Page images
PDF
EPUB

nation be needed-by Major-General Ro- | obey the imperative call. He was a hus

secrans:

66

HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, April 17th, 1863. "GENERAL:-The general commanding directs me to call your attention to a flagrant outrage committed in your command, -a person having been admitted inside your lines, without a pass and in violation of orders. The case is one which calls for your personal attention, and the general commanding directs that you deal with the offending party or parties according to law.

band, and the father of a blue-eyed little girl, who had just begun to put words together. After the preparation for the camp had been made, the soldier nerved himself for the good-bye. Those present thought that the wife felt the parting less than the husband. Lively words flowed fast, and her fair face was as bright and calm as a morning in May. Her heart seemed to be full of gladness.

She cheered him with pleasant earnestness to show himself a man, and running on in a gleeful strain, admonished him not The medical director reports that an to come back if he were shot in the back. orderly-sergeant in Brigadier-General With incredible fortitude she bade her -'s division was to-day delivered of a child tell papa good-bye, and to say to baby,—which is in violation of all military him that she would not own him her father law and of the army regulations. No if he proved to be a coward. The echo such case has been known since the days of the soldier's footfall through the corriof Jupiter. dor had hardly passed away, when a ghastly palor was seen spreading over the lady's face. In a voice weak and husky she begged a friend to take her child, and before she could be supported she fell from her chair prostrate on the floor.

You will apply the proper punishment in this case, and a remedy to prevent a repetition of the act.”

For the most complete, brilliant, and authentic narrative of the war and its scenes, in the above-named department, the "Annals of the Army of the Cumberland" must be allowed to be unsurpassed. No volume which the war has called forth, does greater honor to the talents of its author, and no soldier who served in its gallant ranks can well deprive himself of such a storehouse of the annals so memorable in national and personal history. A brave army, a popular general, and a magnificent corps of officers, well deserve commemoration, such as the "Annals, by John Fitch," gives them.

By a tremendous effort the noble woman-still loyal at heart, perhaps, to the glorious flag her husband had been summoned to outrage-had controlled her feelings; but nature and conscience could bear the strain no longer, and she fainted. The swoon was deep, and it was sometime before consciousness returned. length she opened her eyes languidly, and looked around upon the sympathizing group, and in a tremulous voice inquired if she had fainted before her husband left the room. Comment is unnecessary.

A

At

Bread Cast Upon the Waters.
Southern fugitive, colored, who

Home Scene in the Cradle of Rebellion. A member of one of the Charleston, (S. C.) companies, on leave of absence in had, by good fortune, arrived in Boston,

the city, received a summons to appear at from Baltimore, was one day passing his post on Sullivan's Island, on one of the through the Doric Hall, at the State nights when the air was rife with the most House, when he recognized one of the startling rumors of the coming of an over- Massachusetts soldiers who was wounded whelming Federal fleet. With cheerful on the 10th of April, in Baltimore, and at promptitude the brave soldier prepared to once accosted him, inquiring after his

health, and asking him if he did not know erate army,) the surgeon complaisantly him. The soldier did not at first remem- told her, if she made her residence in ber his face, when the fugitive asked him Montgomery, Alabama, to select a house if he did not remember a colored man suitable for hospital purposes, as he would bringing him water to drink, and rags to do himself the favor to call upon her bind up his wounds, while he lay wounded there.

in the street. He replied that he did, and

ton Irving.

at once recognized his Good Samaritan in Soldiers' Offering at the Grave of Washingthe person of the fugitive. The peculiar circumstances of the case made the interview deeply touching. It so happened that the fugitive had a wife and two children, and when the Massachusetts soldiers fell wounded in the streets of Baltimore, the fugitive's wife tore up her clothes to make rags to stanch the flow of blood. These rags she threw out of the window in her master's house, when her husband gathered them up and carried them to the wounded soldier.

Some Massachusetts soldiers stationed at Yonkers, New York, went up the river to Tarrytown, and looked at the monument to Andre. Thence they visited the cemetery where repose the remains of the peaceful Washington Irving. A hedge is around the burial-plat. Eleven full length graves are in a row - father, mother, brothers, and sisters. One of the stones is lettered, "WASHINGTON, son of William and Sarah S. IRVING, died Nov. 29, 1859, aged 76 years, 8 months, and 25 Looking out for Hospital Accommodations. days." The soldiers laid each a bunch of Before the Federal capture of Atlanta, roses upon this grave, and a wreath of Georgia, some of the inhabitants had the oak leaves, with a written inscription, idea that no Union army would ever be "Offering of Massachusetts volunteers to able to take the city. One of these, a the memory of Washington Irving," signed lady, Mrs. Zimmerman, afterward stated by them all, and bearing the date, was that she felt perfectly secure from the placed upon the headstone. One boy rehands of the Yankees until the night of peated the "Memory of the Dead," and the evacuation, when, perfectly astonished all plucked a spray of clover from the at the change of things, she asked the grave. The graceful pen of John S. C. Confederate General, Oglesby, how she Abbott, the justly eminent writer,-to should act in order to be safe from insult. which we find this touching anecdote atHe answered," Keep your mouth shut, tributed,-might well weave into extendand they will not harm you." She acted ed detail of fascinating narration, a war upon this advice, until one of the Union incident at once so tender, exquisite, and surgeons politely informed her that her peculiarly American, in its characteristics. large, commodious mansion was needed as Pausing in the preparations for conflic: a hospital, and he would find her a smaller and blood, to lay upon the tomb of the one, which would just as well answer her best beloved of American thinkers and purpose. Her pent-up indignation now writers, the sweet, womanly tribute of a found vent in her answer that she would leaf-bound wreath, and then, shouldering prefer remaining in her own house. But again the weapons of loyalty to the Union she afterward respected the kindness re- which Irving so much loved, returning to ceived from the hands of the Union the camp! Soldiery, and while she took the benefit of Sherman's depopulating' order, and went South, that she might be near her husband, (a quartermaster in the Confed- a

General Tilghman and his Loyal Mother.

While General Tilghman was confined prisoner of war at Fort Warren,

Boston, in the spring of 1862, Mrs. | blue-coats." Thus, when General McTilghman, accompanied by her daughter, Cook, of the Federal army, arrived in the Mrs. Lowry, visited Boston and put up city, he sent up his card, with the request at the Revere House, for the purpose of that he might renew his former acquaintobtaining an interview with the General, ance with Miss McNairy. The followat the Fort. There was some difficulty ing is the pert rebuff, written on the back in obtaining the required permission, but of the card, which the lady sent the galon Saturday the mother and sister were lant soldier: allowed to visit his quarters and enjoy the interview which they desired. The first

Gen. Tilghman.

66

"Sir, I do not desire to renew my acquaintance with the invaders of my State." Two other officers whose hearts were untainted with treason to their country, visited the house of Dr. Martin, and sent up their cards to his daughter, Miss Bettie Martin, requesting the renewal of an old acquaintanceship with one whom they recalled as an elegant and accomplished lady. Repairing to the parlor, with a look of ineffable scorn and contempt, she dashed the card into their faces, and said

"Your absence, sirs, will be much better company to me than your presence."

[graphic]

General Lander and the Bible.

pleasure, the incident here narrated by the

The beautiful illustrations presented with such painstaking labor and admirable exclamation on meeting him was, " O, my taste by Prof. H. B. Hackett, of the value rebel son!" and during their conversation of religion to the soldier, are in keeping the grieved and suffering woman said: with his own high character as a Christian "When I heard you were taken, I thanked philanthropist. Everybody will read, with God that you were rescued from secession influences; and were I to hear there was any chance of your being exchanged, I would go on my knees to the President to prevent you from again joining the rebels, for I would rather have you remain here during your life than to know you were among the traitors of the country." Truly,

"a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother."

Nashville Ladies Working the Card. The despair which must have overtaken the hearts of the secession ladies of Nashville, when that city was redeemed by Federal arms, and the "flag of glory" unfurled once more in its streets, may be judged by the pertness and contempt with which they treated the "political guild of

excellent author named:

One day a staff officer caught General Lander with a Bible in his hand, and had the curiosity to inquire of him—

"General, do you ever search the Scriptures?" To this plain interrogatory, General Lander promptly replied:

My mother gave me a Bible, which I have always carried with me. Once in the Rocky Mountains I had only fifteen pounds of flour. We used to collect grasshoppers at four o'clock in the day, to catch some fish for our supper at night. It was during the Mormon war, and my men desired to turn back. I was then searching for a route for the wagon road. "I will turn back if the Bible says so," said I, "and we will take it for an inspira

tion." I opened the book at the following being one of the earliest in the field, and passage: continuing almost uninterruptedly in active "Go on, and search the mountain, and service. They met the enemy in a territhe gates of the city shall not be shut ble encounter, and vanquished him, at against you." Fredericktown, Missouri. They early All concurred in the definite statement took possession of Cape Girardeau; they of the passage, and the heroic explorer once more led his men into the wild country of the Indians.

Gen. Lander and his Bible.

And yet Lander was not one to boast of his devotional practices. That he was "caught" by the staff-officer was doubtless literally true," with a Bible in his hand," for he was not one that read his Bible "to be seen of men."

Such Memorials of the War' as the above, constitute, at this era, the most interesting and profitable reading for the youth of our families and Sabbath schools.

also bore a prominent part, and were terribly cut up, at the battle of Fort Donelson, and were in the thickest of the fight at the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. In these last two battles Lieutenant Reynolds was Acting Adjutant.

During the greater part of the campaign Mrs. Reynolds shared with her husband a soldier's fare in camp; many a night, while on long marches, sleeping upon the ground in the open air, with no covering other than her blanket, and frequently drenched with rain-and ofttimes to the order "Fall in," she would hurriedly mount her horse in the darkness of the night, and make long marches without rest or food, except what she happened to have with her. She at all times exhibited a degree of heroism that endeared her greatly to the brave soldiers of the Seventeenth and other regiments that were associated with them, and to the officers of the army whose acquaintance she formed.

Governor Yates, of Illinois, and his staff, were at Pittsburg Landing to look after the Illinois troops, who suffered so severely in that fearful struggle, and learning of Mrs. Reynolds's heroic conduct on the field, and untiring efforts in behalf of the wounded soldiers, by and with the advice of his staff, commissioned her Daughter of the Regiment, to take rank as a Major, "for meritorious conduct on the bloody battle-field of Pittsburg Landing." Mrs. R. left Pittsburg Landing a few days after the battle to attend some wounded soldiers on their way to their homes by the river, leaving the last one at PeoriaCaptain Swain, of Illinois, who died as the boat touched the wharf at Peoria. On hearing of her having been commissioned

[graphic]

Commission of "Major" conferred on a Lady. Mrs. Major Belle Reynolds, the wife of Lieutenant Reynolds, of Company A, Seventeenth Illinois regiment, distinguished herself as a brave soldier, in the war against the great rebellion. Her native place was Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. The Seventeenth Illinois, to which her husband belonged, was one of the most popular regiments in the Western army, by the Governor, the citizens of Peoria

6

"Whisper Good-Night, Love."

claimed,

"Approach one step further towards this house and you are a dead man!"

addressed a letter to the latter, thanking Yankee Cavalry against Virginia Chivalry. him "for the honor conferred upon Peoria The coolness and courage with which by your voluntary act in commissioning some of the Virginia women are endowed Mrs. Belle Reynolds, of this city, to take is a fact which has been too often and too rank of Major of Illinois State Militia, brilliantly illustrated to admit of any doubt. showing your appreciation of valuable During the rebellion, a Union cavalry services so nobly rendered by a lady on straggler, after vainly ransacking the outthe bloody battle-field of Pittsburg Land- buildings of a plantation in search of corn, ing. And we take pleasure in bearing approached the door in which a young testimony to the high moral and Christian lady was standing, and demanded that character of the Major,' believing that in "some of the grain, which he knew was whatever circumstances she may be placed concealed in the house, should be given she will ever honor her commission and him." "We have none," was the reply. the worthy Executive who gave it.” "Stand aside until I go in and see for myself," he rudely retorted, at the same time whipping out of its sheath a heavy Colt's The heart of many a loyal wife and revolver. No sooner done than the fair mother has been touched by the strains Virginian planted herself firmly in the of that exquisite little song "Whisper doorway, drew a small repeater from her Good-Night, Love”—which was composed full and throbbing bosom, and deliberby a soldier the night before the battle of ately aiming it at the intruder's head, exStone River. Lieutenant H. Millard, of the Nineteenth United States Army, and aid-de-camp to Major-General Rousseau, was the author. On the night of the 29th December, when the division bivouacked on Stewart's Creek, Lieutenant Millard's wife bade him good-bye. They expected to go into battle next morning. Lieutenant Millard reclined on a shock of corn, looking into the blue skies, thinking of his wife, for soldiers think of wives and little ones at such periods. His comrades were speculating on the chances of battle, now and then expressing amiable envy that Millard could sleep so soundly. Sud- "Dick," the Four-Footed Orderly. denly he sprang from his couch, and, call- As we were flying about in every direcing Lieutenant Pirtle, he repeated the tion, now here, now there, (says a pleasing result of his fancies to him, in verse, which writer and eye-witness of what is here he entitled, "Whisper Good-Night, Love." narrated,) with a pad for one, a basin and Tuesday night, 30th of December, while sponge to wet the wounds of another, the division was bivouacked in front of cologne for a third, and milk punch for Murfreesborough, he composed and ar- a fourth, I felt Dick (our hospital dog, ranged the music for the piano. The next day five hundred and eight of Millard's comrades were bleeding on the field of battle. Such was the origin of a song which touched many a soldier's heart, as it also did the heart of many a loved one at home.

6

Baffled in his endeavors by such an exhibition of bravery, the trooper turned on his heel and left, without taking that one step further.' He was not aware, at the time, that the maiden who thus placed such a check upon his movements was the betrothed of George B. Davis, a nephew of Jeff.'s, who discharged her pocket pistol with an accuracy which had made her famous in that locality.

my faithful friend and ally, a four-footed Vidocq, in his mode of scenting out grievances,) seize my dress in his teeth, pull it hard, and look eagerly up in my face. "What is it, Dick? I am too busy to attend to you just now." Another hard pull and a beseeching look in his eyes.

« PreviousContinue »