The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-06-14
TWO REFRESHING MAPS.
I.ulIed to Sweet Sleep by the Roar Of
Battle Mt Antietam and
Gettysburg.

In recent address at Boston Hon.
Charles Francis Adams INDUCED in
these interesting "reminiscences: AS
have already mentioned, il was my for
tune at one period to participate in a
considerable number of battles-among
fiercely contested than Antietam and
Gettysburg. The mere utterance of
those names stirs the imagination-vi-
sions arise at once of attack, repulse,
hairbreadth escapes, carnage and
breathless suspense. There was, in
deed, on those occasions enough and to
spare of all these; but not, as it CHANGED,
in my particular case. Some here will
doubtless remember that English fox
hunting squire who has gained for him
self sort of immortality by following
his hounds over Naseby's fields, / think
it was, while the epoch-malSing battle
was going on. More yet will recall that
plowman twice referred to so dramat-
ically by Iola intent upon his uninter-
rupted days work near Sedan, when
dynasty was reeling to its fall. So my
abiding recollection as a participant in
both Antietam and Gettysburg is not
ofthe fierce agonyo of battle at its height,
but the enjoyment of two exceedingly
refreshing maps. AS statement, this,
| am aware, is calculated to startle
rather than to excite admiration, but
to the historian truth is sacred; and
the truth is--as ] have said Neither
does the statement imply any eXcep-
tional nerve or indifference to danger
on my part; make no claim to any
thing of the soIr. 1t happened in this
wise: In the campaigns of both An
tietam and Gettysburg | was an officer
of regiment of cavalry; a mere subor-
dinate, responsible only for obedience
to orders.
At Antietam, in the height of the en-
gagement, the division to which my
regiment belonged was hurried across
she narrow stone bridge at the point
where the little river intersects the
sharpsburg road and deployed on it's
further side. We were then directly
in front of Fitz-John Porter's corps and
between il and the confederate line COW
ering Sharpsburg. A furious artillery
duel was going on, to and fro, bbove our
heads, between the batteries of Por-
ter's command and those of the enemy,
we being down in the valley of the
river; they on the higher ground. The
confederate batteries we could not see,
nor could they see us. When we first
deployed on the further side of An
| tietam creek it seemed as il we were
doomed, so deafening was the discharge
of artillery on either side and so in
cessant the hurtling of projecties as
they passed both ways over us. Every
instant, too, we expected to be ordered
to advance on the confederate bat
teries. The situation was unmistaka-
bly, trying. But no orders came, and no
one was hurt. BY degrees it grew mo-
notonous. Presently, to relieve our tired
horses, we were ordered to dismount,
and without breaking the ranks we of
ficers sat down on the sloping hillside.
No one was being struck; ! was very
tired; the noise was deadening; gradu-
ally it had on me lulling effect, and so
dropped quietly asleep-asleep in the
height of the battle and between the
contending armies. They woke me up
presently to look after my horse, which
was grazing somewhat wide; and after
time we were withdrawn and sent
elsewhere. / believe that day our regi-
ment did not lose a man, scarcely a
horse. Such is my recollection of that
veritable charnel house, Artietam-and