The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1901-07-26

AS"oA hou tuO uCoiEou eltCCC 6uu
submit was victory and not druh-
Ding. But there was some busting
done there that day, and not in any
spirit Of Humiliation. / make the
confession for ! was one with those
Who did the running. The Macbeth
Light Artillery commanded by Capt
Robt. Beyce was st that time attach
e6sts <1k's brigade. Capt. Boyce
wieS an educated man and q promiying
lawyer, and he was high strung, sen
sitive and had. tic courage and am
bi,ion of a Caesar. He looked upon
an army as a great machine and each
individual soldier q part of it, and
obedience was his ideal OF soldiery
fitness for making the whole sue
cess. Now he was as Gen. Evans
said Of him that day, "spoiling for a
fight" With q chance he expected
toshape public opinion according to
his own morals. His opportunity
had come. He was ordered to take
position on graveyard hill and wipe
of or silence the Federal batteries
that we're annoying our infantry
there. With no thought Of the feast
bility ofexecuting tho order he threw
himself into his saddle and went
rushing along ut sweeping gallop
to occupy tho position assigned him.
We we're checked by line of earth
works just before we reached the
crest of the hill, which obstructed
our view of the enemy. To roach
the top Of the hill Capt. Boyce order
ed the battery through an opening
to the left, his splendid move leaping
the breast works up hill as nimble as
a cat-though the Captain weighed
about two hundred pounds. Passing
this line of earth works We were con-
fronted by another in the form of
crescent extending to the first line
on both sides of tho opening and
making half moon battery about
large enough to successfully operate
two guns. Under the excitement
incident to battle We had crowded
into this small enclosure six guns
and six caissons. The enemy sus-
pecting the trap into which our mex
pericnoed rasbness were leading as,
gave our infantry resting spell,
reserving their fire for US, and now
having us packed as sardines and the
mornings practice having given them
the range and distance, at once let
loose the dogs of war, and in a brief
time the air was full of whizzing
balls and shells bursting like claps
of thunder above our heads. In a
moment We saw the folly of our un-
dertaking. How our guns were cx-
tracted / do not know, but do know
we made fast time in getting beyond
the range of Federal guns. Our
lucky escape from destruction was
due to the inaccuracy Of the Yankee
shooting. Two men wounded and
seven horses killed or wounded we're
the damages we sustained. This
was our initiatory fight and it bad .
demoralixing effect on the company.
1t was so easy to imagine that We
would have similar experience every
time we met the enemy. But our
marshal spirit returned in an aston
ishingly quick time as was carried at
Second Manassas and Shnrpsburg.
On the morning of the eventful 3Oth
of August, 1862, our guns were
perchd on the highest hill along Lees
line of battle, and just in rear of our
guns Gen. Lee and q number Of our
leading Generals spent some time on
their knees minutely examining .
map Of that locality that had been
spread out on the ground. The
p,ints of attack having been fixed
Lee took Jackson aside and whis-
pered into his ears the word 60, that
made those hills echo with the rattle
of musketry, the thunder Of cannons
and the clashing of contending armies.
jackson mounted his old clay bank
and rode off in bending forward
position with nothing in his appear
ance to excite admiration. But
when told that it was Jackson nothing
more was needed to set tho tongues
of soldiers in state of excited VI
bration. 1t seems that Lee and
jackson about the same time caught
sight of Gen. Fitz John Porter's
overwhelming numbers moving down
In crusb .Jackson's hattie worn and