The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-09-19

OF 1864. The hills presented a little
better walking than the swampy hollow
and yet far worse than the ordinary
northern road. The soil appears to be a
mixture of sand and ashy earth with no
hard subsoil, and not a sand either that
packs after a rain When dry, it is like
loose yellow sugar, and when wet
mushy and sticky, with Just consistency
enough to form great Tapping lump
on the feet and yet not enough to hold
up the wheels of an artillery wagon. It
is perhaps two miles from the station to
MechanicsviIle, four house hamlet and
crossroads, the Oldest and finest dwell
ing occupied by Mr.. s. J. Vaughn, i'm
migrant from Eaton county, Mich. The
holes made in the house by shot and
she'll have been repaired away, except
one through the door, which is retained
and utilized for doorplate, and big
tree in the yard still holds the famous
she'll that bored into it on the 26th of
June, 1862.
Ellerson's Mill, next on the east,
which gave the Confederates name for
one battle, is only a ruin, and thence
there is a pretty fair road to this place.
Many years ago, and when local mem
cries of the battle were still fresh, I
came here and lodged two days at the
Cartwright farmhouse, almost exactly
in the center of the bloodiest part of
Cold Harbor battlefield. This means the
center of the south end of the field, fer
Grants line extended three miles far
ther north. About half a mile west of
this house on the highest ground and in
the edge of a forest are the ditch and
bank OF earth behind which was the
Confederate line, and just a quarter of
a mile east of the house by measure
ment is the line from which the Fed
erals started on that awful run shortly
after O'Clock in the morning Of June
3, 1864. From the edge of the woods
10, 600 riflemen and score of cannon
poured their murderous fire on the blue
coats, and in 20 minutes, as one partici-
pant vonches for, 8, 900 Of them were
shot down. The stone chimney at the
west end Of this house was beaten down
by shot and shell, and all the yard and
field around was blue with Federal
corpses.
A Terrible Experiences.
ST do not know how it happened. -
said Mrs. Cartwright in her statement to
me, "but we got no word that the fight
band had just left the house and gone
back to his regiment when the thing
broke loose, and I rushed to the cellar
with my two little girls. heard the
awful tramp as your men went by; then
for I don't know how many minutes,
but it seemed like eternity, l could not
hear the children crying, though I could
see them at it. for the awful crash of
guns, and then there was another rush
back, and in five minutes the house was
jammed full Of men and their lifeblood
running all down through the floor and
spattering all over us. I had taken
box Of bread and two jars Of apple but
ter and hid them in the corner of the
cellar, for I didn't know but my chill
dren might starve If we got shut up
there. Well, a stream of blood ran all
over the Jars, but didn't get into them
to spoil the apple butter. The cellar
was soon so full of men that got my
little girls in a corner and stood partly
over them, and once I asked the men to
go out, but they said it was death. and
when I got time to look I saw that most
| Of them were more or less wounded
CHOW, the queerest thing about it is
that when you get in place like that
you don't feel like you thought you
would at all. The scare comes on. and
then it goes off. By and by all was still,
and we went out; but, oh, my God,
what sight 1t really seemed as if the
heavens had rained destruction, and my
heart was almost broken at the groans
and cries, but I was comforted by the
thought that Miles was on the other side
of our breastworks, and somehow felt
that our men hadn t been in much dan
ger. In fact. could see it by just look
ing across the field. .
The Awful Loss of Life.
Since my first visit Mr.. Cartwright has
! died, and one of the little girls who
was sheltered in the corner of the cellar
| on that dreadful day, herself the mother
| of several little ones, is now mistress of
the place. her husband being one of the
/ numerous class of truck farmers in this
| vicinity. After a night with them l
! walked out once more to the southwest
corner of the battlefield where the Con-
| federate line seemed to terminate at a
j little swamp, but, in fact, continued
! below the swamp and at an angle to its
former course like an inverted L. Down
into this angle went one brigade of the
/ Federals, and scarcely a man escaped.
There is a curious depression at the
nearest point to the Confederate line
about rod wide and 10 rods long and
not over feet deep. Into this the re-
pulsed Federals sprang for safety, but
concentrated FIRE was poured upon it,
and in less than II minutes every man
was shredded with bullets, and out of
this pit rivulet Of lifeblood flowed
into the swamp, Just over little rise
west Of that place the surviving Fed
erals threw down their arms, fell fiat
and craw1ed into the Confederate lines.
Seven Irishmen of McMahon's New
| York regiment crouched behind a big