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The knapsack. [volume] (Gauley Bridge, W. Va.) 1863-1863, October 08, 1863, Image 1

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I H E
_ORGAN OF THE FIFTH VA VOL INFANTRY, U.S.A.
Vo1, ^_Gauley Bridge, West Va, Thursday, Oct 8,1863. No. 6.
— I ft— i——■g«—;———— - _
For the Knapsack.
"GAY AND BAPFY.”
®lda at .home are gay and happy.
Showing we have a woman's pride.
We’ll not wed % home-sick coward,
lh4 wait and be a soldi tx’» bride.
G*y and happy ; hear the answer :
None but fools got marrid now ;
Valliunt men have ail enlisted,
And to cowards we'll not bow.
We'er the girls so gay and happy.
Waiting lor the end of strife.
Better share a soldier’s rations
Than to be a coward's wife.
For the gay and for the happy
We’re as constant as the dove ;
But the man that dare not soldier
Never can obtain our love.
P sc T UNION.
Feaieie Mills, Iowa.
lECISTOR/X’
or THE
Fifth Regiment Va. Vol Inf’ty.
[continued from no. fk]
citizen render, I mean, you may
unagiue that it would be an easy Matter
for the pursuing a. my to destiny the pur
sued. You have heard men who never
saw a battle-field, and never will nnless
forced to it, talk of the failu.e of this Gen
eral or the incapacity of that one ; who
cam Quark ofl; on the floor with a piece of
charcoal, the positions of the armies, and
explain, satisfactorily to themselves, ex
actly how the rebel army can be captured,
and areg surprised at the ignorance of the
Federal; Generals fur not seeing through
it at once. You have seen young men
with a few straggling, sickly hairaon their
upper lip, (they call it moustache,) with a
snow-white shirt-bosom* (the wash-woman
draws “destitute” rations f.-oro the Gov
ernment,) with a head that Napoleon would
never mistake tor ms marshals—you have
heard these poor, pitiable, contemptible
tilings explain how they would they would
have captured Lee and his army; how
Vicksbu g might have been taken long
before it was ; and wherein General Rose
•rans made a great failure at Chickamau
ga. The opiniona-of all. such men are be
neath the contempt of the soldier, »nd
ought to he sneered at by the sensible cit
ieetu Soldiers say hut tittle about the
qualifications-oil their Generate; all they
ask is to know their orders. Citizens, es
pecially those who have not the courage to
tight, have no right to an. opinio* regard*
ing an officer,—not that any officer should
not be held to a strict accountability for
all. his acts, and that he should be justly
criticised for hie Cailu.es; but this-criti
ci»a» should be made by hie superior! and
not by men who are as ignorant of an of
ficer's duties as any dumb animal in the
field. Any number of Major Ueneralamay
be found, in the ciaic ranlta who* accord
ing to then-opinions, could have wiped the
rebellion from. existence in a short time
had. an/opj>ortunity been given them Un
fortunately for the government, it has not
availed itself of the services of these Caesar*.
If, then, you have formed any opinion of
tfae cajWcity of any officer from what yew
have heard f.-om such sources as we have
descrided, we advise you to keep your
— epinioas to yourself Experience wiH
prove*to your entire satisfaction, bow Ut
tie you can leAca of war except by ups-1
rience. A few days’ march, with a mus
ket on his shoulder, will cure any soap
lock of his pretensions to military skill.—
All those who can’t understand why Fre
mont failed to capture Jackson might have
gathered some reliable information had
they been with the army, and such infor
mation as they are not likely to obtain.
Although in our pursuit we took, accord
ing to Gen. Fremont’s report, about 1,000
prisoners who had given out or skulked out
and straggled behind, yet Jackson.s army
was under most excellent discipline. The
rebels consider it the best Corps in their
army, and there is no doubt that it de
serves the praise.
In his retreat. Jackson destroyed every
bridge and culvert on the road, and every
thing else which would, in the least, re
tard our prog; ess.
He placed Ashby, with his cavalry brig
ade and a battery, in the rear to cover his
retreat. A better man could not have been
selected. He had pe formed that part on
p evious occasions and was eminently
qualified for the task. At every goed de
fensive point, he would draw ns his men
in line, plant his battery,- and, as our cav
al T advanced, commence a vigorous fight.
By the time our cavalry would get into line
and a regiment or two of infantry would
come to their support, Jackson’s trains
would have gained some distance, Ashby
would limber up his guns and leave. If
his position wa$ coveied by woods, these
woods had to be skirmished which requir
ed an hour or two, by which time Ashby
had taken another position a few miles
fui-ther on.
Irom Strasburg to Harrisonburg the in
cidents of one day weie but the repetition
of the p-eceeding except a terrible hail
storm at Woodstock, a repetition of which
was, by no means, desirable.
“A Steak of Chivalry.”—One of the most
inhuman acts that has been perpetrated
since the war commenced, was attempted
to be carried out by the rebels on the
aight of the evacuation of Fort Wagner.
According to the st^ement of a wounded
man, discovered in the boom proof, he had
been lying in a dying condition for four
days. The rebels refused to give him even
a swallow of water to quench his thirst,
and told him when they left that he could
not possibly live, and bad better, before
dying, do as much for the cause as lay in
his power. That be might benefit by this
advice, they placed in his hand a string at
tached to a fuze communicating with the
magazine before alluded to, with instruc
tions to pull it when the fort was well fill
ed with Yankees, and so send them all
himself include-d, into eternity. But the
wounded rebel, aft hough almost dead when
our men entered the fort; had a faint liope
that perhaps he might live if properly at
tended, and gave that as a reason for not
putting the string. He waa taken to an am
bulance, and died while being conveyed
to the hospital.
19* The other day, a friend wishing io
teach my little three-year old Susie the
hymn beginning : “I want to be an f ngel,"
told her to repeat the first line, when she
looked up, and with animation exclaimed:
“Ns, I don’t; I want to be a soldier.”
HT The elttms against the city of Hew
York for damages dose by the mob now foot
np to more than one million of dollars Verily,
those copperhead* are expensivepsta
CT<Tt. mja——
INCIDENTS.
^herc arc very many incidents in the history
of the Vth Virginia which are worth calling to
mind, and may be remembered with pride and
pleasure. I remember one, the particulars of
which would probably occupy too much span#
for the history.
Early in May, 1862, our regiment was at Pe
tersburg, in Hardy county, on the way to rein
force Gen. Milroy,then in a tight {>lace in High
land county, sixty miles distant. We were on
the north side-of the South Branch of the Poto
mac, and-must cross the river to get to Frank
lin. The recent rains had swollen that stream
so that it appeared impassable. We were then
under the command of Gen. Schenck. On tha
morning when we were to leave, the General
was down to examine the crossing. The river
was deep and swift, the bottom very rocky, and
it did not look as though a brigade could cross
at all, certainly not without serious loss of bag
gage and government animals, and perhaps of
the lives of some of the men. The General de
cided that we must wait one day, when the
crossing would) be more practicable. Our ener
getic Colonel, £eigler, waited upon the General
and told hiin many of his “boys” were rafts
men, usedfro high waters, a go-ahead crowd
any how ,fand begged pcrmiMign-to attempt tho
crossing He assured the General that
j he really believed he could cross with his regi
ment and train. The General replied that if
the crossing could be effected it would be of a
good deal of importance, and if Ool. Zeigler
felt sure he could make it, he might go ahead.
The Colonel gave the order and his men cm go
ahead. It. was a dangerous crossing, but by 4
o’clock that day the regiment and train were
all over, with the loss only of one wagon and
part of the harness. The wagon-master, Jo.
Shepard, came near being drowned in his efforts
to save the wagon, but after swimming under
water between the horses' legs and through the
wagon wheel, he came out right side up. We
were followed rapidly by the balance of the
brigade, and the next day were all on the march
towards Franklin.
DuBeck’s battery was in our brigade. Du*
Beck had a fine lot of high-spirited horses.—
When the first gun was in the middle of the
river, the rough bottom and swift torrent ren
dered the horses unmansgesble, two were drown
ed snd the others cut loose and taken ont, and
the splendid 12 pdr. was left in the river. None
of the officers could tell what should be dons
except to abandon the enterprise for the day or
until the water had fallen. The 5th was biv
ouacked on the other side ; they saw the em
barrassment of the officers, and • number of
Co B. boys with s shout rushed into the stream,
hanging by » rope to support themselves in the
swift enrrent, attached the rope to the gun and
in five minutes had it safely on dry land. This
decided the work of the day. The General
concluded to get all over at once, and the col*
umn waa in motion twenty-four hours sooner
than it would have been but for the prompt and
energetic work of the Fifth Va. And it was,
without any doubt, the promt efforts of thia reg
iment that saved Oen Milroy. He waa in a
eritvieal situation, and if the reinforcement had
been ten hoars later he end his whole Command
would doubtleae have been captured C. B.

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