The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1888-01-12
aE FIELD OF FAIR OAKS,
4 Thrifty Farmer Srre ,iatss in Soldiers
Skulls ani Relics.


Skulls and Relics.
The condition OF she battle-ground of
Seven Pines and Fair Oaks is I disgrace
20 the citizens of Virginia and the na-
lion at large bores of those VINO died
In thas bloody conflict are scattered
thickly on the surface of the ground,
ard If the facts were told, maav of the
stones which stand in the National
Cemetery of Seven Pines, within Z quar-
ter OF a niiie of whore many men who
wore the blue and gray fell, mark -
most empty graves.
1t would be hard for any one who had
not gone over the ground OF enc of the
hottest battles ever fought to believe
that twcniy-four years afterwards the
bones of the slain lie half hidden by
leaves and brush by the score, and yet
sucil is :he case. The thcatcr of the
great but undecisiye struggle at Seven
Pines has been turned into place where
few men can reap financial profit BY
guiding visitors to the spot where skulls
protrude from the ground and where all
that remains Of many bravo lads who
are numbered among the missing lie.
1t is difficult to escaps the guides, bu:
it pays the visitor to make his own way
over the field of battle. He DOES not
follow the beaten path in which these
Shy gain money by exhibiting the bones
Of the boys who died amid the roar of |
cannon and the rattle Of musaetry take |
their victims. and he gains for himself |
positive information OF the actual coz |
iition Of things.
A Sunday Ncps correspondent, In |
company with W. IL Barrett and Mich |
sel Fogartv, of Philadelphia. and NJ C. |
Thorton, of Wisconsin, slipped away
from these guides and were Mortified e, |
cha. they found. Under the leaves
and twigs and amid the thick brush of |
oak and pines, which has sprung I'D /
during the last twenty years. the bones
Of many brave men were found. They
aad answered 10 the order TO charge the
batteries which stood on the other sido
Of the pioughed field and had laid down
heir lives ere the outer iatrenchmant
:as taken. As night fell on the 30,h |
.ay of May, 1862, many OF the boys
@siled TO answer the roi!-cal and were
placed among the missing. 1t was q
partly cultivated tield taen. Now pines
twenty feet in liei ght cover the bloody
ground and even stand on The Lresst-
works from behind which the rebel can.
lcns be!ched forth death, and whers
si.e marks .: the wheels OF the artillery
are still visible Ytc bones OF MANY OF
lie fallen sill lie tl!ere. although the |
fgg which flies from the stat in tie |
s,:yen Pines Cemetery is within sight.
Whether those bones were clothed in
the bius or The gray ID unknown, but
niahy men are ready 10 testify ti,a. who
ever MAS iatrusted with the duty Of col
iecting those bones has failed in his
tfusL
The reason for tho failure is manifest
The fact Ina. tho bones still lie there at
tracts Eany people 70 the field of car
Rage. aud every one that falls into the
clutches of tba guides raUst pay his toll. :
4 I;.riy OF tyser,y-one, which included
several mon from Philadelphia and
Jicinity, had 20 pay 1926 for walking
behind 4 guile ior an hour. This samo
guide owns 7G0 acres of the land upon
which Tie battle was fought Ec began
by purchasing one acre, for when he
pad 81. Ihs same price was paid for
tie remainder OF the ground which he
has bought and every cent of the money
WAS ex:ortcd from Northern visitors to
The battlefield. lie was ordered by the
G0ye:nmens to p;ck up all the bones.
1isinter the buried soldiers and see that
hey were removed 10 the cemetery Just !
across the road. Instead Of doing SO he
aas placed skulls and other bones of the
lead in various places and guides the
TisItors by beaten paths TO these spots.
.it- never takes them tiIrOI;rh the tb;ckat
Another dodge OF this man Lynne is 10 u
ind battered musket bali on the
:rouEd anu sell it to The yisisor for fifty
'euts if he can. aud for ton cents if be
IAN got no more. The balls are drop
,ed by him.when the visitor is not look
1g, and picked up when he is looking.
-Rici:h.oaG Letter 10 Ihlladel2kta
,ags.