Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1905-02-03

TO the south, and wherever a CORDS is |
sent into attack, Lee scrapes up a
corps TO meet and repel it. Con-
certed action might have given the
union a needed, a much needed, vic
tory, but concert there is none. One
splendid and disciplined corps has been
held in reserve, and when toward the
last the serene young general-in-chief,
never excited or hurried never able
to see flaw in his own dispositions,
seemed yielding to pressure and about
sending them in, he hearkenS to the
words of their brilliant commander, so
said veteran regulars at the time:
Remember, general, / command the
last reserve of the Army of the Poto-
mac
And so night settles down and Lees
little army. superbly led, has beaten
back in succession the scattered at
tacks of McCle!lan's overwhelming
force. Ali through the hours of dark
ness the surgeons are at work with
the thousands of wounded. All
through the following day Lee waits
for renewal of the battle, but McCIel-
Ian has had enough. With the COM
ing of another night, therefore, gath
ering up his wounded and prisoners,
sending his trains ahead, the great Vir-
ginian silently moves his columns down
to the fords Of the Potomac, and by
dawn of the 18th all are safely across.
Lee has slipped away.
There is a significance in the greet
ing accorded the little soldier still in
supreme command when he rides his
lines day after the battle. The corps
of Porter, held throughout the combat
in safe reserve, swings its caps and
cheers with great enthusiasm The
corps of Sumner shouts with modified
rejoicing. The men of Mansfield rise
and salute in silence. The thinned bat
talions OF the First corps make no sign
whatever.
Witnessing this sight, Fred Benton
contrasts it with another which it was
his privilege to note the previous day.
He and other officers had been sent I'M
der flag of truce within the picket lines
of the southern army, to seek the
wounded and to render aid. All about
the barn and buildings of the Miller
farm, where the brigade had rallied and
hung so long, lay scores. of stricken
men for whom the surgeons were do
ing their best, but SO very many
| seemed past help. Along the pike the
Georgians, too, lay thick, and gray
uniformed officers moved to and fro
among them, or conversed in low tones,
curiously scanning from time to time
the two or three staff officials in blue
who followed the surgeons, pencil and
notebook in hand. Suddenly the talk
ing ceased, for, issuing from q narrow
roadway that trended westward from
the pike. there came tall. command.
tng-looking otncer, gTay-bearded, yel
| alert, q soldier who acknowledged
| with grave courtesy the salutes that
greeted him on every hand Men
sprang to their feet and gazed at him
almost in alteration. Even the wound
| ed strove to rise. Some few hailed him
| with feeble, childish voices. AS for
| Benton and his two associates, they
| needed not the little group Of staff and
orderlies to confirm them in their be-
lief. They knew him at glance-the
| great Virginia leader-and Benton, in
stantly, the others following, stepped
| forward and stood at salute. Lee saw
! it, and turning so as to half face the
northerners, with punctilious courtesy
| lifted his hat, then quickly refined back
| as a duSt-covered, battle-stained bat
terry came jingling out from the lane
and, turning into the highway, pulled
YEARLY on to where the spires Of the
| Maryland town pierced the blue be
yond the southwark wood. Jaded and
worn were the horses, black and pow
| der-stained the men, and of a sudden
| one of these, a slender STRIPPING, jog
ging along beside his gun, caught sight
Of the group of horsemen, darted from
| his place to where the commanding
general, the picture of the soldier and
the gentleman, sat in saddle at the
roadside, and there, with boyish laugh.
held forth grimy hand. It's Bob, -
he cried. Don't you know me,
father?" And Lee, the cavalier, bent
low and with love and tenderness, with
who can say what pride and rejoicing,
clasped the hand of the private soldier
in the Rockridge artillery, his gallant
younger son. In what other army
would one see the like of thati
Then the general rode on toward the
| bunker church, where still the men OF
Jackson lay in readiness, and then up
rose rank after rank with mighty shout
that marked his onward going adown
the weary yet intensely loyal line until
! lost within the distant walls of SharDs-
burg. Despite the dire carnage of the
day of battle, there beat no sol1ier
heart in all the southern host that was
| not true to Lee.
Presently, as the time accorded for
their sad mission had well nigh ex-
| pired, Benton was aware Of a young
| officer, in the uniform of the horse ar
tillery, who had been chatting with
comrades across the way, and now, dis
! mounting. stepped briskIy toward him.