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The Soldiers' journal. (Rendezvous of Distribution, Va.) 1864-1865, September 21, 1864, Image 1

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89038091/1864-09-21/ed-1/seq-1/

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THE SOLDIERS' JOURNAL,
LS PUBLISHED EVERY V/KBNESDAY MOENINO, AT
RENDEZVOUS OF DISTRIBUTION, VA.,
RECENTLY
CONVALESCENT CAMP, VA.,
OX TIIE FOLLOWING TERMS :
Subscription for One Year, - $3,00
" Six Months, - 1,00
Single Copies, ------ JJ-ve Cents
PAYABLE INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
POSTAGE ON THE JOURNAL is Twenty Cents a
year—payable quarterly, in advance, at place of de
livery.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
None other than the persons whose names appear
in our list of Agents are authorized to receive sub
scriptions for The Soldiers' Journal.
—____.-_.. ■' — ' '■ ■■■ —
FIOHT IT OUT.
BY PRIVATE MILES O'REILLY.
We have heard tho rebel yell,
We have heard the Union shout,
We have weighed the matter very well
And mean to fight it out;
In victory's happy glow,
In the gloom of utter rout,
Wo liave pledge— ourecl yon—" Coino weal or woo
By Heaven! we fight it out."
'Tis now too late to question
What brought the war about;
'Tis a thing of pride and passion
And wo mean to fight it out.
Let the "big wigs" use the pen,
Let them caucus, let them spout,
We are half a million weaponed men
And mean to fight it out.
Our dead, our loved, are crying
From many a stormed redoubt,
In the swamps and trenches lying—
" Oh, comrades, fight it out!
'Twas our comfort as we fell
To hear your gathering shout,
Rolling back the rebels' weaker yell—
God-speed you, fight it out!"
The negro—free or slave —
We care no pin about,
lint for the flag our fathers gave
We mean to fight it out;
And while that banner brave
One rebel rag shall flout, *
With volleying arm and Hashing glaive
By Heaven! Aye fight it out!
Oil, we've heard the rebel yell,
We have heard the Union shout,
We have weighed the matter very well,
"And mean to fight it out;
In the flush of perfect triumph,
And the gloom of utter rout,
We have sworn on many a bloody Held
" We mean to fight it out!"
The man who tried to steep the bark of a dog
in the waters of eternal now endeavor
ing to invoke the muse of a cat.
Selfishness is its own curse ; it is a starving
vice. The man who does no good gets none.
** r-— - —,:.': ■-■■■■- —, — ■- —-- ■—— ———
THE LITTLE HERO.
"Hero's news for ye, Jake, and work to do!"
said atall, rough-looking felloAV, who had ridden
up a moment before, and throAving himself from
his horse came up the walk to where Jake Ben
nan sat cleaning a shot-gun. Jake looked up
lazily.
" Wa'al, Avhat is it now?"
"Tho Colonel's got positive news that that
durncd courier'll pass this Avay some timo to
night. It's most likely he'll como by Rocky
Run ; but he may como t'other A\*ay, so you'ro to
watch and stop him ef you kin afore lie gets to
tho Forks. Take a couple of men Avith yon,
more ef you kin, and make it sure this time. Ef
he carries tho news the Colonel thinks ho docs,
it'll be Worth money to you to take him."
"All right! Ef he comes my way he's booked
for the Colonel's quarters, you may be sure o'
that."
A bright-looking boy of some ten years was
sitting near by, hacking at a bit of pino with a
rusty jack-knife. The neAV-comer looked at him
ouvioußly, " That's not ytyur boy, Jako?"
Jake laugned. " I reckon not, I hain't a Yan
kee myself."
" And tho boy is. I kin see that stickin' out
plainer'n the nose on yer face." "Yes, and he's
got more grit'n most of em. Ef he hadn't he'd
a never been yere. He belonged to ono o' them
fellers we surprised doAvn at the Run. His fa
ther avus took prisoner and sent oil'to Richmond,
and some of us goin' next day by where the
campin' place had been, Aye found this yer boy
pretty bad Avounded too ; but he would git well,
and so avo let him, and yere he is on our hands,
as desperit a Yankee as you'll find. I kind o'
like him though."
"Gritty, eh?" said the man, stepping toAvard
the boy. "See yere, bubby, jest you say Hur
rah for Jeff Davis, or I'll put this through yo
quicker'n lightnin' ■!" flashing his SAVord in tho
boy's face.
The little felloAV was standing up by this time,
and his cheeks Avere Hushing. Ho looked at the
man an instant, perhaps he saw that he Avas
only trying to frighten him. Taking off his nig
ged hat, he sAVimg it over his head.
"Hurrah for the Stars and Stripes!" ho said,
in a loav voice, but firmly.
The man's face darkened. He looked as
thougn hoAvere going to striko him, but Rennan
interposed.
"Don't bother the boy; run away, Will."
Tho other man laughed. "I\A r asn't goin' to
touch him," ho said, and went doAvn the walk,
Jako following him, and standing somo mo
ments to talk Avitli him beyond the boy's hear
ing.
But Will had heard enough. Some poor fel-
I low was to bo waylaid that night and shot for I
his dispatches. Tho boy, yonng as he was, had
already experience in life beyond his years.
His father had been living South at the time
when the war broke out, and of a family of six
his father and he had alone escaped alive from
the persecution which raged round every Union
man. Three brothers ho had seen slain, and his
mother had died of grief. He had refused to
leave his father, and now here he was. He knew
what these men meant when they talked about
waylaying a courier. "If I wasn't such a little
boy," he thought, sadly, " I could do something:
I wonder if I couldn't any way. The man said
some time to-night, and I know whore the Forks
are. They'd kill mo though, if they caught me
at it." He wandered about, thinking it over,
anxious and unhappy all day.
When night came he complained of a head
ache, and made it an excuse to go to bed early.
Once in tho little room where he slept he raised
the window softly, and clambering out over a
roof beloAV, ho started off us fast as he could go
in the direction of the Forks.
They were all too busy getting Jake ready to
miss him; but ho feared lest they should discov
er his absence, and suspect where ho had gone.
Ilia heart beat fast as he Hew along tho road, and
lie imagined in every sound that ho heard Jake
upon his track.
He reached tho Forks, however, safely. Be
yond this point the road—rough and scarcely
more than a bridle-path before—dwindled and
diverged into various nearly undistinguishablo
ways.
It would not answer for him to remain here,
but whore to wait beyond? By which of these
scarcely percoptiblo ways avouKl tho expected
courier come ?
Fortuhately, about half a mile on the woods
Avero more open and the groAVth loav. Thero avus
a,high, bright moon. "If only Jake Avill stay
at tho Forks and watch," thought tho boy, as ho
ran again toAvard the more open ground. That
reached, he climbed a tree, and began his watch,
listening at the same time for Jake and his
men.
Not a very easy watch you may imagino that
—every young sense on tho alert, and so many
shadows among the scattering trees to delude his
eye.
Suddenly ho heard the tramp of a horse, and
almost instantly saw him—it must be he, he
thought—a man alone on horseback, and riding
at that pace.
Almost in tho same moment he imagined be
heard somo one approaching in tho opposite di
rection. Tho courier, if it were he, AA'as riding
unsuspiciously on, trusting perhaps to the speed
of the animal ho rode to take him past any dan
ger that lurked.
Will was coming down from his 2J ei 'eb as
quickly as 2)ossible. He was quite sure that Jake
and his men Avere waiting not far aAvay ; the
courier Avas riding on unconscious of it—passing

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