The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-27
"REMINISCENCES
KY.

XIV.
Editor Star: At the conclusion Of
my last number left you at the grave
Darden's war-horse, and am going TO |
say now what | had in mind then, but
the article had reached its length and |
I held back until now. | have always
had profound respect and admira-
ton for any one who has heart big
and tender enough to be touched by
the loss of a dumb but faithful ami
NAL. 1t was only rough board it is
true, and Darden's carving was crude,
but by these he expressed more gen
uine heartfelt sorrow and deeper
feeling of regret than is often felt by
those erecting elaborate and costly
stone and marble shafts in memory
Of departed relatives-and the lines
Darden laboriously cut came nearer
recording the true virtues and char
acteristics of the deceased than many
of the epitaphs carved into numbers
of these same marble gravestones. /
said, too, that / saw this few days
after the fight at Walthall Junction
and of that fight | wish to state few
facts which may not be learned from
the current histories, for nearly or
quite all of these that I have exam
ined are more or less partisan. Ha-
goods. brigade, of which our regi
ment, the 25th or Eutaw was part,
was on its way to Richmond to join
Gen. r. E. Lees army facing General
Grant. The first section composed of
part of the 21st S. G. v. and one bat
talon of our regiment had just reach
cd Petersburg when we were hurried
ly ordered to Walthall Junction, which
was about six or seven miles from
Petersburg on the road to Richmond,
and our train hauled out without de-
lay and rushed to Walthall. Col. r.
F. Graham of the 21st regiment, be-
ing ranking officer present, was in
command. When we reached the
junction the federal forces were in
sight and not more than half mile
away. AS soon as the train stopped
we hustled out of the freight box
cars that we were packed in (none of
your nice Pullman cars that the sol
der boys of today travel in) on the
opposite side from the enemy, and
the train backed away towards Peters
burg. We quickly formed in line,
marched across the railroad towards
the enemy about thirty yards and
made our stand in an old sunken
road-bed which made a pretty good
trench as trenches went in those
days. In the meantime the enemy
was advancing and spirited firing was
going on. This force had been sent
out by Gen. B. F. Butler known as
"Beast" Butler) to capture and cut
the railroad between Petersburg and
Richmond to prevent reinforcements
from reaching Gen. Lee. Buffers
base was at Bermuda Hundred where
he had 10000 men of all arms. The
fight at Walthall was short, sharp
and spirited, but the enemy was re-
pulsed with considerable loss, and
ours very small. The Edisto Rifles
had only one casualty, S. p. Hall be-
ing quite severely wounded. The
federal forces were commanded by a
Gen. Hickman, and in the report
made of the fight by Gen. Smith,
Hickman's corps commander, he said
that the attempt on the railroad
failed, because the enemy resisted
with unexpected strength. The place
could have been carried probably, but
|only with loss which Gen. Hickman
did not think proper to suffer for
this object and risking the probable
humiliation of his command. It is
proposed now to renew the attempt
with force that will overcome all
opposition. Gen. Hickman reports
troops brought by rail from both di-
reetions during the fight Col Dutton
and Captain Webb, who were both
present, report troops as most ably
handled, and behaving with greatest
gallantry. Gen. Hickman and both
these officers are confident that the
opposing forces consisted of veterans,
and were little, if any, inferior in
numbers, their position being one of
great strength, though not fortified y
Now, the above is the report of the
corps commander and is now on file
in the archives at Washington, and it
is from such records that historians