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IO
THE SUNNY SOUTH.
The Battle of Shiloh Hill.
(Lines furnished by Virginia Higgason and published
by request.)
Come, all ye valiant soldiers, a story I will tell,
It's of a noted battle you all remember well;
It was an awful strife and will cause your blood to chill,
It was the famous battle that was fought on Shiloh Hill!
It was the sixth of April, just at the break of day,
The drums and fifes were playing for us to march away;
The feelings of that hour I do remember still,
For the wounded and the dying that lay on Shiloh Hill.
About the hour of sunrise the battle it began;
Before the day had vanished we fought them hand to
hand.
The horrors of the field did my heart with anguish fill,
For the wounded and the dying that lay on Shiloh Hill.
There were men of every nation laid on those bloody
plains;
Fathers, sons and brothers were numbered with the
slain.
That has caused so many homes with deep mourning to
be filled—
All from that bloody battle that was fought on Shiloh
Hill.
The wounded men were crying for help from every
where,
While others who were dying were offering God their
prayer,—
“Protect my wife and children, if it is thy holy will!”
Such were the prayers I heard that night on Shiloh
Hill.
And early the next morning we were called to arms
again;
Unmindful of the wounded, unmindful of the slain,
The struggle was renewed and ten thousand men were
killed—
This was the second conflict ot the famous Shiloh Hill.
The battle it raged on, though the dead and dying men
Lay thick all o'er the ground on the hill and in the glen,
And from their deadly wounds their blood ran like a
rill,—
Such were the mournful sights that I saw on Shiloh Hill.
Before the day had ended, the battle ceased to roar,
And thousands of brave soldiers had fell to ri-»e no more.
They left their vacant ranks for some other ones to fill,
Ana now their mouldering bodies all lie on Shiloh Hill.
And now my 6ong is ended about those bloody plains,
I hope the sight by mortal man may ne'er be seen again.
And I pray to God, the Savior, “If consistent with thy
will,
To save the souls of all who fell on Shiloh Hill.”
M. B. Smith, Co. C, 2d Reg. Texas Veterans.
WITH FIGHTING JOE.
AN EPISODE IN THE CAREER OF THE
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
After Receiving its Baptism of Fire at Bull
Run, the Regiment Joioed the Command
of Fighting Joe Hooker—Story of
the Stubborn Bush Fight at
Williamsburg.
JW HAMPSHIRE’S
quota under Lincoln’s
call for 75,000 militia
in April, 1861, was
one regiment of about
eight hundred men.
Volunteer companies
poured into Concord
in answer to the call,
and, in anticipation
of another demand, a
second regiment was
organized from the
overflow of patriots
from the granite hills.
Companies raised at
Lancaster, Keene,
Lac onia, Littleton,
Portsm’uth, Manches
ter, Concord, Dover,
Exeter and Peterboro
re-enlisted for three years and were organized
into the Second New Hampshire Volunteers.
The Second marched to the front in June,
led by Colonel Gilman Marston, a fresh vol
unteer like the men, for the State had no or
ganized militia to draw upon. At the first
battle of Bull Run the regiment fought in
Burnside’s brigade, and when the army was
reorganized was assigned to the command of
Fighting Joe Hooker. Hooker* first battle in
the Army of the Potomac was at Williams
burg, May 5, 1862. The affair was brought
about by Hooker’s fighting propensity. Hav
ing the advance of Sumner’s column in pur
suit of the retreating Confederates, Hooker
pushed things so uncomfortably for the ene- •
my that be turned to give battle. Hooker’s
command had grown to be a division and
formed part of Heintzelman’s corps. The old
Hooker brigade passed under the command of
General Cuvier Grover, who led the van of
the corps on its march up the peninsula from
Yorktown. On the afternoon of the 4th some
Federal cavalrymen rode in from the front
and reported a skirmish with the enemy at
Williamsburg, and Hooker hurried his bat
talions rapidly forward. At midnight they
were close to the Confederate rear guard,
which had halted in some old fortifications,
the strongest of which was a large work named
Fort Magruder. In a recent narrative penned
by the historian of the Second New Hampshire
following spirited account of the battle which
opened next morning is given in a realistic
vein:
“At daylight Grover’s brigade resumed its
march through the mud and in the rain, the
road traversing a forest of large trees with
dense underbrush. It had proceeded about
Vft *
“I PLUGGED THAT FELLOW’S HEAD.”
one and one-half miles when the head of the
column encountered Confederate pickets, and
Hooker at once made dispositions for a fight.
General Grover came riding back to the
Second. ‘I want the New Hampshire com
pany with patent rifles (Sharps). Where are
they?’ he inquired. The companyjcalled for
Company B, and also Company E, were
sent forward as skirmishers. The remaining
companies filed to the right of the road,
formed a line of battle and pushed forward.
Soon an almost impenetrable abatis of felled
trees was encountered, through and over
which the skirmishers wormed their way,
driving back the riflemen who contested the
advance, until they reached the open ground
beyond. The regiment halted in line near
the edge of the standing timber while the
skirmishers were clearing the slashing.
Directly in front, at a distance of six hun
dred yards, the Hampton and Yorktown roads
come together, and there, commanding both
approaches, the enemy had erected a powerful
earthwork called Fort Magruder, the largest
of a line of thirteen redoubts extending from
the York to the James. Several field-pieces
were in this fort, and the plain on its front
was dotted with rifle-pits, each holding one
or two sharpshooters. Facing this combina
tion, the Second had all the essentials for
lively time, and the men distributed them
selves behind stumps and logs and did some
very effective work upon the Confederate
gunners and riflemen.
“An example of the fine work done at this
point was furnished by Thompson of Com
pany I. He was one of the characters of the
regiment. One of his brothers had been
killed with John Brown at Harper’s Ferry
and another brother was the husband of one
of the old Ossawattomie’s daughters, so he
was naturally an abolitionist of the most pro
nounced and radical type. He was also a very
handy man with the rifle. Thompson was
observed to lie for several minutes motion
less, with his eye ranged along the sights of
his piece, and then it spoke. ‘There,’ he
grunted, ‘I plugged that fellow’s head, and
he was black enough to be a nigger.’ The pos
sibility that he missed the mark never entered
into his calculations. The next day, led by
curiosity, one of the men went to the pit
pointed out by Thompson and found, curled
up at the bottom, a swarthy man in gray,
drilled through the forehead by the unerring
bullet of the keen-eyed New Hampshire
soldier. Among the dead man’s effects was
a newspaper printed partly in the Cherokee
alphabet and language.
“The Second had been engaged nearly an
hour when, in the woods to the rear, a bugle
was heard sounding the call, and in a few
minutes Webber’s regular battery came up
the road and went into position in front of
the regiment. The guns in Fort Magruder
at once opened fire upon it, and, before
returning a shot, most of the men abandoned
their pieces and stampeded to the r ® ar ’
of them came back upon ‘be Second and were
not welcomed as heroes of the first water.
But soon another body of artillery
coming. It was composed of volume» from
Osborn’s New York battery, who at one
took possession of the guns and
Bramhall’s New York battery also
and went bumping over stumps and dragg g
through the mire to a position on the rig
of Webber. Within half an hour Fort M g
ruder was silenced, but in one of the redoubts
far away to the left, beyond the reach of our
muskets, there were two or three guns which
kept up an annoying fire on the Second as
long as it remained in this position. u ,
with the fire of Fort Magruder silenced and
the sharpshooters on our front in a very su
dued mood, the regiment enjoyed for hours a
season of comparative tranquility. There was
some shooting, to be sure, and from that re
doubt beyond Fort Magruder there came,
every little while, a shell or a solid shot
smashing and crashing through the abatis.
Yet this did not deter the men from spread
ing their pieces of shelter tent over limbs and
branches as protection from the beating rain.
Some even nursed up little fires to cook
coffee, raw coffee being the only ration left
after the morning meal.
“General Hooker and staff rode out into
the open field toward the fort, apparently to
get a better view of the plain beyond the
point of woods to the left. A sharpshooter’s
bullet struck Hooker’s horse, and the general
at once dismounted to examine the wound.
He then came back to the artillery, and a
change was made in its disposition, some of
the pieces being advanced to a point where
they would have a wider range to the left.
Already there were indications of a concentra
tion of Confederates upon that flank. A
large force, apparently a brigade, came out
from under cover of Fort Magruder and,
moving rapidly across the plain, were soon
hid from the Second by intervening woods.
About 5 o’clock it became apparent that the
left was being driven back. Bullets came in
upon the Second thicker and faster. It held
on until the few men of its left companies
who could get into position were hotly en
gaged at close quarters with the Ninth Ala
bama and other Confederate troops.
“Not only was the network of felled trees
a-swarming with enemies, but a regiment—
the Twenty-eighth Virginia—came up along
the edge of the field, crouching under cover
of the abatis. The artillerymen were driven
from their guns, and the Second was in this
advanced position, alone, unsupported and
flanked. It had either to change front, so as
to present a fighting face to the enemy, or
get out. Entangled as it was, the first was
impossible. So the men were directed to get
back to the edge of the woods and reform the
line.
“As soon as the regiment was re-formed it
was marched to the left, across the road, and
with its right resting thereon, deployed as
skirmishers, the purpose being to flank the
flank movement of the enemy. Away it
went to the left, stretching out like an elastic
band, until Hooker had a long, thin skirmish
line facing the enemy. It was not a parade-
ground deployment, men dropping off at ir
regular intervals, sometimes singly and quite
as often in little bunches, but it covered a
good deal of ground and was as full of fight
as a swarm of hornets. Ordered to advance
and keep covered as much as possible, the
line went forward and was soon engaged in
fierce bushwhacking. For two hours there
was maintained over that ground one of the
most remarkable contests of the war. The
line of the Second was reenforced by men
GILMAN MARSTON.
[Colonel of the Second New Hampshire.)
from the broken regiments of the division,
and such volunteers were bound to be the
very best of fighting material. It comprised
the self-assorted pick from several regiments
after all who had got enough of it had been
sifted to the rear, and it may well be ques
tioned whether another line was ever formed
during the war with so large a proportion of
desperate, bulldog fighters as were there
brought together. There could be but —
concert of movement, every man fighting on
his own hook, dodging from tree to tree
through the thick underbrush. Little bands
„ot together and pushed forward in quest of
adventure. Squads of Federal and Confed
erate soldiers sometimes passed in the thicket
before discovering one another’s presence.
Hand to hand encounters were frequent.
“The Confederates made several attempts
to crush with a solid line of battle the front
which was so tenaciously holding them.
Then there was music, and the old woods
rang with the steady roar of musketry. To
ward o’clock the pressure was terrible.
Fort Magruder had again opened fire and
was sweeping the roads with shells. Many
of our men had exhausted their ammunition
and none had more than a few rounds left.
It was a crisis, and everything depended on
holding that line a little longer. Hooker,
Grover and Heintzelman were hurrying form
point to point, cheering and encouraging
the men. Hooker was coated with mud from
head to foot, having been thrown from the
second horse shot under him that day. Old
Heintzelman was at white heat. He rode
furiously here and there. ‘Give it to them
Pile them up!’ he shouted. ‘If you haven’t
got any powder, shout, hooray, make a noise
—do something !’
“A knot of musicians was got together and
brought up well toward the line. ‘Go to
tooting your trumpets—■“ Yankee Doodle,
“Dixie”—anything. Blow away!’ shouted
Heintzelman, and then to the men ; ‘Hooray !
Re-inforcements close at hand! Be here in
fifteen minutes! Give it to them !’ The band
struck up with discordant energy, and the
men cheered themselves hoarse, for the old
general’s spirit took hold of everybody.
Re-enforcements were, in fact, close at
hand. Kearny’s gallant division was pushing
up the Hampton road with all the energy,
bone and muscle are capable of sustaining.
Soon its leading regiment was forming, and
when the line came up, in solid array, many
of the Second, determined to see the thing
to an end, borrowed cartridges and went in
with it. The enemy was steadily pressed
back, and in a short time the battle was over.”
The day’s work cost the Second New
Hampshire one hundred and three men
killed, wounded and missing.
GEORGE L. KILMER.
SI,000 CONFEDERATE^ BILLST~
We will pay highest cash price for $1,000 confederate
Mila. Prompt remittance. Beat references given.
R. L STAMP CO., Box 435, Atlanta, Ga.
It Was Bread and Blood.
The banners floating over the armies on the
plains of Manassas in the second Bull Run
melee did not bear the motto, “Bread 01
Blood,” but it was a bloody struggle over the
question of bread just the same. When
Stonewall Jackson burned the Federal base of
supplies at Manassas Junction, Aug. 27, he
took the bread out of the mouths of all of
Pope’s overmarched and hungry soldiers. A
dearth of bread in consequence of that disas
trous blow ruined Pope’s chances of recover
ing his fortunes after the terrible, bloody
conflicts of the 29th and 30th, when the ene
my’s plight on the field, through enormous
losses in battle, was worse probably than bis
own, for re-enforcements were at hand on the
Federal side. The re-enforcements brought
up no bread, and in that campaign I saw
Major General Slocum eagerly devouring a
sandwich of hardtack and raw pork handed
him by a thoughtful soldier of his command.
Everybody was hungry, excepting, perhaps
Stonewall’s foot cavalry. They were not the
fellows to burn up good rations until they
had filled themselves and their shoulder bags
with captured stores. They somehow made
way with things nourishing to man which
they found in a concentrated form. That
campaign ended for the Confederates in a
raid for rations into Maryland, for the boys
in gray at that early date of the war lived on
very short allowances when they could not
capture from the enemy. There was blood
spilled over the eatables before Jackson got
away, and in one instance over drinkables.
The drinkables were not the extract of grain,
however—simply some buttermilk in a farm
er’s cooling house. General Erwell enjoyed
some of that buttermilk, and his soldiers
fought for and won the spoil. Having
learned from the scouting bummers that there
was buttermilk between the lines, Ewell said
aloud that a canteen of it would be a luxury
that hot day. Several of his men hurried
away to the farm, but the Yankees had scout
ing bummers, too, and thirsty palates. So
there was a dash across the fields, with shoot
ing on the run and a skirmish in the farm
yard. The fracas was over before the strug
gling men reached the cellar, or Ewell might
still have missed his cooling sherbet. The
supply would have been spilled probably.
But the graycoats won the skirmish and
filled their canteens, bearing one proudly to
their old general, who was to lead them into
battle within an hour, and fall with » terrible
wound.