Year: 1868




Few hear the immortals of Lees army speak
of the retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox
Court house, the scene of that army's apothe.
sis, and the reason of that silence can be we'll
understood. knowing nothing and thinking
little about the condition of the army outside
ot their own commands, the great body ofthe
men, in their reliance upon their great com
mander, simply performed the duties imposed
upon them, suffered the agonies that neces,
sarily fell TO their lot, and met calmly the
death which ended those duties and agonies
for many, before the memorable ninth of
April.


The sufferings of the rank and file Of the
army on that occasion were mercifullv des;a,
ened by stupor, i not reckiessness. super.
induced by the peculiar hardships to which
they were subjected. The enemy, with his
overwhelming force of splendidly mounted aud
equipped cavalry, held in addition the direct
retarding his advance, compelling him to fight
while daylight lasted. and to do his marching
by night. The want of sleep, and, during the
last four days of the retreat, the entire lack of
provisions, produced in the men the mental
and physical condition | have mentioned.
Aud although after the surrender the men
and officers of the Federal army wed with
each other in their kindness, and exhibited a
desire to do everything in their power to re-
lieve the necessities of their late foes, the
destruction of a portion of their supply train
by Generals Rosser and Fitzhugh Lee, and
the detention of the balance by the awful
condition of the roads, left themselves in a
critical condition, and incapable of afording
Lees army the much needed supplies.


Great efforts were made, aad successful, to
complete, as soon as possible, the paroling of
the men, IN order that they might be dis.
persed from place where there was no sus.
tenance of any description for man or beast.
Among the first commands ready to leave
were the first and second Louisiana brigades.
then commanded by Colonel Waggaman. and
with them portions of the Washington Artil-
lery, Louisiana Guard Battery, and Donald
sonville Artillery, all hailing from the same
State, and naturally clustering together when
about to return once more to their dear South.
ern homes.


The condition of these men was really de.
plorable. Starved, worn out, and many of them
stricken with fever, they looked with dismay
on the dismal march through the mud t
Burkesville Station, the nearest point a
which they could expect to find transporta
ton. Colonel Waggaman and many of tn,
officers did not believe half OF them would bt
able to perform the journey, and, as dernie,
resorte, and also la some measure to inspire
the men with homes which be himeels believed
delusive, Colonel w. started the brigade cum
missary ahead to try and pick up something
for man and beast on the route which they
were travelling.


The commssary, with no more hope of sue
cess than his commanding officer, started off,
,,A fro fov
which gave no promise of supplies, being
rather dubious about the road the brigade
would travel accosted an old, gray headed
aud very ragged negro he found sitting at a
cross road and questioned him in regard tc
the route to Burkesville. The negro replied
intelligently, given him the necessary direc.
tions and tho commissary was about to ride
on, when it occurred to him that the darkey
might possibly assist him in search for some.
thing eatable. He began by asking if he
knew where he could get feed for his horse.


After q moments hesitation and a rapid
inspection of his questioner, the darkey re-
piled in the affirmative, and Immediately
led the way through gate to a small clearing
in the piney woods. Stopping in the yard OF
small shanty, he went in and got the key
of pretty good sized corn crib, which he
opened and displayed to the com missary S
envious gaze forty or ifty bushels OF the finest
corn in the ear he had ever seen, even in Vir.
ginia He took out liberal feed for the horse,
and remarked that 1.-The Yanks had spa rd
him that much" The commissary saw in his
minds eye his brigade once more eating a
"square meal, and assuming his most per-
suaSive tone, commenced


"Uncle, | have about six hundred men be-
hind here little ways, who have eaten moth
ing to speak of for five or six days. They
have thirty or forty miles to travel on foot,
and they will never be able to make the tip in
their present condition. Could you not let
them have a couple of ears of corn apiece,
and save their lives p


Darkey.-"Is they Southern soldiers ?"


Commissary.-"Yes."


Darkey.-"Well, l reckon, young master,
they's the last I'll ever see. You just tell
them to come along and take what they
want" And having said this, the poor old
fellow sat down on stone and cried like a
child.


| In an hour or so the troops came along and
were marched up in single file to the corn
crib and given two ears apiece. The old
darkey, in the meantime had knocked in the
head of barrel of sorghum molasses, and
nearly every man got tin cupful There
were few cases of collie that night among
those who were not fortunate enough to gel
any sorghum, but that did not lessen the
gratitude of the men for the last Confederate
ration issued to the louisiana troops in Vir
ginia.