The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-05-09

AItcI iuc Ddlllt VI AlccuduICSNlllc
May 2s, 1852, Cowan's First New York
Independent Battery, with the Sixth
Army Corps. crossed the Chickahominy
river over the Grape Vine Bridge,
OF its being so crooked As / recollect
it now, rail fence was siit as
string when compared with e. Our en-
gineer built it in hurry and the usual
was abundant were neglected In this
case and the bridge put together as
soon as possible. Instead OF cutting
out n straight passage through the
trees, they went around them here and
there to save time and labor. The
Chickahominy river at this time had
Overfiowed its banks, and had. to some
extent, risen TO the dignity of river,
on account of the spring rains, but usu-
ally it was very sluggish, dirty. mar
row and shallow stream, and in N1ichi-
gan it would never acquire a title above
a brook. But we crossed II, and l re-
member its swaying back and forth.
making me quite nervous and Of my
calculating how deep it vas and my
chances of swimming to shore in case
the bridge collapsed. On the other side
we went into camp near Seven Pines or
Fair Oaks, our right resting on the
Chickahominy and our left extending
toward Seven Pines. The infantry
threw up rifle pits and constructed
q redoubt for our six guns into which
we were placed after we got rested. l
felt gu te at home, and for a week or
two we had an easy time. On Sunday
morning we heard the church bells in
Richmond, and this made me homesick,
as my mind went back to Gods country
and the times 1 had answered to the
call OF the church bells in my own be-
loved city OF Auburn I was young.
tender, and my experience was brief;
so far ii had not been much more than
a pleasant summer outing; we had
been through little brush at York
town and a little more at Williams
burg, but we had not stripped to the
waist yet and begun to deal our sledge-
hammer blows upon the Confederacy as
we did later on. / never got home
SICK after that, but / have seen men
who died from the effects of home
sickness, pure and simple, while never
was affected. and since then ! have
wondered why was not. l used to
reason to myself that it was no use;
l could not get away; 1 was in for
three years unless shot i was at the
front and had a duty to perform, and
/ never tried to evade it. l felt per-
fectly resigned had raised M right
hand and sworn TO protect the govern
ment TO the extent of my ability. With
me there was principle, young as
was / had inherited the spirit from
my ancestors that it was the duty of
every American citizen to fight for his
government. The fight was on, and,
following my convictions l was in 1t.
and never, from the time OK my enlist
ment until my discharge, which was
three years to day, did l ever seri-
ouSiy contemplate icdfluS the army Dy
French furlough or otherwise. l am
satisfied now that 1 was imbued with
spirit that possessed very large
number of my comrades. and IT was
such men who were mainly responsible
for the field valor. l am not posing
az an example; l merely maintain 1t
as a fact | thought nothing OF ii at
the time and supposed everyone else
thought just as l did, or else they
would not have been there. / might
say that our battery was at the front
from the first to the last day, and par
ticipated in thirty-one engagements.
Some may think 1 say it for brag,
but that would not make 1t 50, because
1t is a fact and there is no brag in
the simple truth. Others did as good
and many did better; we simply did
our duty to the best OF our ability and
feel proud Of our record.-C. III. Gates.