The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-04-03
A STORY OF THE WAR.
PLUNKETT RELATES INCIDENTS
ALONG THE OHIOKAHOMINY.

ALONG THE OHIOKAHOMINY.
J He Tells Of the Signal Service and of tn,
! Balloons Used by McOlelland in Front
of Richmond.
From the atlanta Constitutional
During the war they didn't have
none of these telephones like they have
now, but they had er way of talking
to each other by signs"
So said Plunkett, as the group haG
quieted by the ireside. Scratching hi
head and tossing his hat over on 8
little shelf. he continued:
Il was up to Atlanta and I over.
heard youngster talking to er girl
through er telephone, and it made me
think Of how things have changed
since the days along the Chickahomi
ny when old Mcclellan was trying to
take Richmond.
There wasn't no telephones, nor nc
telegraph wires, mother, erlong that
gloomy old river, but they sent mes.
sages mighty fast, and they done it by
signs. There was fellers stationed er.
long on high places three and four
miles apart, all the length of the bat.
tie lines, and in er second, by the din
of er white handkerchief, they would
pass word for miles. These fellows
were called the signal corps gang, and
if it hadn't er been for them I don't
know how johnson and Lee would
have got erlong, for old Mcclellan
had ten thousand balloons, and he
would put er fellow onto one of 'em
and send him up, and he could see for
miles and miles with his telescope.
They didn't turn the balloon loose
then like they do at these expositions,
but they had them tied with a strong
rope, and windlass like is on a we'll,
that let 'em go up and held 'em there
and wound 'em down when they had
seed as much as they wanted to see.
Every old soldier seed these bal
looms Of the Yankees, and hated 'em,
too, and they all seed the signal fell
lows, but the youngsters that talk
through telephones don't know moth
ing erbout 'em. 1t was Just a white
piece of cloth tied to stick that they
used to give their signs with. For in
stance, the young fellow at the tele-
phone the other day lowed to the
girl:
"'Hellow, hellow, what? Hellow,
heliow, what you say? Is that your
Hellow, hellow, they cut me off: Hell
low, hellow, what? Central, connect
blank, blank, with blank, blank,
please. Hellow? Is that you? Ha!
ha! ha! ha! ha! Yes, ha! ha! ha! ha!
ha! Good bye.
"Now, all in the world he said to
that girl was goodbye and one of
them signal fellows could have done
that by a quick dip of his handker-
chief to the right and sent it twenty
miles in ten seconds, but them young
sters was courting, know, and that
makes 'em slow to get through with
each other.
II never will forget the commotion
that was caused at one of these signal
platforms-for the fellows we're put
up on little platforms-one day dur
ing Of the seven days fight.
"The flag dipped to the right, then
in front, then to the left, and back to
the right again.
Where is President Davis at this
moment?' was the sign.
"The officer says in answer:
"'At Gaines Mill
"This only took dip or two of the
white rag, and in er minute there
came another message, which only
took er dip or two Of the rag, and it
put things to moving.
"'Send courier in haste. He will
be ambushed on his route TO the pom
toon bridge
"You ought to have seed that cour-
ier move, and one of the signal fellows
lowed that it was no place for Presi
dent to be, nohow, but they didn't am
bush old JEFF; the courier caught him
at the mill, and the course of his route
was changed, and it didn't take them
signal fellows as long to save this great
man as it did this youngster at the
telephone to tell the girl goodbye.
THAT Chickahominy was er bad,
bad place, l tell you. 1t was in the
days when there WAS no peace between
pickets. They didn't swap tobacco
for coffee, and say, how are you yank,
or how are you Johnny Reb, erlong
them lines. A fellow had to keep be-
hind something, and keep mighty
close. You could put your hat on
your bayonet and stick it out and
three or four bullets would hit it be-
fore you could say Jack Robinson.
Sharp shooters were everywhere, and
it's of two of these I want to tell you
erbout.
"For several days man after man
was shot on the Confederate side, and
the sharp shooters place of conceal
ment had not been spotted. At last
one of the Confeds decided that a.
snon as darkness come agin he would
try TO make it to er big log that lay
between the two lines, and 80 the next
day he would have a better chance to
observe up and down the line. No
sooner than dark come than the Con-
federate started for his log. He got
there by crawling and creeping and
never cracking stick.
cat sunrise the next morning the
Confederate was sDugly planted be-
hind the big log, but he was horror
stricken to discover that the fellow
who had been doing the killing of his
comrades for seven days was just on
Tho o&har o:1o IF tho eo no L., eCl>-