Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-01-17
THE SALDAGNlA GHOSTS.
GEORGE ". HosuER IN HARPER's wEEKLT.

drove the gray fellows from pillar to post,
the stone walls there making exceedingly
tough defences, we came to one very Oad
place in the line. There was a little ola
Stone farm house inside the angle formed
bV two stone walls, the house being on oar
side of the fence Gray infantry fired at
us over both lines OF wall; but our fellows
to the right AID left soon got an entilading
fire along the other side of both walls, and
the infantry there skipped, but the fellows
in the house held on. We could see that
they would be supported III order To stop
our headway, for we were close upon the
heels Of retreating division. There were
evidently as many fellows in the house as
il was convenient to have there; and our
artillery wa not handy Some of our Tel
lows got axes and battered the door down,
but fell in front of it. And then there was
a critical moment. Inside was cool and
resolute crowd of old rebs, every man with
his gun pointed at the doorway ana his
finger on the trigger, all resolved that the
first-com should pay for the house.
who'll draw that firef' said the cap
tain.
~ will" said Talbot, of our right COM
pany-a bright STRIPPING of fellow, slight,
handsome, and very daring.
'Bayonets, boys" said the captain; and
the fellows inside the house could hear the
Jingle of the steel as we fixed bayonets as
plainly as we could ourselves, and under
stood what was up, and made ready for It,
"Now, then, Talbot" said the captain; and
Talbot dashed forward at run, and up the
two little steps into the doorway. But on
the second step he put his foot into pool
of blood that had come from one of the
men killed there, and slipped, so
that his figure was for one brief
instant upright in the doorway, and
he fell with his face to the door
But every trigger inside was pulled at the
instant he was seen in the aperature, and
because he fell they all fired over him. AS
the sound of the volley ceased, the captain
shouted Forward" and our boys went III
with rush, and we had the house. Talbot
had not scratch, but this fact did not de
tract from his glory, for he had gone as II
TO certain death. From this incident, and
others not unlike il that occurred from time
TO time, we came to know what KIND of
fellow Talbot was; and when there was
any tough Job in hand, we were very apt
to imagine TALBOT as one especially fitted
to do it. There grew around him an at.
mosphere of this sort of opinion, and this
atmosphere went with him in his promo.
ton all the way up to the division staff. 1t
seemed, therefore, very natural thing
when the general said one night, "Send
Talbot to find those fellows"
This was in May, 1863. We had retreat :
ed from the south side Of the Rappahan-
mock River Just why VIC had retreated,
nobody knew then, and probably nobody
knows now We had the First, Second,
Third Sixth, and Twelfth corps all i'll good
fighting trim. Stonewall Jackson's corps
had collided with our Eleventh Corps, and
hurt il; but even if the Eleventh Corps had
been annihilated We had magnificent
army without it. Yet the army had re
treated, aud our division, which had had
no fighting, had lost brigade somehow.
Either in the haste of the movement orders
were not sent to that brigade, or the man
bearing the order had been killed on the
way by chance shot. We only knew
when our division went into camp on the
north side of the river that the Third Brig
ade was not with us. Brigades We're not
very large then, but they were good. Hard
fighting and hard marching all the year be-
fore had worked us down to fine point; so
that what was left of the old force was OF
the best quality, and the recruits sent to
us had been judieiously spread through
veteran regiments, and the force was pretty
even. There were at least 1900 good fellows
in the lost brigade, and an effort to com
municate with them before the enemy
learned of our retreat had to be made.
This was the service upon which Talbot
was sent that night As he rode away
over the pontoon-bridge on his hardy bay,
the officer asked him to try and pick up a
couple of his fellows who were astray
somewhere-Major Ingersoll and Lieuten-
ant Crane; but we all feared that the pick
ing up had been done by the enemy, and
that Talbot was only one more good man
to he added to those lost by this mis-
chance. From the bridge 10 Catharne
Furnace, near where the regiment mad
been left, was good seven miles; part OF
the way by fair roads. That part was easy
enough. From any hole by the road side a
hidden rebel might have taken a chance
shot at the single officer without fear of
discovery or punishment, but there was
seldom any danger OF that sort in Virginia.
Talbot went safely and easily enough until
he could not keep in the road, and then his
trouble began. Occasionally he came bolt
up against an abandoned wagon, crippled
by having been driven into n mud hole; two
or three times he was nearly plunged over
his horses head by the ANIMALS sudden de
scent into the road side ditch 10 avoid
some obstacle in the road unseen by his
rider. It seemed the darkest night the
world had ever known. There was dense
opacity in tho air that was not diminished
by the littlest ray of light from any source
whatever, and that human vision could NJ
more penetrate than it could blacl
marble wall Not glimIner Of road side
fire showed anywhere. Not Il dim candle
from negro hut was visible. There Wa
neither moon nor stars, and that genera
reflection from the whole heavens whicl
sometimes lessons the total gloom of ba'
| nights was not on duty. Talbot, having
| the ordinary proportion Of human natur
| in him, did not neglect the opportunit.
| afforded by the occasion for a dress parnd
of maledictions, involving in them his owl
| ill-lucS, the military system of marching
up hill only to march down again, tn
Southern Confederacy, and the nights @
| 'the sunny South" lie did, however, &c
on for perhaps three miles, and then h
| discovered that he was of the road. OI
dinarily horse may be relied upon t
keep in the road, but even this trait G
equine sagacity has no value in war. Ma
| depends npon the horse in this particula
because the horses instinct teaches hin
the way to his home In war he has II
home. If even his instinct as to the r0a
is OF any value apart from the relation G
| the road To his home, war, in our conntr
at least, s0 nearly obliterates ronds tha
even the kccnest instincts might be q
fault. In that country there We're alway
| i LII