Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1900-02-22

room. Across its face brown letters
had come ont clear and distinct:
yours received. Thanks. We march to-
night. HEATH"
Slowly the general in chief rose from
his chair, and, advancing to the vindi-
Gated man, grasped his hand; Margaret
laughed and wept by turns, while the
rest of us threw up our hats and shout
ed. When quiet was restored Gen.
Heath concluded:
"You are aware, general, that during
the period of my service in the west ru-
mors have been current that / have
been secretly and treacherously aiding
the enemy. 1t is now plain whence this
secret malignant influence came. Be-
rante was made prisoner at Shiloh and
had the ear of union officers. Having
been exchanged before Chickamauga
he was present at that battle and had
an opportunity to converse with the
union officers captured there. I leave
you to infer whence came the reports
that the confederate successes were
largely due to friend in the union
army, that friend being myself. Atlast
am confronted with the author of nv
misfortunes. am unable to punish
him, for he has come into our lines
pledged to protection, but 1 thank the
Great Jehovah, the God of battles and
of peace, that from this time forward
he will be powerless to injure me.''
Notwithstanding wars horrors, it
has it's pleasurable episodes. My most
delightful remembrance of that period
Of strife and suffering is the few min
utes following the exit of Col. Archard
and Maj. Berante. There was sudden
wringing of hands, eyes looking into
eyes that danced triumphant, a babel of
congratulations. AS for me, forgetting
myself completely, I threw my arms
around everybody in the room except
the general-in-chief. embraced, sue
cessively, the general, Margaret, Punk,
and Georgia, whose enthusiasm, great
as it was, did not prevent her giving me
a box on the ear, which she afterwards
admitted was not for the caress, but be-
cause of it's publicity.
Our expressions of joy were inter-
rupted by the generalin-chicf taking
Heath aside and speaking with him in a
tone which, though too low to be heard
by the others, brought Il light into his
eye that had not seen there for
months. Then the commander of the
armies of the west offered Margaret es-
pecial thanks for the great service she
had rendered and hurried away. What
he was going to do did not know then,
but the next day the thunder of his
guns told me that he was taking advan-
tage of the absence of Longstreet's
corps from the army Of the Tennessee,
fighting and winning the battle of Mis-
sionary Ridge-a battle which marked
the beginning of the end of the confed-
eracy.
As love story this narrative must
necessarily be fragment. What had
passed between Gen. (then Capt.
Heath and Margaret Beach before lie
met her between Chattanooga and Nor
gantown Cross Roads never learned
for both were naturally reticent, and
especially so with regard to the most
sacred OF all conditions. After the bat
tie that followed in the wake of the
information we had gained and the gen
erals vindication, was suddenly sum
moned one morning to attend him. He
rode straight to the plantation, where
he found Margaret, and 1 am quite
sure that it was on this occasion that d
treaty of peace was formally drawn be.
tween the two and their future rela.
tions officially settled. AS to their
courtship, except that courtship which
was going on under my eyes while the
general held Margaret as prisoner,
know nothing, but can vouch for the
fact of their wedding, for 1 witnessed
it, and they were afterward loving
couple, for have often visited them.
AS to my affair with Georgia, an ac-
count of what followed our few brief
meetings described in the last pages
of this story would involve another
volume of confessions not more credit
able to me than the foregoing. I made
q very unsatisfactory lover, forgetting
during an exciting campaign, to COM
municate with my inamorata for
months at time. But when the alb
sorbing events of that most eventful
period in the nations history were
ended, l took as much interest in love
as l had taken in war. But I made
slow progress as husband. For years
l could never hear the rattle of drum,
nor the bullet of some careless marks
man singing over my head, without
showing a restlessncss that troubled
my wife and unsettled me to no pur-
pose. But as the years went by grad
ually quoted down to the arts of peace,
and the time came when conceived as
much horror of war as had at one time
felt admiration.
The general was offered promotion
for his instrumentality in bringing
the news of Longstreet's move, but res
olutely declined it. On the Atlanta
campaign he did such effective service
as a cavalry Tanker that he was again
offered, and accepted, the double star.
A generation later, when the blue and
the gray stood shoulder to shoulder
against the Spaniard, he became COM
mander in the blended columns.
THE END.
FOUR COURTsH1P SUNDAYS.