The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-24

4 himself tell mo what he wanted inc to do.
\ After anHhc wns called Into General
A Johnston. Is tent, and the General looking
4 ut me. and seeming surprised thnt l was
i only IA boy (for I was Just tWenty-one
3Set,r1s old, began to question 4mo quito
4 closely MS to what experience had had in
4 military affairs, how long i ilhnd s.bcen
4 with tho army, whether ! could distin-
/ guist ono branch Of service from another,
and the like. 'ii5f
/ 'IInving answered these questions to
4 General 1ohnstons ss tisfncton, the latter
laid Il map OF the Peninsula on the table
before ihitn, and began questioning me
about the different ronds and creeks an 2 =
4 fording places, and other stopograpl cal
matters on the Peninsula. Having shown
myself sufficiently Familiar with these
matters, tho General then turned ITO Col
4 onel Rfett and remarked, Il .tillnk Mr.
Bryan will do Very we'll. You will please
1 assign him to the bnlloon service to make
tho reconnolsances, and instruct him as, TO
what information we fwuilt and tho KIND
| tof5report wc desire from him. On hear
| Ing tliis order L at once sprang to my foet,s
protesting that while i could ride ahorse,
and would gladly do anything In my
power, that had never even seen a
balloon, and that ] KIN ew absolutely moth
Ing about the management of at, and that
II the General simply wantedssom sinfor-
nation rs to the position Of the EN- envy
ind their numbers at any given tpoint t,
that 7 would Very clleerfullysgo Into the
lines and get this information and return
as speedily as possible and report MY
words had, .however small effect upon the!
General IT told mo very CURLY and posi-
lively that / had been assigned to him Tor
duty, and that he expected mo to per-.
form the duty to which ! wis assigned
without nlytquestlons. lie added that ne
had plenty Of scouts already, and what
she wanted was a man to go UP IN the
balloon, and thata1 could now 80 and Pre-
pare myself to he an readiness when sent
for. This was pretty hard, but as there
was no sortiof question about 1t. ] could
only mako my bowinnd walk out with as
brave an appearance &c as possible. ~ shorty
afterwards was fully instructed ns to all
the details: TINT there was n crew Of m en-
already in charge Of the balloon, VINO VI 81
derstood tho r1anag eln ent or it, tns ~ the
3inhating, letting 1t insoend and drawing ~
down agnin by means of the rope which
was attached tto,it (Which passed around 'ln, /
a windlnss) ], and i was also instructed IN
the signals that \ should make when up
An the balloon, 3by means of q wig WAC
Gag tic tell ithnse below what was wan ted,
whether 4 wished ito Jgo fast or slow, up
or down. WAS also given such f1nforrna 4
ytion as was at hand as to }the SUPPOSED
position OF itlle yenerny, and Was dnHtluctou
to carefully note whore each different arm
of tho jBaryice ;(infantrS, artillery and cav
$alry) was LOCATED. and i was further told 4
to make a memorandum or map of4all that!
i saw while up An the balloon, so as to-
DO able to give the best md most accurate
account Of all j saw when Il returned
provided. of course. tina t i returne cd mt al. ~
PASSING s1FII1 DANGER l lima;
"The balloon party were located behind
n large .thlcket of pine trees ,about4a half
mile back Of the Confederate lines, With
view OF allowing the balloon to- reach
n considerable elevation before lt$could be
seen by the enemy. who would, Of course
fire ut 1t in the hope Of destroying 1T. AS
\ had seen some artillery service, q was
quite well aware that after attaining a.
certain height tho ordinary field cannon
could not be trained to bear upon me- SO
that tho danger zone was only pet"een5
the time that appeared above the top
of the trees and tho time when should
!, have reached such9n elevation that their
guns could no longer be. trained upon me-
This Yves no small ,consolat ton to mo, for
my nrclor to go on special service hnd
been much cooled at the bare thought OF
being suspended IN mid-air. by what a. p.
peared tome as "a mere thread under ~
ihot-air balloon, with the chances pretty
SlCCIS .tlllL ~ -WOllu Sst'S 3bN4A'b ftSAsh'
schrapnel or shells of the enemy. VIXEN
down would como baby, cradle and all
However, I determined to make
best OF a bad bargain, and .Wsnt so
the balloon camp to study the ;situatiorl
and my new duties. ~ was not left long
in suspense, for tho next day ] received
an order from General Johnston TO make
my first ascension. The balloon Was An Il
chored to q long rope, probably ~ half
t,,t1n 1nNr q 4 n
and then ooilcd In n great number OF coils
sailor fashion. on tho ground, and then
passed around n Swindlass. and was finally
attached TO q number of cords coming
down from the balloon. From this cone
Of cords hung q good sized hamper, or
basket. in which 4 was to stand or ltneel
and mako any observations. 1T did not
tako n Very long time On fact. At was
accomplished much too quickly for my Xix
ing) 10 I'LL tho balloon with hot air, for n
plentiful supply OF pine knots and tur-5
pentlne had heon made Ito create. "a great
ihcnt under n hne the end Of which opened
into the ballopn), 80 that very soon ! was
told that my aerial horse was ready for
mo ito mount and ride away Therefore.
with notebook md pencil IN my poc!tst,
and heart beneath It beating very furl-
ously although, OF course, ] put on a
!. bravo front to those about mc>. ] stepped
4 into tho basket and gave the signal TO
rise. At FIRST the balloon wns let or quite
gradually, and ! began to ascend slowly
| This Is not so bad. thought; hut the
| worse was yet to come. f
a TARGET IN MID AIR
Hardly. however, had gotten above
/ tho tree tops and obtained a View Of the
enemy's line than observed a great COM
motion among them, mon running here
and there, and IN very few minutes they
had run out Il battery, ! saw tho officer
\ In charge elevate tho gun and carefully
4 sight 1t at me, and give the signal 10 fire.
4 'Boom' went the cannon, and tho shell
! whislcd by me In most unpleasant pro<-
unity. Tor some minutes shclls and bull
lets from the schrapnels (Which burst IN
| front OF me) whistled and sang around mo
with q most unpleasant music; but my
balloon and ] escaped. AS you may readily
| imagine, I,,llid not feel very happy or
comfortable; on tho contrary, was scared
nearly breathless, and WAS exeeedinalY
4 nervous. at7bnco gave tho signal. fast
/ err and tho balloon went upward more