Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-08-22
ON HISTORIC GROUND
THE COLD SPRING HAR5oR BATTLE
 FIELD AS IT IS TODAY.
NIT. J. H. Beadle's Rambles In Virginia. Awful Experiences During the BattlO Where Blood Flowed In Rivers-Scene of the Worst Blunder of the War.
Especial CorrcSpon,lencr.l ]

Especial Correspondence.
 COLD HARBOR Va, Aug. 20.-It was, Tn tho local dialect. hot enough to roast niggcr' on the afternoon 1 left the high open country near the Mattapony and plunged into the wilderness that borders the North Anna. In the piuy woods thore was not a breath of air and vegetation seemed to give off d sour smell, all sorts of flying insects made it interesting for mo, and whom l sat down on a log tho Chigoes got in their work so effCctually that on stripping that night I found my ankles hcartrcnding sight. In the heavily timbercd lowlaads found all sorts of queer crea- turcs, which I hut dimly remember as common on the Wabash SlougiS in my boy hood, such as the snake feeder or moSqui.u hawk, tho devils tlarning needle and all thoso redhot littln gnatS that breed from oak balls and such But why continue? Why lacCratc the public bosom with details of intulHrahle itching and fcVCriSh scratch Ing; of alternating hummocl and pine flat i; of industrious hogs who root for a living and have noses for their business; of lop cared hounds, from two to ten at Q house, who rush out with mur(iCrOuS howl as if they would eat mo, but retire from an opened umbrella; of the long, lank, lean, leathCry looking men and tue half barren
 
 proved by their shiftlcsS hands?
 Mighty Healthy.
 One thing, however, will add, as it has been a great surprise to me. l have not yet seen a snake in the state. Of course there are snakes here, but they must be rare, for l have ramhlrd for weeks in scrubhy thinner and through wild lands which out our way would he rrptiIian paradise. Thc rock in this section is un- stratitiCd, so there are no lodges and crcv- ices for snake harbu"~, and thc people tell mo all this North Anna valley was once cleared and cultivated, so l suppose the snakes were then rNtrrminatrd. Another thing worth noting is that after one gets below Hanover he hears nu moro that this is 8 mighty hcalIhy country" as ho hears so often in SpottSylNania county. All along the Chirkahominy the people admit that the air iS lad, and l Was amused, but not at all surprised, to find moro than one man who was rather anxious to move west and to hear my host tell how he "'warn't real well at this srlson," how "his NittlrS sort e disayrrrd with him" how Inc had 'sour riSin'N on his stomach, v and it often seemed aS if he just couldn't get up in tho morning. his legs achrd SO, and whom ho lifted real hard he felt like an iron bar Was run into the small of his back
 Chief Justice James B. Mckcan of Utah, who was an officer in tho Bcmis Heights (N. YD regiment, told mo that in the uNarrDuntablr delay of a month which Mcclellan made after the battle of Fair Oaks hi, bri&adr lust men by sickness about a~ rapidly NS it would ordinarily lose in an active cHNpaig.4 of fighting The iuti!yr himself came out of tho army on hi| back and when S>nt to Utah in 1870 WIS still sufferer from Chickah6m- inv malaria. From tine North Anna cross ing it @ now difficult to get a clear general view of tGr rrEiun traVrrS%d by cithOr Grant ar Met lirllau, aS, in the case of the latter la"tirularly following the lines would uNu,\r continuous SrcSaw across the stream nearest Richmond. It will be rrnru!N r,Hl that Grant moved east from Sputt>! Niuia Court House and I.rN south hy the telegraph read acru., the North Anna and then down it% right bank to cunfrrut tls' k,,,|tra}S, and sn they came together nc;g th" crossing of the Rich mpnd and Fredericksburg railroad And this resulted iii ono nr ;lr oddr>l eitu1. lions t,f tllp W