Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-04-22
THE SHIRT SAVED THEM.
A Stirring Account of Narrow Es
cape in Wax Time.

.
cape In War Time.
''I had an experience during the war;
said Mr.. James Dobbyn iof East Washing
ton the other day to star man, which
caused me to feel kindly toward an old
shirt which had thrown away. The free
dom and life of four others with myself
hung on it. You see, it was this way: In
an attack on our lines, had not my old shirt
attracted the Johanies,. attention they
would have had usr all 'five, or may have
killed us. My company tCapt. George Grit
fin) of the LIST District columbia Cavalry,
with the 5th and 18th Pennsylvania and
the Sd New York Cavalry, were in Sep
TENDER, 1861, doing duty on the Norfolk road,
ten or twelve miles in the rear of City
Point. Our lines extended a distance of
four miles along the road. and were there
for the protection Of !, 40 head of cattle,
between US, and the Point. We had been
there long enough to enable me to learn
much about our surroundings, for 1 had
followed my inclination to wander around.
l knew the best and most; accessible places
to obtain green corn, sweet potatoes and
similar delicacies, and l also found a deep
and narrow ravine, filled with a dense
growth of briars. and discovered that there
was but one entrance to 1t, and that as diff
hcult to find as it was to enter. On explor-
ing 1t found that once through the brush,
concealment was perfect. I little thought
d
place Of safety, or that my old shirt would
enable NE to reach it. The night before
the attack Lieut.. Mumford of the Sd New
York came to our picket line with report
that while out on reconnaissance he had
heard the eEemy chopping in the woods,
and had gotten so near that he heard their
voices, and was sure they were choplDng
out roads. It seems that II any proper no.
been spared, including Lieut.. Mumford's,
and the Johnnies would have missed their
beef. A. ~least that was the general i'm
preston of the men.
continued Mr.. Dobbyn, when / heard
the picket firing. Ny "bunky' being a
little deaf, and hard to awaken, left him
and ran to the horses. bridling his and
my own. Then 1t was red hot. Wade
Hampton, wanting beef, had struck our
lines in thu ee or four places; and by this
time his men were in our camp, pillaging
from tent to tent. There was nothing to
ordered. Then I determined to make the
effort Of my life, and save as many as
possible ard the captain told me to lead
the way. We ran through the tents en-
was so dark that we jostled In and out
among the Johnnies, who could not dis
tinguish us from their own men. Reach
ing the lower end of the camp, we made
tending to rally our company there, but
only five reached it with the captain and
myself-Privates Turner, Heiser and
Mooney. By this time the enemy having
gone through the tents. were forming
skirmishing parties and were getting so
uncomfortably close that their conversation
was distinctly heard:
Hello! What the b Is this? said
voice. "A shirt, and a new one too was
sung out. and then 1 had to choke down
my laughter, as 1t dawned on me that my
soiled linen, hung out the night before, was
undergoing an examination. It was no
time to laugh. but they were still around
the shirt when the captain, knowing that
had some knowledge of the land. directed
me to lead them out. This / did and
through the narrow opening we worked
our way into the ravine: and soon were in
comfortable place. Perhaps you would
not have thought SO, If you had been
there, for we were not thirty feet distant
from where hundreds of rebels passed, and
heard much Of their fals, Before shutdown
the Johnnies had thetatHS on the 60, well
toward their linezet We recovered only
wounded and prisoners 262 men, II being
officers, and amongbthettiIle was the GAL
liant Mumford. That our little party was
not included is duensto fhe Johnnies, curl
osity over my old HhirtE,
-t-.o<Af-
WANT ads. in The Star pay because they
UfAA6 oAoW obi