Soldiers' record, 1870-05-28

              ONE FLAG, ONE LAND, ONE EE ART, ONE HAND, ONE NATION, EVEBMOBEI
YOL. II. HARTFORD, OOM., SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1870. NO. 47.
ioiirs at iome.
LOVE'S QUEEN.
BV AVILLIAM WINTEU.
He loves not 'vvell wlioso love is bold;
1 would not have thee come too nigh;
The sun's gold would not seem pure gold
Unless the sua were in the sky.
To take him thence and chain him near,
Would make his beauty disappear.
He keeps his state ; do thou keep thine,—
And shiiie upon me from afar ;
So shall 1 bask iu light divine
Tiiat falls from love's own guiding star.
So shall thy eminence be high,
And so my "passion shall not die.
But all my life shall reacli its hands
Of lofty longing toward thy lace,
And bo as one'who speechless stands
In rapture at some perfect grace.
My love, my hope, my all, shall be
To look to heaven and look to theo.
Thine eyes shall be the heavenly lights,
Thy voice shall be the summer breeze,
What time it sways on moonlit nights.
The murmuring tops of leafy trees.
And I will touch thy beauteous form.
In June's red roses, rich and warm.
But thou thyself shall come not down
From that pure region far above ;
But keep thy throne and wear thy crown—
Queen of my heart and queen of love !
A monarch in thy realm complete,
And 1 a monarch at thy feet.
SHEKIDAK'S RIDE RE-TOLD.
On returning to the regiment, some one
in the ranks -was heard to suy, clespond-ingly,''
Boys, this is a bad business, go-ing
back as we are, and Sheridan at Wash-ington,
too !" It is ditBcult to describe
the feeling of hopelessness those few
words pr oduced on all who heard them.
Strockey, the c.iptaiu of our company,
confirmed their tJ-uth by adaing, "Yes,
he went to Washington two or three
days ago." "Who is commanding the
army ?" was asked, and the enquirer was
told it was "Wright." The old Sixth
knew Wright well as an officer ; by the
death of the beloved Sedgwick he was
called to its command. We knew that
he had led us oft«n since then into and
out of "the tliickest of the fight ;" but he
had never commanded an army ; and we
felt that the present was i.ot .a safe occa-sion
to try a " 'prentice hand." There
was at the moment a painful anxiety
manifested as to tlie chief command ;
though we might have spared ourselves
the inquietude, for it is doubtful whether
any one could have acted more skilfully,
under the circumstances, up to that junc-ture,
than Wright had done. What he
would have done further is a matter of
conjecture, as the opportunity was not
presented for any further developments
of strategy on his part.
The fog had now dispers'id, and the
sun was shining brightly. We were in
the fields about a mile north of Middle-town,
and held this position for nearly an
hour. Looking back along the road that
sloped up toward Newton, both it and the
adjacent fields were dotted with strag-glers,
servants leading packmules, woun-ded
men getting to the rear, with a good
many of that peculiar clasa known to
their worthier comrades as "colfee
boilers." The general direction of this
sporadic tide was toward Newton, the
goal being Harper's Ferry, which was
upward of forty miles further on from the
enemy. A few wngims were ambling
diagonally over the fields toward the road,
as though retiring from the flanks ; but
it was strikingly notable that there was
nothing, man or beast, moving back from
the village to the line of the army. The
firing in our front was now becomiiig
quick and severe, as if the enemy were
making use of our own guns, captured by
them in the early movements of the
morning. On the other hond, our artil-lery
fire seemed, as it was in fact, propor-tionally
weaker, from the loss of at least
fifteen' pieces. Occasionally our men
glanced behind them toward _ Newtotj,
muttered imprecations leaped froni their
lips directed against the "bummei's" and
'coffee boilers" that could be seen con-stantly
and very distinctly retiring to the
rear, as there was an uninterrupted view
all the way up the village.
Just at this crisis the First Rhode
Island Battery, or a section of it, gallop-ed
at a splendid pace close along the rear
of our line, and was soon lost to our view
in a ravine beyond, in which there was a
tract of timber. In a few seconds after
a terrific "slumm" came boomijig out of
the woods within two hujidred yards of
our flank, while a cushion of snow-white-smoke
was seen puffing up over the trees.
"Good God!" cried Strockey, "they are
getting range of us with shell!" Another
concussion of the air and a "slumm" as
before, followed by the cloud of smoke,
made him knit his brows and compress
his lips. "Slumtu" again, and as the
smoke cleared I raised myself slightly on
my hiiuds, for we were lying down under
orders, and saw the gleam of a burnished
Parrotfc, and a rammer with sponging-rod,
on the shoulder of a blue blouse, Strock-ey
saw it, too, and with a yell shouted
out, "By God ! it's the Rhode Island
Battery I" How those splendid fellows
served their guns ! and the guns seemed
to understand what was required of them,
for never before was metal known to speak
more opportunely than those pieces did.
"Spang ! spang ! spang ! spang !" and a
metallic twang ami whirring whistle was
heard at every discharge, as the iron-lip-ped
dogs belched out their gyral tongues
of steeh It was worth a division of
reinforcements to hear it, for it was the
first artillery we had seen that morning
on tue Union side, while, although we
did not see them, we knew from exper-ience
that'the rel)els had used theirs with
terribly destructive effect.
Just then a faint cheer was heard afar
off in our rear, as from the stragglers
along the Newton road. Gus, glancing
over his shoulder, growled out mechatiic-ally,
"Listen to those bummers. Where's
the provost guard ?" I too looked back
along the pike, and saw the tide of
"strags ' and retreaters moving off as
before, all going northward. Everything
not with us at the front was retiring in
the same direction—toward Newton. No;
not everything ; a single horseman was
seen galloping down the slope of a hill
from Newton and towards us. There
was only one, and in all likelihood my
eye wos attracted to the individual—some
wagon master, I supposed him to be—
liecanse he was traveling in an opposite
course to the crowd, through the thick
of which he was making hivS way. The
glance of others may have been momen
turily arrested, as was mine, by the sight
of this solitary horseman ; but it was so
unimportant a matter that no one thought
of calling attention to it. 'J'hc firing in
our fronc had now become exceedingly
severe, and wo expected every moment
that the en my would show themselves,
charge, and ait'^inpt to dislodge us from
our position. But they did not then, nor
ever afterwards in that valley. Their
opportunity ot"driving" us from the "Gar-den
of Virginia" was lost, for it was open
only about ten minutes longer. While
we lay waiting for them, u dozen or more
voices in our rear whined out a second
feeble, disjointed, "Ha-a-ay ! hoo-ray !"'
and there was some change in the aspect
of the crowd straggling along the road
and iu the fields neaiest Newton. I no-ticed
that the rider already mentioned
had turned ofl'the hard, dusty cause-way,
and was galhjping along the road-mar-gin
upon the brown turf. But he was
still coming towards us, wliile the groups
as he passed them either halted, or turn-ed
and followed, by twos and threes, in
his wake as if returning to the army. The
horicman could bo seen at intervals to
take off his hat and wave it above his
head, while the stragglers cheered in re-sponse.
Some one in our ranks remarked,
"That fellow has got a heavy load of
'commissary inside his shirt,' ho has."
Still at a gallop his horse came on, with
long sweeping lunges, though he was not
galloping fast, his pace being more noti-ceable
for its stretch than quick move-ment.
A great number of Dur troops had
now noticed him, but paid him only the
attention that might be given to a drunk-en
mmi making a show of himself on horse-back.
At this time a second horseman
appeared upon the hillsjust emerging
from Newton, and a full half-mile to"the
rear of the first. He, too, seemed to be
riding at a hard gallop, as if trying to
overtake the other. Just then attention
was called to the front by a spluttering
fusilade from the enemy's skirmish line
that was being thrown forward, and as
they came slowly on we gave them a vol-ley
in return. Then a single shell from
the battery on our right dropped and burst
in their midst, causing them to retire. As
they withdrew two or three more shells
passed over their heads and exploded be-hind
a little ridge, under cover of which
we bL-lieved them to be massing.
A cheer again arismg in our rear, but
this time stronger and more continuous,
caused hundi'eds of us to look back. The
solitary horseman was within 500 yards
of us, and the herds of stragglers were
still straggling, but they straggled to the
front—!i maneuver so unexpected as to
astonish the oldest of our veterans. And
cutting through among them, down the
Newton slope came balf-a do/,en other
horsemen, strung out in race course order,
but no two of them widely separated, as
they urged forward, now one leading,then
another, along the gray roadway. The
second rider was nearly a mile ahead of
these, while himself, a good half-mile be
hind the foremost, who was now rapidly'
approaching our lines. As he came close
enough for Ins features to be distingui.sh-ed,
we could see they were animated to
the highest pitch of anxiety and earnest-ness,
and with his body thrown forward
he appeared to grasp his horse's ribs con-vulsively
between his knees The horse,
a splendid black charger, was evidently
laboring, as the long swinuing gallop and
distended ne«;k plainly testified.
In another instant the strange horse-man
came sweeping up to our lines, a
dozen yards to the left of where I and my
comrades stood. As he approacheJ, he
once more raised his hat and waved it in
the air. We could see his lips move
with great apparent energy ; but we
could not hear his voice amidst the firing
and confusion. There was nothingir. his
dress or appearance to have attracted
particular attention. He wore the unjform
of an officer—the coat double-breasted,
with the buttons in threes ; while his hat
was the full dress army one with the fold-ed
crown. His attitude was that of a man
crouching forward, and half kneeling on
the ribs of his horse, his left hand clutch-ing
the bridle-reins with a grasp of iron.
As he looked right and left from the
broad slouched , Ih'im of his beaver, the
rcfuarkable expression of his features
was that of a severe energy. But as he
swept athwart our lino, once more rais-ing
his hat and waving it in the air, that
bright dark eye that seemed to flash upon
eveiythii g at once, made him remember-ed.
That man had been seen scores of
times by that army, surrounded by a glit-tering
staff and followed by u "swallow-tail"
pennon—his headquarters' Hag of
red and white, with two stars. The troops
recognized him now, and a thousand
voices shouted as from one throat :
"It's Sheridau—hooray !"
A cry of exultation rose quickly along
the lines as he wheeled back through them,
and swept on over hillock and down the
hollow to the right. That staunch cordon
of the Sixth that but a moment before had
not heart to give a single cheer iu the
face of the overwhelming foe, hammering
at them for five long hours, now found
outlet for their feelings in mingled shouts
of joy, defiance and revenge. Had Michael
with his legions come swooping from tho
clouds to sustain us in that fearful fray,'
his advent could not have inspired great-er
confidence and enthusiasm into the
ranks of our faltering line.
Away to the right went the sweating
black steed, and both he and his rider
were soon lost to our sight, but the pro-longed
cheer, louder at intervals, told
how they were greeted, till the shouts of
salutation grew fainter and fainter, at
length dying away in the distance.
It is not necessary to tell particularly
what followed. All know how "Little
Phil." assumed control of the retreating
army, how the lines were reformed, and
how, about one o'clock in the afternoon
we commenced advancing on the enemy.
Completely turning the tables, a charge
was made by our cavalry swooping in on
both flanks. Again we charged, and a-gain
the enemy resisted and retired. A
third time they essajed to stay our onset,
but in vain. Our first charge had aston-ished,
our second staggered, and the third
crushed rhem. Our cavalry doubled up
their ranks, and at sunset, the victors of
the morning were a routed rabble.
That night Custar chased their shivered
battalions as far as Woodstock, and the
•Sixth slept where it had ^^slept the night
before. Sheridan had kept his promised
word ; he had "whipped them out of their
boots," and put his men back in their own
camps before nightfall.
JOHNNY'S DRUM.
"You be looking at the drum, sir t"
She shook her withered head:
"It's all I've got to mind me
Of Johnny, sir, that's dead.
"It were of a Simday morning,
He stood there at the door,"
Cryini? out that he had 'listed
A drummer for the war.
" So—that's—the—way—I—got—it—
Don't—mind—me—sir—but—I
Can never tell tho story .
And keep my old cheeks dry.
"I know its all a fancy,
I know he'll never come ;
But it kind of makes him nearer
To sec his broken drum."
An industrious vender of pictures ia
Philadelphia recently importuned Ge-^.
Sheridan, not knowing who ho was, to
buy a chromo of Reed's picture, entitled
"Sheridan's Ride." The General replied
that he had no use for a likeness of Sheri-den.
"But the horse, sir, that famous
black horse," persisted the vender, "it's
the only likeness in existence." "Oh,"
replied the General, "1 own the horse !"
The picture vender gave one startled look
at the hero of Five Forks, and—had no
more to say.
A VENERABLE OLD" AGE.—The follow-ing,
from one who was l/iar\ is vouched
for by him—that is, that the old lady
made the re()ly given here, not that she
was f/if/ie as old as she claimed : When
the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry en-tered
the town of Dawsen, Georgia, in
the spring of 1865, among those who wel-comed
them was a negro woman whose
appearance denoted exireme old ago.
impelled by curiousity, one of the "boys"
rode up to her and asked, "How old are
you, auntie ?" "Well, chile," she re-plied,
" I don't 'zactly know how old I is,
but I was here when C'lumbus come !"
Major James Haggerty, who was eo
especially obnoxious to the British lion
that the l^ritish government refused to
grant him an fa^et/M^/Zur to discharge the
duties ol U. S. Consul at Glasgow (one
of the first instances on record), has been
rewarded with tho position of Deputy Na-val
Officer, an office of hqnor and respon-sibility.
The Major, who is a clever and
cultui;ed gentleman, can indulge in
derisive smiles at theB. Lion and hi-s rep-resentative,
Mr. Gladstone. They can
not oust iiim from the Customs.
-y _
A warm sheet—a sheet of flumes.