Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-06-21
CAMPFIRE STORIES.
FOOTBALLS IN THE WILDERNESS
A Victim of the War whose Fato Stil |
nnmnts IIer Innocent SInYcr.


mer seeks new road to Richmond
Amidst dense thickets in lonely fields,
along narrow highways, in the somber
forests, a hundred thousand men have
fought backwards and forwards, from
sun to sun, and now the night has come
to shift the scene. There are 5000 men
lying dead on this battle ground. There
are thousands more lying wounded
rarching with thirst, crying out in their
agony. Lee still blocks the road, but
no sooner has the sun gone down than
Grant begins movement by the left
flank to pass him. If you can not cross
swamp you must pass around it. My
division is one left between the two
armies to hide this movement. When
morning comes we shall be far in the
rear The ground where we rest is
broken. There is forest and thicllet-a
narrow highway-a creell-two or three
small farms with their buildings filled
with wounded men. Fifty rods in front
of a log house is our picket line 1t
skirts the cleared land and runs away
into the darker woods on a straight
line. The neutral ground between us
and the enemy is strip not over forty
rods wide.
At ten o'clock on this night. when the
confusion and turmoil have grownq quiet,
but while lanterns flash here and there
through the woods, as men search for
the wounded, am left on post No. -
for the coming two hours. My place is
under pine tree which stands in the
cleared ground, and all along the front
is the dark forest-so dark that white
horse might stand within one hundred
feet of me and escape observation. 1t is
y starlight night, but clouds are drift
ing across the sky and the wind comes
in that gusty way which warns you that
a storm is brewing at distance.
For an hour there is no alarm. Grant
Is moving by the flank. Lee is meving
line to mask his movement. Lee has
left line to mask his 1t has been a
long, terrible day. Darkness brings
respite grateful to all. We have viz
tually said TO each other over the nsa-
tral ground:
''Let US alone and we won't disturb
you"
AT eleven o'clock a noise in the dark
woods in front sends my blood leaping.
1t was the noise of footsteps breaking
dry twigs. There are wounded horses
wandering about, but this was not the
footstep of horse. Wounded men may
be seeking our lines but listen in vain
to catch groan or a low call of distress.
"Step. Step! Step!'
The sound is on my left front. Some
one is moving to get the shelter of the
darker spot directly opposite he is
moving carefully, but l can follow every
foot of progress.
step! Step! (HaltD Step. stepr ISL
lenceD
Is it a ghoul seeking out the dead and
wounded to rob them? Is it picket
from the other line seeking to locate
are? Is it some human devil seeking to
dabble his hands in blood after the hor-
rors of the day? Men who had brothers
or friends killed In battle by daylight
sometimes swore fearful vengeance, and
went out upon the bloody field at night
to secure it.
Rustic! Step! (HaltD Step! Stepr
Coming closer!)
If | raise an alarm here it will go up
and down the line and arouse thousand
men in moment. If l let this un-
known approach me may be assassin
ated. He can not see me in this gloom,
but he is slowly approaching in direct
line.
Halt! Who goes there?"
Deep silence.
If he was a straggler from our lines or
a wounded man he would make answer.
step! Step!" And now hear him
sink down to the earth.
who goes there?"
Silence.
"Who goes there?"
Silence.
1 am waiting with musl1et raised and
finger on the trigger. have given fair
warning. Friend could ask no more,
and an enemy mast realize his danger.
AS l wait something makes blot on
the darkness. 1t is only few feet
away, and fire point-blank. There is
one long shrill scream of agony, and
hear body fall to the earth, and then
there is deep silence for moment.
"What Is it?" ask the coporal of the
guard as he hurries up from the reserve
stationed scarcely one hundred feet in
the rear.
''There-I've shot some onew
The alarm runs up and down tho lines
to die away after five minutes, and then
we advance to the object. The corporal
is there first. He reaches out to touch,
it draws back in alarm, and gasps:
Great Heavens, but you have shot
woman"
1t was true. Some poor soul, crazed
by the terrible sounds of battle-driven
from her humble home-hiding in some
thicket until darkness came. Then,
dumb as the trees around her, butguided
by instinct, she sought to make her way
back to the house-no doubt the very
hut filled with our wounded and suffer-
ing men. And she was dead at my feet
dead of my own bullet.-Detroit Free
Press.
GATHERING CABBAGES.
An Adyenture of Two Soldiers inside