The National tribune., 1902-08-21

: Colonel smiled as much as a man coult
. who was standing in six inches of colo
: mud and receiving on his head and shoul
ders a steady torrent of ice-water, ant
said: "Wcll. he shan't be entirely disap
pointed. Hitch UP your horses and move
out. You shall have the honor of lead
ing the regiment into camp. That ough
to be enough for any man. Halt at the
first spot you find that the water is run
ming off and not Onto
THANK you very much, Colonel" sait
81. THAT pays for everything"
Shorty drove up little ways. and came
to 4 ridge and an open pine forest, int
which he turned.
They made a shelter of cedar boughs foi
Kramer's fire, so that he could manage tC
make coffee, fry some meat and boil some
yams. This was at least filling, warming
and Strengthening. and life began to have
examined Tom Brainard, and found that
the revolver bullet had passed to so neal
the outside that it could be easily re
moved, which was done, and the patient
greatly relieved. The Surgeon tried tC
have Tom go into the ambulance, but he
stOntly refused to leave the boys.
They pulled the old coach up near the
| mt uittHcu dTOuHu IL tO uTdlH oll tHt
| water, and piled about it a heap of cedar
boughs to shed the rain. More We're laid
under it for bed for Pete, Sandy, ALT
Gid. Harry aid Monty, while the others
were to sleep inside the coach. In this
way they managed TO get better quarters
than anybody else in the regiment, and by
the time they had finished their prepara.
tions they were so dead tired that they
crawled in and went to sleep, despite rain,
Il \ Ed
And they slept soundly, too.
The boys under the coach scarcely
stirred, but 81 and the older ones reused
occasionally, to put fresh wood on the
fire. and then crawl back into their blan-
kets.
The next. morning it was raining pre-
cisely as if it had just started in and
never meant to stop.
The boys had a breakfast of the same
character as their supper, fixed up their
quarters a little better, went over to the
camp Of the LIST Oshkosh, and found their
horses, and put in the remainder of the
day resting and visiting with the boys Of
the regiment, gossiping of the happenings
on both sides since they had been away.
The next morning it was, if possible,
raining harder. and more persistently than
| ever. lnactiep was now becoming tire
| some to them.r They fdgeted around all
uay. he hSAE lII1TuIuS were gaps
| in the showers, and they secured the
ColOners order to go out toward the left
and forage for the waning Commissary.
Meat was particularly needed. 1t was all
gone.
Colonel" 81 yeptured to ask, as he put
his foot in the stirrup, isn't it about due
for the army to file right and make bolt
on CharlestOnw III
''That's only known to the Lord and
n ,.h
in the confdence OF either" answered the
Colonel. 'AllcI know is that the present
orders are to point due north toward Char
lotte, y: G. shall be ready, though, to
change direction any minute. We've been
long enough in this army to know that
the place to which Gen. Sherman seems
bent on going is the one that he has no
idea of reaching"
What the Colonel limited at was the
truth Sherman was again executing one
of his grand strategic moves so mystify-
ing to the rebels and SO startling in sweep
ing results. His wonderful army of 10000
seasoned and disciplined veterans who had
had added to their natural courage and en-
thusiastic patriotism three years of sever
est training in the great school of war,
was in the very heart of South Carolina,
stretched along front of 60 miles, threat
ening at once all the important places
~
of marching with their swift certainty,
which defied all obstacles of swollen riy-
ers, impossible roads and fathOmless
swamps, would carry them to the coast
and the rich cities of Charleston or Viii
mngton, or up through the interior, to
Charlotte, with its immense stores and
factories, Salisbury with its thousands of
Union prisoners, Raleigh, the capital Of
North Carolina, and finally to the rear of
Lee n nd I.,, 81,
remained where they were and every step
they marched forward reduced the sup
plies badly needed by Lees army and the
rebel Government.
Across their path now lay the Catawba
or Wateree River, the worst obstacle they
had yet encountered; but the men who
had so quickly passed such rivers as the
Savannah, the Salkehatchie, the Edisto
and the Congaree made light of it. Such
was their confidence in themselves and
their leader that they would not have
banked ut the Atlantic Ocean if they had
been ordered to cross it.
The sadly outgeneraled Jeff Davis and
Beauregard, well-ngh distracted by their
humiliating failures to divine Sherman's
plans and arrest his march before, were
straining every nerve to stop him now.
The remnants of Hoods army were being
hurried across the country from Augusta
to get behind the Catawba and save Char
lotte. Joe Wheeler. Wade Hampton and
Nj. G. Butler had gathered up every man
who could ride to put before Sherman and
check him until it could be found out
which way he was going. Hardee at
Charleston, was still torn up in his mind |
whether he should stay and defend the |
city or move out to join the rest Of Beaure-
CARDS forces on the Catawba.
The left wing Of Sherman's army-the |
Fourteenth and Twentieth COrps-under |
Gen Slocum, with Kilpatrick's cavalry.
was heading straight north. apparently for |
Charlotte and Salisbury The right wing
the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps. |
under Gen. O.fiO. Howard-was pointing |
to the northeast. ibut acting as if, at any |
hour, 1t might lmabe a sharp right wheel |
and pOunce dOwDnOn Charleston.
81 found the fOraging difficult The
army had now been in that region several
days, and the country had been pretty
thoroughly stripped. Wherever he went
he found thatn his comrades from other
regiments had been before him, and left
only barely enough to keep the families
through the Winter Where the rebe! for
ayers had been they were not so consid-
crate, but took ALI they could find. The
country people were more bitter against
Wheeler's cavalrylthan against the Yam
KEGS. They complained that while the
Yankees only took such horses as would
be of some service to them, Wheeler's men
took every one they could find, even if
they had to shoot them as worthless mt
the next camp. They would drive off their
Al, I II