The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-15

and some of which were unknown to
me, and when became conscious
again 1T was next morning. and l was
In my unclc's cot, and he was lust
rising from his blanket on the floor of
the tent, which was of split oak sap
lings. The next day we rode over the
Dattle fields in company with my uncle
and his staff, while the dead were be-
ing buried under n flag of truce. l re-
call, however, that while we were ut
breakfast the reports of two cannon
following each other in rapid success
sion came booming from toward the
town, and after a brief discussion as to
what 1T might mean my uncle ordered n
young staff officer to ride at once and
see what it was. He had just sat down
to breakfast, which was good one, for
we had brought up boxes the day be-
fore, but he rose immediately and in q
minute was off at full gallop He is
now the right reverend bishop of West
Virginia, tut always think of him as
he galloped away so bravcly in uniform
that morning. When he returned he
reported that Burnside was taking up
his pontoons. l shall never forget our
ride that day, and the picture of the
battle field and the town is one which l
shall never lose; the roads filled with
refugees afloat as we'll as in every con-
ceivable vehicle; their families and
household gear packed together indis-
criminatcly; the roads almost bottom
less and Uttered up with stuff dropped
or thrown out in the exodus of the past
few days; fragments Of vehicles, house
fnrnttt,r.n ~,
playing cards, everything.
remember my brother and were
both on sorrcl horse belonging to my
uncle, COL Nelson, riding behind, and
on top of bank, coming suddenly on
dead horse and soldier lying as they had
been shot in the bushes, he SHE'D down
the bank and dropped us both off. We
We're soon up again, however. not mind
ing the fall, but little shalsy over the
CHASTITY sight in the path above our
heads. This, however, was nothing to
what we were to see. The dead men
had nearly all been taken up, and were
buried in long trench or trenches
stretching across sort of common. But
saw more dead horses than had ever
seen alive, and as we rode along the
places where the fight had ragged fiercest,
we had abundant evidence of what had
been there. remember at Mary's
Heights seeing the fragments of the gun
which had exploded while Gen. Lee
stood close by it. At the foot of the
heights seventeen men of Mearhcr's
brigade had fallen in five minutes. /
remember that railroad-cut along
the road was said to have lain in
the direct line of fire and to have been
almost filled with dead. A little or
chard WAS whipped into fragments, and
plank fence behind which line had
lain was shivered into splintcrs from
one end to the other.
Unless had seen it I would not have
believed that men could bleed so much.
1t looked as if barrels of blood had been
poured upon the ground along that
fence. AS we rode into town the scene
bcggarcd description. Earthworks and
barricades had been thrown up by the
union troops to shelter themselves from
the rolling fire which poured from the
heights above them. l remember GILL
drcn were at work with fire shovcls fill
ing up the trenches and on one Garth
work tiny confederate flag was plant
ed, and the youngsters mounted on the
red embanlincnt checrcd rs we rode by
The houses were riddlcd and battered
by bullet and shot, and the church stec-
pic had several cannon balls through it.
All of this was vivid enough to me
as | rode the same road through the
same country and town so many years
afterward. We could tell the place
where my fathers camp had been by
hn Af no IL Al
little else to show that one among the
greatest battles of history had been
fought here and that every turf be-
meath the feet was soldiers sepulcher.
The town lay SO peaceful and quiet that
it justified my fathers speech that the
only signs he saw were in the cemetery
Yet how history has tramped these
quiet hills Here ut Fredericksburg it.
self, there away 10 the westward few
miles, where jackson executed his fa-
nous flank movement, which nothing
but gcnius could have conceived, and
nothing but genius could have per-
formed. and doubling up lockers wing
marched beyond the stars, with the
name and fame of Stonewall Jackson
dead on the field of glory at the age of
thirty-ninc. Just back of us is the Will
dcrncss, and there is Spottsylvania
Court House, where Lee and Grant met
in that long struggle which was to give
them both fame, and end only when
Lee, having failed to drive Grant back
across the Rappahannocls, bat having
wedgcd him south of Richmond with a
loss of moro men than lie himself had in
the field, met him at Appanattox in
that interview when the dignity of the
conquered was almost to eclipse the
fame of the conqucror. Poor rs the
country seems it is rich with memories
of our race.