The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-05

warm; yet it was late in the afternoon
when we were, for second time. the head
tear up. BY this time there were
two inches of snow upon the
ground. and we went into camp in the
woods Fires were quickly built, the
wretched shelter tents were pitched and hot
coffee drunk. Then came an order to turn
out and march three or four miles and tear
up the last section of track-as near a fort
on the line could go without a fight.
Three miles through the binding snow,
which filled ill-fitting shoes, while the wind
benumbed the fingers and arms which bore
the muskets, was an experience that lin
gers in the memory.
There was one scene that dreadful night
which so fixed itself upon the memory that
it is often recalled. We came into an open
field in which. under the lee of the woods,
gone into camp. The half-frozen men not
only carried each a fence rail to make
dozen or more cabins which had been used
for railroad laborers, and set fire to the
whole. The burning was at its height
when we suddenly came upon it by a turn
in the road In the darkness and the fury
of the storm the field seemed an angry sea
Of fire. out of the pillows of which came
Soon we came to the end of the lane,
filed down into a deep cut, posted fiankers
time another three hundred yards of the
torn torn up, its ties set on fire and
ness. Our work of destruction ended, we
marched back by the mouth of that long
deep cut afame with the burning sleepers
and resinoUs fence rails. 1t did not re-
quire an over vivid imagination to picture
1t as the mouth of the Internal regions.
DAYS AND NIGHTS OF HARDSHIP.
1t was after midnight when we reached
the camp in the woods. The fires had
burned out and the shelter tents stools
covered with snow. while the bits of space
under them were wet but eighteen hours
such as had been passed through fitted us
for sleep in any place. Except the few
who had high boots there was not man
whose feet were not water-soalxed. But
all went to sleep, regardless Of the discom-
fort: AS for the tents. sney were simply
trickled down upon the bodies of the ex-
hausted sleepers.
When morning came the snow had ceased
and the temperature had begun to fall pre-
paratory to rain. Every tree was loaded
with snow, aid one sank into it to the tops
was eaten, the shelter tents were shaken
out the damp blankets folded, and by s
OF we fb turned our faces toward the
division had preceded us over the now
melting. snow, leaving to us road which
sacred soil and snow. Taking to the fields
on either side. or the woods, the soldier
sank to to his ankles and his feet
while the pine T trees s''O We epi
ice water on his head. Along in the after liter
noon urlzznng ram began TO fall. There
could be no falling OUT to rest as a
fringe of mounted bushwhackers hung upon
our rear to pick up rather than fight Ii
was ended and we filed into a field covered
| with the melting snow over the soaked
| soil. 1t was dreadful place fo.- human be-
| fence rails were plentiful, and in the dis
lance stacks of straw and corn fodder were
| discovered. These we seized and made use
| of. placing them upon the rails. which were
not necessary for fuel for bedding to keep
| US out of the mud. There was no yen
| spinning that night about those fiickerine
| eaten, and then natures sweet restoreI
came without wooing. In the chill of tn;
| leaden day, while it was yet not quite light
we built fires of the rails used for bedding
| cooked a scanty breakfast and began an.
| other days mud march. The next day
at noon, the weather De5 cleared and becam.
noon we came to the Nottoway river and
| waited until late in the afternoon for oul
| seen at safe distance. and they wert
| shelled, both to keep them at a respectful
| distance and to hasten the marching over
| 1t was after dark when we went into
camp. The ground was beginning to freeze
| q cutting northwest wind swept over the
as they only can when the weather is win
| try. 1t was so cold that half the army
shivered, about the fires, which were fec
| the live-long night, trying to warn feet tina
| had been three days wet. Those who haC
| blankets enough to make sleep possibl,
| often found the. exposed ends frozen int
| the now concealed mud and water. w,
| were glad to be on the rough and foot
| wearying road again, marching a four-mile
that mounted men dismounted and hurried
along on foot BY noon we had marched
the regulation distance for a day; long be
| fore night we passed the flank picket linz
of the Army of Potomac, and soon thu
| smoke of the camps and the headquarterT
| flags greeted our eyes. Another and yet
| another cold and comfortleSS night was
| spent before the men whose clothing and
| OeS had been worn out were got into win
! ter quarters and protected from the winter
weather. We were gone six days. We dig
| not fire a muSket, except at rebel poultry
and pigs, CT see more than a rebel vidette
but we tore UP over twenty miles of the
| Weldon road, destroyed water tanks and
| stations, and thereby made 1t necessary fol-
the supplies from that source for Lees
army to be hauled over mud roads by scanty
trains, feat then almost impossible. II
| was one of the tightening processes by
which General Grant was stranglng the
| Army of Northern Virginia to death.
But why tell this story? There were
scores of expeditions during the ir
which the privation was keerer and the
| suffering longer and more intense. Why
| That the present generation may have
| faint conception of the terrible exposure
| incident to the war-eXposures which have
told in subsequent years in premature dis
ease and broken constitutions. Thousand:
| OF men who were in such expeditions, in
the full vigor of early manhood, were mus
tered out of the service, apparently sounC
| men. Nevertheless the germs of tnSidiou:
| disease fastened themselves in the very
citades of life to burst into vigorou:
growth few years later. Thousands o.
such men were as thoroughly disabled
from the results of the exposure OF sucf
expeditions as if they had been WOUNDED
in battle or were broken with camp dis
ease Men cannot live a week with we
feet and limbs, sleep on the wet ground
suffer from intense cold, do three days
work in one upon insufficient food, withou
paying the penalty SCORER or later. Thou
sands of such men have become old anC
incapacitated for full labor at forty-iv'
( years of age but, having had no hospita
record. AID not being abe to trace tnel
disabiiity-back TO the service, they faile(
to receive pensions until the passage o
the law Of 1890 Scores of such men, Wh'
can tell of experiences like this, are seel
on the streets daily, bearing the marks o
| premature age. In five years they hav'
I aged ten and lost the vitality of twenty
| because they cannot trace their disabilit,
| directly to the exposure of Weldon rail
| road raid inconsiderate people declare tina
! they have no right TO pensions when n,
names can more worthily adorn that rol
| of honor.
The Question of Introductfons.