The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1902-05-16

wealth is issued naturally re-
calls memories of the civil war, few
of which come back to me.
The writer served his first fifteen
months apprenticeship as a soldier in
Virginia, as a member of the glorious
Twenty-frst Mississippi regiment,
under the command of the gallant
and heroic Colonel Benjamin G.
Humphreys, a name honored and be-
loved by all Mississippians, and it is
but true to history to say that a
nobler body of men was never mar
tialed on the field of battle.
Our regiment did not take in the
battle of Seven Pines proper, having
been held in reserve during the en-
tire day. We were in line, however
ou the extreme left of the Confeder-
ate army. about mile or a mile and
a half from the scene of the conflict,
and late in tue evening, little after
sundown, we were ordered at double
quick to go into the fight for the pur-
pose, it was said, of capturing bat
terry on the Chickahominy, on the
right Of the Federal line, which had
been pouring a destructive fire into
our men, and in the effort to take
which a short while before. the gal
LIANT General Hatton of Tennessee
lost his life.
When we reached the battle field
the curtain of darkness had fallen on
the scene, but the line Of the enemy
was plainly dstinguishable by the
flash of their guns. We were drawn
up in the rear of thicket of under
brush and ordered forward by Col.
Humphreys, who was merely obeying
the orders of his superior officer, but
why we were ever sent into such
place, at such a time, has forever re-
mained mystery to me
The enemy had formed an abattis
OF fallen trees extending some two
hundred yards between US and them,
which simply rendered an approach
to their line impossible. While ad-
vancing through this thiCket in the
darkness, the two wings of the regi-
ment became separated, and soon our
right wing found itself in the open
field some distance above without
field officer, with bullets falling as
thick as hail around US, but on ac-
count of tue darkness, the enemy
were shooting little too high, though
as it was, we lost several men killed
ana wounded.
Just at this point there occurred
one of the most amusing and ridicu-
lous incidents l remember to have
witnessed during the entire war. We
were left without field officer, and in
the midst of the confusion and ex.
citement, a lieutenant-colonel of a
Georgia regiment recognized his
rank by the two stars on his collar, -
who had become separated from his
own men, deliberately took command
of our right wing, and commenced
ordering us around with as much
complacency as if he was at the head
of his own troops. He was in a state
of excitement bordering on frenzy,
batless and with his sword waving
over his head, he seemed to me the
very incarnation of recklesneSS and
despair.
In the eXtravagant ludicrousness of
the scene, l forgot for the moment,
the danger we We're in, and remember
distinctly my asking Sergeant Jack
Hobart if the fellow was crazy, and
Jack replied, eros, 1 rather think he
is"
About this time General Joseph E
johnson was wounded not very
great distance away, when Gen. Gus
tavus W. Smith, upon whom the
chief com mand deyolyed, rode up to
where we were and asked in rather
an impatient way, who sent us in
there and what we were doing. Up
on being informed, he told us we
were in great danger, and could do no
earthly good, and to get out. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that we did