The National tribune., 1902-06-05
plete triumph to which they were press

commands. / wanted to get away, and
go round the right into the Union left, but
the turmoil had been so great that my
proper course was not clear to me. 1
did not know what was best to do, and
l waited.
"Say." said the tall man, "arcn't you
from the First?'
Yes, he is; know him." said the 9TH
er man.
What Who are you?' asked. ooh,
yes; l know you now"
1t was Powell.
"You must have a mighty poor memory.
Don't you remember helping me make
that pit last night?' he asked.
Don't know where the First isl" ask
ed ., the !, tall man.
81 was sure I'd seen you before. What
company?"
"I'm in the 10Th. Chappelrs my name"
mines Jones-Berwick Jones'"
Clones is not much of name. I'm
goin' to call you Berwick"
I'm willin'."
Lets go to the front. Will you go,
Powell?'
Powell said he'd go. I argued that we
ought to go to the right.
Anywhere" said Chappell. $50 we do
something. l can't stand doing nothing
while Longstreets men are hard at it.
! Come On,'
The roar Of the battle was loud all
along the line in front. The artillery had
| hushed. / was very willing to have com
pany for the time; 1 would leave these
men at the right moment. Until the right
moment should come it would be best to
keep with them, for if l should fail in my
purposes and be compelled to remain a
time with the Confederates these COM
panions of mine would bear witness to my
I IL
| that it was impossible to tell the place of
greatest danger now. Longstreet was
clearly driving Hancock. The fighting
might soon be over.
So we went to the right and front, cross
ing the Plank Road and keeping in the
edge of the woods. Soon we saw at our
left n brigade in the road; the men were
moving, filing to the right of the road.
Lets join that brigade" said Chap
pell.
''That you WILL" said nm officer near
us; get into ranks quick"
"What brigade is this?'
"WoffOrd's," was the reply.
The men were weary evidently. They
said they had marched nearly all night.
guarding wagon-trains until half an hour
ago; they were Longstreets men, of Ker-
| shaw's Division.
The roar in the woods Mt the front con-
| tinued. Struggling men were being forced
into ranks. Wounded went by lmping or
holding an arm up with the other hand.
We were yet marching by the flank. l
hoped this brigade would get on the ex-
IRENE right. Bullets were tapping the
trees overhead-bulets fred too high by
Hancock's men. We halted and faced
the front. | stuck by Osborn Chappell.
knew not the company or the regiment
only Woffords Brigade. A little time for
alignment; then we were ordered forward.
"SGDIpr'g another of rppi-
ment." said Chappell.
| supposed that many struggling men
from WilcOx's broken ranks had joined
this advance.
We went forward some 300 yards
through the forest, then halted l saw
| that we had extended the line to the right
and / now determined to get away as soon
as possible. Just how | was to do so l
did not see. but l thought that in the ex-
citement of a charge or of retreat, it
would be easy to drop out and make my
way alone toward the south. But we did
not charge, nor did we retreat. We were
faced to the right, and again we marched
through the foods until we reached the
railroad grade, and then turned down it
to the east. Stretching behind us, after
we had advanced some hundreds of yards,
| could see long column of infantry;
there was a greater force here than one
brigade. We marched on east
"Chappell," said l, what are we driv-
ing at?'
"Flankin' the dam Yankees" he said.
had thought so myself before l spoke.
We were getting around Hancock's left.
must make an effort TO get away in time
to warn our men before the blow should
be struck. But halt was ordered, and
the line faced north; the fle-clOsers were
persistent and energetic in keeping the
ranks in order; l was compelled to al
vance with the line.
Our brigade was from Georgia. The
march was steady advance, but it was
impossible to prevent scattering. Men
were here and there-they We're trying to
preserve distance from front to rear rath-
er than from right to left. A file-leader
would see good course by which thickets
could be avoided, and 20 men would fol
low at his heels. l wanted to fall to the
rear, but feared to show such inclination.
Chappell was urging forward in the front
and speaking words of encouragement to
me and Powell. In mortal suspense the
men held their guns at the ready A wild
turkey sprang up before Chappell. Some
excited man fired at it, and it rose and
flew directly from us. In 20 seconds we
heard two shots in front. No doubt the
bird had run another gantlet; at any rate
Chappell said, "There they are! Come
now, men: be steady, and rush all togeth-
er" He had taken command of our part |
Of the line.
Another awful moment of suspense and |
then just at our left the Confederate yell |
rose high, and the forest sounded like a |
canebrake on fire. And now we. too, were |
running forward and yelling like beasts.
l yelled with the rest. | saw Chappell |
pause and fire; as he paused l passed him, |
and as he passed me, reloading as he ran, |
l aimed long and pulled the trigger The |
woods roared as though storm was tear
ing through. Thus far l had seen moth |
ing in front except trees, but now 1 saw,
running through small open glade, con-
fused mass of blue soldiers; some of them
were turning and firing.
We reached the spot where their line
had stood. We had struck its flank, and |
it had crumbled.
where's Powell?" cried Chappell.
II thought he was here" said 1, stop
ping where he stood. Some of the line
had gone on; other men were standing
about in the front, reloading; still others
were running up from the rear, having
stopped to load.
II must find Powell" said Chappell;
"Pm afraid he's hurt"
There were many dead and wounded of
the Union troops, but l could here see no
injured Confederate; neither had / seen
man drop, nor heard bullet in the
charge. tF
Here, Berwick! Come herew shouted
Chappell.
/ went to where he was-some 25 yards
in front. Powell was stretched on the
orr nd until hoII l., IT