The new South. [volume], August 30, 1862, Image 1

About The new South. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1862-1867

Image provided by: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

                
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THE NEW* SOUTH.
Vol.1, No. 4. PORT ROYAL, S. C., SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1862. Price Five Cents.
THE NEW SOUTH.
Published every Saturday Morning by
JOS. H. SEARS, Proprietor.
Price: Five Cents Per Copy.
Advertisements, one dollar a line, each insertion.
' Terms: invariably cash.
OFFICE: Post Office Building, Union Square.
poetry!
The Partihg of Summer.
+ BY REV. T. L. IJARRIH.
S
The Summer fades; the autumn shades
Will, coldly, soou be here :
The fitful blast is whirling past
The sunset leaves and sere.
The birds of song, a sportive throng,
Have fled the treeless bowers.
*
As if they grew, when spring was new,
And perished with the flowers.
It is a time for thoughts that climb
The spirals of the sky,
Where hearts unfold, in joys untold,
And roses never die.
The airy flowers, that blest the hours,
With tints of summer bloom,
?
In silent grace, for upp?r space,
Have left their seeming tomb.
So heart, my heart, thy loves depart,
?ut only {leem to fail:
To Heaven tfcey rise, in fairer guise,
And over death prevail.
The Signal Department
One of our roost valuable auxiliaries, in the
present v.ar, is the admirable system of army signals
by which communication is opened and maintained
between portions of our forces?separated
from each other, by miles of land jmd water,?
with great facility.
In a hostile country like this, aiul upon ground j
such as wo occupy, where no ordinary telegraph ;
can bo very conveniently or safely laid, it is
invaluable.
Prior to the departure of the Expeditionary
^ corps, seven signal officers were selected to accom- i
pany it, and at Annapolis embarked. on board the !
flagship and the different transports assigned to ,
the Generals, thus establishing ready communica-!
tion between the commanding General and his!
subordinate Brigadier* and the Commodore of the ,
Squadron. Upon the voyage thoir services were
frequently- requireu, and during the storm which
cost us several transports and so greatly endangered
the entire fleet, they were found eminently
useful and advantageous.
After the capture of this place and the occupa-1
tiou of Beaufort, signal stations were established '
at Bay Point and Kane Island, and Beaufort and
Head Quarters were brought closely together.
Sometime afterwards a line was .opened to Duufuskie
Island and Walls Cut, and after the capture of
Fort Pulaski a signal officer was stationed there, so
that now, whenever the rain, about whose destructive
powers such varied information is gireu,chooses
to drop down the Savannah River, on her wav j
i
to attack ur, a soldier, standing upon the parapet
of the Fort, will wave a tlag over his head, in a
most mysterious manner, at the equally mysterious
orders of the signal officer, and long before she
clears Tybee, we shall know at Head Quarters that
i the Ram is coming, where she is, what she is like,
and such other information as it may be desirable
for us to know in order that we may receive her
in the proper manner. Such means of communi
cation are proof agaast "tapping and "cutting, ,
and stations can be moved at pleasure from one j
position to another. An officer takes his men, and
they their tiags, and mounting upon a house or
tree, or (which does not occnr here, where not j
even a hillock relieves the solemn and monoto- j
nous level) a mountain top, puts up a tlag and there ,
is a signal station. With a strong glass he can see
away oil'in the distance a dim speck, rising against
the sky, from some other prominent object, and
there is another signal station. Presently that
little speck?so dimly and faintly seen?moves a
little to the one side and then a little to the other,
and back again, and those two fellows set to work
talking to each other, with absolute correctness
and to any extent, and upon any subject that it may
be needful to talk about while one not initiated,
may gaze and peer until his eyes grow blind, without,
at such a distance, being able^Torthe life'of
him, to note to which side the Uag is moving, or
inueeu 11 it make any outer uiati me same regular
motion ail tlie time. IluJfcc w*ho eauie with thii
Expedition were the pioneers of a system tlut lia.s
worked a great change ill one ol those things,
greatly desirable, yet in which ail armies were sadly
deficient. Simple in its construction, it defies
all tests for solution, and is of the most comprehensive
character, rendering great service upon
the battle Held, where it is used to convey orders
or warnings, from the commanding office is, to col- j
urnns miles distant, or separated from him by impassable
obstacles?as also to direct the ffre of
eunboats or batteries .fip#n points not within their
? >
view. To such usee it lias beeu applied in this
Department upon several occasions with entire
success. Thoroughly tested, it has spread itself
over the whole army, and signal officers now accompany
every column. Some time ago the Navy
Department formally applied to have it introduced
into the Navy, and naval ollieers are now, we believe,
being instructed therein.
In selecting officers for this service, cool, clear
hearted, intelligent men are required, as it not unfrc(jiu
iitly happens that they are gi\ atly exposed, and
ur ii their coolness in transmitting, or their Jntelligciice#in
understanding, an order properly, may
dependthe safety and success of our forces.
The position of the signal-men we should scarcely
regard as a delightful one. Indeed, the station
at Elliott's Plantation?in the top of a high tree?
full sixty feet from the ground, affords rather a
disagree .ble idea of his duties. AVe have heard
of unfortunate travelers who haw been hung up
on pins around the walls of crowded country taverns,
hot sleeping in a tree-top is hardly a much
uiore desirable lodging. One who walked in hi *
sleep would do well to change his habits in that
r.spect, lest lie wake tip and find himself dead on
the ground in the morning. The breaking of a
nail, or the splitting of one of the little strips
nailed on the side of the tree, whieli form the ladder,
either of which may happen, would lead to other
"breakings ' much more serious. At Braddock*.*
Point, the station is located upon the hoitsc in
*
which John C. Calhoun lirst saw the light or day,
and in which a portion of his early life was spent.
Frequently, in after years, when his name stood
high upon the list of the great men of America,
he used to revisit the home of his childhood, as
though he found pleasure in its associations and
could there leave behind him for a time the busy
lifeofthe statesman and the politician.
Sensible of its usefulness, the Commanding General
has added to the original number of Signal
otiicers in this Department, by the detail and instruction
of others, taken from the different regi
nients of this command, and Wc liuvc now seventeen
officers, seven of whom arc First and ten
Second Lieutenants, and somewhat more than
double that number of enlisted men?of whom
three are Sergeants, six Corporals, and the remainder
Privates.
The names of the officers are as follows:
First Lieutenants?E. J. Kecnan, IT. L. Tatlt,
G. II. Hill, Win. Reynolds, Chas. L. Davis, O. II.
Howard, J. R. Findley. Second Lieutenants?II.
C. Snyder, F. E. Town, C. F. Cross, J. P. Rush by,
J. L. IlatHeld, J. C. Vidal, Paul llrodie, W. II.
Hamner, E. II. Hiekok, M. M. Fenner.
The Last Words (?f General AI'Cook.?There
is something sublime in the last words of the murdered
hero, General Robert AI'Cook?"i am dwrte
with life ; yes ?his ends it all. You and I part
now, but the loss of ten thousand lives such as yours
and mine would be nothing if their sacrifice would
but sac sadi a Government as vnrt.y These are
words worthy to be engraved on the heart of every
soldier in our army, of every scaraaa in our navy;?
I Hey air wormy 10 ue ireasureu upm mo memory ^
too, of every one who weeps at lioiue for the bravo
that return no more. Let them be repeated from ?
lip to lip around the camp fire where the soldiers
gather to speak of the past and to speculate upon
the future. Let them puss from mouth to mouth
when the serried rank., move forward to the field
of death. The sentiment is heroic; it will kindle an *
heroic llame in many a manly heart, and give ten
fold energy to many a stalwart arm. The life of
the brave, loyal soldier is precious beyond all price;
yet the sacred object for which it is sacrificed is vastly
more precious still. How the utterance of
such a sentiment from the pallid lips of the dying
he; o puts to shame the apathy of halfhearted
friends tu our glorious Government*?Albany
Journal. n ? '
Woman.?Place her among flowersj foster her
as a tender pla.it, and she is a thing of fancy, waywardness
and sometimes ljplly?annoyed ly a dew
drop, lreitcu i?y uie toil Jt 01 a uu.ioruv-s wing,
and ready to iaint at the rustle of a beetle; the
zephyrs are too rough, the showers too h; avy, and
she is overpowered by the perfume oft* rose-bud.
Hut let real calamity1 come, rouse her affections,
enkindle the lires of Uerhcxirtj and ma k her then
how her heart strengthens itse!f-plio\v sfcruug m Iier
purpose. L'iaee her in (hebfat of battle?give her
a child, a bird?anything she' fovea or pities, to
protect?and see her in a rehftfvc in*taftce, rnismg
her w hite arms as a shield, as bef own l>|ood.cruu-*s.
sons her upturned forehead, praying for !Ue. to * x
protect the helpless. .
Transplant her 111 thodnrk pl;mt*s of earth, an nli..r
i.ii..:- ri,.< r,? lUition. and tier luvath becomes
a healing, her presence a blessing. She <lls^uto^
inch by inch, the stride of the stalking pest Hence,
when man, the strong -and brrtvc, tj?rinks irtfav ' '
pale ami atfrighfed.. Misfortune haunts her not;
?he wears away a life ot silent endnrapec, audioes,
forward with less timidity than to her bridal, .fn
prosperity she is a bud full of- color*, waiting hnv
tor the winds of adversity to scatter fbfeoi abroad
?pure gold valuable, but untried in the in mace.
In short women is a miracle?a mystery, the
rent re from which rjuliatea the grout c hurra ei~
existence.
?Wh:i: is fikvi f?otn vol) before jt>u get n ,
Vour portrait. l\
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