The National tribune., 1890-07-24

An anxious quarter of an hour passed, which
| seemed almost day. We feared that the sur
would go down while we waited. Gen. Foster;
impatience increased visibly every minute
At last he would wait no longer, and his bugle
| rang out FOrwardP % which was taken up ali
along the line. and We advanced, with oul
guns at a "ready."
We had gone about 100 yards, when we saw
Maj. Stevenson returning, accompanied by an.
other rebel officer wearing the eagle of 9
Colonel.
Maj. Stevenson introduced him to Gen. Eos
| ter as Col. III. M. Shaw, of the 9th N. c., and
be came at once to the point with the state
| ment--
II give up my sword to you, sir, and sur
| render 5000 men,"
The scene that ensued passes description
Everybody, seemed to have gone crazy. Who
| ever could erow,-and never imagined that SO
| many men could successfully initiate O rooster,
set to "cock. a. doodle-doo ing" with all his
might. Many turned somersaults, and stood on
] their heads. Job and Quin started to hug each
| other and then began wrestling match, and
Ian lifted up his musical baritone with grand
| power in
| Praise God. from whom all blessings flow.
| Praise Him, all creatures here below
| and 500 manly voices Joined him in the thanks
| giving TO the God of Battles.
We marched to where the rebels were and
| received their arms from them. Messengers
arrived from other parts of the island, reporting
| that the victory was complete All the forts
and batteries were in the hands of our men,
the rebel vessels--all but one, which was
| grounded and now burniug-had run away,
and were being holly pursued by our ships.
AT Jobs suggestion our squad struck off down
road in search of house and something to
| eat. After going couple of miles we came to
fairly good cabin, before which stood mid
dIe,aged woman and brood of children, all
with an eager look on their faces.
"Howdy, strangers" said the woman, as we
came in front of the door. whats the idee
of all this bummn' an shootn' that's been
| agwine on down the road for the last two
days2"
"The idee, ma'am," answered Job, ais that
| the Union soldiers have licked the stuffin' out
o. these rebels round here, an taken the whole
bilin' of en- prisoners"
"Sho, ia that fack?"
It's as true "a the Gospel" asserted Job.
Well Pm powerful glad on It," she an
swered frankly. "Pm glad sometimes hap
| pened to EN-. An ornrier set o. skunks never
drawed the breath o. life. They've stole every
shoat l had on the place. an MIXED my
| COW regular, so that / haint been able to git a
drop from her sence they've been the island
10 like to pound the heads often the whole
caboodle of 'em.'
Job opened negotiations with her for sup
per. She knew nothing about paper money
wouldn't tech IL, for her husband used ter say
that it was all either counterfeit or the banks d
busteh," but finally agreed to get us up a meal
| in consideration of 25 cents apiece in silver
which we managed to scrape up among us.
She had her boys kill some chickens and she
baked us bountiful supply of corn hoe. cakes
aud sweet potatoes, from which | made the
most enjoyable meal | over ate. IL was
delicious change from the diet we had been
subsisting on for the past month. After supper
we Suddenly became so tired that the thought
of moving another step was painful. The
idea of making our way back to camp
was iDtolerable. At little distance from the
house was shed half.fil with blades and
tops OF corn. We crawled into IL, removed our
shoes aud belts, and lay down. Beds of down
were never so inviting, and in a minute or two
we were obHvious to all earthly trials and tri
umphs. We were undisturbed through the
night, had breakfast of hoe cakes fried
chicken and sweet potatoes baked in the ashes,
and then sought camp where l am now pen
ming these lines
A congratulatory order by Gen. Burnside has
just been read to us, which, after praising every
body for courage and good scholarship, says that
We have captured six forts, 40 cannon. 1900
smailarms, aud about 1900 prisoners. We have
lost 81 killed and ISL wounded small loss for
40 great gain. The rebels lost fully as many
"a we did in killed and wounded. Besides we
have inflicted blow upon them that will
make the whole acoursed Southern Confed-
eracy reel.
Dearest mother, my heart swelIs with pride
over 1t all. | am proud of myself, for sue
cceded in doing my duty, and arm very proud
OF my comrades. Job. Ian, Quin, Herman,
Cad aud Web are the noblest, bravest fellows
that ever lived. How much wish you could
have seen how splendidly they behaved all the
time.
Your affectionate son, TRACY.