The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-12-27
"REMINISCENCES
XVII


grippe" having become things of the
past-at least the first two. and I
hope the last will be good enough to
let me be immune for the remaining
part of the winter have now con-
Guided to resume my recollections of
various scenes and incidents now long
gone by. l ended my last article
where Beauregard's forces had disas-
trously defeated Buffers army and
driven it back pell-mell to Bermuda
Hundred and there, as General Grant
said, had bottled him up. 1t is my
purpose now to tell you how the cork
was put in the bottle, and then leave
off battles and blood and sitting sui
phurous smoke, rafting, crashing
nusketry and thunderous roar of red
artillery, and give you readers some
thing more pleasant and agreeable in
the remaining portion of this number.
Now let's put the cork in the bot
tie and get down to matters more
pleasant to read and more cheering to
think about. Of course, not hearing,
or Of General Whiting, General Beau
regard pushed his forces right along
upon the heels of the fleeing federals
until they reached their base at Ber-
muda Hundred, and then it became
necessary to establish a line of the
Confederates so as to keep Butler and
his army in the. bottle. Now, near
Ware Bottom Church there was a
road that both sides wanted to hold
and control. General Hagood was
ordered to establish the Confederate
line and to bring this road inside of
our territory. He ordered out a
strong skirmish line from his brigade
and placed Captain Izlar, of the Eds
to Rifles in command of it. He or
dered Captain Izlar to move forward
and if he found the enemy in possession
of the road to drive him across to the
other side until he found a suitable To-
cation and then establish a strong
picket force and that his brigade
would keep in touch with him and send
him assistance if he found he needed
it. Captain Izlar moved forward &C
cording to instructions and did find
the enemy in possession of the road
and with strong skirmish line on our
side of it. The firing soon began and
ha@
ed. Captain Izlar and his skirmish-
ers did not pause or waiver but press
ed vigorously on driving the enemy
before them until they gained the
road and considerable territory beyond
it. The Federal commander however,
hearing the heavy firing going on out
on his advanced posts and finding out
what we were after, sent large body
of re-enforcements to his men and be-
fore we had chosen the best place to
locate our line, made strong and
vigorous counter attack on US and
slowly forced US back across the road
and got possession of it. Captain IL
lar had promptly notified General Ha-
good of what was being done by the
enemy and the general quickly sent a
considerable body of requirements
to Captain Izlar. They did not reach
US however, until after the enemy had
crossed the road and had it again in
his possession. Captain Izlar how
ever, lost no time and as soon as our
re-enforcements arrived he readjusted
his line of skirmishers and immediate
ly drove counter attack upon the en-
emy's lines and forced them step by
step back across the road, and and on
until they broke in confusion and rap
idly retired, and Captain Izlar estab-
lished his line as at first instructed
and firmly held it. Then the main
body of our troops came up and es-
tablished line of entertainments with
the road in our possession. And so
the cork was put into the neck of the
bottle.
The heaviest and severest firing
ever heard on a skirmish line during
the whole war, took place on this
same occasion of bottling up Butler.
There were of course, quite number
of killed and wounded on both sides,
but the enemy's loss was considerably
more than our. So far as the Edisto
Rifles were concerned providence
seemed to favor US after our heavy
losses at Drewry's Bluff the day be-
fore, and we got through the skirmish
at Ware Bottom with only one man
wounded and he not severely. Cap
tain Izlar's coat was perforated by
two minnie balls and his cap with
one, but in some marvellous way no
real harm was done although one bull
let left it's trace across his left side
in a scarlet mark about three quar-
tiers of an inch wide and three inches
long.
A remarkable incident of this Skin
mish, and one that perhaps never oc
cured on any other battlefield was
this: During the time that the firing
was at it's hottest, a large, fine buck
was aroused from his lair and came
rushing along at his best speed in the
rear of our line of skirmishers, and
our boys could not resist that mate
feeling of the true southern sports
men and so for the moment forgot