The National tribune., 1902-03-20

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l returned and passed word down the line
to the Lieutenant in command of Co. y
that | wanted to see him on the left. He
came, and | explained the trouble. The
Lieutenant did not know what to do. This
gentleman was a valuable officer in the
line, but was out of place in the battalion.
He asked me what ought to be done. l
replied that we must not fail TO connect,
else there would be a gap in the line, and
how wide a gap nobody could tell. IL
had known then what / know now.
should have told him to report the condi-
ton to Col. Perrin, who was in command
Of the brigade, but / did otherwise; l told
him that if he would remain on the left,
would hunt for the picket-line. He con-
sented.
l first went to the left very far, and
then to the rear and searched a long time,
but found nobody. l returned to the left
of Co. A and proposed to go forward
through the wheat and hunt for our pick
cts. The Lieutenant approved.
The word was passed down the line that
was going to the front. l moved slowly
up the hill through the wheat. There was
Il moon, over which lunches of cloud
passed rapidly. While the moon would
be hidden l went forward. When the
cloud had passed. | stopped and looked.
Here and there in the wheat lay dead
skirmishers, and guns, and many signs of
battle. The wheat had been trOdden
down.
Cautiously I moved on until / was 100
yards in advance of the battalion. | saw
no picket. Here the wheat was standing,
in most places untrodden. | looked back
down the hill; | could not see our own
men. l went forward again for 40 yards.
Now at my right | saw a fence, or rather
n line of bushes and briars which had
grown up where 4 fence had been in years
past. This fencerOw stretched straight
mp the hill toward the cemetery. | went
to it. 1t would serve my purpose thor
oughly In the shelter of this friendly
row of bushes 1 crept slowly up the hill.
was now in front of Go. AS right
The moon shOne ont and then was hid
den. | was 200 yards in advance of the
battalion. | laid my gun on the ground
and crawled along the fence-row for 30
yards, at every instant pauSing and look
ing. | reached dense and taller clump
of bushes, and raised myself to my full
hight. In front were black spots in the
wheat-hye PAGES apart-a picket line
whose?
The spots looked very black. Gray
would look black in this wheat with the
moonlight on it. | turned my belt-buckle
behind my back, lest the metal should
shine. The line Of spots was directly in
front of me. and on both sides of the
fcnce-rOw. The. line seemed to stretch
across the front of the whole battalion
If that was our picket, why should there
he another in rear of it? They must be
Yankees.
I looked at them for two minutes. They
were still as DEATH The line was perfect.
If it was n Confederate line. there might
be men nearer me-officers, or men going
and returning in the rear-but the line
seemed straight and perfect. The spots did
not seem tall enough for standing men.
No Doubt they We're sitting in the wheat
with their guns in theii. laps. l heard
no word-not sound except the noises
coming from the crest Of the hill beyond
them, where was the Federal line of bat
tle looked back. Seminary Ridge
seemed very fair. / crawled back TO my
gun, picked it up, rose and looked again
toward the cemetery. ! could no longer
see the spots. / walked back down the
hill. moving off to my right in order to
strike the left of Co. a. The battalion
had not budged.
l reported The Lieutenant was cha
grined. told him that felt almost sure
that the men ] had seen were Yankees.
What to do? We ought to have sent n
man back to the brigade, but we did not
w HN we ulu not no HOI KNOW, uillcSS
it was that we felt it our duty to solve
the difficulty ourselves. The left of the
battalion was unprotected; this would not
do. Something must be done.
| suggested that the left platoon Of Co.
a extend intervals to 10 PAGES and cover
more ground. The Lieutenant approved.
The left platoon extended intervals to 10
paces, moving silently from the center to
left. This filled perhaps so yards of the
unknown gap. Still no pickets c0tIld he
seen. made a semicircle far to my left
and returned.
Capt. Haskell was not there. He would
have sent 10 men to the left until some
thing was found. He would have filled
the interval. even had it required the
whole battalion to stretch TO 30 steps
apart, at least until he could report TO
Col. Perrin, or Gen. Pender. Lieut..
Sharpe, in command Of the battalion, was
far to the right-perhaps 400 yards from
us. We should have sent word TO him
down the line, but we did not do it. The
night was growing. How wide was the
gap? Why did not the pickets OH the
other side of this gap search for us. If
the enemy knew our condition, a brigade
or more might creep through the gap; still
the Lieutenant did not propose anything
At last ] said that although the picket
line in front looked like n Yankee line, it
was yet possible that it was ours, and
that | thought ] could get nearer to it
than / had been before, and speak to the
men without great danger. Truth is. that
had begun to fear sarcasm. What if. to-
morrow morning, we should see line of
gray pickets in our front! Should | ever
hear the last of it?
Again the Lieutenant approved. He
would have approved Of anything. He
was a brave officer / verify believe that
If / had proposed an advance of Co. A
up the hill. he would have approved, and
would have led the advance.
The company stood still, and I started
again. | reached the place where / had
been before, and crawled on few yards
farther. Again the thought came that
there would have been some communicate
ing between that line and ours if that
were Confederate. If they We're our men,
| we had been in their rear for three hours.
| Impossible to suppose that nobody in that
| time should have come back to the rear.
| Clearly it was a Federal line. and | was
| in its front. Then it occurred to me that
| it was possible they had man or two in
| the fence-row between me and their line.
| There could be no need for that, vet the
idea made me shiver. At every yard of
my progress / raised my head, and the
| black spots were larger-and not less
black. They were very silent and very
mOtionless-the somber night-pcture of
skirmShers on extreme duty-whoever
they We're, they felt strongly the presence
of the enemy.
Ten yards in front, and 10 feet to the
right. ] saw post-a gate-pOst, l sup
posed. There was no gate. This fence
row, along which I was crawling, indi-