Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-07-23
Civil War Stories
.Murfreesboro.

| tACApoAII Sl1lhSS LIE as the IQOSC SlnSu-
lar, in more respects than one There
/ were one or two circumstances con-
nected with and Immediately proceed
ing the battle which have ever been to
me mysterious puzzle, and which
never could account for except upon
the hypothesis that the commander of
the Federal right was a laundering in
| competent, and went to sleep at a
| time when he should have been on the
alert.
Hardee's corps Ito which my regi-
| ment, the First Arkansas, was attach
| ed, on the 3Oth of December 1852, oc-
cupied a position on the extreme right
| of the Confederate army Bragg, on
that day, came to the determination
to deliver battle on the following morn
Ing, and fixed on Hardee's corps as the
force which should bring on the en-
gagement. In pursuance Of that plan
we were transferred, on the evening
of the 3Oth, to the extreme left Of
the army. 1t was past midnight be-
fore the movement was fully accom-
fields less than half a mile from the
Federal line. The night was frosty
and crisp, and we built great fires Of
dry fence rails. There was over a mile
of those bright, blazing fires. They IL
Illuminated the whole country for a
great distance, and the glare was re-
Elected high up in the heavens. On
the morning Of the 31st, just as the
first faint streaks of dawn began to
show themselves above the eastern
horizon, the reveille was sounded, and
the men fell into line like puppets,
moved by common spring. AS far
as the eye could reach to the right and
to the left there stretched an unbroken
line Of glittering bayonets. In front
of us, at the distance af about 500
yards, was high rail fence, stretching
across the bare ana level stubble-fields
for probably mile. Just beyond this
fence, and sk1rting it for it's entire
length, doomed up dense cedar forest.
Nestled amid these woods, apparently
little dreaming Of the close proximity
and there was probably not a man of
the Confederate forces but expected
that we would in a few minutes be en-
gagged in deadly strife with these hosts.
At about the hour the sunbeams be-
gan to CLINT the tops Of the tallest
forward, and Immediately following
the whole Confederate line was in mo-
ton. When the worm fence was reach
ed it went down before the solid hui
man wall with crash, as If smote by
the wand Of a magician. Not until
this point was reached did the Skin
miSherS fire a shot. There a few
pickets were encountered, and proba-
bly, not more than fifty shots were
fired before we were in the very midst
OF the Federal camp In advance of
us the woods were full Of the enemy,
fleeing in disorder. The pursuit was
kept up for three miles, and but for
the intrepid and coolheaded Phil Sher-
idan the day would probably have wit
messed the most disastrous defeat the
Union arms sustained in the sanguin-
airy four years war. Every student of
war history knows how the gallant
Phil brought order out Of chaos, check
ed the onset of Hardee's corps, and
saved the day.
Now, the mysterious and unaccount-
able feature of that episode is, why
did the Federal force on the right al
n Mo i'm
mediately in their front, within rife
shot, build bright fires that could be
seen for miles, bivouac there unmo-
Tested all night, fall into line the next
morning, advance upon them in battle
array, capture their camp and baggage
and put them to fight without their
offering so much resistance as the fir
ing of a single gun? This question
has time and again presented itself to
my mind, and the more I think of it
the more difficult to answer it becomes.
-Arkansaw Traveller.
Old John.
John was a noble clay-bank horse, Of
the Copperbottom stock. He was
bought by my step-father, physician,
when a colt, and had been raised by
him, and being an intelligent animal,
I had taught him many tricks.
The war coming on, I'VE boys" vol
unteered in the Confederate army.
The darkies took French leave, so my
step-father had to tend this horse him
self. Our house fronted on the main
street, and the lot ran back to an al
ley upon which was the stable My
step-father, when he had professional
call in the country, to save time, would
bring John through the back and front
yard and out the front gate, and the
same also in returning.
The ''non-conscript" act let me out
of the Virginian army, and l returned
to my home-Alexandria, Tennessee.
The Yankees being unpleasantly nu-
merous there, I persuaded my step
father to let me take John and join