The Press., 1896-03-05

lowed by handful of bronzed and bleed ing men, sprang, flag ill hand, up the slippery slopes of Fort Robinette, and the next instant fell dead on the parapet, with his brave face buried ill the folds of the stars and bars.
 Within our lines, which we soon felt to be impregnable, there were curses loud and deep for Van Dorn and Price, and expressions of valorous pity for the gallant men who were being pushed ruthlessly within the destroying range of our guns. Excepting the blow which Thomas was destined to deal Hood two years afterward, blow that crushed down and wiped out the last veStige of Confederate resistance in the west, in open battle the southern men were never SO severely handled as ill the second bat tie of Corinth. The pursuit of the en- emy was prompt and energetic, but the miles of dead and wounded and the inn pediments thrown away in his flight impeded our advance.
 The following morning, when details were sent out to bury the enemy's dead and to care for his wounded lying out in the jungle of red earth and splintered trees, one of the men who had known Kelley when he sang and sold his bal lads to the soldiers of Nelson's old di- vision sent ap shout that attracted the attention of his companion.
 "What is up?" asked the corporal ill charge.
 "Here is old Kelley, dead as her ring! And, by -, he has rifle in his grip!" cried the man.
 He had made no mistake. If there bad been any doubt, it was set at rest on searching the pockets of the dead man. On one side and ill an under pock- ct of his coat there were two rolls, on of greenbacks and the other of "gray- backs,'' as Confederate money had come to be called. In the pocket on the other side, the left, and stained with his hearts blood, was roll of manuscript songs, all ringing with praises of the south and vindictively bitter in their denunciations of the cowardice and van dalism of the north. One of these songs came into my possession, and I give a specimen stanZa:
 They bring against our gallant boys
 &The Scrap1ngS Of the earth;
 @ss They ask that for their hirelings lives - We'll swap our men of birth;
 But they'll fatten yet the land they curse
 And from the shore and sea
 We'll drive their horde and rise the flag Of our grand Confed-er-acy.
 CHORUS.
 When Dixie's land is free,
 When Dixie's land is free,
 No Yankees foot shall ere pollute
 Our grand Confed-er-acy.
 As the body of the old ballad monger was being lifted on the stretcher which was to take it to the trench in which al ready lay windrow of the gallant dead, tall young Confederate who lay sorely wounded near by, and on whose face there was the unmistakable hue of death, make choking noise that attracted the attention of the detail. A soldier placed the nozzle of his canteen to the poor fel- lows lips, and after he had drunk he motioned his head in the direction of the stretcher and whispered with a pain fu1 effort:
 My father Let me see him!"
 The men brought the stretcher to his side, and divining his purpose they lifted him up so that he could see the grizzled, ashy face. Before the men be- gan to cover the pit the son, tOO, was dead, and with touch of sentiment that did credit to their hearts the soldiers laid the men side by side and covered their stark forms with one blanket.
 From an officer of General Bowen s division, whom met after the capitula, tion of Vicksburg, learned that Kelley had been schoolteacher in eastern Mississippi before the war. Before com ing to America he had been drill ser geant ill the English army. He was in- tensely southern in his feelings, and se- cured captains commission in the southern army, and was detailed as an instructor. His only son shared his sen- timents, and proved his devotion by his death. On the whole, we felt glad that the old spy was not caught and hanged.
 THE END.