The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-12-13
SOLDIERS STORIES,
ENTERTAINING REMlNICENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and In
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-

Il never knew" said the Colonel, ''of
bus one case of dress parade under fire
and that was at the crossing of Swift
Greek in the Petersburg campaign. The
EiGhty-first New York. under command
of Col. John ID. Raulston, Of Oswego,
was under orders to cross to the Peters
burg side of the creek. The enemy kept
up constant fire. and Col. RaulstOn
moved his companies in a way to at
tract the attention of Gen. Butler, who
rear, watching the movements of his
own men as well as those Of the enemy.
After the first company crossed, 4
| formed in line as guard for the :,
ond company. When the second COM
pany was across II took the place of the
first. which moved forward half COM
pany distance, and so on. with the pre-
cision of parade drill. until all were
across. Gen. Butler was so pleased
| with the bearing of the men. with their
coolness and discipline. that he sent n
| message to Col. Raulston, presenting
his compliments and saying in effect
that regiment which could do so well
under trying circumstances would find
II easy TO go through the evolutions Of
dress parade under fire. The Colonel
his men as if for dress parade. At least
for the space of several minutes the
Eighty-first New York stood in line
with guns at parade rest, and then
moved forward as il passing in review
before the Colonel
IL saw a case like that" said the Cap
tain, but it was an accident. Our
Colonel was given to a sort of mechan-
ical use of the orders. shoulder arms
order arms and parade rest The
boys often thought he used these
phrases absent-mindedly, but whether
he did or did not the regiment was
brought to parade rest half a dozen
times on every dress parade. On one
occasion. when the regiment was form
ed as part of long line of battle, it
was reported that the enemy was about
TO charge. and the men who had been
resting ut will quickly formed In line
THE Coloners voice rang out the or
der Attention; shoulder arms Then.
TO the aniazement of the men, came the
order, Order arms: parade rest The
regiments to the right and left were
standing at ready. The men Of our
regiment were looking steadily to the
front at parade rest. The Colonel
afterward admitted that he never
meant to give the order, that it was in
his mind to order the men to get ready
to fire, but instead came out the phrase.
parade rest and he took advantage of
the unexpected to compliment his men
for their GOODNESS in the face of an
enemy"
I'VE came nearer to a dress parade
than that at Shiloh" said the Sergeant
'Our regiment and. think, the Sixth
Ohio We're the first of BuelTs army to
cross the Tennessee River on the even
ing of the first days battle. Gen. Mel
son. our division commander, was so
anxious to get the men across that he
ordered that no horses be taken with
the first boat loads. So it happened that
our own regimental officers were not
present when we formed in line. One
of the senior captains took command
and was forming line on strict parade
principles, when a large officer. taking
short breaths, said: That's right, Cap
tain, straight as rule; straight as a
rule, men,
THE officer was Gen. William Mel
son, who had crossed with the first
boat load. leaving his horse behind.
Not one man In the regiment had ever
seen him on foot before. although all of
them were familiar with his appear
ance on horseback. He seemed SO diff
ferent on what the boys called his sea
legs. and was so different in manner
that at first he was not recognized. He
took command of the regiment as soon
as formed and moved along the line as
If he were an inspecting officer. He was
the hardest swearer in the army, and
yet that evening he swOre not once. The
men, used to his clustering manners,
were surprised at the look of anxiety
and appeal on his face. He said in low,
soft tones as he moved along the line,
Now. gentlemen, remember what you
have come to do, and do 1t like soldiers.
Make your line as straight as a rule,
and when you 60 forward let the line
of bayonets be as straight as il you
were on dress parade. This will show
the enemy that you are not afraid, and
1t will give confidence to our own men
who have been fighting all day. And
that night and the next morning the
men of Nelson's division went forward
with lines as straight. with step as reg
ular, as though they were on. dress
parade"
THE greatest dress parade under fire
that l ever saw" said the Old Con
federate, was when the army of the
formed to move forward
against Missionary Ridge. Some of us
who were watching that day saw the
finest military display of our lives.
Perched on the heights of Missionary
Ridge. we looked down into a great
into which marched as If
for parade and review nearly hundred
regiments. We could not measure the
strength of the divisions, but we count
ed the flags and we knew that in the
mass there We're at least eighty-five
regimental organizations. My count
was ninety-three, but the boys insisted
that l saw double.
I'VE had no uneasiness at first, and
we laughed at the idea Of an army
which we believed was at our mercy
holding n grand review. We were inter-
ested all the same, and when the line
so perfectly formed swept forward on
our outposts. carrying everything be-
fore it. we We're startled out of our
boots. verify believe that that orderly
parade of the Army of the Cumberland,
within the range Of our sharpshoOters,
and the visible testimony of eighty-five
regmental flags carried toward us at a
,la,,h1n n,;nl- did ,,,nro 10