Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-08-27
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL SOME INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies whiIed
Away Life in Camp-ForaginE Ex-
periences, Tiresome Marches-ThriI-
ling Scenes ON the Battlefield.

for the panic in Sheridan'S army on
the morning of Oct TO- 1864. at Cedar
I Creek. take account of all that has
been said about the fog that prevailed
on that morning and of the sudden
ness of the onset when men were
asleep or only half awake. hut l re-
member that the advance brigade was
composed of old soldiers. commanded
by one of the most alert generals OF
the army. and that the men ON picket
We're veterans In the service and cog
infant OF the obligations resting upon
them. The mystery of the panic opens
on the picket line. My own rec0llee-
ton Is that not gun was fired by
/ picketS. and | know the rebs rushed
on us without warning, opening with
artillery as well as rifle fire.
There is no more appalling spec
tacle than a panic In battle Let the
bravest and best trained soldiers lose
their grip at critical moment and
they are like frightened horses run.
ming away. ! know. because | hap
pened TO be in two OF the greatest
/ panicS of the war. In both eases |
WAS Knocked down and run over by
our men. and the queer thing about il
is, | never could talk With any OF The
| boys who joined in either stampede.
You can't get the men who We're on
( the advance line at Cedar Creek on
the morning of the 10Th of October to
~ a hn - in al I've
They were simply overwhelmed 10y the
stunning fact that the rebels came out
of the fog and by the impression tina;
/ their own men We're firing ut them.
Therefore. they acted like men struck
10y a hurricane, or like men on sink
ing vessel at sea-
No officer in that army had any III
| ciination To report in detail the opera
| tions OF that morning. The govern
ment had to compel every hrigadier
general aud colonel to write a report
OF the operations of his command The
men themselves, ms they sat about the
camp fires two or three days later re-
garded the whole transaction as Il myS-
| terry. They honestly believed that
Early's men impersonated members of
one OF our own cavalry regiments and
took the places of our own pickets
opening the way for the charge of the
| rebel column that had been concen-
| trated only a few hundred yards from
our picket line. This question was nm
der discussion as long as our regiment
| remained in the service, but | never
heara4he testimony Of any one Of the
/ pickets said to have been relieved
1 1t is significant that there was the
! same Discrimination OH the Confederate
1 side to write OF this battle of Cedar
4 Creek as there was OH the Union side.
because in the afternoon the panic In
| the rebel army was more appalling and
more disastrous. ten times over than
/ the panic of the morning. General
| Early, in his report. took the same at
! titude as General Bragg did in his re-
| port Of the battle Of Missionary Ridge
/ Bragg contended that his troops. ~
| stationed on Missionary Ridge. could
/ have held their ground against any
/ force that could have been brought
/ against them. hut instead of making
a fight, they ran away Ike frightened
! deer. Early talks In the same way
about his army at Cedar Creek. saving
/ that if only 500 men could have been
held together he could have stopped
/ the Union charge
There was in both arlnie4 a disin-
.ft
/ rule, some of the best regiments IN
| the service were involved No one
could account for them. No man who
/ joined In n wild stampede ever tried
to explain his conduct Panics were
catalogued as the mysteries Of army
life; as the seismic disturbances in
which organization and discipline
counted for absolutely nothing. The
only thing that could quiet panic was
the presence Of magnetic. dashng
man like Sheridan. or. for that mat
ter. like Roseerans. But in the face
Of the panic at Chickamauga Rose
Grams was as helpless as Early was
at Cedar Greek"
Speaking OF army mysteries. said
the Captain. II know Of one that still
remains a mystery so far as the public
are concerned. After Pemberton's sur
render at Yicksburg his army. $1,000
strong, was sent into parole camp
near Black river. ter miles from the
city. PembcrtOn was in command and
his idea was to hold the paroled men
together in camp. drill them. keep NJ
their discipline so that when they
were exchanged they would be ready
for immediate service IN the Confed.
crate army. But in few days hun
dredS OF men disappeared from the
camp. In two weeks the desprters
were numbered by the thousand, and
Pemberton appealed to Grant for
guards, complaining that the Union
soldiers were enticing his men from
camp and assisting them 10 get away
The truth was that the Union men
Oh guard at Yicksburg heard. through
the people OF the city that fully one
half Of ppnlbpftOO'S mon ware Iert.