The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-12-25
TALES OF
VICKsBURG LIVED IN CAVES.


In Harper's, William W. Lord tells
Of the time when, during the siege Of
Vicksburg, his family and many 9TH
ers fed for refuge to caves outside
the city:
ITO me, at first, before the novelty
Of it all wore off, this gnomelike life
was the Arabian Nights made real.
Ali Baba's forty thieves and the genii
of the ring and lamp lurked in the
unexplored regions of the dimly light
ed caves; and the sound of guitar
here, hymn there, and a negro mel
ody somewhere else, all coming to US
from among swaying Oriental draper
les, sent me off at night to fairyland
on the magic rug Of Bagdad, which is
a part of every well-trained boys
dream equipment. But squalling in
fants, family quarrels, and the noise
of general discord were heard at in
tervalS with equal distinctness.
These discomforts, supplemented
by the odor of stale food in the heavy,
earth-laden atmosphere of the over
crowded caves, so offended my moth
er's sensibilities that, persuaded by
her, my father caused private cave
for the exclusive use of his own fam
lily to be constructed in one of the
hills behind the Military Hospital.
Here, under the shadow of the yellow
hospital flag which, antedating that
of the Red Cross Society, was held
sacred by all gunners in modern war
fare, it was believed We should be
comparatively safe.
There were matters even more
serious than my mothers sensibili-
ties to impel my father to remove his
father to new and safer quarters.
From the mortar guns of the besieg-
ing fleet were thrown bombshells
weighing three hundred pounds and
as large around as the head of a -four
barrel, which in exploding often tore
open hole in the ground as deep
and wide as the cellar of cottage.
"One of these bombshe,.r, falling
upon the summit of the hill contain
ing our group of caves, detached a
great mass of crumbling earth from
one side of the roof of the main gal
lery at it's central point. In its fall
this mass crushed young woman
to the floor of the cave, and she would
undoubtedly have been killed had it
not been for the heroism of visiting
artilleryman. This brave fellow
broke the force of the falling earth
by throwing himself forward and
with his shoulder diverting it slightly
in its course.
Another incident awakened all
my mothers fears for the safety of
her little brood. During one of the
intervals between bombardments the
mother of charming boy about three
years old sat watching him at play
near the entrance to the caves, when
suddenly and furiously the fleet again
opened fire upon the city. Amid the
booming of guns and the screaming
of Parrott shells the startled mother
ran from the shelter of the cave 70
bring into safety her baby boy. But
the child, grown accustomed to the
jound of the guns, knew no fear.
Playing in the sunshine among the
few struggling daisies along the road
side, he danced like a butterfly from
point 20 point and laughed at his
mothers vain attempts to catch and
hold him, while in blissful ignorance
he played tag with death. With a
sudden rush the frantic mother
caught him with one hand, but,
screaming with delight at his escape,
he broke away and fell sprawling
near by upon the grass. In that very
instant shell exploded where he had
stood a moment before, and 1t shat
tered his mothers outstretched arm
and hand. This woman refused to
call the loss of her hand and arm a
misfortune, because, as she explained,
if she had retained her hold upon the
child he surely would have been
killed"