The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-02

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Who have been mustered out and hear
tas grumbling about the conditions and
locations Of camps, it makes me smile,
and I know that every old Confederate
smiles with me.
But all this minds me Of the first
c..aap Of soldiers I ever saw, and they,
too, grumbled, then, but they came to
know what fools they were and of how
little they knew Of what the war was
soon to be. This first camp had good
tents with plenty Of straw and cover
ing, and with the boxes they received
from their homes they lived about as
She grand United States soldiers of
to-day are living-they looked fine,
walked proud and only had to do a lit
tie drilling every day to please the
ladies and allow their officers to show
off.
But I saw that regiment in another
camp at different time, and if any
one had told me that fourteen months
would have made such change I
would never have believed it. On
my first visit I saw the lines Of white
tents looming up long before I arrived
at the place, and big fires were burning
and cooking meats were smelling, and
the well-dressed soldiers were fat and
joking and kicking up their heels like
young FLIES in playfulness, but my
second visit was different, SO different
that it impressed me from that day to
this whenever it is called back 60
mind. They were at the "front' now
they were in-the trenches, and as l
passed over the hill I saw down in the
valley what was called their camps.
Dingy brown blankets or oilcloths
were stretched over bush that had
been bent for the purpose, and little
smouldering fires seemed to struggle
with the cold mist that was falling.
There was no smell Of cooking meats,
NO rollicking men, but stiffness most
like death and a serious desire for
rest, sweet rest, even upon the ground
with one small small blanket for every
two.
It was good dark before found the
company I was looking for, and from
over q hundred they had shrunk to
some eighteen or twenty. These l
found and they had gathered, for 1
had news from their homes, news
from Georgia, and some of them cried
while some stood stock still and only
listened. I had letters for many Of
them, and I shall never forget how
eagerly they kneeled by the dim little
fires and read them over and over, and
never will I forget how sad the ones
looked for whom I had nothiDg-none
but an old soldier can understand how
sad it was to receive nothing on an
occasion like this.
I was the hero upon that occasion
i'll never was before nor am ever to be
again, and it is hard to sell when l
would have stopped talking if the rat
tie of guns from toward the trenches
had not scared me so bad that |
hushed. The report was soon spread
ing that the yankees were moving
forward, and there was such a hustle
among the soldiers in falling into line
that Isdidn't know what else to do
than to go along with them, and go |
did. At daylight I found myself in
what they called trench and in
front of the first line Of battle ever
saw.
had been longing for daylight to
come, for / thought our conditions
worse than anything that could be,
but when it had come I changed my
mind and changed it quick. Just as
it got light enough to see, a fellow
pretty close to where was said that
he would freeze to death anyhow if he
did not stir little, and so he
Strengthened himself and peeped over
the bank in our front. This was fatal
to the poor fellow; he raised his head
most too high and ball hit him zip,
in twinkliog. He just dropped
down in the mud, gave few jerks
and was dead, but the fight began.
Our fellows then began to pick at
them, and before sun-up I wouldn't
have given chew Of tobacco for my
chances-but / didn't have to be told
to keep down in the trench; l done 1t
without any telling.
SO it went on all that day. The
men in the trenches kept picking at
each other and once and awhile the
cannons would turn loose and big
shells went squealing over US, which
made me lay lower still, and when