The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-06-08
FOOTBALLS IN the WILDERNESS

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A War Story fold In . Thrilling Manner
by IN Old soldier.
From the Detroit Free Press.
Grant and Lee have had their first bat
tie In the Wilderness, as the former seeks
q new road 10 Richmond. Almost dense
thickets, I'm lonely fields, along marrow
highways, In the somber forests. q hun
dred thousand men have fought back.
wards, and forwards from sun to sun, and
now the night has come to shift the ser
There are 5000 men lying dead on this
battle ground. There are thousands more
lying Misunderstanding with thirst, cry
ing out In their agony. Lee still blocks
the road, but no O has the gone
down than Grant begins q movement by
the left flank to pass him. II you cannot
T . 2 a; :Es%p you % m s"s p1 i:i, around Ss,Ses y;
the two armies to hide this move
ment. When morning comes we
shall be far in the rea The ground
where we rest is broken. There is forest
and thjcket-a narrow highway-a creek
tive or three small farms with their
rods in front OF a log house Is our picket
line. II skirts the cleared land and rum
away into the darker woods OF a straight
line. The neutral ground between US and
the enemy is n strip not W forty rods
At 10 o'clock on this night. when the
confusion and turmoil have grown quiet,
through the woods rs men search for the
wounded, I am left on post No. Z" for
the coming two hours. My place is under
q pine tree which stands in the cleared
ground and all along the front Is q dark
forest-so dark that a white horse might
.A-.u<1 .xss1.sx. I'M 2aAe - 49,. .-l ..-.~.
observation. II Ii a starlight night, but
clouds are drifting across the sky and the
wind comes in that gusty way which warns
you that q storm Is brewing at q distance.
For an hour there is no alarm. Grant Is
moving by the flank. Lee Is moving to
checkmate him. Grant has left a line to
mask his. 1t has been a long, terrible
day. Darkness brings a respite grateful
TO all. We have virtually said TO each
other over the natural ground:
"Let us alone and we won't disturb
YOU"
At II o'clock q noise in the dark woods
In front sends my blood leaping. II was
There are wounded horses wandering
about, but this was not the footstep OF a
horse. Wounded men may be seeking
our lines. bout I listen i'm vain to catch q
groan or a low call OF distress.
.'Step! Step! Stepg
The sound Is on my left front. Some
m Is moving to get the shelter of the
darker spot directly opposite. He is NOV
ing carefully, but I can follow every foot
.Step!. Step! HaltD Step. stepr'
lSilence9
Is il a ghoul seeking out the dead and
wounded to robt them? Is it a picket from
theo other line seeking to locate our posts
and report how far away we r Is IL
some human devil seeking to dabble his
hands i'm blood after the horrors 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 i.
"Rustle! Step! lHaltg Step! Step"
Coming c~loser.l
I'll raise an alarm here it will go up apd
down the line and rot n thousand men
in a moment. II let this unknown APP
proach me | may be assassinated. He
cannot see me in this gloom, but he is
Halt! Who goes there"
Deep silence.
IL he was a straggler from our lines or a
wounded man he would make answer.
"Step! Stepw And now I rear him
sink down to the earth.
"Who goes there"
"Who goes there"
am waiting with musket raised and
finger on the trigger. l have given fair
warming. Friend could ask no more, and
an enemy must realize his danger. As l
wait a something makes a blot i'm the
darkness. 1t is only a few feet away and
l fire point blank. There is one long
shrill scream of agony and | hear a body
fall to the earth, n then there is deep
silence for a moment.
"what Is Il ?" asks the corporal of the
guard as he hurried up from the reserve
stationed scarcely a hundred feet in the
rear.
"There-I've shot some onew
The alarm runs up and down the lines
to die away after five minutes and then
we advance TO the object. The corporal
is there first. He reaches out to touch IL.
draws back in alarm and gasps, "Great
heavens, but you nave shot a woman"
II was true. Some O sou crazed b.
the terrible sounds Of battle-driven from
her humble home-hiding in some thickei
until darkness came. Then, dumb ms the
trees around her. but guided by instinct
she sought to make her way back to the
house-no doubt the very hut filled with
our wounded and suffering men. And
she was dead ut m feet-dead by my owl
bullet,