then comes an interesting anu
Intelligent discussion of such an important mat
Ter as military small arms such as captain oaniu'
r. Smiths paper. Again we have picturesque
and graphic account Of Marching Across Carolina
nv General NJ. T. Force. Captain A. G. kemper
writes an appreciative and striking biographical
.hotch Of Brigadier- General William Haines
Ivtle. and also contributes o poem en-
titled 1.-THE Night After the Battle
IN which the thoughts Of Federal ohicer
living mortally wounded on the field are expressed
with lofty patriotism and in melodious verse Ihls
poem is based upon actual incident OF the war IT.
lated at the beginning of it. Major Lewis NJ Hosea
nnalrzes the Campaign of Selma General joshua
II Rates rccounts "Ohios Preparations for the
o Uor, Lieutenant Asa r. Isham writes about
Tbrouob the Wilderness to Richmond" Captain
w. E. Crane, under the heading Bugle Blasts
gives some stirring cavalry experiences, lhcludins
Kilpatrick's Raid Colonel Robertson follows the
march of the boys in blue From the Wllderness
TO Spottsyvania" ; Surgeon Il. +. Stevenson mar
rates the story of the occupation and Abandonment
of Cumberland Gap under General Morgan; zap
tain Owen Rice talks about the doings of the Elev
enth Army Corps at Charlottesville; and captain
James R. Carnahan does his best to soften the re-
verse Of Chickamauga by vivid picture OF the per-
sistent gallantry shown by the Federal troops on
that bloody field.
Tn the course of these inartifcial essays the
reader will encounter many wonderfully strong
touches of description and many flashes of light
thrown upon the material side of war For down.
right realism for ar exposure of the discomfort
which in a thousand forms surrounds the cam
paign. and which would be intolerable but that
the ever-present danger of death dwarfs all minor
considerations, take this extract showing what
cavalry march is like.
@There is nothing particularly exciting or de-
lightful in tranping along at trot in a cavalry
column The clouds of dust sent up by the thou
sands of hoof-beats fill eyes, nose and air passages
give external surfaces uniform dirty gray color,
and form such an impenetrable veil that for many
minutes together you cannot see even your hand
before you. Apparently just at the point of i'm
pending suffocation a gentle sigh OF WIND
makes a rift and free breath is in
spired Dust and horsc-hairs penetrate everywhere.
Working under the clothing to the skin, and fixed
by the sweat, the sensation is as though one was
covered by a creeping mass of insects. Accumuia-
Slo in
for their full share, and with the bacon particu-
iary SO thorou. lilly do dirt and horse hairs become
incorporated that no process of cleansing can
remove them" The above is from Lieutenant A.
B. Isham's paper, which also contains still more
realistic passage describing night-halt upon the
site of q recent battle This latter must be read
but can hardly be Transcribed.
powerful piece of description appears in
Colonel Robertson's paper From the Wilderness
TO Spottsylvania,o where it is the task Of the
writer to convey an Ineligible idea of battle
the details of which no participant in it really
saw. Colonel Robertson calls it the most strange
and indescribabc battle in history. battle which
no man saw, and in which artillery useless
and hardly used at all battle fought in dense
woods and tangled brake where manoeuvring
was impossible, where the lines of battle in
visible to their commanders, and whose position
could only be determined by the rattle and roll
and fash of musketry and where the enemy was
also invisible" Impressions of the battles in the
Wilderness must always possess peculiar value
because of the singularity of the conditions and
this paper is remarkably rich IN suggestions.
Nothing can be stranger more difficult to under
stand and picture mentally than this thgrapple
between 100000 men in virtual darkness, this
desperate struggle, costing from / 900 to 10000
hives, fought out without perception on either
side of the entities that were moving rhe-trgger
and gun-lock. The firing guided wholly by
the flashes of the opposing volleys No men were
to be seen. Yet death was everywhere. In no
battle of the War could the courage of the COM
batants have been so severely tried as here. 1t
was Oaly less strain upon the nerves than stand
ing in reserve exposed TO the fire of the enemy.
There are amusing as well as tragic touches IN
the recollectons of the Ohio veterans, and many
of them have been graphically preserved here Thus
in Marching Across Carolina" General Force re-
lates this anecdote Of Sherman: When we ap-
preached Goldsboro General Sherman sent word TO
move wagons out of the road close up the troops
and pass in columns before him. General Schofeld,
1 think also General Cox, stood with General
Sherman and General Blair as the Seventeenth
Corps passed. The men were in motley garb-bare
feet, bare legs tatered coats felt hats, beavers,
straw hats-every known style of head covering
was seem But they marched buoyantly. with pre-
else ranks and elastic tread. General Blair said
See those poor fellows with bare legs General
Sherman said: Splendid legs splendid legs I
would give both mine for any of themr"
General Force tells some amusing stories of
Shermans bummers. He says these foragers
acquired perfect instinct for the ferrcting out of
provisions and good things and that conceament
only sharpened their preternatural powers, of
which the following instance is given: One day
q sergeant went into country house. The planter
and his wife were there. After little talk the
sergeant with great solemnity, asked: Has
any one died here latey?' The planter quickly
said: No, nobody" The sergeant gravely said
" thought somebody had died here" The planter
~ a.