The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-10
SOME RECOLLECTIONS
OF CONFEDERATE
CAMP LIFE
az w. 3. MoUeAToN.


a bullet through his head at Malvern |
Hill put an end to a promising career.
We had several of northern birth with |
U.S. and they were faithful and excellent |
: 1diars William A 6erson was born of
Quaker parents within twenty miles of
Gettysburg. OF unfaiing good humor,
amiable and somewhat of a wag he was
a favorite. lie was such a fop in dress,
and had such fine manners. that the
boys dubbed him prince of Wales
after the present King of England. who
had visited this country just prior to
the war. But he got to be as dirty and
ragged as any of us, although he never
complained
At Yorktown after we had been re-
lieved from duty in the trenches and
were supposedly out of danger, Prince
was doing some sewing, when bullet
struck him on the thigh. We ran to his
aid, and gathered around him His eyes
always large were magniied and he had
seized his leg with both nanGs pressing
tightly to stop the flow of blood. With
much difficulty we forced his hands away
and found the spent ball had only made
a Dlne spot. lie was the HfSI man III
the company to get a wound, and 1t
was his last for he surrendered at APP
pomattox and lived long to enjoy life. The
fortunes of war made him my comrade
in the winter of 64-G5, and we shared the
same blankets.
lie discovered that he had the seven
years itch, which was not pleasant for
me. but l never took ii. On some ones
advice he got citizen to show him the
sfIt of 11Iy eta III 4 nlan aaH
it into small pieces, boiled them in the
camp kettle, and bathed himself in the
decoction. He mad used nearly a peck
and it was very strong. In few min
utes he was In terrible agony. and
wheks or great swell:ngs as large as
ones arm appeared all over him. The
surgeon was sent for. and soon relieved
him, but the itch was cured. Returning
from a lonely scout about midnight |
found him lying in the middle of the hut
stark naked. but feeling good as one
who had Just missed death. God rest the
soul of Prince, and those cthcr faithful
northerners who toiled, starved. fought
and bled with the people among whom
they had cast their lot. One OF them
served in the Sixth Alabama, was
wounded and captured at Sharpsburg.
was offered the chance to go to his
home to remain without taking the oath,
but he was exchanged, served through
the war, and is yet one of the most
useful men in the state as professor OF
mathematics at auburn. Otis ID. Smith
has more friends among the young men
than any one l know, and in an ac-
quaintance of over forty years, / have
never heard an unkind word or criticism
concerning him.
Another, Baine Of Lowndes. a power
full and popular lawyer, fell at the head
of the Third Alabama before Richmond.
| There were great numbers of northern
men who shared our dangers, priva-
tions, defeat and reconstruction.
Then we had a few Hebrews in our
company for awhile. Mai. r. j. Moses,
of Columbus Ca. was our brigade COM
missary and none was more faithful.
On one occasion, he rode ahead of the
troops. seized little country water mill
and sat up all night grinding corn so
| that we might get a hoecake in the
morning He was too useful for a brig
ade. and was made assistant commissary
general of the Confederacy. His nephews
served with us for awhile. On the retreat
| from Yorktown the enemy tried to cut us
off with transports and gunboats and
we marched almost necessarily for thlr-
| ty-six hours Moultree Moses was unused
| to hardships, his feet blistered and the
proud fellow cried with the agony and
the fear that he would be missing when
| the fight came on. Judah p. BENJAMIN.
our secretary OF state. had not superior
| In America. He became queens counsel
/ In England, and wrote text book that
| is authority on two continents. Many of
them served faithfully all through the
war and through the more trying times
of reconstruction. After the war when
plantations were ravaged. stock and
farm implements gone and no credit it
I is said that a jew first established the
system of giving credit On a mortgage
on. the crop to be grown. which enabled
the poverty stricken confederates to
carry on their farming operations. 1t was
| the only source of credit in those days.
| and now forms part of our system of
| laws, though like other good things it has
Leen badly abused Ii is said that the
| plan of .nortgaglng tile crops yet to be
planted and grown came from Russia.
| Two veteran Jews lived In Haynevlle,
and had many friends. One of them
| whilst suffering from rheumatism, was
attacked by a youngster one day while
| sitting in front of his place of business.
The son of a gentle veteran sprang to his
| rescue, and selling the man by the
| throat, with his fist pounded the ag-
| gressors head against the side of the
! house so vigorously that it was like beat.
ing tattoo on drum. son OF the other
| Jew unfortunately, and by accident kill
my presence. | shall never forget how
when | assured the old father that no
jury would convict his son, he said
whilst the tears streamed down his face
| "Oh, Billy! but there Is blood guilt on
my SON." When the trial came on, al
most every veteran In Lowndes coun-
ty was on the ground working or Of
fering to work for their old comrade
and the jury Old not stay out twenty
minutes before aequtting the boy.
There were some professional gamblers
! in the regiment, but as they could not
hoodoo bullets nor turn jack from the
bottom with shells and cannon balls.
they mostly got out of the war on one
pretext or another. In the tumult of
charge and temporary retreat, it was
very tempting and very easy to keep
ones position lying behind a rock or log
which sheltered one from bullets, and
then as the enemy made the counter
charge surrender and go off to a safe
prison. These men, to a great extent. oc-
cupied the same position in camp as at
home, a kind of Ishmaelite. social out
cast. and | cannot remember one who
lived an useful life after the war or lived
| long.
! | remember one, very smart fellow
who got discharged upon some pretext
about the time that bullets and shells
became familiar to us, but he was again
pressed into service and fought at Olus-
| tee. Fla The next time l saw him, he
| embraced me with fervor and co 4
menced telling me almost in shouts pr
his experience in battle. He said he ia
not know he coulo stand bullets and =
! 1sa.x mas s.ou n