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ESTABLISHED 1S77.-STET? SERIES.
WASHINGTON, D. 0., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1882.
YOL. II-NO. 14.-WH0LE NO. 66.
OF KpILLE.
IxJCi
The History of Longstreet's Campaign
Against Burnside.
A BOLD ASSAULT.
Repulse of tlie Confederate
Forces.
RAISING THE SIEGE.
Longstreet Retires Before
Sherman Arrives.
Continued from last tccc!:.
The morning of Sunday, the 29th of Novem
ber, 1SG3, was cold and foggy. A heavy mist
hung over the river, enveloping the contending
armies in its chilly mantle and obscuring the
movements of four brigades of confederate
troops advancing stealthily to attack the Union
lines at Knoxvillo. Kershaw's brigade of
South Carolina troops was on the right of the
line south of Fort Sanders, Anderson's brigade
of Georgians fronted the works east of the fort,
and Wofford's and Humphreys's brigades of
Georgians and Mississippians, formed in
two lines, faced the northeast bastion
of the fort. At a given signal tho
two latter were to dash forward and
assault tho fort. Tho regiments engaged in
this famous charge were: In Wofford's brigade,
which was commanded by Colonel Ruff, tho
Sixteenth, Eighteenth and Twenty-fourth
Georgia, Cobb's Legion, and Phillips's Legion ;
in Humphreys's brigade, the Thirteenth, Seven
teenth, Eighteenth and Twenty-first Missis
sippi. Bryan's brigade and Bushrod Johnson's
division were formed closely in rear as a sup
porting column.
l CnnfcA. ,,.
er.ttr;rr-.tr TThitin' SKirmliih,lAJZ09
In addition to tho Second Michigan and
Seventy-ninth New York the garrison embraced
another brave regiment also greatly depleted in
numbers by long and arduous campaigns, the
Thcnty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry.
Tho whole success of the campaign depended
upon this assault. It was tho culminating
point of the movement against Burnside and it
was made, as Longstreet aptly expressed it, to
save his army, himself included, from "ruin
and disgrace."
A furious cannonading from Longstreet's
batteries, which were posted at distances vary
ing from 700 to 1,500 yards distant from Fort
Sanders, ushered in tho dawn of day. On the
west were two batteries of 12 and 20-poundor
Parrotts ; on the north two of 20-poundor Par
rols and 3-inch rifles, and across the Holston a
battery of six guns. The batteries in the fort
reserved their fire for closer work, but Roeiner's
guns responded from College Hill, and were
double-shotted with canister in anticipation of
tho assault which was felt to bo imminent.
During the night the Seventy-ninth New York
had erected a new flag-stair in the fort, and
just as the sun was rising the Stars and Stripes
were run up to the peak to the inspiring strains
of "The Star Spangled Banner," played with a
will by Ferrero's division band. The air was
full of screaming shells and whizzing balls.
Down in front a blaze of musketry from tho
newly-established picket liuo poured a shower
of bullets into tho embrasures, which passed
harmlessly over the heads of the garrison, who
Btood quietly awaiting the word of command.
FTORMING FORT PANDERS.
Everything being in readiness, General Mc
Laws rode to Leyden's battery and ordered tho
signal guns to be fired. The smoke still
hovered over the muzzles of the guns when the
two last-mentioned brigades sprang forward to
the assault, while every cannon in the con
federate lino thundered its approval.
A few minutes suiliced to bring the assault
ing column to the edge of the ditch in front
of the fort. The men had stumbled over the
telegraph wires, stretched from stump to
stump, and struggled through tho tangled
abattis under a furious storm of grape and
minie-balls, which left their track marked by
the writhing forms of their wounded and
dying comrades. They hesitated a mo
ment before making the final plunge, then
leaped into the ditch direct' in tho line of
lire from the batteries on their rifiht and left.
Before them Avas a slippery wall of earth
rising almost perpendicularly eight feet from
the bottom of the ditch to the base of the para
pet. Here there was a level space of perhaps
SIE
twelve or eighteen inches in width, technically
called the "bcrm; '' above it roo tho parapet,
twelve foot in height, but of sufficient slope to
enable men to crawl to the summit on their hands
and knees. Behind them every inch of ground
was raked by artillery and musketry. There was
but one spot which was out of range of either,
and that was directly under tho walls of the
northeast bastion, where was for a short timo
a sector without fire, tho two outer sides of
which wero a hail-storm of lead from tho
bastions on tho south and cast. Into this
small spaco tho mob huddled, liko tourists
behind tho Falls of Niagara, beforo them
the impassiblo cliff, behind them death. The
brave fellows, Airious as bears in a pit, were as
powerless to injure their assailants.
It was difficult to scale the walls of damp,
slippery earth, yet thoy struggled manfully to
accomplish it. Mounting upon each others'
shoulders they wero yet many feet below the
summit of the parapet, but they could reach
the berm, and did so. Tho embrazures from
which tho guns wero blazing wero nearer their
reach, and into one of them an officer climbed
and demanded the surrender of tho fort. A few
men followed him, but they wero instantly
captured. Over one hundred men essayed to
reach the top of tho parapet, but they fell back
dead or wounded beforo the unerring rifles of
the garrison as soon as they showed thoir heads
above tho summit. One soldier actually clovo
the skulls of thrco with an axo beforo he
was recalled from his exposed position.
The space at the foot of tho parapet soon
ceased to bo a place of safety. It was di
rectly under the muzzles of tho guns, and being
unable to reach it otherwise, Lieutenant Ben
jamin set tho cxamplo of lighting short-timo
fuzes and hurling tho shells over tho parapet
into the crowded ditch, whero they oxplodcd,
carrying death in their track. One poor fellow
was seen to gather a doublo handful of mnd and
press it down upon tho fuzo orifice of a shell
that had just fallen at his feet, trying vainly to
extinguish the lighted fuze. It was too late,
tho fire had already entered tho shell, and an
instant later it exploded, blowing him to atoms.
THE BLOODY KEPULSE.
A gun mounted in tho bastion to the right
of the salient, tripplo shotted with canister,
was masked until the assailants reached the
ditch, when it opened with terrible effect.
Thinking that the shells exploding in tho ditch
were fired from their own guns, tho batteries
on the hill south of tho river ceased firing. Tho
carnage continued until one company each
of tho Second Michigan and Twenty-ninth
Pennsylvania advanced into the ditch from
tho right and left simultaneously and de
manded the surrender of tho assailants. Their
demand was instantly complied with, and being
ordered into the fort at once poured through tho
embrazures, where they gavo themselves up.
While this was going on, the supporting col
umns had kept up continuous volleys of mus
ketry at tho fort, but without any material
effect. They finally broke and retired in con
fusion, and the assault was ended.
A brief truce, to allow tho confederates to
remove their wounded, was now allowed by
General Burnside. The scene at tho bottom of
tho ditch was appalling. Men lay in heaps
where thoy had tumbled headlong from tho top
of the parapet, some dead and others mortally
wounded. Few had attempted to go to the rear
through tho hail-storm of missiles that raked
every foot of ground, and the groans of the
wounded filled the air. The commanders of
the contending forces refer to the assault and
repulse as follows :
Burnsidosays: "Our guns opened upon the
men in tho ditch with triple rounds of canister,
and our infantry shot or knocked back all those
whose heads appeared above tho parapet. Tho
forces placed on tho flanks of the fort by Gen
eral Fcrrero had a cross-fire on the ground over
which the enemy approached. The first col
umn of attack was rc-enforced by a second,
which pushed up to tho fort as desperately as
the first, but was driven back with great
slaughter. Most of those who reached the ditch
were killed or mortally wounded. Such as
could not retreat surrendered, in all about 500."
Longstreet says: "Tho troops moved up in
gallant style, and formed handsomely at tho
outside of tho ditch. As I approached, tho
troops seemed to bo in good order at tho edge
of tho ditch, and some of the colors appeared to
be on the works. When in about five hundred
yards of the fort I saw some of the men strug
gling back, and heard that the troops could not
pass the ditch for want of ladders or other
means. Almost at tho same moment I saw that
the men were beginning to retire in consider
able numbers, and very soon tho column broke
up entirely and fell back in confusion. I
ordered Buckner's brigade halted and retired,
and sent tho same order to Anderson's brigade,
but tho troops of the latter had become cxeitcd
and rushed up to tho same point from which
the others had been repulsed, and wero soon
driven back."
The loss on tho Union sido was four men
killed and eleven wounded. That of the con
federates: Killed, 129; wounded, 45S ; missing,
22G. Total, S03.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sorell, A. I. G., on staff
of General Longstreet, in the report from which
tho above list of losses in storming Fort San
ders is taken, gives the total loss in Longstreet's
East Tennessee campaign as follows: Loss in
Jenkins's division, fa3 killed, 3S7 wounded, 41
missing; in McLaws's division, 15 killed, 403
wounded, 201 missing. Total, 1.29G.
While the infantry, under McLaws and
Jenkins, were employed at the southwestern
angle of tho works the cavalry, under General
Martin, made a vigorous dash upon tho works
on the north side of tho town. Tho defenses
at this point were manned by Uoskins's and
Pennebaker's brigades of Kentucky troops.
These troops fell back at the first charge, but
at the order to charge rallied and retook their
works. The Twenty-fourth Kentucky infantry
suffered severely, losing live men killed and
fifty-four wounded.
THE SIEGE RAISED.
On the afternoon of the same day that wit
nescd the repulse of Longstreet's assault reports
began coining in of tho defeat of Bragg at Mis
sionary liidge. Messengers from the south had
for several days brought to tho commander
nothing but evil tidings, and now the defeat of
his own plans added a, new note to tho wail of
general disaster. A telegram from Mr. Davis
directed him to co-operate with Bragg, uud one
from Bragg requested him to rejoin the army
at Ringgold. Then camo information that tho
Union army was in force at Cleveland, cutting
off access to Bragg's army, which later advices
placed at Dal ton. This message was accom
panied by an order to Longstrert to "depend
upon his own resources." On the 1st of De
cember a courier was captured bearing a dis
patch from General Grant to General Burusido
conveying the information that three columns
of a succoring army wero on thoir way to Kuox-
ville, one under General Sherman by the route
pontb of the Tennessee; one via Dccherd,Tenn.,
under General Elliott, and one under General
Foster by way of Cumberland Gap. Under
these circumstances there was no course open
to General Longstreet but to abandon the siege
and retire from tho field.
General Vaughn, who, with part of his bri
gade, had been cut off from Bragg's army at Lou
don, was ordered to destroy everything that ho
could not bring away and join Johnson's divis
ion in front of Knoxvillc.
On the 2d of December tho siego was raised,
and Longstreet's army, which a month before
had entered upon tho campaign with tho under
standing that the defeat and destruction of
Bnrnsido's army was to bo accomplished by a
sudden blow, dispirited by failure, took up its
line of march towards Virginia. No attempt
was mado to rejoin tho army of General Bragg.
On tho 3d tho trains woro put in motion to
cross tho Holston at Strawberry Plains, escorted
by two brigades of infantry and a battery of
artillery. Leaving General Martin with his
own and Ransom's cavalry to cover tho move
ment, Longstreet withdrew his troops on tho
night of tho 4th, and matching all tho follow
ing day, encamped at Blain's Cross Roads on
tiie night of tho 5th. At this point Longstreet
was joined by tho infantry and artillery of
Ransom's command. The line of march of tho
retreating confederates lay through Rntledgo to
Rogersville, which plaeo was reached on the 9th.
On the 10th a telegram was received from Mr.
Davis giving Longstreet discretionary power
with regards to all troops in East Tennessee.
SIIERMAN'S ARMY AT HAND.
Wliilo tho confederate army was thus seek
ing safety by rapid retreat to tho friendly
cover of tho mountains of Western Virginia,
Sherman's army, fresh from victory at Mission
ary Ridge, was approaching Knoxvillc by rapid
marches. On the night of the 3d of December
Captain Audonreid, of General Sherman's staff,
entered Bnrnsido's headquarters with the wel
come tidings that deliverance Avas at hand.
The following characteristic letter from Gen
eral Sherman was handed General Burnside on
the 5th :
"MAnYsviLLEjDec. 5th, 18G3.
"General Burnside.
"Dear General: I am hero, and can bring
25,000 men into Knoxvillc to-morrow, but
Longstreet having retreated, I feel disposed to
stop, for a stern-chase is a long one. But I will
do all that is possible. Without you specify
that you want troops I will let mino rest to
morrow and ride to see you. Send my aido
Captain Audenreid out with your letter to
night. We aro all hearty, but tired. Accept
my congratulations on your successful defenso
and your patient endurance.
"Yours, in haste,
"W. T. Sherman, M. G."
Tho troops which composed tho army under
command of General Sherman consistod of
General Blair's corps of tho Army of tho Ten
nessee, General Howard's corps, and Sheridan's,
Wood's, and Davis's divisions of tho Army of
tho Cumberland, under command of General
Granger, and a largo forco of cavalry com
manded by General Elliott.
On consultation with General Burnside, Gen
eral Sherman decided to leavo Granger's troops
and return with the remainder to Chattanooga.
On the morning of tho 7th, the Ninth and
Twenty-third Corps, under command of Gen
eral Parke, started in pursuit of Longstreet.
The cavalry had followed his retreating army
four days before, but wcto too weak to mako
any impression upon his rear-guard and served
only to point out tho Touto he had taken.
major-general foster relieves burnside.
On tho following day Major-Genoral John G.
Foster reached Knoxvillc, and relieved General
Eurnsidc of command of the Department of tho
Ohio. This order was tho result of a dispatch
sent by General Burnside to tho President in
October, when ho was quito ill. Ho turned
over the command at once to his successor, and
on the 12th left Knoxvillc for Cincinnati.
Tho new commander had a rare opportunity
to signalize his advent upon tho field by a
brilliant movement against tho confederate
army, which lay quietly at Rogersville. Tho
force at his disposal was now ample for offensive
operations, and the country through which ho
would march was tho most fertile and most
loyal in Tennessee.
Badly equipped as the troops under his com
mand in East Tennessee were for a winter
campaign, thoy were in better condition than
those of his antngonist, whoso bare feet had
left their bloody trail along tho rocky road to
Rogersville, and his communications were open
back to Cincinnati, whero abundanco of army
supplies wero collected.
General Longstreet had no sooner got his
troops into camp than ho received information
of the return of a portion of General Sherman's
troops to Chattanooga. Simultaneously camo
word that thrco brigades of cavalry and one of
infantry had advanced to Bean's Station, and
that Foster's main forco was between Rutlcdgo
and Blain's cross-roads. He at once conceived
the idea of capturing tho force at Bean's Station
while it was isolated from the main command.
a backward stroke.
General Martin, with four brigades of cav
alry, was to movo down tho south side and
cross tho Holston opposite Bean's Station, or
below. Genoral W. E. Jones, with two bri
gades of Ransom's cavalry, was to pass down on
tho north side of Clinch Mountains and prevent
the escape of the Union forces by tho Gap in
that direction, wliilo the infantry moved by
tho direct road from Rogersville to Bean's
Station. Heavy rains on the 13th raised tho
waters in the Holston, swelled tho creeks, and
retarded tho march, but tho infantry column
reached General Shackelford's camp in time to
effect a partial surprise. Jones got into posi
tion in timo to capturo a train of twenty
wagons, belonging to tho Ninth Corps, which
General Willcox reported to have been cap
tured at Thorn Hill after Genoral Shackelford
fell hack from Bean's Station. Tho One Hun
dred and Seventeenth Indiana infantry guard
ing the train was at some distance, and made
their escape over the mountains to Rutlcdgo,
but Martin failed in making connection, and tho
plan failed.' General Shackelford's cavalry
mounted their horses and withdrew without
knowing how near they were to capture. Pur
suit was ordered by the infantry, but having
had no bread rations for two days McLaws de
clined to execute the order until his rations
arrived. Jenkins moved forward at daylight,
and found tho Union forces in a strong position
only three miles beyond his camp.
General Longstreet complains of the slow
movements of his troops when ordered to sup
port Jenkins in this attack Their old-timo
dash had vanished, succumbed, likely, to star
vation and defeat. Robertson's brigade occu
pied cloven hours in marching as many miles.
A little beforo sunset on tho 15th Jenkins re
ported tho Union forces in Mu iiont ru-enforced
by infantry and preparing to advance against
him. No support had rear-bed him except
Law's brigade. McLaws still pleaded for timo
to allow his men to receive their rations, but
finally sent one brigade. Meantime Martin had
succeeded in crossing tho river and made his
appearance on Shackelford's flank at dusk,
when tho latter again fell back towards the in
fantry. General Longstreet says: "Pursuit
was ordered at daylight by Jenkins's division
and Martin's cavalry. As I rode to tho front
General Law preferred a complaint of hardship.
' General McLaws was not yet fed, and there
seemed so strong a desire to rest rather than to
destroy tho enemy that I was obliged to aban
don tho pursuit. This was the second timo
dnring tho campaign when tho enemy was com
pletely in our power and wo allowed him to
escape us." Gathering his forces together,
General Longstreet marched back to his camp
south of tho Holston, near Rogersville, and
went into winter quarters.
The East Tennessee campaign was ended.
The end.
Tlio Bravo Corporal at Clianccllorsville.
From a Sermon by Iicv. Dr. Paxoji.
I remember when the fight was on and tho
field was lost, and a beaten and broken army
wero falling back at Chancellorsvillc. I re
member a regiment of soldiers in position be
hind batteries of artillery near the Chancellor
home. Tho wounded cried piteously for aid ;
the shells crashed through tho woods; it was
an hour of dread and despair for the Union
soldiers, or exultation and hopo for tho con
federates. All tho troops had fallen back in
disorder, a new line was being formed moro
than a mile to the rear. Tho soldiers support
ing tho batteries were alone on a lost aud bloody
field. These- troops and batteries wero to bo
sacrificed to tho array. Thoy were put there
to hold the victorious enemy in check until a
now lino could bo formed. The confederates,
flushed with victory and enraged by resistance
on a field they considered won, yelled liko
demons, aud poured an incessant firo upon tho
Union guns. Tho regiment supporting tho
batteries lay prono on tho earth very still,
while our artillery returned the enemy's fire.
Tho shells came screaming over and into tho
regiment, not singly, not as skirmishers, but
as if in columns. It was tho first battle of tho
regiment. Between the brief pauses of loading
and firing, the men could hear tho sharp com
mands of the confederate officers, " Load aud
firo!" It was tho mouth of hell or gate of
heaven for many of them.
The men shivered and thrilled. It was ap
paling, yet it was glorious to bo living this
minute and possibly dead tho next. That was
their situation. Officer after officer, soldier
after soldier, were struck and heard no more
on earth. It was awful. Tho wounded moaned
and cried for water; tho living well, some
tried to pray ; some shut their eyes and shiver
ed as tho shells camo crashing through'; tho
cracking of the flames consuming the Chancel
lor House wero clearly heard. What did they
feel or fear, those men being slaughtprcd score
by score? What visions 'of eternity, on tho
dizzy odgo of which they were, flashed up in
their souls? What did death mean? Wait till
you aro there to know.
But in that regiment, being rapidly thinned
by the shells of the confederates, I remember a
man and his conduct. Ho was first corporal,
and dressed the company on the right. Tall ho
was and goodlj' to look upon, a farmer's lad
from Pennsylvania. Wo heard a voice, strong,
clear, serene, confident; wo looked, and then
on tho right of tho company, sitting upright,
firm, while all of us lay down flat, wo saw tho
corporal. His faco was cold, a smile played
over his features. He was so cold, so serene.
He seemed to be looking away beyond tho ene
my's lines to something we did not sec to bo
utterly indifferent to tho death-dealing sholls.
Here is what I heard from this corporal amid
tho carnago of the battlo : " God is our refugo
and strength, a very present help in trouble ;
therefore will we not fear though the earth
bo removed and the mountain carried into tho
depths of the sea. For the Lord of Hosts is
wi th us ; tho God of Jacob is our refuge." The
voice and prayer of this corporal silenced many
an oath, stifled many a groan, and nerved us
to stand it out as no shriek of fifo or battle
drum had ever done. What made our corporal
tho man ho was, at peace in battle, with a smilo
upon his lips in the jaws of death ? It was this :
Ho was a God-fearing lad, reared in au old Cove
nanter's meeting-house. When tho day camo
to show the stuff men were made of, it was tho
man with this fear of God in his soul and no
other fear that put us all to shame and showed
us how to die
Competition of Women.
Tho Brattleboro (Vt.) Standard relates tho
following anecdote of an organ manufacturer
who employes women in his factory: "Certain
of his workmen loudly complained that women
had neither the strength nor the skill for tho
duties assigned them. Thoy pointed to tho
organs into which women's work had gone, and
declared that they were failures; that any
skilled car could detect inferior workmanship,
&c. The grumbling continued for months, and
finally the malcontents came to tho Deacon's
counting-room and declared that they would'
not be employed any longer in a factory whero
such frauds upon the public were permitted.
At this tho good Baptist brother became right
eously indignant, and hurled at them a bcwil
deriug rejoinder in words like these : ' You will
bo paid oft', and you may leave as soon as you
like. While you were out 1 carefully selected
tho pieces of machinery mado by tho women
and placed them on your work-benches, put
ting your work upon thoso of the women. Tho
organs you havo praised contain the women's
work, wliilo those you havo declared unfit to
sell contain your own.'"
HeiiHOsts to Boston Charities.
Tho following bequests were mado by the
lato Jerome G. Kidder: Institute of Tech
nology, $55,000 ; Lying-in Hospital, $50,00o
Massachusetts General Hospital, $25,000; Bos
ton Industrial Temporary Home, $12,000; II omo
for Aged Men, $10,000; Homo for Aged Womon,
$10,000; Homo of the Good Samaritan, $10,000;
American Unitarian Association, $10,000; Tem
porary Asylum for Discharged Female Prison
ers, $3,000; Children's Friend Society, $3,000 ;
Baldwin Place Home for Little Wanders, $4,000 ;
Massachusetts Homo for Discharged Convicts,
3,000, and Church of the Advent, $1,000.
i i - i m "
A Hotel Man's Lurk.
Mr. J. G. Tyler, chief clerk at the Union
Depot Hotel, Ogden, had rheumatism in tho
muscles of tho chest and left shoulder. By ap
plying tho Great German Remedy threo days ho
realized complete restoration, and ho is of the
opinion that there is nothing equal to tho St. Ja
cobs Oil for pain. The Great German Reined y is
also a specific for burns and sprains. Salt Lake
(Utali) Tribune,
PRISONERS OF. WAR.
The Object of Ex-Prisoners of War
Associations.
THRICE TOLD TALES.
Tlie Crime of Anclersorrvllle
TTrrintngly Portrayed.
AF ELOQUENT ADDRESS,
Delivered at Decatur, Illinois,
by Edwin H. Miner.
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Surviving Comrades: While coming down
on the train this morning from my home I was
seated with an elderly gentleman discussing
tho subject of Southern prisons. He finally
asked mo the "object of these meetings." I
said to him: "My friend, if you will stop over
at Decatur members of our association will
givo you tho information you seek much bet
than I can." I went on, however, and gavo
him my views of the "object" of these meet
ings, and I am very sure he left mc a sadder if
not a wiser man. That question set me to
thinking, and I don't believo there is a solitary
member of tho Ex-Union Prisoners of "War As
sociation in this house to-night but what can
explain some things to the American people
they do not yet seem to understand. One of
our purposes in coming here is to awaken a
sympathy, if we may, for the fifty thousand
bravo men who laid down their lives for their
country and their llag in Southern military
prisons, and kindle more interest in the hearts
of tho people for their few living comrades.
This country owes at least as high a duty to
tho men who languished or died in Southern
prisons as to those who fell by the bullet in the
ranks ; men in most instances the bravest, be
cause they were taken from the front of thoso
bravo and resolute ranks with their faces to
tho foe, with a contempt of peril and a prodigal
ity of blood as pure and noble as ever flowed,
and in the little band that is left of them is
folded up tho history of tho most horrible suf
fering ttee world has ever known. There is
ono thing I may mention which will enable
tho mind to reach out toward, but never to
compass, the total of all the suffering that camo
to those souls in prison. To-day you will find
in onelittle city alone, Annapolis, Maryland, tho
graves of three thousand soldiers marked with
these significant words: "Names unknown!"
These men camo over from Southern prisons so
destroyed mentally and physically that they
woro unable to give their own names. They
died on tho threshold of the " promised land,"
too far gone to tell who they were. How many
of those who went to their homes and have
since gone to their graves the records do not
show. It would bo impossible to convey in
words any idea of the hideous phantoms of that
terrible past, and a minute attempt to describe
its horrors would but disgust. Old men, young
men, and boys were alike brought down on a
common level with death. It was a phenom
enon of exceeding rare oxistenco strong men
with nothing to eat or drink ; the rain and tho
mhtsof the long and dreary days and nights,
tho biting wind almost chilling tho last spark
ui iui' ill llll-lL I'l-uuiuifiJii .inn iiiiiii; wuvuv.?. iuii
the physical suffering which these men endured
was intensified by the fear, almost the despair
ing certainty, that death would soon ovcrtako
them. Merely as a display of courage the fa
mous charge of tho "six hundred " at Balaklava
was a small affair compared with that displayed
in these prisons. That charge was futile, and
the lives lost in it wero Inst in vain. In the
language of a French military critic: "It was
magnificent, but it was not war." For heroic
suffering and bravery, Andcrsouvillc furnished
thousands of magnificent oxamplcs, but it was
not war. It was simply wanton murder. As
Burke has quaintly expressed it "It was the
most wonderful architect of ruin the world has
over seen." Tho records attest this fact, for
to-day tho bones of thirteen thousand men as
bravo as ever trod tho earth lie bleaching in
tho soil at Andersonv'illo alone. Thirteen
thousand of our comrades, who fell, not by tho
bullet in tho ranks, but by starvation slow and
sure. Could they but raise their skeleton
hands on high this night, could their silent
tongues but speak, they ,would command us,
comrades, to keep these horrors fresh in the
minds of tho American people till their wives
and orphaned children aro provided for. This
is now the only retribution tho Nation can
offer them, and they aro fast forgetting that.
"Thoy keep tho promise to tho ear but break
it to tho hope." War at best is a savage thing
and wade? through a soa of violence and in
justice, but even war has its laws which men
of honor will not depart from. The instigators
of those pri.son pens, tho master minds that con
ceived those tortures, havo desolated more
homes, havo blighted more happiness, have
ruined moro men, and caused more heart-ache
than any human beings Satan ever inspired.
Many of their crimes are known to tho world ;
society has marked some of them as outcasts;
ono of them, a single one, was reserved for the
hangman'3 noose; but tho ruin they have
caused cannot ho reckoned. None, however,
will escape tho fate theyjustly merit, the curse
of the widow and the orphan will pursue them,
it will cling to them, it will follow them in the
midst of poverty arid splendor, it will cleave to
tho heritage of their children. There will be
death beds, beside which they shall sco the
spectres of those now so calm, rising from the
gravo for retribution. But wo are not here for
revenge; life is not long enough for that, com
rades. Each nation and each age has its own
sins to answer for, its own crimes to bewail;
that nation is happiest which best succeeds in
hiding them ; it can scarco do moro, for when
known, as these prison pons will bo known,
they can never bo forgotten. You may put
them away for a timo but thoy will again
come forth into tho light, leaving in their track
tho tears and groans of the widow and the
orphan. And yet Andersonville was only ono
calamitous gravo that had its counterpart in 1
many other places of the South. Those of you
who came out alive came ragged, walking skel
etons, most of you unfitted for the occupations
of life the balance of your existence, and all of
you for months. Your heroic struggle ycfc
sends a thrill through me like an electric
shock, for in those prison pens was fought tho
wierdest battle for life tho world has ever
known, and it seems to me that Those who died
tnere must have been received the moment
they reached tho Eternal shore by men no
less bravo than those who diedat Marathon or
Thermopylae If I have not trespassed too long
on your timo I would like to givo tho citizens
of Decatur one other reason why we are here.
Cries of go on. Another reason, then, why
we are here, is to see that this Nation docs not
forget the heritage these dead men left behind
them and their few living comrades. We aro
not hero to pluck a singloleafor flower from
the garland of victory earned by the soldier in
the camp and field, all honor to the men who
left their happy homes for the cheerless camp
and perils of the battle-field.
There was no mystery, no romance, no mad
ness, under the name of military famo or military
glory, but it was all resolute, manly courage for
country and for conscience sake. But the his
tory of the men in Southern prisons was a
sadder and a harder one. They were engaged,
in a fight more bitter that for life as well as
the honor and integrity of the Nation their
struggle was more arduous; they stood beforo
an enemy more malignant, yet proved them
selves patriotic, able and tried. They wero
called by their country, not as maraut-ers, not
as mercenaries, but as the defenders of our
high faith, defenders of our glorious reputa
tion, defenders of onr honor and renown
around which cluster the memories of the sad
past, and to whoso heroic deeds and sufferings
this Nation will point with sorrow in tho
future. There is only a little band left of
them now; timo with its relentless hand
touches them ono by ono; lurking dis
ease, contracted by long confinement and starv
ation, is fast thinning the ranks. When the
hand of death and the scythe of time shall havo
committed a few years' more ravage in thoir
depleted ranks, they will be far advanced upon
that allegorical bridge so beautifully described
in the vision of Mirza. They have passed,
many arches which are sound and entire, but
aro now treading on tho broken ones, whero
tho bridge is full of holes, and the clouds and.
darkness aro setting in. At every step some
ono stumbles and falls through and is lost in
tho ocean beneath; in a fow steps more tho
last will b9 gone. Spring-time, with its buds
and flowers, will como to us but a few times
more till we shall have crossed the great dead
line. But at the windows of life, waiting,
watching, peering ont into the darkness, tear
dimmed eyes, while bleak blasts creep in at tho
cracks and tho crevices, praying from the in
most for a good that never comes, hoping
against hope, stand tho living few, and tho
widows and orphans of those passed away. In
village and hamlet scattered throughout our
broad land there yet remain a few decrepid
old men,- middle-aged, men, whoso lives aro
withered and wasted in consequence of that
horrible past. For these wo aro here, and tho
weak and feeble around us to-night; for tho
gray-haired men, once strong and vigorous,
now old in years and ruined in health, by rea
son of derangements brought on while in tho
service of their country. There are hnmblo
widows, too, some parted with their dead but
yesterday. In many a sacred spot the village
pastor and young wife knelt twenty years ago
to ask God's blessing on tho boy in blue, who
went out from a happy home and a dear wifer3
love into the dreary camp and battle-field, from
among the flowers and the sunshine into tho
thorns and desolation. She waits for his return ;
she listens for the manly voice, but hears only
tho echo of the last good-by ! She smiles as sho
thinks of his grand struggle for their littlo
homo and the dear old flag : then weeps and
waits. She does not know that he has gono out
from her life and will never come back. Again,
she has not learned that he died of starvation
in a land of plenty; so hope remains and much
of love, and the oLJ happy trusc and confidenco
return. And yet she waits, out waits in vain
he is dead, " dead on the field of honor." Sho
can never forget when the news came to her,
and the hands of memory will hero and there
and everywhere lift up the curtains of the past
and she'll seo again the old, sad scenes and know
of much despair.
In the beautiful words of Dickens "Not
alone that his hand is heavy and dead, not that
his heart and pulse are still, but that his hand
was gencrons and true, tho heart brave aud "
warm, and the pulse an honeat man's."- Sho
knows now, too late, the reed on which she
lcanctl is broken, and all that is mortal of that
love lies sleeping in some silent church-yard or
somo southern clime. Thousands of wives and
mothers in our land share her sad T:iU and wo
must see to it, comrades, that our votes send no
man to Congress who will not advocate their
cause. This is a mighty power in our hands,
and we mut use it fearlessly and earnestly. In
southern prison pens their loved ones fell buforo
tho only foe they could not meet the grim
messenger of death. The noblest of heroes and
of men; tho more than heroes to their country.
The wheels of destiny roll on, the great design
has been accomplished, the issue had to bo no
bly met or basely shunned. Strange it seems,
inscrutable it was, that in this enlightened ago
our own country should havo been the choson
altar of the greatest sacrifice the world has ever
known ; but so it was. The summons came and
found them waiting, willing, to go for the land
they loved, and 5eal your cause with thoir lives.
There is to-day, perhaps, no man on earth with
such malice in his heart but would recall, if ho
could, those dead men from their graves be
yond tho grim walls of those decaying prison
pons and send them homo amid tho smiles of
their friends and to the arms of their loved
ones. But it is too late they sleep, they rest.
The cypress and tho pine stand sentry, while
tho night winds, sighing through the trees, sing
thoir everlasting requiem. There aro no Sher
mans there, no Sheridans. no Grants, no Lo
gans. Over their lonely graves tower no stately
monuments, no polished shafts. There are no
images graven by cunning hands to mark their
last resting place, but the "Recording Angel of
Heaven " writes their immortal history as men
who died for the Nation they honored and tho
flag they loved.
Jenny land now resides in London, the mis
tress of a spacious and attractive home. Her
hair is only slightly tinged with gray, her
eyes bright aud happy, her form well preserved,
and, although sho has reached the ago 'of GO
years, she looks fully ten j-cars younger. Sho
retains kindly memories of tho stage, but her
general advice to young aspirants is dun't.
A letter of acceptance: "Ask Papa." Pud:.
