The National tribune., 1895-11-28

| if such it might be called, was kept care
fully in rear of the line-of-battle, as much
out OF danger as possible.
Then for the first time our regiment lay
down, wrapped in their blankets, under the
blue vault of heaven, around the smolderlng
remains of their campfires. What peculiar
reflections occupy the mind of young
soldier, especially if surrounded by real or
imaginary danger, when he makes his first
bivouac under the sentinel stars!" While
he cannot dismiss from his thought nervous
feelings of apprehension, still he does not
dwell on those aspirations which lmpelled
his enlistment, and has heretofore made him
eager to meet the foe in the fiery fray.
Rather do his recollections turn with melan-
choly delight to the peaceful home he has
recently left for the busting camp. Memory
fondly fingers about the faces and forms OF
| father, mother, sister, and sweetheart, in
vestng them with tender qualities never
| noted before.
The small routine of home labor and rest
and pleasures lose their commonplace, pro-
sale features. and are clad with the grace of
beauty and peace. The novelty of his sur
roundings adds to the tumult of his feelings.
The forms of his comrades wrapped in their
gray blankets, stretched around him on the
earth, the flicker of the expiring campfire
casting its fitful light on shrub and tree, the
indistinct voices of wakeful soldiers con-
versing together in dreamy monotones the
clash of arms mingled with the low, stern
commands of the officers as the relief musteIs
to 60 out and change the guard, the challenge
of the distant sentinel, the rustic OF The
night wind amongst the leaves, the twitter-
ing of birds disturbed by this rude invasion
of their sylvan solitude, all conspire to drive
sleep from his eyes and slumber from his
eyelids, while fatigue and youth contend to
WOO the drowsy goddess to his unaccustomed
couch. At last, however, slunber wrapped
our camp in dreams, save where the distant
sentinels slowly paced their beats, peering
fearfully out into the canebreak for the
coming foe. Somewhere in the "wee sma'
hours ayont the twal,D
THE MIGHTY EXPLOSION OF. AN AUSTRIAN
MUsKET
rang out on the heavy air, and in a moment
later the sound was repeated by hundred
echoes from the long line of trees on the
other side of the river.
Other sentinels mustered up courage to
fire; a crash was heard in the canebrake,
and the sentries rushed in with the start
ling intelligence that the enemy was right
at hand and advancing. Confusion for
moment reigned supreme, but the river was
behind us, the enemy in front, and it was
either fight or drown. The very idea gave
a good many of the regiment horror of
water, from which they haven't recovered to
this day.
Somebody yelled Firel" and at it we went,
hammer and tongs, knocking bark and
leaves off the trees 20 feet from the ground.
In a very few minutes the firing slackened,
the casualties IN our ranks having been
terrific. A Lieutenant-who, by the way,
afterwards rose to the rank Of Lieutenant
Colonel of the regiment-had more sense
than anybody else, and by going along the
line ordering Cease firing" managed TO get
the racket stopped.
All was silent in front, and naught could
be heard except the groans of our wounded.
One fellow had held his musket straight out
before his body and received a kick in the
stomach, and was lying on the ground, send
ing messages home to his friends under the
firm conviction that nothing less than
6-pound solid shot had gone through his
vitals. A dozen or two more who, in their
haste, had not firmly set the butts of their
muskets against their shoulders, were suffer-
ing from skinned jaws, bruised cheeks and
broken teeth, while nearly all were feeling
of their shoulders to ascertain if their collar
bones were broken. The only ones who
seemed to have escaped were those who had
rammed their cartridges wrong end up The
Surgeons circulated around to see what
damage was done, the pickets were coaxed
to 60 back to their posts, and some degree of
silence began to prevail, when faint,
smothered voice was heard from the rear
calling for help.
must here make depression. In coming
down the river from ST. Louis nearly all of
us had caught two things we had never had
before-graybac and diarrhea. We had
one fellow who had severe attack of both.
will call him John Smith, chiefly because