down river. During the day some Western regiments from Shield's division came into the field. This little circumstance lightened our spirits wonderfully. The main incident of the day was the taking of a rebel battery, a short distance from us, at the point of the bayonet. It had been firing nearly all day upon our teams. Major Campbell rejoined the regiment from his home, where he had been on sick leave. He left us at Bottom's Bridge."

McClellan's new position position was selected by Commodore Rodgers, who declared to him that it would be necessary for the navy to fall back from Malvern Hill to a point below City Point, as the river channel was so near the Southern shore that it would not be possible to bring up the transports, should the enemy occupy City Point. Harrison's Landing was, in his opinion, the nearest suitable point.

As indicated by Newcomb, troops, batteries, and trains moved towards the Landing all the night of July 1 and the morning of July 2. The heavens opened and torrents of rain descended. Our division lay in a covering position, to oppose any advance the enemy might make, but Lee had given up the chase. With troops already on the James, under cover of our gunboats, he knew it was madness to pursue further.

So, quite unmolested, the sodden, tired men, the trains of wounded, our batteries and wagon trains, floundered through mud into Harrison's Landing, and not till all were past us, the last wagon and the last

straggling man, did we of the rear guard move into that haven of rest and safety for the beaten, battered, exhausted Army of the Potomac."

A MINOR INCIDENT OF SERVICE.

On the thirteenth of July, 1864, our regiment was on picket under command of Major Baldwin. It was posted in the woods before our works. During the day the major advanced a force of twelve men of Company C, under command of Captain Nickels, and made a descent on the enemy's picket posts, capturing two men. There were features of this little diversion that make it worth recording here. Colonel Baldwin writes of it as follows: "I had charge of the regiment on picket. As the general had expressed a desire to know what was going on in his front, I desired to go through the woods in front of our line and find out what there might be beyond. The day was especially propitious for such a movement, as the rain had thoroughly soaked the dry leaves and twigs so that we could go through the woods as silently as cats, while by bending down low we were completely hidden by the green undergrowth. I invited Captain Nickels to accompany me, and he, of course, accepted the invitation with his customary alacrity. We then selected a number of cool, steady men. After enjoining strict silence upon them, and giving them a short drill in moving forward, backward, and by the flank at a signal, we started forward."

We will let First Sergeant Miller, of Company C, tell the rest of the story: "When we were deployed,

Captain Nickels took position on the right, and ordered me to take the left. We moved forward, and soon entered an almost impassable thicket of small trees, the foliage of which was thoroughly saturated with water from the recent rain. By reason of the dense growth, we obliqued to the right and left to find accessible passages, and I soon became conscious that the line was broken, and that five men were with me, and the balance were with Nickels. I took a hasty run to the right, but as I saw nothing of Nickels or his men I returned to the left, and ordered the men to oblique to the right, and try to make a connection before we should encounter the enemy. the extreme left was the recruit Morse, who, by the way, was an old hunter, and a dead shot. He carried a rifle with which he had been presented by Colonel Plaisted. I

ran down the line, which was halted, until I came to this man, who was at the edge of the woods bordering a road which was parallel with our line. I hastily glanced up and down this road, but as I saw nothing, I ordered Morse to follow me, and try to connect the line. When I came to the other men, they informed me that Morse had been talking with a Reb. I replied that he had been talking with me; but they insisted that such was the fact. So I ordered a halt, and questioned Morse, who admitted that he had hidden a Reb 'good-morning,' with the remark that it was very wet. I asked him why he did not order his surrender, and he 'allowed' that that was a part of the play with which he

was entirely unfamiliar. So I immediately ordered him to return to his old position, with two men, while I entered the road with the other two, and performed a front and flank movement on the rebel position, which was accompanied with yells and oaths sufficient to bring any ordinary "Johnnie" into submission. At my request, he came from behind a pile of wood, with which he was surrounded, but I ordered him to return and bring the musket, which he, in his haste to obey, had forgotten. After making my capture, I immediately started to find Nickels. I had not gone far before I heard shouts and yells, in which, I was sure, the familiar, stentorian voice of the commander of Company C was freely mingled."

I did not witness the proceedings of this capture, but Nickels told me at the time how it happened. He said: "When I came out of the thicket, I entered a growth of large oak trees, free from underbrush, and I at once saw the location of my man, who held a position in a road running back to the rebel line, the position of the post being between two hills. I saw my method of capture, which must be bloodless, if possible. I left a part of my men in front, with instructions to keep running from tree to tree, to attract his attention, while I made a detour with the balance to come down on his flank. It worked like a charm, and if you ever saw a surprised lad of eighteen summers it was my boy of the rebel post when he discovered the muskets with which he was covered upon turning his head at the

command, Surrender!' But he was plucky, and ordered us to surrender, against the great odds with which he was confronted. And that was the cause of our lusty yells, to prevent him from being rash enough to shoot, and to prevent my men from shooting him.

"We returned to our line with the prisoners, whom we invited to break fast with us on the baked beans and hot coffee with which the cook had just arrived. The young fellow, who was fiery, and took his capture at heart, at first declined, declaring that he had just partaken of a breakfast much better than we could offer, but when we opened his haversack, he had to acknowledge the corn. The old man was past sixty, and declared the Confederacy a failure, which raised the indignation of the youngster, who called him grandpa.' After breakfast they were sent to General Foster."

GENERAL HILL BREAKS THE DUL

NESS OF HIS CAMP LIFE. There was a constant desire at headquarters to know what was going on in our front, and scouting parties were out almost daily, often taking desperate risks to get the coveted information. Boldness and quickness of wit were imperative necessities in the make-up of the scouts, and these qualities often extracted these venturesome men from most embarrassing situations. own General Hill, then our lieutenant-colonel, was one of the boldest of our scouts, often volunteering, despite his rank, for the dangerous service, just to escape the dulness of camp life. An adventure of his in this month of July will give an idea

Our

of the risks he and other brave men ran, and of the nonchalance with which they faced unexpected dangers.

General Foster had requested him to go out through the big corn-field already told of, and learn what he could of the force of the rebels in our front, and to do it in his own way. Taking a couple of orderlies with him, Colonel Hill rode into the interior until he judged that he was a mile from the river. Not having seen any rebels yet, he then bore to the left, to strike the river way above us, intending to ride down along the river bank to Deep Bottom.

After riding for about a half-mile toward the river, he suddenly rode into the rear of an undeployed rebel picket force of about twenty-five

men.

As they clustered around him, their officer laughingly asked the colonel where he was going. Personally, the colonel felt very sure that he was going to Richmond, however much against his will, but putting on a bold face, he answered that he had ridden out to get the news by exchanging papers with them. "This is pretty cool," said the rebel officer; "let me see your papers." Luckily, the colonel had a copy of the New York Tribune and one of the Philadelphia Inquirer in his pocket, and luckily, too, a rebel sergeant here said, "This is the same officer that sent us a paper the other day." This was so, the colonel, a week before, when officer of the day, having effected an exchange of papers with this sergeant through the medium of one of our men, when the sergeant must have taken a sharp look at the officer, who moved so coolly

said the good-natured rebel lieutenant, "I guess I will let you go; you look as though you were telling the truth. But I must say you took a good deal of pains to come so far, and to come in our rear, too."

The colonel answered that he got lost in riding out, and was trying to find his way into camp, when he rode up to them. Drifting into a general conversation, each party covertly tried to learn a little something concerning the other's force on that side of the river, until the colonel embraced a good opportunity to make

his eager orderlies at his heels, the Confederate officer, on whom the real purpose of the colonel's mission had dawned, but who was too honorable to take back his given word, called out: 46 Remember this, you can't play at exchanging papers with me again." With this friendly warning from the "good fellow," as General Hill rightly calls him, ringing in their ears, the little Union party spurred its horses into a magnificent burst of speed that quickly took it out of all possible danger of having to obey a recall.

The national organization was born. at Washington in 1886. It is comIt is composed of honorably discharged Union soldiers, sailors, and marines of good character, who served at least six months continuously, unless sooner discharged on account of wounds or injuries received in the line of duty during the Rebellion between the years of 1861 and 1865, part of which service must have been at the front, and he must have participated in one or more engagements. Its objects are to unite in bearing each other's burdens; to care for the widow and orphans; to keep alive

the events and perils of war, and to preserve and perpetuate the principles for which we fought; to recognize the rights of the Union soldier to positions of public trust, and their preferment over all others for employment under the government, he being fitted and qualified for the position he applies for. It is banded together for mutual protection, for mutual benefits and the advancement of the real veteran before the people and before congress, using all honorable means. It is strictly a soldier's organization. It appeals to the soldier's dignity and pride. Into its ranks no man can come who has not heard the zip of the Minie ball and the screaming of shot and shell; he must have been baptized with fire, else he cannot pass its sacred portals.

This, in brief, is the Union Vet

happy incidents, and must not be permitted to beguile us from the performance of the important duties with which a noble constituency has charged us. charged us. The Union Veterans' union now comprises so many of the surviving soldiers and seamen of the late war, and its precincts are so distributed over our country, that the states and the nation listen with interest, and attach weighty importance to the deliberations and acts of its encampments upon all matters calling for legislative or congresIt has become the sional action. representative and exponent of the Union soldiers and seamen, and as such holds their especial interests in its keeping.

"The social character of our organization is most delightful, but that comrade greatly underestimates its mission who regards this as its chief virtue and office. The Union Veterans' union has serious duties and a high calling. To the consideration of these I extend to you a most cordial welcome, and invoke upon your deliberations that interest which secures attention, that charity which is both kind and tolerant, and that wisdom which seeks the good of all. This union of comrades is organized for the welfare of all honorably discharged soldiers and seamen, our mission is for the good of all who need assistance in their decline of years while they live.