The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-02-07
A Letter From the Front.

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cent sors. and that much of II boiled over
elsewhere than on the battleflelds. Apro-
nos Of this L call to mind some doggerel
which was current at the time and run.
ming thus ~
uOld MAJ, Jones ssid upon the stand
That be had five sony and one old man,
They would all go and fight
For Dixie's Land, for that was right;
|sBut when it came to the test
Bill. he went and left the rest"
And scattered all over the South, at that
period, were the "blood drinkers" men
who, fred with confidence in the invinci-
Bile heroism of their country ymen, and
with 8. desire to infane the Southern
heart, declared from the hustings that
they would drink all the blood spilled In
the coming contest. Poor fellows! They
found their contract impossible OF iulhll.
mert, and many of them never heard the
last of their rash promises to their dying
day.
When Company 'sD'' was raised,
Orr's Regiment was already stationed on
Sullivan's Island, ard new Companies
were pouring into Charleston with view
of attaching themselves to Orr's Regiment,
land thus organize legion. The project
for some reason failed, and these surplus
Companies were formed into q battalion,
with John ". Moore, q prominent young
LAWYER and journalist, Of Anderson, as
Major. By the accession of other Compa.
nies, the battalion grew to Regiment,
and Major Moore became its first Colonel.
| It was thus that tho End 8. O. Rifles came
into existence.
Let me relete an incident once told me
by an old soldier himself, msmber OF
Orr's Regiment at that time aud who
knew every member of Company ID, :
and who, in common with others, was
daily expecting its arrival. in the city. On
the day the Company reached Charleston,
headed by its Captain. who, by the:way,
was slightly cross-eyed, an Irishman OF
orr's Regiment was in the city on pass,
was asked the news by the soldier who
told me the incident. Another Company
from the up country said Pat. "Who's
the CAPTAIN ?" '.They told me. but I've
/ forgot Did you see him" "Yis." "
ttAnd what did he look like" sLke q
dameG goose q; trying to look down into q
bottle, was Pats ready and Characteristic
reply, and my friend said be knew then
that Cox's Company was In Charleston.
This is no reflection upon the good Cap.
tain. whose GOODNESS under fire was far
more marked than was the arrangement
or his optics, and who In due time became
Major OF his Regiment.
The letter which set out to speak of
more particularly is headed. "Canip End
8: @. Rifles, on the Williamsburg Road,
Va. Dec, IL, 1854, - and / MAKE some ex-
tracts from it I: "A word or two about our
days work on yesterday. We left camp
yesterday morning about daylight, the
ground covered In sleet and snow, cloudy,
snd very cold. We went in advance Of
our work, marching about seven miles
and driving tho enemy as We went, cap.
turing few and wounding few. About
& 11 o'clock We ran them into their strong
hold and under protection Of their gun
boats. There we remained until about
one hour in the night, and then LETT Tor
camp, reaching there about 10 O'Clock. we
had no firs from the time we left until we
returned, and it appeared to me that we
would freeze. We were exposed to an
awful shelling, but We had ouly one man
killed iu our Regiment, and two wounded
1.-THE Brigade. Mr.. Tribble says he never
experienced suoh day in his life. He is
knocking about to day about as well as
common, bat fear he can't stand this
kind Of service wish he could, for he Is
good man and all good men make good
soldiers. 7. b. Palmer is complaining q
right smart, or was yesterday. On our
return he said he could not keep up, so at
last told the boys if they did not keep up
the blue coats were certain to get them,
and after that Tom stuck right by my
side-in fact, he beat me to camp, as there
was very little order kept in the Brigade,
every man taking care of himself. That is
the way we generally backed out of hard
places.
81 lost one man-Gttle Billy Browning.
suppose he was captured. as be has not
come in yet, now in the evening.
.sOur ranks have filled up good deal
lately. I have received six men to our
Com pany, and tell you that helps out
old I'D" right smart. We have thirty
men present for duty.
ssBob Graham left for home last Friday
on twenty.ope days fnrlough. Capt.
Lanford left me the next day after got
to Camp. and I have not seen him since.
I shall look for him about Christmas
.sI have splendid quarters. am on
picket about every eighth night aud day
certain.
IT don't know why we were sent out
yesterday, unless General Lee wanted to
test the force Of the enemy on this side of
the James, as it was generally believed
the most Of Grants forces had gone to the
south side of the river, and they wanted
to draw them back, probably in order that
we might gain some position on the south
side of Petersburg.
IT believe Grant is going to mass his
forces farther south. We are anxious to
hear that Sherman has been captured, but
fear they will let him pass right through
the heart Of the Confederacy. It will
speak badly for our authorities and Gen
erals generally. see by the papers that
his force is estimated at only 35.0u0, but
don't believe Chat.
s'Allis remarkably quiet to-day hardly
gun to be heard, only shooting off the
wet o, loaded guns by volleys.
s'Congress is in session, but are doing
but little but fixing to carry the war on
and doing no big things for that. The
Governor of Virginia. in his message. re.
commends that the negro be put In service
and armed the sane as The white man.
We have as many in service now as VIC
can feed agreeable to my feelings at times
"Our rations are very good, but short.
But we make out very we'll, at least, We
don't suffer. / manage to have sugar and
coffee nearly every time eat. which helps
out short meat rations Very much"
r. o. Tribble, whom Lieutenant Grubbs
mentions, did hold out. and was one of
the few with guns in their hands at Apo.
matto1. r. B. Palmer died few years
ago. Billy Browning was caught by the
Yankees sure enough. He is living at
Shoal Creek, Ca, W. l.. Dobbins, of Fork
Township, and J. H. Burns, recently of
Townville, but now living in Texas, were
two of the six recruits referred to. The
march through the snow described by
Lieut.. Grubbs was the first service these
young recruits had seeD. The command
was wing down some distance from the
but the occasional "zip" of
a Federal bullet, familiar enough to veter.
aus, agita.ed young Burns, who suddenly
sprang up with, Lieutenant, what's
tbatp" And got for reply. "If You don't
get down you'll find out" Burns again
sought cover.
Company "Dn had in its ranks man
than whom there was no braver or better
soldier in the army of northern Virginia
w. w. Graham. He went to his grave
twenty years ago nearly helpless Grip
pie, rendered 80 by desperate wounds in
the hot fighting on the Darby.own Road
October Z, 1864. One week before, Sep
tember 30, when Fields Division made a
lnt futila- attamnt IN rpcover