The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-26
Chapter XIII.
The Gettysburg Campaign.


 The Gettyshurg Campaign.
 The march of the Eighth to Gettys burg was without any incident of spe- cial interest. The regiment was now, by reason of the receipt of conscripts and of some other recruits, as well as By the return of sick and wounded. much larger than 1t had been on the i Maryland Campaign. and it's morale seemed to be perfect. We were soon in the enemy's country. and anxious for the battle that was to be final and decisive. We had no thought of any- thing but victory. General Lees or- ders against depredations on the march were strict. and such orders wc~a per haps never better observed in all the history of war by any army of fnvad- CTS. Beyond the stripping of cherry trees. branches of which were some times broken off. I remember no vio- 1ations of our Generals orders. One or two amusing incidents that occur red during this tragical campaign ought to be recorded as we pass
 Samp Orr, one of our wagoners. during the winter that was gone had brought with him from home. where he had gone on furfough to the death bed of his wife his little son. about il years old and also called "Samp-' There was nothing for 1t but to let tuO Aittlc LElAOW stay WtIu HE 1dbhNts ' and the "gamin" was now the pet of the regiment and full of mischief, One day as we were marching along through the Dutch part of Pennsylva- mia, with It's weIl-fii1ed barns fat cat tie and wide-rolling stretches of such wheat as most of us had never seen, a fat old lady whose house was con- fortab1y ensconced few yards back in clump of trees. was sweeping the road before her front gate. A high zig-zag rail fence on either side made a lane. and in this lane close by the old ladv was a large Shanghai rooster, which little Samp. not having the fear of General Lees orders before his eyes, attempted to capture. Sanp ran for the rooster, and the old lady ran for Eamp, and as the three scampered one after the other along the line of the regiment. the old lady with her up- lifted brush-broom in hand. the men shouted, f5o it, Samp! Go 1t, roosteri go 1t, old ladyn until finally the clumsy old shanghai, finding that Samp was gaining on him, attempted to escape through a crack In the fence. The crack was not big enough --the rooster stuck at it and Samp was just in the act of stooping to seize his prey when the old lady's up1ffted brush-brooms came down on Samp just where the bend was, and down went Samp. Theaofd lady was victor. her property was saved, and loud were the cheers that went up from the reg iment In praise of the gallant old wo- man, whose flushed face as sfw Kazed defiantly in the faces of the Rebs seemed to indicate that she did not appreciate having to fight for her rights on her own soil.
 large army Is always an impress sive sight. and many were the ex- pressions of astonishmentS that now greeted us from the astonished coun- try folk by the wavside as we went tramp, tramp along the road.
 "Auntie," said Martin Riley, a wag in Co. F. "don't you think there are a heap os peofle this year
 'Yes, good Lord. we never will be able to get enough soldiers Co whip you folks!"
 But the attitude of the people. es- pecialIy among the more intelligent, was generally that of angry defiance. In the towns and especially in Cham bersburgs the people seemed by pre- concert to have arrayed themselves in "purple and fine linen" as if to let the "rebels'' see how little the war was affecting them. Perhaps the im- pression made upon us may have come in part from the fact that we had (to use the language of our boys) long been unaccustomed to see people in billed shirts" but certain It is that in this town most of the folk we saw appeared to be "diked out" in their very best. Women looked out of their windows and sat upon door steps. dressed in silks and often decorated with Union flags. Indeed Unien flags big and little were everywhere fly Ing, and men were in broadcloth and silk hats One man, as the regiments passed him, in a broadcloth frociS coat and with sleek hat on his head, had taken up his position just on the outer edge of the sidewalk As he was gag ing intentiy on the troops, apparently trying to take in the full meaning of ali this and no doubt engaged in mak- ing an estimate of our numbers, one of our men named Donnally, an Irish man with his full share of Irish hu- nor, his uniform well-soiled butter nut color, stepped bfiskiy from out the ranks and approaching the gentle men from behind, took with one hand. from his own head his dirty old worn- out hat. that had lost it's band and It's shape and was full of holes at the top, and with the other he lifted the silk hat, and the two heads exchanged covering. The gentleman was so as- tonished that for a moment he only stared around in blank amazement and the shout that went up from the "Rebs" made the welkin ring. About sat in a defiant attitude upon a door step with a bright little Union flag pinned over her bosom
 Madam" said Martin Riley, of Co F. you had better be particular how