Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-05-28
THE BATrLE-FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES.
The Blue and the Gray Review Iuci-
dents of the Late War, aud In .
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell OF Gasp, March and Battle.

Z ldih, Is the hardest work soldiers are
| called upon 10 perform, The safety
OF an army often depends on the mas
ierfuineSs of the officer in command Of
a rear guard and on the staying quail
ties Of his men. 1t was the fate OF our
regiment, the Fifty second Ohio TO act
as rear guard on retreat when IL was
only a few weeks old. and on that
march the men learned good many
things not In the books
The regiment was mustered into
the service Aug. -. 1862. aud Aug. 30
WAS marching from Lexington. Ky, to-
ward the Kentucky river 10 reinforce
General William Nelson in battle at
Richmond. The summer had been UNI
usually dry. the pike WAS ankle deep
IN dust. and there was little water to
he found. The march was Il hard one
ana our green regiment had the adj
vance, During that day aud the next
We were continually meeting stragglers
from the battlefield, big with tales OF
gler was the sole survivor Of his COM
mand which had been literally an
Initiated in bloody battle.
This was very trying on the nerves
of new men. We could hear the ar
tillery firing before we left Lexington.
and we could hear 1t better as we adj
yanced. At night we were meeting
every few minutes struggling squads
from the front, who spent all their
spare time firing at each other. As
the stragglerS came in the regiment
would halt n few minutes to hear the
latest news from the front and a new
description of the battle, Al one of
these parleys the men. exhausted and
nerve shaken, dropped down To get
minutes rest For several hours
stragglers had been telling us that
SCOTS and Morgan's cavalry was just
ahead of us or in our rear,
Therefore. as we rested we were
apprchensive. expecting Morgans cav
/ airy TO ride us down. Imagine the eX-
| element. then. when, during one of
these roadside halts we heard COM
motion in the Ninety-eighth ohio To
our rear. We were In the woods at the
/ time and could hear horses galloping
, on the fiinty pike and chains rafting
on the road. Somebody in the rear
( shouted 'Morgan's cavalry" Every
other man took up the cry and, half
awake, the men, many of them gunless
and hatless, jumped to either side of
the road, high fence preventing fur
ther retreat.
( Crowded into fence corners the men
| waited for the worst. and it came in
4 the shape Of mules with doubletree
chains and singletrees flying. The
mules. scared worse than any man in
the ranks, ran from the rear almost
the full length of the regiment before
they were caught. Then the men
swept back into the road. and | never
met one of them who would admit that
he had broken ranks or had lost II
gun. AS for myself | recovered my
lost gun, and never made remark to
indicate II had ever been out of my
hands.
"Jo Swan, however. lost his gun and
cap Something had TO be done. and
10 rose To the occasion with charac-
teristic resourcefulness. At the next
halt he found Private Chubb of com
pany X asleep, and gently relieved him
of his gun and cap. lie removed the
letter X from the cap. plastering the
spot where the letter had been with
dust made mud. The next day as We
We're In full retreat to Lexington. act
ing rs rear guard under Colonel Dan
McCook, and the hot sun was heating
down on us numerically, Chubb came
up bareheaded. cursing every body In
general. aud the man who stole his
cap and gun in particular. 10 Swan
was Il man to ten your troubles to. and
Chubb found in 10 sympatliizlng lis
tener.
1.-The mention Of 10 Swan said
Sergeant Sam Grimshaw, reminds me
that on the day Of that mule stampede
most Of us were 50 frightened that
from that time we began to turn gray.
When those mules broke loose. with
the sprcaders and the Lord only knows
how many other chains, we thought
for a minute that the whole rebel
army. cavalry. infantry aud artillery
had been turned loose on us
"Our only casualty was injury to
George Malone upon whose breast
one Of the frightened mules stepped,
infiictiny wound more painful and
serious than If be had been struck by
bullet Malone was discharged at
Nashville. Tenn. and draws pension
as result of that mule stampede
But / want to say that our company
III. Fifty-second Ohio stands in a class
by itself. IN that it had not single
case Of descrtiou In its three years
service. From start TO finish We had
100 men IN the company. and If the
records published by the state of Ohio
are correct our company is the only
one from the state that did not report
a case Of desertiOn.
we lost good many men. however.
on what the boys called side issues.
Isnr oNa,upla "a. hfta n,t, Irts,o J, ma. -.