The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-03-29
BLUE AND THE GRAY
GRAVE MEN vylO MET ON THE
FIELD Of BATTLE.
Thrilling Stories Of the Rebellion
Ola Soldiecs and Sailors Relate Remi.
niscences of Life in Camp and on
the Field-Iucidenfs of the War.

| who showed the most bravery ut Co
| lciiSo and who SAW the hardest service
ut the front never caught Il glimpse of
the enemy. This Introduces a new fac
tor in what we may call the emotional
| life "f soldiers. liz our civil WAR the
| producer Of panics was the sudden ap-
| pearance of the enemy ut close range
! or Il fcaGlon% charge Of the enemy in
great numbers. II was tie sight of the
enemy that scared men.
| Tie question is how veterans of our
war. trained through four years of act
| i've service 10 regard with equanimity
| tie viS;bl" approach of an enemy.
woul;i feel nrder the steady fire OF good
| martisnlen who could not he seen.
| Their first impulse would be to hide
| themselves, but would the practice of
| marchins: into the range of an invisi-
| BE foe cnrage them or scare them
| The chances are that they would not
| find much encouragement in 4 tight in
| which personal courage and prowess
| counted for. nothing. In the first year
OF the civil war Il feeling of disnay fire.
i
| enced soldiers when an apparently re-
sistlcSs lire Of ConfetlerateS moved
steadily forward in spite of heavy mus
ket fire. TIE feeling of helplessness in
the face of a superior force led to many
| q panic. but in time the presence of the
enemy 1T close quarters had 10 infiu-
ence in precipitating panic. The
4 sI. .ln
| fear.
| Il remember one case in which our
regiment charged forward after flee
| ing enemy until il came to big corn
| field. This was in midwinter. but the
corn had not been cut and the heavy
| growth of stalks made 4 good shelter
for those in retreat. Our boys had gone
probably fifty yards into the corn when
| the enemy turned on us and we in our
turn were contemplating retreat, when
] we caught sight over the corn Of q dOz-
, en- res:mental flags, coming from the
right. Supposing. of course, that these
flags represented so many Union regi-
mentS coming 10 our assistance we
Strengthened our wavering line and
We're moving forward, when some one
| discovered that the approaching regi-
ments moving through the corn all car
| ried Confederate flags. / remember to
this day the inward sinking away that
came over me as 1 realized that we
We're Il quarter Of mile in advance of
any other Union troops, and that full
division of the enemy was within n
| hundred yards of us.
I'VE stood in our places, fascinated,
paralyzed by the spectacle Of twelve
| Confederate flags waving above the
! cOrnstalks. showing the position of reg
iments marching directly upon US. We
could not see 4 man, but we could hear
the steady tramp. tramp. tramp of
| thousands of men. We stood there and
| saw the regiment on the left of the line
march by our front not ten PAGES from
us The thing that frightened us was
that these Confederate veterans paid
no attention to our fire, but marched
steadily forward at a right-shOulder
shift until the bugle's sharp notes
brought them to 4 left flank and n
| charge.
I'VE could see more than the whites
| of their eyes. We could see the con-
| temptuous look on their faces as they
plunged forward in the face of our
rambling fire. They swept over us
with the Indifference Of herd of buffa-
10. trampled us into the earth, and sped
onward to take the position assigned
them in a new line of battle Then the
usual thing happened. The fragments
| of our broken regiment, instead of
speeding wildly to the rear, gathered
about their torn flag, released their col
Onel. who had gone down under his
horse, and. forming a thin line, blazed
| away at the backs Of the COnfedrates
who had run over us. 1t seemed a fool
ish and desperate thing to do, but in
time that charging Confederate line
was met by adequate resistance in
front, and then the attack in the rear
changed their advance into retreat
AT Chickamauga," said the Major,
before daylight on the morning Of
Sept. 20, our regiment skirted along the
edge of n great mass Of men sleeping
on their arms. We knew that the regi-
ments and the brigades had been
formed in column doubled on the cen
ter and had been massed in battle Or
der. and that the men retaining this
formation were sleeping in ranks. We
had been out all night on a scouting ex-
pedition, and coming on this division
or corps, we left it to the rear, suppos-
ing as matter of course that it was
one of our own divisions. There were
other flying columns moving this way
and that, and we paid as little atten-
tion to them as we did to the men in
bivOuac.
I'VE felt easy because we believed
that the heavy mass of troops was be-
tween us and the enemy. Imagine our
dismay when we discovered that the
that by taking the wrong road we had
lost our bearings and were outside our
own lines and in the immediate vicinity
of q corps of the enemy. In the dark
ness and in the fog that prevailed
about daylight the Confederate guards
had taken us for Confederate troops.
We could scarcely believe our own
eyes and ears, but we moved forward.
changed direction to what seemed to
us the Confederate rear. and came up
on our own yidettes shivering in the
cold and wondering why in the nation
the JOhnnies hadn't fired on us.
That day we moved To within a
short distance of Gen. Rosecrans' head
quarters. and the men. having been on
the move all night, lropped down for
a little sleep. IL seemed 10 me that
hadn't been asleep five minutes when
l was awakened by great uproar. As
l sat up rubbing my eyes, saw Con
federate soldiers rushing forward as
though engaged in sort of football
scramble. At first l couldn't under
stand it. Ii seemed 10 he sort of
frolic. But, fully awake, l realized
Iiat the Confederates had broken our
line and had driven away the regi-
ments guarding headquarters.
We We're in the shelter of 4 bluff,
oul tho Storm Swapf nv lie Ton min