My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field

em hurled down shells, and sent volleys of grape, which screamed above and around them like the voices of demons in the darkness. The branches of the trees were torn from their trunks by the s

and they would not give it up. So they braved the leaden rain and iron hail through the weary hours of that winter nig

and saw, in the dim light of the dawn, a man waving a white flag upon the intrenchments

es there?" sho

ith a letter for

lope, across the meadow, up to the house on the Dov

as there told me what they said. General Floyd and General Pillow blamed General Buckner for not advancing earlier in the morning, and for making what they thought a feeble attack. They could have escaped after they drove McClernand across the brook, but now they were hemmed in

ake another attack, and cut their

Yankees can turn my flank or advance directl

, and made a more vigorous attack, we should

er,-a middle-aged, medium-sized man. His hair is iron gray. He has thin whiskers and a moustache, and wears a g

e of success. The men are exhausted," said General Floyd,-a stout, hea

n, commanding the Twentieth Mississippi,-

ut the attempt would be attended with g

o pieces and demoralized, that I can

ey die," answered Major Brown

to cut its way through, and it is wrong to sacrifice three quar

such a sacrifice," said Major G

hat time we can get steamboats here to tak

hour, and the Yankees will renew the

urrender, for aught I

ed how he had stolen public property, while in office under Buchanan, and would rather die than to f

o be taken prison

do, gentlemen?"

over the command to General Pillow. I have a right to escape if I can, but I h

Pillow, who was also disposed to shirk responsibility and desert the men whom he

all upon the troops to make a useless sacrifice of life, and I will not desert the men who

gimental officers were astonished at the result. Some of them

cowardly!" "Floyd a

" "There is treac

t his men. If my troops are to be surrender

r meet him, I'll shoot him as quick as I wou

s at the Dover landing. He and General Pillow jumped on board one of them, and then secretly marched a portion of the Virginia brigade on board. Other sol

ed soldiers on the landing. So the man who had stolen the public property, and who did all he could to bring on the war, who ind

n armistice till twelve o'clock, and the appointment of commissioners to

surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immed

a few days before he had so forgotten those qualities of character, that he took some cattle from Rev. Mr. Wiggin of Rochester, Kentucky, one of his old acquaintances, and paid him with a check of three hundred dollars on the Southern Bank at Russelville. When Rev. Mr. Wiggin called at th

zing days gone by. The air was mild, and there was a gentle breeze from the south, which brought the blue-

and cheered. General Grant had moved his head-quarters to the steamboat Uncle Sam

trumpets! The soldiers marched proudly. The columns were winding along the hills,-the artillery, the infantry, the cavalry, with all their banners waving, and the bright sunshine gleaming and glistening on their bayonets! They entered the fort, and planted their standards on the embankments. The gunboats and the fiel

ying down, taking no notice of what was going on around them. They were prisoners of war. When they joined the army, they probably did not dream that they would be taken prisoners. They were to be victorious, and capture the Yankees. They were p

ragged. Some had old quilts for blankets, others faded pieces of carpeting, others strips of new carpeting, which they ha

but you outnumber

it was, if it hadn't been fo

Floyd and General Pillow esc

rels, if I could get a chance," said a fello

t to see another such day as yesterday," sai

do with us? Will he put

ou had not taken up arms against your count

am glad I am a prisoner. I sha'n't have to fight any more,"

n and sour, and there were others w

of the buildings. The soldiers had cut down the orchards and the shade-trees, and burned the fences. All was desolation. There were sad groups arou

d knapsacks. There were bags of corn, barrels of sugar, hogsheads

es and laying them side by side, to their last, long, silent sleep. I looked down the slope where Lauman's men swept over the fallen trees in their terrible charge; then I walked down to the meadow, and looked up the height, and wondered how men could climb over the trees, the stumps, the rocks, and ascend it through such a storm. The dead were lying where they fell, heroes every one of them! It

e action of Saturday he was shot through the arm. He went to the hospital and had it bandaged, and ret

o the hospital," sai

ttle. His soul was on fire to be there. He hobbled once more to the field, and went into the thickest of the fight, lying down, because he could not stand. He fought as a skirmisher

comrades carried him to the rear. An officer saw that, unless the blood was stopped, he never would

the Rebels out, and have got their trench; that's the most I care

ards the breastworks to try his hand upon the Rebel. They fired at each other again and again, but both were shrewd and careful. The Rebel raised his hat above the breastwork,-whi--z! The sharpshooter out in the bushes had put a bullet through it. "Ha! ha! ha!"

le and whirling back again. He rested his rifle upon the ground, aimed it, and lay with his eye along the barrel, his finger on

ment, and fell back lifeless. The unerring

lay on Saturday, in front of one of the Rebel batteries, and picked off the gunners. Two or three times the artillerymen tried to drive them out with shells; but

unding him in the back. I was very well acquainted with the Major. He lived in St. Louis, and had been from the beginning an ardent friend of the Union. He had hunted the guerillas in Missouri, and had fought bravely at Wilson's Creek. It is quite likely he was shot by an old e

by your men, their clothing stripped off of them, and their bodies exposed, without the slightest regard for common decency. Humanity has seldom marked your course whenever our men have been unfortunate enough to fall into your hands. At Belmont your authorities disregarded all the usages of civilized warfare. My officers were crowded into cotton-pens with my brave soldiers,

ly to make. He hung his he

Missouri, he told me a very good story. He said he was once riding in the cars, and that a very inquisitive man sat b

em for?" as

ing the bell, that people who may be on the carriage-road may l

s, I

le, with his lips working a

. I know that w-r-i-n-g spells ring, but for the life

It opened all the northwest corner of the Confederacy. It compelled General Johnston to retreat from Bowling Green, and also compell

ral Pillow had telegraphed on Saturday noon, as you remember, "On th

iked Pillow, but I forgive him now

e news. Pillow is giving the Yankees hell, and rubbing it in!"[6] It is a vile sentence, a

ers put out

!! Our Boys following and pepperin

urch. Services had hardly commenced, when a horseman dashed through the streets, covered with mud, and a

ldren ran here and there, not knowing what to do, imagining that the Yankees would murder them. They began to pack their goods. Carts,

eople crowded round the renegade officers, and called for a speech

sand of the enemy. But nature could hold out no longer. The men required rest, and having lost one third of my gallant force I was compelled to retire. We have left a thousand of the enemy dead on the field. General Johnston has not slept

thrown open to the poor people, who rushed pell-mell to help themselves to pork, flour, molasses, and sugar. A great deal was destroyed. After Johnston's army had crossed the river, the beautiful and costly wire suspension bridge which spanned it was cut down. It cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and belonged to the daughters of the Rebel General Zollicoffer, who was killed at the battle of Mill Springs in Kentucky. The Rebel officers undertook to

rejoicing. Everybody praised the brave soldiers who had fought so nobly. There were public

ng. Some stanzas were published in the Atlantic Monthly in Boston, w

dash the Atl

ur rock

nders dia

nd's glad

e prairies

oes of

at springs in

s thee, I

rs, when gra

h the unfli

remove the

and wait

ast, 'Now, la

ing host

'-the broken t

for Il

hy rampart

ng torre

e wall, the

Stripes

t mother's e

her gal

h Rock and

thee, I