The Columbus journal., 1903-01-07

The dags with shotholes gaping.
That tell their tale Of strife. :
To-Day are gently draptng
The ones vho cling to life.
The wounded hags! How proudly
They fluttered in the days
when drums were drumming loudly
And hfes sang warning lays!
How brave was all their glowing
Where fierce the war-guns spoke!
Their stars forever showing.
A beacon through the smoke!
The wounded nags! We hail them.
And revel in each hue.
Though age and time may pale them.
And red blend into blue.
Though all grow dark and duller.
Yet In their every part
We zee the living color
That thrills the nations heart!
w. ID. Nesbit In Baltimore American.
Thounl,ts on Going into Battle.
A Los Angeles subscriber contrib.
utes the following:
Some old war horses" got togethe.
In the lobby of one Of Los Angeles
hotels Q few evenings ago and ex-
changed experiences and spun yarns
Of the war of the rebellion. Among
other things they discussed their sen.
sations on the occasion OF their first
battle. Said one:
As We were going into action. and
I saw across the fields great columns
Of gray advancing to meet US, kept
wondering II over there in those ranks
some Johnnie had in his gun the bull.
let meant for me-"
Said the second man: "A little
ahead OF men was our color bearer,
and ~ We marched on the enemy I
kept my eyes fastened on the flag.
and I thought to myself, If I die, 1t
win be for the dear old Stars and
Stripes.'"
The third man spoke: Our regi-
ment Was mostly made up OF city
chaps, and, take us rs q whole. We
were . pretty good-for-nothing lot We
had been attracted to the service by
q love of adventure and in q measure
tempted by liberal bounties. As .
rule our lives, up to the time OF our
enlistment, has been spent in idleness
or worse. In our account of the world
the credit side was mostly blank.
Later in the war We were patriotic
enough. and many Of us would have
stayed on Indefinitely in the service
for pure love of country and hatred Of
her enemies, but at the time Of our
Arst battle We had little of that spirit
in our regiment. Our captain pretty
thoroughly understood the situation,
and before We started in for the fight
he made Q little address for the pur-
pose of awakening enthusiasm on our
part and reassuring US as much as
possible. He closed his address by
telling MS to be brave. Don't be
afraid. boys he said. Remember that
for every man hit his weight In lead
has been fired ut him. Then he gave
the order to move on the enemy. We
had to advance across an open field,
under the guns of the enemy, and
remember thinking, as the boys began
dropping pretty tolerably fast about
me: What an expensive way to get
rid OF . lot Of cheap cusses like us. .
That's all thought of till about two
weeks later, when I woke up to hear
the hospital surgeon say: Guess this
fellows going to make . fetch of 1t.
after all"
a Famous Civil War Song.
Listen to the Mocking Bird" was
familiar to nearly every man. woman
and child in this country q score of
years ago. and yet 1t is doubtful IL
one In many thousands ever stopped
to wonder who was the composer He
was Septimus Winner, and his death
in Philadelphia at the age of IS
brought to many the first information
as to his having written the familiar
song. The publishers are said to have
realized $1,000. 900 on the sales Of
Listen to the Mocking Bird" and yet
all that Winner ever received for it
was SIS. Another song of his that
became popular during the war of the
rebellion was Give Us Back Our Old
Commander" OF this song the Phila-
delphia Times says:
FIFTY thousand copies were quickly
sold ia Washington, and a few days
afterward 100000 soldiers sang the
song while marching along the Rap
pahAnnock on their way to Fredericks.
burg. where disastrous defeat over.
took them. Give Us Back Our Old
Commander could be heard at night
from one end Of the Union lines to the
other. and at Charlottesville. where
Hooker displayed his inability to cone
successfully with Lee, it was sung
with renewed visor.
But at this point the commotion
created by the song reached . climax
when the war department issued an
order suppressing its sale and pro-
hibiting the singing of t. The gov
eminent. however, did not stop at
this. for Julia Mortimer, one of the
greatest of American singers. who was
then filing an engagement at Ford's
theater. was informed that imprison.
ment awaited her IL she persisted in
making the Objectionable song q mart
Of her role. Actors in Baltimore were
enjoined by the government from sing
Ing It in the theate7s.
About this time an agent of the
government waited ON Mr.. Winner.
who conducted music store Mt
Eighth and Spring Garden streets. and
Informed him that further publication
Of the song would not be tolerated by
the government and Q refusal to com.
ply with the demand means imprisou-
ment in Fort Lafayette. No addi.
tio0al copies Of Give Us Back Our
Old Commander were placed on the
market"
0ooesters from the Army.
I have often wondered" said the
colonel. what became Of the deserter.
from the Union army. We had sew.
eral in our regiment that were not An
preAended during the war, and have
never met or heard cf Que Of them
Gince the close of the var. have