Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-12-26
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.

Tell of Camp, March and Battle.
During my Introduction To actual
hostilities. the aspect of everything APP
peared very serious, hut II turned out
10 be a farce. Still there was a real
prospect Of little bloodshed in The
adventure and the writer and nifty or
sixty ardent young soldiers in blue,
with and without shoulder straps then
satisfied themselves that they We're not
afraid to go anywhere there was dan
ger of being shot. Anyway, the story
is worth telling
1t happened about April or May,
1862. l bad been in the military SER
vice of the United States since the pre-
yiouS September, and | he'd not vet
heard bullet fly. | was subaltem
in the Tenth New York Cavalry rcgj-
mcnt The government had quit re-
cruiting before we became organized
and il looked late in the fall Of 1861
rs though we would never he regi-
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 superhuous
and no manner of use First. we were
put in barracks at Gettysburg.
That now world wide famous town
had not been discovered at that time;
ii 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 Sabhath-the very first
soldier ever Inferred on that historic
Spot--he would have been deemed in
sane who had predicted that in little
more than year deadly tempest Of
fire, lead and iron would rage about
this spot. and that II little later on
thousands of soldiers graves would
uOl tneSe nelgHtS.
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 dismountcd drill; we ate large
quantities of apple butter aud hOminy.
the principal products of that region
and those of us who were young and
frivolous (as nearly all soldiers were
in those days., firted with the Dutch
girls.
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 PennSyI-
vania. But in March we were ordered
TO get on the line of the railroad from
! Baltimore Ia Havre- de-GraCe. at the
mouth of the Susquehanna and guard
ii. AS dull sabers were very incff
cient weapons to guard anything. a lot
of second hand but still scrviceablc
muskets were issued to us. And then
the liFely 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 10 force
musEets upon them and thus change
their proud condition in the service.
We Were, in fact. mp to that time about
as much cavalry as wooden bobby
horses are; but that made no difference
with what the men thought t. he their
reserved rights. At last they were con
WINGED that this was to he merely a
temporary service, and the muskcts
We're accepted.
From the stern realities of war ms
saw it In 1868 and 1861, my mind goes
back to the pleasant four months along
that railroad and pronounces il de
lightful example of playing soldier"
The region is the same that was in
vaded by the fre-eating guerrilla, Har-
ry Gilmore, when, In July Of 1864
white Early was invading Maryland,
they rode around Baltimore, stopped n
/ railroad train at Gunpowder bridge
captured Gen Franklin on ii. and put
everybody In terror by their capers
Bun everything was peaceable abont
there fin the summer of 1862 For six
~ or eighty miles this road runs
around the head Of the Chesapeake
bay, and at every few miles Of that dis
lance a wide inlet is crossed by a rail
road bridge. We were split up into
detachments, and posted at these
bridges to prevent them from being
eaten up by the shad ] 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 Secessionlsts
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