St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-09-28
III.

On the side of the Tennessee river.
over against Pittsburg Landing, are
some low bare hills, partly inclosed by
forest. In the dusk Of the evening oil
April 9th. this open space, as seen from
the other side OF the stream-whence,
indeed, it was anxiously watched by
thousands of eyes to many of which it
grew dark before the sun went down.
would have appeared to have been ruled
in long, dark lines, with new lines being
constantly drawn across. These lines
were the regiments OF Buell's leading di'
vision, which, having moved up from
Savannah, through country presenting
nothing but intermnable swamps and
painless bottom lands" with rank
overgrowths of Jungle, was arriving at
the scene of action breathless, footsore
and faint with hunger. 1t had been a
terrible race; some regiments had lost a
third oil their number from fatigue. the
men dropping from the ranks as if shot,
and lett to recover or die at their leisure.
Nor was the scene to which they had
been invited likely to inspire the moral
confidence that medicines to physical
prostration. True, the air was full OF
thunder, and the earth was trembling
beneath their feet; and if there is truth
in the theory of the conversion OF force,
these men were storing up energy from
every shock that burst its waves upon
their bodies. Perhaps this theory may,
better than another, explain the tremen-
dous endurance of men in battle. But
the eyes reported nothing but matter for
despair.
Before us ran the turbulent river,
vexed with plungng shells, and obscured
in spots by blue sheets of low-lying
smoke. The little steamers were doing
their duty nobly. They came over to us
empty, and went back crowded, sitting
very low in the water, apparently on the
point of capsizing. The further edge of
the water could not be seen; the boats
came out of the obscurity, took on their
dreadful cargoes, and vanished in the
darkness But on the heights above,
the battle was burning brightly enough;
a thousand lights kindled and expired in
every second OF time. There were broad
fushings in the sky, against which the
branches of the trees showed bDackly.
Sudden flames burst out here and there,
singly and in dozens. Flectiug strraks
of fire crossed over to us by way of wei
come. These expired in binding flashes
and fierce little rolls Of smoke, attended
with the peculiar metallic ring of burst
ing shells, and followed by the musical
humming OF the fragments as they struck
into the ground on every side, making us
vince but doing little harm. The dir
was full of noises. To the right and the
lett the musketry ratified smartly and
petulantly; directlyin front it sighed and
rowled. To the experienced ear this
meant that the death-line was an arc of
which the river was the chord. There
were deep, shaking explosions and smart
shocks; the whisper OF stray bullets and
the hurtle Of conical Shells the rush Of
round shot. There were faint, desutory
cheers, such as announce momentary
or partial triumph. Occasionally, against
the glare behind the trees, could be seen
moving black figures, singularly distinct,
but apparently no longer than thumb.
They seemed to me ludicrously like the
figures oil demons in old alegorical prints
OF hell. To destroy these and their be.
longiugs, the enemy needed but another
hour of daylight; the steamers would in
that case have been doing him fine SER
vice by bringing more fish to his net.
Those oil US who had the good fortune to
arrive late could then have eaten our
teeth in impotent rage. Nay, to make
his victory sure, it did not need that the
sun should pause in the heavens; one of
the many random shots falling in the
river would have done>the business, had
chance directed it into the engine room
of a steamer. You can perhaps fancy the
anxiety with which we watched them
leaping down. But we had two other
allies besides the night. Just where the
enemy had pushed his right flank into
the river was the mouth OF wide bayou,
and here two gunboats had taken sta
ton. They, too, were Of the toy sort,
plated perhaps with railway metals, per.
haps with boler-iron. They staggered
under a heavy gun or two apiece. The
bayou made an opening in the high bank
of the river. The bank was a parapet,
behind which the gunboats crouched, fir
ing up the bayou as through an embras-
ure. The enemy was at this disadvan-
tage: he could not get at the gunboats,
and he could only advance by exposing
his flank to their ponderous missiles, one
OF which would have broken halt mile
of his bones and made nothing of it
Very annoying this must have been
these twenty gunners beating back an
army because sluggish creek had beer
pleased to fall into a river at one point
rather than another. Sucn is the part
that accident may play in the little game
of war.
AS a spectacle this was rather fine
, We could just discern the black bodies o
these boats, looking very much like tur
ties. But when theylet off their big gun.
| there was a conhagration. The rive
shuddered in it's banks. and hurried on
! bloody, wounded, terrified; objects ;
e mile away sprang toward our eyes as
. snake strikes at the face of its victim
D The report stung us to the brain, but W
;. blessed it audibly. Then we could hea
a the great shell tearing away through tn
h air until the sound died out in the dis
y tance, then, a surprisingly long time a
n terward, dull, distant explosion, and
h sudden silence of small arms told thei
e own tale There was fine shooting alon
b the Tennessee in the spring of go.
d ~.
s. There was, l remember, no elephant O
e the boat that passed us across that ever
a ing, nor, think, any hippopotamu
J. These would have been out of place. "
n had, however, woman. Whether IL
IS baby was somewhere on board did M
o learn. She was a fine creature, tn
l. woman; somebody's wife, though. H
l. mission, as she understood it, was
n inspire the failing heart with courag
a; and when she selected mine felt less fla
q tered than astonished at her penetratio