Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-07-02
Third Letter.

being on General Bennett Young's
staff, and an old schoolmate of Adjutant
General Mickle. l had seat on the
patform. One of the ushers wanted
to make Sallie take back seat, but l
went to Mickle and told him that Gen.
eral John B. Gordon had said that any
lady who had married an old Veteran
and shared his fortune for 40 or SO
years was entitled to be called a "Vet-
eraness" and that my wife was with
me and was entitled to a seat on the
platform; he agreed with me and had
her to come forward and be seated with
the "other Veterans" and with the ex
ception of Mrs. Stuart, widow of Gen.
eral j. E. B. Stuart, she was, | be-
lieve, the, only Veteraness at the reun-
ion. If General Mickle had not done
this would have appealed to the con-
vention, for Sallie, like her old Vete-
ran, has never vet taken back seat.
Friday morning the convention was
over; it was bright day and, by ap-
pointment, I called on the general agent
of the Union Central Life Insurance
Company, a Mr.. Tuck, and here l
found another old fashioned Virginia
gentleman. although he had only met
me once or twice at our agents reun-
ion in Cincinnati, he could not do too
much for US. He had heard that l
wanted to visit Petersburg and at once
got an auto, had US to get in, and drove
up to his house where we were Joined
by his elegant wife and another splen-
did Virginia lady, Mrs. Green, (then
visiting them) and then put out to his
toric old Petersburg some 20 miles
away. The roads were fine, the COM
panions excellent, and we had a merry
time. | spent the winter of '64 at Pet
ersburg and it had peculiar interest
for me. Driving through the old city
we went some 21a miles out to the old
crater. Reaching the gate to the en-
closure and paying the admittance fare
of rs cents each to the young lady gate
keeper. we entered the grounds and
with barred heads once again, after so
years. stood m this cnnsecrasad place,
jwhere nothing but the gallantry of our
division, led by General Malone. frustrat-
ed the well laid plans of General Grant
and saved Lees army from irretriev-
able disaster. General Grant in his
memoirs tells that he had a regiment
of Pennsylvania miners who said they
could start in ravine some two or
three hundred yards from our line and
undermine battery of our artillery,
which held this fort, supported by a
gallant South Carolina brigade; Grant
gave his consent and at it they went.
Looking at it now cannot see why we
did not find out what they were up to-;
although the South Carolina boys re-
ported they heard noises under them
and did dig holes in the ground to try
to find out what it all meant; they did
not go deep enough and finally the mine
was finished. A great number of bar
rels of powder were rolled in, placed
directly under the battery and General
Grant himself massed his divisions and
prepared for the attack. He tells that
after the fuse was lighted the mine
was not exploded; after waiting some
time federal soldier volunteered to go
in and if necessary to relight the fuse.
wish l knew his name, for it was a
very brave act, indeed. This soldier
found that the fuse had gone out so he
,relit it and soon the mine exploded.
General Grants forces, led by brigade
of negro troops, rushed over and oc-
cupyed the broken line. Of course
this explosion sent our men and guns
skyward and demoralized for time a
good portion of our line; l can't see
why, with this line broken and the fed
erals in full possession, they could
not have swept down our line on each
side of the crater and have ruined eur
army. However, the old Confeds were
equal to the occasion and soon rallied
after hard fight and drove them into
the crater and killed them by the
thousands. picked up splendid yam
kee hat that morning and to show the
vicissitudes of war that even hat
was subjected to--that morning the
hat covered the head of Federal SOL
dier. while that evening in an election
which we held for third lieutenant, Nat
Smith being elected, my yankee hat
was the ballot box. We used it as it
was the only hat in the company that
would hold ballot. The crater is still
n large hole in the ground but OF
course it has filled up great deal and
great trees have grown up in it. We
vent over to where the yankees COM
menced the mine and could trace quite
Mainly by the old trench the route they
took The state of Pennsylvania has
erected beautiful monument to the
brave regiment which conceived this
nlsu and died trying to execute it.