The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-01-01

the familiar name of "Muggins." There
was sense of more than common loss,
that night, in camp, when the bleed
ing form was laid in low spin
ter-proof before headquarters where
we watched his heavy breathing,
and looked into his familiar, now I'M
responsive face, while kind, yet unheeded
words were spoken to him, until just past
the midnight hour, when SO many. souls
take flight, and he gave his last labored,
low sob. and all was still.
A BURIAL UNDER FIRE.
We could have no gatherings at that
time in our camp, in sight of the enemy.
A public funeral was out of the question.
Yet we must risk something in loving
regard of that soldiers memory. A
grave was dug for him just back of
our camp. In the morning few
of us gathered about it, as ms
body was laid to rest. As l stood at
the head of that grave. facing the men.
with my back to the enemy's works. read
ing a few comforting words of Scripture, |
heard the shrek of Il coming shell. and
knew that the enemy had observed our
gathering and opened fire on the group.
1t was evident by the looks and the move
mentS of those near us that the aim AMI
range We're good. but that comrade should
haye Il Christian burial at any cost.
Again and again shell exploded above
us, and its hurting fragments buried
themselves in the earth about us. Yet the
burial of that soldier was undiSturbed.
and the yellow earth was rounded above
that grave. Whatever happened to it af-
forwards, it will stand in the memory of
every one of us, and many to whom We
told of Ii, as representative soldier
grave, where was a representative soldier
burial in those trenches before Petersburg.
Just back from the front. along the
Richmond and Petersburg lines, among
the business firms striving to obtain Gus
tom from the army in the line of soldier
needs or soldier wants, were at one time
two rival embalmers. ready to prepare sol
der bodies for sending North to their rela
tives, i'll accordance with Government re
quirements. These concerns would send
their teams along the front advertising
their business. and asking for patronage.
Their handbills were headed seductiycly.
The HOnored Dead" and their appeals
were an incongruQus mixture of the Gains
of sentiment and the cash cost of caring
for dead comrade. One of these en-
balmers, while receiving an unusual num-
Der of fresh subjects for his care, after
another fierce battle. gave expression to
his quickened sense of the fearful cost of
the prolonged conflict in spite of the COM
mercial aspects of his personal self-inter-
est, in the words:
chaplain, should be glad to have thi;
terrible war end, even though peace would
greatly interfere with my business.
The saddest soldier grave in army fields
was the grave of deserter, and l saw
many such graves in the last year of the
war. The grave was dug on the field
while the soldier was still living. He
knelt at its open mouth with his ANS
bound behind him and his eyes blindfolded.
and there he was shot down in cold blood
by his fellow soldiers. Buried quickly in
that grave, he had TO stone or board to
mark his resting place. His body could
not be recovered by friends. If shot un-
der feigned name. as was often the case
he was not even known in his home circle
as deserter, but he was counted as one
of the honored dead OF the war, or as one
of the many, many missing"
FROM BATTLEFIELD TO NORTHERN GENE
Terry.
In December, 1864, as l rode with a
companion out on the Darbytown road be-
low Richmond, as we neared the extreme
front. and were listening to the clearly
heard voices of the enemy over the line
with the sound of an occasional wood
choppers ak in that direcuon, we were
surprised at the sudden appearance of a
party coming up from our rear. compris-
ing four or five enlisted men bearing q
plain coffin. They had ventured out thus
far to secure the body of a Sergeant from
New York regiment, buried on the field
where he fell some months before. His
grave was ;ust at our feet, not three rods
from our advanced videt line One of the
party was a younger brother of the dead
sold In had FOL T.. 81,
as Sergeant. Poor fellow! he deemed it
dearly bought promotion. When the
grave was opened he turned aside to weep.
and with fearful eyes he told me how that
noble brother had stood, and had fallen.
true to Christ and true to his country.
As the body, wrapped in soldier blan-
ket, was laid in the coffin, the soft strains
from an enemy's band came floating up on
the early evening air, as though to sound
a requiem over the soldier dead. The last
rays of the setting sun fell upon the re-
filled grave, as we turned toward our
camp aagin, and as one more soldier
body was moving from its battlefield
grave to its grave among the home loved
ones, who were now to have the sacred
privilege. which was denied to so many
friends of dead soldier, of knowing and
visiting his grave.
1t was not until after the VAR was
closed, and ! passed over some of the
great battlefields of months or of years be-
fore, that | came to realize how large a
proportion of the soldier dead were never
buried. even in a hurried way at the time
and where. they fell; and how small in
deed must have been tie number relative
ly of those dead whose bodies finally
reached their home burial places, to have
their graves fOwer-bestrewed by their
own dear ones on each recurring Memo
rial Day. Our regiment was stationed
just above Richmond from April to Sep
TENDER. 1865. In brief rides about the
country at that time, visited not only
the fields of Gen. Grants great battles OF
1864, but those of Gen. Mcclellan in Is 2
At Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines. for exam
pie, there were still to be seen many Traces
Of the fierce fight there three years before
Uncovered bones were still to he found
the first time within the last few
weeks. Here and there. where was
the memory Of particularly des
perate charge. green spots dotted the
surface. where the richer than wonted lux
uriance of Southern vegetation showed
that the fertile soil of Virginia was fur.
Their e~riched with Northern patriot blood
My IMMEDIATE companion. an Army Sur.
geon, eemed to consider some of these
relics ather as a man Of science than as
the loyal patriot that he was. Pointing
to the low forehead OF one bleached skull
he said:
Not much intellect therev'
That poor soldier may have been brave
and true, even though not a scholar.
Taking up the thigh bone OF another sol
der not far from that skull hn sa;a In