Soldiers' record, 1869-02-20

              D e v o t e d t o t h e I n t e r e s t s o t t H e S o l d i e r s a n d S a i l o x * s o f t l i e l a t e Wax*.
VOL 1. HARTFOED, CONN., FEBRUARY 20,1869. NO. 3S
UNDER THE APPLE TREE.
Pink and white, with a dimplocVsmile,
Cousin Mary mot mo under the tree,
Tossed her curls, and merrily kughod.
Then threw the dainty white blooms at me.
Blue, unclouded the ^oft spring sky
Shone through the green of the gnarled old tree,
Golden bees hummed through the perfumed air,
When cousin May threw the blooms at me.
I was a youth and she a girl;
Lightly we parted under the tree,
I with a jest and she with a laugh,
• And I thought I carried her heart with mo.
I was a youth and she a girl ;
What could we know of the coming years 1
Roaming 'mid flowers on sunlit hills,
How could we aee the dark vale of tears ?
Can I blame her that, as the years went by,
A.nd clouds, deep, sunless, enveloped me.
With tlie ripened graces of womanhood
She promised another, beneath the tree.
The love and the life she had promised mo ?
And now, a saddened and gray old man,
1 sit by her grave beneath the tree.
While white-winged blossoms float softly down,
My beautiful lost one's rest to crown.
And brings fair dreams of the past to me.
I clasp her hand, I live in her smile ;
I wake, and earth is dark to me.
For all of my beautiful hopes are fled.
And my only rest is with my dead.
My well-beloved beneath the tree !
a me.
THE FOURTEENTH AT GET-TYSBURG.*
"COMB Fred, tell me about that glori
ous tight which, you know, it was just my
ill-luck to miss. If it had been such an-other
whipping as we had at Fredericks-burg,
the Fates would probably have let
me be there. I have heard several, ac-counts,
and know the regiment did nobly ;
but the boys all get so excited telling
about it that I have not yet a clear idea
of the fight."
"Here goes, then," said the Adjutant,
lighting a fresh cigar. "It will serve to
pass away time, which hangs so heavy on
our hands in thia dreary hospital."
"We were not engaged on the first day
of the fight, July 1,1863, but were on the
march for Gettysburg that day. All the
afternoon we heard the cannonading grow-ing
more and more distinct as we ap-proached
the town, and as wo came on
the field at night learned that the First and
Eleventh corps had fought hard, suffered
much, and been driven back outside tlie
town with the loss of Major-General Rey-nolds,
who, it was generally said, brought
on an engagement too hastily with Lee's
whole army. We bivouacked on the field
that night.
"About nine o'clock the next morning
wo moved up to the front, and by tea
o'clock the enemy's shells were falling
around us. Captain Coit had a narrow
escape here. Wo had just stacked arms
and were resting, when a runaway horse,
frightened by the shelling, came full tilt
at him; 'twas 'heavy cavalry' against'light
infantry;' but Coit had presence of mind
enough to draw his sword; and bringing
it to a point it entered the animal's belly.
The shock knocked Coit over, and he was
picked up senseless with a terribly bat-tertid
face, and carried to the rear."
'By-the-way, Fred, is it not singular
that he should have recovered so quickly
and completely from such a severe blow?"
"Indeed it is. He is as handsome as
ever; but to go on. At four o'clock in the
afternoon we moved up to suppoi't a bat-tery,
and here we lay all night. About
dark Captain Broatch wont out Avith the
KEUEL J5ATTLE.FLAGS CArTlJliED.
First Tennessee, captured by the Fourteenth C'ou-uectiout
Voluutoeia iit Gettysburg, .July 3, 1863.
Fourteenth Tennessee, captured by the Fourteenth
Coniiectiuut Vclunteei's at l;lottysburg; July 3, 18(53.
Sixteenth North Curolliui Kegiuieut, captured by
the Foufteentli Connecticut Volunteers at Gettysburg,
July 3,1863.
ifiittlc-flag, State not given, captured Wy the Four-teciitii
(Jonnccticnt Volunteers at Gettysburg. July 3.
IJattlc-lliig, State not given, captured by tlu) Four-teenth
Conned icut Volunteers,
picket. Though under artillery fire all
day we were not really engaged, as we
did not fire a gun. Some of our pickets,
unfortunately going too far to the front,
were taken prisoners during the night.
"At about five o'clock on the morning
of the 3d Captain Townsend went out
with companies B and D and relieved
Broatch. As soon as he got out Townsend
advancqdi his men as skirmishers some
three hundred yards beyond the regiment^
which moved up to the impromptu rifle-pits,
which were formed partially by a
stone-wall and partially by a rail fence.
Just as soon as our skirmishers were post-ed
they began firing at the rebel skirmish-ers,
and kept it up all day, until the grand
attack in the afternoon. Before they had
been out twenty minutes, Corporal Hux-ham,
of Company B, was instantly killed
by a rebel bullet. It was not discovered
until another of our skirmishers, getting
out of ammunition, went up to him, saying,
'Sam, let me have some cartridges ?' Re-ceiving
no answer, he stooped down and
discovered that a bullet had entered the
poor fellow's mouth.and gone out at the
back of his head, killing the brave, Chan-cellorsville-
scarred corporal so quickly
that he never knew what hurt him. Pres-ently
Captain Moore was ordered down
with four companies into a lot near by, to
drive the rebel sharp-shooters out of a
house and barn from wheuce they were
constantly picking off our men. Moore
went down on a double-quick, and, as
usual, ahead of his men; he was first man
in the barn, and as he entered the Butter-nuts
were already jumping out. Moore
and his men soon cleared the barn and
then started for the house. Here that
big sergeant in Company I (Norton)
sprang in at the front door just in time to
catch a bullet in his thigh, from a reb
watching at the back: but that, reb did
not live long to brag of it, one of our boys
taking him 'on the wing.' Moore soon
cleared the house out and went back with
his men. Later in the day the rebs again
occupied the house, and Major Ellis took
the regiment and drove them out burning
the house, so as not to be bothered by any
more concealed sharp-shooters in it.''
"Yes, I know the Major don't like to
do a thing but once, so he always does it
thoroughly the first time.
• " I t was in these charges for the posses•
sion of that house we lost more officers and
men than in all the rest of the fight."
"About one o'clock in the afternoon
the enemy, who had been silent so long
that the boys were cooking coffee, smok-ing,
sleeping, etc., suddenly opened all
their batteries of reserve artillery upon
the position held by our corps (the Sec-ond).
First one great gun spoke, then,
as if it had been the signal for the com-mencement
of an artillery conversation,
the whole hundred and twenty or more
opened their mouths at once and poured
out their thunder. A perfect storm of
shot and shell rained around and among
us. The boys quickly jumped to their
rifles and lay down behind tho wall and
rail barricade. For two hours this storm
ot shot and shell continued, and seemed
to increase in fury. Good God ! I never
heard any thing like it, and our regiment
has been under fire 'somewhat,' as you
know. Tho ground trembled like an aspen
loaf; the air Avas full of small fragments
of lead and iron from the shells. Then
the sounds—there was the peculiar '•whoo?
—whool—ivhou-00?' oi the round shot; the
^which-one?'—'which one?' of that liondish
Whitworth projectile, and tho demoniac
shriek of shells. It seemed as if all the
devils in hell were holding high carnival.
But, strange as it may seem, it was like
many other 'sensation doings,' 'great cry
and little wool,' as our rogimeiic, and, in
fact tho whole corps lost very few men
by it, the missiles passing over beyond our
position, save tho Whitwortli projectiles
which did not quite reach us, us their sin-gle
gun of that description was two miles
off. Had the enemy had better artillerists
at their gans, or a better view of our pos-sition,
I can not say what would have been
the final result; but certain it is, nothing
mortal could have stood that fire long,
had it been better directed, and if our
corps had broken that day, Gettysburg
would have been a lost battle^ and Gener-al
Lee, instead of Heintzelman, the com-manding
officer in this District of Colum-bia
to-day.
"About three P. M. the enemy's fire
slackened, died away, and the smoke lift-ed
to disclose a corps of the rebel 'Grand
Army of Northern Virginia,' advancing
across the long level plaiin in our front, in
three magnifiifeent lines of battle, with the
troops massed in close column by division
on both flanks. How splendidly they
looked! Our skirmishers, who had staid
at their posts through all, gave them vol-ly
after volley as they came on, until Cap-tain
Townsend wag ordered to bring his
men in, which he did in admirable order;
his men, loading and firing all the way,
came in steadily and coolly—all that were
left of them, for a good half of them were
killed or wounded before they reached
the regiment.
"On, on come the rebels, with colors
flying and bayonets gleaming in the sun-light,
keeping their lines as straight as if
on parade: over fences and ditches thev
come, but still their lines never brealr,
and still they come. Fur a moment all is
hush along our lines, as we gaze in silect
admiration at these brave rebs; then our
division commander,' Aleck Hayes,' rides
up, and, pointing to the last fence the ene-my
must cross before reaching us, says,
' Don't fire till they get to that fence ;
then let 'em have.'
" On, on, come the rebs, till we can see
the whites of their eyes, and hear their offi-cers
command,' Steady, boys, steady !'
They reach the fence, some hundred yards
in front of us, when suddenly the command
' Fire !' rings down our line ; and, rising
as one man, the rifles of the old Second
Army Corps ring a death-knell for many
a brave heart, in butternut dress, worthy
of a bettor cause—a knell that, will ring
in the hearts of many mothers, sisters, and
wives, on many a plantation in the once
fair and sunny South, where there will be
weeping and wailing for the soldier who
never returns, who sleeps at Gettysburg.
'Load and fire at will !' Oh Heaven !
how we poured our fire into them then—a
merciless hail of lead ! Their first line
wavers, breaks, and runs ; some of their
color sergeants halt and plant their stand-ards
firmly in the ground : they are too
well disciplined to leave their colors yet.
But they stop only for a moment; then
fall back, colors and all. They fall back,
but rally, and dress on the other lines,
under a tremendous fire from our advanc-ing
rifles ; rally, and come on again to
meet their death. Line after line of rebels
come up, deliver their fire, one volley, and
they are mown down like the grass of the
field. They fall back, form, and come up
again, with their battle-flags still waving;
but again they are driven back.
" On our right is a break in the line,
where a battery has been in position, but.
falling short of ammunition, and uiuible to
move it off under such a heavy fire, tlu^
gunners have abandoned it to its fate
Some of the rebels gained a footing here,
One daring fellow leaps n]>on tho gun, and
waves his rebel flag. In an instant a right
oblique fire from ' ours,' and left oblique
from tho regiment on the left of tho po^-it-fon,
rolls the ragged rebel and rebel rag in
the dust, rolls tho determined force back
from tho gun, and it is ours.
" By-and-by tho enemy's lines como up
smaller and thinner, break quicker, and
are longer in forming. Our boys are wild
with excitement, and grow reckless.
Lieutenant John Tibbotts stands up yell-icg
like mad, 'Give it to '01 ! give it to
'em !' A bullet enters his arm—that same
arm in Avhich he caught two bullets at
Antietam : Johnny's game arm drops by
his side; he turns quickly to is First
Lieutenant, saying,' I have got another
bullet in tho same old arm, but I don't
care ad—n !' Heaven forgive Johnny!
rebel lead, will sometime^ bring rebel
words with it. All o f ' Ouiis' are carri^jii
away with excitement / tho Sergpant-li^^
or leaps a wall, dashes, down among the
rebs, and brings back a battle flag ; othejfa
follow our SergeahtrMajorJ andbefor^.,tfe
enemy's repulse becomes a rout we of the
Fourteenth have feix of their battle
" Prisoners are brought in by hiindreds,
oflicers and inen We pay no attentioa
to them, being too busy sending our leaden
messengers after the now flying hosts.
One of our prisoners, a rebel officer, turns
to me, saying, ' Where are the men we've
been fighting ?' ' Here,' I answer, point-ing
down our short, tluu line. 'Good Godl'
says he, ' is that all ? I wish I could get
bJxCk."
" Yes," I interrupted, •' Townsend told
me that when he fell back with liis skir-mishers
and saw the whole length of ouf
one small, thin, little line pitted against
those then full lines of the rebels, his
heart almost sank within him; but Meade
had planned that battle well, and every
one of our soldiers told."
Yes," said Fred, " Meade planned
the fight well, and Hancock, Hayes, and
in fact all of them fought it well. All
through the fight General Hancock might
be seen galloping up and down the lines
of our bully corps, regardless of the lead-en
hail all about him ; and when finally
severely wounded in the hip he was car-ried
a little to the rear, where he lay on
his stretcher and still gave his orders.
The fight was now almost over ; there
was only an occasional shot exchanged
between the retreating rebel sharp-shoot-ers
and our own men, and I looked about
me and took an account of stock. We
had lost about severity killed and wounds,
ed and taken prisoner, leaving only a
hundred men fit for duty. We had kill-ed
treble that number, and taken nearly
a brigade of prisoners; six stands of colors,
and guns, swords, and pistols without
number. For the first time we had been
through,an action without having an offi
cer killed or fatally wounded, though
Tibbetts, Seymour, Stoughton, Snagg,
Seward, and Dudley were more or less
seriously wounded, and Coit disabled.
"Hardly a man in the regiment had.
over two or three cartridges left. Dead
and wounded rebels were piled up in
heaps in front of us, especially in front of
Companies A and B, where Sharpe's rifles
had done effective work.
" It was a great victot y. ' FredericKs-burg
on tho other leg,' as the boys said.
Ihe rebel prisoners told us iheir loaders
assured them that they would only meet
the Pennsylvania militi 1; but. when they
saw that d—d ace of clubs (the trefoil
badge of the Second Corps), a cry wont
through their lines—' the Army of the
l^otomac, by Heaven !'
" So ended the battle of Giittysburg,
find the sun sunk to rest that night un a
battle-field that had proved that tho Army
of the Potomac could and would save the
people 01 tho North from invasion when-ever
and wherovo they may be assailed.
" 'Long shall tho tiile be lolil,
Yen, when our babeu are old.' "
" Pshaw, Fred ! you are getting senti-mental.
Let's go wut ill the air and have
another cigar."
A uuiiAL-exhibitor says ho has enlarged
[lis cstallishment, and now keeps u head
of oxen, a head of lieu and several head of
oubbago, while ho is trying 10 koop ahead
of tlie times.
WiiKN a business man comes to die
conclusioi. that ho cannot afford to o.vpend
during the year, in judicious advertising,
an amount equal to one liull' or at least
one quarter of tho sum ho'p iys annually
for rent, ho aiay v e r y safely make up his
mind that it is high time foi' him to move
Ids business to cheaper quarters.