The National tribune., 1903-01-08

| against each other within sight and call,
| for weeks and months together. those who
| were ready to give battle earnestly when
| the occasion called for jealous struggle
were not willing to shoot each other down
| in cold blood in everyday siege life. where
| there was nothing to be gained by such
murderOus acts, and where men lacked the
| excitement Of battle, or the pressure of
| patriotic duty, to impel them to action. In
| this state Of things there grew up Il pc
culiar custom. A man, on the one side or
! the other. would hold mp prominently a
white handkerchief, Or a sheet of white
| paper, as a sign of desire for tacit or
| informal truce. If il we're responded to
| by similar sign on the opposite side, and
command, it was accepted by all as bind
| ing both sides to refrain from any Often
| sive movement for the time being.
Often at such times the men would
| jump over their riie-pits or embankments
| and meet each other peacefully between
the lines. swapping coffee, of which the
Union soldiers had an abundance, for to-
bacco, with which the Confederates were
well supplied; exchanging newspapers,
bartering bareback" for corn-cake. con-
| versing pleasantly. or banterng each other
with good-natured references to their local
pecuiarities. Sonnet mes two opponents
| would sit down on the ground for a lend
ly game OF cards. If firing were heard. at
the right or left. which seemed to indicar,
renewal of hcstilities. or if call came
from an officer on either side, at once the
men jumped back into their own lines.
ard made ready fer fresh combat with
| their GuDndam friends.
In some cases. old acquaintance recog-
| nized each othery or relatives met face to
face. On one occasion. before Peters
burg, Union regiment from Maryland.
serving with our, brigade. was over against
q Confederate regiment from the same
State. During ene,of these tacit truces.
! as the men of the two br'gades were to-
sether between the lines of works. father
in the Maryland Union regiment met his
son. soldier in the Maryland Confed-
| crate regiment. The meeting was Il sur
| Nrise to both. hut it was nm AMIGA be one
Each soldier had been true to his own CON
victions. The old man was loyal to the
| flag he had loved and bonored from his
| youth. The young man had been carried
away by the excitement which swept so
many OF his companions into, the OppOS-
rig ranks. They greeted each other affec-
| tionately. and talked together until the
signal came for the ending Of the truce,
| when they sprang apart. each to his own
ines. and again they were over against
each other in deadly conflict. This seem
ed strange. but it was typical of the whole
| great war.
A fine sense Of honor prevailed in the
General recognition Of the sacrelness of
| these informal and tacit truces. Men
would not fire at each other. at the close
of one of these seasons. until both parties
| had had time to settle down to business
| again. If. on any occasion. an officer
seemed to lack consideration for those who
.Tere on such friendly terms. his men were
quite likely to feel that their friends the
enemy" ought to be notified of the fact
| 'Yanks. keep your heads under today
| We've got an Officer of the Day on who
wants us to be firing all the time; so look
out"
This was the call that came to us one
day across the lines ut Petersburg; and
it was naturally needed, behind the low
earthworks which guarded our front at
| that point. Such fairness was sure to
meet with like return. Officers gener-
ally, however. on both sides. recognized
the true state of things, and were not will
| ing to take any unfair advantage Of it.
One evening, at the Petersburg front,
several Confederate soldiers dragged a
man of our brigade into their lines, at the
close OF one of the seasons of truce; and
they took him as prisoner into the pres
ence Of their commander, Gen. Roger A.
Pryor: of Virginia NOW Judge Pryor, of
New York;. The Union soldier protested.
and told his story. Gen. Pryor turned to
his men. and asked them if this was the
truth. When they admitted that it was,
he said quietly to our man:
| Go back, then, to your own lines and
he added to the captors:
Let him go back. I don't want any
thing of this sort in my command
There is not an old soldier who knew of
this who is not ready to this day to cheer
for Gen. Pryor for his chiyalry and fair
ness as shown in this transaction.
RECOVERING BODIES OF OFFICERS UNDER
FLAG OF TRUCE.
An exceptional experience to which |
was called in North Carolina, in connec-
ton with flag of truce, illustrates a pc
culiar phase Of this kind of army service
In December. 1862, at the time of Gen.
Burnside's attack on Fredericksburg, Va,
Gen. Foster made move into the interior
Of North Carolina, with the purpose of de-
strOying the bridge at GOldsbOrO, on the
| Weldon Railroad, so as to cut off the re-
treat of Gen. Lee in that direction, in ca Sc
Gen. Burnside's attack was successful.
In a severe battle at KinstOn. Oh Dec.
IA. my regiment suffered heavily, and l
buried on the field 1three of our line off,
GERS and large number OF enlisted men.
After our work lat GOldsborO was accom-
plished, and we had returned to Newberne,
request was made of the Confederate
officer in command for permission to re-
| cover the bodies of those officers. Con
sent being granted, l was directed to ac-
company the flag, of truce. in cOmm,Nd of
Maj. Stevenson, of the Oath Mass, for
| that purpose. "a
On the morning iOf Tuesday, Dec 80,
our party, consisting OF four officers and
70 men, with two ambuances containing
collins, left Gen. Fosters headquarters on
our peaceful mission.
Opt on the road we had passed and re-
passed in such force twL weeks before we
soon reached our outer picket line, and
went beyond it. Then it was that we
were fairly under the flag of truce. We
no longer trusted to the Stars and Stripes.
Not the flag Of the United States Govern
ment, but the white flag of universal peace
was over us. and we had confidence in it. A
Sergeant bearing the flag rode few PAGES
IN advance of our party, as we proceeded
toward KinstOn. About 2 o'clock we saw
the epemy's picket line some 20 miles from
Newberne. Moving forward more slowly,
we were met by Lieut.. Hanna, of North
Carolina regiment, who conducted us to
Capt. Shaw, of the same command. Hav-
ing communicated to kim our message, we
were told that we must wait for an an
swer from Gen. Evans, in command at
KinstOn. some 20 miles distant. This
would require several hours, and we could
stop for the night ut farmhouse near
the picket line. Accordingly we rested
there.