The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-04-22
WHOLE NO. 1894.

were in the laboratory, or the dissect-
ing, room, they were in front OF Peters
burg during the terrible fighting there,
and later on, at least two gave up their
lives in the Wilderness Such things
could not occur i'm any other than a
free government sach as ours. lttakes
seven years to make a soldier of
most of the European and Eastern
people; while our free-born people,
and our naturalized citizens as we'll
under the benign influence Of free
I dom, can leave their farms, their shops,
/ their stores, and in a few weeks march
| to victory, or, mayhap occasionally, to
/ defeat, with the firm tread of veterans.
With our little standing army and its
/ trained officers we have nucleus
around which can gather, if necessary,
and when necessary, the grandest ar
my the world has ever seen; but our
strength is our safeguard, and war
with any other power is now remote
possibility, never likely to occur, and,
more particularly, Is war between
the states an ipPossibility again, be-
cause the cause has been removed, and
the same reverence for our institutions
and laws exists all over the land, ee-
mented, as it has been, by untold
blood and treasure.
Some time in the latter part of June,
1855, when General Milroy decamp-
ed 80 precipiiately from the Valley of
Virginia and the Confederate forces
were coming into Eastern, as well as
Western Pennsylvania, a. was sup
posed, a panic ensued all along the
pike, such "a was never known before
or since. We had no telegraph line
then, it having been taken down a
year or 80 previously, and our only
means Of obtaining news was from
Cumberland, Md, on the east, or
UniOntOwn on the west. AT that par
tieular time, however, we were more
especially interested in the news from
Cumberland. The impression prevail
cd that Early and his rough riders
were coming on a raid along the pike
Stragglers and camp followers from
MilrOy's army were seen in large num-
bers going westward. Every squad
that came reported large Confederate
army on the march. Our citizens
would be told they were at Climber
land, then at Frostburg, then on Saw
age mountain, then at Grantsville,
then on keyer's Ridge, and 80 on.
They were kept in a fever of unrest
for good many days and the noun
tains, from Cumberland to UniOntOwn,
were full of horses. Every night the |
farmers would take their horses to the
mountains and bring them back in the |
morning; bat it was something like |
the cry of ''Wolf, wolf" only the wolf |
never came. Fortifications and forts,
of considerable dimensions and
strength, were erected on the hills |
around PittsbIrg, and on the pike
east Of Uniontown rifle-pits were dug,
in anticipation OF the coming of the |
enemy. These cOuriers had taken |
good care TO each secure a good horse |
or two to carry him out of harms way. |
The writer remembers one particularly |
villainous looking pair, one mounted |
on a magnificent blO0ded horse, and
one on large mule. They an
nounced that the Confederate army
was only few miles east of Peters
burg, and, of course, there was hurry
ing to and fro, hiding of valuables,
running oil horses, and excitement
rose to the highest pitch, but the Con-
federates, at that time, never even
came to Cumberland, and only small
squad was ever there.
Addison, Pa, VI.