The herald., 1916-05-04
The Pity Of 1t
BY NJ QUAD

just al even hundred men answered
Here aS the sergeant called the roll
on the morning we awukc beside the
Potomac. There was an even hundred
as We marched away-as we took our
first turn at pickct-as we first sighted
the enemy. as We went into battle for
the first time. After the roar of guns
had died away and the dead had been
buried, only eighty-uine men answered
Here" TO the Scrgcaut's roll call in
tn" morning.
\ few weeks went 10y, and we stood
shoulder 10 shoulder IN battle line
again, and when the sergeant called
the roll, now only sevcnty-cight men
answered Here"
Then came Cold Ilarbor and the fan
ing back TO Malvern hill Cannon
doomed and musketry cracked all day
long and far into the night Wounded
men cursed and groancd as they limp
cd away or fell hclpless-mcn pitched
forward with but a single cry and
died with their faces hidden in the
weeds and grass. After Malvern Hill
the sergeant called the roll ag-in-uot
the same sergeant as before. for he
was lying dead In the thickets at Fair
OakS-and this time only ffty-two men
answered Here"
And 50 could you wonder that when
recruits came down TO us We looked
upon them as itrudcrS, even though
they We're good men and true. and
had come 10 help Us win victories:
Their names were called with ours.
and we heard them answer Here
But they We're only with us: they
could not he Of us. They had come
too late.
And at last came AppomattoX and
the surrender and then peace and the
return TO Washington We were al
most Il full company again as we turn
ed out-om the meadows of Arlington
for the last roll call. Upward of sev-
cnty living men could have answered
here" 10 their names.
Fall in. company G. Attention TO
roll cali
Ii was not the sergeant who had
rallied the roll after Fredericksburg,
after Charlottesville. after GcttyS
burg. Ii was a new man-one who had
been promoted before his cheeks had
scarcely been burned 10y the southern
sun. But he had heard of the ties
v hich bound the Old veterans together
he realized what this last roll call
meant 10 the survivors. And from the
musty archives of the past he took the
roll of the dead and called
"AnsOn. Armstrong, Armitage" No
one replied.
Berry. BlOomingdale. Benson. Bar
ston. Benham" No one replied.
Cary. Carter, Carnahan, Cummings
COmstock" No one replied.
And so he called, and 50 the silence
of the death roll grew deeper
Young. Yeomans, Wager" No one
replied.
York"
Here"
And SO he of all was the sole surviv-
or, the last living man of company G.
the only one who had right TO stand
there i'm that line and answer to the
last roll call. The others ninety and
nine-were crippled at home or sleep
ing their last sleep on the hillsides, in
the valleys. in the forests and the
thiCketS of Virginia.
The line chcered him as he stood
apart. the last survivor of glorious
band which had fought in dozen bat
ties. but he turned his head away and
wept.
Perhaps no act of war enCendeTed
more bitterness than the burning of
the barns and houses in the Shenan-
doah valley under Sheridans official
order
No warning was given unless the
great clouds of smoke rising up here
and there to signify destruction were
taken as warnings OF what was to
come. \ squad of men galloped up,
the women and children were told the
substance of the order. and the match
was applied. An hour later they sat
on the grass houseleSs and homeless.
some of them naked and dumb I'm te:
ror There were tears and prayers
and pleadings. but the order had gone
forth.
BY and'by, rs we rode up to a quaint
old farmhouse. half hidden among the
fruit trees. rifle cracked and troop
er. shot through the head. fell off his
horse. The black pillars OF smoke dot
ting the valley had told the people
what was coming. Here was one de-
termined to protect his prOperty-one
man 'gainSt company after company
riding up and down and across. Ten
minutes later the barn and the stacks
were on fire and men under cover were
keeping up a hot fire on the rife pit.
Just as another squad. attracted by
the firing. came up a second man was
hit and grievously wounded.
There was no more firing from the
pit Some of the scores OF bullets
fired into it must have found target
There was n rush from all sides and
the pit was captured. Fifty men had
captured one. And that one? Ii was
a lad not n day over fourteen. and one
of our carbine bullets had taken his
life. And when we laid him on the
grass and saw that he had come home
y-oun1o1 frorn Sonp hattie mn the val