Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-12-30
THE BATTLE-FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES
The Blue and the Gray Review Incl.
dents of the Late War, and in a
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell of Camp, March and Battle.

adventure, and the writer and fifty or
sixty ardent young soldiers in blue,
with and without shoulder straps, then
satisfied themselves that they were not
afraid to go anywhere there was dan
ger Of being shot. Anyway, the story
is worth telling
1t happened about April OF May,
1862. l had been in the military SER
vice Of the United States since the pre-
vious September, and | had not yet
heard a bullet fly. 1 was a subaltern
in the Tenth New York Cavalry regi-
mcnt The government had quit re-
cruiting before we became organized
and it looked late in the fall Of 1861
as though we would never be regl-
ment Finally in the last days of De-
cember, eight companies were muster
ed in, and we were dispatched south
ward, from Elmira.
From that time clear up to the sec
ond battle Of Bull Run, eight months
later. the government treated US very
much as though we were superfuous
and no manner of use. First, we were
put in barracks ar Gettysburg.
That now world wide famous town
had not been discovered at that time;
it lay amid the hills of south Penn
sylvania, in all it's original Dutch
sleepiness, and nobody dreamed Of
such a thing as that the greatest battle
Of the war was to be fought on that
very ground.
Surely, when we buried one Of our
comrades on grand Cemetery hill one
lovely spring Sabbath-the very first
soldier ever inferred on that historic
spot-he would have been deemed in
sane who had predicted that in a little
more than a year deadly tempest of
fire, lead and iron would rage about
this spot and that a little later on
thousands of soldiers graves would
dot these heights.
No; we never dreamed of such n
thing. We were at Gettysburg until
the following March; the regiment was
not mounted until August. We had
an exceedingly good time. We had
some dismounted drill; we ate large
quantities Of apple butter and hominy,
the principal products Of that region;
and those of us who were young and
frivolous (as nearly all soldiers were
in those days., f1irted with the Dutch
girls
1 have always thought that if our
field officers had not continually STIR
red up the War Department on the
subject of mounting and putting us into
the field, we would have been right
there when Gen. Lee invaded Pennsyl-
yania. But in March we were ordered
to get on the line Of the railroad from
Baltimore to Havre-de- Grace, at the
mouth Of the Susquehanna. and guard
1t. AS dull sabers were very ineffi-
cient weapons to guard anything, lot
of secondhand but still serviceable
muskets were issued to us. And then
the lively row that just fell short of
mutiny The men protested and swOre
that they were cavalry, not infantry,
and accused the officers Of conspiracy
with the War Department to force
muskets upon them and thus change
their proud condition in the service.
We were, in fact, up to that time about
as much cavalry as wooden hobby
horses are; but that made no difference
with what the men thought to be their
reserved rights. At last they were con-
WINGED that this was to be merely a
temporary service, and the muskets
were accepted.
From the stern realities of war as I
saw it in 1868 and 1864, my mind goes
back to the pleasant four months along
that railroad, and pronounces it de-
l1ghtful example of playing soldier"
The region is the same that was in
vaded by the ire-eating guerrilla Har-
ry Gilmore, when, in July of 1864,
while Early was invading Maryland,
they rode around Baltimore stopped a
railroad train at Gunpowder bridge,
captured Gen. Franklin on it, and put
everybody in terror by their capers.
But everything was peaceable about
there in the summer of 1862. For six
ty or eighty miles this road runs
around the head Of the Chesapeakc
bay, and at every few miles of that dis
lance wide inlet is crossed by rail
ROAD bridge. We We're split up into
attachments, and posted at these
bridges to prevent them from being
eaten up by the shad 1 really could
not see that there was anything else
to do. The inhabitants of the country
were generally loyal but they were all
kind and hospitable, the Secessionists
as well as the Union folks. So we ate
shad, visited the citizens, made fire.
quent visits to Baltimore, read about
the Peninsula campaign, and wondered
why Mcclellan didn't take Richmond
In short, we had a glorious, good
time, and put on all the airs of real
soldiers
One day the profound quiet of this
situation at the Back River Station,
six miles from Baltimore, was broken
by furry of real excitement.
A negro came to Captain Pratt (com-
mo inc A hi,