The National tribune., 1901-02-14

by enc, are dropping into tne ldSt rlNert
where the surglng bnlows roll. They
Hear the dip of the golden oar,
And catch gieam OF the snowy sail"
The soldier in blue and the veteran in
gray were better acquainted at Appomat-
toX than they had been at ManaSsas. Iney
know each other now. When the cruel
war was over, the Confederate surrendered
his gun, furied his nag, and SorrOwiuuy
sought his desOlate home. He has Kept
the 1alth in the same spirit that inspired
Father Ryan to write:
"Furl that banner, softly, slowly;
Treat IL gently-it is holy
/ For it droops above the dead;
Touch it not; unfold it never;
Let it droop there-furied forever"
The stars and bars are now entwined
within the folds of the Star-SpangIed Ban
ner, and the praYeSt III time OF war show
themselves the most orderly and generous
when the doves are nesung within the can
mons mouth.
For the benefit of sons and daughters
the veterans perpetuate in song and story
memories of the bivouac, the march, Tie
battle, and the innumerable scenes and in
cidents peculiar TO the days when the one
followed the Star-Spanged Banner and
the other the Starry Gross, away down
South in Dixie.
There was no avoiding the war. 1t was
DOulU 10 GOulS. lle very HlSl lHtlS
had been an irrepresslble conflict. What
ever may have been the immediate cause
of the war, the hinge on which II turned,
was the old question of State sovereignty as
against National supremacy. There could
be no permanent compromise between the
two. An appeal to the law of force, the
ultima ratio regum, was the only, the
inevitable resort. The antagonism was
fundamental. The war between Athens
and Sparta was simply the elimination of
the struggle between the Doric and lonia
elements of the Grecian stock. The TWO
had been the eXponents of opposing Sys-
tens of government and social discipline.
Both parties were too strong to compro-
mise.
As l begin to write these ''Bugle Notes
from Dixie" memories of days agone come
crowding fast-the mastering squadron,
plumes and pennons, caparlsoned charger,
flashing saber, the tramp of infantry and
roll of artillery, the screaming fife and the
drum-beat, the lone bugle and the full
band; memories strangely confused with
pictures dark and pictures falr-sceneS of
life and light, of courage and death, of
rollicking gayety and of abject despair; of
music and dancing intermlngled with the
piteous cry of the wounded, the exultant
shout of the victor, and the defiant i'm
precation Of the vanquished.
"The soft moon rose up slowly,
And calmly she looked down
On the red sand OF the battlefield,
With bloody corpses strewn."
Thus panorama of three years of war
Is passing before my minds eye.
My father was a Pennsylvania, my
mother kentuckian. l was born in the
city of Louisville, but when | lined the
cavalry" at the age of Is, | was living
near Carroliton, where the Kentucky
River flows into what the Frenchmen
called La Belle Riviere.
From the time lined the critterback
company" September, 1862, until Apo
matuox, mingled with probably half the
soldiers of the Confederacy, serving under
Marshall, Preston, "Cerro GordO" Will
Jams, Ransom, Buckner, John Ii. Morgan,
Bragg, Cosby, Breckinridge, Longstreet,
Lomax, Early, and others.
My regiment was the 4th Cav, Col. Gilt
ner, organized during Bragg's Kentucky
compaign. Its personnel was composed of
youths living along the borderland from
Louisville TO COvington. My service with
the regiment, however, was brief, as | was
soon transferred to brigade headquarters,
where l remained, assisting the Adjutant-
General and performing various staff
duties, until the close OF the war.
BRACES KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
The 4th Ky. Cav. was assigned to Gen.
Humphrey Marshsll's Brigade and imme-
diately put into active, very active, serV-
ice-marching day and night, along dusty
turnpike roads, suffering for want of
water, hungry, and almost always tired
ana sleepy, too"
Gen. Braggs ''grand entree'' into Ken
tucky was sensational
'"1here was tumult in the air,
The flies shrill note, the drums loud
beat;
And through the wide land everywhere
Tho rf burf.tipa
Confederates and Federals did much
marching and countermarching on the
chessboard Of war in odd Kentucky"
Before moving into the Blue Grass
State, Gen. Bragg had been at Chatta-
nooga, on the left flank of Gen. Buelis
army. Early in August, with Morgan s
cavalry in advance, the Confederate army
made a rapid movement up the Sequatchie
Valley on the march TO the Dark and
Bloody Ground" Then began an intense
ly exciting race, both Bragg and Buell.
making Louisville their objective point. To
make it more interesting, Gen. Il. Kirby
Smith, Of Manassas fame, leaving small
force to watch the willy Federal General,
George w. Morgan, at Cumberland Gap
entered Kentucky from Virginia, with
about 1900 infantry and 1000 of SCOTS
6asbing cavalry, and at Richmond defeat
cd Gen. William Nelson, the defeat becOm
Ing rout.
Smith swiftly marched TO Lexington, eff
fecting junction with Gen. John ii. Nor
gan, and advanced division of his army
to the vicinity OF Covington, threatening
Cincinnati. Within a few days Bragg
also arrived at Lexington, thence moving
TO Frankfort, taking possession of tha
city, the Capital, and the country sOutl
and west of it. In the presence of 30,00t
soldiers, Richard Hawes was inauguratet
by the Confederates Governor of Ken
tucky. The new Governor had scarcel!
concluded his inaugural address when tht
advanced cavalry of Buells army charge'
up to the Kentucky River Bridge, anC
Governor" Hawes retired with Bragg t
Lexington.
Buell., having reached Louisville and re
organized his army, had marched upol
Frankfort with one column and sent an
ether down the south bank of the Ken
tucky River, on Bragg's left flank, threat
sning his rear.
PERRYynLE.
Strangely enough, Bragg divided. hi
army, and with the smaller part f. 'gh
the larger column of Buell's divided f. ;ce
The battle of Perryville, Oct, 8, 1867
was most desperate and bloody-th
bloodiest ever fought on Kentucky soil
Neither commander was aware of the req
situation and conditions when the BATH
began. Bragg thought he was attackin