The Portland daily press., 1896-02-08

&, Y>5 -
He eUqs talking to Colonel Sheridan.
ing stock Of Lees veterans the armies
of the Cumberland ana of the Tennessee
were industriously laying siege to a
piece of morass to the north Of Corinth.
At this junoture Kelley reappeared in
our camps, The enlisted men greeted
him with characteristic warmth au
camaraderie. and the officers, who had
seen him back at the Landing, wondered
where he had been and why he returned.
One evening while was waiting to
speak with General Sheridan, recently
promoted from the post Of captain and
quartermaster to the command of the
Second Michigan cavalry, was not a
little surprised to find that it was Kelley
who was monopolizing that officers
time. The two stood under a tree, and
from the earnest, subdued tones of the
old man, which We're accompanied by
the most violent gestures and many
pointings in the direction Of Corinth,
inferred that he had been since our last
meeting inside the enemy's lines and
was giving Colonel Sheridan, then pre-
pairing for his first raid, much valuable
information. This and other incidents
that followed convinced me that Kelley
was a spy in our service. did not like
him and would not have trusted him,
but was quite willing to bslieve that
my superiors knew their business great
deal better than did l.
The next morning while on duty in
the camp of Nelson's division I heard
the familiar voice Of the ballad singer.
He had sheaf of loose sheets Of paper
thrown over his arm, which, in the
rests Of the song, he was selling to the
crowd Of men about him for 10 cents
apiece. These slips had printed on them
his new ballad, call composed and
made up by mesef, gintlemin, to i'm
mortalize that black and bloody day."
bought copy Of one of these songs,
and doubt not many copies are still in
existence, for not a few Of the soldiers
sent them home as curiosities, or it
may be as a graphic representation Of
their own exploits Here are few Spec
linen stanzas:
THE FIGHT ON SHILOH HILL.
WRITTEN AND COMPOSED BY PROFESSOR KELLEY
1t was on a Sunday morning
In the lowery month Of spring;
The zephyrs murmured pleasantly,
And sweet the birds did sing.
Dreams OF their absent sweethearts
Did each brave soldier fill,
And there was peace and ease In all the
camp
On the slopes of Shiloh hill.
1t was just at that solemn hour
When it is darkest before day
That some mon came running from the
front,
Saying, tThe devil is to payl''
"Fall into ranksl' cried General Grant,
And we answered, 'sSir, we will''
And SO stemmed the rebel onset
Before dawn on Shiloh hill.
Here follow, in imitation of Homer's
catalogue of the ships, five stanzas de-
voted to the rallying Of the divisions,
with an elegy on the destruction of
Prentiss' command, the latter being as
follows:
Gallant Prentiss had his heroes
Five miles in the advance
So when the foemen charged him
He had but little chance.
Said he, Brave boys, go save yourselvesl"
Sure it gives the heart chill Gs
For to know they were kilt and captured
just ct dawn on Shiloh hill.
Oh, loud and louder roared the guns
And the gunboats' shot and shell,
And the POWDER smoke and the blazes
Made the battlefield O hell.
And the rebels yelled, "Let as forward,
boys,
Every Yankee for to KILL
And it seemed as if they d do 10
Before no6n ON Shiloh hill.
A description of the rally follows,
with anathema for 'the towards who
hid beneath the rivers bank" Next
Grant is pictured, Napoleonlike, praying
for the coming of Buell. or the setting
OF the sun, while Albert Sidney Johnston
is represented as galloping over the field
waving his bloody sword and calling
on the Yankees to surrender. As the
Yankees show no disposition to obey
the Confederate's request, he throws
himself at the head of his bravest lay
GIN and thus addresses them:
"Come one more charge my heroes,
And never mind the slaughter:
The northern men are thirsty:
Let US drive them to the water"
Then on they dashed, while cannon crashed
And the bugle notes did thrill,
And Johnston fell to rise no more
In his blood on Shiloh hill.
The arrival of gallant Nelson" that
evening and the coming Of Buell. that
night are duly noted; the victory of the
following day is graphically described
and the ballad ends in this way,
Now, here's tear for them that's dead
And q cheer FOR them alive.
To put this damned rebellion down
TIL eternity we'll strive.
And when tbs Mar ia GHAA-