The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-01-26
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
A Young Soldiers PremOnition That
Came True.

Oume true.
DR.. Tindall, the secretary to the
board of district commissioners, who
has an anniversary war yarn for every
day in the year, tells of an incident
which occurred about Christmas time
in his military experience. There are
so many of these Incidents" he ex-
planned, that hardly know which to
tell first, but as the Star was kind
enough several years ago to publish one
of my narratives, founded on premo-
milton of one of the officers of the regi-
ment, which was strillingly verified by
events, l might try my hand at another
account with a presentiment for its
theme.
"Scrgt. H, of my company, was
one of thousands on both sides in the
war who took his musket in his boy
ish hands responsive to the call of duty,
and no better fellow or braver soldier
ever carried a musket on his shoulder.
Shortly after the army crossed the
Rappahannock river into the city of
Fredericksburg, about December IL,
1862, my regiment stacked arms in one
of the lower streets of the city, and
the boys scattered themselves all over
the town as curiosity or hunger and
thirst guided them. With several 9th
ers was fortunate enough to find with
in the distance of few houses of the
street where the regiment was sta
toned an unoccupied house which
promised to afford goodly amount of
the creature comforts for which we
sought. Somewhere in this house the
boys found stove and nearly barrel
OF -four, and down in the cellar an i'm
mense jar of raspberry jam. One Of
them found silk dress, which he gave
to me and which put in my haver-
sack, without any special object, ex-
cept that which impels a soldier to hold
onto everything he gets that doesn't
belong to him. / had no use for it and
could imagine none, but | was too
young and Indifferent to the rights of
belligerents or their allies on the other
side to give thought as to what the
owners wishes might be. We carried
the stove and flour into the second story
and made slap-jack tarts with the rasp-
berry jam as long as we could eat, and
as often as appetite returned. Early
on the morning of the battle, which oc
Cured on the 18th, Sergt. H came
to me and said that he had had very
annoying dream the night before; that
he had dreamed that he was shot in the
stomach, which was of all places that
in which he most dreaded to be hit.
Foolish as the fancy was, he could not
resist it. In order to forestall fate, if
possible, he had folded his blanket as
closely as he could inside of the breast
of his blouse and fortified himself there
with such other articles as he could con-
venieutly apply to the locality. He said
he had just heard that had a silk dress
and that some of the boys had said that
silk compactly folded would offer great
resistance to bullet. l cheerfully
gave him the dress, which he added to
his other defenses.
II afterward learned that in addition
to this armor he had tied around his
neck the straps of his well-tilled haver-
sack, so that it also depended in front
OF the region already so well protected.
When the regiment, in proceeding to
the assault, had reached the railroad
cut and commenced to deploy as slir-
mishers up the bank, the cOnfederates
opened fire from several batteries upon