The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-02
War MEMORIES.
OLD SOLDIERS VISITING THEIR BATTLE
GROUNDS.


In Most Instances Make the His,
tOric Ground Tnrec0S izable...
Otiier Places SHOW Plainly the Ri.
n" Pits and Evidences Of War.
In our last we give yau Il sketch of our trip
to Gaines Mill and MrChanlcsyille battle
ground. Wemrrved in Richmond from the
battle fields lute in the afternoon expecting
to run over TO Petersburg. That night, and
take in the line of works the next dny. We
did not reach Petersburg until after mid
night. We found the town so crowded that
we could not find lndsng for the balance OF
sci yes to the situation. Some of us took the
soltest place We could find on the floor Of the
| hotel.
| General Hcmphill secured more cle-
waited position on the top of Il desk, but not
much more comfortable and less chance to
chanee position.
desk that was not long enough TO make 1t
comfortable, however We passed the balance
Of the night the best we could.
The impression left OH the minds OF our
party was this, Petersburg was deficient In
hotel accommodation. We thought there was
too few hotels for the size Of the town. 4
new hotel Is In process Of erection that will
| he crcdi BILE to the town when completed.
| The next morning we secured Il conveyance
with driver and guide aud started out 10
visit some OF the battle fields near town. We
| first visited the cemetery, and spent few
minutes In the Blnntord Church which is
one OF the oldest Landmarks of the town,
built many years ago. All the fnterlal is TAX
en- out No floor. no sash, the brick walls are
| In good state Of preservation, also the roof.
suppose the old structure is Kept as relic
Of former days, as A a landmark % Of some his
we visited the Crater, ON Hans hill, where
Grants troops undermined our line OF works
and blew up our men. The Crater Is plainly
feet from the top OF the mound, some eighty
by forky feet In diameter is all there, and Is to
be seen. The tunnel the federals dug hhs
down the hill side. The breast works OF the
federais were eighty yards from the crater.
| They started the tunnel behind the line of
works in o ravne so that our men could not
see what they were up TO.
| The Conlederates suspected something was
going on, but could not discover what IL was.
They, sunk two or three pits some twenty-five
feet deep to cut of the tunnel ifany such was
going on, but did not &c deep enough. The
charge OF powder was forty feet under
ground, so the party told MS that lives at the
told me that the charge was l25 feet under
ground. Think he was mistaken. Can't
| remember what history places 1t at. Several
tons of powder were used to explode the
| mine.
There Is u post set just inside Of our earth
| works showing the exact line the federals
advanced to. II was only few yards inside
of the line. The Confederate troops rallied In
| Il few minutes and rc-captured the line, deal
| ing destruction TO the enemy.
| Near the crater a small house Is used rs n
| IuNSSuIll. lHc party OWlIIS Ilc ltllu CUlccl-
ed such relics as could be found on the land,
such as shells. fragments, Of shells, minnie
balls, swords bayoncts, guns, &c.
| We saw two minnie balls firmly mashed to.
gether, they had evidently met in the air and
| became one mass, an occurrence suppose that
| rarely ever happened.
The line OF works from the crater toward
the Weldon railroad, have nearly all been lev
eled down so far rs we could see. Near tho
railroad and West the earthworkS are In u
good state of prese rvation, the works was
strongly built and will remain for ages unless
| they are e1eled down.
That portion OF the line occupied by Me-
! Gowans brigade in the summer OF 1861, still
| stands with little change. From this part OF
| the linc we drove on IN the direction OF Star
| Fort as battery IL. This was a heavy earth
work on n hill commanding II large scope Of
country. The guns were heavy field pieces,
and could have done good service II the enc
my had come In range.
The next place of interest was the man.
moth dam built by the Confederates In the
| fall of 1854, n small stream was smade 10 do Us
4 service, by building Il dam Of logs, brush,
and earth, the water was backed for some
distance, which protected MS from an attack
direct IN front.
There is a new rail road graded along this
| stream, we did not learn what road IL was.
| Fort Gregg was built on The hill north OF this
place. The fort is still standing. We halted
IN the road near the fort and went out TO see
IL. There is not much 10 be seen now. This liz
the place that troops from Mississippi made
such Il heroic resistance. OH Sunday morning
April, 2nd 1855.
From Fort Gregg we PASSED on TO the Jones
farm. Situated about three miles from Peters,
burg, some of us were anxious 10 see the place
once more, as II was more impressed on our
minds than many other batt!c fields,
On September 30th, 1854, the federals made
an advance and drove in our cavalry, and
occupied the Jones house and established
their lines near by. Lanes, North Carolina
and another command forgotten. were detailed
to drive them back 10 their original line. The
advance was made late in the evening. The
federaS stayed 10 give Us one volley and fed
in the widest disorder. MrGowan and Lanes
men moved forward in fine style, and OPEN
ed OH the demoraliZea mass, and piled the
ground with their bodies. We charged through
the open field, and encountered u second line
of battle drawn up in the pines beyond the
open ground. This line fought stubbornly.
but was finally broken and scattered. They
retrcatcd Though pine field and swampy
ground TO the Pegram house, and took up
new POSI- ion Just in the rear OF the Pegram
house. We had now driven them near mile
In confusion to ihis point w where % they were were
bprS. In this charge Leutenants Lewis and
Bollison was killed; Captains Pratt and Hal.
comb W .unded. The loss In Orr's Rifles was
about forty men in killed and wounded; we
were quartered near this battle field all the
winter of 'Gl and '65 and our picket line was
on the same ground. When wewere In about
identity the ground. The appearance has
changed very little. The grove that was
around the house, (before 1t was destroyed)
Is partly there yet The open field TO the left
of the church road, and the ravine or swamp
where we formed line OF battle seems to have
changed very little.
by the way, around the old Jones house
place was the first cotton we saw growing in
Virginia On this farm and the Pegram and
BoiSson farm was all we saw planted. -.
AS we passed through our old line OF works
we could see the ground where We went into
winter quarters in l$6i. Time would not per-
NIT us to revisit oil the old tramping grounds
that we would like 10 have visited, so we pass
ed on TO the Pcgram farm, where the federals
were strongly entrenched during the winter
of lS6i, just in rear OF the Pegram house, they
built Fort Fisher and Fort Pegram. The works
Around the Pesram hoas" the country has
changed so much, that II was almost impos-
sihlc 10 locate the ground. \ new house has
heeh built near the old site but nearer the
Jones farm. When we first saw the house now
standing we thought we could locate the
exact spot where we fought, but when we
were told that the old house stood some dis
tance farther back we acknowledged that we
were badly deceived, and did not say much
more about going on o!d battle fields, anu
locating certain places.
From the Pcgram house we followed the
line of earth works Tor about one mi le In tho
direction OF Tie Weldon rail road. The rifle
pits of the icGe"aiS can still he seen plainly.
We did not have time lo Visit other places
OF interest, Lhrough Ibis part of the country,
but hurried back tO Petersburg In time 10 re-
turn lu Richmond al , O'Clock L. NJ.
l;riwrcn Petersburg and Richmond we saw
no Si.lS uf The war. The forests have grown
au 50 ihick that nuLhing could be Seen
:llnn" tic line OF rail road.
Thr next day We visited the battle grounds
ni seven Pines W Ill give You some noes on
4 his historic field later. RER.