The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-05
CHAPTER XVI.
WHAT A LETTER REVEALED.


crossed. superb even in defeat. Just as
on the conduct OF the war Chat remark
able annex to our military system) and
countless critics all over the North stormed
at the Army of the Potomas because 1t
seemed to follow at respectful distance,
content to let the erring brethren go in
peace. The man who felt 1t most that the
beaten enemy should again succeed in get
ting away was the one who said the least
Lincoln had no rebuke for Meade, who.
smarting and sensitive under the lash of
Halleck and Stanton. asked In his turn TO
be relieved of that vexatious command, but
could not be accommodated. THE plum
was so ripe" was all that the patient Pres
ident could say, lit seemed pity not to
seize it." But no one save those that tried
1t knew the cost of seizing Confederate
plums. Stern and defiant, the disciplined
ranks in gray turned and faced every essay
to modest them, and another winter closed
in on the armies in Virginia, with the same
old stream-the Rapidan-for their dividing
line.
For a time the tide OF war swept to other
fields, and all eyes were focused on the
West. Matters in the immediate front OF
Washington seemed to stagnate, while
within they seethed. A curious state of at
fairs existed, a condition of divided re-
sponsibilities that resulted in Lees being
allowed to detach third of his force un-
der Longstreet to help crush the Army or
the Cumberland at Chickamauga, and to set
us back another six months on the road to
victory. Then came the final resolution OF
the great war President that he and
Halleck and Stanton had long tried. with
out success, the business of "bossing'' ar
mics in the field, ii was time to turn the
whole thing over to single stage man.
| ager. Then came Grant and the beginning
| of the end
Meantime how Jared it with Fred Ben
| ton and his fellow-workers in the war
| drama? Gettysburg, with all it's solemn
| triumph, had left them sore at heart. The
old brigade had trudged back to it's former
| fields along the Rappahannock, bereft Of
| many a loved and honored comrade, and
| in the relic of one regiment, at least, there
was genuine sorrow over the death of him
who wore the gray. There was comfort
in the Sixth that it was in front of Geary's
line. not theirs, that Ewelrs fated young
aid-de-camp should meet his mortal
|
beneath the worn visors of the caps of
| faded blue, in sympathy with the grief in
Benton's haggard face All that was NOR
tai of Paul Ladue they laid away the
bank of the little stream by which he fell
| soldiers of the Sixth his pallbearers. off,
| GERS and men his mourners, and the Mont
| gomerys from the old home city, his funeral
escort, though they could hardly muster
a squad. The few papers and memoranda
| in his possession, his watch and forage cap
and sword were placed in Benton's charge
| Benton who had stopped and kissed the
peaceful, up-turned face ere they lowered
it from sight of all. and had reverently
| clipped away a lock of the dark, wavy hair
for that anxious-hearted girl at home,
| praying, all unconscious of her new sor-
| row. The three volloys flashed over the
slender, wasted form. No soldier honors
were omitted because of the garb he wore.
| They knew we'll that but for the treachery
of one, and the unreasoning violence OF
others of their own people, this might
never have been, and, whether or no, IL
was all ended now-rancor, enmity and
strife forgotten in the contemplation OF
the wrongs dealt his name both North and
South. Yet only to limited few was 4,
told that, after all, that soldier death was
mercy. The doctors said 1t saved him from
long months of suffering-that he could
hardly have lived another year. Distress
OF mind. confinement and illness had Sc
racked the fragile body that he was a
doomed man the day they sent him back
exchanged, to Newport News, to rejoir
his one-legged old division leader in time
for his last essay on Northern SOIL
And there at Gettysburg he slept, await
ing the ending of the war; while the cloud.
lowered thicker and thicker about the
heads of those whom he had so loved
Fred Benton, twice named in official re-
ports for most gallant conduct on the field
and recommended for the brevet of major
found himself again summoned to Wash
ington. this time witness before a mill
tary commission for the trial of one Petel
Jennings. civilian, for whose apprehension
with whole skin the First Virginia Cav
airy stood ready TO pay a round sum and tn,
"StonewalI' to supplement 1t with another
each claiming prior right to perforate Of
scar that skin at sight. The virginian
swore he was double-dyed traitor, in
former and spy-that he sold information
to the Federals. and had betrayed Ladue
of the Eleventh Alabama, into their hands
even while Stanton and others at the Wa
Department were ready to swear the tai
| Virginian's life away to the charge of Civ
ing information to the rebels of the plans
movements and numbers of the Uniol
forces. Now, what, asked Benton, coul,
they want of him?
Among the papers In poor Ladue's pos
session was the original draft of the re
port he had written the commanding of
fcer of the Eleventh Alabama of his fligh
across the Potomac and capture by Uniol
cavalry near Matthias Point Not until h
reached a certain farmhouse near Por
escaped from prison camp near Annapolis
and his joy was great when Jack Chiltol
appeared among them-Chiton mad wit
eagerness to make the crossing, the other
disappointed that the boats provided wer
so pitifully small--Ladue, suffering from
some kind of ague, with remittent fever
now almost too weak and i'll to make IN
attempt at all, yet determined to &
on. He and Chiffon were ferried over on
dark, wintry night, and landed at a fisher
| mans house three miles below the Point
and there. to his infinite concern, Pau
found that he had lost his pocket memo
randum book, well nigh filled with note
| concerning the troops about Shepherdstowr
Hagerstown, Chambersburg and so o
| 80 baltimore also cartain eLatc