The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1905-01-26
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
The WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell Of
Whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonetsr
Bursting Bombs, Bloody Battlss
Camp Fire, Festive Buxs, ETC., Etc.

Camp Fire, Festive BuEs, ETC., Etc
christmas in the early days" said
Addison Ballard, was not like the
Christmas of this day. l was raised
in Warren County, Ohio, and in
neighborhood Of well-to-do people, and
here is what l received from my par
ents as a Christmas gift: One big red
apple, a little sack of choice hickory
nuts, one pair of knit mittens, and a
homemade knit comforter to wear
round the neck.
In addition. myself and brothers
were given Jointly l cents worth OF
powder. which was inserted In corn
cob and exploded, or in hole bored in
log. In the latter case other boys
joined with their allowance of pow
der to have a greater explosion. For
candy we had maple sugar, and for a
special treat the young people of the
neighborhood climbed the hills near our
house to hear the boom of cannon fired
in Cincinnati, fifteen miles away.
Il was that sort of a Buckeye boy
myself" said the Sergeant, 'but of
later date. l Wore red or red
and white comforter as late as the year
before the war, and my Christmas
gift from home in 1862 was pair Of
closely knit red and black mittens. We
were then in camp at Nashville and
the mittens were a great comfort, but
were regarded as standing joke by
the boys. We were rather cozily quar-
tered, and we began to prepare for
Christmas week in advance.
"Some of the boys went ten and
fourteen miles east and south from
camp looking for geese or turkeys,
chickens or rabbits. Those who went
outside our lines came back excited
and anxious. They found everywhere
indications of a general advance on
Christmas day, and they didn't like it.
On Dec. "a we knew that we would
spend Christmas in camp, but that we
would advance in battle order on the
morning of Dec. 20. knowing this,
and knowing that three days rations
were to be cooked and carried in haver-
sacks, the boys were not as merry on
Christmas day, 1862, as they had ex-
pected to be.
1.-THE whole army moved toward
Murfreesboro on the morning Of the
26th, and as we passed waiting regi-
ments 1 saw several pairs Of mittens
not unlike my own, and l knew that
the good mothers at home had thought
of our cold hands. One man l saw
wearing red comforter such as had
worn as a boy, and l wondered If he
came from the old home neighborhood.
Five days after that, as our brigade
emerged from the cedars at Stone riv-
er, pursued by the rebels, 1 saw in
| the rebel line two men wearing red
comfOrters.
"One Of those wore the comforter
around his neck, with ends crossed on
his breast and carried down to his
belt. The other wore the comforter
around his neck, with ends flying. /
wondered if these were, like my nit
tens, Christmas gifts from old-fash-
ioned homes. l knew later. because
| the rebel of the red comforter fell, not
FIVE steps from where 1 went down,
with two wounds. 1t was very cold
that night, and the wounded in blue
and gray began to creep toward the
little depression in which 1 was lying
and snuggled close to keep from freez-
| ing.
"Some one took my mittens out of
my pockets and put them on my al.
most helpless hands. and some one else
able to use his hands lifted my head
to his lap as he sat on the ground, and
l felt the ends of knit comforter
brush across my face. 1t was fresh
and new, and he said it was a Christ.
mas gift, and he had worn it in battle
because his mother had sent it. That
| led the freezing men, huddled together
like shivering hogs, to talk of Christ,
mas and their people at home, and
found that my man OF the red comfort
er was of the same stock as myself
his family settling in Tennes-ee, mine
in Ohio.
HE had pair Of mittens like my
own, and the customs of the two
homes were not unlike. We did not
freeze that night, and were carried of
f; the field next day, but in such condi
ton that 1 never knew how we were
removed nor what became of the men
who came to me that night. Some OF
them did not recover, l was told In
| the hospital, but l was informed that
not one of the dead wore a red comfort
er. All this. came back to me yes
| terday when 1 came across a white
army hospital blanket with my initials
| worked in red In one corner. 1t was
my blanket, and 1 remembered thai
| as the letters went into shape forty
two years ago a tear fell from my
mothers eyes for every stitch taken
l lived, however, to carry that blanket
| through the war"
| Speaking of geese and rabbits" said
the Corporal, reminds me that l hat
a Christmas experience on that Stone
river campaign. A few days befor,
| Christmas. George Hunt, Happy Jaci
and myself went foraging to the front
| Jack wanted a goose for Christmas
George wanted turkey or rabbit
and 1 was ready TO accept a spring
chicken two years old. We had beer
over the country before and we though
we knew the ground. We did, but con
dit,ons were so changed by the pres
ence Of the enemy in front that W.
had no freedom of action. We picked
up little fresh pork, and Jack ant
l were ready to return to camp.
George, however, cut loose from us
saying that he remembered place
where rabbits were as numerous a!
they were in the four-mile woods a
home, and that he was not going t.
camp until he had at least two. HI
didn't get in until the next morning
when he told an exciting story abou
l H. l..