The National tribune., 1902-08-14
A FRIEND WITH THE
COUNTERSIGN.
Continued from first page.)

Continued from first pRge.)
vides, formerly of the Confederate army,
was getting ready to leave for Mexico,
despite his wounded hand, to join the pa
| triots who were resisting the foreign oc-
cupation of the land of his birth. York
had returned.
| The Summer went away. If l should
tell all saw, and all l did in my feeble
| way, this work would take me too long.
| saw BurnSides mine explode. | saw
Hampton's men drive $500 head of
beeves away from Grants rear and into
| the Confederate lines. l saw the battle
of Reams Station-and stood once more
with McGowan's sharpshOoters while they
picked off almost every horse of our bat
teries, and afterward captured the guns.
l saw our men take Fort Harrison, and
l saw much more.
On the night of Dec. 30 l was on the
picket-line of the Sixth Corps, where the
9th \. Y. Art.-a regiment so called yet,
but serving as infantry-Occupied the pits.
l was dressed as l usually dressed while
scouting-in the uniform of a Confederate
private-and carried an Enfield. The
ground over which l had to 90 was almost
bare, the trees having been felled and used
for fuel by the armies, which at this point,
Just east of the Weldon Railroad, were
perhaps n mile apart. Here and there,
in some hollow, were few bushes, and
the smaller twigs OF :he felled trees lay
about everywhere between the stumps, af-
fOrding me cover in my silent advance to-
ward the enemys lines.
The night was exceedingly cold. This
ground had been fought over more than
once; there were old abandoned lines of
rife-pits running across the land, and the
earth had been cut up by artillery wheels
and by horses hOOfs, and the rain had
filled the ruts and the footprints, and
now a thin sheet of ice was spread over
the little pools scattered everywhere. The
moon had gone down before 8 o'clock; the
stars were out in all their glory, Aide
baran low in the west, Orion higher. then
great Sirius-and Spica in the southeast,
back between Forts Sedgwick and Hays
known by Yankees and rebels as Hell and
Damnation.
Gen. Meade was at the bedside of his
dying son in Philadelphia; Gen. Parke
was in command of the army. The char
acter of my service had long since been
extended; L was now the head of body
of scouts, and had not recently done such
work as Gen. Parke required. The cir
cumstances, however, justified him in send
ing me forward alone; strong expedition
had been prepared by Gen. Grant against
Fort Fisher in North Carolina, and it
was very desirable to know whether Lees
army would remain quiet.
1 crept along-not going directly to-
ward the COnfederates, but gradually ap-
preaching at great angle. Ihe ice
crunched under my feet, making me start
every minute in expectation of chal-
lenge, but / was yet some hundreds of
yards from the videts, who were doubtless
engaged in marking time to prevent their
freezing. 1t was a sad thing-this Army
of Northern Virginia in the Winter
trenches of Petersburg; half-fed on moldy
meal, clothing in tatters, shoes-if they had
any-tied to their feet with rags; hopeless
of the end, they yet stood in their ranks
and died for their faith. 1 have never
been able to know how these men could
stand against our army so long; they were
stanch men; we all are now proud of them.
1t is no wonder that some of them de-
serted.
A long hollow was before me, stretch
ing east and west between the lines. had
been told that the Confederate skirmish-
ers were just on our side of the hollow,
and l supposed, of course, that their vi.
dets were at least 100 yards in front of
their pits, so as 1 approached the hollow
l became exceedingly careful, crawling
from one stump to another, lying behind
them and listening. l had no intention on
this night of getting into the lines; all
wanted was to get near enough to hear
great movements.
At last, lying behind a stump, l saw,
some 80 yards In front of me, man
standing stiff. / remained motionless for
q full minute; then / moved on to my
left about 80 yards, and paused again be-
hind another stump. Now l looked for
the man again, and was surprised to see
him moving fOrward-and not alone, but
followed by two others. In an instant
knew, what was meant-these men had de-
cided to abandon a hopeless struggle
against fate-they were coming over.
The videt's post having thus been de-
serted, l decided at once to go forward
to the picket-line. / could see dim spots
of light above the pits in which the pick
cts had their fires. l crept along from
stump to stump, and at length succeeded
in getting between two of the pits, but
not without being seen.
"Where'd you come from all at once?"
asked a man at the pit on my right. He
was standing now, having risen from
sitting posture before his fire, where, in
blankets, were stretched the forms of three
others.
"From the 'front.'" said I; ''let me warm
my hands a little, and I'll tell you all
about it. What brigade is this!"
"Scales's."
where's McGowan'sT'
"On our right"
"Well, I don't want to raise any false
alarm, but you'd better wake up your
men. Your videts have gone to the Yam
KEGS"
"The h you say" He began to
shake the sleepers in the pit.
Eyes; it's fact. Where are McGowan's
sharpshooters!"
Il don't know where they are now, but
you'll hear something from 'em before day,
l reckon"
"Where are your sharpshooters?'
= sway down on the right"
as Maj. Young down there"
eyes Wait here u minute. Say, git
up here, Stevens; go call Serg't Hail."
Sergt Hall came l reported that some
of his videts had deserted.
"How do you know" he asked.
81 saw 'em," said 1. 81 was out in
front and saw 'em."
"What were you doing out in fronts?
"Oh, WELL" said 1, you don't reckon
a man would be out there for fun, do
you? You'd better be 'tendin' to your
own business now, or you'll have the
Yanks down on you in no time," and
left him.
1 walked to the right for a short time.
but soon diverged, going toward the main
Confederate lines. 1t was now about 3
o'clock, l judged, and 1 should have time
to look inside the lines and get back be-
fore daylight. l had gone perhaps 500
yards when 1 heard the marching of