The Washington herald., 1914-11-08

ing to Gen. FORESTS report, he had 4ooo
The confedsrafes had no proper means
OF crossing 3 river - Wide and deep as
the Tennessee. 50 sitter seeing Johnson
Vile IN flames Forrest continued his
station, In North Alabama. on Noyember
Is. and Joined the main Confederate army.
under Gen. Hood. at Florence, Ala. the
next day.
Z Sherman was exaggerated at the loss
os supplies and vessels at Johnsonville.
That devil Forrest was down about
Johnsonville and was making havoc
among the gunboats and transports" he
wrote to Grant on November G.
The. diversion gave Gen. Hood time to
get up supplies for his army at Florence.
which was shortly to enter Tennessse.
Fifty years ago today the Confederates
made q night attack on the Federal
picket line in front OF Fort Hasca1l at
Petersburg. and bagged thirty-two men
before they were brought TO 8, halt.
The AFFAIR was one OF the many iuci-
dents that served to enliven the routine
Of service in the trenches in front Of the
beleaguered city. The armies OF Grant
and Lee had been facing each other there
since mid-June. and in that time neither
had made any decided gain Of ground.
G1CE al anu SOuAC0GE1NC NOAA1 NV
were close together, and sharpshooters on
both sides ordinarily made II impossible
for man on either side to show his
body above the protecting earth embank-
Tnents without grave danger. So ''YGnk :
and ''Reb" alike stuck closely to the
trenches, and. except ct night or during
self-arranged truces between the pickets.
took care to keep out Of night.
Now and then the men ventured to
take chance shot at the enemy. but
the greater part OF the time was taken up
in playing cards. reading the various
New York papers that drifted into the
camps, cooking meals under 6ifiicult cir
cumstances, smoking or fiinging taunts
at the men in the opposite esrthworks.
Rush Costs Fourteen Lives.
The Confederates in front OF Fort Has
call, which was held by part Of the Sec
ond Corps, under Gen w. S. Hancock,
determined to make q rush upon the Fed
eral picket line in the night. About 200
men were told on for the work.
Shortly before midnight they crept out
from their trenches, stole noiselessly
across the Intervening space, and threw
themselves upon the Federals without
warning. Before the Union outposts had
time to fall back upon the inner lines
thirty-two Of them were captured.
Then the invaders attempted to hold
the rife pits they had taken. but they
were subjected to such q hot fire that. at
daybreak, they retired to their own lines,
having lost about fourteen men killed
and a large number wounded The AFFAIR
was not Of any great Importance, save
that it made the pickets on both sides
more watehful for many q night there
after and served as a subject for con-
Yersation for the men IN the trenches
The life OF the common soldier was in
the siege of Petersburg not at best an
easy one, but nearly every man preferred
the excitement Of battle or the expect
ancy or toll Of a march to the wearing
inactivity of life in the trenches during
"a siege. As the soldiers on both sides
were companions in misery they were not
slow to fraternize and do what they
might to make life more bearable.
In. the summer months the weather had
been extremely dry, and both armies had
suffered greatly from lack Of water.
Though there had been some rain in Oc-
-tobef, the country was, on the whole,
still unwatered, and the wells that the
soldiers had dug along The lies were yet
eallec .Ipcn TO do service.
Captured by His Comrades.
An interesting story was told by a
member of the Richmond HowitZer Bat
TALON, a Confederate organization. about
one Of his conn AIDES who went TO get
water. The man was not mentally bal
anCed. On one occasion, when sent on
with load of canteens he returned
with them filed in q short time. He was
questioned as to where he had got the
water in such a short time, and replied,
''0ver yonder in the woods" pointing to
the Federal line. His comrades finally
managed to extract the information that
he had gone to a spring inside the Fed
eral works. The Confederate wore an
old blue blouse, q Federal cap. and a
pair of nondescript trousers, and had been
mistaken by the enemy for one Of their
own men.
At the spring he had got into an alter
cation with one of the Federals as to
who should I'LL his canteens first. The
affair had ended in a fist fight, in which
the Confederate had come on second best.
However, he filed up his canteens and
returned to his own lines, no one knew
how. ...
Later on the same day the boys" sent
him back to get more water at the same
spring, and as he did not appear for some
hours they supposed he had been cap
tured. But he was brought into camp
that night. 1t appeared that just as he
reached the spring the Confederates
charged and captured q body Of Fed
erals in that quarter. Supposing the half
witted fellow to be one of the enemy. he
was included In a batch Of prisoners to
be sent OF to the rear. He made no OBJ
lection, and was actually on his way to
prison when he was recognized and res
cued by one of the men of the Howitzer
Battalion.