The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1895-07-25

Ihe moon is lighting up the field, the
woods, the SUBMITS of the two ridges
inclosing the valley of the Chickamauga
and 100, soldiers. The air is cold
and crisp, and myriads of campfres are
scattered over the valley as reflection
Of the starry heavens upon the bosom of
lake. All night the moon CLEANS upon
the steel of the two sleepless armies
the. Confederates pushing across the
Chickamauga, the Unionists marching
to cover their unprotected left. Many a
soldier casts his eye up into the serene
heavens and remarks the queen of night
looking down upon him, so pale, so
cold, SO dead, as if in mockery of his
own animate being and prophetic of
what may come for him on the morrow.
From the southwark comes the tramp
Of dust covered men in blue. At their
head rides one who before the sun twice
sets is to take first rank among the he
roes of Chickamauga. Thomas is leading
his men from distant point far beyond
Crittenden to the exposed left and rear,
to the Chattanooga road-the road COM
manding the line of communication of
the Army of the Cumberland. It must
be forced march, for the time is short
and the distance is great.
From the eastward the Confederates
are pushing across the Chickamauga.
Every available passage is occupied, but
there is little left of the bridges, and it
is slow and hazardous work at the
~
streams. They flow easily across open
countries. but become choked in narrow
ways. Yet the work goes on. It is a
long night-long for these men wading
through water or standing in the chilly
hours past midnight in wet clothing. It
is an eventful night, for if they get
across in sufficient force, and the way
is still unblocked as yesterday, the fate
Of the Union army is sealed.
At midnight Maynard lay under a
tree trying to catch some sleep. The ex-
ertion Of the day would have brought it,
for he was exhausted, but his position
as to the army with which he had no
place was burning him like hot iron.
A few days before, and he would have
been leading his brigade through these
stirring scenes. Now he was not even
private soldier. He was an outcast,
wretch too detestable for the respect
even of menial cooks and strikers, of
teamsters, of the grasping horde of ar
my followers, whose object was to cheat
the soldier and rob the dead
The moon, finding convenient OPEN
ing in the boughs above him, looked at
him in way that in measure quieted
him. What an absence Of turmoil Oh
her surface! No guns roar in her val
leys; no armies contend for the posses
sion of her ringed ridges. The thought
for moment chased away his desire
for oblivion. He shuddered at her moth
ingness. The scenes through which he
was passing seemed far preferable. He
was in the midst of mans coveted &C.
tion. While that lasted he could not for
long be plunged in despair. Thank heav-
en-, he was permitted to seek solace in
such turmoil, such roaring of guns and
yelling of men as had come and were
coming.
Toward morning his thoughts became
less intense, less clear. The sounds
coming from troop of horses picketed
near became more and more confused
The snores Of men resting after day
Of hard fighting lost their vigor. The
branches above him twined indistinctly.
He slept.
He was awakened by the sound of a
gun. 1t was broad day. He started up
and listened. Then came another dull
boom, then another, and in few min
utes there was the rapid firing of bat
tie on the left. Surely that is not the
little body of cavalry in whose ranks he
had fought the day before.
Mounting, he rode toward it through
q partly wooded, partly open country.
The fields were gray, but the woods
were still green. Then there was the
odor of the morning in the country and
the chirping of birds hunting for their
breakfast. 1t would not be long before
that perfume must give way to the
smell of gunpowder, before the chirping
Of the birds would be drowned by the
sounds Of musketry and artillery.
Meeting an aid-de-camp riding at
full speed toward the south, he called
out, pointing in the direction Of the
firing, which he could now discern was
ON or near the Chattanooga road:
Continued on 9Th page)