Guarding Davis at Fortress Monroe. CHAS. S. TRIPLER, 12th U. S. Infantry. N 1865 I was first lieutenant in the 12th United States Infantry, and, in the absence of my captain, commanded Company E of the 1st battalion of that regiment. Early in October I was ordered to Fortress Monroe, and reported for duty to Gen. N. A. Miles. My rank as lieutenant subjected me to detail as officer of the guard, and, as such, I had for the twenty-four hours of my detail immediate charge of our distinguished prisoner, my orders being "not to allow him out of my sight during my tour of duty." Mr. Davis was confined to a room in Carroll Hall, which was designed as quarters for lieutenants entitled to two rooms only, so all the rooms, except the mess hall and library, are in suites of two rooms each. The doorways were all grated with iron, and a sentry walked before each on a pile of cocoa matting some four inches thick. The officer of the guard was not allowed to leave the room unless relieved by the officer of the day, nor to sleep at all during his twenty-four hours of duty. The grated windows were locked, the keys being in the custody of the officer of the day. As was the custom, on my first day of duty as officer of the guard I was introduced by my predecessor to Mr. Davis thus: "Mr. Davis, Mr. Tripler of the 12th." Mr. Davis said: "Are you Stuart Tripler?" I said: "Yes, sir." He then said he remembered my grandmother (Mrs. Hunt) and had very pleasant recollections of my father (Surgeon Tripler of the army). We had that day no further conversation until the time came for his daily walk around the parapet. At that time the officer of the day came, accompanied by two negro prisoners, unlocked the door, when Mr. Davis, dressed in snuffcolored clothes, with a Raglan overcoat and soft, high-crowned, black felt hat, stepped into my room. General Miles entered at this time with the daily papers, which were placed on a table in Mr. D.'s room. The prisoners commenced at once to clean up the room, and we left in the following order: Mr. Davis and officers of the guard, ten paces behind two sentries, a couple of paces behind them the officer of the day, and lastly, some distance off General Miles strolled along reading. We took our time, and Mr. Davis, by his instructive and most entertaining conversation, rendered this a most delightful duty. He seemed to know everything. He had the unusual faculty of drawing a young man out and making him show his best side. We would sometimes stop abreast of the water battery, in front of the commanding officers' quarters, and recline on the crest of the works, where he would relate pleasant stories of the old army, ask after common friends, and often give me points in my profession which were invaluable. To show how small a matter he would notice and speak of, there were a number of trees growing along one of the fronts of the casements which bore clusters of small white berries. Mr. Davis said: "Lieutenant Tripler, I saw you riding a nice looking horse the other day, but it is out of condition. Those berries you see there are one of the best condition medicines I know of, and you can find them all over the South; remember that; it's worth knowing." On our return Dr. Cooper's servant came in with Mr. Davis's lunch. All his meals were supplied from Dr. Cooper's table, and Mrs. Cooper was a notable housewife, and the markets of Fortress Monroe were well supplied; you may be sure Mr. Davis did not suffer. The only request he ever made me during the time I was stationed there was to bring him a few apples each time I came on guard, which I did. I rather think he asked me for the sake of letting me think I was doing him a favor in return for his exceeding kindness to my grandmother when he was Secretary of War. He could make a request in such a way that you felt he had conferred a favor on you in preferring it. C. C. Clay was confined in the rooms directly beneath Mr. Davis, but as Mrs. Clay was with him he was not guarded as Mr. Davis was. Mrs. Clay used to send sometimes a pitcher of punch to Mr. Davis. My orders not forbidding it, the pitcher was always passed in. Mr. Davis was supplied with good cigars by his friends. I know they were good, because Mr. Davis remarked that "smokers are gregarious, and I can't enjoy a cigar alone," and offered me one nearly every night, after he had assumed his night robes-he wore a red flannel nightgown, cap, and drawers. He was never annoyed, insulted, or worried during his stay. General Miles was coldly civil, and others "officially polite." I, perhaps, was more kindly disposed, but I never exceeded my instructions. I think Mr. Davis will himself give the lie to the exaggerated accounts of his sufferings. Imprisonment is not pleasant under the most favorable circumstances, and no fallen chief of a great movement could have received more considerate treatment than did Mr. Davis. Songs. Upon the Battle Field. BRAVE and godly captain in a Western regiment related the following as we were taking him to the hospital. He was shot through both thighs with a rifle bullet-a wound from which he could not recover. While lying on the field he suffered intense agony from thirst. He supported his head upon his hand, and the rain from heaven was falling around him. In a little while a little pool of water formed under his elbow, and he thought if he could only get to that puddle he might quench his thirst. He tried to get into a position to suck up a mouthful of muddy water, but he was unable to reach within a foot of it. Said he, "I never felt so much the loss of any earthly blessing. "By and by night fell, and the stars shone out clear and beautiful above the dark field, and I began to think of that great God, who had given His Son to die a death of agony for me, and that He was up there-up above the scenes of suffering, and above those glorious stars; and I felt that I was going home to meet Him, and praise Him there; and I felt that I ought to praise God, even wounded, and on the battle field. I could not help singing that beautiful hymn, "When I can read my title clear To mansions in the skies, And dry my weeping eyes." "And," said he, "there was a Christian brother in the brush near me. I could not see him, but I could hear him. He took up the strain; and beyond him another and another caught it up all over the terrible battle field of Shiloh. That night the echo was resounding, and we made the field of battle ring with hymns of praise to God!" THE FIRST TO DIE FOR THE CONFEDERACY. The Beardless Boy who Fell in the Battle of Big Bethel. By S. R. WRIGHT. are not at all poisonous. The soldier made a mistake, as there is but very little difference in their looks. Whilst going around with the snake in his bosom a crowd of his fellowsoldiers gathered around, and in a spirit of bravado he took it out and provoked the reptile until it bit him on the back of his hand, from which he died very soon. The snake was killed, taken to Augusta, and preserved in alcohol. Being in that city a few months afterwards I saw the reptile, which was two feet long and about the size of a child's finger. All the members of the 1st Ga. Regt. will recollect this circumstance. HE first soldier who died while in the service of the Southern States was a tailor from Augusta, Ga., who died in April, 1861, and the first soldier killed in battle was a beardless boy not twenty years old, from North Carolina, in May, 1861. This was the first blood shed in the Southern cause. There were two 1st Georgia regiments which went to the war in April, 1861-the 1st Regulars, who were sent to Savannah, and the 1st Vols., who were ordered to Pensacola under Colonel Ramsay, from Augusta. There were two companies from Augusta, Ga., in this regiment-one of boys just from school, and one of older citizens of Augusta. The first soldier killed in batIn the latter company was a tle on the Southern side was at tailor, who in a frolic caught Big Bethel Church, about fifty and put in his bosom a garter, miles from Gut Town, Va. or, as sometimes called, a Benjamin Butler had landed thunder-and-lightning snake. the first Yankee troops in VirThere is a variety of this spe- ginia in May, 1861, and was cies of serpent-some whose met by a Virginia regiment at bite is deadly, and others who the church named. General |