PICKET LINES, BATTLES AND BATTLEFIELDS.
PICKET LINES.
A soldier placed on the picket line
Has a responsible duty to him assigned;
To perform this duty with judgment and skill
Requires nerve, pluck, brain and deliberate will.
He protects the main army back in the rear,
And watches each movement with trembling and fear;
If the enemy makes a hostile move he does not run
But warns his friends in the rear by firing his gun.
Then the pickets exchange some hasty shots,
Fall back in line and things get hot.
PICKET OR SCOUT.--Different phases of soldier life have been partially
explained, but the elements that enter into the make up or the
varied experience of the successful sharpshooter or scout are beyond
description. Take the foremost soldier in the army whose energy, pluck
and daring deeds of valor have aided him in forging his way to the
front, then add all the nerve, fearlessness, disregard of danger,
determination to surmount all obstacles and you get only a faint idea
of the sturdy firm, intrepid picket or scout, looking not for trouble
but for adventure. History often records raids made by such dashing
leaders as Jackson, Stuart, Morgan or leaders of that character with
picked men. Such leaders select from different commands men who have
passed through firey ordeals and have been weighed in the balance and
found not wanting. With such soldiers wonderful victories have been
achieved that would have been failures with a different class of men.
The common soldier on the skirmish line however courageous he may be
finds himself facing a problem that calls into play some traits of the
soldier that he does not possess. The picket lines were often very
close together, sometimes on friendly terms and sometimes hostile to
each other.
ON THE PICKET LINE.--In the night time the lines have been near enough
to hear pickets in the opposite line talking in a low tone, but usually
the lines were further apart. A very slight demonstration on the picket
line sometimes precipitated a fight. The sentinels on the lines of
the two armies were at one time respectively walking their beats on
opposite sides of the Rapahannock river in plain view of each other.
A sentinel on post on one of the lines playfully pointed his gun at
the sentinel on post opposite him on the other side and was at once
shot at by the sentinel, who took the matter seriously. There was
something doing along the line for a little while but the situation
was soon understood, the excitement subsided and the sentinels resumed
their places, walking their beats but refrained from quite so much
familiarity.
EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES.--Sentinels on post on the picket lines
representing the opposing armies often exchanged courtesies and
greetings and on the sly met between the lines, exchanged daily papers,
swapped tobacco for coffee, had a pleasant chat with each other and
returned to their respective posts with the kindliest feelings. The
following lines demonstrate or illustrate the friendly feeling that
prevailed among the soldiers of the two opposing armies.
“Good morning: Johnnie. Good morning Pat,”
Come across and we will have a social chat
We can be friendly loyal and true,
Although I wear the grey and you the blue.
I feel somewhat lonely walking my beat,
And to visit you would be quite a treat.
I will pledge my word upon the honor of a man
That I will come half way and treat you well as I can.
Your proposal seems very fair to me
Let us meet in the shade of that old oak tree.
The sentinels moved forward not in battle array,
But approached each other in a friendly way.
In consequence of the vigorous exercise walking their beats
They were much fatigued suffering with heat
Johnnie’s canteen was full of water cool as could be
Which he shared with Pat in the shade of the tree.
Pat smiling said it tastes like water from the lake
Away up North in Michigan State.
Then said in my canteen is some of the elixir of life
That will make us forget our sorrows and strife.
Will you not a little bit of it take
As Paul would say for your stomach sake,
Johnnie said thank you holding out an empty tin cup,
Which they filled with Southern water Northern sugar and other stuff,
Then of the mixture each one took a sup
Drinking out of the same tin cup,
It tasted pleasant and they repeated the dose
’Till they both felt gay and very jocose.
Finally conversation in a confidential channel did run
They talked of their home life both anxious to return,
Pat said he had a wife and children at his home near the lake
That were anxiously looking for him wishing for the war to break.
Johnnie showed the picture of a sweet looking girl,
That he declared was the sweetest best girl in the world,
Saying she lives in a cottage among the hills in a North Carolina home.
And will be true to me until I return.
When this cruel war is over I will be by her side
And claim a fulfillment of her promise to be my bride,
They were talking confidentially in this beautiful strain,
Commenting on their loved ones again and again.
Suddenly they heard the report of a signal gun
And to their respective posts did quickly run.
After the signal gun fired in a very short time
There was brisk firing all along the picket line.
At these two posts firing was rapid and sharp,
But the aim was above or below the mark,
Finally the pickets were ordered to fall back,
The two waved hands saying, “Good-bye Johnnie, Good-bye Pat.”
FEARFUL EXPERIENCE.--During the time of the engagements in the
wilderness a soldier on the picket line one night had a fearful
experience. The lines were very close and the sentinels on post had
strict orders to walk their beats, keep a sharp lookout and let no
one approach or cross the line without giving the countersign. It was
very dark and the thick underbrush made the darkness more dense. The
officers making their rounds were embarrassed not knowing how soon they
might march into the enemy’s lines. The sentinel quietly walking his
beat heard a soldier approaching and soon as he came near enough in as
low a tone as possible challenged him and asked for the countersign.
The soldier approaching apparently like the soldier on post was
uncertain whether he was in the presence of a friend or an enemy. In
an evasive way they made inquiries with a view of ascertaining each
others identity. Each one was afraid to fire on the other fearing
he would be firing on a friend instead of an enemy, knowing too that
the least disturbance would precipitate a movement of both armies and
perhaps cause a battle which in the darkness would have been horrible
to contemplate. Without understanding their true relationship to each
other, they simultaneously turned and walked in opposite directions and
to this day the soldier does not know whether he challenged a friend or
a foe.
BURNED BODIES OF THE DEAD.--To augment the horrors of the Wilderness
battles a fire broke out immediately following the retreat of the enemy
in an engagement and swept over the battlefield before the dead could
be moved. The picket line reconnoitering moving forward to discover
the position taken by the retreating army was obliged to run over the
crisp burned bodies of Yankee soldiers lying dead on the field. It was
an awful sight illustrating the horrors of war. The soldiers on the
picket line in consequence of the heat, smoke and stench were very
nearly overcome and were driven to the extreme necessity of drinking
the turbid waters of a ditch where dead bodies of Yankee soldiers were
lying very close.
TEST OF VALOR.--On the skirmish line was the place to test the real
powers of the soldier. In the Southern army were plain unassuming men,
without reward or the hope of reward, or even realizing that they
were doing anything extraordinary, that performed deeds of daring that
stamped them as heroes of the highest type.
ESCAPE OF THE ENEMY.--Near the close of the war an inducement was
offered by the Yankees to dissatisfied Southern soldiers to pass
through the lines, and occasionally a sentinel would leave his post
and with his gun and equipments make a dash for the lines on the other
side. As he approached the picket post on the other side the Yankee
sentinel would call out, “Come in Johnnie.” A few soldiers escaped
sometimes under the fire of sentinels at contiguous posts. While a few
citizens and soldiers crossed over the line but few joined the Northern
army.
WELCOME PEACE.--Soldiers on both sides were tired of war and welcomed
the treaty of peace, and were glad to return to their homes and again
engage in the quiet peaceful pursuits of life.
Four years of exposure suffering and strife
Ruined many a home and many a life,
At the end of the war many soldiers brave
Were peacefully sleeping in heroes graves.
ON THE WARPATH.--The campaigns of the civil war were generally
vigorously prosecuted in warm weather. In the good old Summer time
soldiers slept on blankets thrown on the ground with nothing but the
canopy of heaven as a covering, and then if they received marching
orders the boys had nothing to do but to take up their beds and walk at
quick step or if in case of urgent necessity at double quick time.
Often while sweetly sleeping not disturbed by the fear of Yankees
or anything else, the drum would beat and soldiers would be aroused
from sleep and then there would be something doing, and very soon the
command would be moving.
Though densely dark with no moon or star light,
The Southern boys were always ready for fight;
Although the Yankees did their methods despise,
They pounced upon them and took them by surprise.
UNRELIABLE SOLDIERS.--On the warpath the artful skulker did clever
maneuvering worthy of a better cause to sustain his position that for
plausible reasons he ought to be an immune and not required to join at
the critical time when the battle was on.
Soldiers destitute of principle, morals or brain
Upon the fair name of an army cast a stain.
An army made up of figureheads, thugs and bums,
To an intelligent force is obliged to succumb,
Fortunately the Southern army did not have many of this class, and the
few placed as they were among soldiers disposed to do their duty, were
obliged to take their places in line.
MUSIC IN BATTLE.--Before the beginning of hostilities the average
citizens were under the impression that soldiers marched into battle
to the tune of martial music and to cheer them on the drums would beat
and the bands play, but soldiers’ first experience convinced them that
a very different kind of music prevailed. It was the terrific sound of
bursting shells, the hateful, hissing, singing of minnie balls, mingled
with commands of officers occasionally heard above the din, and the
screams and groans of wounded and dying soldiers crying for help and
calling for water to quench their burning thirst.
Instead of selecting a certain soldier in the enemy’s line as a target
to shoot at, a soldier merely leveled his gun and fired at the line of
battle of the enemy, dimly seen through the smoke and dust, then loaded
his gun with another cartridge and repeated. In a hotly contested fight
soldiers often shot fifty rounds of cartridges and their guns got so
hot that they could scarcely grasp them with their hands.
BATTLES.--A succession of battles is by no means a monotonous
repetition. Each battle has its peculiar phases. A battle is often
an exhibition of the artistic skill of officers in arranging and
maneuvering, and of men carefully executing, and may be a trial of
physical endurance and the well trained handling of the weapons of
warfare used. In any event a battle is a spectacular scene imposing and
grand.
Opposing armies, on the warpath, require but little provocation to
induce them to get up a rumpus. Battles are by no means precipitated
in a uniform cut and dried way, but are brought about in as many ways
as there are battles fought. A single shot fired by a picket from his
post may cause the picket lines to exchange shots and fall back, and
the commands represented by them to settle the disturbance by engaging
in a battle. Cavalrymen sometimes make a raid and start a fight into
which the entire armies are drawn. Cannonading is a very common way
to start a fight. Sometimes a command is surprised by a detachment
from the opposite army and a battle ensues, and sometimes the armies
come together apparently without any preconcerted plan on either side,
simultaneously line up and get busy, with their work of carnage.
On the battlefield soldier life is delineated in its most revolting
phase. Two contending armies present a spectacle grand and awful to
contemplate. The surging masses of human beings intent on each others
destruction with the death dealing artillery with its terrific roar
and the more destructive missiles of small armies with their hateful
hissing sounds, together with the deafening cheers of the moving
armies, and the heartrending screams and moans of the wounded and dying
make the scene agonizing to the extreme. Two contending armies engaged
in battle present to the eye of the beholder an indescribable panorama.
Two contending: armies aligned for a fight
Present to the eye an imposing-sight,
When the pickets begin to exchange their shots,
The battle is on and soon gets hot.
With terrific noise of destructive shells
And hissing minnie balls and soldiers’ yells,
Such noise and confusion make a stunning din,
And in the smoke of battle there is a contest to win
The lines firm and steady throughout their length,
With stubborn persistence measure their strength.
Officers and men artful tactics display
Until one of the lines is forced to give way,
Charge after charge, Greek meets Greek,
The two contending armies in deadly strife meet.
The powers of the soldier both sides feel
As they force their way with steel against steel,
Or perchance one line or the other overpowered gives way,
And the contest is ended, the victors win the day.
The vanquished sometimes eager to be freed
Run for their lives in a disgraceful stampede.
BATTLE FIELDS.--Nature in some places has provided spots of ground
that answer the purpose of belligerent armies where one line has the
advantage of protection or shelter from the onslaughts of the other.
Where grounds have been selected not affording safe protection against
the invading force, soldiers are subjected to hard work throwing up
breastworks, digging intrenchments or placing abatis to entangle
the advancing army so as to detain it and shoot down the soldiers
while extricating themselves from the entanglement. Every device or
subterfuge that the fertile brain or imagination of man can discover
or invent is called into requisition to give an advantage considered
honorable in war. Sometimes though contending armies meet in open field
in plain view of each other and fight to the finish and retire from the
field leaving there a harrowing scene of suffering and destruction.
Sometimes soldiers engage in hand to hand encounters, display physical
force, power of endurance, and their expertness in handling the weapons
of warfare, sustained by indomitable courage and stubborn willpower.
AFTER THE BATTLE.--The heat and excitement of the battle having
subsided and the smoke cleared away, the battlefield presents a
harrowing scene that beggars description. The grim monster death
having done its terrible work leaves its impress on the faces of its
unfortunate victims. Passion, determination and conflicting emotions
plainly stamped on the faces of the victims now wrapt in the cold
embrace of death.
After the battle is over a survey of the field
Will melt a heart as hard as steel;
The wounded with heartrending screams and moans
And pitiful calls for loved ones at home,
Appeal to the sympathies causing one to grieve,
On account of being powerless the victims to relieve,
A quiet look at the faces of the dead
Fills ones soul with horror and dread.