Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-05-06

fires and discussed the situation. At
| length we heard the train returning
| that had in the morning taken Sher-
man out from Ra eigh TO meet Johns
| ton. 1t was swept by our camp making
| the old woods echo and re-echo with
its putting and rushing and roaring.
We felt sure it would stop at Logan's
| headquar ers two miles toward Ra-
| leigh from our camp. If so. we
knew the result CT the conference
would be made known there, an il IA
! vorable. we cou easily hear the
noise of rejoicing across that two
| miles of space.
We listened The train began slow
| ing up. It stopped. All was still, ex-
cept for the whip-poorwi Is. And
hen.-a low, distant roll lad rumble
as of thunder far await spread and
| seemed coming nearer, till it was
plain to us that the great volume OF
sound was that of human voices. Then
it came from regiment to regiment. a /
The time nearer and louder. We could
hardly contain ourselves, yet we kept
still till We shou know the glad
truth. At length the regiment across
the ravine from US broke loose. and
we knew it would be our turn mex.
We got a good ready, when an officer
shouted, Boys, it is all settled, and
we are to march back to Raleigh in
the morning"
And then-welI, it seemed as if
bed,am had broken loose. If there
be now any expression of joy, any
noise, any racket, any caper, which we
did no employ then, it is something
invented since the War,-some new
tangled affair of which we knew no.
thing. We bui a big bonfire, and
piled on all the wood We could get;
We chased one another around the
fire and through the bushes; some of
the boys who had got into their
hunks were hauled out, and here was
an undress parade; they climbed trees
at the risk of barking their bare
shlns; they shook the branches and
made noises like squirrels, coons and
'possums; and there was such crow
ing as won startIe old chanticIeer
himself; and much more beside. When
we had fairly tired ourselves out we
rolled ourselves into our blankess
and dreamed Of home.
The next morning, April 81, we
marched back to Ra eigh There were
two small bodies Of confederate
troops still in the field, those of
Kirby Smiths west of the Mississippi
and Dick Taylor's in the state of
Mississippi Taylor surrendered a |
week la er and Smith May 26
And now our ia k was all about the
how and the when of going home. |
The general sentiment concerning the |
when Was-the sooner the better: as
to the how-any old way, but we did |
not like o march another mile With |
reference to the when our wishes !
were granted, for on the 29th, three |
days after the surrender, We started |
for Washington, 800 miles north. we
took the old familiar Foo5 and Walk |
er's inc, which did not please us very
much.
We had never been on such a |
march before. There was no enemy
to watch or care for, and no foraging
was done. The fires that had burned
everything on our former marches had
gone out and were not re-builded. We
put out no pickets at night. We JUS
pushed straight ahead for the north
for all we were worth.
Yes, that was indeed a history
making month of April, orty-tour
years ago. On he 2nd Lee evacuated
Richmond. On the 9th he surrendered
his army to Grant. On the 18th Lin
coin was assassinated. On the Goth
Johnston surrendered his army to
Sherman. On the goth Sherman's army
started for Washing on.