The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1958-08-07
"Betore the Battle, Mother"

This intimate and open hearted ac-
count of the ten-days' stretch he put
in in the Yankee army during the
Civil War was related by Buchanan
Read, Cincinnati writer, after the war
clouds had rolled away and he was
sent back home. Read had vol
unteered in the local militia.
The occasion was the threat of in
vasion by Kirby Smiths rebel caval-
ry in September, 1862, = the siege
of Cincinnati that never came.
''The cheerful alacrity with which
the people rose en- masse to swell the
ranks and crowd into the trenches
was a sight worth seeing sudden
illness overlook some; others were
hunted by armed men with fixed bay
onets; ferreted from back kitchens,
garrets and cellars, closets and even
from under bed where they were
hiding. One was found in his wife's
clothes, scrubbing at the wash tub.
Ion the morning the city was put
under martial law I found the streets
full of armed police in army blue and
all without respect to age compelled
to report at the headquarters of their
respective districts for enrolment. 1t
was perilous to walk the streets with
out a pass - at every corner stood
a sentinel.
Three hours past midnight, from
a signal tower three blocks east of
us a rocket suddenly shot high into
the air; then the fire-bell pealed an
alarm and all was again quiet Came
the shout, Kirby Smith is advancing
on the city! The military are to mus
ter on the landing and cross the riv-
er at sunrise That was all. Six
o'clock struck as l entered my own
door to make preparations for my
departure. The good woman was up.
The four little innocents two of
kind - were asleep in the bliss of
ignorance, happy in quiet slumber.
In a few moments 1 was ready fou
the campaign - the provisions, h
heavy blanket-shawl, a few good e.
gars, a haversack loaded with eatS
ables, and black bottle of medici-
nal liquid, cherry bounce, very choice.
Back at school 1 never had fought
hY1f xE,onYo II bod RI oYo1 clnxxy
anything larger than a cat that
scratched me. was like Uncle Toby
with the fly - GO, poor devil, the
world is big enough for both of u.s.
IT am sof:-hearted and every time
I ever hurt anything l generally sat
down and cried. To pit my valuable
life against one of those low Southern
whites - half animals, fierce as by
enas, degraded as serfs appeared
a manifest incongruity. It never
seemed so plain before. 1t was tack
ling the beast in the only point where
he was strong.
Some things were revealed to me
ny lIllS SOluISI IllG - lIlG dldIIIllIIS
runors current; the restraint on ones
liberty imprisoned within the lines of
regiment; the sensation of being
ordered around by small men in high
places and not admirable in any;
the waste of war, piles of bread wa
ter-soaked by rain into worthless
pulp; the scores of men sleeping on
heaps of straw; the Importance of an
officers horse beyond that of a COM
mon soldier - the refusal of hay on
which to sleep because the coloneps
beast wanted it. Didn't our good
mother earth furnish a bed?
I'VE had some odd characters. Our
fifer had been in the British army
and had seen service in Afghanistan,
the other side of the globe. A Ger
man lieutenant had seen service at
Shiloh. He was imaginative and al
ways worrying about a night attack.
One night, as officer of the guard,
he said he saw crouching in the ra-
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