The National tribune., 1898-10-20


out of you," said Morgan: "but Won need
another lesson, and you'll get it mighty soon.
It's fixing for you, and before many days
Beauregard will have the most of this scum
IN their graves or where Prentiss is. We've
got 50, 600 more just as good men as those
that licked you at Shiloh Price and Van
Dorm have come up, from Arkansas with
their army, which whipped Sigel and his
Dutch Yankees at EIkhorn''
Walter merely said?f
I've heard you prstiict before, Morgan -
The rebels face turned white with anger.
but he shut his lips tightly and the discus
sion ended.
The rebels must be pretty strong over
there" said Walter to O'Neil: or else our
folks wouldn't he SO awful cautions. Just
see how we've been going since we began
this so-cailed advance Go forward a few
hundred yards and then stop and dig breast
works. It's not much like the way we
bucked up against Donelson. is it?''
Faith, no." said O'Neil; nor in fact
the way they come out of their works the
other Sunday morning and warmed US up
for the Ovid Ones sake don't bear any re-
simblancc to the meek way they took our
builyragging at Columbus. Ye reminder
lasht Winther we used to go up narly livery
wake and in soight of thin slulkin' in their
trenches and shake our fists at 'em and dare
'em 10 come outside and foight it ont in the
open field, and q divel step wud they come
at ALL at all. "
Yes, / remember il quite well, " returned
Walter; and there's no doubt that the way
they hugged their trenches when we went
down to Columbus and when We crossed over
to Donelson, made Grant believe that they'd
always do it and wait for him to attack them,
and that's how he got 50 badly fooled That's
the reason they got the bulge on us the first
day at Shiloh and came mighty near getting
away with u.s."
"Well, old Halieck don't same TO be the
koind that takes such risks" said O'Neil;
since he's in command we've moved loike
snails, or nloes, ruther, not goin' a step with
out burrowin' loike wooichucis Niver
since Oi lift the oud Oireland hev Oi sane
so much work wild de spade. Oi behave the
ould man thinks he's goin' to dig the
Southern Confideracy up by the roots. OHM
| heartily sick of it. Olive bent me fenger
around gun-barrel for so many years that
they don't fit anythin' else, and eertinly not
a spade-handlc, which raises blisters and
corns on thin livery tonne Oh try TO use it. )"
Well, I'll admit" said Walter, g. that
whatever fondness / may have had for dig
ging has been satisfied by having helped turn
up the bigger part Of the soil in northeastern
Mississippi After this my hankeriug for
spades will be confined to that suite of cards
when it's trump.
"Oi'm quote sure that Oh prefer to take
Corinth as we did DonelsonD ~
- Yes, and / believe we've got the force to
do it, in spite of Dick Morgan's blowing
When | went to Headquarters this morning
with the reports had talk with the officers
there. They said these rough-looking men
with the tattered uniforms we saw marching
around to the left the other day, belong to
Pope's Army of the Mississippi, and they
had just come up from doing good piece of
work iii capturing Island No 10 that day
we fought at Shiloh. Then, Curtis,s army,
which whipped the rebels at Elkhorn, or Pea
Ridge, has come up, and we have, the officers
think, no less than 100. 900 men in the line.
That's enough to walk right over Beauregard
and his crew, and I'd like to see il done to
pay them back for Shiloh'
But neither the criticisms of Walter and
ONeil, nor the sharply-expressed dissatisfac-
tion OF the rank and file of the four large
armies which had been concentrated together
for the movement on Corinth could change
the ultra-cautious'' tactics of the wary Halleck.
who had arrived on the field Of Shiloh just at
the time when its fearful slaughter and MUIR
derous fury presented the most impressive
appearance. 1t was calculated to make
commander cautious about precipitating
another such storm of death and devasta-
tlon, and so for six weeks the immense
army crawled at the rate Of half mile q