The National tribune., 1899-11-30
FIGHTING THEM OVER.
What the Veterans Have TO Say
About Their Campaigns
RUSHING INTO PRISON.
out Of the Frying-Pan into the Fire on the
Back Of a Frisky Mule.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In Sep
tember, 1864, the 1st d. c. Cav. was doing
picket duty at Cox's Mills and Sycamore
Church, about IS miles east of City Point.
Co. NJ, the company to which | belonged,
was stationed at CoX's Mills. Headquar-
ters, where the rest of the regiment was,
was at the church, about three miles from
the mills.
On the night of the 18th one of the bows
came to borrow my horse to stand picket,
stating that his had been condemned for a
sore back and sent to City Point. l was
off duty that night so, of course, told him
to take the horse. About daylight ~nxt
morning l heard the pickets firing, and
gave my tent-mate, Sampson, kick, and
said:
Get your gun and fall in; the rebs are
coming"
We were camped in the timber on the
left of the road going west, right on the
brow of a hill, at the footof which the road
made turn to the right, crossed a small
on the edge of the hill a trench had been
dug. Lieut.. Merrill, in command of the
battalion, ordered us to take to the trench,
at the same time mounting his horse and
going down the hill in the road to recon-
noiter. All this time we could hear the
rebels crossing the bridge. Soon the
Lieutenant came back and said they had
dismounted at the foot of the hill, and were
going to charge. In few minutes we
saw them coming. By this time it was
light. We We're armed with the Henry
repeating 16-shooter, and, of course, pump
| ed lead lively for a few minutes.
Well they charged us twice on foot, and
| then we heard them mounting their horses.
AS there were ten or more OF them to each
| one of us, Merrill knew it was no use for us
| to hold the fort any longer, so he told us to
mount and fall back to headquarters
For the first time remembered that Ihad
no mount ran to Merrill, and cried:
What am | going to do?-I let Pierce
have my horse last night"
Take my mule" He had a small pack
| mule. |, as well as the rest of the BOYS,
| had ridden him lots of times, and we had
| gotten him so that when he was spurred he
| would land on his forelegs, and reach for
the clouds with the hind ones. He was
now standing with a bride on, hitched to a
tree; several saddles lay close by
Well, by the time | was in the saddle the
rest of the boys were 500 yards on the road
to the church, Merrill about half way
between them and me, and the rebs couple
of hundred yards in the rear. | sat on that
old mule with both spurs buried in his
hide, and he nearly standing on his head.
The rebs, OF course, were doing some lively
shooting and yelling like devils.
or course, j was not a bit frightened;
only absent-minded. Merrill sang out
Stop spurring" IdreWmy saber, and used
it for whip. Then mister mule went
My rife was slung on the right side of the
saddle, IN holster, and we always had our
hand on the stock to keep it from swinging,
except in charge, when we had a way
of holding 1T between our legs and the
stirrup-strap. l did not think to secure
the rifle, and the mules legs were short.
had almost caught up with Merrill, when
that rife, got mixed up with Longear's
legs, and we stopped. The Lieutenant
said turned over twice before / struck the
ground. | was on my feet in an instant,
and so was the mule. AS he dashed by /
jumped and grabbed somewhere, and as he
was dragging me Merrill rode back, got
hold OF me, and threw me into the saddle.
On We went, and when we got to the
church we found that there had been an
other bunch of the rebs there, who had
captured the most of our men, and were
Just waiting for us; so they got us, too.
When the mule fell lost both rifle and
saber, so could not have done much in the
way OF resisting if l had been so disposed.
Soon we were on foot, and on our way
to rebel PRISONS. In the course of two or
three hours we heard firing in our rear,
and then the rebs put ,fs to the double
quick and kept it up for miles. All that
day and until after midnight there was no
let up; then we came to Wade Hampton's
headquarters, and were turned into a
cattle yard for the rest of the night. We
found that we had been captured bv some
of Hampton's cavalry, along with some
2, 400 head of cattle and part of the 11th |
Pa. Cav, who were herding them 1t |
was what is known as the cattle raid, and |
it was good job, too, for the rebels.
, The next morning when awOke found |
the yard surrounded by citizens and ne |
5roes, most OF them with sweet potato |
pie and fried chicken to sell. Up to this |
lime we had not had a mouthful to eat since |
he night of the 18TH two nights and one |
lay. Some of the boys had money. AS |
t happened, neither Dan, my chun, nor
myself had any, and, as the rebels had |
stripped us OF everything except what we
lad on our backs, we had nothing to trade.
30 we thought. But soon / saw one of the
'itizens, who had been allowed to come
inside the lncloSure, looking at my feet.
had on fine pair of cavalry boots that
had had made in Washington, and which
.ost me S14. The citizen had on a pair of
ed English shoes, and they Were very
rood shoes, too.
Well" he said, what number do Won
vear?"
"Sevens," said l.
Just my size. replied he; what will
'Ou take in trader"
About what will you give me?" / asked.
Ten dollars" he replied.
Now | knew that Confederate money
Ias not much account, but | had an idea
hat 81 there would buy as much as green
acks would III the States. | thought !
nat 10 cents III their money would get a ;
ozen eggs or pint of milk, and so | took !,
i'm up before he had time to back out. /, ,
Dan was an older man than /, he being :
or q, while was only 16. He had the l. l.
anne idea about the money as myself !
liter we had made the exchange, said:
"Now, Dan, let's fill up. We can have
ne good meal, and then by being little
lving We can make the rest of the $40
tst us a month, anyway" Y
An old negro drove up with load OF a
/
Let's have melon to start with. They a
re cheap here in the South, and won't t
JSt over 10 cents" r
"All right; Say, uncle, what will you {
Ike for the best melon you have?" \
well, boss" and he placed his hand on q
ne about as big as "A water-pail, YOU can +
ave that one for S12" =
When | came to they were issuing rations {
two hardtack and about four ounces of C
'tten side meat. | got my rations, and j
zen began TO look after my boots, but tbey
ere gone. Ten dollars! should have I
ad 900! :
In short time we were ordered to fall-in. f
oon after we were in line and front-faced, II
gray bearded man came riding down the Y
ne, and almost all the vile words that +
'er came from the mouth of man came r
ON HIM. He called us everything that /
as bad, and swore that if he could have /
is way he would swim in our blood before q
lght. n
| tried to find out who he was, but no one t
'emed to know. He was very large man, b
nd should Judge about go or 65 years old. Ii
Though he had nothing to- show for it,
ldged he was an officer OF high standing. 2
Some mnnfhS haf< (, ,,aJt Al. |