The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-26

! How the boys rushed into the army as
~ to frolic i'm these stirring days OF 1861!
| We were mustered in" at Charloftes-
! VILE and ono poor fellow who was re-
icctcd because he had crooked little
finger Gust think OF thatD went home
crying as II his heart would break.
|, For the first year OF the war. l was IN
| the infantry (thc Nineteenth Virginia reg
| i,uenD: after that l was in the cavalry
1 till the end At Manassas Junction, we
| camped for a long time and struggled
with measles. hopping cough. humps.
| pneumonia, and typhoid fever, whilst Gen
Scott was grooming another antagonist.
| with whom he was soon TO further test
| our mettle 10 was there first saw Gen.
! Lee. Gen. Beauregard held "A review Tor
| him. Tail and straight, with iron gray
/ hair. and mous;ache as black as the ra-
vens wing, he was the very embodiment
/ OF warrior grace and symmetry as he sat
on his horse, and viewed our undisciplined
| lines with serious face and grave and
I dignifcd mlen. ! never looked upon his
/ like before, and know | never shall again.
/ saw him last az Farmville on our way
10 the doom Of Appomattox. / never saw
/ him after the war and am glad I never
/ did. lie Will live I'm my poor memory, one
/ OF the least Of his boys. as a soldier and
| as such | want ever 10 think OF him
The Nineteenth Regiment soon left
! Manassas and pitched its tents at Centre
Vile next to tho enemy. Near there ]
! met again some OF my Old Lexington
4 friends. Mclaughlin. Poague, and others
/ OF the ROckbridgc Artillery, those splendid
cannoneers. who afterwards became so
femous in the Army Of Northern Vir-
| GINA
TESTING THE SENTINELS.
Camp life at Centreville was not with
out it's amusing incidents. ] remember
quite wildly putting the lieut.-colonel
commanding our regiment John Bowie
Strange) in the guard house one night.
a favorite past-time with him was test
ing the sentinels," as he termed IT, He
would 20 through the lines at night, and
then try TO pass back by the sentinels
without giving the password. They,
knowing who he was and being green
sometimes, suffered him TO pass into the
camp without the word. He would over
awe and buldoze them If he could. SO.
one night. I being the officer Of the guard,
he tried his old game on one OF my senti
nels. / had carefully instructed them all
not to let him pass under any circum-
stances without first giving the password,
but to arrest him and call for the corporal
OF the guard. making him mark time un-
I iii the corporal arrived About u o'clock
heard one OF the sentinels calling for the
corporal, and I could hear Strange's voice.
pitched i'm high and peremptory key, de-
handing that he Jet his colonel pass, but
t the man ordered him 10 halt and mark
! time. which he promptly did. ! ordered the
corporal 70 go and bring the colonel into
the euard-tent Presently the colonel was
marched I'm, his sabre clanking and rat
Ting as he strobe along rs charge OF
| the corporal. When he got inside l asked
the corporal who his prisoner was, and
held the lantern mp TO the colonel's face,
pretending that I did not know him.
"Ohi" said T. This is Col. Strange"
"Well. sir: what are you going TO do
with me now?" said he. in his gruffest
tone well. colonel" said /. you can
60 to your tent and go to bed" He re-
piled. II am glad to see you know your
duty sir" and a broad smile spread over
his face as he strobe out 10 the music
of his rafting sabre and the suppressed
tittering Of the boys.
only a few cavalry pickets and scouts
we're between us and the enemy, and,
being apprehensive OF night attack we
had strong guard around the camp. one
night after this. when II again came my
turn to be officer Of the guard. and had
about forty men under me quite an ex-
citing episode occurred. Alarms had not
been infrequent and all were on the qul
vive Late at night one Of my sentinels
on the hill next 10 our picket line cried
out. HALT Halt" and added quickly
"Turn out the guard" ] got the whole
guard quickly under arms and started for
the heat of the sentinel. giving the alarm
at a doublo-quick. Before we reached
him. he fired his gun and ran in. As we
reached the line one OF the foremost OF
nv men cried. There they are ana
fired. Then ensued an indiscriminate fusi-
lade. 7 narrowly escaped being shot by
my own men. NV gum coat was scorched
by a bullet or fire from a musket. but I
escaped without injury TO my person. BY
this time the camp was in an uproar
Men rushed out Of their tents without
their outer-clothing and fired their guns
in the air without aim or object. some
forgot TO withdraw ramrods after loading
and the peculiar whistling Of these inn
PIGMENTS could be heard as they few over
our heads Col Strange threw out two
companies as sbirmishers. but no enemy
was found, and the real cause Of the
alarm was never ascertained. II is quite
possihle that some Of the enemy's scouts
were prowlng around the camp and were
discovered by the sentinel
FIRST CAME BULL RUN.
II was not long after this before we
learned what real fighting was First
came "Ruu Run" which awakened us to
the realities Of war. Here the enemy
made a reconnaissance in force, and that
night | was sent in command of de-
tachment Of one hundred men TO picket
the ford at which they had attempted
massage. Our mounted scouts were pass
ing and repassing the ford all night, and
/ did not get ten consecutive minutes OF
sleeD I would occasionally fall into
doze but invariably felt myself shaken
nv one Of the guards and half-aWake
would catch the whisper, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant They are coming. The
enemy never materialized, however the
sounds heard usually proceeded from the
splashing Of the hoofs Of a friendly
scouts horse IN the water on the other
side Of the stream.
The battle Of Manassas followed quick
" after this little affair on our right
Our REGIMENT was stationed at Lewis's
Ford. supporting Latham's battery, when
was masked near the road.
7 shall never forget the morning Of the
day that ushered in that memorable bat
tie. 1t was a typical summer morning
IN the "Old Dominion" The air was
perfectly stin. Not "A leaflet rustled. and
the trembling dew-drops hanging from
tvyig and leaf waited TO kiss the brows OF
the soldier-boys doomed TO die that day
waited for the breath OF the zephyr 10
send them on their errand of love, but
waited In vain. Before dawn those who
were awake heard a confused and uncer-
tain hum in the direction Of Centreville.
which ere the day broadly dawned
had grown into q mighty rumb-
ling Of artillery wheels, rafting