Year: 1863

ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.


ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, Nov. 5, '63.
Burns ''chill November's surly plasts
do not blow in Tennessee. Inc louItn o!
November. and as soft and bright as May
The birds vet sing, the flowers still live
! saw fresh boquet an hour ago, that
grew in the open air: 'the last rose of
summer has not told down its final debt
in withered leaves.


In vividness and variety, the autumnal
colorinps of Southern woods far surpass
our own. 1t may be that the keen shafts
of green thrust up here and there, serve to
''set off, "the coat of many colors." You
can see the cones of hills that burn like
strange and wonderful gems, and would
put out the light in Sinbad's Valley of Dia-
monds; great trees whose entire foliage re-
sembles a single crimson or golden flower,
so evenly and wonderfully are the tints
laid on, and all you can think of, as you
look is not trunk of a tree bearing up its
crown of painted leaves, but a stem light
ly lifting its one ma iestic blossom up be-
fore the Lord. ! saw such trees and woods,
touched and set on fire by the sinking sun,
last night. ] had read in an old volume of
the Burning Bush, but l never saw it until
them How they did kindle and flash up,
as Day walked along the tops of the forest
to his chamber! / believe that if ever /
shall have to take up blind Milton's "but
not to ME- returns day nor the sweet ap-
proach of even or MORN" that scene will
come back to me again and again-one of
the brightest and loyeliest pictures in
memory. 1 pray ''all practical men
and women to pardon me for strewing the
threshold of this letter pretty broadly with
such trifies as leaves and flowers. But l
cannot help thinking, with another, that
the Lord loves to look at them HIMSELF
Would any body have liked it better do
tnl- h,l T fol- 7 pol
leaves as early as September, more richly
colored than any saw last night-costing
far more than the dye of Tyre? Leaves
splashed with Federal blood.


But here is q little story of something
that came out of the leaves on that Sunday,
whence, as from first meridian, they yet
reckon at Chattanooga. | had it in mind
to tell a dozen letter ago, but it has slipped
out of sight till now. At one time there
was a lull in the battle; at least it had
gone shattering and laundering down the
line, and the boys were as much 'at ease"
as boys can be, upon whom, any moment,
the storm may roll back again. To be sure,
occasional shots, and now and then a COM
etary shell, kept them alive, but one of the
boys ran down to little spring, and to-
ward the woods where the enemy lay, for
water. He had just stopped and swung
down his canteen, when ttch-a rifle ball
struck it at an angle and bounded way.





nobody, thought it a chance shot-a piece
of lead, you know, that goes at killing
rate without any malice prepense-and SO,
nowise intirm OF purpose, he again bent to
get the water. Ping-a second bullet cut
the cord of his canteen and the boy 'got
the idea;' sharpshooter was after him,
and he went to the right about and double
quick to the ranks. A soldier from anoth-
er part of the line made a pilgrimage to the
spring, was struck, and fell by its brink
But where was the marksman? Two or
three boys ran out, to draw his fire, while
others watched. Crack went the piece
again, and some keen-eyed fellow spied
puff Of smoke rolling out from little
cedar. That was the spot, then; the rebel
had made him hawks nest-in choice In
dian. a Chattanooga, in the tree, and draw
ing the green covert close around him, was
taking quiet hand at ''steeple shooting
at long range.


A big, blue-eyed German, tall enough to
look over into the third generation, and a
sharpshooter withal, volunteered to dis
lodge him. Dropping into little run
away, that neared the tree diagonally, he
turned upon his back and worked
himself cautiously along; reaching a
point perilously close, he whipped over,
took aim as he lay, and God and his true
right hand "gave him good deliverance.' p
Away flew the bullet; an instant elapsed,
the volume of the cedar parted, and "ike
a big frog" as the boys described it, out
leaped gray back; the hawks nest was
empty, and a dead rebel lay under the tree.
1t was neatly done of the German grown.
May he live to tell the story a thousand
times to his me on faced grandchildren.


The "idea'' that the first boy at the
spring got might be pleasanter; when
the notion that somebody is making a tar
get of you creeps with its chilly feet slowly
up your back, you can hardly help shrink
ing into yourself just a little, though you
may not be quite ready to own it. l recall
in this connection an incident derived from
the Division Surgeon, who played part in
1T. he was riding across field where the
battle had ragged iercely, but Just swept on,
and was making his way slowly across the
drifts of friends and foes-the blue and the
gray together-when wounded Federal
soldier asked for water. The surgeon gave
him the draft, when a voice from gray
heap near by said. won't you give n
one, too, doctors" Certainly will.'' and
he was just raising the rebel and bringing
round the canteen slung under his arm ia
put it to his lips when a cannon shot from
a rebel battery struck the earth on one
side: q second bounded by on the other
The man looked up in the surgeons face
with a half smile, a am afraid they mean
us. Doctor At that instant a third shot
hn the target, and a headless trunk fell
from the supporting arm. There was an.
other dead rebel. VI truth they di0
"mean us" and the surgeon hastenet
away.


Shell are queerly behaved things, Otter
harmless against all probabilities, ant
when you would think they must be dead
ly, only patching thunder. If a shel
passes you by only few feet before i
bursts, you are pretty sure to be good TO
the next one that comes, since each frag
ment takes away its share OF the motion
oni uiac m, shall shows SymDlOmS q
"making landing just in front OF you
your best route would seem to be towar'
and past the shell, but how rapidly on
could run in that direction have no mean
of knowing, having never seen the maj
that tried it. solid shot is the most de
ceptive of projectiles. 1t may seem to NOV
lazily, to be almost dead, but so long as i
moves at all beware of it. Just before tn
battle an artilleryman received his dis
oharge for disability, but delaying, toI