Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-07-29
v 4 LM Al.l.A. sourn oAMoLINA. JULY 20. loos.

the hills told us that the struggle
was on in earnest i venture to say
you couldn't have hired horse and
rig for $40 an hour. / happened to
be one of the spectators and SO
know whereof / speak. l also OBJ
tanned a leave of absence, or, rather,
l took it, in-as-much as the depart
ment in which / was employed was
deserted and, joining friend who
had horse and buggy, we followed
the throng out to where the fighting
was in progress.
On reaching the battlefield we
Joined large crowd of sight-seers
posted on little hillook in the rear
of a body of infantry, which, by the
way, had one cannon that was firing
in sort of desultory way, at the
enemy, whose battery was sitG=.ud
on an opposite rise beyond an inter-
yening hollow or gully. The latter
were bombarding the Federal infan-
try at pretty lively rate, and, as it
seemed to me at the time, were using
more solid cannon balls than shells.
Many of these passed over the infan-
try, fell and rebounded near the
spectators on the hillock in the rear.
Instead of frightening any of us,
from the very outset we lost all sense
of fear. The big, solid cannon balls
from the Confederate battery were
not at all terrifying. They seemed to
bowl over to our eide like so many
base balls, and, although moving at a
very rapid rate, they created just the
opposite impression, 80 much so, in
fact, that there was great deal of
useless dodging, which was at times
quite amusing. Street arabs were
on hand and whenever cam non ball
struck there was general scramble
of small boys, men and women to
gain possession of the ball for SOU
venir. One rather naughty lady,
who felt it beneath her dignity to
join in any such competition, pur-
chased cannon ball from twelve
year.old youngster for 81. Others
did the same.
"My companion soon got tired of
the spectacle and returned to his
horse and carriage, which were left
tied in the rear. He was afraid that,
in the excitement, someone might
steal it, but | was anxious to secure
cannon ball and he consented to
wait for me until / had secured one,
provided it did not take too long. l
ran after several, but missed them.
Finally, after two or three disheart-
ening attempts the rebels fired one
shot that played havoc among the in
fantry in front of us, carrying off the
heads of two men whom 1 myself
saw fall and scattering thespectators
right and left. calculated about
the spot where the ball would strike,
guessed right, remained where i was
standing and beat the Others to it by
several yards. The ball was covered
with blood and before l rejoined my
companion had several offers of 81 ,
81 and So and as high as IS for the
ball, which l declined, prefering to
retain the grewsome souvenir of the
first battle of the long four years
struggle, which l, at that time
thought would be the last / have
the ball yet. Yonder it lies in the
corner.
SOMETHING DOING.
81 had no more than reached my
friend before both he and | became
aware that something extraordinary
was in progress. AS I climbed in
the buggy l noticed several artillery
men ride past at dead gallop, with
their harness traces cut. / had read
of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
and of other retrograde movements
but it was some time before l could
get it through my head that retreat
was in progress. When I left the
hill the battle seemed to be raging in
a manner which, to a civilian like
myself, seemed quite ideal and
proper, and / could not understand
the meaning of these artillerymen,
who were now flying past in rapidly
increasing numbers. / looked at
my companion and he at me and
then we asked each other: els this
retreat ?"
"We drove leisurely along at first,
a trifie alarmed, and slowly increas-
ing our speed as the meaning of the
thing began to dawn upon our minds.