The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-06-10
Lost on the Battlefield.

portant movements in the advance up
on Petersburg. They were hardly
more than quarter of a mile from
where one of the fiercest conflicts of
the day was at that moment raging
"Da's no use tryin' runnin' way,
Missy Eunice,'' said Sam. LAX de
ahmy OBJ de Lawd en- de sperich'l hymn,
dey's done surrounding us. You's too
tired to run; rs too weak in de knees
to cyah' you; Sides wha'd we run eff
we could? LAX as not we run right in
mongst de red hot balls an bloody
men a sockin' bay'nets into eb'rybody.
Bes' 1 en- do is hide you low down
tween dem two big rocks, what de bull
lets'll bounce off'n; kibah you up wifi
bresh, so de killers won't know you's
da Den l go fin Mass Frank an
come back 70 you when dis foolishness
am ober."
The child having no better sugges-
ton to offer and trusting implicitly
was submissive, and as he had pro-
He made, in a deep recess between
two huge rocks, a soft bed of pine
needles, and when she was safely
slowed away in it, covered her well
with brush, so that only by sharp scru-
tiny could her presence have been de-
tected, if she kept quiet, as he enjoined
her to. AS he stood painting from his
hurried work and trying to decide
which way he should go, that decision
was suddenly made for him. While he
had been hiding his little charge the
tide of battle had rolled in his direc-
ton. The Confederates, forced back
across the little valley by an advance
of the Federal lines, were driven UP
the slope of the little hill which had
hitherto sheltered Sam from the actual
presence of the fight, and though they
fought well to hold their ground, were
gradually forced to move farther and
farther back. Two batteries of field
pieces were hurting conical shells
among them, in addition to the leaden
rain from the rifles of a brigade of in
fantry. When they passed the brow
of the hill and started retrograding
down its southern slope, panic spread
among them, retreat became rout. Sam
was already far in advance of the most
1eet-footed among them, his years for
gotten, devouring time and space with
gait that would, by comparison, have
made a scared rabbit seem slow. He
had been started by a conical shell
that, in dropping flight, passed close
over his head with the unearthly
scream of its kind, which to his eX-
cited imagination, seemed the voice of
devil yelling, 'Wha' is yu? Wha' is
yu?" and striking a rock only a little
way before him, exploded and shat
SASo ~. <Al4OlnCl IOlIOWSu- SQIl6klng.
Il sees yu! sees yur' He no longer
ran; he flew.
The tumult of conflict, imprecations.
yells. clash Of weapons, rattle of small
arms and cries of pain or fear swept
down the slope in the rear of the
swifter fugitives, closer and closer tn
where the child lay hidden.
IL
Dusk had fallen. A group of tired,
disheartened, bedraggIed, tattered, pow
der-grimed men, some in gray uni
forms, others in ordinary dresser it's
gathered about a small fire
in a nook of the hills. They were a
few of the scattered Confederates
whom accident and common sympathy
had brought together. The changing
fortunes Of fight and fight had strand
ed them hardly two miles from where
they were posted before the battle,
and they vaguely suspected that the
Federal lines were not far from them.
Yet they made their fire, thr>w their
arms and accoutrements on the
ground near by, and set themselves to
making some parched-corn coffee too
weary and dispirited to care. much
whether they were discovered or not.
After a nights rest, they had con-
cluded, would be time enough to hunt
up what might be left of their several
commands Some of them had in their