The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-15
A FRIEND WITH THE
COUNTERSIGN.
CONTINUED from first pnge.)

4 of. troops on earth than the Army of
Northern Nirginia-and | am proud of the
great deeds of the Army OF the Potomac.
that army organized under Mcclellan, and
defeaEed under Mcclellan, and defeated
under Pore and under Burnside, and I'M
der Hooker, and time and again-by piece
meal-,In1er Grant. Had the Confederate
army ieen defeated at Gaines's Mill, it
might never have recovered its morale. II
was in defeat that the Army of the Po-
toTac was hardened into the hammer that
C'ratt welded so relentlessly; through sue
ccsSlVe defeats 1t preserved its integrity,
and met again and again its old victorious
enemy. For the fighting qualities of this
army to be disparaged because of the
Elundus IF its Generals is cOarsely I'M
just; tie men knew it, and fought again.
Neither is glOrifcation over the final sue
cess of Grant in place, for it was not
Grant that overcame Lee. A brigade
charges and is repulsed; another comes to
the attack and leaves the ground Uttered
with dead; third advances and fails: the
fourth, fresh and strong, marches over the
enemy now exhausted by success; and the
fourth shouts and waves its plumes and
says, We are the men, So it was with
Grant. The campaigns of his predeces-
s0rs are component and necessary parts of
the great struggle which the Confederates
and 1t is injustice to every other command
er to attribute the success of Appomattox
20 Grant alOne--as unjust as it would be
to say that because Col. Pritchard cap
tured Mr.. Davis, therefore Col. Pritchard
ovcrcame the Confederacy.
Again | went forward along the inside
edge of the curving woods until | could
see the road. The noise of the chopDing
continued; occasionally l could hear the
fall Of a tree. The sounds came but
few hundred yards. Where was the Con
federate skirmish-line? l could not pass
that road.
Seeing that a further advance was i'm
practicable at this point. / climbed tree
n tall and dense cedar. and in doing so did
something which | cannot account for. II
was neither instinct nor reason that di-
rectcd me; | don't know what it was 1t
may have been that. ON former occasions
having had to take my place in a tree-top
while sharpshOOting, the past Influenced
me; at any rate, when | found myself Sc
curely sitting on a branch. some 20 feet
above the ground and with thick boughs
all around me, | saw my spiked Enfield
yet i'll my hand | have spoken before of
my skill in climbing 1 had merely forgot
ten to disencumber myself of the worthless
piece. | wondered then why had not
left the gun at the foot of the tree and
suppose | shall continue to wonder until
somebody explains my act.
From the tree | had no good view: it
was heavily branched in every direction
tried to part the branches nOrthward so
that l could see better. but instantly
ceased for fear of the sharp eye of some
Confederate videt, who, if posted just be-
yond the road, might see the branches
shake. l decided to come down and make
my way to the left and try TO find some
better point for observation. 1 had placed
my right foot on the branch below me
when | heard a noise in front, a noise like
that made by mans feet in leaping, and
looking again, saw the road full of Con-
federate skirmishers advancing At this
place the road was sunken, and some of
the men had indeed leaped into it.
My right foot invOluntarily came back,
and | huddled up OH that branch into as
compact mass as | could force In a
moment the line of men was lost to view
moment more, and | saw some of them;
they were continuing to advance in line,
and now were not more than 80 yards
away, coming slowly.
was hoping that | could see but little.
for If l could see them they might see me-
losing for the instant the right knowledge
that in our relative positions my view was
better than theirs. In the next mo-
ment l saw five of them at once,
still coming. These men had their
over rs they advanced. They were alert.
looking ahead into the bushes-God be
thanked-nOt up at the sky Evidently
they thought that at any instant they
were likely to strike the Union skirmish-
ers; they were ready, at the crack of the |
first rifle, to jump behind trees and go to
pegging away. l blessed my stars that l |
had not left the Enfield on the ground for |
them to see.
The next 10 seconds passed at length, |
and saw two men very near me. One |
was George Mackay; l could have sworn |
it. One was Wallace Williams; could |
have sworn it. MIackay was just west of |
the tree; Williams just east of 1.-THE |
two. five PAGES apart. The line passed on |
Who We're these men? They were Nc |
Gowans skirmishers. They were the Or |
derly-Sergeant and the tallest file-leader in |
Co. Ii.
(To be continued)