his assistance." Saying that, Bee dismounted and led the 4th Alabama to Jackson's position. Other re-enforcements coming up a vigorous charge was made pressing the Federals back. In this charge Bee fell mortally wounded. Bartow fell nearly at the same time within a stone's throw of the same spot. Before the Federals recovered from the impression made by this partial repulse they saw Kirby Smith's men advancing down the Warrenton pike upon their right rear (as before stated), and his unexpected appearance in that quarter struck them with an overpowering panic and caused their precipitate retreat from the field. The battle ended so suddenly that the Confederates could neither understand nor scarcely believe it. BY THE CAMP-FIRE. BY MRS. S. D. HOBART. E meet in joy and gladness The chilling winter's night. Of camp-fires long ago. "Come!" rang from Freedom's watchtowers, And, answering to the call, You went, our manliest, bravest, Our light, our joy, our all, While mothers to their bosoms Their stripling first-born pressed, And whispered through their sobbing, "Dear land, we give our best !" Beneath the Southern star-beams, Of pickets, march, and fight. The songs that cheered the moments Ring down the aisles of time; No songs so thrill the soldier As their wild, pulsing rhyme. "Glory, Hallelujah! Pealed through the startled trees; "We're coming, Father Abraham !" "Our own brave boys are they !" And the song of "The girls at home!" Soon came the rude awak'ning; Startled, but undismayed, You heard through widening circles The furious fusillade. O'er wounded, dead, and dying, Amid the cannons' roar, Unwavering and unswerving, Fair Freedom's flag you bore. Oh! valiant, true, and steadfast, Through tempest, heat, and cold, Our country crowned you heroes, In those grand brave days of old. Though homesick, heartsick, weary, Daring the battery's breath, Your brave hearts never faltered While face to face with death. Then back from field and prison, Still through the rolling ages Shall brightly glow their fame; Still on our country's annals Their deeds of valor flame, And bands of patriot children, In spring-time's sunny hours, Shall rev'rent place above them Fair wreaths of spotless flowers. A PRESENTIMENT OF DEATH. C. M. BABBITT, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. WAS a member of Company E of the 37th Mass. Vols., and had a bunk mate by the name of James Perkins, who enlisted from the same town with myself (South Adams), who had a presentiment that he should be killed in the next battle our regiment was engaged in. After the battle of Chancellorsville we tried to argue him out of the idea, but he continued to assert that he knew he should be killed. On the night of July 1, and a portion of the day following, we were compelled to make a forced march of upwards of forty miles to reach Gettysburg for the action which occurred there. During the march my comrade James was so overcome with fatigue that he had to fall out of the ranks, and did not reach the battle field until a few minutes be fore the rebels opened their terrible fire on the 3d. Our regiment was ordered to re-enforce a point in the lines at double quick, and just as we were getting under way, James turned to me and said, "Charley, this is pretty tough, to nearly march your life out to get here to be killed." The words were scarcely spoken when a piece of shell struck him just over the right ear and passed through his head, coming out above the left eye, killing him instantly. I fell over his body as he was breathing his last. The next morning, with my comrades Baldwin and Pettitt, I helped to put him in a rude grave and mark a board with his name, company, and regiment, which afterwards led to his remains being placed in the National cemetery. NEWS AT THE CAPITAL FROM BULL RUN. How Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet Received the Defeat. BY WILLIAM B. WILSON. to NE of the most illustrious groups brought together during the war with the South, was one which gathered in the War Department at Washington on the beautiful Sunday which witnessed the tragedy at Bull Run. The group was composed of President Lincoln, William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, Salmon P. Chase, Gideon Welles, and Edwin Bates of the Cabinet; Colonels Townsend, Van Rensselaer, Hamilton, and Wright of General Scott's staff; General Mansfield commanding the defenses at Washington, and Col. Thomas A. Scott, of Pennsylvania. With maps of the field before them they watched the conflict of arms as it progressed. The military telegraph, which had not yet reached the efficiency which afterward characterized it, extended only to Fairfax Court House, from which point General McDowell kept the authorities advised of his movements. Hour after hour the couriers reported our gallant troops steadily forcing the enemy back. A dispatch had been received from General Patterson the evening before, announcing that Johnston had eluded him, but the possibility of Johnston's forming a junction with Beauregard that day was not thought possible. The day passed quietly, all looking forward with absolute confidence to McDowell's success. Up to half past three o'clock in the afternoon, advices from McDowell were frequent, the dispatch at that hour indicating that he was pressing Beauregard back to the Junction. From then until the shades of evening, an ominous silence settled on the telegraph. Conversation took a speculative turn on the cause of the sudden cessation of information from the field, but the general opinion was that McDowell, flushed with victory, was too busily engaged in securing its fruits to write dispatches. As time wore on, speculation gave way to impatience, until the throbbing instrument broke the long silence saying, "Our army is retreating." There was no consternation, and but a feeble ripple of excitement. Whatever may have been the feelings and thoughts of these gentlemen they kept them closely veiled. Mr. Seward smoked on, but the days of his prophecy were ended. Col. Thomas A. Scott, turning to General Mansfield, said, "General, it would be well to man your fortifications and stay this retreat," and then left the department with the purpose of holding a consultation with General Scott. ARMY TEAMSTERS. RMY teamsters were never appre2 ciated at their true value by soldiers in the field, for it was the general opinion that "any fool can drive mules." Those who tried the experiment found the teamster's office not a sinecure. The successful handling of six stubborn, pugnacious brutes required a degree of patience, skill, and will power only developed by long experience. When the roads were dry and even, wagon driving was a pastime, but when the trains reached the mountain passes, or the roads became seas of mud, then the task was no joke. Mud, three feet deep, as tenacious as stiff clay could make it, rendered the movement of wagons and artillery a difficult operation. The wheels were solid disks of mud, and the labor for both men and animals was multiplied four-fold. Then the genius of the teamster was manifested. With an inexhaustible vocabulary of oaths at command, and armed with a formidable snake whip, both were used with startling and telling effect. The air, blue with shocking profanity, and the huge whip whistling cruelly on the backs of the quivering brutes, gave them new strength, and the mired vehicle soon emerged from its muddy bed. It was a leading article of faith among teamsters that mules could only be driven by constant cursing, and they lived up to that belief with rare constancy. An attempt to drive a team of mules without indulgence in profanity invariably proved a failure, because the animals had become so accustomed to that method of persuasion that they would not move without it. Teamsters, as a class, were brave and untiring in their peculiar sphere of duty, but they got very little credit from the rank and file, being generally looked upon as men who were unwilling to fight. They could fight, however, for the teamsters frequently saved their trains from capture by stubborn resistance when attacked. Every wagon carried a loaded musket and the weapons were often used with deadly effect. Many a brave mule driver died like a hero in defending the property intrusted to his charge, though there was seldom any record of such bravery. To see an ordnance train gallop upon a battle field was an exhilarating sight, for the teamsters were then in their glory. Coming up on a trot the wagons wheeled into line as cleverly as if the men were moving field pieces into position, and the mules strained every muscle and obeyed every command with remarkable docility. D KINDNESS NOT FORGOTTEN. Maj. Burke and the 6th Mass. Regt. URING the war Major Burke, of New Orleans, was in command of a detachment that captured a part of the 6th Mass. Regt. He treated the prisoners as kindly as circumstances would permit, and parted from them with expressions of courtesy and regret. Years passed and he heard not a word from any of them. But at the time of the great flood, when Southern Louisiana lay prostrate and helpless under the sweep of turbulent waters, Major Burke, as chairman of the relief committee, received a dispatch from Boston, authorizing him to draw at sight for $10,000. This was one of the earliest responses to the pitiful cry that had gone up from a stricken community for help, and it touched and encouraged the major and his associates. Two hours later came another dispatch from Boston "draw for another $10,000," and in a few hours came a third dispatch donating another $10,000. With these dispatches came the statement: "The 6th Mass. remembers the kindness of Major Burke." AN ANECDOTE OF "JEB" STUART. By General Longstreet. EB STUART was a very daring fellow, and one of the best cavalry men America ever produced. At the second Manassas, soon after we heard of the advance of McDowell and Porter, Stuart came in and made a report to General Lee. When he had done so, General Lee said he had no orders at that moment, but he requested Stuart to wait a while. Thereupon Stuart turned round in his tracks, lay down on the ground, put a stone under his head, and instantly fell asleep. General Lee rode away, and in an hour returned. Stuart was still sleeping. Lee asked for him, and Stuart sprang to his feet and said, "Here I am, General." General Lee replied, "I want you to send a message to your troops over on the left to send a few more cavalry over to the right." "I would better go myself," said Stuart, and with that he swung himself into the saddle and rode off at a rapid gallop, singing as loudly as he could, "Jine the cavalry.” |