Going into Battle -- Letter to the Secesh -- General
Garfield, Major-General Rosecrans's Chief of Staff --
General Lew Wallace -- The Siege of Cincinnati -- Parson
Brownlow -- Colonel Charles Anderson.
GOING INTO BATTLE.
Many wonder if men wear their coats and knapsacks, and carry blankets,
when going into battle. That depends upon circumstances. Sometimes,
when marching, they find themselves in battle when they least expect
it. Upon such occasions, soldiers drop every thing that is likely to
incommode them, and trust to luck for the future.
Many wonder if regiments fire regularly, in volleys, or whether each
man loads and fires as fast as he can. That, also, depends upon
circumstances. Except when the enemy is near, the regiments fire only
at the command of their officers.
You hear a drop, drop, drop, as a few of the skirmishers fire,
followed by a rattle and a roll, which sounds like the falling of a
building, just as you may have heard the brick walls at a fire.
Sometimes, when a body of the enemy's cavalry are sweeping down upon a
regiment to cut it to pieces, the men form in a square, with the
officers and musicians in the center. The front rank stand with
bayonets charged, while the second rank fires as fast as it can.
Sometimes they form in four ranks deep--the two front ones kneeling,
with their bayonets charged, so that, if the enemy should come upon
them, they would run against a picket-fence of bayonets. When they
form this way, the other two ranks load and fire as fast as they can.
Then the roar is terrific, and many a horse and rider go down before
the terrible storm of leaden hail.
LETTER TO THE SECESH.
My Dear Rebs: Having just learned that Vicksburg has gone up--Port
Hudson caved--Jackson surrendered--Bragg unwell--I thought I would ask
you a few questions, for instance:
How are you, any how?
How does "dying in the last ditch" agree with your general health?
How is the Constitution down your way?
Do you think there is any Government?
How is King Kotting?
Is Yancey well and able to hold his oats?
Has Buckner taken Louisville yet?
I understand Tilghman _has quit_ hanging Union men.
Is Floyd still _rifling_ cannon, and other small arms?
How is the Southern heart?
Are you still able to whip five to one?
What is your opinion of the Dutch race?
When will England and France recognize you?
What have you done with the provisional government of Kentucky?
Where is the Louisville-Bowling-Green-Nashville-Atlanta _Courier_
published now? Say--
What do you think of yourselves any how?
A prompt answer will relieve many anxious hearts.
Yours, in a horn,
A Lincoln Man.
GENERAL GARFIELD, MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS'S CHIEF OF STAFF.
The rather brilliant career of the General is worthy of a more
extended notice than I have room for.
General Garfield was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. It is
said that, in his early love of freedom, he formed a strong attachment
for horses, and, to gratify this feeling, he ran away from home and
became a driver on the canal. Possessing remarkable endurance, and
great strength, with no small amount of combative spirit, he soon
became a "shoulder-hitter," whipping all opponents who were any way
near his own age, and becoming a terror to the quarrelsome rowdies who
had previously ruled the ditch.
During the hight of his wild career he attended a revival meeting,
became converted, found new and wealthy friends, who supplied him with
funds to attend college, and, in 1856, he graduated at William's
College, Massachusetts, with the highest honors.
Returning to Ohio, he at once settled as a clergyman and president of
the college at Hiram, Portage County. He here became very popular as
an eloquent divine, as a lecturer before lyceums, and as a profound
scholar. The success of his school was without a precedent. Two years
ago he was elected, by an immense majority, as a member of the State
Senate. At the first call for troops, he at once entered the field,
and rallied round him some of the ablest boys to be found in the
State.
General Garfield is what would be called, by ladies, a really handsome
man; has large, blue eyes, an expressive mouth, the outlines of which
denote good nature. It was prophesied at once, after his enlistment,
that, "Let Rev. Mr. Garfield have a chance at the rebels, and he would
die in the field, or win a victory." He has, at all times, so far,
been on the winning side.
Humphrey Marshall--the barn-door of the Southern Confederacy--it is
said, once beat General Garfield, during the early Kentucky campaign.
Marshall was in a trap, and, wanting a little time, called upon
Garfield with a white flag, who was commanding a brigade, and asked--
"Is there no way to settle this without fighting?"
"No, sir," said Garfield, "none but to fight--_somebody_ has got to
get hurt."
But Marshall didn't see it in that light--retired to consult--and, in
the mean time, beat a hasty retreat, and thus beat _Garfield_.
GENERAL LEW WALLACE.
General Lew Wallace was formerly colonel of the 11th Indiana
(three-months men,) known as Zouaves, who were noted for their daring
bravery and dash. When the regiment returned to Indiana to be
reorganized for the war, General Wallace remained quiet a few days,
when the trouble in Missouri aroused his energies, and he issued a
spirited call to his fellow-citizens, which was responded to with the
greatest enthusiasm. They flocked to his standard, and were sent to
the Department of Missouri, and thence to Paducah, after which he was
promoted to a generalship in the division of General C. F. Smith.
General Wallace made himself a legion of friends in his able
management of affairs during the memorable siege of Cincinnati by the
rebels. At a public meeting in Columbus, Ohio, a _Flagg_ was raised,
and the following war poem recited:
THE SIEGE OF CINCINNATI.
Who saved our city, when the foe
Swore in his wrath to lay it low,
And turned to joy our tears of woe?
Lew Wallace.
Who taught us how to cock the gun,
And aim it straight, and never run,
And made us heroes, every one?
Lew Wallace.
And told us how to face and wheel,
Or charge ahead with pointed steel,
While cannon thundered, peal on peal?
Lew Wallace.
Who, when all in bed did sleep,
About us watch and ward did keep,
Like watch-dog round a flock of sheep?
Lew Wallace.
Who made us all, at his commands,
With fainting hearts and blistering hands,
Dig in the trench with contrabands?
Lew Wallace.
Who would have led us, warriors plucky,
To bloody fields far in Kentucky?
But Wright said, No!--and that was lucky?
Lew Wallace.
Who sat his prancing steed astraddle,
Upon a silver-mounted saddle,
And saw the enemy skedaddle?
Lew Wallace.
And who, "wha hae wi' Wallace" fed,
On pork and beans and army bread,
Will e'er forget, when he is dead,
Lew Wallace?
PARSON BROWNLOW.
The Knoxville _Register_ thus laments the release of the Parson from
the prison of that city:
"In brief, Brownlow has preached at every church and school-house,
made stump-speeches at every crossroad, and knows every man, woman,
and child, and their fathers and grandfathers before them, in East
Tennessee. As a Methodist circuit-preacher, a political stump-speaker,
a temperance orator, and the editor of a newspaper, he has been
equally successful in our division of the State. Let him but once
reach the confines of Kentucky, with his knowledge of the geography
and the population of East Tennessee, and our section will soon feel
the effect of his hard blows. From among his own old partisan and
religious sectarian parasites he will find men who will obey him with
the fanatical alacrity of those who followed Peter the Hermit in the
first Crusade. We repeat again, let us not underrate Brownlow."
The gallant Colonel Charles Anderson, of the 93d Ohio, in a speech in
Columbus, said:
"The South laugh at the little shams of the hour with which they
agitate us; but their purpose is deep and dark. They mean to carry
out their system of 'oligarchy' at whatever cost. Looking upon slavery
as I now do, having seen it from every side, and knowing that the
South intend the destruction of this Union--were I to stand before the
congregated world, I would declare it--I will hew slavery from crest
to hip, from hip to heel, and cut my way through white, black, and
yellow--nerve, muscles, bone--tribes and races, to the Gulf of Mexico,
to save the Union."