The Washington herald., 1914-10-17

ne washington Herald-D
recruits that he accompanied from Bos-
ton to Petersburg as the most villain
Gus looking set OF men ever saw" The
character Of the men may be Judged" he
continued" from the fact that Of 100
sent to the Ninth Maine, one-half had
deserted within sixty days. and many
OF them to the enemy"
Gen. Bushrod r. Johnston. command
ing one section OF the Confederate lines.
makes frequent mention in his Official
reports Of deserters from the Fifth New
Hampshire Regiment, fully twenty-nine
Of them being recorded in a space of
nine days early in October.
It may be safely said OF the great num-
Der OF Federal deserters that the rank
and file OF the men were glad to get rid
Of them, and that they were of little use
TO the Confederates and only served to
eat up their limited provisions. There
was no feeling save contempt for them
on either side OF the lines. and pleasant
relations existed among the bulk Of the
combatants.
Beef: Beefp'
There were so many desertions on the
Confederate side that orders were issued
prohibiting any intercourse between pick
cts, and commanding that a steady
fire be maintained upon the enemy at all
times. For the most part. these were
little observed by the Confederates.
unless some prominent commander was
on the scene. When such was the case,
a Confederate fusiIlade was always pre-
ceeded by q warning to the Federals to
keep under cover.
II Is noted In the history Of the Corn
Exchange Regiment that, on one occa-
sion. when the Confederates opened fire
at night in belief that the Union army
was Withdrawing from the trenches, the
Southerners were profuse in their apollo
gies when they found that they had dis
turbed the Federars sleep without cause
Between the Confederates and members
of the Federal Ninth Corps there was.
however, considerable animosity. This
was due. 1t Is said, to the fact that there
was body of negro troops attached to
that corps. It was due more likely to
TO the close proximity OF the Confeder-
ate and Federal lines along the Ninth
Corps front. and a consequent fear Of
surprise on both sides. The firing there
was especially heavy, always so at night
and frequently during the day. There
were of course some periods OF inaction.
but the long truces that existed in other
parts OF the works were not found in
that quarter.
The men Of both sides found diversion
constant cry Of the Confederates was
Beef beef"' with reference to a sue
cessful raid by Gen. Wade Hampton.
which had been the means of providing
a supply of beef for Petersburg's de-
tenders.
Hampton, who commanded Gen. Lees
cavalry, had circled to the rear Of the
Federals, and attacking them near Syca-
more Church on Sept. 1s. had forced his
way to Coggins Point, on the James.
scarcely five miles downstream from
Grants headquarters at City Point. and
made on with a herd OF 24sS beef cattle
that had been grazing there. He had
regained the Confederate lines before
the Federals had recovered fTom the
surprise.
This welcome supply Of eatables had
greatly raised the spirit Of the Confed-
crates. and they lost no opportunity to
remind the Federals OF the exploit But
the boys in blue were quick to retort,
Until It became a pastime to see whether
the Confederates could make more noise
shouting beef" than could the Federals
crying out Atlanta. Atlanta
Copyright. lsl4)
T0morrOw.--shcrId army be-
hind Cedar Creek.