CLARENDON.
|A flag of truce came during the evening, but was not admitted. The
bearers were informed that the dead were being buried by our own men,
and the wounded receiving every attention. The next morning another
flag of truce came, and as there was no good reason for it, the general
naturally suspected that it was a pretext to learn something about our
forces and position.
He admitted the bearers of the flag, and kept them inside his lines all
day, so that anything they might learn by the use of their eyes would
not be of any advantage to their side. The suspicion that the burial of
the dead and the care of the wounded was not the real cause of the visit
was strengthened by the inquisitiveness of some of the men, and the fact
that one of them was discovered making notes of certain conversations
when he thought he was not observed.
Harry was the discoverer of this note-taking, and reported the
circumstance to General Vandever.
“If that's what they're after,” remarked the general, “we 'll give'em
all they want.”
So he had the visitors transferred from the tent where they were at
the time, and placed in a room in one of the outbuildings not far away.
There was another room in the same building, and the partition between
the two was full of cracks, so that conversation could be heard with
ease from one room to the other.
The general instructed Harry as to what he was to do, and then he went
with his adjutant and two or three other officers to the room adjoining
the one where the truce-bearers were held.
“Here we can talk without being disturbed,” said the general. “My
orderly knows where I am, and if I'm wanted he 'll call me.”
Everything was perfectly still in the adjoining room, and it was evident
that the men there were using their ears to the best advantage.
“Now,” said the general, “to begin with, I suppose you don't understand
why we're marching south and along the White river.”
There was a pause, and then he continued:
“We're not strong enough to go to Little Rock now,” he said; “but the
thirty-five thousand men with ninety-two pieces of artillery that will
join us in the next week will put us on the offensive, and then Little
Rock must look out.”
“How are we going there?” queried one of the officers. “General Curtis
told me this morning that we should go across the country to within
about thirty miles of Little Rock, or perhaps twenty miles, and there he
should divide the force. Two-thirds of it will cross on pontoons, which
are being brought along by the new army, and there will be enough of
them to lay three bridges over the river at once. While they oppose us
at one place we 'll get over at another, and in three hours the entire
force for that side will be safely landed. Then they 'll go to the
rear of Little Rock and lay siege to it, while the other third of our
strength will fire away at it from the other side of the river. There
will be four batteries of heavy siege-guns playing on the town all at
once, and they are bringing two thousand shells loaded with Greek fire
to burn up every house in the place if necessary. Twenty-four hours will
be allowed for sending out women, children and other non-combatants, and
then the battle will begin.”
“But won't they be likely to interrupt us on the way with General Rust's
army and other troops they can get together?”
“They may try, but it 'll be bad for'em,” was the reply. “The government
has sent us some of the new shells invented by a Yankee somewhere in
Massachusetts, that have done wonderful work in Virginia.”
“What are those? I haven't heard of them.”
“Well, we've been keeping it pretty quiet,” was the reply, “as we don't
want the rebels on this side of the Mississippi to find it out if we can
help it. These new shells are loaded with a composition that spreads out
when it explodes, and kills everybody within twenty yards. It's a secret
composition, and the government pays fifty dollars for each shell the
inventor delivers, and he guarantees that if two of these shells are
fired where there is a regiment, it will kill every man in it. They are
not wounded at all, but just fall down as though struck by lightning.
Here's an account of what they 'll do.”
The general took a document from his pocket, and pretended to read a
wonderful story of how the entire garrison of a rebel fort on the James
river was killed by one of these new-fangled shells, which had been
dropped into it from a mortar fully a mile away. He told his friends
they must keep the matter secret, as it was known only to General Curtis
and a few of his higher officers, and they were particularly desirous
that the information should n't leak out. “There 'll be three hundred of
those shells,” said he, “and half of them will be enough to kill all the
rebels in Arkansas.”
Then he went on with other wild yarns with the utmost seriousness, and
at length was interrupted by Harry, who delivered some despatches
just received by General Curtis from General Halleck and brought by
a courier, who came through from Helena in disguise. They announced a
great victory for the union army in Virginia, the imminent capture of
Richmond, the surrender of a large part of Lee's army, together with
other bits of information that would have been highly important if true.
When it was thought that the eavesdroppers had been properly “loaded,”
as the general expressed it, the party retired, and the flag-of-truce
bearers were left to ponder on what they had heard. In the afternoon the
army moved forward to take up a new camp, and when the column was
under way--in fact after the greater part of it had marched off--the
truce-party was released and allowed to go back to its own camp.
The seed was sown on good ground. There was great alarm through the
rebel ranks at the new terrors in store for them, and in spite of all
the vigilance of the commanders, there were numerous desertions daily.
The more intelligent among the officers had a suspicion that the
eavesdroppers had been hoaxed, but they were powerless to stop the
spreading of the reports, which grew in horror as they passed from mouth
to mouth. The wonderful shells which could sweep off so many men “as
though they had been struck by lightning” disturbed the dreams of many a
soldier of Arkansas or Texas, and were not often out of his thoughts in
his waking hours.
Very soon after this event the rebels abandoned Des Arc, and
concentrated in the capital or around it. Earthworks were thrown up to
defend the city against the threatened attack, and so much attention was
paid to Little Rock that all other parts of the state were practically
deserted.
And those wonderful shells are yet resting in the brain of the man who
invented them. Perhaps they will be developed in some future war.
It is well to remark at this point that the trick which was played on
the flag-of-truce bearers is by no means a new one, though it was new
enough on that occasion. It was played several times by both sides
during the war; but its most successful performance was by Stonewall
Jackson in one of his campaigns in the Shenandoah valley.
Several captured union officers were under guard in a house in
Winchester, and expected to be sent to Richmond and locked up in
Libby prison. General Jackson had a council of war with his division
commanders in a room adjoining the one where the officers were confined,
he gave his orders with great exactness, told where each division was
to march, and sent the commanders away one after another to get his
force in readiness. They were to advance on the union position and give
battle, and everything was prepared with the utmost care.
Then he asked his adjutant-general when he had sent the prisoners to
Richmond.
“They have n't been sent off yet, General,” was the reply. “But we 'll
start them soon after daylight. General Stuart said his cavalry must
rest till then.”
“If they have n't gone now,” said the general, “you'd better parole them
and send them down the valley. Let them start immediately, so that they
'll be well out of the way before we begin our advance.”
With this the general went out and was soon followed by the adjutant.
In fifteen minutes an officer came to take their paroles, and they were
escorted to the union lines by a flag-of-truce party. As they passed
through the town they saw that preparations were going on for a
movement, and when they got within their own camp they of course told
what they had heard.
Of course their information was valuable, and preparations were at once
made to resist the advance. Hour after hour passed away waiting for
Stonewall Jackson, but he did n't come. All those hours he was marching
the other way as fast as possible, and executing one of those movements
for which he was famous. He suddenly appeared at a point where he was
least expected, and then it was realized that his talk in hearing of the
prisoners was all a ruse.
For the rest of the way to Clarendon General Curtis met with no
opposition other than that caused by trees felled across the road. It
had been reported that a gunboat and two transports with supplies had
reached Clarendon and were waiting for him, and he was very desirous
of finding them. The rumor passed along the lines that transports and
supplies were at hand, and so the soldiers pushed vigorously on to that
point.
They reached Clarendon on the afternoon of the ninth of July, and were
bitterly disappointed. The gun-boat and transports had been there and
waited a while, but as they could get no tidings of the whereabouts of
General Curtis, and the rebels were said to be mustering in force for
their capture, it was considered prudent to retire. The transports had
been gone about twenty hours when the advance of the column arrived,
and with them the supplies that had been so anxiously desired. Truly the
army seemed to have been deserted in the wilderness.
From all that could be learned there was no enemy between Clarendon and
the Mississippi, the nearest point of which was about sixty miles away.
There might be a few straggling bands of bushwackers, but nothing that
could make any serious opposition. But sixty miles is a long distance in
a strange country, and when provisions are running short.
The inhabitants of Clarendon were much like those of Batesville and
Jacksonport, thoroughly secession in their sympathies, and wondering
when the war would end, so that they might get their cotton to market.
They had very little to sell in the way of provisions, as they had been
pretty well cleaned out by their own government; but the usual foraging,
in which Harry and Jack took a prominent part, served to bring many
things edible to light.
Most of the able-bodied men were away at the war, leaving behind only
the aged and the boys who were too young for service. Among those who
remained was a lawyer, a dignified and red-nosed citizen of some sixty
or more years, who demanded audience with General Curtis, in order to
prove to him that he had no constitutional right to invade the State of
Arkansas!
[Illustration: 317]