The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-08-09
MUSIC HATH CHARMS.
d" Yankee Doodle" Worried the Rebs in the
Wilderness and Broke Up Yankee Break

Wilderness and Broke Up Yankee Break
fast.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Our bat
terry, NJ, 9TH u. S. Art, on May 6, 1862, was
ordered into position on the brow of a bar
rem hill. Between our position and the OPP
posite densely -wooded nights there wound
road. Along the bottom of the valley ran
creek. water mill was below us, and it
was a very narrow valley. The wooded
nights were a part of the celebrated Wilder
ness, and had been in hotly-contested posses
SION the evening previous; but the Johnnies
had so far had the best of it, and our boys
| had been driven back to the very edge of
| the woods.
There were IS guns, or three batteries, in
n row, ours being on the right aud we were
told to be ready for action, and to cut our
spherical-case for the limit of the range, so
as not to eudanger our own men lying be-
tween US and the Johnnies.
1t was a Meary morning; cold, chilly
rain fell in driZz'ing monotony and we were
roasting our sow-belly and cooking our coffee
around fires built BEL een the sections. All
of a sudden brass band stationed some
where beyond Us, belonging to some Brigade
Headquarters, struck up Yankee Doode.n
Whew! Music hath charms indeed.
Now, that very tune acted on us boys as
if we had had goodly drink Of whisky,
aud on the Jobnnies as if they had got
big dose of wormwood. You ought to have
been there! The air was in five seconds
full of screaming shells spherlcal-case, and
solid shot, and it was as if all The venom OF
the rebel hest had been concentrated in the
batteries before us.
Around the fire of our section were about
eight or 10 men, all intent on our culinary
frat hail
il went clear through the fire, scattering the
same and cutting the right leg off Of our No
i. 1t burst; one piece cut wheel of our
Timber up, and another ripped open the off
leader and took the leg off of the off-swing
horse.
That breakfast was ruined. We lost all
appetite. Our Captain, James Mcknight,
was on his horse in an instant. The DAYS
Orderly and Bugier John Riley were tolg to
blow Assembly in battery" Our guidon
was ordered TO proceed to the rear, and
"stop that - music" which he need not
have done, for the things the Johnnies were
throwing at us went beyond us, and that
band did not wind up yankee Doodle "
that morning.
Our Second Lieutenant, Baldwin, who
was later killed at Cedar Creek, picked up
the spent cap Of the shell that had done our
Timber so much mischief, and, looking at
the cap, ordered our No. Z to cut his spheti-
cal-case to $50 yards.
And then the order was given to go for
the JOhnnies, and we did. Those old ~
pound Napoleons of Battery M made the
hills ring again with their laundering songs
songs of death and destruction.
We learned afterwards that our three bat
teries not only silenced The Johnnies' artil-
lery, but blew up three of their caissOns
and created serious loss in their ranks
Our lads down in the woods got orders to
advance we got orders to cease firing, and
the first good foothold of the corps was won
that day in the Wilderness, which culmi-
mated in the flank movement and evacuation
of the then almost impossible position,
which had cost the boys in blue many a
noble son, made many widow, and sent to
the rear thousands MANNED and crippled
men for life.-CARL HARTMAN, Summit
City, Mich.