Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1913-07-25

rifle, it is a miracle that any one
of those brave men escaped with
life. Gen. Stuart failed to cut
through the federal calvary and
attack Mead's right. Gems. Bu-
ford and Custer kept him back.
Gen. Pleasetton gained Long
streets right and Gen. Jenkins
and Gen. Hampton's brigades
were sent to engage and drive
him back. Jenkins brigade was
dismounted, thrown forward as
sharp-shooters and Hampton's S
light cavalry engaged them on
horse, the fight lasting the entire
day, charges and counter charg-
es were frequently made, in one
OF which my faithful black horse
Mare was seriously wounded by
a piece of shell. We drove them
back and held the field at night
the dead were left on the field.
The morning of the 4th Gen.
Lee began to retire to the Poto-
mac, and it was busy time for
the cavalry until we reached Vir-
ginia soil. The old barn with
stone basement, the inconspicu-
Gus little dwelling not far from
the barn, the thin skirt of tim
ber Just beyond the barn and
residence, where the fight oc-
Cured is still intact. Another
thing that impressed me was
that Gen. Lee was unacquainted
with the topography of the
country, or else he would have
taken the Round Tops the frs t
day of the battle, the key to the
entire field. But whatever were
Gen. Lees plans, and the oppo-
sltlon of Gen. Longstreet and
others to executing them, and
Gen: Lees assuming the respon-
sibility of failure, who today
after visiting the field of battle,
unacquainted with the actual
conditions and emergencies that
existed there, can seriously CEN
sure or criticise those brave and
loyal spirits that had so often
led their troops to victory? Not
| for | cherish the same unlimit-
ed confidence, in their integrity.
loyalty and leadership as when
| followed Gen. Lees fortune to
the end at Appomattox. That
there were mistakes made is
admitted, but the loyalty and
courage of Gen. Longstreet
should never have been question
ed.
| visited the cemetery where
967 unknown heroes who sacri-
feed their lives in that internec-
inc struggle for what they be-
lieved to be just and right, and
looking back to the point where
Gen. Pickett started over the
plateau, | imagined l could hear
the thunderous roar and feel
the shaking of the earth by
those 400 pieces of artillery,
moving down those sturdy ad-
vancing columns of Pickett's as
they closed the gaps made by
shrapnel and mimic ball, press
ing forward and undaunted the
the rock wall, there to face mass
ed batteries and reinforced in
fantry and death, and there for
the first time they looked back
over that death strewn course
where thousands of their COM
rades lay wounded, dead and
dying, and when all human eff
ort had been exhausted, the few
braves that reached that fatal
wall were compelled to retreat
back over the dead, dying and
wounded comrades, tortured with
heat and thirst, with the cries
of the wounded for water on a
field as destitute of water as the
sands of the Sahara.
| could not Withhold the tears
that fell on that sacred and hal
lowed spot, where lie the mar
tyrs of cause at this remote
day acknowledged by the world
to be just and right. Oh the
cruelty, inhamanity and ungod-
illness of war. 1t is what Sher-
man said it was.
The camp of 10000 tents layed
off in city style was a beautiful
sight. Pennsylvania had 10000
soldiers there; New Yok, 10, 600;
SO, 900 federal troups encamped
on battle field fifty years after
the war more men than Lee
and Johnson surrendered. Penn
sylvania had more men than Lee
surrendered able for service, at
Appomatox. Is it any wonder
that the South was overrun and
starved into subjection?
Mr.. Editor, this letter is al
ready too long and have not
told one-half of what | would
like to write about that trip.