The Press., 1896-03-05

made up Dy m6S6lI, Rlntlom1D, to 1m- mortalize that black and bloody day.'' 1 bought copy of one of these songs, and I doubt not many copies are still in existence, for not 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 imen stanZas:
 THE FIGHT ON SHILOH HILL WRITTEN AND COMPOSED BY PROFESSOR KELLEY It was Sunday morning
 In the flowery month of spring:
 The zephyrs murmured pleasantly,
 And sweet the birds did sing.
 Dreams of their absent sweethCarts
 Did each brave soldier fll
 And there was peace and ease in all the
 camp
 On the slopes cf Shiloh hill
 It was just at that solemn hour
 When it is darkest before day
 That some men came running from the
 front,
 Saying, 'The devil is to pay!'
 ''Fall into ranksl' cried General Grant,
 And we answered, ''Sir, 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 yOursevesl'
 Sure it gives the heart a chill
 For to know they were kilt and captured
 Just at 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 hell.
 And the rebels yelled, Let us forward
 boys,
 Every Yankee for to kill"
 And it seemed as if they'd do it
 Before noon on Shiloh hill.
 A description of ,he 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 gallop;ng over the field "waving his bloody sword" and calling on the Yankees to surrender. As the Yankees show no disposition to obey the Confederate request, he throws himself "at the head of his bravest lay gin'' and thus addresses them:
 "Come, one n,Ure charge ny heroes,
 And never mind the slaughter;
 The northern MCn are thirsty;
 Let lS drive the m to tie water.'
 Then on they dashed, while, c?:'-on crashed
 And the bugle notes did thrill,
 And Johnston fell to rise
 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 8 cheer for them alive.
 To put this damned rebellion down Till eternity we'll strive. And when the war is over And we cross our own doorsill We'll tell our childhers childher .6 Of the fight on Shiloh hill. N# After this saw no more of Kelley till September of the same year. when our garrisons at Iuka and Corinth were being made ready for the expected att tack of the enemy under Price azEd Van Dorn. l was riding with an order to General Hamilton headquarters when I passed on the dusty road an old, shab- billy dressed man. recognized the face i'll an instant, though it was covered with stubble of gray beard. The high hat and the blue coat were exchanged for worn costume consisting of a Fed eral infantryman blouse, Confederate cavalry trousers and a skullcap. The old ballad singer limped and carried crutch. pulled in and called out:
 "Hello, Kelley! When were you wounded?"
 He drew himself up, gave me a salute in excellent style, and said: "Sure, it's a shame for a young man like you for to be maxim game of an ould man like me. An! I wish this blessed minute that I was able to be wounded. But it's the rheumatics, sir, and begorra, they've most kilt me-"
 In reply to my question as to where he had been since he wrote the ballad of "Shiloh Hill," he said that he had been "hidin away, sick, God help me" " He asked where General Rosecrans could be found, and I directed him. Then he evinced great alarm as to the safety of the garrisOns at Iuka and Corinth. Faith, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold our own agin the inimy when they come," he said. laughed at his fears, but refused to give him my reasons for my confidence.
 That was a season of constant changes and ceaseless action. I thought no more of the old ballad singer till just before that magnificent fight at Corinth, the outcome of which established enduring ly Rosecrans' fame as a fighter
 The few cavalry then in northern Mis- sissippi were worked down to skin and bone with their ceaseless watching of the enemy. At this time a printed de- scription of Kelley was sent from head quarters, with orders to hang him when ever and wherever he was caught. do not recall ever having whispered my suspicious of the old man to another, but know congratulated myself on my penetration in this case and my ability to read character.
 On the eve of that battle, when every available man was down in Corinth to be ready for the onset that must inevi- tably result in thorough defeat of the enemy or an irretrievable disaster to ourselves, I heard from a companion i that Kelley, the Song Man," Kelley, the spy, had been caught and hanged by some of Grierson's E men. In speaking of these events there is 8 strong temptation to ignore for the time the subject of this sketch and to describe for recall the whole scene as if it had happened yesterday-the mad as- saults of Price and Van Dorn on our in- feriOr force at COrinth Bloodier battles