Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-03-28

"Yes,' acknowledged the man, that
was durin' the war There was Billy
Martin an Sam Woodward an Jim
Lock in our company. We all stopped
at the next house an got drink o
we'll water-remcmber it just like yes
terday. Billy, he were killed at the last
Wilderness fight; Sam Woodward, he
pegged out at Richmond, an Lock,
lemme see-Lock finished at Beaver
Dam Creek All gone, them fellers--
all gone
"What were ye asked the boy, look
ing at him suspiciously through half
closed eyes. What were yer"
'Johnny Reb," said the man quietly
"S'pose I'm one of the rearguard now
Yes, they're most all gone
Ny company's all gone but me-"
Say, you come home with me an
git that drink o well water. Pap'll be
glad to see ye, and sides, if I do say
it mself, he's a greebler man than Jim
Potter, and sides, the waters better"
''No. Guess I'd better stop
at Potter's fur the water. Stopped there
last time, We know. y Me an
Billy Martin an Sam Woodward an
an'-who's that other feller ! said
/
an Jim Lock"
"Say," said the bov, in a voice of awe
did ye do any fghtin' round here?"
"Well, now, sir. certainly think we
did. Why along this yer road was moth
in but dead an dyin' men. That 'ere
ditch was full of 'em. and that 'ere hill
side, why,-I tell ye, sir, they were as
thick as bees"
GNT,,p a,,o1,; ;,,,aI ,,,oo Iar.,x bo,,
'Pap never told me bout that"
They stopped at Potter's and waited
until the old man drained his tin of
we'll water. He mouthed it, and tasted
it various ways, and then, holding the
cup in hand, thought about it. Then
they trudged after the sheep, picking up
one here and there and calling at them
harshly.
"Taste the same?" asked the boy.
"Much the same"-then, with dry
laugh-"long time between drinks.
Forty year-considerable time"
The peaked roof of tumble-down
house loomed up at an angle of the
road, place as old as the countryside
and not half as fresh.
"Where's pap?" bawled the boy to a
smaller urchin playing in the dirt.
, "Ain't come home from the cuttin'
yet" replied the other.
won't ye come in?' he invited the
} veteran.
"Think I'll walk piece up the hill
side there. That's where we
had our last stand. Old Simpsons bat
terry held it and nigh on to fou.c hun
dred men killed up. Want to go 'long?"
Course" said the boy.
aye see," said the man, waving his
cane in an explaining sweep over the
country, ''all this yer section were full
of Rebs and Yanks, but mostly Yanks
We came tip this yer road, and in the
first days fightin' took that 'ere hill
!, and held it all the second day. Mac
held the other road an rushed troops
up fast. an took that other hill from
: Larkins' men, an drove 'em straight
across the open, KILN 'em like so many
sheep. Then on the second day MAJ
$ sent nigh whole brigade through tha
j last field, an deployed 'em along"
"What's deployed?" interrupted tht
: boy sharply.
"Sorter scatterin' 'em," explained the
warrior.
"Oh" calculated the boy, satisfied.
'Then old Larkins, who was in COM
tnand of US, but who wasn't fit to COM
mand lot of suffers, he says we'd hev'
to drive 'em back on their side of the
country, an down we goes, the hull of
us An after we went down, we fought
like cats for bout an hour, an then
crawled back badly crippled. I tell you,
sir, we lost bout hundred an fifty men
right at that ere stream. We had bit
off considerable more'n we could chaw." {"
"What did ye do them" queried the
boy, anxiously.
"Mac, he thought it his turn to play
the fool then, an ordered forward a
brigade or two, and up they came at US
We shotted 'em with grape and tore
holes in 'em that you could drive cart
through. Next day we fell back piece,
an the next day we licked 'em the worst
of the war, at Cold Harbor."
Slowly they climbed the long hill, the
boy listening with great interest to the
rambling tale of nothing at all, the old
man gasping in his effort to keep pace
with his little companion, planting his
cane in the scrub and slip ing over dried
grass and roots. The smell of smould-
ering wood blew down upon them from
the crest, and the shadows of the for
ests black archways grew more and
more somber at their approach. A wild
bird called plaintively, and something
rustled from their path and skurried
away in the brush.
They crossed the summit and came
out again into the twilight of the other
slope. Two men were busily chopping
at tall pine, the strokes of the blades
sounding harsh in the stiffness and the
echoes roaming over the country.
"Pap," called the boy, 'yer's a man
wot fought with Bobby Lee
The grizzled chopper greeted the vet
eran with eagerness.
"Yessir," half choked the old one
from his efforts; "yessir, right on this
hillside we fought"
"We'll hev' this one down in the next