The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-10-13
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL SOME INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies Whi1ed
Away Life in COMPROMISING Ex-
periences, Tiresome Marches-Thri1-
ling Scenes ON the Battlefield.


ling Scenes ON the Battlefield.
Gosh said the Sergeant, 81 hope
those Russians who put up such fight
at Port Arthur were not new to bonn
bardments. If they were [ will bet a
pound of bareback they were scared
good many times when the Japs
first got their range. Nothing scares
a fellow worse in the beginning than
a well organized bombardment, and
nothing is accepted with greater indif-
ference by soldiers when they get used
to it.
81 remember an experience we had
while camped at Gauley Bridge in the
summer of 1861. The art of war was
new to US then, and we believed that
If any man pointed a cannon in our
direction and let drive he was bound
to kill somebody. Imagine our conster-
nation then when the rebs across the
river opened on our camp from guns
high up on the precipitous hills. We
couldn't understand how they got
there, and their boldness in erecting
batteries so near our own camp par
alyzed us.
I'm addition they sent solid shot roll
ing over our parade ground and among
our tents. They knocked cup of cof-
fee out Of a mans hand and knocked
a kettle Of beans off fire built just
right to cook beans. We were sur
prised that the General did not order
US to move camp at once, but he did
nothing Of the kind. After we had
been bombarded for five or six hours
he rode down to see us, and found the
boys chasing the enemy's cannon balls
On the parade ground. He, dghed and
said the experience would do us no
harm, and it didn't.
1.-The rebs blazed away at US every
day for seven days, and we wondered
why the General didn't do something
about it, but we didn't care whether
he did or not There were lively in
cidents every day, but not single man
In our regiment was hurt One day
Captain Fee, our quartermaster, de-
cided to ride down the river road from
Mount Tompkins to our camp. He was
striking figure and he rode a striking
horse, and scarcely had he started on
his trip when the rebs turned all their
guns on him.
1.-THE road followed the river bank.
river close on one side and a high,
precipitous cliff close on the other. The
cannon balls from the rebel batteries
crashed against the cliff. bringing
down showers of fragments and splin-
tiers from the rock Captain Fees
horse didn't like this, and the boys ex-
pected to see the Captain turn back.
Instead he gave his high-spirited horse
the rein and he came down that road
at gallop, the rebs firing at him as
rapidly as they could load. AS the
Captain came into camp the boys
cheered him Justify and the rebs at the
batteries across the river Joined them.
Our boys said that if the rebs couldn't
hit man and horse under such ia
yorable circumstances they couldn't hit
anything, and they became contemptu-
Gus Of all bombardments."
speaking Of the experiences of new
troops" said Sergeant Sam Grimshaw,
reminds me of things that happened
on the retreat from Lexington, KY,
In 1862. Our regiment (the Fifty-sec-
ond Ohio was of the newest, for it
rushed from its first camp into arduous
campaigning in Kentucky. That march
from the Kentucky River through the
rain and mud would have been hard
on the most seasoned troops, but it
was particularly hard On US. My
mouth waters now as 1 think of our
muddy and hungry company huddIed
in the courthouse at Lexington.
"Our Captain, who was afterward
Colonel Of the regiment, went out for
aging and came in with three big boxes
Of gingerbread. Nothing ever tasted
so good to me as that gingerbread, and
I never forgot the Captain. In the
march to Louisville our company OBJ
was rear guard, and the men were so
exhausted they went to sleep stand
ing. On one occasion went to sleep
! and was overlooked when the regi-
ment moved on, and would have been
captured had not John McCook Colo
mel Dams brother), shopping along in
the rear, walked me up. never forgot
John for that
when we left Lexington our haver-
sacks were like old Mother Hubbard's
cupboard, and, despite the ginger
bread, we were soon hungry. We were
not allowed to forage, and after an
all days and an all nights march we
were pastured in meadow alongside
Of a cornfield, the ears at the roasting
stage Of development. We were or
dered to build fires and cook the corn,
but some of the boys were so blamed
hungry they could not wait for the
corn to cook, but ate it raw, and 9TH
ers ate it half cooked and thought it
was good. That was our hardest ex-
perience in the army. We got the hot
end Of the poker first.
Later in the war, when we were in
General Jimmy Morgan's brigade, and
were cruising down near Gainesville,
Ala, for Hood, there was good deal
Of foraging in spite of the Generals
good many sheep in the neighborhood.
and some Of them fell by the way. AS
the boys came in loaded with mutton.