The National tribune., 1902-06-19
HOME ON FURLOUGH.
A Maine Veterans Story OF His
War Time Vacation and Its
Train of Untoward Happenings.
BY JOSEPH H. BEALE, 31sT ME.


fits original value is as bold and distinct
as when it came from the pen. l well
remember how pleased l was when the
official envelope was handed me on the
evening of the day prior to the date which
It bears. 1t is so short, you will let me
copy it in full:
Headquarters Ninth Army Corps,
March 4, 1865.
Special Orders No. So.
Extract.) Leave of absence is
granted to the following named officer:
Lieut.. J. 81. Beale, 31st Me. Vols, for
twenty co days.
BY command of
MAJ.-GEN. JNO. G. PARKE.
JNO. C. YOUNGMAN.
Assistant Adjutant-Genera
This meant to me an opportunity to get
home to the Pine Tree State and back to
the front, before the final campaign of
the war; but the utmost expedition must
be used to accomplish this, and make ev-
cry moment count. Officers were scarce
in the active force of that particular regi-
ment. Since early in May 1864, q
commissioned officers had been killed
or died of wounds out of that one organ
tanned by their Southern cousins beyond
the lines of the foe in our front, and not
q few were in hospitals slowly recovering
from honorable wounds or no less honor
able disease. The unmarked or hastily
marked graves of the rank and file were
at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North
Anna, Cold Harbor, and all long the line
since we crossed the Rapidan, and right
over there, just in sight, between the hos
tile lines in those bulletmarked trenches
where we had hastily dumped" them on
that hot Summers day soon after the dis
aster or butchery at "the Crater there
were more than half hundred. But from
the time l had first heard the whiz of a
minie-rifle bullet to that, l had been with
my company, SO distressingly healthy and
bullet-proof, that there was no chance for
me to get furlough from the front. But
for some time a most distressing attack
Of nostalgia affected me to the extent that
was tempted to turn the cold shoulder
TO the literal truth for once, and aided
and abetted by the mail and the telegraph
from home, to procure the precious docu-
ment by subterfuge.
To tell the plain, unvarnished truth,
here and now, my nearest female relative
ut my suggestion and earnest entreaty
caused tue following Telegram 10 De sent
me with her name attached.
"Your eldest sister is dangerously ILL
come home if possible" l have wondered
II the recording angel dropped tear on
his record of that lie and blotted it out as
he did Uncle Toney's oath. 1t was a severe
blow to my sisters conscience, but she
bravely endured it and walked under its
shadow many years. You may talk about
the Bravery and suffering of the boys in
blue, or the boys in butternut, as eloquent
ly az you please, and / will not detract
therefrom one iota, but insist that what
they suffered in the field, hospital, or
prison was not to be compared with the
suffering of the women of the North and
South alike God bless them all!
tell you, II true woman won't lie
Tor the ones sN loves. then she is made
Of martyr-stuff 100 ethereal for this world.
! know that she Good Book says, "Lie
not one to anoher!' but what about lying
when the other fellow can't lie back. 1t
u great moral question, and / cannot
solve it. Rahab, the inn-keeper of Jeri-
cho, seemed to have had pretty fair luck
in the little lie which she told one day to
her townspeople, and who am / to be-
grudge her the full benefit which came to
her and Fer lover-spy IN consequence?
At last am ready to start on the early
morning of the second inauguration of the
President, who SO soon shall give his life
% the cause of humanity don't quite
his life every fiber of which had been
given to the good Of man. The military
railroad which ran from City Point to the
left Of the line in front Of Petersburg
was q crude affair, running up hill and
down, with its wheezy old locomotives
that often were obliged to "back up" and
gain momentum enough "to make" the
next rise. At one point the passing trains
were In direct range Of the Confederate
batteries on the hills over yonder. There
was just enough risk and danger to the
men on tho flats" returning to City
Point to make the excitement interesting
and stimulating to the nerves of those Of
us who had become familiar with the
daily, and sometimes hourly, "salutes Of
honor" with which the boys in gray fav-
cred us who had been lying for months in
the trenches and rat holes around the hill
sides and ravines Of that beleaguered
town. But that morning-either because
i was the day for the reinauguration of
Father Abraham, or because / had got
leave Of Absence never knew which
the salutes were almost continuous, and,
suspect, double-ehotted.
1 only knew that l had the precious
document in my breast-pocket. and I was
arrayed In my pickedup uniform, with
sids-arms and officers equipment, that /
had procured in part from the leftover
military stores which had doubtless been
borne as expended In action" on the
"monthly fetarns" of some commissioned
officer who had certified to their correct
nese ION my honor as an officer" Six
weeks before | had been promoted for
original cussedness in some serimmage or
other, / have forgotten where or what;
and the uniform which l had ordered
from my home tailor had not yet arrived
The first thing to arouse me from my
precious reyerie was the peremptory order
Of the officer in charge of the train, Lie
low! Fort Damnation has got the range
on us" And we did lie as low as the
platform of the car would permit-bu,
not too low, for a solid shot from the fort
% rudely designated by its unofficial title
came tearing through the smokestack OF
our locomotive. Putting steam and smoke
our disabled .ron-horse had barely wind
enough left in his huge lungs to drag us
cut Of range; and here we were detained
for an hour and a half, patching up hii
headgear, before we could proceed. The
steamboat which ran upon a very uneer
tain schedule to and from Washington
d. c., might or might not wait for u.s.
This was episode number one en- rout,
for Maine; but in 1t l only played mi
nor part, which consisted of The stage di
rection, fret, fume, and swear under hi
breath" At last City Point is reached
and the precious document is countersign
cd by the Provost Marshal, and a double
quick movement In heavy marching orde
II made from his Office to the little tug
knAt rh snh No.