The National tribune., 1901-08-08

instead, we understood what manner o
man he was, and knew that the persist
ent pounding, which of all things we wer
least able to endure, had begun. Whel
at last we settled down in the trenche
around Petersburg, we ought to hay
known that the end was rapidly drawing
near. We congratulated ourselves in
stead upon the fact that we had infictet
| a heavier loss than we had suffered, ant
| buckled on our armor anew.
If Gen. Grant had failed to break on
power of resistance by his sledge-hamme
blows, 1t speedily became evident that b.
would be more successful in wearing i
away by the constant friction of siege
! Without fighting battle he was literall!
| destroying our army. The sharpshootinl
was inceSsant, and the bombardmen
hardly less so, and under it all our nun
bers Visibly decreased day by day. Dur
| ing the first two months of the siege my
own company, which numbered about 15(
men, lost 60 in killed and wounded, al
| average of a man day, and while ouI
| list of casualties was greater than that
of many other commands, there were
| undoubtedly some companies and regi-
ments which suffered more than we. The
reader will readily understand that an
army already weakened by years of war,
with no source from which to recruit its
ranks, could not stand this daily waste
for any great length of time. We were
in state Of atrophy for which there was
no remedy except that of freeing the ne
groes and making soldiers of them, which
Congress was altogether too loftily senti-
mental to think of for a moment.
GLOOMY FATALIsM.
There was no longer any room for hope
except in a superstitiOus belief that Prov
idence would in some way interfere in our
behalf, and to that very many betook
themselves for comfort This shifting
upon supernatural power the task we
had failed to accomplish by human means
rapidly bred many less worthy supersti-
tons among the troops. The general
dependency, which amounted almost to
despair, doubtless helped TO bring about
this result, and the great religious ire
yivaI' contributed to it in no small de-
gree. / think hardly any man in that
army entertained a thought of coming
out Of the struggle alive. The only uues-
ton with each was when his time was to
come, and a sort of gloomy fatalism took
possession of many minds. Believing that
they must be killed sooner or later, and
that the hour and the manner of their
deaths were unalterably fixed, many be-
came singularly reckless, and exposed
themselves with the utmost carelessness
to all sorts of unnecessary dangers.
I'm going to be killed pretty soon,"
said as brave a man as,I ever knew, to
me one evening. Il never flinehed from
bullet until today, and now l dodge
every time one whistles within 20 feet
of me-"
l tried to persuade him out Of the be-
lief, and even got for him a dose of vale
rian with which to quiet his nerves. He
took the medicine, but assured me that he
was not nervous in the least
My time is coming, that's ALL" he
said; land l don't care. A few DAYS
more or less don't signify much" An
hour later the poor fellows head was
blown from his shoulders as he stood by
my side.
One such incident-and there were
many OF them-Seryed to confirm a SUI
persiitious belief in presentiments which
hundred failures of fulfllment were I'M
able to shake. Meantime the revival
went on. Prayer-meetings were held i'll
every tent. 1estaments were in every
hand, and sort of religious ecstasy took
possession of the army. The men had
ceased to rely upon the skill of their lead
ers OF the strength of our army for suc-
cess, and not a few of them hoped now
Tor miraculous interposition of super
natural power in our behalf.
Men IN this mood make the best of SOL
diers, and at no time were the fighting
curing the siege. Under such circum- |
men do not regard death, and
even the failure of any effort they were
called upon 10 make wrought no demorali- |
zau0n among the troops who had per- |
suaded themselves that the Almighty |
ned victory IN store for them, and would |
gave 1t to them in due time What cared |
,hey Tor the failure Of mere human eff |
'oItS' "heh they were persuaded that |
faY NrT,-g NJ
o ultimate victory? Disaster seemed only |
% strengthen the faith of many. They |
saw In 1t needed lesson in humility. and |
IN additional reason for believing that |
Iou meant to bring about victory by his |
,wn and not by human strength. They |
no their sOldierly duties perfectly. They
leld danger and fatigue alike in con-
cinpt. 1t was their duty as Christian
men To- obey orders without question, and
hey dld SO IN the thought that to do 9TH
'r%ise was TO sin.
That the confidence bred Of these things
mould be of gloomy kind was natural
'Eough, ana the gloom was not dispelIcd
'crtainly, by the conviction of every man
nat he was assisting at his own funeral
allure, TOO, which was worse than death.
vas plainly inevitable in spite of il all
persisted, as | have said. in vaguely
lopIhs ana trying to believe that success
nut our eyes TO the plainest facts refus-
hS TO admit the truth which was every.
Nhere evident namely, that our efforts
ad ialed, and that our cause was already
It's death struggles. But we must have
,nown all this, nevertheless, and our dill
ent cultivation of an unreasonable hone
illness served in no sensible degree TO
aise our spirits
Even positive knowledge does not nj
ways bring belief. ! doubt if a con- |
iemned man, who finds himself in full
'odlly hea!th, ever quite believes that he
to die within the hour, however GER
AMY ne may know the fact; and our con-
lltlon was not unlike that of condemned
men.
EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.
When at last the beginning of the end
anne, IN the evacuation of Richmond and
he effort to retreat, everything seemed TO
20 to pieces at once. The best disciplin
lIians IN the army relaxed their reins.
he pest troops became disorganized, and
lardly any command marched in a body.
Companies were mixed together. parts NJ
ZACH being separated by detachments or
'thers. Flying citizens in vehicles OF
very conceivable sort accompanied and
the columns. Many com
hands marched heedlessly on without or
lers, and seemingly without thought of
"hlther they were going Others mis-
ook the meaning OF their orders, and still
others had instructions which il was i'm
possible TO obey in any case. At Amelia
Jourt House we should have found a sun
by of provisions. Gen. Lee had ordered
train load to meet him there. but the
interests OF the starving army had been
acrihced to the convenience or the cow
of 1. |