ON THE WAR-PATH 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
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 ;: 
 
 
 
 . 4
 
 ON THE WAR PATH 
 
 A JOURNEY OVER THE HISTORIC GROUNDS OF THE 
 LATE CIVIL WAR 
 
 BY 
 
 MAJOR J. O. KERBEY 
 
 U. S. CONSUL AT PARA, BRAZIL, S. A.; AUTHOR OF "THE BOY SPY 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO. 
 1890
 
 i <I|-M;II.II i 
 J. O. KKUIIRY 
 
 '(XMOMUt * MIMIMMV,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I do not write books for a living. This statement will 
 be no less gratifying to the reading public than it is to 
 myself. 
 
 Forsome years, I have been a Washington news-gath- 
 erer, trained to telegraph special facts to the press in the 
 fewest possible words. Recently becoming one of the 
 grand army of office seekers, I have availed myself of some 
 2 of the abundant leisure always afforded these gentlemen, 
 to jot down, in the form of personal reminiscences, some 
 ;T of the actual experiences and incidents coming under my 
 observation, which have never been printed in the news- 
 i: papers, and which are herewith submitted without any pre- 
 tense to literary embellishment. 
 
 ! The only motive that prompts me to this work springs 
 
 in from an honest and sincere desire to put in permanent 
 
 g form, for the master-builder or future historian, some 
 
 straws that may be used in the mortar that cements the 
 
 coming monumental history of this period. 
 
 ^ It will be apparent to the most casual reader that, in 
 
 ^ telling so many things that are sure to displease, the writer 
 
 * must at least be trying to be truthful, even at the sacrifice 
 
 LJ or at the expense of judgment or discretion. 
 
 ui N or has there been any feeling of bitterness or resent- 
 
 H fulness; not even the slightest disposition to "get even" 
 
 < with anybody. I confess, however, to an inborn inability 
 
 to obey the scriptural injunction to turn the other cheek. 
 
 And, though enjoying the reputation of an inoffensive cit. 
 
 izen, it is my nature, without much regard to consequences, 
 
 to strike back at any one who may attack.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Mr. Blainc, with wliom I have had the distinguished 
 honor of a long personal acquaintance, when I applied to 
 him for a United States consulate, very kindly said to me 
 that he intended to do something in that direction, his only 
 difficulty being in finding a suitable place, or, as he put it: 
 " We have more pegs than holes to put them in; but I'll 
 find a hole some place in which to stick you." I had faith 
 in the promise, and waited some time for my turn. He 
 religiously kept his word and found a hole. 
 
 I was nominated by the President as United States 
 Consul to an important port at the mouth of the Amazon, 
 River, in the new Republic of Brazil, the object, as the 
 Secretary said, being to afford me facilities for writing up 
 for a press syndicate the possibilities of business for Amer- 
 ican manufacturers in Central and South America. Dur- 
 ing my absence from the city, the newspaper-row ring of 
 Washington insidiously attempted to defeat my confirma- 
 tion, by resorting to some of their usual underhand tactics. 
 Their animus will become apparent to the reader of these 
 pages, and needs no further comment. However, the 
 Senate, after hearing their false statements, fully endorsed 
 me by confirmation, and then, for the first time since my 
 enlistment as a soldier, I subscribed to the oath, received 
 a parchment, and again became a servant of the Govern- 
 ment. THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., July 23, 1890.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 THIS is not a War Story 
 
 I succeeded in publishing one* in which I told every- 
 thing that I knew about the war and more too and 
 have, in consequence, a double-edged appreciation of 
 that proverbial aphorism of Job's, "My desire is * * * 
 that mine adversary had written a book." That venture 
 in book-making on the war question induced the belief 
 that war writers find their principal adversaries in the 
 ranks of comrades, where they expected friends. 
 
 Probably any statement of minor army experience, 
 however well fortified by official record and the testimony 
 of surviving witnesses, is liable to be disputed, or at least 
 provoke controversy. Instead of "fighting them over" 
 in a spirit of fraternity and charity, we fight over them, 
 too often with a feeling of bitterness and resentment. 
 
 This substantially true narrative of some of the actual 
 experiences of a boy during the rebellion served to bring 
 forth hundreds of pleasant testimonials from influential 
 sources, establishing every important statement of fact, 
 as well as some positive denials and numerous corrections. 
 
 The singular fact Avas demonstrated that the fiction 
 was almost universally accepted as truth, while the actual 
 experiences were disputed. In some instances voluntary 
 
 * "The Boy Spy," by J. 0. Kerbey.
 
 8 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 corroboration was tendered for minor events that did 
 not occur at all. 
 
 Through this source, attention was directed to numer- 
 ous disputed historical events, and much valuable infor- 
 mation furnished which tended to throw new light on old 
 subjects. 
 
 With a view of further developments, the author of 
 "The Boy Spy" recently undertook another scout in 
 Dixie, visiting all the important points on the war trail 
 from Fortress Monroe via the Peninsula to Richmond and 
 Fredericksburg, interviewing, as a newspaper scout, a 
 great number of ex- Confederates, who unconsciously gave 
 some interesting testimony from the "other side" that 
 has not heretofore been made public. Our own side has 
 been somewhat overdone. 
 
 From Fredericksburg the writer drove, in a buggy, over 
 the exact ground covered "by the Army of the Potomac in 
 its historic march to Gettysburg, in 1863, accompanied by 
 an artist and a photograpli outfit. 
 
 We traveled for days via the upper fords of the Rap- 
 pahannock to Manassas and Ball's Bluff, thence over the 
 Potomac at Point of Rocks to Frederick, Antietam, South 
 Mountain, Gettysburg, etc. 
 
 It is of this recent scout, through the enemy's country 
 for later information, that we propose to tell in this Iro- 
 clinre, and perhaps relate some interesting stories gathered 
 en route from all residents as to their experiences and 
 remembrances of those " unforgotten daye.' ; 
 
 That the reader who may accompany us on this trip 
 should, have a better understanding of its purport, it seems
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 9 
 
 necessary to briefly make a resume of the preceding publi- 
 cation. 
 
 Fully conscious of the appropriateness of the comment 
 of Disraeli, that the author who speaks of his own book is 
 almost as bad as the mother who talks of her own baby, I 
 venture to offer the review of the official journal of the 
 Military Service Institution, New York, January, 1890, so 
 ably conducted by a gallant cavalry officer, who has, in 
 these days of peace, wielded his pen, as a military author, 
 with as much honor and credit to himself and his country 
 as he did his sword in times of war. 
 
 I beg to present my army father and captain, under 
 whom the Boy Spy served at the front in the famous 2d 
 United States Cavalry, Gen. T. F. Rodenbaugh, now a 
 retired general, well known in military as well as in literary 
 circles, and who is probably better qualified in every way 
 to speak a word for me than any of the other many kind 
 friends who have tendered their good words and wishes. 
 
 I have not had the pleasure of meeting my dear old 
 captain since the war, but his kindly letters, bearing the 
 2d Cavalry motto, " Ton jours Pret," are always most wel- 
 come. 
 
 " The war for the Union is remarkable above all human 
 conflicts for the number of pens that have sought to pre- 
 serve its history. Realizing, as it seems, that the materi- 
 als the bricks and the mortar must be gathered together 
 before the master-builder can begin his work upon the 
 great historical edifice, each soldier has brought forward 
 his 'own story* of skirmish, or battle, or campaign, and 
 in imagination lays it at the feet of the coming Homer who
 
 10 UN THE WAK-PATH. 
 
 shall immortalize American valor. One of the latest and 
 most important of these ' literary bricks ' is ' The Boy Spy ' 
 a title hardly worthy of the mass of valuable information 
 contained in its 500 pages; for it is not a juvenile work, 
 nor does it consist of the lurid trash too often, under sim- 
 ilar caption, unloaded upon an indiscriminating commu- 
 nity. Between its lines, descriptive of the author's personal 
 experience, first as a wild youth rushing into the enemy's 
 country from pure love of adventure, and afterward taking 
 his own life in his hands as an experienced soldier and 
 scout, may be read the shaping of the policy of a great 
 government; the slow awakening of a great people to the 
 public danger; the rude methods at first resorted to in 
 organizing masses of armed men, and the intrigues attend- 
 ing the appointment of their leaders; glimpses of the per- 
 sonality of Presidents Lincoln and Davis, cabinet minis- 
 ters, commanding generals of both armies, ilag officers and 
 legislators, in moments of perplexity or triumph, as words 
 fell from their lips in the confidential atmosphere of the 
 army telegraph offices, or under the strong excitement of 
 the battle-field. 
 
 "Commencing his adventures with the first mutterings 
 of the storm in 1861, and with the aim of winning his 
 spurs by some deed of daring and special service to the 
 Government, we find the ' Boy ' at the Confederate 
 Capital, Montgomery, watching the gatherings and growth 
 of the secession flame. Immediately after the fall of 
 Sumpter, slipping through the lines in front of Fort 
 Pick ens with important information which undoubtedly 
 prevented its capture; detained on board Admiral Porter's
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 11 
 
 war vessel as a suspicious character, but eventually sent 
 North as a friend of the Union; at once re-entering the 
 enemy's country in Virginia. Imprisoned in the Old Cap- 
 itol as he says for no other offense than having fallen 
 in love with a pretty little girl who wore short skirts, low 
 neck dresses r played the guitar sweetly and sang Dixie; 
 who lived between the two armies at Fredericksburg. 
 Escaped, and was enlisted in the regular cavalry; detailed 
 on special service before Fredericksburg, at Burnside's 
 headquarters, and taking part in the Stoneman raid as a 
 scout and expert telegrapher and signalist. 
 
 " IN TENNESSEE AND CUMBERLAND GAP. A thrilling 
 experience at Gettysburg. Mingling with leading Con- 
 federates at Richmond, and anon with senators at Wash- 
 ington. Unconsciously treading the tortuous, dangerous 
 path of Andre and Nathan Hale, with the possibility of a 
 long rope and short shift at the end. 
 
 "In the action of this true tale, the reader is reminded 
 now of Defoe, then of Verne, and again of Charlie King, 
 although it lacks the literary smoothness of those writers. 
 
 " The author writes as he acted in war times quickly 
 and intuitively, as well as fearlessly, without much attention 
 to grace of diction. As he expresses it, he fires low to hit 
 the masses, and he calls a spade a spade. He bu ikied 
 better than he knew. Through the coarse web of priva- 
 tion, wounds and war, runs the silken thread of the tender 
 passion, giving the story a touch of romance so often 
 omitted, when our battles are fought o'er again in our 
 dignified, grandsire moments. 
 
 " Besides its historical data, this book contains interest-
 
 12 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 ing biographical material, especially regarding Abraham 
 Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, John Covode, 
 Simon Cameron, Edwin M. Stanton, Ben Wade, Parson 
 Brownlow, Generals Hancock, Howard, Fitz-John Porter, 
 Doubleday, Burnside, Hooker, and the cavalry service of 
 the Army of the Potomac." 
 
 We tip our fatigue cap with grateful thanks; our old 
 uniform bulges out with pride, as we request the General 
 to please stand to one side 'till we fling another "literary 
 brick " at the master-builder and "t'other fellows" who 
 have been throwing mud and mortar.
 
 CHAPTEE 
 
 , F the readers for the time being will individually con- 
 sider themselves members of a " Travel Club," cor- 
 1_ responding to the recent social gatherings organized 
 
 for mutual entertainment, and, in imagination, accompany 
 a congenial excursion party over this most historic ground 
 in America permitting me to act as guide I shall esteem 
 it a pleasant privilege, and endeavor to point out and de- 
 scribe the many interesting features, as we go along. 
 
 The professional guide of Washington, who tenders 
 tourists his valuable companionship at fifty cents per hour 
 is usually fortified by a large brass breast-plate as a badge 
 of his authority, in addition to the brass he carries in his 
 face. My only license will be that granted by your kind 
 indulgence, while I attempt to act as lecturer, for this 
 personally-conducted tour. 
 
 "We will swing our club around Washington one day, 
 before carrying it to the front. 
 
 As every tourist desires to see the White House first, 
 we shall make that a starting point. 
 
 The home of all the Presidents since Adams' day, has 
 been pictured even in the school-books, so that it will be 
 recognized by all, and a description is unnecessary. It is 
 probably the only building remaining, that will be at all 
 familiar to the old soldier. The magic hand that has so 
 wonderfully transformed the city, has not yet soiled its 
 white walls by the touch of modern improvement. 
 
 13
 
 14 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Its tall, white pillars that seem to stand as ghostly 
 sentries over the portals of the white sepulchered tomb of 
 a long line of dead Presidents and buried ambitions, 
 remind me of the early morning long ago, when I, as a 
 solitary horseman, with uncovered head, was one of a few 
 who witnessed the body of the assassinated Lincoln being 
 borne through the gates. 
 
 The night previous, I had been roused from sleep by 
 an order to take charge of a scouting party on the Ten- 
 nellytown, or Rockville Road, and arrest every person 
 whatever might have been his representations, who should 
 be found attempting to leave the city in that direction. I 
 was then a Cavalry officer, detailed on special signal duty, 
 and the order addressed to me was supplemented with the 
 startling intellige7ice that an attempt had been made an 
 hour previous to assassinate the President at Ford's Theater. 
 The messenger did not understand that the shot had been 
 fatal. 
 
 After a night of restless anxiety in the saddle, scouring 
 the country in the vicinity of Fort Reno which is in the 
 neighborhood of ex-President Cleveland's summer house, 
 Oak View being anxious as to the result, and with a 
 nervous desire for later intelligence, in the early morn- 
 ing I galloped my horse across the northwest section, now 
 occupied by the palatial residences of the ultra fashionable 
 people, reaching this part of the avenue, just as the hearse 
 turned into the west gate, followed only by those who had 
 been at his bed-side, perhaps less than a dozen persons on 
 foot, with heads uncovered. 
 
 Standing near the gate may be seen, perhaps, a greater
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 15 
 
 number of points of historic memories than any where else 
 in the city. 
 
 In that plain-looking old-fashioned brick, well known 
 as the Sickles-Key house, the wounded Secretary of State 
 Seward, then resided. It is now the home of Secretary 
 Elaine. His next door neighbor being Senator Don Cam- 
 eron. The corner house, for a long time the home of the 
 famous Commodore Stephen Decatur, is now a club; diag- 
 onally opposite was Senator Simmer's bachelor home, 
 now an annex of the Arlington. Close by is Zack Chand- 
 ler's, where, perhaps, the political campaigns were planned 
 during reconstruction days. 
 
 The little adobe structure around the corner that looks 
 so like a Spanish mission chapel, is the celebrated St. 
 John's church, where it is said some of our Presidents were 
 attendants because the rectors did not bother much about 
 politics or religion, but are quite exacting as to the respect- 
 ability and endorsements of those seeking fellowship in 
 that fold. 
 
 John Hay, the private secretary to Lincoln, built that 
 elegant house on the next corner. Sandwiched between 
 him and the philanthropist banker, Corcoran, is one of the 
 descendants of the Adams family. 
 
 On the opposite of this little park in front of the 
 White House", which is said to contain a greater variety of 
 shade trees than any other like area in America, is the 
 plain-looking home of General Beale, where, it is said, Gen- 
 eral Grant walked over from the White House every morn- 
 ing to see his intimate friend. Near by was the home of 
 Colfax. In fact the walls of every house on all sides of 
 this square might tell some interesting stories.
 
 16 OK THE WAR-PATS. 
 
 In the great review of 1865, it was my good fortune to 
 be located on the east side directly under the window of 
 the second house from the avenue at which the venerable 
 Genera] Winfield Scott was privately seated, with glass in 
 hand, reviewing in retirement, the grand parade of a 
 victorious army he once commanded. It so happened that 
 General Sherman, after refusing to shake hands with Sec- 
 retary Stanton in the grandstand, angrily mounted his 
 horse with flushed face, dashed by us, and in attempting 
 to force his way out of the crowd, created something of a 
 sensation to the intense amusement of General Scott. 
 tVhen the handsome Custer at the head of his gallant cav- 
 alry men approached the reviewing stand, the salute of 
 the drum corps frightened his wild horse, and becoming 
 unmanageable, dashed past the assembled dignitaries at a 
 run-away gait, his long hair streaming behind Custer, 
 notwithstanding the scare, saluted with his sword as they 
 passed. 
 
 But I might go on in a reminiscent strain adinfinitum. 
 We will go around the corner and pay our respects to one 
 of the last of the living heroes of the war, Admiral 
 David D. Porter. 
 
 The gallant old Salt is always at home to a veteran and 
 many needy shipmates leave his presence with substantial 
 remembrances from the "old man," as "tars" will persist 
 in terming their captain. 
 
 He is quite well preserved, physically; and, perhaps, 
 mentally, has done more work toward preserving the Kaval 
 history of the war, than all the other officers combined. 
 He has a room fitted up in his house resembling a captain's
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 17 
 
 quarters aboard ship the walls covered with books and 
 charts, and the tables, around which are seated secretaries 
 busy writing, are piled with papers. The Admiral recog- 
 nizes me as the " boy " aboard his ship at Pensacola, and 
 in a jolly way expresses his regret that he had not thrown 
 me overboard because I described my first impressions of 
 his appearance as resembling a "model pirate with black 
 whiskers and a devilish uncertain eye." 
 
 Though his black beard is now white, and his wicked 
 eye somewhat dimmed, the Admiral preserves, in a remark- 
 able degree, his old-time vigor. During my visit, desiring 
 to show me a book of reference, he climbed upon a chair 
 to reach a top shelf and jumped down as lightly as a boy. 
 Admiral Queen, who also remembers the boy very well, 
 lives on the'ultra fashionable avenue on which reside the 
 Ambassadors of the Russian and British governments, as 
 well as lesser foreign representatives, and here are located 
 the two Naval statues to Farragut and Dupont. 
 
 The one thing that will probably impress the old soldier 
 of the Army of the Potomac, on revisiting the city, is a 
 feeling of neglect and ingratitude toward the residents of 
 the National Capital and especially of Congress, at the 
 entire absence of any statue commemorating the valor 
 and gallantry of the commanders of the Army of the 
 Potomac. The most available locations are now occupied 
 by fitting tributes to Generals Thomas and McPherson 
 and others of the Western armies. 
 
 Perhaps the societies of the Army of the Potomac are 
 responsible for the neglect. At Arlington, which may be 
 seen from the rear of the While House, there sleep in their
 
 18 ON THE W All- PATH. 
 
 last sleep, an army of twenty thousand who died in defense 
 of this Capitol. The only monument to these dead heroes 
 being the stone erected to the memory of the 1,300 un- 
 known dead, whose bones were gathered from the battle- 
 fields in the surrounding country after the close of the war. 
 
 Admission to the White House is accorded visitors at 
 certain hours, though only to the East Room, which, in 
 general appearance, somewhat resembles one of the large 
 carpeted halls devoted to ice-cream parlors. In this his- 
 toric room have been gathered, in past years, perhaps a 
 greater number of distinguished people than in any like 
 area in the country. It is probably safe to estimate that 
 everybody, great or small, known to American history, as 
 well as their families and friends, have, since the Adams 
 administration, been in the East Room, as -also distin- 
 guished visitors from other lands. It was my privilege, as 
 a boy, to have attended Buchanan's last levee as well as 
 Lincoln's first, and those of every President since. I may > 
 perhaps, venture the opinion, from close observation, that 
 the two Democratic ladies, Harriet Lane, of Pennsylvania, 
 and Mrs. Cleveland, have been the most popular first 
 ladies. 
 
 Taking advantage of the license accorded a newspaper 
 scout, we slip up-stairs and present to the pleasant Private 
 Secretary Halford a card bearing this inscription and name, 
 asking its presentation to the President, to secure an open 
 sesame: 
 
 ' ' A Federal and a Confederate soldier desire to pay respects to 
 the President." 
 
 The courteous Secretary looks sharply at rny compan-
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 19 
 
 ion, but takes the card in, returning with a smile, inviting 
 us to the Library. This is the semi-circular room on the 
 south side, directly in the center of the building, overlook- 
 ing the Potomac, which the Presidents occupy as the 
 offices where public business is transacted. We found 
 probably a half-dozen persons seated in the room. Presi- 
 dent Harrison is standing by the window, his arm raised 
 and fingers playing a tatoo on the glass, as he talks vigor- 
 ously to a certain Western senator, whose ignorance and 
 arrogance are only exceeded by his money. With the pro- 
 verbial big ears, I overheard the President say, in tones 
 so decided that I, as a newspaper man, should have felt 
 rebuffed: "I tell you I won't do that, Senator, and I told 
 Mr. the same." When the senator attempted to dis- 
 cuss the subject further, the President deliberately turned 
 his back and walked over toward " the next," which hap- 
 pened to be the Eebel and the Yankee. I had reported 
 for a Western paper the President's debates on Dakota when 
 in the Senate, and in this way became personally known 
 to him. He shook hands and cordially greeted my Rebel 
 friend, who was made to feel quite comfortable in the 
 White House. The President was probably glad to see us, 
 because we did not stay long. 
 
 But we shall have to hurry along. As our time in Wash- 
 ington is so limited we will next go to the top of the monu- 
 ment. It takes but nine minutes for the elevator to travel 
 the 500 feet, and upon that elevation we shall be able to see 
 more in the ten minutes than in a day down below. 
 
 Toward the north is the White House that resembles a 
 tiny toy. Beyond are the hills, which were fortified during
 
 20 ON TTIE TVAR-PATH". 
 
 the war. With a glass the remains of Fort Stevens may 
 be discerned. This is the point Early directed his raid on 
 the city, when the 6th corps came up the river and dis- 
 couraged any further attempts in that direction. Lincoln 
 stood on the parapet of the fort when the skirmish was 
 going on. To the west is the Arlington National Ceme- 
 tery ; beyond may be seen, on a clear day, the heights of 
 Centreville, with probably a distant view of Bull Kun 
 Mountains. To the south lies the beatftiful Potomac, wind- 
 ing like a ribbon to the sea. Right below us one may get a 
 proper idea of the magnitude of the importance of the 
 reclaiming of the river flats. Close by is the Bureau of 
 Printing and Engraving, where the paper money is manu- 
 factured. 
 
 In the east lies the beautiful park, known as the Mall, 
 extending in a broad expanse of luxuriant verdure to the 
 Capitol Grounds a mile distant. 
 
 In this park are located the Agricultural Department 
 and its experimental gardens, the Smithsonian Institute 
 building, which is said to be the most graceful bit of arc- 
 hitecture in the city. It looks quite ancient and foreign 
 with its towers and gables, being covered with clinging 
 ivy, adds very much to its attractiveness. In the rear of 
 Smithsonian is the nucleus of the projected National Zoo 
 Gardens, which are intended to preserve specimens of all 
 American species. 
 
 Close by is the National Museum. This is a centennial 
 exposition somewhat condensed. 
 
 I am not considered a competent guide here. In fact 
 I have been charged with purposely losing visiting friends
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 21 
 
 in this place. It's simply immense and must be seen to be 
 appreciated. 
 
 The Medical Museum which adjoins is another inter- 
 esting place for those who like to see horrible things pre- 
 served in alcohol bones, skeletons, plaster casts of war 
 wounds, etc. 
 
 The Botanic Gardens contain everything in the way of 
 flowers, and under its glass roof one may, in the depth of 
 winter, imagine one's self in a tropical land. 
 Hurrying along up Capitol Hill through this errand 
 park we encounter a solitary tree on the South side grow- 
 ing in the middle of the broad walk. This is known as 
 the Henry Clay tree, a'nd the woodman's ax spared it 
 because old Simon Cameron, then a senator, threatened 
 to shoot any one that would destroy the tree that was 
 Clay's special admiration. 
 
 On the east side of the Capitol, directly opposite the 
 Senate, may be seen one of the old landmarks, the Old 
 Capitol Prison once used as the Capitol and during the 
 war famous as a prison for " suspects" or disloyal sub- 
 jects. What wonderful stories these old walls might reveal 
 if they could but tell one-half of the sorrows and troubles 
 that have been buried in their depths. 
 
 I never pass it without looking up to " My Window" 
 expecting to see the ghost of my former self looking out. 
 I recently took a photograph of this building, and to those 
 who may be curious as to the. place, I shall be glad to sup- 
 ply copies to the club. 
 
 It is soon to be torn down to make room for the new 
 Supreme Court building which is to occupy this cite,
 
 22 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 corresponding to that of the new Congressional Library 
 on the opposite square. 
 
 The old building was remodeled into a block of fine 
 residences, in one of which Senator Spooner, of Wisconsin, 
 is now living. 
 
 It is of course luxuriantly furnished, but I recently 
 told the laughing Senator that I wouldn't sleep inside of 
 his house. Nothing could ever efface from my mind the 
 feelings that the very walls are permeated with the army 
 " bug " that I know once infested its walls as numerously 
 as grains of sand in the plaster on its walls. 
 
 Belle Boyd whom I knew in Old Capitol Prison, recently 
 wrote me in regard to identification. She is now lectur- 
 ing before G. A. R. Posts throughout the country on her 
 experience as a Itebel Spy. Enclosing a photograph of 
 herself disguised in the costume of a Confederate Cavalry 
 officer. She wrote beneath it : " You see I pants for 
 fame." There is no doubt of her identity, or of the fact 
 that she did good service for the Confederates. 
 
 The following is a copy of an autograph letter from 
 Belle Boyd, the Kebel Spy: 
 
 " LIBRY, PENN., Feb. 25, 1889. 
 
 " Dear Tiny Sp>/. -Your letter was received amid the tumult of battle- 
 is my heart and head ever right over my identification being mixed with 
 Bell Starr's death, hence apology for delay in writing. I remember you in 
 the old Capitol, as I recall you having rather curly hair, a slight mustache 
 and dark blue eyes, rather a handsome fellow. Am I right? And I remem- 
 ber Buxton, Frank Lacy Buxton, of Buxton Hall, England, our English 
 friend. I will Avrite you a letter at earliest leisure. 
 
 "BELLE BOYD, REBEL SPY." 
 
 A description of the Capitol building need not be 
 attempted. Its magnificent proportions are familiar to 
 every American through the illustrations in school books 
 and histories.
 
 OX THE WAR- PATH. 23 
 
 The grand stairway approaches to the Grecian portals of 
 the Senate and House rotunda, on the eastern or real front, 
 are seldom used. Instead of entering through the massive 
 bronze doors, we will follow the crowd into the dungeon- 
 like passage beneath the grand steps, and grope our way 
 in the dimly-lighted interior through the crypt to the 
 rotunda. 
 
 Here we will find seated in an arm-chair, on the south 
 side, a fine-looking old gentleman, with gray hair but erect 
 military bearing, in blue uniform, whose genial counte- 
 nance invites the tourist to propound questions. 
 
 This is my old friend, General P. H. Allabach, for a 
 long time chief of the Capitol police force, who in his 
 courteous way will detail you a suitable guide to the build- 
 ing, and relieve me of that tiresome duty. 
 
 Because of a striking resemblance in personal appear- 
 ance to Capt. Bassett, the familiar Sergeant-at-Arms of the 
 Senate, these two officials are known as the Capitol 
 Dromios. 
 
 It would be difficult to find, however, any two persons 
 who were more unlike in other respects. General Allabaugh 
 is the veteran of two wars, and enjoys the distinguished 
 honor of having personally led the last desperate onslaught 
 of Burnside's army on Marye's Heights, during which he 
 lost 700 men and had his horse killed. 
 
 While quite undemonstrative and modest, the old hero 
 has quite decided convictions on the war question as well 
 as of matters of current events, and is not afraid to express 
 an opinion when called upon. When disorderly visitors or 
 innumerable cranks, that are daily attracted to the building
 
 24 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 under his charge, give his force too much trouble and 
 annoy members, lie does not hesitate in obeying orders, 
 and fires them out unceremoniously. If he does not talk 
 much, perhaps he thinks in a profane language sometimes. 
 
 On the other hand, Sergeant-at-Arms Bassett, who en- 
 joys the same military title of Captain, has been an em- 
 ploye of the Senate for fifty-nine consecutive years, and in 
 that time three wars have come and gone, which did not 
 disturb for a day the serenity and repose of this faithful 
 government employe. He has also passed safely through 
 all the administrations from the days of Polk. He has 
 known by personal contact all the senators from Webster 
 to the present, and been a witness on the Senate floor and 
 in Executive Session to all the stirring events that have 
 occurred in these years. Yet this mild, courteous old 
 official has never been known to express an opinion, and a 
 news-gatherer would as soon think of appealing to one of 
 the statues in the niches of the Senate walls for an item 
 of news, as to approach Capt. Bassett for an idea. 
 
 He has been a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
 Church for sixty years. It was my pleasure to have sat at 
 the same table with him daily for a long time, and the only 
 words that escaped from him were the reverential grace he 
 was accustomed to offer. 
 
 Both of these officials are Democrats, their positions 
 are outside the protection of the Civil Service, yet a 
 Republican Senate and House have wisely and consider- 
 ately retained them in service. 
 
 After a hurried walk we will take a front seat in the 
 Senate gallery, for a rest. It is the most restful place in
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 25 
 
 the big building, and a few moments here will serve to 
 soothe your nerves after a visit to the distracting House 
 galleries. 
 
 The Senate is quite dignified, and we shall have to be 
 quite decorous in its august presence. 
 
 Yes, I think I know them all by sight, and can point 
 out those most prominent. I should be glad, however, to 
 answer any questions (by mail), as I find that to be most 
 satisfactory to visitor and guide. 
 
 I was a boyish attendant in this gallery during the last 
 days of the session preceding the war, when Douglas 
 occupied that seat now filled by a Delaware senator, and 
 John J. Crittenden had the corner that Mr. Frye, of 
 Maine, holds down. Mr. Seward, I think, had the seat on 
 this side which was afterward filled by Sumner and 
 Conkling. 
 
 There was a good deal of excitement in those days, 
 when the leading Southern men, like Jeff. Davis, were 
 almost daily seceding. 
 
 The gentleman in the chair is not always the Vice- 
 president, who is the presiding officer by virtue of his elec- 
 tion by the people. The waspish gentleman with a large 
 head and glasses and thin waist is Mr. Ingalls, the Eepub- 
 lican President of the Senate pro fern., by choice of Repub- 
 lican senators. He looks as if he were excessively bored 
 by the duties. I presume they honored him with this 
 place to keep him from talking too much on the floor. 
 He is a buzz-saw when he gets started. 
 
 To the right of the chair is the Democratic side. The 
 venerable-looking man in the front row, who reminds me
 
 26 ON TIIE WAR-PATH. 
 
 % 
 
 of a Mormon elder, is ex-Gov. Jo. Brown, of Georgia. By 
 the way, the Southern States have a practice of sending 
 their ex-governors to the Senate, even if they were govern- 
 ors of the Confederate States. The senator nearest Brown 
 is Harris, of Tennessee, who is probably the best parlia- 
 mentarian on the floor, and promptly comes to their res- 
 cue when in a tangle on some point of order, a discussion 
 of which, by the way, seems to consume half the time. 
 
 The handsomest man on the floor sits next, Gen. M. C. 
 Butler, of South Carolina. He lost a leg at Brandy Sta- 
 tion, in Virginia, where I happened to be also, but on the 
 opposite side. He is a most courteous gentleman, and, 
 although an ex-Rebel and a fire-eating Democrat, he and 
 the Republican Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania, are inti- 
 mate friends. The English-looking person, Gen. Wade 
 Hampton, of South Carolina, with iron-gray side-whiskers, 
 reading a paper on the back row. Alongside of him is 
 Governor Vance, of North Carolina, a jolly, good-natured 
 ex-Rebel; General Ransom, his colleague, was on Marye's 
 Heights when Allabach's brigade charged. 
 
 The tall, fine-looking man with long black hair is Gen- 
 eral Walthall, of Mississippi, a typical ex-Confederate who 
 succeeded Mr. Lamar. That gentleman going along on 
 two crutches is Mr. Berry of Arkansas. He left the other 
 leg in the Confederacy. 
 
 I believe, without exception, every senator from a 
 seceded state, was either a Confederate officer, governor, or 
 legislator. 
 
 Mr. Reagan, of Texas, whom I knew in Richmond, was 
 Jeff Davis' Postmaster General, while Vest, of Missouri, was
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 27 
 
 in the Confederate Congress at the same time. My obser- 
 vation and experience have shown that these "rebel" sena- 
 tors are invariably clever men, personally, and, if the time 
 should ever come, they will be the first to take arms in de- 
 fense of the whole country, either from attack without, or 
 insurrection within the re-united States. 
 
 On the Republican side, the Union soldiers are becoming 
 thinned out. Since Logan's death the only two prominent 
 ones are Generals Hawley, of Connecticut, and Manderson, 
 of Nebraska. 
 
 Col. M. S. Quay, whom everybody wants to see, is in 
 poor health and seldom in his seat, was an officer at 
 Marye's Heights. He is a most unobtrusive, kind-hearted 
 gentleman, who suffers in silence the bitter attacks from 
 those who, by his good management, have become disap- 
 pointed sore-heads. 
 
 In personal appearance I imagine he is about such a 
 looking person as Ben Butler may have been at his age. 
 
 They are quite dignified down there on the floor, and a 
 looker-on might imagine, from their savage manner and 
 stinging speeches, that the sections were about ready to go 
 to war again; but if you could get into these cloak rooms 
 under the galleries, or peer behind the scenes into com- 
 mittee rooms, where a " Rebel and a Yankee" may be found 
 almost any time, sampling Congress water, or lounging on 
 the elegant sofas, smoking and telling humorous stories of 
 the war, you would become impressed witli the truthful- 
 ness of the Shakespearean quotation, "All the world's a 
 stage, " and senators, like other human beings, are only 
 actors.
 
 28 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Attention is diverted to the reporter's gallery by the 
 loudness of a few occupants, who, by frequent exhibitions 
 of their ill manners annoy and abuse the courtesj of the 
 Senate, which grants to the press at large the exclusive 
 privilege of this convenient gallery over the Vice-pres- 
 ident's desk. In the minds of some of these conceited 
 news manufacturers there is a greater aggregation of 
 wisdom and statesmanship, honesty and purity, than is 
 assembled on the floor of the Senate. They are so like 
 buzz flies and crickets that I am constrained to suggest a 
 sentence from Edmund Burke, which seems 'so generally 
 applicable to both their methods and their work: "Because 
 a half-dozen grasshoppers under a protecting fence make 
 a field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thou- 
 sands of great cattle repose or chew the cud and are silent, 
 pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are 
 the only inhabitants, that after all, though many in num- 
 ber, they are other than the little, hopping, loud and 
 troublesome insects of the hour/' 
 
 There is also provided for the press a large room in the 
 rear of the gallery, which is furnished handsomely, gra- 
 tuitously supplied with every convenience: stationary, 
 messengers, pages, telegraph offices, etc., where the 
 news-gatherers assemble to exchange lies, or abuse each 
 other, ventilate their personal grievances, put up jobs and 
 file their "specials" at the telegraph office, which are 
 daily published as "reliable" by the sensational press 
 throughout the country. 
 
 I venture the opinion that the average "well-known 
 correspondent" is a mighty uncertain quantity, and, gen-
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 29 
 
 erally speaking, a bad lot and devilish unreliable. I ought 
 to know, as I have been one of them myself. Where he is 
 . " well known " no especial honors are attached to this 
 generic gentleman. I have parted with my aspirations in 
 this direction and retired to private correspondence. For 
 many years after the war I was in charge of the press tel- 
 egraph business in that room, and in addition to the 
 regular proceedings of the Senate, I handled all their 
 " special" copy, and subsequently got into the swim 
 as a "regular." 
 
 The correspondents became pretty "well known" to 
 me, and I might, perhaps, be able to relate some " good 
 stories " about them that they are so eager to print about 
 public men. 
 
 The representative of a New York daily, upon being 
 requested to correct his statement confounding Senator 
 John Sherman with a real estate agent of the same name 
 who was engaged in the Washington real estate boom, 
 declined, because, as he said, <s It was a pity to spoil a good 
 story." The same reporter published matter of a sensa- 
 tional character relating to a certain Western senator's 
 family affairs, but promptly made a correction, after the 
 senator made a brief call upon him, in which he quietly 
 remarked, "You can publish anything you choose abou't 
 myself as a public man, but if you ever mention my 
 family again, I will kill you precisely as I would a rat,"- 
 and he meant it. This reporter is well known as a hen- 
 pecked husband; the talk was that his wife dictated such 
 matters, and he had to go to bed when she said so. 
 
 Of course there are very many honorable gentlemen
 
 30 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 who represent first-class journals, whose characters are 
 beyond question, and who confine themselves to legitimate 
 journalism ; but these are the exceptions. 
 
 One of the oldest in years, as weil as in continuous ser- 
 vice, enjoying the honors as the Nestor of the press, has 
 earned quite a reputation as a fearless exponent of the 
 wrong doings and intents of public men. He is a hard 
 hitter through the columns of the paper, which has pro- 
 moted, to the f ullest extent, the development of this crank. 
 Yet before the ink may be dry in a wicked attack on a 
 public man, the same pen will rush to the unjust defense 
 of any one of the newspaper ring whatever may be the 
 charges against him. His sins of "omission" are not 
 recorded in this world. 
 
 No one cares to provoke controversy alone with an 
 enemy surrounded by friends, who has unlimited facilities 
 for attack, and no opportunity is afforded to repel. 
 
 His integrity and purity of personal character are un- 
 questioned, though it is known that General Sherman, upon 
 being assailed by this knight of the pen, abruptly retorted 
 that "he believed this correspondent would slander his 
 own mother for money." An attempt to involve the old 
 hero in an official action for this charge resulted in failure. 
 When an effort to compromise or to secure a retraction, was 
 made by a conciliatory remonstrance which was more cour- 
 teous than the original attack had been, to the effect that "it 
 was a pretty hard thing for the General of the army to pub- 
 licly accuse a man of a willingness to slander his mother." 
 Old Tecumseh replied, "Yes, it is a hard thing to say; but 
 I believe it of you."
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 31 
 
 Though at the head of the Washington Bureau of a 
 prominent Kepublican newspaper of Cincinnati it is noto- 
 rious that during the Elaine and Logan campaign, he was 
 a most bitter and virulent enemy of the head of the Repub- 
 lican ticket, probably because the wives of these fcwo gen- 
 tlemen were not congenial. 
 
 Though nominally at the head of the paper here, he has 
 been relieved of a portion of his duties by a brilliant 
 unmuzzled pen. He now amuses himself by writing letters 
 to his paper after the manner of the old ladies who sub- 
 scribe themselves "constant or indignant reader," who 
 complain of fast driving on the street, or protest against 
 the dust, object to the crowing of chickens too early in 
 the morning, or find fault with the flavor of the water 
 supplied the city. 
 
 As he is physically incapable of personally gathering any 
 of the facts relating to the numerous charges of a public 
 character, it follows that some official sore-heads furnish 
 the material, using this method to ventilate their per- 
 sonal grievances as a sort of sewer. He may be seen 
 accompanied by a little shepherd dog who is used to round 
 up the stray sheep. 
 
 His next-door neighbor on newspaper row, was the 
 Washington manager of a Chicago Republican daily, who 
 claimed to control its policy, as well as edit its pages by 
 special wire from Washington. This person also did every- 
 thing in his power to embarrass the campaign, because of 
 a personal antagonism to the second man on the ticket. 
 
 General Logan had threatened to club him for an 
 unlimited libellous attack of a personal character.
 
 32 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 As a reward for his " special services " in behalf of Mr. 
 Arthur's nomination at Chicago, this correspondent was 
 appointed to a position of "disbursing" agent for a junk- 
 eting commission. 
 
 When the question of confirmation subsequently came 
 up in the Senate, Mr. Logan objected on the ground that 
 this Republican correspondent of his home paper, had 
 offered to furnish the chairman of the Democratic cam- 
 paign committee with material to be used against Logan 
 in the canvass. The General appealed to Senator Gorman, 
 Democratic chairman, who, rising in his place, stated that 
 Logan's charge was true, and the name was turned down. 
 This little item of executive sessions the correspondents 
 were not so eager to publish. 
 
 The gentlemen of the press became as greatly agitated 
 as a swarm of bees whose hive had been upset, and at 
 once began buzzing around the senators to their great 
 annoyance, printing all sorts of criticisms for hesitating 
 to accept one of their number who had been proven treach- 
 erous to his party and friends. 
 
 Subsequently, during the absence of Logan, he was 
 confirmed, made the tour with oneot the three commission- 
 ers, and on his return disbursed 11,000 in payment for a 
 house. 
 
 That ghoulish-looking, hard face is protected by a 
 rhinoeerous skin. He has objected to every new-comer 
 that has presumed to invade the exclusive precincta 
 of Washington journalism, and was himself dismissed 
 from a Chicago Republican paper for his arrogance and 
 jobbery, and now has a merely nominal connection with a
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 33 
 
 Chicago Democratic paper, under the protection of which 
 he continues his vocation of lobbyist. 
 
 It was my fortune to have attended, as an expert press 
 telegrapher, all of the great National Nominating Con- 
 ventions. 
 
 It was undoubtedly the machinations of this cabal, then 
 existing, that succeeded in defeating Mr. Colfax, and 
 precisely the same influences have sought to prevail 
 against Mr. Elaine. 
 
 There will probably always be a newspaper ring in 
 Washington. A new-comer, who is objectionable or does 
 not soon conform to the existing conditions, is soon made 
 away with in a business sense. 
 
 Ben: Perley Colon Poor and his contemporaneous jour- 
 nalists have disappeared. The Jewish-faced gentleman 
 who wears his bustle in front, is his double successor. It 
 is said he married the Boston paper. No one ever accuses 
 this accomplished journalist of any sort of jobbing, 
 though he is said not to deceive his looks, and is so stylish 
 that he wants the "airth " what to him is the newspaper 
 world? When relieved of a prominent Chicago paper, 
 sometime since, all the " boys " united in protesting 
 against the outrageous interference of a managing editor 
 in Chicago with the Washington Bureau, and a plot was 
 deliberately formed to "freeze out" the worthy young 
 gentleman sent here to do the work. It was, however, 
 peppered to suit the taste of the manager, and became so 
 hot here that the ice was thawed and the inevitable 
 accepted. 
 
 As I said previously, there are many honorable
 
 34 ON THE WAR-PATH. , 
 
 exceptions. I am not attempting to describe the rule. 
 Perhaps all of us have our price. I have known some of 
 them to accept bribes from both sides. That conceited 
 fellow's tolls to Boston are one dollar a line. 
 
 The official proceedings of the Senate are reported for 
 the record verbatim by Mr. Dennis Murphy and his accom- 
 plished assistant stenographers, who occupy tables on the 
 floor of the Senate, immediately in front of the clerk's 
 desk. 
 
 A reporter for the Associated Press is also on the floor 
 alongside, who condenses the doings of every session, which 
 you see published in the daily press everywhere. 
 
 Though there are ostensibly two organizations, known 
 as the Associated and the United Press, that are appar- 
 ently rivals, they are, in fact, under one general control. 
 It is understood that the older and more influential asso- 
 ciated gobbled its vigorous young rival by securing a con- 
 trol of its stock. As long as there can be no established 
 opposition to the monopoly of the Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company, it will be seen that two press associations 
 can not exist. 
 
 Whatever may be said to the contrary by the friends 
 of the telegraph company, I record it as my testimony, as an 
 expert, that, in effect, Jay Gould can now, through his 
 agents, indirectly control or muzzle even the Associated 
 Press organization, in his own interests. 
 
 These associated press organizations being composed of 
 papers of all shades of politics, throughout the entire coun- 
 try, require of their agents brief statements of fact and 
 items of general news only, and no opinions or comments.
 
 OH THE AVAR-PATH. . 35 
 
 By the employment of a large force of competent reporters 
 in Washington, they are able, in a systematic way, to cover 
 the entire ground, whether general, legislative, committee 
 work, executive or general news. 
 
 By reason of this improved service there remains but a 
 limited field for the special, whose principle duties are now 
 confined to manufacturing opinions and comments, or in 
 looking up items of local interest. A good deal of this 
 work is now performed by department clerks, principally 
 ladies. 
 
 The personnel of the well-known Washington corre- 
 spondent has, in consequence, suffered. Prominent news- 
 papers do not now have their best men in Washington to do 
 exclusive work. They have adopted a clearing-house system 
 for the exchange of news through bureaus, by Avhich a New 
 York, Chicago, and Cincinnati paper use the same matter. 
 This has been followed by a system of small newspaper syndi- 
 cates, which manufacture and sell news. The correspond- 
 ents of these are usually composed of the numerous news- 
 paper hacks and deadbeats, who attach themselves as 
 barnacles or suckers to the press, using it as a cloak, or 
 convenience, to better enable them to ply their real vocation 
 of blackmailers, lobbyists, claim agents or stock gamblers. 
 
 There are a number of such men with a nominal con- 
 nection with a newspaper, who do not pretend to gather 
 any news, and whose only reports are those made up from 
 the premature intelligence they may be thus able to gain 
 of proposed legislation, which they telegraph by special 
 wire and by special privilege of the telegraph companies 
 to their correspondents direct to their offices on Wall
 
 :j'i OK THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 street, before it is possible for others to do so. I am not 
 flying opinions, but recording facts that I know to be cor- 
 rect and which may be established easily. 
 
 It is both unfair to the general public and the press 
 that Congress should provide and foster such trusts, and 
 permit the telegraph companies to thus discriminate. 
 
 Great injury and injustice is in this way done, under 
 the protection of Congress, and the same facilities are used 
 to better enable the professional lobbyists to further the 
 interests of their agents in procuring legislation. 
 
 The "special wire" privilege can be enjoyed by the 
 few to the exclusion of the many, as the person who 
 leases a wire and operator for so many hours each day 
 has the exclusive control of it. May not all available 
 wires be thus leased, at least for the time being ? 
 
 It was my duty to have handled alone the Message 
 of ex-Secretary Boutwell, that announced a change of 
 policy on the selling of gold, that caused the celebrated 
 Black Friday calamity. If at that time special wires had 
 been in use, millions would have been made and lost by 
 the extra facilities now afforded gamblers for manipula- 
 ting government action. The dispatch I held in my hand 
 might have netted me a million dollars if I had chosen to 
 (May it, and send ahead a private message to a confeder- 
 ate in New York, giving this important information. As 
 it was, it did leak out in New York, through the sub- 
 treasury agent, as shown by an investigation by a com- 
 mittee of Congress, before whom I was examined. Hon. 
 S. S. Cox, then Chairman complimented me highly and 
 called attention to the fact, that no oath was required of
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 37 
 
 this operator, as to the inviolability of the many import- 
 ant secrets that pass through his hands, as was the case 
 with the sub-treasurer of New York. "A more faithful 
 performance of duty has been exhibited by this poorly 
 paid operator." 
 
 By courtesy of the committee on rules of the Senate, 
 the press gallery is under the control of a committee of 
 correspondents who nominate their own doorkeeper whom 
 the Sergeant-at-Arms appoints. 
 
 The representative of the correspondents now acting as 
 a guard over closed doors between the executive sessions 
 and the reporters room enjoys the distinction of having 
 stolen a President's message from the government's keeping 
 and sold it to the press for publication in advance of its 
 delivery. 
 
 It is not charged that any of the employes are responsi- 
 ble for the leaks from the executive session. I presume 
 the senators generally understand without the farce of an 
 investigation, that whatever information is given out, is 
 furnished by one or more of their own number. They 
 not intentionally reveal the secrets of Executive Session, 
 but in an indifferent way submit to being interviewed. 
 Some of the reporters boast of their intimate relations 
 with what they familiarly term "My Senator." Each of 
 these will cross-examine his man, probably assume certain 
 things to provoke a denial which furnishes a clue then 
 they will assemble in their clearing house, exchange notes 
 and make up a report that is not as often correct as they 
 make out, but as no denials can be made, the public is led 
 to believe it is correct. 
 
 51852
 
 38 OX THK WAR-PATH. 
 
 When employed at the main telegraph office at night, 
 it was my duty to receive from the correspondents their 
 copy, record and count it. In this way I handled for years 
 and saw every word of all matter filed, and became quite 
 familiar with the handwriting and style of each of the gen- 
 tlemen of the press. 
 
 During the sessions of the high joint commission of the 
 celebrated Alabama claims, the greatest anxiety was shown 
 to learn something of the proceedings and prospects of a 
 peaceful settlement or of a possible war with Great Britain. 
 I kept myself awake at nights, in attempting to translate 
 the cipher dispatches that were sent by cable, through my 
 hands, as receiver, to be transmitted to the London foreign 
 office. No words were used, but figures, arranged in groups 
 of four similar to this, 1889, 1981, 1 770. 1805, 3632. etc. I 
 was successful only in ascertaining that the first figure of 
 each group of four, referred to a page in the government 
 cipher book, and the remaining three corresponded with a 
 word or sentence written or printed in that book, so that 
 it will be seen that the cipher code of the British govern- 
 ment is practically unlimited in resources and almost past 
 finding out. 
 
 The gentlemanly representatives of the New York 
 Tribune, Messrs. "White and Ilamsdell, succeeded in get- 
 ting a copy of the treaty after it had been sent to the Senate 
 for ratification, filing it with me for transmission. It was 
 published in New York to the consternation of the officers 
 of both English and American governments. It will be 
 remembered the senators became quite indignant and 
 demanded that the newspaper men should account to
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 39 
 
 them for the manner of obtaining it. Of course they 
 declined, were arrested for contempt and imprisoned in 
 a committee room. 
 
 Failing to obtain any satisfaction and as the copy had 
 been withdrawn after sending, I was summoned before the 
 Committee to testify as to my knowledge of it and espe- 
 cially as to the handwriting of the copy used. 
 
 I received instruction from President Orton and Man- 
 ager Tinker to give to all questions the stereotyped reply, 
 
 "I respectfully decline to answer." 
 
 Though cross-examined by Matt Carpenter and Roscoe 
 Conkling, I was able, to their disgust, to "respectfully 
 decline "to be interviewed. For this offense, I had the 
 distinguished honor of being called before the bar of the 
 Senate as a recalcitrant witness, and by the orders of that 
 august body, I was relegated to the charge of the Sergeant 
 at Arms of the Senate. I have related these matters here 
 that you may the better understand some more interesting 
 events of a recent date that follow. 
 
 We have been in the Capitol too long, the club is tired 
 and no doubt hungry. I shall be glad to escort you to 
 Harvey's, one of the old time Maryland restaurants, where 
 we may enjoy the best of oysters, and over our coffee and 
 cigars, I'll tell you a little story of a recent conspiracy.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WASHINGTON " CLUBS " THE "(ilUDIKON PRESS " CLUB 
 THE TRAVEL CLUB DINE AFTER-DINNER, CONFIDENCES 
 THE CONSPIRACY TO PAY THE CONFEDERATE COTTON 
 LOAN. 
 
 The club practice in Washington is developing to a 
 remarkable degree, not only the physical, but the mental, 
 social, religious and wicked as well as business tendencies 
 of the habitues of the Capitol. 
 
 Among the innumerable societies of this character is 
 one organized by a coterie of correspondents, ostensibly 
 for social gatherings of the press gang, known by the 
 odoriferous title of the " Gridiron Club." 
 
 It is notorious that the Washington correspondents do 
 not dwell together in harmony; on the contrary, there is 
 a lamentable dearth of sociability in the guild, for the suf- 
 ficient reason, perhaps, that success in their business of 
 news-gathering hinges largely on the "beats ''of a rival 
 reporter for a contemporary, and a '' scoop," or exclusive 
 item, results in creating envious feelings and excites daily 
 questions of veracity and unfair dealings. 
 
 The gatherings of the Gridiron are, therefore, limited 
 to occasional assessment dinners, to which a member may 
 invite a friend as guest on the principle, perhaps, of 
 supplying seasonable "game," which may be broiled upon 
 their gridiron in the presence of the members, being well 
 basted with wine, and, when done, picked to the bone. 
 
 40
 
 OX THE AVAR-PATH. 41 
 
 Your guide invites the " Travel Club " to become his 
 guests at an oyster supper at Harvey's old house, familiar 
 to the old boys during the war and to the visitors to the 
 capital ever since. 
 
 We will have some blue points on the half shell, or, if 
 you prefer, low neck clams, as a basis, saddle rocks fried 
 in bread crumbs, a bushel of steamed, with all the acces- 
 sories. 
 
 If you do not know how to enjoy oysters, try some of 
 the terrapin in Maryland style, which is a specialty of this 
 house, or perhaps a luscious canvas-back duck with home- 
 made Virginia currant jelly and a baked sweet potato 
 would suit the ladies. And by the way, John, bring us a 
 decanter of that sherry from the cask imported from 
 Cadiz. What are you hesitating about, you grinning Fif- 
 teenth Amendment? Do you suppose I am going to fill 
 this crowd up on common beer? 
 
 I hope all will feel perfectly at home, and be able to 
 enjoy an hour in this communion of comradeship, while 
 we, in imagination, eat from the same old stump and 
 drink from the same canteen, while I with a feeling of 
 confidence relate some experiences of a conspiracy relating 
 to some facts of the war. 
 
 There are rings within rings, or wheels within wheels 
 that are connected by an intricate system of cog-wheel 
 mechanism, that go round and round overriding not only 
 the will of the masses, but crushing like the car of 
 Juggernaut, any obstacles that are in their path. 
 
 It is probably safe to say that every -important private 
 or corporate interest has its representative at the Capitol.
 
 42 ON" TIIK WAR-PATH. 
 
 The average newspaper man, being shrewd, popularly 
 supposed to know everything, and by reason of his press 
 connection, having an open sesame to official quarters be- 
 comes the favorite choice as the Washington agents to 
 look after the interests of the great corporation. Of course 
 they do not openly make any such contracts. They 
 cover this outside business by working through attorneys. 
 Through an exchange or combination of interests the 
 correspondents are supposed to be able to manufacture 
 public opinion, commenting upon measures either favor- 
 ably or unfavorably, as they are interested, or perhaps 
 uniting in systematic denunciation of any public man who 
 may be opposed to them. 
 
 It will be seen that statements of fact or the com- 
 ments of the average Washington "Special" may through 
 this influence be unreliable. The intelligent newspaper 
 reader, however, is not greatly influenced by the assertions 
 of newspapers, unless supported by facts. He is rapidly 
 being educated to form his own conclusions. As Sairy 
 Gampe says, "facts is stubborn things which wont be druv 
 mutch. " 
 
 But the sin of omitting to do the whole duty as a chron- 
 icler of public events, may be even greater than that of 
 committing an injustice. 
 
 To black-mailers silence is frequently golden. In thus 
 relating some personal observations and experiences with 
 lobbyists in Washington it will be seen that, personally, I 
 have nothing to gain and everything to lose. 
 
 Perhaps in a business sense it would pay better to submit 
 this story to some interested parties for " revision " rather 
 than tell it to the club.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 43 
 
 It is the motive which gives character to any act or deed. 
 
 My object is simply a desire to put in permanent shape 
 
 for record some actual experiences and observations to 
 
 which I involuntarily and perhaps providentially became 
 
 a witness. 
 
 I might appropriately put it in the legal form of a last 
 will and testament, or in the deposition of an ante-rnortem 
 statement, realizing that " my sands of life will soon run 
 out." 
 
 I was for some years engaged with the Inter Ocean 
 bureau here, as a reporter and the operator of a special or 
 exclusive telegraph wire, Avhich originated in the Tribune 
 office in New York, and run, via Philadelphia and Balti- 
 more, to the Washington office in Newspaper Row. In the 
 same room were also located the reporters' desks of the 
 Philadelphia Ledger, Cleveland Leader, and my Pittsburgh 
 and Salt Lake City papers, and some others who are pop- 
 ularly known as "The Sisters," probably because they are 
 weak and dependent upon their associates for all they get. 
 
 This wire extended directly west to the Chicago Inter 
 Ocean editorial rooms, and also reached the St. Paul 
 Pioneer Press. 
 
 It will be seen that there were unexcelled facilities 
 afforded me for the study of the modus opemndi by an inti- 
 mate association with these gentlemen of the press during 
 some years. 
 
 I made a study of short hand, and it become one of my 
 regular duties to take "dictation" from the managers, or 
 to collect my own notes in this form, and to telegraph 
 direct from them instead of transcribing.
 
 44 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 
 
 By this remarkable system of telegraph short-hand, 
 I was able to transmit, by the use of logarithms and arbi- 
 trary signs and contractions, press matter at more than 
 double the speed of the ordinary method. 
 
 It became my habit to " take down " in notes all mat- 
 ters of interest, which enable me to better relate now, with 
 a degree of exactness, matters that have been preserved in 
 
 this way. 
 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 There arrived in Washington during the session of 
 Congress the first year of Mr. Cleveland's administra- 
 tion, an old gentleman who was universally recognized an 
 one of the shrewdest Wall street operators. His immense 
 dealings and bold operations, as well as his clever sayings, 
 had made him quite famous in his way. Though his name 
 is as familiar as a household word, and he is not at all sen- 
 sitive as to its publicity, we will, for convenience, call him 
 Uncle Kemus. In a quiet way he had engaged quarters at 
 one of the up-town European Hotels, affected by pro- 
 fessional lobbyists on account of its privacy and superior 
 table. 
 
 His arrival was not announced in the press. 
 
 The first move of the professional lobbyist on reaching 
 Washington, is to entertain his intended victims at a din- 
 ner or supper, just as I am using the club as an illustra- 
 tion. 
 
 This wily operator did not wait for dinner, but at once 
 invited the " boys" of the press to a breakfast. During 
 this preliminary sitting he took occasion to explain that 
 his presence in the city was purely for social recreation and
 
 6N THE WAR-PATH. 45 
 
 amusement, at which the boys seemed to see something 
 funny enough to create a laugh. 
 
 He inadvertently observed that, as he had not brought 
 his secretary along, and had an immense correspondence 
 to answer, he would like to engage a temporary amanuen- 
 sis, for whose services he would pay five dollars per day, 
 and asked the boys to send him a reliable person. 
 
 It so happened that I was warmly indorsed by the cor- 
 respondents as a proper person, as being familiar with 
 " ways and means/' and fully capable of doing his work. 
 
 I was at once engaged, and became the confidential sec- 
 retary of the great lobbyist. 
 
 The following morning I reported for duty. Though 
 it was nearly 10 o'clock, the old gentleman was yet abed 
 and to my knock at his door, he growled from under the 
 clothes, "Get out," instead of "Come in." I knew some- 
 thing of his ways, and instead of retiring indignantly, I 
 laughingly mad*e myself known, when he responded more 
 politely, though quite indifferently, '' I'll see you later." 
 
 When I called later, about noon, I found my employer 
 entertaining some friends. 
 
 There were seated about a centre table, on which were 
 a number of glasses and some ice-water, or lounging on 
 sofas, smoking the finest cigars, a number of gentlemen, 
 who, like myself, had probably reported for duty. Among 
 these were a couple of the " well known" correspondents, 
 an ex-congressman, now a member of the third house, one 
 of those retired by their constituents who remain in 
 Washington to practice law; also, one of the many " hotel 
 sitters " used as a sort of copper or roper in.
 
 46 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 To my offer of services as his clerk, my uncle good- 
 humored ly observed that as he was very busy, the best 
 way to serve him just then was to "take a walk/' or if I 
 preferred it, to go get a carriage and have the bill sent in 
 here. "You might come in again in the evening/' lie 
 continued, laughing, "and let him know how you are 
 getting along." 
 
 In the evening I found a senator and a United States 
 judge dining with this king of lobbyists. 
 
 Several days were thus spent in reporting for duty, 
 merely to be excused, because the presence of even a 
 private secretary was not always desirable when surrounded 
 by visitors, surreptitiously discussing "private enterprises 
 of great pith and moment." 
 
 To some suggestion that I should feel more comfortable 
 if permitted to do some work, that I might earn the 
 salary, he replied, brusquely, " You are getting your 
 five dollars a day, aint you? What are you kicking 
 about, say?" I did not growl any more, but with a broad 
 smile took another walk to meditate on "the ways that are 
 dark and the tricks that are vain." 
 
 It will be readily seen that this voluntary offer of five 
 dollars per day for doing nothing, was in some way a 
 bribe. Trying to find out just what was to be expected or 
 accomplished is the only thing that occupied my time. 
 
 The accomplished lobbyist does not personally haunt 
 the lobbies of the Capitol. As a matter of fact, my uncle 
 was not to be seen publicly. Like an official who manages 
 great interests, he sticks to his headquarters, and through 
 the agencies he employs he moves his men in a mysterious 
 way on the Congressional checker-board.
 
 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 47 
 
 Congressmen who have access to the floors and can reach 
 the ears and pronxpt members at the proper moment and 
 thus precipitate their interests are the favored agents ; or 
 it may be a newspaper man, who may, through his recognized 
 press connections or legitimate quest for news, have access 
 to committee rooms, and in many ways be able to forward 
 his employer's purposes. 
 
 One of the most accomplished gentlemen of the Washing- 
 ton press is that elegant-looking person whose military bear- 
 ing and suave manners impress every one favorably. He 
 never antagonizes any one; is popular every where; yet he is, 
 in fact, the most successful lobbyist in Washington, and 
 one whose services are eagerly sought by such men as our 
 uncle. He is a veritable Mephistopheles. I confess to a 
 personal attachment and a disposition to shield rather than 
 expose him. 
 
 Through persistence, perhaps, I succeeded in impressing 
 my services on Uncle Remus during parb of each day, read- 
 ing aloud the financial items in the New York papers, and 
 in taking from him "dictation" in matters of finance to 
 submit to the press boys as "special" of interest for their 
 several papers. His " interviews " were generally accepted , 
 being quite readable from the well-known spicy flavor of 
 the old man's sayings. 
 
 It was satisfactorily established to me bv the corre- 
 spondence I was called upon to personally handle, that Uncle 
 Remus was in turn only an agent in Washington of a well- 
 known New York capitalist, who controlled telegraphs and 
 railways, and wielded a greater one-man power than the 
 President of the United States.
 
 48 ON THE \VAR-PATfit. 
 
 I make the assertion boldly, though there may be no 
 way to prove it, but the facts are, Uncle Remus was in 
 daily and hourly communication with the secretary of this 
 capitalist ly a special wire direct to his office ; and if an 
 examination of the record could be made it would be shown 
 that this New York party supplied by telegraph transfer 
 the funds to the Washington agent. But great is the 
 special wire privilege, of which no record is made of its 
 illegitimate transactions. 
 
 I was soon admitted to the rooms as a regular attendant, 
 and became apparently so deeply immersed in the private 
 papers before me that my presence was not regarded by the 
 numerous callers. It might make interesting reading, but 
 it is not my purpose to divulge the general character of the 
 business to which I had access as confidential secretary, 
 except in the one particular in which the question of a 
 treacherous conspiracy against the government which I. 
 with hundreds of thousands of comrades, had served years 
 to uphold, become involved. 
 
 One day, in the exercise of my duty, I was required to 
 reply to a letter addressed to my employer as the agent, 
 dated, 80 Coleman street, London, England, and signed 
 officially, "Gabriel Lindo, Solicitor and Secretary to Con- 
 federate Bond-holders' Committee." 
 
 The correct name and address is given. 
 
 The purport of this original letter, which I held in a 
 hand trembling with suppressed indignation, was to this 
 effect: 
 
 An English syndicate, in which the German Roths- 
 childs were interested had been established, that held as a
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 49 
 
 nucleus the bonds of the ex-Confederate cotton-loan of 
 ninety-five million pounds sterling, or four hundred uncl 
 fifty million dollars United States greenback currency. 
 
 This letter was an official proposition from this syndi- 
 cate to their American agent proposing to pay him ci rtain 
 instalments of so many thousand pounds each, upon his 
 succeeding in having certain action taken by Congress 
 looking toward the eventual payment of this cotton-loan. 
 
 The letter indicated that there had bsen previous cor- 
 respondence on die subject, wherein the American agent 
 had offered his services and expressed the opinion that the 
 matter \vas entirely feasible because of ihe recent election 
 of a Democratic President. 
 
 There is no suggestion of politics in this story. No 
 ex- Confederates make an appearance amongst Che latter- 
 day conspirators. It is solely a conspiracy for gold, in 
 which a prominent Wall street broker, a lobbyist who \vas 
 bred and born away down in Maine, is the principal 
 agent. 
 
 The English secretary's letter further stated that in the 
 event of having their bills referred to certain committees, 
 they \vould supply fund-i to bear the expense of argument 
 baf.n'o the.-e committees. 
 
 In replying to this communication, Uncle Remus bade 
 iiio write in effect, that he had already introduced bills 
 looking to tho establishment of a Special Court of Claims, 
 ! > .vhif.li all such questions were to be referred for final 
 .settlement, and before which they were now ready to bring 
 their argument. 
 
 "Wiile lLr.5 void 'arj-.-.rr.rv.t' t' inl'/' i:.\\ Undo
 
 50 OX THK AVAR-PATH. 
 
 Remus, with a sly twinkle of his eye, " so they will not 
 misunderstand it." 
 
 He further detailed to his English employer the steps 
 that had been previously taken; that he was spending his 
 time in Washington on this special business, and had suc- 
 ceeded in ''interesting" some of the most influential parties 
 in his scheme. 
 
 The unfolding of this latter-day conspiracy, on the part 
 of its professed friends, to rob the Government of the re- 
 sults of the war that had cost hundreds of millions of dol- 
 lars, hundreds of thousands of lives, served to rouse any 
 latent patriotism in my heart, and awakened some of the 
 old-time scouting fever in my blood. I concealed my feel- 
 ings, however, determined in my own mind tofollowit up. 
 
 Apparently indifferent on the subject of the letter he 
 was dictating, I ventured to lead my uncle into a discus- 
 sion of the matter, and while seemingly jotting down the 
 notes for the formal letter he was to sign, I "got him down" 
 inshorthand, and transcribe herewith verbatim, ad liternticni 
 the exact words used: 
 
 " Why, Mr. R., I thought there was a constitutional 
 amendment that forever prohibited the payment of the 
 Confederate debt?" 
 
 "That constitutional amendment is not constitutional," 
 said Uncle R., as he lighted another 50-cerit cigar, and be- 
 tween each whiff ejaculated some of his sharp sayings. 
 
 " The Supreme Court decided that the Rebel States were 
 never out of the Union, didn't they?" 
 
 "Yes, I believe so; but " 
 
 "Well, but me no buts ! Don't that scripture say that
 
 Otf THE WAK-PATJI. 51 
 
 three-fourths of the States must ratify any constitutional 
 amendments? 
 
 " The Southern States, according to the highest court, 
 not being out of the Union, were entitled to a vote, but 
 they never ' ratified' anything, did they?" 
 
 To my observation that they didn't, but had the 
 chance and neglected their opportunity, and further ven- 
 turing theopinioirthat there would be another war if an 
 attempt was made to pay the Rebel debt, the Wall street 
 statesman, in his characteristic manner, blurted out: 
 
 "Who the devil was talking about paying any 'rebel' 
 debt. Don't you get the words 'rebel debt' in this corre- 
 spondence. We don't want to use the word Confederate, 
 either. It's the ' Cotton- Loan of the Southern States' we 
 are talking about and 'War Claims.' The facts are," he 
 continued, as he walked up and down the floor, "the South- 
 ern States negotiated a loan with capitalists of a friendly 
 nation, giving as security the cotton crop. This became 
 known as the 'Cotton-Loan,' which was the first placed 
 on the market. Well, the United States Government 
 seized and appropriated to their own use this cotton, upon 
 which this lien had been previously placed, and, of 
 course, became responsible for their property thus con- 
 fiscated, as the States were, according to the Supreme 
 Court, in the Union. I'm no lawyer; we buy our law in 
 New York ready made, or to order, and it's the opinion 
 of the ablest attorneys that the war was only a big riot, and 
 the Government is responsible for the damages done by 1 he 
 rioters, as was established later in the Pittsburgh riots. " 
 
 Becoming interested, and, perhaps, indignant,! replied,
 
 52 ON THE WAK-1'ATH. 
 
 somewhat boldly, "Congress will not dare to puss a bill 
 for the payment of the English and Dutch Jews who sup- 
 plied Rebels the money to help destroy the Government." 
 
 Uncle Remus halted abruptly before me, and with a half 
 contemptuous and amused glance, fired back: 
 
 "Well I supposed that any body who had been in 
 Washington as long as you have would have learned 
 something," resuming his walk with a marked sigh of 
 resignation : 
 
 "I told these fellows I wanted u man to do my work 
 that knew something and not a damned fool. 
 
 "Why," he continued, as he brought his fist down on 
 the table and* upset the ink-bottle, "don't you see there 
 is four hundred million dollars here to start with?" 
 
 Afraid to again speak my mind aloud I nodded affirm- 
 atively, when he took my "breath away by the significant 
 words, that I saw were only too true: 
 
 "Why man, we can do atiytlrivri where there is that 
 much money behind us." 
 
 " But that won't buy the people. " 
 
 " We don't Avant to buy the people; all that is neces- 
 sary is a few Congressmen to go along with the Solid' 
 South." 
 
 " All we ask is the passage of a little bill of ten or 
 twenty lines 'establishing a Court of Claims.' 
 
 " It is cheaper to buy seven judges than the whole of 
 Congress," said my Uncle, laughingly. 
 
 "The word Confederate or Southern War Claims, does 
 not appear in the bill, which is so worded that all claims 
 of whatever character may be referred to it.
 
 OX TIIF-] AVAB-PATII. 53 
 
 "This will eventually get all these matters before the 
 Supreme Court, which is precisely what we want." 
 
 I recall with a vividness that startles me now, in the 
 light of subsequent events, this prediction made and 
 recorded at that time, 1886. 
 
 " We will get the Supreme Court." 
 
 Mr. Lamar, in the year following this was placed 
 upon the bench. 
 
 It has been my pleasure to know Mr. Lamar personally 
 as a most courteous gentleman whom no one can accuse 
 of any dishonorable motive; yet it must be conceded that 
 this Judge in the Supreme Court, represents the dry 
 bones of the Confederacy and recalls the scriptural text: 
 "And shall these dry bones live?" Chief Justice 
 Fuller was also opposed because of his early antagonism to 
 reconstruction. Subsequently a bill drawn up by myself 
 from Uncle Remus' dictation was introduced in Congres.% 
 referred to the proper committee before which arguments 
 were made in favor of its passage. 
 
 I am not offering legal opinions on this question 
 merely submitting facts. 
 
 One of the ablest jurists in the United States, Judge 
 Fullerton of New York, made the argument before the 
 committee of Congress. 
 
 The projectors do not expect immediate results. They 
 claim that their only expectation is to secure a legal 
 standing, of the Confederate bonds of all denominations 
 by this agitation in hopes of a future realization. 
 
 A number of interested parties have been quietly gath- 
 ering them up at nominal prices.
 
 o4 ox Tin: WAR-PATH. 
 
 I realized that the scheme was dangerous, only in the 
 way that Uncle Remus had put it. 
 
 "We can do ftnyihing where there are hundreds of mil- 
 lions of dollars behind us." 
 
 It- haunted me, not only in my waking but in my sleep- 
 ing, like a ghost of the dead Rebellion. 
 
 I dreamed that the spirit of a murdered President stood 
 before me, holding in a ghastly 'skeleton hand a scroll, upon 
 which, like the handwriting on a wall, 1 read the words of 
 my wa'r commission: 
 
 ''Know ye all men by these presents. Having special 
 confidence in the honor, valor, patriotism and fidelity of 
 , I hereby appoint him etc/' 
 
 To this were attached the autographs of A. Lincoln and 
 E. M. Stanton, with the War Department's rod seal 
 attached, like a dreadful wound. 
 
 I wakened with the feeling that the commission, re- 
 signed so long ago, was, in a manner, yet in effect, and 1 
 determined to do what I felt lobe a duty, and, as of old, I 
 became a scout for the Government, in trying to defeat t he 
 schemes of the latter-day conspirators. 
 
 It will be remembered that 1 was able to keep the 
 secrets of my employers, in relation to Black Friday 
 telegrams, where millions were at stake, and, being brought 
 before the bar of the Senate, failed to produce certain 
 papers that I had handled in confidence. I did not want 
 to violate the privacy of the papers I had seen while acting 
 as a private secretary. It is apparent that there was no sel- 
 fish object to gain by doing so. It was, therefore, through a 
 sense of duty to my country only that led me to quietly seek
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 55 
 
 General John A. Logan, then senator from Illinois, in his 
 retired home at Calumet place. 
 
 I found the General laying on a lounge in his library. 
 After his cordial "Why, how are you?" I handed the 
 original letter of the English secretary and a copy of the 
 reply. 
 
 After reading them over, his black eyes snapping at me 
 over the top of his glasses, he said : 
 
 " Where did you get this?" 
 
 I detailed the entire matter, explaining fully my con- 
 nection with it as secretary, and that my only object 
 was a sincere desire to thwart the schemes of these men, 
 and that I had come to him in confidence for his advice 
 and suggestions, knowing that I could rely on him. 
 
 It was Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Logan was present, 
 and Parson Newman says, Senator Logan, was a good Metho- 
 dist and we all know he is in Heaven; but the strict regard 
 for truth which I have been trying to follow in this, com- 
 pels me to say that the Senator swore; indeed John cursed 
 roundly, and acted so wickedly that Mrs. Logan felt com- 
 pelled to interfere to quiet him. 
 
 " Why." he said, rising from his seat and shaking 
 the papers in his hand, " it's a meaner conspiracy than any- 
 thing enacted by the Rebels here in Washington just before 
 the war." 
 
 After expressing his thanks to me for giving him my 
 confidence he went on: 
 
 "I had heard something of it; but like a great many 
 others was disposed to pass it by as impracticable; but here 
 are documents in black and white that prove conclusively
 
 50 OX THE \VAK PATH. 
 
 that there is an organized attempt in that direction 
 which is bad enough, but the meanest part of it is that it 
 shows traitorous schemes in our own ranks." 
 
 As a matter of policy, and in order that I might watch 
 further developments, it was arranged between u.s that Ilic 
 whole matter should be kept in strict confidence, to use his 
 own words, 
 
 "It is better not to open fire on them yet; you watch 
 this thing closely and report everything to me." 
 
 The General bade me a grateful good evening, holding 
 my hand warmly as we walked to his front gate lie said: 
 
 "The Government owes you something haml-ornc for 
 this." 
 
 In the weeks and months following, during which I 
 continued to act as the secretary for Uncle Remus, when- 
 ever he came to the city, I collected and filed with Gen- 
 eral Logan all the further evidence I could gather. 
 
 I wrote and had mailed, in different parts of the South, 
 decoy letters, representing the writers as being holders of 
 Confederate bonds, which were addressed to this general 
 secretary at his London office. The replies to these ficti- 
 tious letters were of value as indicating th^ir purpose, and 
 were filed with General Logan. 
 
 We were also able to develop the fact, that a Washing- 
 ton newspaper man was an accredited agent of the syndi- 
 cate and had made trips to Europe and the South in 
 furthrance of these schemes. 
 
 I had frequent consultations with General Logan and 
 directed his attention to bills lhat had been introduced in 
 the House.
 
 OX TJJK WAR-PATH. 57 
 
 I am inclined to think lie conferred with some of 
 the Republican Senators on the subject, probably Mr. 
 Edmunds. 
 
 Soon after the unexpected death of General Logan, I 
 addressed a note to Mrs. Logan requesting her to prevent 
 these private papers falling into the hands of any one, to 
 which she graciously replied that "all of her dear husband's 
 private papers should be sacredly preserved.'* This letter, 
 bordered with the (loop mournii g bearing date of the 
 month of his death, is in safe keeping and in the light of 
 subsequent events would make a startling page, establish- 
 ing the fact of the beginning of the work that has slowly 
 but ste;;dily, step by step, moved forward and the end is 
 not yet. 
 
 Feeling it incumbent to put the matter in the hands of 
 some one for safe keeping and if necessary to be used in 
 case of my doath, I concluded that the most appropriate 
 depository would be with the Commander-in-chief of the G. 
 A. R., as the preserver of the rights for which this comrade 
 died. This grand organization nviy be depended upon to 
 not only preserve but riiake the proper u?e of it, if the 
 occasion should ever rise. 
 
 With this object in view, I consulted in confidence an 
 ex-commander-in- chief, well a-' id favorably known all 
 over the United States, as a decided, but most conserva- 
 tive working member of the order. 
 
 He .heard the story with astonishment and received for 
 doposit such papers as I had, with n, written statement ns 
 above narrated, also the letter of Mrs. Logan acknowledg- 
 jng the papers in her possession.
 
 58 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 This gentleman agreed that the matter was of a start- 
 ling character and he fully realized its importance and 
 expressed the opinion of an attorney, that this interest 
 might, in time, " plant themselves" here so firmly that they 
 would be able to carry out their nefarious designs. 
 
 Being about the time of the flag episode, he observed 
 further: 
 
 " If this question should be presented to the Annual 
 Encampment of the G. A. R. about to assemble it would 
 raise such a whirlwind and ''norther " compared to which 
 the flag incident would be but a mere zephyr." 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 21, 1887. 
 J. O. KERBY, ESQ., 23 Seventh street, New York. 
 
 Dear Sir and Comrade: I have received and read with care your favor 
 of 20th inst., with its enclosure. Further reflection confirms the opinion in 
 which we both agreed on yesterday, that the time has not arrived for any 
 public exposure. My own judgment is, that to make an attack now would 
 not serve any good purpose, either general or personal, and that great cir- 
 cumspection ought to be observed in order that knowledge either of facts 
 or suspicions be not too largely confided, as you know there are but few 
 who are capable of suppressing their own tendency to talk. The necessary 
 thing now, as you have indicated, is to get proofs and fix the facts. As it 
 is, I don't see very clearly how this is to be done ; but certainly if there is 
 any agitation of the waters the oyster will shut up tight, and steps will be 
 taken to discredit what is already known. You speak of being willing to 
 make affidavit, etc. I venture to suggest that it might be wise and well for 
 you to make up a circumstantial account of your whole knowledge and 
 connection with the matter, including a statement of the fact and circum- 
 stances of any communication you have made on the subject to other 
 persons. A copy of this paper you would wish to deposit in trustworthy 
 hands. The fact that there is an English agency which has undertaken the 
 task of getting recognition of the Confederate bonds is known in a general 
 way the concrete fact that they are in earnest about the matter, and are 
 securing agencies in this country and among Americans having place, 
 prominence and power, is the thing to be proved and made known in due 
 time; and, if proven, Avill be the nucleus of a hurricane to which the flag 
 wind will seem a zephyr. My advice to-day is not to confide your facts to 
 any impecunious person who might sell them, or to any politician who 
 would try to help his own ends by their use. Fraternally, 
 
 S. S. BURDETT.
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 59 
 
 As additional evidence I am induced to record this 
 gentleman's testimonial herewith. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 4, 1889. 
 DEAR COMRADE KERBEY: 
 
 I have been reading 1 over the " Boy Spy," and must give it as my opin- 
 ion that in many respects it is the most remarkable and interesting narra- 
 tive to be found in the considerable body of literature dealing with the 
 events of the War of the Rebellion. That you have not refrained from say- 
 ing things likely to displease, as well as those sure to please, proves that 
 your book is as you claim, " a history of events occuring under your notice, 
 and not merely a fancy skt tch." 1 can the better understand and believe 
 your narrative of personal encounter and escape, because of my long per- 
 sonal acquaintance with you here in Washington, where, as I know, you 
 have kept the field as a " newspaper scout," and hare since theicar been able 
 to do the State service. I don't know of a more interesting book for a 
 winter's evening reading than the " Boy Spy," especially for the old soldier 
 boys and their families, most of whom will find in its pages some i'amiliar 
 fact and incident. Fraternally yours, 
 
 S. S. BUKDETTE. 
 
 I had not given the matter to any one else, except a 
 brief statement to the editor of a soldier's paper with 
 whom I was then associated. I assumed that the manager 
 of a paper published ostensibly in the interest of soldiers, 
 and claiming to be the especial friend of the dead Logan, 
 would preserve in strict confidence such matters. I have 
 the reason to believe, and do believe, that my confidence 
 was violated, and that one of the newspaper fiends to 
 whom this editor was under obligations, and who was 
 interested, was made acquainted with the fact that I was 
 "on to their scheme." 
 
 This has naturally resulted in some bitter antagonism, 
 in which the attempt has been made to deliberately kill 
 olf, in a business sense, so troublesome a person. It is the 
 policy of the interested parties to do this, of course, but 
 I do not require any assistance, or even sympathy. As 
 General Burdette says, " I have kept the field as a news- 
 paper scout."
 
 GO ON THE V.AII-J'ATII. 
 
 li wotiKl have been better policy to have ''stood in '' 
 with the gang. 
 
 During the recess of Congress the matter remains seem- 
 ingly dormant, but is revived at each of the sessions. 
 
 In pursuance of a sense of duty, I had these papers 
 'handed down " to the different commanders of the G. 
 A. K., as maybe FC< n from the following official corre 
 ppondence: 
 
 NATIONAL HKAIMJIAHTKK!? GUANO AKMTOF THE REPUBLIC, ) 
 
 Iv.v^sAsCrn-, Mo , (Vtobcr 26, 1888. f 
 
 MA.JOH J. (). KKKBKY, Washington, I). (.'. 
 
 Dear Sir <ind Comrade: Major Warner, commander-in -chief, 
 desires to acknowledge the receipt of the confidential communica- 
 tions, and directs me to thank you for the patriotic motives which 
 inspired them. He intends to keep the subject-matter thoroughly 
 in mind, and, should occasion offer demanding the official action of 
 the G. A. K., 3 our services will not be forgotten. 
 
 Very truly yours, in F., C. fc L , 
 
 EUGENE F. WEIGEL, Adjutant General. 
 
 Subsequently, Gen. Weigel writes from St. Louis under 
 date of November 21, 5880. 
 
 * * * ^jy ofljcjjii cape having fallen on the shoulders of 
 Col George II. Hopkins of Detroit, Mich., the papers you refer In 
 are all in his possession, having been duly sealed by me and marked 
 "very important." This, I took it to be carrying out the spirit of 
 your previous letters. * * * 
 
 [Copy.] 
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF RI>SKL A. ALCJEU. 
 HEADO,I:AKTKKS G. A. R , DRTiUHT, Midi , Dec. 21, 18H9. 
 MAYOK J. O KKHBKY, P. (). Box 29:5. 
 
 Dear fiir nml (Comrade: In reply to yours and Idler from Col. 
 Weigel, the confidential papers referred to were duly transmitted 
 and are safely on file in this office. I have read them with a great 
 /leal of interest. * * * 
 
 I return herewith letter of Gen. Alger. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 GEO. II. HOI-KINS, Adjutant -General.
 
 OX Tilil WAlM'ATIl. 61 
 
 1 have given only a brief outline of facts, omitting an 
 
 under-current of rumor and surmises that might be more 
 interesting. 
 
 I have asserted that there is a wide spread organization 
 to accomplish the eventual payment of all the Confederate 
 debt. 
 
 That the matter is not dead, nor even sleeping, may be 
 proven by the following extract from the Washington Po*t 
 of October 9th, 1889. 
 
 I beg to remind the reader that editorial notes may also 
 be " seasoned/' and that in apparently denouncing a 
 scheme, the writer attempts to avert antagonism. 
 Editorial, Post, Oct. 9, 1SS9. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE BOND SCHEME. "The story published last 
 week in the Neic York Ilsrald in regard to the arrival of the agent of 
 a syndicate of English Confederate bond holders, whose mission is 
 to urge forward some payment of those bonds, if only to the amount 
 of one per cent, shows such an amount of ignorant assurance on tiie 
 part of that agent and his syndicate, as to pass all bounds of rational 
 belief. It is true that the British islander rather prides himself of 
 knowing very little about matters belonging to the outside of his 
 insular confines, and that the Englishman in his self-satisfied and 
 unapproachable superiority of the people of other countries is a 
 veritable podsnap. But all this is very different from averring that 
 he is absolutely the animal characterized by the prophet Jeremiah, 
 "as sniffing up the wind at his pleasure." 
 
 " The egregious simplicity and stupidity that would now under- 
 take to realize upon a Confederate bond is so great that it is simply in- 
 credible. The whole of that transaction belongs to the ancient history. 
 One might as well attempt to collect payment on a French ansif/nat 
 of 1793. No one can be found who has the slightest financial responsi- 
 bility or indebtedness in connection with the Confederate loan. 
 
 ************ 
 
 "The Englishman's hallucinations and delusive hopes in this matter 
 rest less on forgetful ness of events than on ignorance of our institu- 
 tions. He knows that certain States were sometime since in rebellion, 
 and that in a kind of a way they were connected with their loan.
 
 62 ON THE WAR-PATtf. 
 
 Ho also knows that those Stales still retain their autonomy in the 
 re-constructed Union. II seems to him just, therefore, that these 
 States should assume ]>ait of the obligation for which he gave his 
 gold". 
 
 # -X- * * -X- * # * * * * * 
 
 "It is said that advantage is to be taken of some of the risingenter- 
 prises of the South, and that paying something on the Confederate 
 will be made a condition of their obtaining any loans from England. 
 Doubtless there are enterprises in the South and elsewhere that would 
 be very willing to pay a reasonable bonus for assistance in the way of 
 English money, but it is beyond all doubt that no corporation can 
 be found that will furnish such a bonus in a manner to imply any 
 sort of legal responsibility for the Confederate loan." 
 
 The italics are mine. I simply wanted to call attention 
 to the fact that we have found persons of the greatest 
 financial responsibility in connection with this scheme. 
 
 This editorial, with that of the New York Herald, 
 establishes the fact that I have endeavored for five years to 
 impress upon G. A. 11. commanders that there exists such an 
 organization, which has planted itself here, and is steadily 
 and rapidly growing. "Whether it may be successful or 
 not, is an open question. 
 
 As tending to indicate the "policy'' of the same paper 
 that prints the above, I attach herewith a recent editorial 
 note, dated May 3, 1890, bearing indirectly on the very 
 point that Uncle Kern us denies, i. e., a court to which all 
 such matters may be referred: 
 
 "Mr. YVilliam Wheeler Ilubbell, in a communication to The Post 
 this morning, suggests a " bill of rights to a court " as presenting a 
 constitutional and practicable way of disposing of the private calen- 
 dar. That is, a certification to the Court of Claims of all bills 
 reported and remaining on the calendar at the adjournment of 
 Congress, without limitation. By this means the just compensation 
 of claimants, it is argued, will be facilitated, and what now seems to 
 be insurmountable barriers to their rightful recognition be perma- 
 nently removed."
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 03 
 
 THE PRIVATE CALENDAR. 
 
 A PKACTICABLE AND CONSTITUTIONAL, WAY OUT OF THE DIFFICULTY. 
 
 Editor Post: Your excellent articles on the duty of the United 
 States to its creditors, showing the great injustice done to citizens, 
 the destruction of their labors, and reduction to poverty of those 
 dependent on them, and the dishonesty, in violation of the Constitu- 
 tion to fix u limitation on claims due from the Government and none 
 on claims of the Government, are doing much good, in awakening 
 politicians to the fact that the great chart was made for citizens " to 
 pay debts" as it declares, and "not to take private property without 
 just compensation." 
 
 Forty years ago I attained the honor of admission to the Supreme 
 Court bar, and for about that time have had experience with Con- 
 gress as a creditor, and have only obtained a small fraction of justice. 
 The great evil lies in the fact that, for the purposes of an election 
 before the people, the republic principle of a majority rules, but 
 when in Congress, inside of the Capitol, the despotic rule of "objec- 
 tion" prevails. The present Congress has attempted to modify this 
 to some extent, but the neglect of the private calendar is quite as bad 
 and unjust as the turning of the majority power into a despotism 
 multiplied by the number of members inside of the Capitol. 
 
 There is one legitimate constitutional way out of the difficulty, 
 however, and it is one adopted by the British monarchy and some 
 other powers in Europe it is a bill of right to a court. 
 
 At the end of every Congress, let all bills reported and remaining 
 on the calendar, be certified to the Court of Claims, which shall give 
 the court jurisdiction to hear and determine each case on principles 
 of equity and justice, irrespective of any limitation as to time, and 
 give judgment on the principles expressed in the Constitution, so 
 that just compensation shall be rendered to every man according to 
 his inherent merit. This course would make prosperity instead of 
 bankruptcy, and the Government itself would share, by greater rev- 
 enues, in the general prosperity that such a course would create. 
 The principles of the Constitution would then be practically fulfilled, 
 and the successof a republican form of government be no longer "an 
 experiment," as stated by Washington, but would become a success- 
 ful practical realization; the calendar of every Congress w r ould be 
 cleared, and business on it finished. 
 
 WM. WHEELER HCBBELL. 
 Washington, May 2.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THK TRAVEL CLUB TO THE FRONT, VIA THE POTOMAC 1 TO 
 OLD POINT, AND IP THE JAMES ItJVEU AND PENIN- 
 SULA TO THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL. 
 
 JIE one day allotted to Washington will kuvly 
 suffice to give the Travel Club a foretaste of t'.uit 
 which may be expected during a sojourn of many 
 days in the Capital. We will now, as they say down South, 
 "carry" our club to the front, Ivping we may be able to 
 spend another day there on o-iricturn. 
 
 After our hasty spin around the City of Magnificent 
 Distances, all will be tired; and, after the club dinner, a 
 rest will be appreciated. 
 
 Instead, however, of going t<> an expensive hotel to be 
 packed into a stuffy 8x10 room, we will jump on a cable 
 car, reaching the 6th street wh.irf at 4 p. M., and board 
 one of the elegant steameiis thai H;U! every evening for Old 
 Point and Norfolk. 
 
 The fare is but $1.50; a stateroom suitable for two per- 
 sons, or even four, in a pinch, may be secured for an ad- 
 ditional dollar which, altogether, about equals the siu.i n 
 first-class hotel will charge the same number of guests for 
 a back room on the top floor. - 
 
 From the deck of these steamers the tourist may enjoy, 
 during a pleasant evening's ride, a series of historic::! 
 views, which will pass ho fore him like a moving panorama.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. G5 
 
 developing scenes that can not be shown anywhere else in 
 America. 
 
 The Washington Monument should be viewed from the 
 water level to be properly appreciated. The visitor is apt 
 to express surprise that the tall shaft should not have been 
 located on higher ground, forgetting that at the time of its 
 inception the principal entrance to the city was by the 
 river, so that its location was probably selected with a view 
 of impressing the approaching travelers, as in the case with 
 the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. 
 
 To me the monument grows more beautiful every time 
 I look upon it. Its strikingly grand and at the same time 
 simple proportions rising to the unsurpassed height of 555 
 feet from the green turf, should be seen from the sea- 
 level basis. From the rear deck of the steamer as it leaves 
 the pier, you are surprised to see that the dome of the 
 Capitol, which seemed to be the highest from the streets 
 of the city, becomes quite dwarfed by the tall shaft. 
 
 A beautiful view is also to be had of Arlington : The set- 
 ting sun beyond it bringing out in a most effective manner 
 the pretty white and red bars of the old flag that waves so 
 gracefully in the evening breeze that sighs through the 
 tree-tops a constant requiem over that bivouac of the dead, 
 who died that the flag might wave over them. 
 
 The island or river park that has, like magic, been lit- 
 erally raised up from the bottom of the river, will aston- 
 .ish the old soldiers, who will only remember a nasty marsh 
 below the well-known long bridge that at every low tide 
 showed its loathsome features and dispensed an offensive 
 malaria-breeding air over the city. Now all this is rapidly
 
 66 OX THK WAR-PATH. 
 
 becoming a beautiful park, with elegant drive-ways, 
 encircling lakes of clear water. 
 
 To the left, as we glide by, is the arsenal grounds and 
 barracks, the boat passing so close to the stone sea-wall that 
 even the swell of the waves do not drown the happy voices 
 of hundreds of ladies and their escorts who promenade as 
 Avell as children who gambol on the green while the bands 
 of the regular artillery play their evening serenades. 
 
 In one of the finer looking houses, or officers' quarters, 
 the court convened, which tried and convicted the Lin- 
 coln conspirators. Inside of this enclosure they were all 
 hung, and beneath the stone slabs along which the regular 
 sentry's beat was located, and over the stones of which 
 walked hundreds, daily, without knowing it, lay secretly 
 buried not only their bodies, but also that of J. Wilkes 
 Booth, until resurrected some time- after and delivered to 
 their separate friends. 
 
 The eastern branch of the Potomac comes in here ; a 
 short distance above will be seen the ship houses of the 
 old Navy Yard, or perhaps in the stream, may be laying a 
 Monitor or torpedo boat. They have a daily target prac- 
 tice out this way, but we will probably succeed in running 
 by safely. 
 
 The fine building and extensive environments on the 
 Maryland Hills, opposite is St. Elizabeth's Government 
 Insane Asylum. The flat land below is Giesboro point, 
 used during the war as a recruiting depot for Cavalry 
 horses. At Alexandria just six miles below, a stop is made, 
 perhaps long enough to permit the eager tourist to go 
 ashore and run up into the main street of this old town.
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 67 
 
 The first visitor will be struck with the marked differ- 
 ence between the North and the South by this quaint 
 ancient looking town lying so distinctly between the " Old 
 line " of civilization. 
 
 Here Washington and Lee worshipped in the same 
 church in which may now be seen on one side of the 
 chancel, a tablet to Washington and another to R. E. Lee. 
 Most of our soldiers will remember it as a starting place in 
 their Virginia campaign, and children seem to think its 
 only interest attaches to the sad death of Col. Ellsworth, 
 at the beginning of the war. 
 
 On the back grounds of almost any of these views may 
 be discerned against the horizon, the broken outlines of 
 some of the old earth- works on forts erected for the pro- 
 tection of the Capital. 
 
 After an hour's pleasant ride in the gathering twilight, 
 we glide past Fort Washington, garrisoned now by a sin- 
 gle ordnance sergeant: The tolling of the steamer bell 
 announces that we are passing Mount Vernon, the home 
 during his life, and in death of him who was first in war. 
 
 No boats were permitted to land passengers here except 
 the regular packets that belongs to the regents of the 
 estate. It is assumed that every visitors to Washington 
 has been to the tomb of Washington. 
 
 The tolling bell, served to bring up a general discussion 
 among some passengers of our great father, one old river 
 man declared that in years gone by, a British war vessel 
 that had ascended the river, permitted a number of their 
 crew to go ashore here. By some means they had been 
 provided with a too plentiful supply of grog, and in a
 
 68 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 spirit of devilish ghoulishuess desecrated the old tomb 
 and robbed the coffin of the skull and took it away. It is 
 said that the replaced skull may not have been that of 
 Washington. 
 
 One of the passengers, evidently a member of the real 
 estate syndicate now mapping out the entire country about 
 the capital into lots, declared that Washington was one 
 of the shrewdest real estate dealers the country has yet 
 produced, and he seemed to be able to support the asser- 
 tion by quoting items from Washington's book-keeping, 
 which indicated quite clearly that the original George 
 Washington had a very keen foresight. 
 
 All of the veterans will remain on deck to get a 
 glimpse, through the darkness, of the ruins of the once well- 
 known landing at Aquia Creek. At this point was em- 
 barked all of the Army of the Potomac, that once occupied 
 the thirteen miles of country between here and the Rappa- 
 hannock in front of Fredericksburg, during 1862-G3. 
 Here also, and from the adjoining landing at Belle Plains, 
 were brought the wounded from Spottsylvania, The 
 Wilderness and Mine Run to be treated in the temporary 
 hospitals or sent away by boats. 
 
 A little below this, we reach Matthias Point, and 
 instead of the Rebel battery once located there, that was so 
 annoying to our Potomac Flotilla, we discover the first 
 light-house on the river erected by the Government, that 
 now flashes, out from the darkness, caution and protection 
 to the navigators instead of gun flashes of defiance and 
 destruction. 
 
 The river now begins to widen until the receding shores
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 69 
 
 are almost lost to sight in the fast-gathering darkness. 
 Except for the frequent camp-fires of the numerous shad 
 fisheries that are located along the banks, one could 
 scarcely tell where the water leaves off and the shores 
 begin. 
 
 During the season these shad and herring fisheries are 
 an important industry on these waters. I have no doubt 
 the interior reader will imagine it a fish story to be told 
 that they catch fish by steam here; yet it is a fact, that in 
 the largest stations, the immense seines are drawn by port- 
 able engines, and in a majority of cases, horse-power is 
 used to operate the windlass that hauls in the great masses 
 of fish that are dumped into the holds of schooners very 
 like they handle coal in other sections. 
 
 The fact that all the fish are caught on the Virginia 
 shore is one of the curious features that not even the oldest 
 fisherman could explain. 
 
 One of my numerous trips down the river happened to 
 be in the company of the once-familiar Congressman, 
 Hon. Mr. Belford, of Colorado, the genial and companion- 
 able gentleman who was proud of his distinction as the 
 " red-headed rooster of the Rocky mountains." Mr. Bel- 
 ford was reared in that part of the "rowdy West" where 
 water was scarce. This being his first visit to the sea- 
 shore, he became greatly impressed by this "great waste 
 of water " that was being extravagantly exhibited before 
 his eyes, and kept the entire boat in a hilarious mood by 
 his quaint observations. 
 
 In reply to a hint that it was time to retire, the Con- 
 gressman blurted out;
 
 70 ON THE AVAR- PATH. 
 
 " No ; I am not going to bed to-night. Why, my 
 great heavens, just look out there at the water, will you? 
 Great Scott ! it's on the other side of the boat, too. It's all 
 around us, ain't it? 
 
 " You must remember that I am from Colorado, where 
 they haul water around in barrels and sell it. No, I'm 
 going to stay right here and take it all in while I have a 
 chance." 
 
 At his invitation all hands went below to .sample the 
 water, after which the Western Congressman lighted a 
 cigar, went out on the ''back porch," as he termed the 
 afterguard, put his feet upon the "fence" or rail, and, 
 with head uncovered, remained there long after all the 
 rest of the crowd had turned in to be rocked to sleep on 
 the bosom of the fair Chesapeake. 
 
 The proper thing for the first visitor is to rise early 
 that you may have a view of the sun coming up "out of 
 the water" the boat being out of sight of land on the 
 eastern side, and quite a ways off the western or Virginia 
 shore. 
 
 Daylight will reveal, here, a most beautiful picture of 
 early morning at sea. Ships of almost every description 
 with white sails spread, or steamers, leaving a dark ribbon 
 of smoke as a wake in the air, may be seen going and com- 
 ing in all directions, either outward bound or from distant 
 ports for Baltimore and the cities and rivers of the grand 
 Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 The steamer runs under the guns of Fortress Monroe, 
 the massive dark walls of which look so low from the 
 water that we come upon them suddenly and look into the
 
 ON" THE WAR- PATH. 71 
 
 grim-throated guns with a fear that they might go off un- 
 expectedly and a wish that they were pointed the other 
 way. 
 
 We land at the Government Pier and take breakfast at 
 the sumptuous Hygeia Hotel one of the finest perhaps, 
 on regular table fare, to be found anywhere. 
 
 We will take the Fort first that we may see the guard- 
 mount of the regular garrison. They have their drill and 
 execution pretty nearly perfect. It is witnessed by hun- 
 dreds of lady visitors daily, so that there is considerable 
 incentive to keep up the practice. 
 
 Hours may be spent upon the ramparts, gazing alter- 
 nately out to *ea or' looking down upon the beautiful 
 interior, which, with its handsome officers' quarters, beau- 
 tiful gardens and plants, profuse in rich colors and fra- 
 grance ; numerous laughing children and ladies moving 
 about leisurely; officers and soldiers in their brigV uniform ; 
 present a most peaceful, almost a holiday picture. Except 
 for the piles of cannon balls and great guns there is no war- 
 like aspect in the enclosure. Its immense walls, as seen 
 from the rampart, rather suggests a heavy stone fence en- 
 closing beautiful homes. 
 
 Fortress Monroe covers eighty acres of ground; the 
 walls are of granite, thirty-one feet high, surrounded 
 entirely by a moat of seventy-five to one-hundred and fifty 
 feet in width, and eight feet depth of water. The arma- 
 ment of the old fort is about five hundred guns, and inside 
 its walls an entire army may be protected from siege. 
 
 It cost the Government over two million before the war 
 and probably as much since in completing and repairs.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Yet Fortress Monroe would practically be of no service 
 whatever in a time of war with a foreign nation. 
 
 This conceded truth does not speak well for the skill 
 or foresight of our regular engineer officers, who planned, 
 located and spent Government apppropriations year after 
 year upon this useless war relic. 
 
 It is so located that guns could not reach an enemy who 
 might choose to sail past out of range, toward Baltimore 
 or "Washington. And for protecting the James River 
 and Norfolk, its massive walls are not nearly so useful as 
 were the Rebel sand batteries nearly opposite, at Sewell's 
 Point, which did protect the Confederates for years, ena- 
 bling them to build in security, and almost within gunshot, 
 the Merrimac. 
 
 A little distance out toward the front is an abandoned 
 fort that, at 'great expense, was literally raised out of the 
 water. It is known as the Rip Raps. 
 
 From the rampart may be seen, off Newport News, 
 the battle " ground," on the waters of Hampton Roads, 
 on which occurred the most remarkable naval fight of the 
 age that between the Monitor and Merrimac. Had this 
 Rebel ship escaped the little Monitor and run by Fortress 
 Monroe to Washington, she could have destroyed every- 
 thing in her path to "Washington and Baltimore. 
 
 Very many stories might be told of Fortress Monroe 
 and its environments. Around its grim old walls cluster 
 many pleasant memories, as well as some that, like disa- 
 greeable ghosts, haunt its dark, damp casements. 
 
 The one spirit that will not down is that "of the impris- 
 oned President of the Confederacy, who was confined here
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 73 
 
 after his capture. His cell was the first casement to the 
 right of the entrance, a -disagreeable, dark, repulsive- 
 looking hole. In that dungeon the iron was forced into 
 the proud heart of Jeff. Davis, and it was said by himself 
 that, when the order to put irons on him was executed, he 
 resisted violently, hoping the guard would kill, rather 
 than manacle, him. 
 
 The extensive Hygeia Hotel, erected on this Govern- 
 ment ground within a hundred yards of the fort, is 
 crowded with guests, especially during the winter and 
 spring months. Here gather, to recuperate during Lent 
 from the excesses of "the season" at Washington, the 
 ultra fashionable society people of Washington, Baltimore, 
 Philadelphia and New York. The interesting invalids, in 
 their migration from Florida to the North, also delight 
 to stop over at Old Point. 
 
 The waters of the bay and numerous adjacent rivers 
 supply the choicest of oysters and fish. The surrounding 
 marshes and lowlands are the favorite haunts for ducks 
 and game, and the sportsman is happy in the pursuit of 
 that pleasure. The rich soil of the back countries pro- 
 duces, in abundance, the earliest of vegetables and fruits. 
 
 The hotel provides sumptuously and artistically for the 
 inner man and woman. This accounts for the regular 
 attendance of so many rich papas and mammas. The 
 principal attraction, however, to the daughters, seems to 
 be in the well-fitting fatigue coats and trousers worn oy 
 the officers from the fort. There are a number of these 
 military gentlemen stationed here. They generally mess 
 at the hotel ; the proprietor having an eye to the fitness
 
 74 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 of things, no doubt making it an attractive feature all 
 around. 
 
 There is usually a ship of war or two lying in the roads, 
 either of our own or of some other government, the offi- 
 cers from which are permitted to come ashore to mingle 
 with the "army" and the ladies. In an architectural view 
 the hotel is not pleasing to the eye. Beginning with a mere 
 country tavern, it has grown, from year to year, by addi- 
 tions and annexes, into an immense hostlery, that resem- 
 bles, from the outside, a large infirmary, where the invalids 
 are protected by the glass fronts that enclose its broad 
 verandas, when the sea breezes blow too fresh for the hot- 
 house plants. 
 
 The dining-room and dancing pavillion, standing by 
 themselves, are beautiful structures, resembling in general 
 outline two large canvass tents. They are built of finely- 
 finished native pine wood. An immense chimney, in the 
 middle of the dining-hall, rises like a center-pole of a tent, 
 and supports the arch, or turtle-back roof. In cold weather 
 four " fires on the hearth," of crackling hickory wood, cast 
 their cheerful shadows and warmth over all who are so 
 fortunate as to come within their genial influence. 
 
 Being located within a few rods of the water's edge, 
 one may sit at a table, and under the stained-glass win- 
 dows almost feed the fish that are tempted to come within 
 sight. 
 
 The dancing pavillion, immediately adjoining, being 
 similarly constructed, is, indeed, artistically beautiful. A 
 dias at one end contains the band of the regular artillery, 
 who play in the afternoon, during dinner, when children
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 75 
 
 may dance be seen and not heard while their fond par- 
 ents dine. Every evening is a dance,, and it goes, without 
 any further attempt at description, that a more delightful 
 day and evening may not be enjoyed anywhere than at 
 Old Point Comfort. 
 
 One may promenade on the broad walks surrounding 
 these halls the ripple of the tide almost touching your 
 footsteps, while out to sea, the ships riding at anchor or 
 sailing in or out, seemingly try to keep time with the 
 music or dance in unison with the gay assemblage inside. 
 
 There are many pretty ladies, in gorgeous and elegant 
 costumes, whirling in the arms of handsome officers, over 
 the broad floors, to the seductive music of the band, or in 
 bevies or groups, talking and laughing together. Seated 
 around the walls are distinguished-looking men or com- 
 fortable-looking women. 
 
 Every body seems to be happy and if any of the club 
 contemplate matrimony I advise them, by all means, to 
 take in Old Point Comfort on your bridal tour. 
 
 Of course the officers are the favorite partners for the 
 dance and, as a rule, the regular officer is a good dancer, 
 and always a gentleman. It is part of his military edu- 
 cation. 
 
 But there are plenty of dancers who do not wear the 
 uniform now, but have in days gone by; and one of the 
 pleasant features of this pleasant place is, that so many 
 gentlemen with gray mustaches and perhaps gray bangs, 
 but, withal, an erect military bearing, are able, on the floor, 
 to eclispse the "cubs" as the younger officers are famil- 
 iarly termed.
 
 76 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 And now before we leave Old Point, I have a special 
 request to ask of the lady members: 
 
 Will you not, while I sit down and rest, please play that 
 beautiful waltz song, I first heard at Old Point that is 
 such a general favorite in the South whither we are bound: 
 
 "I am going back to Dixie/' or "Ise gwine back 
 to Dixie." 
 
 A few minutes' walk will take us into the beautiful 
 grounds of the National Soldiers' Home, located at Hamp- 
 ton, directly across the small inlet that separates Old Point 
 from the peninsula proper. 
 
 The old veteran will be interested here, and doubt- 
 less the first impression will be that they would rather live 
 here than at the stylish Hygeia Hotel. 
 
 There are over 2,500 old soldiers quartered at the home; 
 every one of whom wears the same fatigue blouse, cap and 
 pants, so familiar to all that were around here twenty-five 
 years ago. They seem to live in quiet comfort, the 
 Government providing everything that is necessary to 
 make them contented and happy; in addition to good 
 clothing, they are well fed, comfortably quartered, and 
 furnished good spring beds, promptly doctored, and other- 
 wise well cared for. The climate is salubrious, the grounds 
 extensive and pleasant; buildings, now, larger, and more 
 elegant and convenient than the Hygeia. They have 
 nothing to do but to answer roll-call, and no marching 
 orders, except to follow the bugle and drum calls to 
 rations. The waters afford most excellent boating facili- 
 ties and good fishing. Yet, with all this, after spending 
 some hours among the old inmates, I was reminded rather
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 77 
 
 of the hospital feature of army life, and but a little contact 
 creates the impression that it savors rather of an asylum 
 for old army cranks. I came away with the feeling that 
 Fd rather turn my toes up under six feet of gravel than be 
 compelled to exist on top of the handsomest plot of ground 
 in America, in this style. 
 
 Close observation satisfied me that a majority of the 
 inmates are of foreign birth, the preponderance seeming 
 to be with the German element, who smoked their pipes 
 of peace and growled in their native tongue, while they 
 lounged about on the beautiful grassy lawns, or held down 
 comfortable arm-chairs on the broad verandahs of the 
 hospital. 
 
 The officials say, that with barely an exception, their 
 free boarders are kickers to such an extent that it has 
 become chronic, and is tolerated by the officials as a 
 disease. 
 
 They average a funeral a day at Hampton, which gives 
 the band belonging to the place and the non-commissioned 
 officers plenty of opportunity to keep up their parade 
 practice. 
 
 The superintendent of the cemetery calls attention to 
 the miscalculation of the managers in allotting so small a 
 portion of the extensive grounds for the reception of the 
 dead. In time it will probably all become a soldier's ceme- 
 tery, which is in fact the soldier's only home. 
 
 It is the desire of the authorities to increase the capacity 
 of the Hampton Home, and plans are now being considered, 
 looking to the eventual concentration of all the soldiers 
 at this location. In the course of nature the inmates of
 
 78 ON THK WAR-PATH. 
 
 each of the branches will decrease.. Those remaining 
 may be better cared for here, where the climate and sur- 
 roundings are so well adapted for the comfort of the old 
 and infirm. 
 
 Directly adjoining Hampton is the training school 
 for Indian boys and girls, and also the Colored Normal 
 Institute. The colored and Indian boys mix indiscrimi- 
 nately, without regard to color, race or previous conditions. 
 The long, straight hair of the "one, two, three little 
 Indians, four, five, six little Indian boys," as well as the 
 short, curly wool of the colored boy is cropped so short 
 that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. The 
 schools being conducted on the military principle, all are 
 dressed alike in the same uniform. 
 
 The town of Hampton is one of the earliest settlements 
 of Virginia. A church may be visited in which the 
 colonial settlers worshiped. In our war this town became 
 familiar as the place from which Gen. B. F. Butler dated 
 his official communications. 
 
 We will not linger here, but take the little steamer 
 that starts from its old wharf and which will convey us 
 across Hampton Roads, over the place where the Merrimac 
 sank United States wooden frigates that are yet buried 
 beneath the water the flag at the topmast only remain- 
 ing above water and after a pleasant ride of ten or twelve 
 miles, are landed at Norfolk, Virginia. 
 
 Much may be said of Norfolk and Portsmouth, the twin 
 cities by the sea. They are such quiet, dignified towns, 
 and have been here so long, they impress the visitor with 
 u feeling of respect due to old age. They had the ad van-
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 79 
 
 tage of New York and Brooklyn iu an earlier start in life, 
 and in the superior water and harbor facilities, as well as 
 being the nearest, geographically, to the great Ohio and 
 Mississippi Valleys. Just why they stopped growing a 
 hundred years ago is left to the club as a text for an essay 
 on the subject. Norfolk is now the pea-nut market for 
 the world. 
 
 It may truly be said of these two cities that they observe 
 too well the precept, emulation without envy. Even the 
 school-books recite their ancient history, and tell of their 
 early settlement, of the Gosport Navy Yard at Portsmouth, 
 of the numerous great occurrences happening heareabout, 
 of the visits of the colonial governors; also of Washington, 
 of La Fayette, and others. They have also been visited by 
 the yellow fever and cholera but not mentioned in 
 the books as well as by British ships on hostile errands, 
 Confederate as well as Federal soldiers. 
 
 To my mind, however, the most interesting of the dis- 
 tinguished foreign visitors was that of the poet Tom Moore. 
 It was on the occasion of his stay in the old town that he 
 penned the beautiful poem, "The Lake of the Dismal 
 Swamp. " 
 
 The Club will not care to go into this terribly desolate- 
 looking canal country back of Norfolk, in which is located 
 the truly dismal swamp. In lieu of an attempt at a 
 description of it, I beg some one to recite the poem of 
 Moore, which so graphically portrays the scenery and 
 expresses, in his poetic language, feelings that only one 
 who visits there may experience. 
 
 I believe the story of the poem is, that a young English
 
 80 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 nobleman and the daughter of one of the colonial governors 
 were betrothed. The lady died in Norfolk, of cholera, and 
 her burial place was, for sanitary reasons, kept a secret. The 
 young gentleman's mind becoming unhinged by the blow, 
 he imagined his bride was lost in the Dismal Swamp. In 
 search of her, he entered, alone, the fastnesses, and follow- 
 ing the light of the ignis fa tints, that is nightly displayed 
 in such places, he was lost in its fastnesses, and never again 
 heard of. 
 
 THE LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP. 
 
 "They made her a grave too cold and damp 
 
 For a soul so warm and true; 
 And she's gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, 
 Where, all night Jong, by a firefly lamp, 
 She paddles her white canoe. 
 
 "And her firefly lamp I soon shall see, 
 
 And her paddle I soon shall hear; 
 Long and loving our life slmll be, 
 And I'll hide the maid in a cypress tree, 
 
 When the footstep of Death is near." 
 
 Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds. 
 
 His path was rugged and sore, 
 Through tangled juniper, beds of weeds. 
 Through many a fen, where the serpent feeds, 
 
 And never man trod before. 
 
 And when, on the earth he sank to sleep, 
 
 If slumber his eyelids knew, 
 He lay where the deadly vine doth weep 
 Its venomous tears, and nightly steep 
 
 The flesh with blistering dew! 
 
 And near him the she- wolf stirred the brake, 
 And the copper-snake breathed in his ear, 
 Till he starting cried, from his dream awake, 
 "Ah! when shall I see the dusky lake, 
 And the white canoe of mv dear? "
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 81 
 
 He saw the lake, and the meteor bright 
 
 Quick over its surface play'd 
 " Welcome," he said, "my dear one's light! " 
 And the dim shore echoed, for many a night, 
 
 The name of the death-cold maid; 
 
 Till he hollow'd a boat of the birchen bark, 
 
 Which carried him off from the shore; 
 Far, far he followed the meteor spark, 
 The winds were high and the clouds were dark, 
 
 And the boat return'd no more. 
 
 But oft, from the Indian hunter's camp, 
 
 This lover and maid so true 
 Are seen, at the hour of midnight damp, 
 To cross the lake by a firefly lamp, 
 
 And paddle their white canoe! 
 
 The nice little steamer Ariel leaves Norfolk on 
 alternate days at 7 A. M., for Richmond via the James 
 river. The fare for an entire day on the most historic 
 stream in America is but one dollar. Good meals are 
 served aboard at fifty cents each. 
 
 I might fill the pages of a good sized book about this 
 trip up the James river, but shall merely outline the 
 journey, leaving it to the readers to fill out when they 
 come out this way on their bridal tours. 
 
 The school boys and girls may take the history of the 
 country as their guide book, and, perhaps, follow along in 
 imagination the feelings and thoughts of those tempest- 
 tossed mariners of the seventeenth century Captain John 
 Smith and his party as they sailed up this river in 1609, 
 and also the thrilling stories of the decades that have fol- 
 lowed since that time. 
 
 The New England writers who furnish our histories 
 and school-books, seemingly desire to dwell upon and keep
 
 84 ON THE WAfc-i>ATH. 
 
 to the front the Pilgrim Fathers and Plymouth Kock, and 
 leave untold the entire story of the Cavaliers in Virginia. 
 The facts are indisputable, however; the first settlement of 
 America was made at Jamestown, Virginia, fifty miles up 
 this river. That it was not more successfully and per- 
 manently established resulted from the fact that these first 
 colonists comprised four mechanics,, twelve laborers, fifty 
 gentlemen and not a woman. Just how Mr. Smith expected 
 to build up and populate the new country, is another 
 problem submitted to the club for further discussion. 
 
 There is no settlement at Jamestown now. The boat 
 touching at the croaking and shaky remains of an old 
 landing, dump us into what seems almost as lonely a spot 
 as that at which the colonists were landed nearly three 
 hundred years ago. There is not a sign of human habi- 
 tation. The farm house of a lady near by will afford the 
 tourist shelter and entertainment until relieved by the 
 return of the boat from Richmond. 
 
 The river at this point is three miles wide. On the 
 opposite shore is a fine range of bold and beautiful hills. 
 
 There is no vestige of the ancient town, except the 
 small ruins of a church portal or steeple, and a disordered 
 group of tombstones. 
 
 It is charged that the hordes of relic hunters have 
 carried away, one by one, more than two-thirds of the 
 few remaining bricks. 
 
 One enterprising Yankee, it is asserted, sent off to New 
 England two hundred of these relic bricks in one lot. 
 
 One wonders if they desire to transplant this original 
 landmark and rebuild it upon Plymouth Rock.
 
 ON TflE WAR-PATH. 83 
 
 Surely the historical societies of the State, or better, 
 perhaps, the general government should interpose to pro- 
 tect from the despoiling hands this only remaining ruin of 
 the original settlers. 
 
 In these days of lavish centennials, might not a few 
 hundred of the many millions being appropriated for 
 celebrations, be used to establish at this point a Govern- 
 ment reservation ? 
 
 The site is an island separated from the main land by a 
 very narrow body of water. It was on account of the pro- 
 tection thus afforded from attacks by Indians that the loca- 
 tion was selected. 
 
 What a place for lugubrious meditation ! But it is not 
 my forte nor genius to write in the style of Young's Night 
 Thoughts. I would rather be dancing at the Hygeia than 
 meditating up here. 
 
 On one of the tombstones I succeeded in making out 
 an inscription following an obliterated name, declaring him 
 to " have been a great sinner who had died in the hope of 
 a joyful resurrection. " 
 
 This, however, is an early record of the acknowledg- 
 ment of the boundless mercy of Heaven, and gives a back- 
 ward and upward glance at that divinely consoling procla- 
 mation to so many who have traveled their weary ways on 
 this peninsula, " Come unto Me all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 On one of the tombstones we will rest, shaded by tho 
 bough of a tree whose trunk has embraced and grown over 
 the head stone of another. And, as better expressing the 
 situation to-day than can be given by any of our modern
 
 84 ON THE WARPATH. 
 
 travelers, permit me to read to you an extract from the 
 writings of the celebrated " British Spy/' 
 
 These famous papers, which appeared anonymously 
 over a half-century ago, created throughout the English- 
 speaking world an interest similar to that excited by the 
 letters of Junius. 
 
 The author of the " British Spy " papers was William 
 Wirt, the Attorney-General. lie visited this spot about 
 1838, and found it a ruin at that period. His description 
 at that time is strikingly applicable to the present. It 
 expresses my sentiments on a recent visit so graphically 
 that I am constrained to ask the indulgence of the Club. 
 
 The ruins of the steeple mantled with ivy only remains. It is 
 difficult to look at these awful proofs of the mortality of man without 
 exclaiming in the pathetic words of Shakespeare: 
 
 "The cloud capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 
 The solemn temple, the great globe itself; 
 
 Yea, all which it inherits shall dissolve; 
 
 And, like this insubstantial pageant, faded, 
 
 Leave not a wreck behind." 
 
 Whence arises the irrepressible reverence and tender affection 
 witli which I look at this ruin? Is it that my soul, by secret subtile 
 process, invests the mouldering ruin with her own powers imagines 
 it a fellow-being a venerable old man a Nestor or Ossian who has 
 witnessed ind survived the ravages of successive generations, the 
 companions of his youth and of his maturity, and now mourns his 
 own solitary and desolate condition and hails their spirits in every 
 passing cloud? 
 
 Whatever may be the cause, as I look at it, I feel my soul drawn 
 forward, as by the cords of the gentlest sympathy, and involuntarily 
 open my lips and offer consolation to the drooping pile. 
 
 Where is the busy, bustling crowd who landed here 200 years 
 ago? Where is Capt. John Smith? that pink of gallantry, that 
 flower of chivalry. I fancy I can see their first, slow and cautious 
 approach to the shore ; their keen and vigilant eyes piercing the 
 forest in every direction to detect the lurking Indian with his toma- 
 hawk bow and arrow.
 
 85 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Good Heaven, what an enterprise, how full of the most fearful 
 perils, and yet how entirely profitless to the daring men who person- 
 ally undertook and achieved it. 
 
 Through what a series of the most spirit-chilling hardships they 
 had to toil. How often did they cast their eyes to England in vain, 
 and with what hopes of deliverance, day after day, did the little 
 famished crew strain their sight to catch the white sail of comfort 
 and relief. But day after day the sun rose and set and darkness 
 covered the earth, but no sail of comfort or relief came. How often 
 in the pangs of hunger, solitude and disconsolation did they think of 
 London her shops, her markets groaning under the weight of 
 plenty, her streets swarming with gilded coaches, bustling hacks, 
 with crowds of Lords and Dukes and Commons, with busy, contented, 
 healthy faces. 
 
 But now where are they all ; the little famished colony which 
 landed here and the many-colored crowd of London where are they? 
 
 Gone where there is no destruction. Consigned to common 
 earth. 
 
 Other generations have succeeded them which are just as busy 
 and bustling as those before have sunk into the same nothingness. 
 
 Another and yet another billow has rolled on, each emulating its 
 predecessor in height and curling its foaming honors to the clouds, 
 then roaring, breaking and perishing on the same shore. 
 
 Is it not strange that familiarly and universally as these things 
 are known, yet each generation is as eager in the pursuit of its 
 earthly objects, projects its planes on a scale as extensive, and as 
 laborious in their execution with a spirit as ardent and unrelaxing as 
 if their life and this world were to last forever? 
 
 It is curious to reflect what a nation has sprung up and flour- 
 ished from that feeble, sickly germ which was planted here. 
 
 It is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, and 
 involuntarily I feel like singing out across that river of 
 oblivion " Hello Smith !" as one does to a ferryman to come 
 and take us "over the river." 
 
 That reminds me of once yelling myself hoarse repeat- 
 ing the customary signals, the words "over, over" to call 
 a sleepy ferryman's attention to the fact that I wanted to 
 get over to his side. Finally he heard my call, and 
 growled back. " you are over, you durn fool."
 
 86 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 It seems like a rude attempt at iconoclasm to spoil 
 the pretty Pocahontas story, that all American boys and 
 girls have enjoyed as a pleasant episode in their dull school- 
 books. But a strict regard for truthfulness of details 
 require that I record the tradition gathered from several 
 days spent in the country, interviewing the oldest inhab- 
 itants. Rather reluctantly I concluded that her reputation 
 was not good. I got the impression that "Poky" was 
 considered to have been a great fraud. She is talked of 
 by the old people living about there as being a pretty fast 
 young Indian flirt. It is said she attended all the high 
 toned Indian balls, and excited the envy of her compan 
 ions by her superior gyrations. She excelled in dancing 
 the can-can, and at the fashionable watering places on the 
 James, then frequented by her select crowd of princes and 
 princesses, her bathing costumes were regular stunners. 
 
 She seems to have made a mash on John Smith, and 
 through her attractive charms led him into the forest, and 
 this accounts for the trouble he got into by straying off 
 from the colonists. I venture the opinion, that there 
 never was any trouble ancient or modern but there was a 
 lady concerned in it. 
 
 Old Powhattan, the father of Poky, got on, as they say 
 now-a-days, and would have clubbed his would-be son-in- 
 law, but for the interposition of the daughter. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that Pocahontas subsequently 
 reformed and married Mr. Rolfe, and as a necessary prelim- 
 inary to this step, she was baptized into the Church of 
 England. I touched the rough stone font from which she 
 was baptized. It may be seen in the old parish church at
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 87 
 
 Williamsburg. When she visited England, John gave her 
 the shake. 
 
 Many of the proudest F. F. V/s trace their ancestry 
 to Pocahontas. 
 
 The history of the colonies record, however, that twenty 
 young women of humble birth, but pure life, were subse- 
 quently imported by a Dutch vessel and sold to the planters 
 for wives, the payment being made in tobacco. I have not 
 been able to hear of any who traced their ancestry to this 
 more prolific source. 
 
 Here were also landed the first slaves, along with that 
 other twin relic of barbarism tobacco; both of which have 
 been a curse to the advancement of Virginia. 
 
 As a striking historical coincidence, it may also be noted 
 here, that on this same historic peninsula almost within 
 sight of their first landing place, the slaves were first made 
 free, by General Butler's famous contraband of war order. 
 
 On this narrow neck of land, which is only about twelve 
 miles in Avidth, between the James and the York rivers, 
 occurred the beginning and the ending of the colonial and 
 revolutionary epochs which closed with the surrender of 
 Cornwallis at Yorktown. 
 
 The colonists subsequently moved six miles into the 
 interior, establishing their capital at Williamsburg. 
 
 Very much may be said of interest about " Ye Ancient 
 Colonial Capital." 
 
 Here may be seen the tombs of Lord Botetort, as also a 
 statue in the campus of the William and Mary college, one 
 of the earliest institutions established in America. The 
 remains of a curious round brick building is pointed out as
 
 88 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 the " powder horn," that Patrick Henry led his company of 
 militia from Hanover to seize, compelling the governor to 
 take refuge aboard an English vessel in the York river. 
 
 The old church remains in a good state of preservation. 
 This was established during the reign of the earliest 
 colonial governor. The silver service presented by Queen 
 Anne, is preserved and used. I believe that King George, 
 the three times, presented the bell which has called to wor- 
 ship for hundreds of years the flock within its hearing. 
 
 Williamsburg is worth a visit. It is situated on the 
 ridge, or only high ground on the peninsula, the waters 
 from each side flowing into marshes or low ground con- 
 necting with either the James or the York river. 
 
 The only highway leading to Richmond passes through 
 the one long street of the straggling old town. The prin- 
 cipal promenaders on sidewalks are the town cows. 
 
 The court-house is a trifling, ill-arranged affair, built 
 after the design of Sir William Wren, the celebrated archi- 
 tect. 
 
 Along the main street marched, in glorious array, 
 after the battle of Williamsburg, on May 5, 1862, McClel- 
 lan's magnificent army of 60,000. 
 
 A pleasant lady resident took great delight in relat- 
 ing, to me, how gallantly the Federal veterans advanced, 
 of their boasts of going straight to Richmond, and 
 then laughingly told of the disorderly return after their 
 repulses on the Chickahominy. As her story, so charm- 
 ingly told at my expense, seemed to please the assembled 
 company, who had listened approvingly, I ventured to 
 modestly remind them of a .similar army of 80,000, every
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 89 
 
 one of whom was a veteran a victorious army led by a 
 chief they adored who had, in like gallant array, 
 marched through the cities of Maryland, giving the inhab- 
 itants the information that they were not only going to 
 Washington but to Baltimore and Philadelphia. But they 
 halted at a little town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg, 
 and retired in utter disorder, very likely as they had wit- 
 nessed McClellairs army. 
 
 In the church at Williamsburg is a tablet to the Con- 
 federates who died in defense of Williamsburg, erected by 
 the ladies of the town, bearing the touching inscription: 
 "THEY DIED FOR US." 
 
 We might linger along on this interesting peninsula 
 and put in as much time as McClellan. There is much to 
 be seen that we have not been able to even glance at. 
 
 Here was the birthplace and death-bed of slavery, as 
 well as of Bourbonism. It is now known politically as 
 the black belt, the colored voters outnumbering the 
 whites. 
 
 Here the Indian was first taught the white man's way. 
 
 In these old homes lived the colonial governors. 
 
 Our observations "On the War Path" really begin at 
 ye ancient capital of Williamsburg. It was from this point 
 that the youthful Washington started on his first scout on 
 the war trail to Fort Pitt. As the emissary of Dinwoodie, 
 the British Colonial Governor, Washington went from 
 Williamsburg through a pathless wilderness hundreds of 
 miles. He got there. 
 
 It is a singular fact that our proposed war path leads 
 us almost in the footsteps of Washington. After leaving
 
 90 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 the capital he traveled via the settlement of Richmond, 
 and from thence to Fredericksburg, where he delayed to 
 visit his mother at his home. On leaving Fredericksburg, 
 he traveled precisely the paths since followed by the Army 
 of the Potomac towards Alexandria. In the subsequent 
 journey as a guide for Braddock's army, he led them over 
 the now historic plains of Manassa to Loudon County, and, 
 crossing the Upper Potomac somewhere in the same vicin- 
 ity as the Army of the Potomac and Confederate armies, he 
 reached " Frederick town," as we do Frederick, Maryland. 
 From there we moved up to Gettysburg, but in going west 
 we follow the footprints of that band, as our dispersed 
 armies did on going to my Pennsylvania home at Brad- 
 dock's Field. 
 
 But we must hurry on to Richmond, without delaying 
 at the Chickahominy Swamps, but go direct to the Con- 
 federate capital.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL, RICHMOND, RE-VISITED BY 
 THE TRAVEL CLUB. 
 
 E longest way around is often the nearest; the 
 great Generals who conducted the Army of the 
 Potomac to the Confederate capital found this 
 the best course to pursue. In chaperoning our club, I 
 have endeavored to guide you in their illustrious foot- 
 prints. 
 
 I succeeded in reaching Richmond alone, however, by a 
 shorter and more expeditious route, in the month of August, 
 1861, nearly three years before the Generals got there. I 
 was not a prisoner, but entered the enemy's capital as a 
 Federal scout, and was free to go about the city for 
 months. 
 
 But this is along story which has already been told. I 
 only mention it here as tending to show some qualification 
 as a guide to the city, earned by this thrilling experience. A 
 lifetime will not efface from memory a single detail of those 
 days when, as a boy, I was in Richmond, not only among 
 strangers in a strange land but in the midst of enemies ; 
 in truth " homeless near a thousand homes I stood." 
 
 The actual expense in the way of fares by this pleasant 
 water route to Richmond is less than by all rail. 
 
 The time by water is twenty-four hours, that by rail 
 five hours. We will stop at Ford's hotel, located on the 
 
 hill between the beautiful and historical Capitol park and 
 
 01
 
 92 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Broad street from there may be reached within a square 
 or two, nearly all the principal points of interest. 
 
 It was at this house, then called the Powhattan, that I 
 lived during my scout inl8Gl-2, and made the acquaintance 
 of the " Colonel" and Lieutenant Elkton, " my Maryland " 
 friends. 
 
 During recent visits I have occupied the same room, 
 and, as may be imagined, lived over again as I sat by the 
 open windows and looked out upon the old scenes that 
 were burned into the memory by the red-hot brand of war. 
 
 If I were asked to mention that which most impressed 
 me on my re-visit, I should unhesitatingly say that it is in 
 finding the city looking so very much as it did twenty-five 
 years ago. 
 
 There is, indeed, but little to note in the way of modern 
 improvement in the Confederate capital as compared with 
 the great changes that have come over Washington. 
 
 It may be accounted for on the hypothesis that as 
 the oldest inhabitants have retired from business, their only 
 occupation is to hold on to the titles and deeds. They are 
 of that self-satisfied class so peculiar to the South that 
 practice too well the hunkidori doctrine, to let well enough 
 alone. They won't do any improving themselves and are 
 only obstacles in the path of others. 
 
 During a visit, one of the young men of the new South 
 aptly expressed the situation when he observed to me that 
 Richmond needed, more than anything else, a few first- 
 class funerals. 
 
 That portion of the city destroyed by fire during the 
 evacuation, has been re-built so nearly in the old style of
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 93 
 
 architecture that I almost failed to notice any change. The 
 Jewish merchants seem to retain their possession of the 
 business on the main streets. 
 
 Jeff Davis' executive office in the old Mercantile building 
 at the foot of the Capitol Square, has given way to a new 
 custom-house and post-office erected on the site by the 
 Government. 
 
 The next most noticeable change is that of a fine city 
 hall being erected on the site of the old building, directly 
 across the park from the post-office. 
 
 In the winter of 1861-2, Mayor Mayo had his headquar- 
 ters in an old building here, as also Marshal Winder and 
 his Baltimore plug-ugly refugees. There was a constant 
 friction between the Mayor's authority and that of the 
 despotic provost-marshal, carpet-bagger from Baltimore. 
 
 My room in the Powhattan enabled me to see every one 
 who entered that building, and also afforded an outlook 
 on the park through which I saw President Davis walk 
 daily between his home and office. 
 
 The Capitol Park remains precisely as of eld, except for 
 the removal of the Clay statue and the depositing of a fine 
 statue representing Stonewall Jackson, the gift of some 
 " English gentlemen," as it is inscribed, which, by the way, 
 will remain there, a perpetual reminder and menace to the 
 Northern visitors of the "English gentlemen's" sympa- 
 thizing sentiments. 
 
 The Governor's mansion is located in one corner of the 
 Capitol grounds. During a recent visit it was my privilege 
 to call upon Governor Fitz-Hugh Lee at this home, where 
 I was most courteously received and hospitably entertained 
 as a Federal re-visitor.
 
 94 ON THK WAR- PATH. 
 
 Inside the Capitol building everything looks cheerless, 
 rather dingy and neglected. The walls of the cham- 
 bers are liberally supplied with the portraits of Virginia's 
 favorite son, General R. E. Lee, flanked by his able Lieu- 
 tenant, Stonewall Jackson. One can not help noticing 
 the omission of that other grand Virginia soldier, General 
 J. E. Johnston, who surrendered to .Sherman after Lee. 
 
 Cheap portraits of Lee and Jackson sorrowfully posing 
 by a newly-made grave, the imprint on the tombstone of 
 which is "The Constitution" arc quite common in Vir- 
 ginia. One sees them even in colored barber shops, bar 
 rooms and other public places. 
 
 The first point of interest to which I have always paid 
 my respects was Libby Prison. 
 
 The hotel people and the hack drivers and guides say 
 that, without exception, the first point the tourist to Rich- 
 mond seeks is not Jeff Davis' mansion, the Capitol, or 
 Lee's home, but Libby. 
 
 This ugly old brick structure, so sadly familiar to 
 thousands, was the shrine to which the old veteran invari- 
 ably hobbled the moment he got ashore in the city. 
 
 When the question of the removal of this old warehouse 
 to Chicago was being agitated, I gathered the impression 
 that the objection to its removal lay in the fact that the 
 Richmond Yankees very properly felt that, in parting with 
 this old relic for a good sum, they were killing the goose 
 that laid golden eggs. 
 
 It was represented that the Western city would not gain 
 by Richmond's loss, as but few of the Western soldiers were 
 interested in this Eastern prison. However, the fact is
 
 Off THE WAR-PATH. 95 
 
 frequently overlooked that a majority of the old Army of 
 the Potomac have, since the war, helped to build up the 
 West. 
 
 The newspaper agitation, however, probably accom- 
 plished all that was desired in securing an immense amount 
 of free advertising for the sale of relic bricks from Libby. 
 
 The old warehouse proper was a three-story building, 
 say about 150 by 200 feet. .Calculating nineteen bricks to 
 the square foot in these walls, one may form an idea of the 
 rich bonanza there was for a while in the supplying of Libby 
 bricks at 50c. and $1.00 each. 
 
 Probably sufficient has been distributed throughout 
 the country in this way to rebuild the original structure, 
 somewhere else, if they could be again "contributed." 
 
 When I last saw it at its old stand, the ugly old pile 
 looked quite familiar, except that its closed, deserted and 
 almost haunted appearance created in my breast a doubly 
 realizing sense of desolation. 
 
 It was an early Sunday morning. The shops were 
 closed, and the streets in the neighborhood more quiet than 
 I had seen them during the war. 
 
 The large double doors were closed, and barred on the 
 inside; the windows were shut down. Spiders had woven 
 their webs about the iron gratings, and dust of years had 
 accumulated on everything that would hold it. The little 
 8x10 panes of glass, remaining unbroken in the sash, were 
 so covered with dirt that I could not see into the old shell. 
 The whitewashed walls outside had been drenched by the 
 rains and storms of twenty-five years, leaving only a few 
 ghastly-looking streaks here and there.
 
 96 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 How different from my first visit as a boy, when all was 
 activity. Then in every hole and corner, inside and out, 
 there was life and soul. Now all were gone; only the terri- 
 ble memories remaining. 
 
 It was during August, 1861, shortly after the first battle 
 of Bull Eun, that I first stood on the pavement outside, 
 and gazed, with boyish feelings that I could scarcely repress, 
 upon the crowded Federal prisoners inside those walls. 
 All of them seemed to be jolly and happy; most were in 
 what might be termed light marching order in regard to 
 clothing. Their hearty, ringing laughter, that seemed so 
 like defiance to the solemn guards, could be heard squares 
 off. I recall Congressman Ely's appearance distinctly, as 
 he stood near a window, in his shirt-sleeves, in earnest con- 
 versation with a group of officers. 
 
 I saw them every day. The place had a singular infatu- 
 ation then, and is full of memories for me. I have pre- 
 served an original photograph, taken at that time, copies of 
 which I can supply those members of the club who desire 
 them. 
 
 I observed some alteration had been made since the war; 
 on the water-front, an addition of some forty feet of wall 
 had been erected, the roofs had been renewed, and other 
 minor changes made in the interior, which the engineer of 
 the fertilizing works occupying the adjoining property 
 pointed out to me. 
 
 The watchman, who had eyed me quite suspiciously 
 while peering about so curiously, thinking, no doubt, 1 
 was a relic hunter wanting a chance to steal a brick, 
 became quite communicHtive when I introduced myself as
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 97 
 
 a former Rebel soldier. He volunteered the observation 
 that, if they did not watch it night and day, the whole con- 
 cern would be stolen, brick by brick, by the relic fiends. 
 One could scarcely credit the stories told of the tricks 
 resorted to by strangers to get hold of a piece of Libby 
 before it should be taken to Chicago. He pointed to where 
 a brick had been dug out from the wall the day previous, by 
 a respectable-looking gentleman whom they had caught in 
 the act, and took before the Mayor, who imposed, a heavy 
 fine. 
 
 While the watchman was absent at the station-house, 
 another party climbed to one of the windows on the river 
 front, and cut out a pane of glass. He showed me the 
 putty crumbs then scattered below, which had attracted 
 his attention to this "robbery," as he termed it. 
 
 I had made myself so thoroughly familiar with Rich- 
 mond streets and the habits of the prominent Confederate 
 officials, that, had the Federal cavalry entered the city, in 
 the years following, when I rode with headquarters as a 
 scout, I could then have acted as a guide to that big club, 
 and piloted them everywhere, as I am trying to do now 
 for this club. It was probably with a view of using my 
 experience in this direction that I was so detailed at head- 
 quarters, but I have already tried to tell of that experience. 
 
 I can not help, however, expressing the opinion that our 
 cavalry might have easily entered the city, and not only 
 released the prisoners at Libby, but probably have cap- 
 tured Jefferson Davis. 
 
 The Confederate White House, the residence of Mr. 
 Davis, is on the edge of the bluff or hill overlooking the
 
 08 ON THE WAK-PATH. 
 
 low ground upon which the railways enter the city. It is 
 but two squares north from the Capitol grounds or our 
 hotel. I walked over there frequently, and, on the occasion 
 of a war reception, was inside of the house as a Federal 
 scout. I could have pointed out even the bed-chamber of 
 the President of the Confederacy, and should have been 
 glad of the command of a detachment to have attempted 
 his capture in his night-clothes. 
 
 Gen. .Lee's family lived on Franklin street, a few doors 
 beyond St. Paul's church. The tourist is shown this as 
 the home of Lee, but as a matter of fact, it was only a 
 temporary home for his family. 
 
 St. Paul's church, where both Lee and Daris wor- 
 shiped, looks just as it did during the war. 
 
 It was during the first year of his residence in this city 
 that Mr. Davis was baptized and confirmed in this church. 
 It will be remembered that during the church service on the 
 April Sunday of 1865, he received the telegram from General 
 Lee announcing that he could no longer protect Richmond. 
 
 I always attend service here when I am in Richmond 
 over Sundays. 
 
 The Spottswood Hotel, from the balcony of which Mr. 
 oreckinridge responded to his reception in Richmond, 
 was burned. 
 
 The Exchange and Ballard, connected by the bridge or 
 causeway over the street, remain as of old. 
 
 The old theatre building below it, where I saw the 
 actress tramp under feet, amid tumultuous applause, the 
 United States flag, is yet a dime museum. The Confed- 
 erates generally confess that their first mistake was in
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 99 
 
 insulting the flag at Ft. Sumter, and they express regrets 
 that they ever adopted a separate flag, believing they would 
 have fought with greater success had they retained the 
 "Old Glory." 
 
 I walked down there and stood upon the same step 
 upon which I was almost paralyzed by being familiarly 
 recognized by an old friend. It was over that hill, on this 
 street, that the colored Federal troops first entered 
 the city. Col. J. B Jones' blockade post-office has been 
 remodeled into a business block. Franklin street remains, 
 as of old, the handsome, aristocratic residence thoroughfare 
 of Richmond. 
 
 There are some elegaiit old homesteads here, occupied 
 by the most cultivated as well as courteous and hospitable 
 families, nearly all of which are surrounded by beautiful 
 gardens. The houses generally, architecturally, present a 
 stately and dignified appearance. One may see here any 
 number of Grecian portals and immense Corinthian pillars 
 to private dwellings. I could not find a single bay window 
 in Richmond. In Washington one can't find a residence 
 that isn't two-thirds bay window from cellar to roof. 
 
 Of course I should like to take the boys of our Travel 
 Club around to see "Capitola," the bewitching " Maryland " 
 white slave, whose chains President Davis so dramatically 
 removed for our entertainment, and in which we immedi- 
 ately became tangled. 
 
 A peculiarity of Southern homes is that each has a 
 name of its own. Capitola's was called by the boys 
 " Poplar Grove," because one sickly poplar tree stood in 
 front of it. I had no difficulty in finding the house,
 
 100 ON THE WAK-PATH. 
 
 because I had been there so often,, you know. I did not 
 see the pretty, dark-eyed little brunette, " my Maryland/* 
 but a hospitably inclined young lady of whom I made 
 some awkward inquiries, cordially entertained me, and in 
 an agreeable manner offered consolation for my disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 While living at Fords, on the Powhattan, a number of 
 Maryland "refugees" being there, it was my privilege to 
 become quite intimately associated with them. As long 
 as life lasts, I shall never forget the songs they sang, espe- 
 cially that pathetically beautiful "Maryland, my Mary- 
 land." If the young lady players have not heard this old 
 war song, I advise them to procure it, and while you play 
 and sing, try and realize how it would sound to you as a 
 serenade if away from home surrounded on all sides by 
 the very sounds and smoke of a terrible war. 
 
 We will visit Camp Lee, now the new fair grounds, but 
 during the war the rendezvous for Confederate recruits and 
 conscripts, where I was encamped during the months of 
 November, December, and part of January, 1861-62, as a 
 Federal scout. 
 
 It was at this place I saw President Davis, attended by 
 staff, review the cavalry of General Ransom, now the 
 courteous senator from North Carolina ; here the Rich- 
 mond ladies were wont to come to bring to the exiled 
 Maryland refugees their sweet smiles and words of encour- 
 agement, or solid comfort contained in baskets laden with 
 dainties and perhaps useful articles of wearing apparel. 
 It was here we " boys" first met the bewitching Baltimore 
 lady refugee, Capitola, with whom we all became so thor-
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 101 
 
 oughly enamored through the mutual sympathies engen- 
 dered by the sorrows of our " banishment" from home. 
 
 I mention it as a somewhat remarkable coincidence, that 
 on the occasion of a recent revisit to this old camp, I 
 received from the hands of one of the indentical refugees 
 who had been a companion here, and whom I had not seen 
 or heard from since the war, a letter and package of Balti- 
 more papers containing a two-column attack captioned with 
 display lines, " The Boy Spy's slanders refuted." 
 
 I should like to incorporate this entire article here, not 
 that it is at all flattering. On the contrary it is an exceed- 
 ingly hostile and bitter criticism, which was intended to 
 be quite crushing in effect. The author, who had also 
 been an alleged Maryland refugee, writes with a resentful- 
 ness that is evidently fathered by regret that I had not 
 been hung then, but yet felt that he was not too late, if the 
 chance were offered, to Ku-Klux me. 
 
 Though printed as refutations, they are in effect, invol- 
 untary corroborations, from this Confederate source, of 
 the truthfulness of the Boy's Richmond narrative. 
 
 The article admits that I was in Richmond as stated; 
 that my true character was unknown, though there were 
 some suspicious circumstances attaching certain move- 
 ments at that time. The dates I gave are slightly cor- 
 rected ; but the fact that I was nominally associated with 
 the Maryland refugee battery some time previous to report- 
 ing to Camp Lee, was unknown to the writer, whom I did 
 not know personally. 
 
 That I was detailed as the company clerk and handled 
 alt the papers and had liberty to go as I pleased' through- 
 out Richmond is conceded,
 
 102 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Much feeling is shown at the comparison of Maryhmd 
 refugees in the Confederate army with the more numerous 
 East Tennessee Unionists in the Federal army, a subject, 
 by the way, worthy of greater consideration by war writers. 
 
 In replying to the statement that the Maryland refugee 
 business was a source of annoyance and of no especial 
 benefit to the Confederate authorities, as but a compara- 
 tively small percentage of refugees were from Maryland, he 
 gives his own case away by saying that of the 125 or 150 
 men comprised in the 3d Battery of Maryland Artillery 
 twenty were bona fide Marylanders. 
 
 This admission, that so small a percentage were Mary- 
 landers, is greatly exaggerated, as I was one of these 
 twenty alleged refugees. A greater portion of the remaining 
 were refugees from Ireland and Germany, or deserters from 
 other Confederate organizations. The personnel of this 
 Baltimore battery, as described, is held up to Baltimore 
 Confederates, now, as a reflection on dead Confederates, the 
 object being to cater to a prejudice in that quarter. I have 
 no apologies to offer ; as a matter of fact, I am more 
 liable to a charge of finding fault with our own than with 
 the Confederate officers. 
 
 In this case I told the truth about the Confederate cap- 
 tain. I did not name him, but he is a brother of the well- 
 known Mayor Latrobe, of Baltimore. He was subsequently 
 cashiered and dishonorably dismissed by the Confederate 
 authorities, and is yet living to defend himself. 
 
 Lieutenant Kowan, or Elkton, of the story, became the 
 captain, and was killed beside his guns at Nashville. The 
 " Colonel" was a Sergeant Hooper, of Cambridge, Mary-
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 103 
 
 land , who, I have siuce learned, left the battery in disgust, 
 because the writer of that article cheated him out of his 
 promised and well-merited promotion. He is also dead. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan was also transferred from the battery at 
 his own request, and is, I believe, at the present time an 
 employe at the United States Custom-Housein Baltimore. 
 I have no doubt that he will bear me out in the statement 
 that the dismemberment of this so-called Maryland ref- 
 ugee organization was threatened while in Krioxville, 
 because of the incongruous and insubordinate material of 
 which it was composed. 
 
 The attempt to besmirch the Boy is verified by the 
 writer's own admission, that he was made first corporal 
 and entrusted with the company records selected as one 
 of the guards at Parson Brownlow's house in Knoxville, 
 and was subsequently detailed to carry the important 
 dispatches to Cumberland Gap, precisely as stated. 
 
 I beg the indulgence of the club to these personal 
 explanations, as they say in Congress when a newspaper 
 .attacks a member and he wants to reply through the Asso- 
 ciated Press and Record. 
 
 The Baltimore newspaper which printed this ventila- 
 tion of personal spleen and prejudice and opinions which 
 they dubb refutations, positively refused to publish a 
 hundred words of reply, because, as they said, " Baltimore 
 is filled with ex-Confederates/' 
 
 I beg to take this method of pnttiug on record, for the 
 Baltimore Confederates as well as those elsewhere, that, as a 
 Federal soldier and newspaper writer, I never impugned the 
 motives or patriotism of the genuine Confederate veteran.
 
 104 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 They had in their armies numerous frauds, bounty jump- 
 ers, cowards and skulkers, precisely as we had, and these 
 are their blatant survivors. 
 
 As illustrating the point, I refer to page 252, Boy Spy, 
 referring to Confederate officers as follows: 
 
 " Our other lieutenant was a Mr. Claiborne, one of the 
 genuine sons of the South, not a Marylander, but a native 
 of Mississippi, and as clever and as courteous a young 
 gentleman as it has ever been my pleasure to meet. I re- 
 call my acquaintance with Lieutenant Claiborne, though 
 formed in this surreptitious way, as one of the most agree- 
 able in which I have ever shared. 
 
 "If it shall so happen that this writing may meet his 
 own eye, or that of his family or friends and I have given 
 the correct name he will understand some of my actions 
 toward him, which were at that time, to say it briefly, 
 inexplicable. 
 
 "Lieutenant Claiborne, I think, followed the Confed- 
 erate fortunes to the end I am sure he did so if he lived 
 to see the end for, without a doubt, he was earnestly, 
 though quietly, sincere in his devotion to the cause of the 
 South." 
 
 I did not know of his subsequent history when this 
 paragraph was printed a few years ago. It was only 
 since the story has revived the interest in the matter that 
 I learned that Lieutenant Claiborne died beside the guns 
 of his battery, bravely doing his duty the soil of his 
 native State absorbing his blood the day before the sur- 
 render at Vicksburg. 
 
 He was a handsome, black-eyed, typical Confederate
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 105 
 
 officer, who was my companion,, my friend and rival, whose 
 courteous, gentlemanly bearing and seductive smiles cut 
 me out of all the girls I was at so much trouble to look up 
 and foolish enough to introduce my friend to, because I 
 admired him so much myself. 
 
 I remembered nothing of Claiborne's home affairs, 
 except that he was well connected with the celebrated 
 family of that name in Mississippi. 
 
 It was, therefore, most gratifying to receive a letter 
 bordered with deep mourning, through the mails, from his 
 mother. 
 
 I have never had the pleasure of meeting this lady, 
 who no doubt symbolized, in courtly grace, the ladies of the 
 old South, as her son did of the younger generation. 
 Among the many letters received from various sources, 
 I esteem this most highly, as testifying to a Federal sol- 
 dier's voluntary tribute to a Confederate. 
 
 March 20, 1887. 
 MAJOR KERBEY, 
 
 My Dear Sir: I shall be delighted to see ' ' The Boy Spy " any 
 time as soon as convenient to him after mid-day to-morro\v, and I am 
 truly glad to get this near to him at last. If I were not sick in bed, 
 where I have been for the last five days, I should, try to make you 
 understand with what heartfelt enjoyment I read the paragraph 
 which spoke of my son as if the writer had known him always just 
 as all who knew him spoke of him to me. If I had uot been sick on 
 Wednesday, my little nephew, Ferdinand. Claiborne Walsh, would 
 have taken you a note, begging you to call on me as soon as possible; 
 as it was, I asked a friend to call at your office and tell you how 
 anxious I was to meet you. I found your address in the paper of the 
 8th inst., and intended sending for you as soon as I should be able to 
 leave my room. To-morro\v, should I be well enough, I shall look 
 for you until I see you. It isn't often one has an opportunity of 
 making another (and that other an old lady of seventy-five) as happy 
 as this meeting with such words of commendation of my son and
 
 106 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 only child has made me; and wherever you spoke of him I noticed it 
 was in the same high terms. Surely the recording angel will blot 
 out many a sin from your record for thus giving comfort to the child- 
 less widow. You can understand, then, the pleasure your note received 
 yesterday has given me. I was not able to write until to-day. Hoping 
 I shall see you very soon, believe me I am truly yours, 
 
 MAKY STANFORD CLAIBORNE. 
 
 During my visit to Richmond, letters from this malig- 
 nant Baltimore Rebel, conspicuously addressed to ' ' The Boy 
 Spy/' came to me at the hotel; and marked papers were 
 freely distributed, the object being to identify and annoy 
 me while in Richmond. It failed of its purpose, as it was 
 my pleasure to have been specially invited to visit the 
 armory of the celebrated 1st Virginia regiment, where any 
 Northern visitor interested in such matters may spend an 
 evening most agreeably. 
 
 I shall be glad to take the Club to the R. E. Lee Camp of 
 Confederate Veterans, where you will be surrounded by a lot 
 of old Rebs wearing the gray only in their hair, who will, in 
 a most hospitable manner, take each by the arm and escort 
 him around, not as a prisoner, but as a friend whom they 
 are glad to welcome to their battle-scarred old town. 
 
 The Confederate Soldiers' Home occupies several acres 
 of rather barren ground in the western suburbs. The main 
 building was, I believe, once used as a school. Seven or 
 eight cottages, each built by the separate donors whose 
 names they bear, are arranged on the flanks, similar in 
 plan, as well as architecture, to our camp-meeting 
 grounds. 
 
 There are only 110 inmates, who looked quite familiar 
 in their gray uniforms. The small number seems quite
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 107 
 
 trifling as compared with the 2,500 at Hampton. I under- 
 stood the percentage of foreigners, however, was about 
 the same. 
 
 It is not generally known that this home for the dis- 
 abled Confederates probably owes its existence to the 
 G. A. R. organizations of their former enemies. The efforts 
 inaugurated by the Phil Kearney Post, of Richmond, 
 secured about $8,000 in cash toward its inception. 
 
 On one of the large buildings on the north side of the 
 square the visitor will see the sign, Veterans' Army Asso- 
 ciation of Blue and Gray; also Phil Kearney Post, G. A. R. 
 Here the veteran may find a comfortable place to rest, 
 and a comrade in blue may be found, no doubt, to act as a 
 guide to the different parts'of the city. 
 
 During an evening walk, I chanced to see a half-dozen 
 boys in blue standing about the doorway, as if waiting for 
 some one. Taking a good look, to be sure that they were 
 not Rebs in blue that I had been taken in by, in Vir- 
 ginia., on former occasions, I inquired cautiously what was 
 up. A clever comrade replied, courteously, that they were 
 to be received as a G. A. R. organization at the fair then 
 being held at the armory. My curiosity got the better of 
 my surprise, and I made myself known as a G. A. R. com- 
 rade, when I was at once urged to join them in their 
 march to the Confederate fair. I had no uniform, not 
 even a bronze button; but the password was sufficient, and 
 I was pressed into the ranks and marched with them, along 
 broad streets, to the music of "Yankee Doodle" and 
 " Marching Through Georgia." 
 
 The hall was gorgeously decorated and filled with some
 
 108 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 of Richmond's beautiful daughters, who gave the old 
 Yankees their welcome smiles while the band played 
 inspiriting National airs as we filed around through the 
 crowded hall. 
 
 It was my pleasure to meet there Gen. Edgar Allen, 
 well known as a prominent attorney and politically as 
 "Yankee Allen," who is commander of the department 
 and a Senior Vice of the entire organization. 
 
 It will astonish old soldiers to find that there is, in reality, 
 but little political friction between the Confederates and 
 Federals in Virginia. 
 
 Quite a number of ex- Confederates are Republicans, and 
 I was surprised to find my file closer, on this evening, to be 
 an old 6th New York cavalryman and a staunch Democrat. 
 Of the two Republican factions, General Mahone is under- 
 stood to be the leader of the Confederate Republicans; 
 while his antagonist, John S. Wise, heads the old line 
 Whig, or Civilian Republicans, who object to being 
 " bossed " as they term it by ex-Rebels. 
 
 Whole chapters maybe written about the new industries 
 that are being so wonderfully developed in Virginia since the 
 war. They have the coal for fuel in the greatest abund- 
 ance, the ores are practically inexhaustible, a most pro- 
 ductive soil, and a more congenial climate than that of 
 the great West. Good farms in fair condition may 
 to-day be bought in these fertile Virginia valleys at less 
 than is paid for the unimproved land in the blizzard 
 country. Northern emigration, especially of the farming 
 and manufacturing class, is particularly desired in the 
 South, if accompanied by small capital. The better class 
 of white laborers are also welcome in certain sections.
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 109 
 
 There is no hesitation, however, on the part of the 
 people living here, in expressing their opposition to pro- 
 miscuous foreign immigration they want only that class of 
 workers who do not get pains in the back. 
 
 The old fellow, whom I met on the swamp farm on the 
 peninsula along the Ohickahominy where the principal 
 crop is bull-frogs, and they say in good seasons the product 
 equals forty bushels to the acre, gave me his views on the 
 labor question while he chewed tobacco savagely and spit 
 vigorously that portion of it that did not leak out the 
 corners of his mouth. 
 
 " We doant want no white niggars hyar. Fm ninety 
 year old, drunk whiskey, chawed terbacker and voted the 
 Dimocrat ticket all my life, and I tell you white labor 
 haint reliable. I fit into the war until Mister Grant told us 
 to take our hosses and go home and plow. Waal, my hoss 
 war a mule, and I turned my gnu into a plow-share, as 
 the preachers advised. Waal, along one warm May day, 
 soon ater the surrender, I started in to plow, myself all 
 my niggers had gone off with the Yankees. Waal, gen- 
 tleman, I plowed, and sweated, and plowed and swore 
 on that day, befo dinner time come mo than I did all 
 endurin the wah. I got demoralized and wanted to quit 
 agin. I sat on my plow-beam all afternoon, and you've 
 heer teel of that Britisher that wished for night or 
 Blucher? Waal, I wished for night or a nigger no sah, 
 white labor aint reliable." 
 
 The principal crop in Virginia has always been 
 tobacco. This product has probably been the cause of 
 more legislation, litigation, internal revenue and trouble
 
 110 ON THE WAB-PATII. 
 
 L 
 
 generally, than all the other interests combined. The 
 chief industry of Richmond is in the manufacture, pack- 
 ing and shipping of tobacco in its various forms. The 
 most recent is that of the cigarette establishments, where 
 thousands of white girl operatives are employed, but as 
 this branch of the business has been so well advertised in 
 the cigarette pictures, we can check it off. 
 
 There is nothing of special historic interest in Rich- 
 mond that may not be seen in one day, at an expense of, 
 say two dollars. There were no important battles nearer 
 the city than those of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. I paid 
 five dollars for a drive out there, and would not advise 
 any one to make the trip, with a view of recognizing any- 
 thing. Quite a heavy growth of young pines has grown 
 up and almost obliterated every trace of the famous battle- 
 fields, by the changed aspect of the ground. A little 
 National cemetery embraces the seven pine trees, from 
 which the name was taken. The superintendent's lodge and 
 the few lonely graves, with the flag waving over them, is 
 the only sign of life left upon a field which was, one even- 
 ing, a scene of the wildest excitement. And we may here 
 say that the city might then have been taken. Does any 
 of the later-fay soldiers think that the old Army of the 
 Potomac was camped in 1862 within four miles of Rich- 
 mond? 
 
 On the way out we stopped a few moments at the Union 
 National cemetery, located on this road leading to the 
 North. Though somewhat isolated and located on the op- 
 posite side of the city from the Confederate, at Hollywood, 
 it is more beautiful by contrast, because of the greater care
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. Ill 
 
 that is taken of it by the agreeable superintendent, who, 
 by the way, I discovered to have been an old regular 
 cavalryman, who left one of his arms on this field. 
 
 This superintendent volunteered the pleasant informa- 
 tion that the Confederates always march out to the Union 
 cemetery on Decoration Day, and strew the graves of the 
 Federal dead with flowers. 
 
 I am glad to be able to record my testimony, gathered 
 from an actual observation in late years, as well as by per- 
 sonal contact, that there is a genuine sincerity and good 
 feeling on the part of Confederate veterans toward the 
 Federals, both dead and living. 
 
 While in Richmond I witnessed the funeral of a promi- 
 nent citizen, who had been an active member of several 
 societies. My attention being attracted by the music, I 
 followed. I always follow a band, just as I did when a 
 boy, and on coming up to this procession, I observed with 
 feelings that I may not describe, but which I should like 
 some of our Northern Gr. A. R. men to have witnessed. 
 The guard of honor on each side of the hearse was com- 
 posed of the blue and the gray. On one side walked men 
 in the blue uniform of the G. A. R., and on the other, the 
 gray of the Confederate Veterans. Put yourselves, in 
 imagination, in my place in that beautiful cemetery on that 
 May morning of 1887, and have your heartstrings touched 
 by the scene, and surroundings and music, till the old frame 
 vibrates under such influences so violently that all old war- 
 prejudice and animosity is forever shaken out of you. 
 
 I am tempted to say that the best part of Richmond is 
 to be found in her beautiful cemeteries.
 
 112 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Hollywood may be briefly described as the most sacred 
 soil in all Virginia. 
 
 No one should go to Richmond without visiting Holly- 
 wood. It may be reached by street-car lines at a cost of 
 10 cents. If time is short, mark off everything else on 
 the list of attractions, but see Hollywood before you die. 
 
 On my visits I spent part of each day out there. Dur- 
 ing the beautiful Virginia autumn weather of October and 
 November, 1862, I believe that I walked out to these beau- 
 tiful grounds every pleasant Sunday afternoon, lounging 
 under the big trees on the hillside overlooking the James 
 river and listening to the roar of the rushing waters over 
 the falls, that I, in boyish dreams believed flowed on towards 
 friends and home, and wishing and longing that like a 
 bubble I might ride on its bosom and it would bear me away 
 safely and surely inside the Union lines. Many prisoners on 
 Belle Isle, nearly opposite, have looked towards these green 
 slopes dotted with the white tombstones, wishing, almost, 
 that they were at rest there instead of enduring a living 
 burial in that prison. 
 
 One might imagine from the numerous great rocks that 
 hold their heads above the spray of the dashing waters, 
 that one could step from stone to stone from Belle Isle 
 to Hollywood shore ; but a wild, tearing, wicked-looking 
 depth of water dashing against and rushing around the huge 
 boulders, and then frothing with anger, apparently, at the 
 impediment, would deter the stoutest heart from an attempt. 
 
 But few of the casual visitors to Hollywood have dis- 
 covered a little fifteen by twenty-foot private lot almost 
 on the edge of the bluff, enclosed by a plain cast-iron fence,
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 113 
 
 on the gate of which is a tablet bearing the name of 
 Jefferson Davis. There is but one little grave inside, a 
 lonely little grave in the center of the lot, in which lie the 
 remains of the infant son of Mr. Davis, who died from the 
 effects of a fall. 
 
 It was during the last year of the war when Grant was 
 battling around the Confederate Capital when the little 
 children were innocently playing around in front of 
 the executive mansion, this little pet baby-boy fell from 
 the steps to the ground, dislocating his neck. It was a 
 sad blow to the parents, made doubly so by the surround- 
 ings and nature of the fatal occurrence. 
 
 The Sunday-school children of Richmond's war days, 
 in their times of poverty, themselves, contributed their 
 mites to purchase this lot, to which, keeping step to the 
 booming of the cannon, in a body they followed the 
 remains of their President's baby. 
 
 This little boy sleeps there yet in his long sleep of inno- 
 cence, the spot having become a shrine for those who were 
 Sunday-school children while we were thundering at their 
 gates ; but never for a Sunday disturbing their regular ser- 
 vices. 
 
 Close by this is the tomb of ex-President Monroe, over 
 which a beautiful piece of iron work has been erected. 
 
 In striking contrast with this, is the simple mound in 
 an uninclosed lot, which is the only mark over the remains 
 of another ex-President Mr. Tyler. It was his request 
 that no stone or mark be placed at his grave. The turf is 
 kept green and the mound tenderly cared for by his Vir- 
 ginia descendants.
 
 114 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 On a knoll is a massive but plain slab to the memory of 
 ex-Governor Henry A. Wise and his family. 
 
 Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill, who was killed just four 
 days before the surrender of Lee, is resting in a pretty 
 spot. No stone has yet been placed to his grave, the only 
 designation being the name, A. P. Hill, without title, 
 cut on the stone steps that lead into the inclosure. 
 
 One of the attractive features of Hollywood as distin- 
 guished from all other cemeteries that I have visited, is in 
 its broken grounds, beautifully diversified by hills and 
 little valleys, through which pretty streams or murmuring 
 brooks "go on forever" singing a sadly quiet lullaby to 
 the sleeper, or the watcher who is only waiting. 
 
 Near one of these little streams is a tall shaft to the 
 memory of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. As an old cavalryman 
 of the Federal army, that was often pushed by him, it was 
 my privilege to stand uncovered by his grave, with a sense 
 of the deepest respect for his memory. 
 
 Commander Maury is near by; so is Chief Justice Mar- 
 shall. Indeed, one wanders through these large grounds, 
 finding on the tombstones name after name that is famil- 
 iar to all readers of American history. 
 
 On the other side, farthest from the river, sleeps an 
 entire army of Confederate soldiers, who were killed in 
 battle or died near here. This Confederate section is the 
 Arlington of Richmond, though not to be compared with 
 the Arlington of Washington in keeping and attention. 
 In place of the head-stones supplied to all Federal dead by 
 the Government, we find here small wooden posts on 
 which are tacked tin tags, bearing, in some cases, the
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH". 115 
 
 names, but in a majority only a number, almost washed 
 out by the storms indicating the last resting-place of 
 thousands whose memories are as dear to the bleeding 
 hearts of Southern mothers as are those to our own 
 hearts that are being more carefully preserved by our 
 Government. 
 
 Will the time ever come when this great Government 
 will provide alike for the dead soldiers of both armies? 
 
 Surely a stone may be given to mark the last resting- 
 place of an enemy, when we give bread to the living Fed- 
 eral pensioner and his dependent family. 
 
 A large pyramid twenty feet square at the base and 
 about eighty feet in height, built of Virginia blocks of 
 granite, is the simple but beautiful monument erected to 
 the Confederate dead. 
 
 Twining about it and clinging lovingly and fondly all 
 over this huge pile of unmortared stone is the beautiful 
 Virginia creeper, so sweetly appropriate and always pretty; 
 its luxuriant and graceful foliage supplemented by the 
 handsome trumpet flower produces an effect that has yet 
 to be equalled by the most skillful sculptor of similar 
 statuary. 
 
 Right by this, and in the same grave with those of his 
 command who died on the field and were brought back 
 from Gettysburg, rests the body of General George E. 
 Pickett. It was his request that he be buried here with 
 his comrades, though the location is not so desirable as 
 others. A suitable monument may in time be erected here. 
 
 It is not my purpose to dwell on the fact that the 
 Southern people, though they went from war to devastated
 
 116 OK THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 homes and have had to labor and toil in the face of opposi- 
 tion of divers kinds, have, notwithstanding their poverty 
 and hardship, bravely succeeded in rebuilding their homes 
 and country without government aid; and, though poor, 
 yet, as compared with the more prosperous North, they 
 have erected to the memory of their General Lee a 
 magnificent monument, while General Grant's body lies 
 almost neglected in the city where his successes in war 
 made the people roll in luxury and prosperity rich even 
 to surfeit, in everything but gratitude. 
 
 We might linger in Eichmond for days and weeks. 
 
 Trains leave for Fredericksburg at 6 p. M., affording a 
 rest and delightful ride of sixty miles in the pleasant even- 
 ing through the well-known cavalry fields of Hanover, 
 Guinness Station, Bowling Green and Ashland ; but like 
 the cavalry, we will dash through these places quickly with 
 the train and make our next stop at Fredericksburg.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ^REDERICKSBURG what a cloud of war mem 
 ories hangs over this old town ! The mere men- 
 tion of the name' awakens the veteran's slumber- 
 ing interests ; like the pass- word, it clears the way, and 
 raises the flood-gate through which rushes down upon us 
 such a stream of reminiscences, that we are almost over- 
 whelmed, and in despair of being able to record them lay 
 down the pen, tempted to get into the swim and float 
 down, like the other chips, through the whirlpools of time 
 into the broad ocean of oblivion. 
 
 As long as life lasts there will never be effaced from 
 the tablets of my heart and mind a single event connected 
 with Fredericksburg during the war. To a majority of 
 old soldiers of both armies this chapter, dated at Freder- 
 icksburg, may be like a letter from home, written by one 
 of the " boys." I have estimated that every soldier of the 
 Army of the Potomac, as well as that of Lee's Confederate 
 Army of Northern Virginia, has at one time or other, been 
 at Fredericksburg. 
 
 We were not here for three days only, as at Gettysburg, 
 which has become the Mecca of American valor to which 
 tourists throng daily, and neglect this more interesting 
 field. We all lived here for a couple of years, every day of 
 which was as a year of an ordinary lifetime. It was, 
 indeed, an eventful period in the lives of all. Who will 
 forget the first pleasant occupation of the country by 
 
 117
 
 118 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 McDowell in the summer of 1862, the cavalry raids of 
 Dahlgren, the return of Burnside in November, 1862, the 
 shelling of the town on December llth, the terrible battle 
 on the 13th of December, our sad Christmas on the Rap- 
 pahannock? How we all lived over the river on those 
 Stafford Heights during the whole of that dreadful 
 winter of 1862-63 the severe cavalry picket duty on the 
 flanks, the mud march and its disappointments, then the 
 Chancellorsville campaign during the leafy month of May, 
 after which we moved off to Gettysburg. 
 
 General Grant again conducted the Army of the Potomac 
 back to almost within gunshot at Spottsylvania, the Wilder- 
 ness and Mine Run, so close that the wounded were 
 brought to town. The ambulance procession is said to 
 have been fifteen miles in length, reaching to Belle Plain. 
 I mention all this in support of my statement that, at one 
 time or another, all of both armies were here. The float- 
 ing population, aggregated nearly half a million souls, 
 and perhaps all of the survivors and their families and 
 their friends may become members of our club and make 
 this visit with us. 
 
 The most disastrous battles of the war, perhaps, that 
 the world ever saw, were fought here, and here repose the 
 remains of 20,000 soldiers who died at the front, a major- 
 ity of whom were slain in the battle, and are buried on the 
 field, yet this Fredericksburg, a beautiful old town so rich 
 in historical memories, and but an hour and a half from 
 Washington City, is almost forgotten by the country, by 
 the tourists who flock to Gettysburg, and Memorial day 
 here is remembered only by a few Confederates of M. F.
 
 ON THE \VAK-PATH. 119 
 
 Maury's camp who have quietly strewn the graves of Fed- 
 eral and Confederate alike with the flowers contributed by 
 the ladies of the town. 
 
 Some statements made herein will, no doubt, be dis- 
 puted and that I may be fortified, have collected some 
 figures, that I record herewith, to establish the position 
 that within sound of cannon in Spottsylvania county, the 
 greatest battles were not only fought, but the casualties 
 aggregated more than in all the rest of the war. The 
 greatest heroism of the Anglo-Saxon was on these fields 
 displayed. Probably there is not another ten miles square 
 on the entire surface of the earth so replete with history 
 ancient, colonial, revolutionary as well as rebellion history 
 as this. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 Frederickaburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
 
 Federal killed, 1180 wounded, 9028 missing. 214512353 
 Confed. " 579 3870 127 4576 16,929 
 
 Chancellor sville, May 1863. 
 
 Federal killed, 1512 wounded 9518 missing. 500016030 
 Confed. " 1581 8700 " 290014181 30,211 
 
 Wilderness, May 7, 1864. 
 
 Federal killed, 5597 wounded, 21463 missing, 1067737737 
 Confed. " 2000 " 6000 " 34001140049,137 
 
 Bloody Angle, Miy S to ?l, IS^. Spottsylvania O. FT. and 
 
 Minor Engagements. 
 
 Federal killed, 41 77 wounded, 19687 missing, 257726441 
 Confed. " 1000 " 5000 " 3000 900035,441 
 
 This is not all ; but these four battles, make a grand total of 131,718 
 divided as follows : Federal, 92,561; Confederate, 39,157. 
 
 Of this number there are interred in the Federal cem- 
 etery on Marye's Heights 15,273; of the dead who died at the 
 front and are buried on the field, 12,243 sleep in un- 
 known graves. Every State, every regiment, and God only
 
 120 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 knows how many families, may be mourning a son, a hus- 
 band or a father, who sleeps here, among the " unknown " 
 and who are practically forgotten. Shamefully neglected 
 by the G. A. R., orators, poets, or the multitude who assem- 
 ble at Arlington every year. 
 
 There is very much of interest about Fredericksburg, 
 besides its war history. Only a little ways over on the penin- 
 sula, lying between the Bappahannock and the Potomac 
 rivers, known as the northern neck of Virginia, in 
 " Wes'molan," as they abbreviate Westmoreland county, 
 George Washington was born, and they tell me the stump of 
 the cherry tree George haggled is pointed out to those who 
 visit the old homestead. I have seen a rusted bit of iron that 
 a Virginia Yankee tried to make me believe was the genu- 
 ine hatchet used by George, while other enterprising coun- 
 trymen offered a cane cut from the tree. 
 
 Not many of the boys who lived in the dug-outs of win- 
 ter quarters on Stafford Heights, below or nearly opposite 
 Fredericksburg, knew that the Army of the Potomac was 
 then encamped on and that they were burning the fence- 
 rails from the original farm of Mrs. Washington, the 
 mother of him who was first in war. 
 
 At the point where the center pontoon was laid by 
 Burnside, just below the old mill leading to the rocky 
 road, marks also the spot where the youthful George beat 
 the record and astonished the other boys by his ability to 
 throw a stone clear across the river. 
 
 I have a good photograph of this pontoon landing, 
 showing the old mill, the wheels of whieh still go 'round 
 and 'round, and the mill-race, through which I proposed 
 laying my sub-marine cable, runs on forever.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 1 
 
 No soldier who crossed this pontoon can forget it, and 
 they will recognize the old mill that yet stands by the 
 destroyed railroad bridge. The rocky road, or lovers'lane, 
 leading up to the main street over which so many bleached 
 and trembling souls trod that day, looks precisely as of old. 
 
 Mrs. Washington lived on one of the hill streets of the 
 town. The house is still standing in a fair state of pres- 
 ervation nearly as she left it. The visitor will be cheer- 
 fully shown through the rooms in which she lived and 
 where she died, by Miss Moon, the pleasant as well as cul- 
 tivated and pretty daughter of the present owners. 
 
 It will be remembered that Washington, while en route 
 to the capital to be inaugurated President, visited his 
 mother at her home here. The garden in which she is 
 described as meeting him so indifferently scarce stopping 
 her planting of onions to greet her distinguished son is, 
 at the present time, still growing onions and " garden 
 sass." La Fayette, as well as many other distinguished 
 people, visited Mrs. Washington during her life-time. 
 
 Mrs. Washington is buried on the outskirts of the town. 
 The old soldiers will all recall the unfinished monument. 
 It stands yet, precisely as it did during the war a crumbling 
 shaft that has marked, for years, a nation's neglect of the 
 grave of the mother of the father of his country. 
 
 There is a prospect that through the recent agitation 
 of this shameful neglect, the women of the entire land 
 may unite in the movement inaugurated by the ladies of 
 Fredericksburg to redeem not only the grave, but, perhaps, 
 the home of Mrs. Washington, as they did Mount Vernon, 
 the tomb and home of the son.
 
 122 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 I always spend an evening out there; it's a pleasant 
 walk to a pleasant spot, and I love to sit on the same ledge 
 of rocks, under the big trees, where I spent so many happy 
 hours with Geno. 
 
 The love story is coming, boys and girls, but we will 
 not tell it at this tomb. 
 
 Near the tomb is a venerable old square brick building, 
 known as " Kenmore," built nearly 150 years ago for 
 Betty, the sister of Washington, then the bride of Colonel 
 Fielding Lewis. This time-honored house is now the 
 property of W. Key Howard, Esq., a courteous gentleman 
 who will conduct us through the house, explaining its 
 interesting history and describing its beautiful ceiling dec- 
 orations. 
 
 One medallion in plaster, over a mantle, was designed 
 by Washington, and it evidences fine artistic ability. The 
 lover of the antique may find, in this old burg, some rich 
 specimens of the curious and unique, in both design and 
 execution, that may not be equalled by the modern imita- 
 tor. There are huge, if not massive, hinges and locks on 
 the old oaken doors of many houses here that would delight 
 the connoisseur. Door-knockers, with hangers over a foot 
 long, are quite common. The study in old roofs and cor- 
 ners, or gables, would interest the architects who build the 
 modern Queen-Anne houses. Here are some original spec- 
 imens of genuine Queen- Anne architecture. 
 
 There is an absence of sameness in those old homes, both 
 in exterior and in their inner parts, that is quite a relief 
 to those who have had the modern style thrust upon them 
 on all sides. The builders of these old colonial homes did
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 123 
 
 t 
 
 not have the advantage of the monthly publication on 
 interior decoration and artistic furnishings. Being left to 
 their own ingenuity, and the resources of a blacksmith or 
 a carpenter shop, they were obliged to work out their own 
 ideas, and they have certainly produced some beautiful 
 original specimens of their handiwork. 
 
 " Kenmore " suffered somewhat from the shelling by 
 Burnside's artillery, there being the scars of five solid shot 
 on the wall facing the Federal army. 
 
 The main street of the town is below or under the hill, 
 running parallel with the river. At the upper end of this 
 street, and almost opposite to the Lacey House, is a story- 
 and-a-half log building, sheathed with weather boarding, 
 some ancient-looking dormer windows breaking through a 
 good big roof surface, which is known to the older resi- 
 dents as the Kising Sun Inn, or tavern. Here Washing- 
 ton, Aaron Burr and the early Virginia gentlemen were 
 accustomed to gather to play poker. 
 
 Washington was a very methodical man, and kept a 
 record of everything, even to his losses in card playing. 
 One of his private entries reads: " Played cards at Fred- 
 ericksburg and lost, as I always do at that place/' 
 
 The Masonic fraternity cherish the old building here 
 as the early home of their lodge. It was in this town that 
 Washington was made a Mason. It was my privilege to 
 have examined the record giving the date and entry, and 
 also to have kissed the Bible upon which he was obligated. 
 Masonic visitors will be courteously shown through the 
 lodge room by their brethren, of whom there are a num- 
 ber. The furniture is hand-made, being brought from
 
 124 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Scotland before the Revolutionary period. Col. Rufus B. 
 Merchant, a gallant Confederate scout who is now propri- 
 etor and editor of the Star, of Fredericksburg, is, with 
 his Masonic brethren, very much interested in the build- 
 ing of a memorial temple in commemoration of this event 
 in Masonic history. 
 
 St. George's Church, the steeple of which our artil- 
 lerymen used as a target when the Confederate signal 
 officers were inside, looks as natural as ever, except that 
 the three great holes we put through it have been patched 
 over. In the almost heavy stillness of the nights, in 
 these years of peace, when I hear the familiar old bell 
 strike the hour, I think of the nights in years gone by 
 when it tolled, in the same way, the hours to hundreds of 
 thousands of sleeping soldiers, bivouacing on their arms 
 within sound of its tones; and, looking now at the electric 
 lights reflected upon its white surface, its tall spire point- 
 ing to the sky, it seems like a spectral reminder of the 
 sure passing of time. 
 
 A few days since some workmen, in excavating for a 
 foundation, threw up a twelve-pound solid shot that had 
 buried itself three feet below the surface. 
 
 Relics are quite plentiful and genuine here. Perhaps 
 the largest and most interesting collection of war relics to 
 be found anywhere in the country may be seen here in the 
 Museum of the Exchange Hotel. A courteous young gen- 
 tleman, Mr. W. A. Hill, is the proprietor and owner. 
 The tourist and visitor is referred to my friend Mr. Hill 
 as being a most competent guide, as well as an agreeable 
 young man, whom everybody is glad to have met.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 125 
 
 The visitor to Fredericksburg will find listed among the 
 many points of interest, in addition to the battle-fields, 
 some of the residences of distinguished people, among 
 these, modestly claiming a share of attention, is "The 
 Wells House," the home of "Geno/'the war heroine of 
 the " Boy Spy " narrative. 
 
 Mr. Hill was induced to place this on his published 
 list of attractions because of the number of tourists who 
 stopped off to visit the battle-fields and Mrs. Washington's 
 home and grave inquired of him "if any one by the 
 name of Wells lived here?" The object no doubt 
 being to gratify curiosity as to the truthfulness of this 
 .love and war story. Not being familiar with it, himself, he 
 made some inquiries of the older citizens in regard to the 
 Wells family; Mayor Slaughter observing " Oh yes, I knew 
 them very well they were very sweet girls;" a number of 
 others also knowing them; the interesting family of my 
 friend Colonel Merchant lived neighboring them during 
 the war. 
 
 I can only say, briefly, to those who have not been 
 interested in the fortunes of the Boy and his war girl, that 
 she was in the hands of the Eebels in the town, while he 
 was out. in the cold on the other side of the river and could 
 only see the roof of the house in which he could imagine 
 they were all having a good time with the Rebel officers. 
 
 I arn conducting the club around to the Wells House 
 we will stand together upon the same old porch from 
 which I was so cruelly taken in the summer of 1862, to 
 Old Capitol prison, this by special orders of the Secretary 
 of War, E. M. Stanton; and I insist, for no other offense
 
 126 ON THE WAIM'ATlf. 
 
 than that of having fallen in love with this pretty little 
 black-eyed girl. I couldn't help it. She was sixteen and 
 I was twenty; moreover, she was a beautiful girl and wore 
 short skirts, low-necked dresses and in her well-formed 
 bare arms, gracefully held a guitar while she skilfully 
 played the accompaniment and sweetly sang that old 
 Spanish serenade Juanita or Wanita. 
 
 I invariably ask every pretty girl with whom I become 
 acquainted to sing Juanita. 
 
 Though over a quarter of a century has elapsed, I 
 recall every incident as freshly as if it had occurred last 
 week. 
 
 The scene on this little porch where I, in the custody of 
 a staff officer, bade Mrs. "Wells and Sue good-bye, while 
 Geno, -trembling with suppressed emotion, timid and blush- 
 ing, almost afraid to trust herself to say farewell in the 
 presence of the group, stood by the door. When I turned 
 to her as the last to whom I should give a parting word, 
 the dear little girl broke down completely, covered her 
 face with her handkerchief to hide her tears and embarrass- 
 ment. 
 
 I took the handkerchief from her face and put it in my 
 pocket and it is in my possession yet boldly kissed 
 her and said, tremblingly, sincerely and earnestly, "As 
 sure as I live, I will come again Geno." It was the turn- 
 ing point in my life as well as that of Geno's and some 
 others, every one of whose stories from that date would 
 make interesting romances in real life. Their terrible 
 experiences during the shelling Miss Sue's flirtations with 
 the Confederate officers, Miss Mamie running the block-
 
 ON THE WAR-PAtH. 12? 
 
 ades to visit her father then a prisoner at Ft. McHenry, 
 Baltimore, the attempts of a handsome staff officer of 
 General Barksdale's Mississippi brigade to capture the 
 affections of Geno, the family's subsequent sufferings and 
 privations, will indeed make a romance in real life that is 
 truly stranger than, fiction. 
 
 As I have said, I shall never be able to do the subject 
 justice until I write a book about it and its name will be 
 "Geno." 
 
 In looking up the whereabouts of some of the Confed- 
 erate officers who were courting my girl in my absence, 
 taking an unfair advantage of their military possession, I 
 learned that Mr. Justice Lamar, being a Mississippi Con- 
 federate, would be able to give me the desired information. 
 I wrote him a brief note explaining my wishes and ob- 
 served that I knew a gentleman of his standing had not 
 much time or inclination to bother with love stories, to 
 which he replied, in his courteous and kindly manner: 
 
 "It does not bother me to hear about a love story of the 
 war, provided the denouement is a happy one. I find 
 myself reading them whenever I have an opportunity or 
 the labors and requirements of my duties will permit, and 
 I fear that I sometimes play truant for this purpose. I am 
 very much interested in s Geno ' already," and he told me 
 where I could catch the fellow in Mississippi that made 
 love to Geno. 
 
 I have made a good photograph of the house, copies of 
 which I should be glad to supply to any one who may 
 desire them The porch is precisely as it was twenty- 
 seven years ago. On these steps were spent some of the
 
 128 ON THE WAR- PATH. 
 
 happiest hours of my life , and, by the way, some other fel- 
 lows, North and South, will say the same thing, and be able 
 to recognize the familiar, hospitable and once happy home 
 of the truly happy Wells family. 
 
 The attic dormer window is shown, from which I pro- 
 posed to conceal myself, under Geno's ^protection, and by 
 the use of the telegraph code, as applied visually, to signal 
 over the river into the windows of the Lacey house, which 
 is just diagonally opposite, where was located a signal 
 officer with a glass cautiously bearing on me. 
 
 For my own gratification and to convince any skeptical 
 parties that the plan was entirely feasible, we might open 
 up- a circuit, going myself to the Lacey house, while a eig- 
 nalist companion remains on this side to whom I could 
 communicate by the wig-wag system using simply a wand, 
 a handkerchief or a fan, as fast as I can write this out, in 
 such a way that the casual observer would not suspect that 
 a system of scientific signalling was being conducted before 
 their eyes. 
 
 Therefore it is not only possible but practicable to 
 signal from inside an enemy's lines to your own lines 
 without detection as I have asserted. 
 
 As they say in Virginia, I am " tolerably" familiar 
 with Fredericksburg, and "tbarfor" able to "carry you 
 all around" and point out the many places of historic 
 interest. I frequently run down "hyar"from Washing- 
 ton with parties of old friends who press me in as a guide 
 to steer them around; besides this good excuse, I love to 
 spend an occasional Sunday on my own account walking 
 around its romantic and historic plains, in the agreeable
 
 OX THE AVAR-PATH. 129 
 
 company of some pretty little girls, that were born and 
 raised here since the war. 
 
 There seems to be a singular attraction still lingering 
 about the old Wells house and vicinity aside from its 
 delightful associations. 
 
 There are three pretty young ladies living with their 
 parents in the house, not only pretty but accomplished 
 and agreeable. The visitor who may be curious about the 
 truthfulness of its history will be politely received and 
 entertained by them. He will be shown the scars of 
 the great battle, left in its walls. During the terrific 
 shelling of the town by Burnside, while the Wells family 
 lived there and took hasty refuge in the cellar, three 
 cannon balls passed through the house, and one twelve- 
 pound shot lodged inside. This identical twelve-pounder 
 may be seen at the museum. 
 
 The sofa on which I had so often sat alongside of 
 Geno, while she charmed me with the guitar, and "them" 
 eyes, was knocked all to pieces by a shell that tore through 
 the parlor. 
 
 Unfortunately the handsome Rebel officer \vas not at 
 that moment sitting there. The battery that fired it was 
 commanded by a Captain Kirby, no relative or friend of 
 mine, however. One of the ladies who is a phenomenal 
 player on the piano and the organist in the church of the 
 town, is always pleased to gratify the visitor by playing or 
 accompanying her younger sisters, who sing charmingly 
 the old songs we used to sing in that parlor long, long years 
 ago. Not only " Juanita," but other old favorites: " My 
 lost Evangeline," "In the Gloaming," "Ever of Thqe,"
 
 130 ON* THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 " Her Bright smile haunts me still," "Annie Laurie,'' ami 
 " Tired, oh yes, so tired, dear," or "Abide With Me/' I 
 am very fond of music, and to my old-fashioned taste the 
 new is not so sweet as the old, especially when heard in 
 this Wells house. 
 
 There are a number of pretty little female Rebels in 
 Fredericksburg, which is famous for the beauty of its 
 women and the hospitality of its men, and it preserves, to a 
 remarkable degree, its distinctive old-time traditions. 
 
 I love to listen to the mild voices and sweet accent 
 of the Southern ladies even if they have sometimes a 
 mighty decidedly Southern inflection. 
 
 I have visited Fredericksburg so often in recent years 
 that I've become a rather familiar figure on the streets, 
 being always pleasantly greeted as "the Majah." 
 
 A sweet little girl of thirteen or fourteen years, who 
 had been charmingly entertaining me with her music in 
 her home parlor one evening, was asked the name of the 
 piece she had been playing. Replying in her fast talking 
 way, and in accents sweet and mild, it sounded tome like 
 one word: " Dawncingonthbawnflo." I laughed, and 
 attempted to tease her by commenting on the big name for 
 so pretty a piece of music, when she swung herself around 
 on the piano stool, her black eyes flashing at me, as she 
 stammered out of her puckered lips, to my companion, 
 more deliberately, " The Majah thinks he knows so moch!" 
 Ever since, when my friend feels inclined to differ from 
 me on any subject, he repeats the expression with such 
 effective accentuation that it has become quite familiar 
 among our acquaintances.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATS. 131 
 
 But we shall have to tear ourselves away from the 
 attractions of the town, and carry our war club to*fche 
 battle-fields on the outskirts. 
 
 As the " Majah don't know so moch" about the battle 
 of Franklin, on the left, we will take along with us, as a 
 guide, a courteous Confederate, who was, during the bat- 
 tle, a soldier of Stonewall Jackson's line, and can tell, from 
 his point of view, something new on this old story. I sug- 
 gest that any visitor to the town, who may need a guide, 
 will confer with this gentleman, Capt. Lai Taliaferro, late 
 of the 47th Virginia Infantry, now Post-master for the 
 Republican administration ; or his brother, Captain John. 
 The family is well known in the State, having resided in 
 the vicinity almost from time immemorial, and the state- 
 ment of either of these gentlemen may be relied upon. A 
 rig may be had from Col. Tom Ilhyden or Mr. Wheeler, 
 for probably one-half that charged for livery at Washington 
 or Gettysburg. 
 
 It is some three or four miles to our left, or to the 
 Bernard House or Franklin headquarters where the lower 
 pontoons were laid. Driving down the river road, we cross 
 Hazel Run, well described in official reports of the day. 
 The residence of Mr. Slaughter, on Hazel Hill, known as 
 the Slaughter House, was occupied as the headquarters of 
 Getty and Hawkins. 
 
 At this lower field, on the left of our lines, the range of 
 hills on which were entrenched the Confederate forces of 
 Stonewall Jackson, are some distance further back from 
 the river than are the same hills nearest the town. 
 
 This is not intended to be a description of the battle
 
 132 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 at all. Let it be simply understood that a broad, level 
 plain, used as extensive fields or meadows of the farm, 
 say nearly a mile in width, lay between the river and the 
 range of hills. Over this open plain, the troops of Frank- 
 lin, with a river in their rear, had to advance, under fire, 
 without any of that protection afforded the right wing in 
 their advance by the shelter of the houses of the town. 
 There was not only a direct artillery fire from batteries 
 occupying the hills in their front, but the advancing Fed- 
 erals were enfiladed by Pelham's Confederate artillery 
 located on the plain some distance below. 
 
 Running through a little break in the range of hills is 
 a small swampy stream that had cut for itself, in the year 
 of peace and plenty, a little ravine or gully, leading down 
 through the open fields^to the river. Along this little 
 swampy depression in the broad level a few trees and some 
 undergrowth had been permitted to grow. 
 
 This scene is in the depth of winter: There are no leaves 
 on the trees, or brush to aid in covering that noble divis- 
 ion of Pennsylvania reserve troops commanded by Meade, 
 that advanced, almost alone, despite the artillery fire, over 
 this frozen ground, not only to the base of the hills on 
 which were Jackson's troops, lut they went on through the 
 break in the hills. 
 
 They drove before them the enemy and in their advance 
 passed their two lines of stacked muskets. The story is 
 soon told. This division not only broke the " Stonewall," 
 but they advanced six hundred yards beyond it. 
 
 Why didn't they stay? Ah, yes, echo answers, why? 
 It is not the purpose of this club to attempt to discuss this
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 133 
 
 question. Gen. "W. B. Franklin, one of Gen. McClellan's 
 trusted lieutenants, was in supreme command of the 
 left. He has furnished an official report to the Govern- 
 ment of his reason for not supporting their advance, and 
 has given the public, through the Century Magazine, a 
 further explanation of this failure. Those of us who were 
 not of the military rings are apt to wonder why this twin 
 lieutenant of McClellan's was not dealt with as was Fitz- 
 John Porter, who was, perhaps, able to give just as good 
 reasons for his failure to support at Second Bull Run. 
 
 That a general movement in support would have been 
 successful is conceded by the Confederates. If this had 
 been accomplished, Lee would have been turned out of his 
 strong position at Marye's Heights, and that terrible 
 slaughter then have been avoided. But this is not an 
 attempt at a military criticism. I offer the testimony 
 simply of reliable Confederates, that each may form his 
 own conclusions. 
 
 "When you all advanced thar" says Capt. Taliferro 
 " I declaw, Majah, I never saw anything so beautiful in 
 all my life. General Jackson wanted a gun located on 
 that little knoll down thar on the lower side of the rail- 
 road just whar that little cut is wall, sah, I was sent out 
 thar to support it, and I pledge you my word and honor I 
 never was so glad to get a relief from any place in all the 
 wah as I was to get out of that. My regiment was on the 
 hill supporting the artillery, and when you all advanced 
 up that ravine we never thought you all would keep 
 going ahead through that swampy place, but they did go 
 on sure enough, and every man was taken aiuay from the
 
 134 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 support of the guns in front to y<> lack tliar to drive you out. 
 Why, I heard one of your officers say, ' Give 'em hell, boys, 
 we've got them on the run give 'em hell.' If you all had 
 come up to support, you would have found nothing but 
 the artillery in your front. Yes sir, it's a truth that our 
 men in your front, on both sides, were turned back, as it 
 were, in a sort of V shape, and in that way we drove you 
 all out. I was right hyar when you all came back over 
 the railroad, and I never shall forget an officer on a white 
 hoss, I think he wore a black beard, who rode right along 
 here, saying, ' Rally men, rally right here ' He road up 
 and down two or three times saying that. It was a brave 
 man who ever he was, and when a gun was pointed at him, 
 some one of our men sang out, 'don't, don't shoot that 
 man ' but it was too late, a volley was fired and his horse 
 plunged, throwing him over. I did'nt know 'till after the 
 battle that the officer had been shot. When you all went 
 back we found him." 
 
 Who was that officer, is a question for the club. My 
 belief is that it was Colonel Feger Jackson of the Ninth 
 Pennsylvania Reserves. Can any one of the veteran club- 
 bers give any further information ? 
 
 In talking on this subject with Rev. Dr. James Power 
 Smith, the popular minister of the Presbyterian church at 
 Fredericksburg, who served as an aid on Stonewall Jack- 
 son's staff in this battle, he unhesitatingly stated, "Oh, 
 yes ; that came very near being successful too." 
 
 Conducting me in the most courteous way into the cosy 
 study of his elegant litle stone chapel or annex, he made a 
 diagram showing the Confederate positions.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 135 
 
 " There were three lines. Ewell was on the front, Early 
 next, and I've forgotten who the reserve were. Your forces 
 got through two of these lines, as the swampy point was not 
 sufficiently protected, because it was not thought possible 
 for a successful advance to be made there." 
 
 I -had heard that Gen. Jackson was at that time absent 
 from the field in conference with Gen. Lee, but Dr. Smith 
 was of the opinion that Jackson was present during the 
 engagement, as he had been sent out by him, and his horse 
 being shot, he delayed while getting a remount from the 
 artillery, and recalled, making this explanation to his 
 General- 
 
 "The General," said Dr. Smith, "was very exacting, 
 and required from all his subordinates, as zealous and faith- 
 ful service as he was willing to give himself. I had been 
 going all day and was anxious to get some rest, but the 
 general ordered me to report to him, and directed that I 
 should convey his instructions to supply ammunition, and 
 orders to relieve or change the line before the moon rose 
 at 2 o'clock. You see," said the doctor, with a laugh, 
 "Jackson consulted the almanac in his military move- 
 ments. 
 
 "After the battle, when your men came over to bury 
 the dead, Gen. Gordon got on a stump here to make a 
 speech of caution to those of our men who were to assist 
 in this work, telling them not to do any talking at all, lest 
 something might be brought out that would react on us. 
 
 " I was amused at a big Alabamian singing out from the 
 ranks, 'Well, Gin'ral, can't Ave tell them we whooped 'em 
 yisterday?'
 
 13G OX 'HIE WAR-PATH. 
 
 'Before the laugh had died off entirely, another fellow 
 blurted out, ' Can't we tell 'em, Gin'ral, that we can do it 
 agin?' 
 
 " I was present when your burial detail came on the 
 ground, though General Jackson had not instructed me to 
 do so, I knew he was anxious to hear or know something 
 of his brother-in-law, Dr. Junkin, who was serving as a 
 staff officer on your side, and 1 hoped to find him. 
 
 " It was while waiting for this opportunity that one of 
 your staff officers, a handsome young fellow, elegantly 
 dressed, and wearing a pair of fine top boots, rode up to one 
 of our men who had picked up a gun from the field,' and 
 ordered him to throw it down observing to me: 
 
 " 'This is debatable ground, sir, and your men have no 
 right to take those arms away.' 
 
 " The Confederate in the mean while eyeing him all over, 
 resting his admiring, if envious, gaze on the fine boots, 
 exclaimed before I could interfere: 
 
 "' Say, Mister, I'm going to kill you to-rnorrow when 
 you come over to- fight, and get them thar boots.' 
 
 "General Jackson was one of the strictest of discipli- 
 narians in our army, and held every one to a strict accounta- 
 bility, without regard to his rank. General Maxey Gregg, 
 an old man and an officer of distinction, had in some way 
 come under General Jackson's rod, and did not suffer in 
 silence but had protested earnestly to General Lee. 
 
 " The night of the battle, Jackson was told that General 
 Gregg was dying. He mounted his horse and rode some 
 distance to the rear to where he was lying. 
 
 " The dying officer was overcome at the sight of Jack-
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 137 
 
 son, and began at once to offer some explanations, when 
 Jackson interrupted him to say: 'Never mind, never 
 mind; I am told, General, that you have but a short time to 
 live, and I would rather you would give your attention to 
 other matters. May I not pray with you ?' and he knelt 
 beside him, and while he offered this benediction: 'Oh 
 God, our Merciful Father, receive into thy hands, this 
 departing soul/ the General's life ebbed out. 
 
 " There was of course some friction occasionally between 
 our officers. EwelL who held the front of our line, com- 
 manded what was known and what he was rather proud to 
 have known as the 'Light Brigade/ In conveying Jackson's 
 instructions to old General Jubal Early, it was necessary 
 to mention that Swell's Light Brigade would be in .his 
 front, when old Early turned upon me with an oath and 
 said, ' Tell General Jackson that celebrated "Light Bri- 
 gade " was too damned light to keep the Yankees from get- 
 ting in on me, and if he will take his "Light Brigade" out 
 of my way, I will agree to hold this line myself.'"
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 JIE old veteran of the old Army of the Potomac 
 does not require the services of a guide on these 
 fields. I mean by the old army veterans those who 
 followed its earlier leaders: McDowell on the plains of Man- 
 assas, McGlellan on the Peninsula and at Antietam after 
 the Second Bull Run, Burnsideat Fredericksburg, Hooker 
 at Chancellors ville and Meade at Gettysburg. That was 
 an army of American gentlemen, who, without thought 
 of mercenary reward, responded to the first call of Lincoln 
 and gallantly marched to the front, and whose inborn 
 loyalty and patriotism kept them faithfully in the front 
 ranks during all of the dark days in the early years of the 
 war: when the hard knocks of the chivalry and best blood 
 of the South were directed at and received by their bared 
 breasts. We were often whipped, to put it in plain 
 English; that is, our Generals were defeated in four-fifths 
 of the engagements; yet the gallant boys of that old army 
 got upon their feet after every knock-down and uncom- 
 plainingly wiped -the blood from their faces. Every man 
 squared himself for another bout with his adversary. I 
 love the old Army of the Potomac that dear old Army of 
 the Potomac noble, patient and long-suffering old Army 
 of the Potomac its greatest battles were fought before 
 Gen. Grant came out from the West to load its recruited 
 forces to the Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Appomat- 
 tox. Not one of the old boys who survives will ever 
 
 138
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 139 
 
 forget the frugal Thanksgiving dinner of hard-tack and 
 coffee on those dreary plains, nor the sad Christmas on 
 the Rappahannock sad not only to them, but to the 
 thousands of homes throughout the country that were 
 placed in mourning, and hearts of mothers made to bleed 
 by the losses sustained here, December 13th. 
 
 It is interesting to note the different phases in veteran 
 human nature that are exhibited by those who revisit these 
 fields. They come from all sections, but most numerously 
 from New England and the Middle States, which were 
 principally the homes of the Army of the Potomac, fre- 
 quently in large excursion parties, their wives and families 
 or friends accompanying them. Sometimes G. A. R. delega- 
 tions, wearing the old blue uniform, the ladies and children 
 decorated with the badges, headed by a band, will stir the 
 colored inhabitants by a parade from the depot along the 
 streets of the sleepy old town. Those who have come in 
 contact with these visitors as guides or drivers of convey- 
 ances, say they can always tell a genuine veteran. An old 
 colored driver put it this way: 
 
 "Yaas, sah, dem real Yankees what war here in de 
 wah don't want no guide buzzing in dar ears. Dey done 
 tole me to talk to my hosses mor'n onct; and one old man 
 said he'd give me a dollar extra if I'd button up my lips; 
 so I jis keep my mouf shut and open my years, and I hear 
 from them talkin' mongst demselves all bout de wah, dat 
 I can tell to others dat doant know nuffin bout it." 
 
 The gentlemen at the hotel say those whose names to 
 their register are familiar are usually the least ostentatious 
 guests.
 
 140 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 On the other hand, numerous Q\<\-looking men, wearing 
 the uniform and budge of the G. A. R., are as aggressive 
 and ready to fight their battles over again; in their casual 
 intercourse with the ex-Confederates who may meet them, 
 they insist upon injecting their political sentiments, mixed 
 with war opinions. 
 
 If this class are sometimes cornered as to their service, 
 it usually proves to have been during the last year of the 
 war as a reserve or home guard; and if the regiment is 
 asked, probably the answer may be as uncertain as that of 
 the Irish recruit, who belonged to the " bloody 99th Ire- 
 land, be jabers." 
 
 The old veteran who goes off alone, or accompanied, 
 perhaps, by one or two old comrades, makes a bee-line for 
 his old camp on Stafford Heights; but the chances are that 
 he can not find the location. But few can realize what 
 changes may be wrought in the surface or surroundings of 
 a once-familiar spot by the growth of twenty-five years. 
 The obliteration 'of the numerous military roads and fenc- 
 ing-in of the country entirely alters the topography of the 
 old camp. 
 
 The old fellows go about in a dazed manner, as if they 
 had lost something they were trying to find. 
 
 They are all sure, however, of the railroad tracks and 
 embankments, the ruins of the Phillips House and the 
 Lacey House. The church steeples of the town, the old 
 mill and the contour of the hills back of the town, once 
 burned into their minds and hearts by a brand of fire and 
 iron, as Marye's Heights, is sadly familiar. The old boys 
 gaze long at this scene; perhaps their visions are not now
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 141 
 
 so clear as when they were younger, and maybe their sight 
 is dimmed by a tear-drop, as with a sigh they walk medita- 
 tively to the upper pontoon anchorage at the Lacey House. 
 
 No one ever forgets a pontoon bridge.' 
 
 To how many thousands of brave hearts does it remain 
 in memory as a bridge of sighs, a home on one side, and a 
 prison or death on the other. Truly, it was the crossing 
 of the river of death to the many who never returned, and, 
 I may add, even a river of oblivion. 
 
 Fredericksburg is, I believe, the only place in which 
 pontoons were extensively used during the war. I do not 
 recall any other place where the armies were obliged to 
 cross a navigable river under heavy fire to fight an enemy 
 entrenched on the opposite shore, as was the case here. 
 
 I am not attempting a description of this battle only 
 trying to tell what I saw. I may be permitted to record my 
 opinion, therefore, based from actual observation, that 
 more heroic service tvas never exhibited any where ih&n that 
 of the launching and building of these pontoons by the 
 brave men of the regular and volunteer engineer corps of 
 the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 I often wonder why some of the accomplished engineer 
 officers do not, in these days of prolific war literature, put 
 in form the heroic work of their corps at this place. 
 
 When it is remembered that the heavy lumbering boats 
 were hauled to the water's edge, launched and anchored by 
 men working en masse, without arms, all the time exposed 
 to a deadly fire of the enemy's sharpshooters on the 
 opposite shore of a narrow river, wonder grows to amaze- 
 ment that anything at all could be accomplished.
 
 142 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Yet these noble boys of the neglected engineers kept to 
 their work bravely, the deadly fire from the Rebels not 
 being at all silenced by the terrific shelling of the town. 
 
 Right here I will record another remarkable fact: 
 Fredericksburg was the only town of importance bombarded 
 at close range. Burnside's entire artillery shelled the old 
 place for hours, yet not a single death resulted from this 
 hail of fire and shell. 
 
 When it became apparent that the pontoons could not 
 be laid in the face of the incessant fire from the houses 
 along the river bank, the engineers volunteered to row their 
 boats to the opposite shore and assist in charging upon this 
 Mississippi brigade. 
 
 Volunteers were not called forth first as the official reports 
 indicate, though as a reinforcement to those who had 
 originally proposed it, others were called out. These bravo 
 boys some of them had but recently left their college at 
 Easton, Pennsylvania were ferried over, and gallantly 
 charged upon the hornet's nest and drove the Rebels out. 
 
 Then the pontoons were laid and the army started to 
 cross on a bridge, every plank of which represented a dead 
 hero. 
 
 There is no monument to mark this spot at Fred- 
 ericksburg, except the tree to which one side was anchored, 
 where as much daring heroism was shown as at any of the 
 many marked places at Gettysburg. But the boys will 
 never forget that place. I can hardly keep it out of my 
 mind. I made a good sketch of the location, showing 
 both shores, that I should like to show to the club in a 
 magic lantern or stereopticon view, as well as some other
 
 GIST THE WAR- PATH. 143 
 
 deeply interesting places which I shot from my camera. 
 I'm an amateur photograph crank, and on this trip had 
 this box instead of the gun I used to carry. 
 
 Fredericksburg is debatable ground. Realizing that I 
 may be treading on somebody's toes in attempting a 
 description of the battle, I will shift the responsibility on 
 to the broad shoulders of my friend, Col. Carswell McClel- 
 lan, who, as an officer in Humphreys' staff, is thoroughly 
 competent to tell the truth about the last great onslaught 
 on Marye's Heights. If any one desires to fire back on 
 this question, let him point his missiles at the Colonel, ad- 
 dressed to St. Paul, and not at my head. 
 
 There was not only one charge at this battle of Freder- 
 icksburg, but a series of charges, during all of that fatal 
 day, any one of which equalled in heroism that of Pickett 
 at Gettysburg. 
 
 The Irish Brigade .have had their story well told, though 
 Couch's and Hancock's are known only by the official 
 reports and the Century papers. Colonel McClellan says 
 of the last charge: 
 
 "On the morning of the 13th, General Humphreys' 3d 
 Division of the 5th Corps was massed near the Phillips 
 House, where General Burnside had his headquarters. At 
 half-past two P. M., General Humphrey, who had been in 
 consultation with Burnside, came out, with an expression 
 of intense satisfaction. He told me that Burnside had 
 informed him that our division was to go over the river at 
 once to act as the reserve of the assaulting force, and he 
 concluded his statement with the emphatic assertion that 
 when we were sent to the assault we must- gain the crest.
 
 144 OK THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 He directed the order for crossing to be given, with a 
 request that the Brigade Commanders should give brief 
 words of encouragement to their men, and as most of the 
 troops were now entering upon their first engagement, 
 he was anxious lest their spirits should be depressed by the 
 sight of the wounded who were being brought to the rear, 
 and that he should have that terrible stream turned aside 
 while his command was advancing. 
 
 "After reaching the town the troops moved along the 
 elongation of the telegraph road to Hanover street, reached 
 the intersection, when Gen. Humphreys riding forward 
 along his column found Gen. Hancock alone, apparently 
 waiting there for some one. Just then Gen. Couch, almost, 
 if not entirely, unattended, rode up, inquiring for Griffin's 
 Division. It was evident that Gen. Couch's sympathetic 
 nature was thoroughly aroused by what his troops had been 
 through during the day. He stated that they had 'gained 
 the Heights,' but were out of ammunition and needed sup- 
 port. It became manifest later that ' the Heights' lie 
 referred to was the slight rise of ground below Marye's 
 Heights, where Gen. Couch's troops lay. Couch not find- 
 ing the support he expected, was exceedingly solicitous, 
 when Gen. Humphreys said to him, 'I am ordered into 
 position here, as you see, but you are the ranking officer; 
 and if you will give me an order to do so, I will support you 
 at once.' The order was given, as suggested, and guided by 
 Capt. Mitchell of Hancock's staff, Humphrey rode out to 
 the front, closely followed by Gen. P. H. Allabach's Brigade. 
 At the foot of the hill General Hooker was met, who con- 
 firmed Couch's order. General Humphreys was then
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 145 
 
 informed by Hooker that Gen. Burnside desired the Heights 
 carried before sundown, and that lie, Hooker, expected 
 Humphrey to accomplish it. Allabach being ordered to 
 form his brigade in two lines, Gen. Humphreys rode out 
 into the field to observe the ground more closely return- 
 ing to his troops he said: 'The bayonet is the only 
 thing that will do any good here tell Allabach so and 
 direct him to see that all muskets are unloaded.' Col. 
 Allabach, a sturdy graduate from the ' Bloody Third' 
 U. S. Infantry of the Mexican war, rode through his com- 
 mand as the formation was being completed, and had the 
 muskets 'rung' to prove them unloaded." 
 
 Put a pin in that point they were ordered to charge 
 and unload their guns, and to prove it, they were "rung" 
 while forming under fire. " With his brigade formed, the 
 front line at charge bayonets and the second line at right 
 shoulder arms, Allabach reported his command, ready to 
 
 move forward. As the bugle sounded the * charge,' General 
 
 
 
 Humphrey turned to his staff, and bowing with uncovered 
 head, remarked as quietly and as pleasantly as if inviting 
 them to be seated around his table, ' Gentlemen, I shall 
 lead this charge. I presume, of course, you will wish to 
 ride with me.'" 
 
 Now compare that to Picket t, who was not within a 
 mile of his column when they charged at Gettysburg 
 Pettigrew and Armistead, led Pickett's Division there. Of 
 this grand assault of Humphreys', I can do no better than 
 quote Gen. Hooker's report: 
 
 "This attack was made with a spirit and determina- 
 tion seldom, if ever, equalled in war. Seven of General
 
 14G 0> THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Humphreys' stuff officers started with the charge, five 
 were dismounted before reaching the line where Gen. 
 Couch's troops were lying, and four more wounded before 
 the assault ceased/' 
 
 Gen. Humphreys said of his experience: "The troops 
 I was to support were sheltering themselves by lying 
 on the ground. This example Col. Allabach's Brigade 
 followed, in spite of an effort to prevent it. The men 
 who were lying, shouting to the others, 'get down, don't 
 get up there/ etc. Only a part of his men were able to reach 
 the front rank, owing to the numbers already occupying 
 the ground. I cannot refrain from expressing the opinion, 
 that the greatest obstacle to my success was the troops that 
 had previously charged and been repulsed, but had not been 
 withdrawn, though they were reported out of ammunition 
 this should have been done and thus left me a clean field 
 they would not advance with us, and the men of Allabach's 
 
 Brigade, who had never before been in battle, instinctively 
 
 
 
 followed their example and lay down. The troops on the 
 right and left of us would have prevented the enemy from 
 advancing. Had the enemy come out from behind the stone 
 wall, we should .have carried the positions." 
 
 Here it must be observed, in comparison with Pickett's 
 charge, that at Gettysburg all things were equal ; there 
 were no hills and heavy stone walls and sunken roads, their 
 troops advanced and were met bravely by our own, standing 
 up like men, and repulsed disastrously, at a hand-to-hand 
 combat; while at ~Frc(\erickshnrgwenevcrsawa Confederate 
 from behind their four lines of muskets concealed by stone
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 147 
 
 walls and embankments. We saw nothing but the white 
 smoke from their guns. 
 
 Our troops advanced to within eighty yards of them and 
 remained there till night. No prisoners were taken at 
 Fredericksburg. The writer, during a lull in the firing 
 from the stone-wall ridge, could see Gen. Humphreys, sit- 
 ting quietly and alone, viewing the ground after the repulse. 
 As I neared him a peculiar sound was heard comingclearly 
 and distinctly through the noise of the intermitting battle, 
 and as I approached closer the notes of the song so familiar 
 in those days "Gay and Happy" died from his lips. 
 That air has been fixed indelibly in my mind. 
 
 " Eeturning on this road/' says Col. McClellan, "I met 
 Gen. Hooker with Gen. Butterfield. His greeting was, 
 ' Give my compliments to Gen. Humphreys, and tell him 
 he is doing nobly nobly. "' 
 
 Gen. Humphreys was at the front to personally expedite 
 the formation of i\\e first brigade for another charge. Gen. 
 Butterfield had given the order that the Heights must be 
 carried before dark. 
 
 Again Humphreys rode at the head of his troops, 
 joining with the movement on foot until the charge had 
 passed the Irick house, and the column was being crowded 
 over to the right. As the brigade reached the mass of 
 men lying there, every effort was made by the latter to pre- 
 vent our advance. They called to our men not to go for- 
 ward, and some attempted by force to prevent their doing 
 so. The effect on Humphreys' line was to disorder them; 
 but they were reformed into a column and again advanced. 
 
 The moral of this rather old story under new light is
 
 148 ON" THE WAR- PATH. 
 
 this. Humphreys' Division would have gone right on to 
 the stone wall, though all might have been slaughtered, but 
 for the impediment of our own line lying on the ground. 
 
 As it was, Humphreys' Division of the olh Corps must 
 be accorded the honor of having gotten ncarcxt the stone 
 wall. 
 
 These statements are submitted not with any view of 
 detracting from the glory and honor of the others, but 
 simply as truths that may be recorded by living witnesses 
 for the benefit of those who may come after us. 
 
 Perhaps in the future ages one stone may be erected on 
 this historic ground to mark the point of the farthest 
 advance of the Union line. It ought to be an equestrian 
 statue to Andrew Atkinson Humphreys. 
 
 It was written of General Humphreys at the time that 
 Fredericksburg had "developed a quiet, courteous and 
 accomplished man of science into a splendid field-general of 
 the most vigorous mien and distinguished bravery." And yet 
 there was far more of demonstration than development in 
 the magnificent effort of that man of science. The duty 
 laid upon him there brought clearly to the light the mag- 
 netic leadership which was as natural to him as his breath 
 and subsequently proved that he could serve as well, or as 
 loyally, as he could lead. It is not to be supposed that 
 General Humphreys was blind to the fearful errors of that 
 fatal field. He " knew his duty and obeyed his orders " 
 with an imperturbable courage and consummate ability and 
 zeal that would, if possible, wrest success from the most 
 hopeless task. 
 
 Does any one ever think that the charge of Pickett
 
 ON" THE WAR-PATH. 149 
 
 was the only one ever made by the Confederates? Of course 
 they have made advances, but this final-charge of Pickett, 
 preceded and attended, as it was, by peculiarly dramatic 
 surroundings, was their only grand charge of all the war, 
 and probably for this reason it has furnished a subject for 
 more speeches, historical essays, paintings and poems 
 than any other event which ever occurred in America. 
 Yet either one of the gallant charges made on an impreg- 
 nable position, where everything was against us, as at 
 Marye's Heights, excels, in every particular, this much 
 vaunted fire-works exhibition at the close of the great battle 
 of Gettysburg. I am not personally fond of talking on war 
 subjects in fact, at the close of the war I was so sick of 
 it that I made a vow never to refer to that experience, and 
 I have kept my word except at long intervals ever since. 
 I considered it a most gratifying compliment to have an old 
 friend say of my war story: 
 
 " Oh, that's all imagination he was not in the war at 
 all I've known him for years, almost intimately, and his 
 best friends say they never heard him talk about the war 
 at all." 
 
 Though I'm a Pennsylvanian and proud of Gettysburg, 
 yet this Virginia ''burg" has a greater fascination for me 
 than our Pennsylvania "burg." lam glad to be able to 
 record the fact here that the Pennsylvania Reserves made 
 the^rs^ charge and broke ' ' Stonewall " Jackson's line, but 
 the Pennsylvania general, Franklin, failed to support them, 
 and it was lost. It was a division of Pennsylvanians 
 under Humphreys who made this last final onslaught, 
 and it was Pennsylvanians and Pennsylvania generals,
 
 150 ON THE AVAR- PATH. 
 
 Hancock and Meade, who received Pickett's charge in the 
 Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. 
 
 To properly fortify the statements regarding this debated 
 ground, I here have attempted to outline what may be 
 termed an official report in giving the views of the officers. 
 Permit a newspaper scout to record some personal im- 
 pressions of the scene. I have some splendid views show- 
 ing the Rebel position, that I should like to throw upon 
 the scene before the eyes of the club while I deliver this 
 lecture. 
 
 The Confederate artillery was stationed along the 
 crest of the hill; below them to the front were four lines 
 of their infantry, securely entrenched behind stone walls 
 on each side of the sunken road, forming a glacis, along 
 which our troops had to charge, against guns four-ranks 
 deep levelled at them. 
 
 Against this naturally magnificently defensible position, 
 strong as Sebastopol and more dangerous to an attacking 
 force, on account of the river in the rear, our troops were 
 hurled, not once, but time and again, during all that 
 dreadful day. French's and Sturgis' Divisions led, and held 
 their ground right under the muzzles of the heavy Con- 
 federate batteries; then Hancock's, and then Howard's 
 Divisions each charged more savagely than its predecessor, 
 all holding their ground in front as long as their ammuni- 
 tion lasted. 
 
 The sun had set behind the Rebels' position, the crim- 
 son-edged clouds of a winter's sunset gleamed luridly 
 through masses of smoke which at times almost obscured 
 the placid sky. so peaceful in its quiet evening tints and so
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 151 
 
 suggestive of the cessation of the day's labors. Not for 
 the long-suffering Army of the Potomac did it indicate 
 repose. 
 
 The Rebel fire breaks out with more ferocity than 
 ever, sweeping across the field at the advancing divisions 
 of General Humphreys. Onward, with a forlorn hope, they 
 advance, the ground encumbered by the countless bodies 
 of the fallen comrades; knapsacks, blankets, guns, haver- 
 sacks, canteens, cartridge boxes, etc., strewed all over the 
 plain; shot, shell and canister, shrapnell and grape are 
 hurled as they approach by columns of regiments led by 
 their officers, and without firing a shot the noble band 
 continues on. General Humphreys dashing ahead to a 
 swell rise in the ground, takes off his hat to cheer on his 
 men; -with reckless ardor his men, rapidly closing in on 
 their gallant leader on the double-quick, answer cheer 
 with cheers, Humphreys having two horses shot under 
 him and his staff nearly all dismounted. Here were 
 encountered the troops lying on the ground who had 
 been holding their positions with the bayonet, being 
 out of ammunition. They oppose the advance of their 
 comrades, and use force to prevent the passage of the 
 Division over their prostrate lines, thereby throwing the 
 advancing column into confusion a confusion which may 
 have prevented this last effort of the army from being suc- 
 cessful; for through the smoke the Eebels were seen to be 
 in great confusion. 
 
 Humphreys' Division had never been under fire, and 
 would, undoubtedly, have gone to the wall but for this 
 impediment. Military history teems with instances proving
 
 152 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 that, when receiving its battle baptism, a command 
 composed of such material as this seldom fails to deliver 
 home a charge that is properly led, provided no obstacle 
 other than the fire encountered distracts its attention from 
 its objective and from its leader. But before that awful 
 sheet of flame from the stone wall were enveloped the heads 
 and flanks of the column. In front of that terrific hurri- 
 cane of bullets no heroism could avail. The very hillside 
 appeared to vomit forth fire, which, with its glare flash- 
 ing through the fast .thickening obscurity, pours upon 
 the storming columns till, being unable to stand against 
 it longer, though within ciyldy yards of Hie wall, the 
 brave remnant singing in the abandonment of its courage, 
 falls back in good order, leaving seven hundred of their 
 comrades lying helpless upon the field. 
 
 The people of the South generally, and especially the 
 ladies of the present new South, as well as the mothers 
 of the old, do the Northern people and their own children 
 great injustice in clinging to their prejudices against the 
 personnel of the Federal army, and by persistently teach- 
 ing their children that the motive of the Northern soldier 
 was not inspired by patriotism, but was prompted by the 
 Avish to devastate their homes and rob them for mercenary 
 gain. Only a few days ago, in the presence of some Fred- 
 ericksburg ladies, my face was blanched by one of the 
 company observing flippantly, " The Yankees were simply 
 hirelings and foreigners sent here for pay. They were not 
 brave men like our Southern boys. Why/' said she, turn- 
 ing to me, " if a few of our men were to pick up guns I 
 reckon you all would run again."
 
 ON" THE WAK-PATH. 153 
 
 I could only remind her that the "poor white trash" 
 of the South were merely slaves or their white serfs, who 
 were conscripted into their army and heartlessly driven to 
 their deaths by their leaders, who, if they had been suc- 
 cessful, would have continued to fight amongst themselves, 
 and treat their masses as "mud sills/' of which she might 
 have been one but for the " hirelings." 
 
 Some of the purest and noblest blood of the Anglo-Saxon 
 was spilled upon the plains before Marye's Heights as a free 
 sacrifice upon the altar of liberty. At last night came and 
 ended the struggle; the great God of Battles and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of all gave the signal to cease firing by 
 covering the Earth with darkness. The mantle of twilight, 
 pinned by the evening star, was dropped upon the terrible 
 scenes. An aurora lorealis in the Northern sky soon 
 lighted up the scene with its lurid gleams in a manner 
 never to be forgotten. The horrors of that night, the 
 scenes of despair and gradual death upon that bloody 
 ground, in the bitter cold darkness, can not be described. 
 There was no help for the dying. Oh, women of the 
 South, reflect ! There were brave men lying on your soil 
 dying unattended, with little children dependent upon 
 them, who, perhaps, were kneeling besides a mother's knee, 
 saying their good-night prayers with a " God bless papa." 
 There were men there whose wives trembled for them; 
 men who had been little children, and whose mothers 
 would have feared to have a cold wind blow upon them. 
 There. they lay on the frozen ground; affection of no avail; 
 not for them the soothing touch, the warm chamber, and 
 ihe thousand nameless attentions of loving hands.
 
 154 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 "Wearily, and with faint hope for the morrow, dying, 
 they must stay; their noble efforts idly wasted in a fruit- 
 less struggle; but they did not die in vain in the end they 
 were successful. Some of their bones rest in unknown 
 graves to-day upon the crest of Marye's Heights they 
 charged upon in vain, and they now sleep under the pro- 
 tecting folds of the flag that floats over the National 
 cemetery there. 
 
 As illustrating the types of American manhood of 
 which the soldiers who bravely charged upon that fatal day 
 were, I mention a group of half a dozen who recently 
 revisited this ground, along with whom I had the pleasure 
 of spending a couple of delightful days: Senator M. S. 
 Quay was in the line of battle; Captain Wm. R. Jones, 
 well known as the general manager of the extensive Edgar 
 Thompson Steel Company, whose abilities may be expressed 
 most forcibly by his salary of $40,000 per year, was "only a 
 private" in the 133d Pennsylvania Volunteers Humphreys' 
 Division of this charge; Col. Gray, ex-sheriff of Allegheny 
 county, Pennsylvania; Judge E. A. Monbooth, of Pittsburg, 
 a probable governor for the State, was an adjutant here; 
 Mr. McKenna, of Pittsburg, a well known attorney; Col. 
 Edward Jay Allen, who commanded the 155th Pennsyl- 
 vania in the charge; Gen. P. H. Allabaugh, our handsome 
 veteran, who may be seen any day at the rotunda of the 
 Capitol in Washington ; Capt. H. H. Humphreys, 15th 
 Infantry, U. S. A., a son of the General. 
 
 I might add a great many names of men now prominent 
 in the professions and successful in business circles or 
 managing great corporations, who were of the "private
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 155 
 
 hirelings" that survived this battle, and whose best efforts 
 since the war have been devoted to the development of the 
 entire country, North and South. 
 
 Captain Jones, a jolly, companionable man, made the 
 trip quite enjoyable through his quaint and original stories 
 of the battle. 
 
 I walked at his side over the entire field, and, as he is 
 now dead, I will try to put on record his observations, in 
 his own words or as nearly as may be. 
 
 Captain Jones was one of those who find something 
 humorous in even sad scenes. Pointing to a fence along side 
 the road, he remarked : 
 
 "You see that panel of fence? That's where I lay down 
 that evening after the charge was over. I saw a couple of 
 other fellers lying there who didn't seem to be at all disturbed 
 by the infernal racket that was going on, so I turned in along- 
 side, thinking it a safe place. I didn't know they were dead 
 men until a posse of ambulance men took hold of me roughly, 
 thinking that I was one of the dead fellers they were 
 ordered to pick up, and were scared half to death when I 
 jumped on them for disturbing my sleep." 
 
 Any person who ever met Captain Jones will understand 
 that it would be very funny indeed to undertake to pick 
 him up as a dead man. He would make a very lively corpse 
 under such conditions. 
 
 His regiment was on the left of the line, and as we 
 stood together in the little depression which sheltered them 
 while forming, he related some curious expressions and 
 antics of the boys, showing that even in the face of almost 
 sure death, the funny fellows have their last say. One
 
 156 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 big fellow, with mock heroism, stepped out from the line 
 saying, " 'Who's afeard ! Come on, boys; I'll lead you !" 
 strutted up the little rise where he looked over the top, 
 turned around quickly, and marched back again saying, 
 "I guess not." 
 
 Jones says : 
 
 " We went along here at a hell-bending trot, and when 
 we came to that fence, the first impulse was to climb over, 
 but it looked as if every fellow that got up on top was 
 knocked off, as if some one had been throwing rocks at a 
 lot of blackbirds all disappeared at once from the fence 
 and then every fellow made a rush for the gate. Not one of 
 us had sense enough to knock the fence down; and, of 
 course, the mass of men crowding at the gate gave the 
 Rebels a dead sure chance, and we got hell right there." 
 
 lie then pointed out the location of the fence that had 
 been there, even to the gate, and in order to fortify his 
 memory, the party accompanied him inside the yard sur- 
 rounding the little frame cottage, known now as the 
 Stevens house, which stands there yet, precisely as it did 
 during the battle its weather-board walls literally riddled 
 with bullet-holes. 
 
 The owner, Mrs. Martha Stevens, who lived there during 
 the battle, has steadily refused to have any alterations made 
 to her home. Thousands visit it annually, and, perhaps, 
 she reaps a richer harvest from the tourists who usually 
 contribute something by way of compensation for the dam- 
 age, and for her trouble in explaining it all. 
 
 I regret to say that Mrs. Stevens has also passed to the 
 other shore, and as we may all unexpectedly be called there
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 157 
 
 to join that army, I desire to record now for the benefit 
 of others, in a wholly disinterested and truthful way, the 
 fact, attested also by visitors of this group, that Mrs. 
 Stevens on this, as well as on every other occasion, asserted 
 positively that the men who made the last charge, just be- 
 fore night got the nearest to the wall. 
 
 As many as forty dead men were taken from her yard, 
 which was beyond the line of prostrate troops, and within 
 forty yards of the wall. 
 
 Mrs. Stevens and others, who were cognizant of the 
 affair at the time, have not hesitated to volunteer this infor- 
 mation to any who have called it out. She is not at all 
 boastful, and in no way interested in the matter, being a 
 most uncompromising female Rebel one of the bitterest 
 in her expressions of hatred to the Yankees to the day of her 
 death. So that the statement comes from her rather as a 
 reluctant confession. She asserts that " the Yankees did 
 get in her yard piles of the dirty brutes. Of course 
 I couldn't do anything but hide, and the Confederates 
 never came out from the road, so your old miserable Yan- 
 kees skulked behind the house and hid in the corner. 
 Oh," she added, by way of amendment, "thar warn't 
 nothing to brag about in sneaking into a poor woman's 
 back yard; but they dassent go any farther, and was 
 afraid to show themselves by running back." 
 
 In this connection Jones told a funny story at the 
 expense of his own color-bearer. "You know men under 
 fire are like drowning men they will catch at a straw. 
 Why, we know brave men to stand behind a cornstalk, 
 forgetting, in their excitement, that any such object
 
 158 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 merely serves as a mark and is no defense. Well, that's 
 why our fellows stayed in this yard. It was, in a sense, 
 untenable, yet these poor devils, no doubt, imagined a 
 board fence a protection from those four lines of muskets 
 right in front. 
 
 "Our color-bearer was as brave a man as ever walked. 
 In the charge he got into the yard, and, in order to protect 
 himself and his flag, he and a couple of others shut 
 themselves up in the little outhouse. They were afraid 
 to come out or even to peep out of the door facing toward 
 the Rebels, and they knew nothing of what was going on 
 around them, staying in there in fancied security long 
 after the regiment had been called off the field. Inquiries 
 were, of course, made about the colors, and, as no one 
 could answer, it was supposed that they had been left 
 upon the field. Along in the night, under cover of the 
 darkness, and during the quiet that followed, the boys 
 crawled out and brought their colors safely back. 
 
 "The story leaked out, however, and after we got back 
 to our camp over the river, in the dajs following, at every 
 dress parade, when the colors were ordered to the front, 
 the boys could be seen holding their noses in their fingers, 
 as if the scent of the battle hung around it still." 
 
 The Confederates occupying the Heights were of Long- 
 street's Corps, the troops principally from the extreme 
 South, so that it is difficult to find an old residenter who 
 was in the lines then. 
 
 Capt. S. J. Quinn, who is now superintendent of the 
 city water works, w r as, I believe, a member of Barksdale's 
 Mississippi Brigade, that assisted in preventing the build- 
 ing of the pontoons.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 159 
 
 Col. Kufus B. Merchant, the editor and proprietor of 
 the bright little Fredericksburg Star, though a native of 
 this part of Virginia, was so eager to get into the war that 
 he enlisted in Cobb's Georgia Legion before his State 
 seceded. Being thoroughly familiar with the country, he 
 was detailed as a scout, and as such served inside our 
 lines during the greater part of the war. He was known 
 as a fearless, daring little man, on whom Longstreet 
 depended largely for reliable information. 
 
 Probably there is not now a more popular resident of 
 this old town than Mr. Merchant, and numerous Federal 
 visitors in recent years have testified to his many courtesies 
 and kindnesses. Through the columns of his Star, many 
 of the families of Federal soldiers have been able to look 
 up matter of personal war history. The Rebel scout and 
 the Yankee scout, though opposite in politics as well as in 
 temperament, each holding tenaciously to the belief that 
 he was right, are to-day the best of friends. Indeed, I do 
 not know of any one whose friendship I more esteem than 
 that of my little Rebel. 
 
 There is generally the best of feeling exhibited between 
 the men of the Northern and Southern armies when they 
 chance to meet. Indeed, it may be safely asserted that 
 the genuine old soldiers of both sides are always friendly 
 in their intercourse. The men who carried guns and used 
 them have now no enmity towards those that, in turn, fired 
 back at them to kill. It is only the latter-day warriors or 
 those who stayed at home that now shoot their mouths off. 
 As there was, comparatively speaking, no stay-at-home in 
 the South, the old ladies do their talking. We can, there-
 
 ICO ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 fore, allow our old-women soldiers to fight it out with 
 those of the South. 
 
 As illustrating this feeling, I tell this true story of a 
 recent experience: 
 
 I happened to be in Fredericksburg on Memorial day 
 of 1888, doing some newspaper scouting, of which more 
 anon. One evening, while seated on the hotel pavement, 
 enjoying the delightful weather and eyeing the pretty Vir- 
 ginia girls that do their shopping in town on horseback, I 
 was accosted by two gentlemen wearing the familiar old 
 butternut gray, who quietly intimated that they had been 
 sent to escort me up to their "camp." They declined to 
 give any further information and looked as if they meant 
 business. I saw that it was useless to resist, so nervously 
 accompanied them up a back street with dire apprehen- 
 sions of a ku-kluxing that the Northern newspaper man was 
 to be subjected to. Into a large room of the town hall 
 we were ushered, introduced to the High Mucky Muck 
 who was sitting on a dais, wearing a Confederate officer's 
 uniform from which dangled the Rebel battle-flag badge. 
 
 This gentleman's courteous manner, genial face and 
 warm greeting rather assured me that I was in safe hands, 
 as long as he held the baton. It was Captain Dan Lee, a 
 brother of Governor Fitz-IIugh Lee and a nephew of Gen. 
 R. E. Lee. In a neat little talk, he explained that the 
 members of the M. F. Maury Camp of Confederate Vet- 
 erans, learning that four Federal soldiers were in town, of 
 which I was one, desired to learn their wishes in the mat- 
 ter of the Confederate camp, offering their united ser- 
 vices in assisting the four Federals, in decorating the
 
 ON THE WAE-PATH. 161 
 
 graves of the Federals in the National cemetery ou Marye's 
 Heights, and adding that their services were tendered gladly 
 to this end; though they preferred not to be associated 
 with the mob of colored people, who had been in the habit 
 of making a picnic out of the day. 
 
 As I had no authority to act for the G. A. R., except 
 in an individual capacity as a comrade of the Kit Carson 
 Post of Washington. I could only express personal grati- 
 tude to the camp for their generous offer, which I knew 
 was prompted by the noblest of motives of friendship, 
 loyalty and charity. 
 
 Major Birdsall, an ex-Union soldier and the efficient 
 superintendent of the cemeterv. being present, accepted 
 the services tendered. 
 
 On the morning of that Memorial day one never to 
 be forgotten, and I would that my poor pen could record 
 it, so that every G. A. R. comrade in the land might 
 become interested the Fredericks!) urg Grays, a crack 
 military organization composed of the young men of 
 the town, fitly representing the New South, headed by the 
 brass band of the town, escorted the four solitary Federals 
 to the rendezvous of the Confederates. Here we found 
 eighty-one old Rebels in line to receive us; instead of the 
 guns they used to carry, each had a boquet of beautiful 
 flowers in his hand. We were placed at the head of the 
 little column; Captain Dan Lee, on behalf of some ladies, 
 then presented each Federal with a beautiful boquet of 
 flowers, stating that the ladies of the town had, on this 
 occasion, divided their offerings between the Confederate 
 and Federal cemeteries.
 
 1G^ ON THE tt'AIi-i'ATH. 
 
 Under command of Captain Lee, we marched out the 
 same old Hanover street, or telegraph road, the band 
 playing patriotic airs, followed by the eighty-one Con- 
 federates in gray clothes, armed with bouquets. We fol- 
 lowed precisely the same paths our army trod on their way 
 to that terrible battle on that dreadful December day, 
 twenty-five years ago. Reaching the elevation known as 
 Federal Hill, we pass the house Hooker occupied as his 
 headquarters; at this point our troops came in sight of the 
 Confederates and received their baptism of fire; moving 
 slowly down the little declivity, I point out to my compan- 
 ion the spot where Hancock, Humphreys and Couch liela 
 their brief consultation before the final charge. We cross 
 the mill-race running through the low ground and go on 
 beyond the depression under which our lines were formed. 
 Passing the point usually designated as " the farthest 
 advance of the Union line," we turn into the "sunken 
 road," marching along it, behind and between the remains 
 of the stone wall, past Mrs. Stevens' house. Right here is 
 erected a solitary stone, the only monument at Fredericks- 
 burg which marks the place where General Cobb, of 
 Georgia, was killed. Almost involutarily, we four Federals 
 follow the example of Captain Lee and lift our caps as we 
 pass it. 
 
 Reaching the gate of the Federal cemetery, which is 
 located on the point farthest south or nearest the railroad 
 cut, the band files to one side and plays a solemn dirge as 
 we enter the sacred precincts of the dead. Every Confeder- 
 ate, as he moves in, reverently takes off his hat, uncovering 
 to the light of a bright May sun eighty-one gray-headed and
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 163 
 
 gray-coated noblemen. Great God ! what a scene was this. 
 When I look back upon this picture and listen to the war 
 talk of the croaker or politician, who, to get soldiers' 
 votes, may appeal to his former prejudices, I recall this day 
 and regret that all may not have witnessed it as I did; that 
 it was wholly a sincere and disinterested exhibition of gen- 
 uine good comradeship, goes without saying. There was 
 no other motive, there could be none other than that 
 prompted by genuine good feeling, as nothing was to be 
 gained. Inside the cemetery were assembled a number 
 of ladies of the town. Addresses were made by both 
 Federals and Confederates, and at the conclusion of the 
 services at the rostrum, every grave was decorated the 
 Confederates and Federals ladies and children assisting in 
 this pleasant and beautiful task. This cemetery is one of 
 the most beautifully located in the country. From this 
 ground, once occupied as Lee's headquarters, and bristling 
 with Confederate glory, may be had a magnificent pan- 
 oramic view of the section of country occupied by both 
 armies. Across the river are the Stafford Heights, the 
 ruins of the Phillips House being barely outlined among 
 the trees that have, in late years, grown around its crum- 
 bling walls. The Lacey House, freshened up as the res- 
 idence of a wealthy Northern gentleman, nestles quietly on 
 top of its beautiful green terraces. The " Slaughter- 
 house/' now the residence of Judge Souther, of Pennsyl- 
 vania, on this side the river, while right below it on the 
 bank, may be seen the walls of the Bernard House, where 
 Franklin crossed. Immediately below the cemetery is the 
 railroad cut where so many brave men lost their lives, and
 
 1G4 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 directly in front the Irish Brigade charged. It is a singu- 
 lar fact that this very ground on which the Irish charged, 
 was once a corn-field, and during the Irish famine the crop 
 from this identical spot was gathered and loaded aboard a 
 vessel then in the river receiving supplies to be sent to 
 Ireland. 
 
 Through the good management of Major Bird sail, this 
 Marye's cemetery is each year becoming more attractive. 
 It is largely patronized by the town people as an attractive 
 resort, and many walk out to its agreeable shades in pleas- 
 ant weather. 
 
 I have previously stated that the number of interments 
 almost equals Arlington. There are buried here 15,273 
 Union soldiers; of this number 12,'.Upj arc unknown. In 
 every other respect it excels Arlington it ought to excel 
 Arlington in general interest to the old soldier of the Army 
 of the Potomac. Those who sleep in this Marye's bivouac 
 died at the front; a number of them in battle, or from 
 wounds resulting therefrom, and are buried on the bttttle- 
 fiehh. 
 
 After the war the bones of a number were gathered from 
 the surrounding fields and reinterred at this place. A great 
 many could not be identified, and these sleep sometimes as 
 many as six in one grave, being simply marked "unknown." 
 Probably every State in the Union is represented in this 
 "unknown army." In a majority of cases, no doubt, they 
 are the remains of young men who were so far from home 
 and their parents and friends were too poor to have their 
 bodies, when identified, lifted and taken to their homes, as 
 was the custom with the more favored. Yet, practically
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 165 
 
 and bluntly speaking, this cemetery is neglected by the 
 G. A. R. as an organization. Being in the Department of 
 Virginia^ which in the very nature of things is weak in 
 G. A. R Posts, is no valid excuse for this shameful oversight 
 of years. Undoubtedly the comrades of the Virginia de- 
 partment would gladly accept the tender of assistance 
 from Washington. The three thousand comrades in that 
 district, who, with their families and friends, crowd to 
 Arlington each recurring year to listen to proper tributes 
 from popular orators, and employ bands to play dirges, hire 
 glee clubs to sing requiems, and endure poets, might at 
 least induce their overflow to come to Marye's Heights and 
 put a few flowers on the neglected graves there. It is but 
 an hour and a half ride from Washington and is on this 
 account practically as accessible as is Arlington, as trains 
 will comfortably carry the tourist directly to the field where 
 an afternoon maybe most profitably spent in a battle-field. 
 Through some personal effort in the year following this 
 event, the members of the G. A. R. were stirred up by this 
 correspondent, contributions were solicited by the Rich- 
 mond Posts to enable them to decorate Marye's Heights ; a 
 special train was engaged for the Richmond Posts and com- 
 rades, who were met by a number of Washington persons 
 who volunteered their assistance and paid their own ex- 
 penses. The Commander of Virginia, in making his ad- 
 dress said : "The little band under whose auspices these 
 ceremonies are held, these graves garnished with flowers, 
 are only messengers to bring garlands furnished by mothers, 
 sisters and daughters of those friends. All over the coun- 
 try from Maine to California came pouring into our treasury
 
 IGti ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 the means necessary for this demonstration of devotion." 
 Though only a year following the voluntary offer of services 
 by the Confederates and the offerings of flowers^by the 
 ladies of the town they were forgotten. It is but just to 
 say, however impolitic it may be, as comrades of the G. A. II. 
 who contributed to that end should know it, that the 
 offer of the same Confederates to again assist in this ser- 
 vice, was tendered, but for some unexplained reason it was 
 declined. Was this gracious or manly on the part of the 
 Virginia comrades who had previously overlooked Freder- 
 icksburg for years? There is no politics in the G. A. II., 
 of course not, but I sometimes imagine that the ungenerous 
 refusal to permit the Confederates to again co-operate in 
 this service, emanated from the fact that there was probably 
 some personal politics underlying it. I am personally a 
 Republican from away back, one who votes with three 
 generations of the family consistently my father being 
 one of those who voted for the elder Harrison twice, both 
 when defeated and elected so it will be remembered 
 that I write as a llepublican and Union soldier.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ELUCTANTLY we are leaving Fredericksburg, 
 the scene of so many bitter and sweet memories. 
 To the old soldier there is a peculiar magnetism 
 about the old town that attracts and holds him here like a 
 loadstone. To the student or the tourist from any coun- 
 try it presents many very interesting features. The invalid 
 also may here enjoy in quiet and comfort the agreeable and 
 exhilarating climate, on what may be termed the foot- 
 hills of the Blue Ridge, far enough in the interior or from 
 the tide- water to avoid the dampness and malaria, but yet, 
 happily convenient enough to the waters to obtain the 
 abundant oysters and fish fresh from the Chesapeake, and 
 to the rich soil to get its products. The manufacturer 
 here will find unequalled water-power supplied from the 
 falls above town, as well as water navigation, enabling 
 the largest vessels to come up to its wharves to bring fuel 
 and carry away the products. 
 
 There are a number of mineral springs inside the cor- 
 porate limits, the most remarkable being that known as 
 " The Gunnery spring," which is located on the battle- 
 ground. A stream of pure cold water, sufficient to supply 
 the entire town, bursts from the rocky hillside and flows in 
 a never-diminishing volume into the neighboring Hazel 
 Run. There are any number of traditions and legends 
 and true stories associated with the numerous glens and 
 romantic nooks hereabouts. It is said of Gunnery spring 
 that any one who ever partakes of its water is fated to 
 
 167
 
 1G8 ON THE WAK-PATII. 
 
 return again to the fountain head. A very sweet little 
 girl, with whom I walked down there one moonlight even- 
 ing, was the Eve who tempted me by proffering the cup, 
 from which I innocently accepted the fatal draught. She 
 is now fully convinced of the truthfulness of the legend 
 and the efficacy of this water. 
 
 Perhaps the time may come when this old town, so close 
 to the Capital, may become a Mecca; such as has been made 
 of Gettysburg, and maybe the blood-stained soil may yet 
 produce a crop of monuments that will equal Gettysburg. If 
 each separate deed of heroism done here were marked by a 
 stone, the ground would be a forest of monuments. Who 
 knows perhaps the Government will, in time, reserve more 
 of this battle-ground as a National park; hotels may spring 
 up around its numerous springs. Here might appropri- 
 ately be comrnemornted alike in a commingling of monu- 
 ments the heroism of both sides. 
 
 We linger around the outskirts a little while, driving 
 out to Chancellorsville, about eight miles distant. It was 
 one of my privileges, while in Fredericksburg, to have 
 accompanied Rev. Dr. Smith and Mr. Vess. 'Chancellor, 
 who were a committee to select the location for a monu- 
 ment to mark the spot on which General " Stonewall" 
 Jackson received his tnortal wound. Dr. Smith, who is 
 the popular minister of the Presbyterian Church, is one of 
 the historic characters of this historic place. It was he 
 who contributed the Century article on "Jackson's Last 
 Battle," that attracted so much attention . He was the aide 
 on General Jackson's staff, who so gallantly dashed to the 
 front on learning that his General was wounded, finding
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 169 
 
 him on the road near the spot that he pointed out to me, 
 which they decided upon as a proper site for the monu- 
 ment. Though it was a dark night, he recalled the loca- 
 tion, because of a slight depression or cut in the road; he 
 remembers having to step up to get off the road. It is the 
 only place in the neighborhood with that distinctive feat- 
 ure. When the terrific shelling from the Union artillery 
 struck down the litter-bearers who were carrying Jackson 
 off the field, the young aide-de-camp threw himself over 
 the prostrate form of his General, with the noble, self-sac- 
 rificing intention of shielding him by the interposition of 
 his own person. Our " Major Pastor/' as his friends some- 
 times call him, is a rather quiet, modest little gentleman, 
 whose happy manners, light steps and smooth face rather 
 remind one of a theological student who is at home, glad 
 that school is over. The Doctor is a Northern man by 
 birth and education, his father being one of the early pas- 
 tors of a large congregation in Greensburg, Pa. He 
 attended school in Pittsburgh, and was graduated at Jef- 
 ferson College, in Washington, Pa., in the same class with 
 that other Presbyterian soldier, Governor Beaver. He 
 spent most of his time in the South, however, and married 
 an estimable Virginia lady, Agnes, the daughter of Major 
 Lacey, of the well-known Lacey House, opposite Freder- 
 icksburg, now the lady president of the Martha Washing- 
 ton Association Mrs. James Powers Smith. 
 
 It will be remembered that in the battle following the 
 one previously described, the Federals crossed in force at 
 United States Ford, above town some miles. The 6th 
 Corps, under Sedgwick, crossed in front of the town in
 
 170 ON THE WAK-1'ATH. 
 
 the same manner as before, advanced over the same ground, 
 and, on an early Sunday morning in May, 1863, this Corps 
 assaulted and captured Marye's Heights, putting the Con- 
 federates to llight. They were pursued out this same road 
 we are driving, making a brave stand at Salem Church, 
 about three miles from town, which bears the marks of the 
 Federal bullets. It is conceded that Lee was surprised and 
 turned out of his position by Hooker's admirable manoeu- 
 vre. At this time the Confederate army was literally con- 
 fronted by Hooker's superior force at Chancellorsville, 
 while Sedgwick's magnificent Gth Corps was in his rear. 
 Up toa certain point here Hooker was successful; but then 
 came a most disastrous halt, or hesitancy, of some- hours, 
 if not an entire day, which enabled Lee to gather himself 
 up, who then hurled Jackson on the rear of the llth Corps 
 and demoralized the army, and then turned around and 
 drove Sedgwick's isolated Gth Corps back. 
 
 The " explanations " for the disaster would fill a good- 
 sized library, not alone one book, and can not even be 
 outlined in -this chapter. Hooker was so confident of 
 success that he telegraphed Mr. Lincoln " I've got Lee in 
 such a tight place that God Almighty can't get him out ;" 
 and, by the way, that is the only recognition of God there 
 ever was in his dispatches. Yet within an hour from this 
 time Hooker's magnificent army was defeated. What 
 caused it? Why did Hooker stop when he should have 
 been most energetic? Some say the explosion of a shell 
 incapacitated him. I do not give it as my opinion, but we 
 have heard it whispered that in the headquarters a bottle 
 of whiskey caused the inaction. I make public this report
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 171 
 
 that it may be controverted by those who should know. I 
 would not like to furnish the temperance cranks with 
 such a text for their lectures, but it does seem as if 
 whiskey is responsible for the deaths of a good many of 
 those who touch not, taste not and handle not. 
 
 About half a mile beyond the Chancellor House, 
 which is about all there is of Chancellorsville, we found a 
 large quartz rock which Mr. Chancellor and Major Lacey 
 had placed there some years since, as a rough mark to in- 
 dicate the spot where Jackson fell. This will be recalled 
 by those who have visited the ground since the war. The 
 completed monument stands near where this stone lay. As 
 a matter of fact, however, neither of these stones properly 
 mark the spot where Jackson received his wounds. It is 
 conceded that he received the three balls while riding in 
 the woods, over a quarter of a mile from the place indi- 
 cated by the monument. He was subsequently carried out 
 in the road and laid on some stone. The object in placing 
 the monument in this location is plainly stated to be: 
 because it is more convenient to tourists on the roadside 
 than if it were placed in the rather dense wood where 
 Jackson actually received his wound. It approximately 
 marks the spot, the inscription reading: " Ne r ir tins spot 
 General Jackson received his mortal wound." Dr. Smith 
 told me he found Gen. Jackson in the woods shortly after 
 he was wounded, lying upon the ground with his head in 
 Gen. A. P. Hill's lap. At this time it was but a short 
 distance outside of the Confederate lines and if an advance 
 had been made by Federal skirmishers, both Generals, 
 Jackson and Hill, would have become prisoners of the
 
 2 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Federals, probably with numerous others who were at- 
 tracted to the wounded General. 
 
 Major Lacey, who was on the ground as one of the 
 Confederate committee with the Smiths and Mr. Chan- 
 cellor, the owner of the farm, surprised me by expressing 
 his opinion in a decided manner. " This will do as well 
 as any place near here to put our monument. No one can 
 give us anything at all definite about the exact spot where 
 he was wounded." My interest and curiosity becoming 
 aroused by the observation, and the quiet and tacit manner 
 in which it was received by the other gentlemen of the com- 
 mittee, I availed myself of the first opportunity to interview 
 Major Lacey on the interesting question of the manner of 
 General Jackson's death. Major Lacey is well known as 
 the companion of General Lee during the war. In earlier 
 days he was the proprietor of Chatham, where he lived, 
 which subsequently became universally known in official 
 correspondence as the Lacey House. He was the owner of 
 this vast estate, comprising some GOO acres and 300 slaves; 
 and it is said General Lee courted his wife there. Major 
 Lacey is yet a vigorous man, erect in carriage, and retain- 
 ing his old-time courteous, but dignified bearing. He 
 now lives at the Wilderness. In his positive manner he 
 continued: " Why, Jackson was shot nearly a half-mile 
 from here, over in the woods there. It was a dark night 
 and he evidently made a miscalculation, both as to his own 
 and the enemy's lines, which was fatal to him and might 
 have been to our army." In reply to the query that 
 naturally comes' to every old soldier, "Why should the 
 Lieutenant-General of all that army go, personally, outside
 
 ON THE WAR- PATH. 173 
 
 his own lines to reconnoiter or locate an enemy's picket- 
 Iine 3 in the darkness of a wood at night?" It was not a 
 necessity at all; and, if it had been, we all know from a ter- 
 rible experience that it is the "common soldier" that is so 
 frequently sacrificed to "feel" an enemy by being pushed 
 forward to "draw his fire." Major Lacey looked at me 
 curiously as he said more hesitatingly: "Of course it was 
 a mistake for Jackson to put his own life in jeopardy and 
 thus imperil his Army." While Dr. Smith and Mr. 
 Chancellor were busy using a tape-line and driving pegs to 
 mark the half-acre selected for the monument site, I 
 endeavored to keep Major Lacey's attention to the ques- 
 tion. He is a brilliant conversationalist as well as a writer, 
 who also contributed to the Century war papers. Among 
 many other interesting incidents he then related, I repeat 
 in substance his words: 
 
 " I never believed Jackson was killed by his own men." 
 This was something entirely new, as I had always supposed, 
 from the general accounts furnished by the Confederates, 
 which no one seemed or cared to dispute, and for that 
 reason generally accepted as true, perhaps, that Jackson 
 was accidentally killed by a volley from his own command. 
 
 Pressing Major Lacey for his further opinion, he con- 
 tinued in the same unguarded way, without being corrected 
 by the others: " "Well, in the first place, no one can know 
 positively anything about it, as those who were beside 
 Jackson at the time were either killed or died soon after 
 without leaving any testimony on this point. lie was 
 taken from his horse and carried over on to this road here; 
 after that, we have only the evidence of those who at- 
 tended him."
 
 174 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 "It is not stated that Jackson himself left any positive 
 evidence of the fire having come from his line ?" 
 
 " No, I believe not ; probably he never once referred to 
 it ; though it may be in reply to some suggestion, when in 
 a semi-conscious condition, his answers may have justified 
 such an inference on the part of those who preferred to put 
 such an interpretation upon it. We know the point at 
 which he passed out of our lines; and the instructions he 
 left to fire on any noise coining- from the direction he was 
 then going is explained on the hypothesis that he intended 
 to return to his lines from another direction/' 
 
 "But, Major Lacey, wasn't that rather reckless in u 
 general to cut down the bridge he passed over, expecting to 
 be able to pass inside of 7//.s own tincx in safety in the dark- 
 ness of a night in a dense wood? His own troops would 
 naturally be looking for only enemies coming from that 
 direction, and as our lines were so close that the picket- 
 firing was constant, it was dangerous on all sides and 
 utterly useless." 
 
 " Yes, that is all true enough, and the reports say that 
 he had scarcely gotten beyond his lines when firing began 
 in his front. This was probably replied to by some of the 
 Confederate pickets, but the fact is entirely lost sight of, 
 that without exception the Confederate troops who were 
 in front of where Jackson fell, deny most strenuously hav- 
 ing fired to the front at that time. In this they were fully 
 substantiated by their officers, in an official investigation." 
 lie concluded in an emphatic tone: " There has never been 
 any evidence yet produced to prove that Jackson was shot 
 by his own men, though every effort was made to establish 
 this point."
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 175 
 
 In mentioning this matter to Dr. Smith at the time, he 
 expressed his dissent from Major Lacey's conclusions and 
 says he is satisfied that Jackson was killed by his own men. 
 In subsequently looking up this question during some time 
 spent in the neighborhood in which I took every occasion 
 to question ex-Confederates, I found that very many promi- 
 nent Confederates were of the opinion that the shots that 
 wounded their favorite general came from the Union 
 advance, or skirmishers that were in the woods in Jack- 
 son's front at that time. I regret that I am prohibited 
 from giving the names of some of the Confederates who 
 entertain this opinion. They naturally dislike to be quoted 
 publicly as antagonizing a popular delusion, that so many 
 of their people innocently cherish. A member of Mum- 
 ford's Ninth Virginia Cavalry who was on duty on the 
 advance of the Confederate line and saw Jackson go out 
 near his post, voluntarily observed: "Jackson was shot by 
 a fire from the woods in my front, and not from our own 
 line. We were on advance picket post in front of North 
 Carolina troops and if the fire had come from them, we 
 should have received it." This is from a well-to-do farmer 
 and a reliable gentleman living in Stafford county, Va. This 
 universal testimony from Confederates only, and all of a 
 prominent character, is offered in these War-path papers 
 as serving to correct another historical error. It may be 
 established by this agitation from what regiment or what 
 detail of skirmishers of the Federal troops these shots 
 were fired. It is clearly shown that the Union troops 
 farthest in advance in the woods, a quarter of a mile 
 directly in front of the Chancellor House, and on the same
 
 176 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 side of the road but back in the woods some distance, 
 fired the volley that deprived the Confederate Army of 
 their greatest chieftain. It may be termed the fatal shot 
 or death-wound of the Rebellion. After Jackson's death, 
 the Army of Northern Virginia never again won a battle. 
 General Lee took them to Gettysburg and Grant subse- 
 quently fought them on nearly this same ground, at the 
 Wilderness and where Sedgwick was killed, and a com- 
 panion monument to this glorious Union General rests in 
 the shadows of those solemn woods. 
 
 Dr. Smith kindly piloted me over the ground occupied 
 by the Confederates during the battle of Chancellorsville, 
 from Salem Church to the forks of the road, where Generals 
 Lee and Jackson held their last counsel, in which was 
 arranged the hazardous flank movement of Jackson's, 
 which resulted in successfully routing the lllh Corps. 
 A question arising amongst the gentlemen of the Confed- 
 erate Monument committee then present as to the dis- 
 tance Jackson's troops were compelled to march to get 
 around Hooker, Dr. Smith thought it less than ten miles, 
 but he was an aide and had a good horse to do his march- 
 ing for him; while Captain Lai Taliaferro, then a Lieuten- 
 ant of the Forty-seventh Infantry of Jackson's Corps, 
 tramped the ground and is positive they marched fully 
 fifteen miles. Dr. Smith's story of this last bivouac of 
 Generals Lee and Jackson, as related to me while we were 
 together on the very ground they occupied, was very 
 interesting. " I was acting as chief of couriers at the 
 time," the Doctor said, as he jumped out of his buggy, 
 " and if you will step over this way we will stand under the
 
 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 177 
 
 identical trees where I found Generals Lee and Jackson 
 sitting on the two boxes, talking earnestly to each other, 
 the light of the little fire beside them weirdly illumining 
 their faces so that none of those who witnessed that scene 
 can ever forget it." 
 
 " Doctor, did General Lee originate the flank move- 
 ment ? " 
 
 Looking significantly and smilingly at Captain Chan- 
 cellor and the other gentlemen present, he replied: " That 
 is a disputed question, and I do not care to give my 
 opinion; but it is thought the evidence bears strongest in 
 favor of Jackson, as you will remember General Lee, in 
 his note to Jackson, received after his wound, gave him 
 the credit for the victory." 
 
 The Doctor, walking toward the road, pointing to 
 a woods on the right, continued : " There was a battery 
 of yours down there some place that kept up a desultory 
 shelling all day. It annoyed General Jackson strangely; 
 for some reason he kept sending his aides out, as fast as 
 they reported to him, to locate it. It fell to my lot to ride 
 over into the thicket to try to find out where those shells 
 came from; but on account of the density of the growth I 
 could not get through there, so I rode around to the other 
 road, and it so happened that I did not get back until late 
 that night. It was then that I found the two Generals 
 under the trees there in private consultation; I did not 
 intrude myself; being very tired, I lay down for a little 
 rest, intending to report to Jackson when he had separated 
 from Lee. I soon fell asleep, and when I awoke the 
 apparition of the two Generals had disappeared, as if I 
 had dreamed it as I slept there.
 
 ITS ON" THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 "I roused myself, looked about me, but could not see 
 Jackson; finding upon inquiry that he was lying down 
 near by, I quietly crept up to him, not desiring to dis- 
 turb him if asleep. I found him lying on a blanket, his 
 head resting on a saddle. My approach seemed to rouse 
 him, and, noticing him move, I spoke gently, simply 
 announcing my return. Calling me up to him," and here 
 the Doctor's eyes filled with tears, his voice tremulous 
 with emotion as he continued: "the General bade me 
 sit down by him, putting his arms about me, and drawing 
 me to him, as if I were his own boy, he said, kindly: ' It's 
 too bad that all you boys allowed that battery to annoy 
 your old General so much.' lie asked a few questions as 
 to my work during the evening, and in a most feeling 
 manner, bade me good-night, without saying a word of 
 to-morrow. I left him and lay down myself near by, 
 sleeping soundly until awakened late in the morning by 
 the clinking and clattering of canteens and arms, and the 
 hushed voices of the troops of Jackson's Corps, who were 
 filing down this furnace road to the left, on their way to 
 the great flank attack that was soon to be delivered on the 
 rear of the 11 th Corps. General Jackson had disap- 
 peared, and when I next saw him it was after he was 
 wounded." 
 
 I could not help thinking to myself that the services 
 of one good scout, that Hooker so indifferently regarded, 
 could easily have discovered and reported that stragetjc 
 movement in time to have prevented the disaster that fol- 
 lowed. I do not mention it egotistically, but it has often 
 occurred to me that the neglected scout has done service
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 179 
 
 alone equal to that of an army corps, the generals appro- 
 priating all the credit, as clue to their '-strategy." This 
 re-opening of the wounds, in discussing the manner of 
 Jackson's death is not agreeable; it is prompted by a very 
 general interest in that distinguished Confederate chief- 
 tain, whom General Grant has referred to as the " Have- 
 lock of the Confederacy." Perhaps a better comparison 
 may be made with the late English General Gordon. For 
 some unaccountable reason the Southern people generally, 
 and of course their historians, prefer to have the statement 
 remain undisputed that Jackson was killed by accidental 
 fire from his own troops. The significant feature about 
 any attempted discussion of Jackson's death, is that, with 
 singular unanimity, the intelligent Confederates desire to 
 avoid any agitation of this matter. This over-cautious 
 manner impressed itself so strikingly on my mind, that it 
 served to arouse my curiosity, and I began to wonder if 
 there might be anything to conceal on the part of Con- 
 federates about the death of their great chieftain. 
 
 During a stay of some six weeks in Fredericksburg, I 
 came in pleasant contact with a number of ex-Confeder- 
 ates, and I took every occasion to broach the subject, and 
 nearly all conversation tended to corroborate the state- 
 ment of the fatal shot having come from the Fed- 
 erals. In a word, the testimony of Confederates may be 
 summed up as follows: " I wouldn't for the world have 
 any one know that I said so, but, confidentially, I always 
 believed that Jackson was killed by your men." There 
 are many Virginians, of course, who doggedly insist that 
 the North Carolinians killed their general because he had
 
 180 ON THE WAK-FATH. 
 
 ordered them to fire on any one coining to their front. My 
 breath was almost taken by the surprise occasioned upon 
 receiving instructions as a newspaper scout to investigate 
 some rumors that " Stonewall" Jackson committed suicide 
 by deliberately placing himself between the two fires, in 
 the manner already described. This was a new idea. The 
 question is an important one in some respects. It will be 
 seen that historians have been in error as to the manner 
 of Jackson's death. There seems, therefore, a possibility 
 for the suspicion that the cause of his death may not yet have 
 been properly explained. I wish it distinctly understood 
 that, in recording this matter, I am in no sense ventilat- 
 ing my own personal opinions, nor flying any decisions. 
 As a matter of fact, I am strongly prejudiced against the 
 theory of Jackson having wilfully and deliberately courted 
 death. All know that Jackson was a conscientious and 
 devout Christian believer, yea, almost a religious fanatic, 
 and no one will for a moment believe that he would, with 
 his own hand, have committed such an act. I desire to 
 present some facts wholly from Confederate sources of a 
 most reliable character, so that each may form his own 
 conclusions. The first question that naturally arises in 
 the mind of everyone will be as to the motive that would 
 induce a popular and successful general to commit such 
 an act. 
 
 There is a great deal of the inside history of the Con- 
 federate States that has not been permitted to come to 
 light. They were not a band of brothers fighting for their 
 homes during the war though they are "solid" for each 
 other since but had pretty much of the same sort of bick-
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 181 
 
 erings, intrigues and jealousies amongst themselves that 
 were popularly supposed to exist only in our armies, or 
 between the army and the War Department. Jefferson 
 Davis and his Jewish Secretary of War were probably as 
 severe in some directions as was Mr. Stanton. It is pretty 
 well known that there was a great deal of friction and bit- 
 ter personal feeling between the extreme Southern soldiers 
 and Virginia "Yankees," as they termed Virginia Confed- 
 erates. This was intensified among the higher army 
 officers. There was great jealousy on the part of some dis- 
 tinguished Georgia generals regarding the Virginia gen- 
 erals, and especially " Stonewall" Jackson. When in Rich- 
 mond I saw an autograph letter from "Stonewall" Jackson, 
 addressed to Governor Letcher, of Virginia, asking yes, 
 demanding to be relieved of his command and returned 
 to the Virginia Military Institute. 
 
 A satisfactory explanation of Jackson's putting him- 
 self deliberately between two fires on a dark night has not 
 yet been given, except upon the impossible hypothesis that 
 he did not know what he was about. It may be asked if 
 he courted death, why did he not satisfy himself at the 
 head of his troops leading a charge? The answer would be 
 that he would shrink from such an attempt to dramatically 
 end his military career, besides his conscientious scruples 
 would not permit him to slaughter any of his own men in 
 such a vain attempt at seeking glory for himself. 
 
 Another feature not fairly understood is that Jackson's 
 wounds were not necessarily fatal. He received two shots 
 on one arm and a slight flesh wound on the hand of the 
 other arm. That was all. He did not die from the effects
 
 182 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 of his -wounds, but against the well-known advice of Ids 
 surgeon ; and in the absence of the latter, he again deliber- 
 ately exposed himself to almost certain death, aggravating 
 his condition by compelling a negro servant to wet a 
 blanket in cold water and lay it'over him. This deliberate 
 act was more fatal than the wounds received by his former 
 exposure, and caused his death from pleurisy. It is said 
 he was semi-conscious shortly before his death ; Dr. 
 Smith, who was with him, reports his last words: "Let us 
 cross over the river and rest under those trees." 
 
 As indicating some of Gen. Jackson's movements imme- 
 diately preceding his death, I will quote only the observa- 
 tions of distinguished Confederates. Perhaps one of the 
 most popular citizens of Spottsylvania Co., Va., is Mr. 
 John Ilayden, familiarly known in that county as "Uncle 
 Jack." He is a well-to-do old Virginia farmer, whose 
 jolly greeting and hearty welcome to Federal visitors to 
 Fredericksburg has endeared him to many of the Yankees, 
 as he still calls everybody who hails from north of Mason 
 and Dixon's line. He is one of the most interesting war 
 relics and valuable witnesses in the discussion of war 
 matters occurring in this vicinity. It was on his farm, 
 located on the south side of United States ford, that our 
 army bivouaced, after crossing the Rappahannock. His 
 name has not heretofore appeared in any of the histories 
 of the war, but it is doubtful if any one person, outside of 
 Lee and Jackson themselves, bore so important a part in 
 the movement that brought about our defeat at Chancellors- 
 ville, as did Uncle Jack. He was Jackson's guide, as well 
 as the trusted pilot of General Lee. He was born and
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 183 
 
 raised on the farm adjoining Chancellorsville, and us he 
 says in reply to a question as to his familiarity with the 
 country: "Yes, sah, when I was a boy I hunted deer in 
 them woods, and I know every hog path in the country." 
 He is one of those old-fashioned, honest-speaking men 
 whose blunt, straight-forward words would tell before a 
 jury. When I jokingly observed before a crowd of Fed- 
 eral visitors that it was his fault that we were whipped at 
 Chancellorsville, because he showed Jackson around the 
 back way and caught the llth Corps napping, and sug- 
 gested to some of the boys that he ought to be hung yet 
 for it, he thumped me on the shoulders, spread his legs, 
 and protruded his bay-window belly: " I have done the very 
 best I could, sah, agin you all, but we didn't catch you 
 all napping ; they was cooking dinner ; they had their 
 guns all pointed the other way, so we went in the back 
 gate, sah." When I threatened to put his photograph in 
 a book with an account of his being the man who stam- 
 peded the llth Ccrps and was responsible for killing so 
 many Yankees, he retorted with emphasis : " I never killed 
 nary a one, they all run away, but I will kill one if you tell 
 any Yankee lies on me in a book; now, sah, jist you mind 
 that." Uncle Jack says of Jackson the day preceding the 
 battle : 
 
 " General Jackson sent for me that mawning and when 
 I got to his tent he was off some place but had left orders 
 for me to wait. The little man never forgot his engage- 
 ments. " 
 
 "Was Jackson little? Why, I always thought him a 
 big, lank man. "
 
 184 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 " Well, you Yankees all thought him a giant, I reckon, 
 but he was no bigger than you are, and you are a mighty 
 trifling-looking Yankee too. "Well, when the General 
 came back I was surprised to see him all dressed up in his 
 full uniform. I had seen Jackson often, but this is the only 
 time that I ever saw him wearing his full uniform, and I 
 thought it mighty queer, and some of the rest of them 
 was talking about something going to happen. He told 
 me he wanted me to watch that ford by the road, and to 
 be sure and report to him if the enemy made an appear- 
 ance at a certain point. lie then asked me how many cav- 
 alrymen I wanted to carry the news. I told him two would 
 do. <Xo,' he says, ' I want you to send two couriers,' 
 as he called them, 'every hour to report direct to me. I 
 will give you twelve men subject to your orders,' and he 
 did. After the General had finished his talking to me I 
 turned to come away, but I began to think it so queer 
 about his being all dressed up that way that I turned back 
 and said to him in a familiar plain way something I 
 would never have thought of doing if I had not been sort 
 of impressed by his appearance: 'General Jackson, you 
 have given me my orders and now I am going to give you 
 yours.' He was just getting on his horse and had one 
 boot in the stirrup. He looked sort of funny at me as he 
 put his foot down and turned to me, expecting, I reckon, 
 that I had something important to say. I was scared, but 
 bound to go ahead, and said simply, but I reckon he saw 
 I meant it kindly: 'General, you must take care of your- 
 self to-day.' He reached out his hand and thanked me 
 without saying another W9rd, and in a moment more was
 
 ON THE 'WAR-PATH. 185 
 
 on his horse and rode off, and I never saw him again. I 
 always thought he knew he was going to die then. " Mr. 
 Harden is a man of unimpeachable character, who is easily 
 accessible to the visitors toFredericksburg, and will confirm 
 this statement and perhaps give further interesting infor- 
 mation about Jackson's last battle. I may be permitted, 
 as a Union scout, to observe here, that to the Confederate 
 scouts and guides and they were numerous and zealous 
 is due much of the glory achieved by Lee and Jackson on 
 Virginia soil. This one man was as valuable as an army 
 corps of observation. All their natives became guides and 
 scouts and worked in comparative security in their own 
 country. As a Union scout, I, for one, worked alone 
 among strangers in a strange land and among enemies. 
 
 I cannot close this lecture on " Stonewall " Jackson, 
 without submitting the testimony of another distinguished 
 ex-Confederate, bearing on Jackson's earlier views of his 
 own end and that of the war. Professor E. S. Dabney, of 
 the University of Texas at Austin, says: "During the 
 Valley campaign and that around Richmond in 1862 I was 
 General Jackson's Chief -of-staff. His prudent reserve was 
 noted; it was such that he never disclosed anything of his 
 own military designs except the necessary orders to his 
 Chief-of-staff, or even to his Major-General next in com- 
 mand, and he was chary of expressing to them his thoughts 
 on the general conduct of the war. I was selected, not 
 by myself not having taken up the faintest idea of such 
 an attempt but by General Jackson's family, to write his 
 biography. I sought the help of all suitable documents 
 which the family possessed. All help which was allowed
 
 18G ON' THE WAK-PATII. 
 
 me I employed diligently and faithfully. It scarcely 
 need be said that I am not responsible for such as were 
 withheld. On the 18th day of May, 18G2, I was riding 
 alone with the General along the valley of Mossy Creek in 
 Augusta county, to visit the bivouac of the famous 
 Twelfth Georgia regiment in our front. He was, Avhat 
 was rare witli him, in the mood to converse with me. Our 
 thoughts traveled naturally npon the prospect of our 
 struggle. Encouraged by him, I expressed my own con- 
 clusions with the unreserve perhaps of indiscretion of 
 one of those citizen soldiers whom Jackson thought so 
 well of; I said that the manner adopted by the Confeder- 
 ate government for conducting the war, filled me with 
 apprehension. The Government, dominated by the tech- 
 nicalities of We.st Point and of professional soldiering, 
 seemed to forget what was needed in a revolutionary war 
 such as ours. They were relying npon routine methods 
 good for standing mercenary armies,, but inappropriate to 
 our circumstances. In this species of tactics the ene- 
 my's superior numbers and riches, backed by Europe, 
 would in the end beat us. The longer the catastrophe of 
 war was delayed the more we should lose of the martial 
 spirit of our gentry and yoemanry; mere drill carried to 
 completeness would replace their clan; that a defensive 
 war would be sure to wear us out and crush us in the end. 
 He replied by reminding me of how much had been done 
 by the Confederate government in the first year in creat- 
 ing resources and armies, spoke of the victories already 
 gained, hopefully, and of the kindness of the good Provi- 
 dence in which he believed. I proceeded to further argue
 
 ON" THE WAR-PATH. 187 
 
 my apprehensions, when he turned himself toward me in 
 the saddle and said with a smile, more sad than cheerful: 
 ' Stop, Major Dabney, you make me low spirited.' I of 
 course ceased, with an apology for my insistance. After 
 riding in silence for twenty paces he said with an air and 
 atone of profound seriousness: 'Well, I do not profess 
 any romantic sentiments as to the vanity of life. Cer- 
 tainly no man has more that should make life dear to him 
 than I have in the relations and affection of my home, 
 but I do not desire to survive the independence of my 
 country/"
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 r*E will drive into Washington via Manassas. 
 
 ffi 
 
 The trains coming up from the South sev- 
 eral times a day would take us direct from 
 Fredericksburg to Washington in less than two hours, but 
 we shall be all day on the road. It will be remembered 
 that during the war, and for some years subsequent, the 
 railroad only extended to the Potomac ten or twelve miles 
 beyond, where transfers were made to the boats, at Aquia 
 creek. 
 
 Now, the abandoned roadbed from Brooks Station to 
 Aquia is used as a wagon road. Nearly all the soldiers 
 were camped convenient to this line of road, upon which 
 we depended for supplies; and, by the way, in all the vo- 
 luminous war literature, scarcely any mention is made of 
 the military railroaders, one of the most important auxil- 
 iaries to the armies. The value of their services in con- 
 nection with our military movements is indisputable. But 
 there is no record in the archives of the country of their 
 indispensable aid, except, perhaps, such as may be found 
 occasionally in the beggarly mention in the official reports 
 of the generals who profited by the hard-working and ever- 
 faithful civilian railroader. 
 
 These gentlemen do not even have the satisfaction of 
 having their names on record with those who served their 
 country in time of need. 
 
 As a rule, the survivors of the military railroaders and 
 
 188
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 189 
 
 telegraphers have become gentlemen of prominence since 
 the war, and, in a large manner, represent the officials of 
 the two great interests, i. e., railroads and telegraphs. 
 Indeed, to attempt to name them would be like reproduc- 
 ing an official railway and telegraph directory. 
 
 There is probably not a railroad or telegraph company 
 that does not contain on its roll of employes some of these 
 war workers. If an engineer, conductor, brakeman or 
 bridge-builder is occasionally met whose head is silvered 
 with gray, it is pretty safe to assume that he served on 
 some of the military railways during the war. 
 
 If you question such an "old man,"it is probable that 
 he can tell you more correctly about the movements in the 
 field of certain troops than the soldiers who served in the 
 ranks. 
 
 He will tell you that they rebuilt the roads as fast as 
 the enemy destroyed them. 
 
 It is a truth well known to soldiers in the field that 
 the whistle of a locomotive was one of the most agreeable 
 "sounds from home" it either brought us more rein- 
 forcements, letters, s. o. b., or perhaps carried off the 
 dead. 
 
 It should be remembered that the very first persons to re- 
 spond to the call of Mr. Lincoln was not the Massachusetts 
 regiment, as is stated in history, but Col. Thomas A. Scott, 
 of the Pennsylvania railroad, with his corps of railroaders, 
 who rebuilt the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, which had 
 been destroyed by the Eebels, and operated it, as a govern- 
 ment institution, upon which were carried, not only the 
 first, but all the troops that came to Washington. These
 
 100 OX TIIK WAR-PATH. 
 
 gentlemen arc not eligible to comradeship in the ft. A. ft., 
 they are not accorded even associate or honory membership 
 in that organization as arc Women's Relief Corps, etc. ; 
 while mule-whackers, hospital pimps, servants, etc., who 
 happened to be sworn in some place, so they would be en- 
 titled to bounty or substitute money, may become leaders 
 in the G. A. II. But my purpose is not to discuss the 
 question here, simply desiring to call attention to the neg- 
 lect. Wonder grows into amazement that such continuous 
 service during all the trying times of the war, night and 
 day, cold or wet, of these men, often working in the front 
 and under fire, should have been so long unrecognized. 
 "Are Republics ungrateful?" 
 
 Our route takes us through Falmouth, which, by the 
 way, looks precisely as old and dilapidated as during the 
 war. This i^ one of the earliest Virginia settlements, was 
 at one time a port of entry at the head of navigation, just 
 below the falls of the Rappahannock. Vessels of consider- 
 able draught were here loaded with tobacco which was the 
 staple crop of this section. 
 
 Every one who has traveled this road will remember 
 the hill just back of Falmouth, from which the first view 
 is had of the distant steeples of Fredericksburg, and the 
 Marye's Heights in the background. 
 
 Certainly none of the survivors of the army who 
 marched along this road with Burnsideon that dreary No- 
 vember morning of 18G3 will forget the scene. 
 
 I will not attempt a pen description of it. On this 
 buggy ride, I was accompanied by an accomplished young 
 artist, Mr. Willie Hazard, of Fredericksburg, who
 
 Otf THE AVAR-PATH. 191 
 
 "sketched'* points as I desired, with pencil, while I 
 ''sketched" others by taking observations through the 
 lens of my camera. I believe that I have already confessed 
 to being an amature photo crank. 
 
 From this point we obtained several fine views that 
 almost any soldier who has been there will recognize. It 
 was the original purpose to include these sketches as illus- 
 trations; but, finding it impracticable, from their great 
 number and variety, I have collected them into a portfolio 
 or sketch-book of War-path views. If any member of the 
 club should desire any of these, they can be supplied sep- 
 arately. 
 
 The morning of our departure for Gettysburg happened 
 to occur on the same date on which the Headquarters 
 Army of the Potomac started, when this country was a 
 quarter of a century younger. I rode on that occasion 
 with the staff, and in this drive endeavored to follow, if 
 possible, precisely the same path we traveled then over 
 which I am now attempting to act as your guide. 
 
 As long as we kept to the public highway it was plain 
 sailing; but in attempting to find short cuts to Germania, 
 United States, Beverly, and other once-familiar fords on 
 the Upper Rappahannock, we invariably got lost and 
 became tangled up, under our feet as well as in our 
 recollection, by the new and almost dense growth of your>g 
 pines and scrub oak which has sprung up to replace that 
 which our troops cut down for corduroy roads, fuel, or, 
 perhaps, as a clearing for artillery. The oldest inhabitant 
 of Prince William and Stafford, which are the counties we 
 are now traversing, account for the general poverty of the
 
 192 OK THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 soil as well as that of the very few farmers that occupy it, 
 by the explanation that the early cultivation of tobacco in 
 this section robbed it of its strength. The weed was 
 extensively raised in all this region as long ago as fifty 
 years to the exclusion of most everything else. 
 
 Slaves were, of coiirse, the only labor employed, and it 
 is said that the vessels that ascended the llappahaunock to 
 Falmouth, or the Potomac to Dunfries and Alexandria, 
 brought all the supplies for these plantations and took off 
 the entire product. Nothing being done to fertilize or 
 feed the soil, it was, when exhausted, abandoned and new 
 fields opened up, which, by the Avay, is "looking back- 
 ward" to the days of free trade. 
 
 Wherever pine or cedar trees are growing now is said to 
 indicate that the ground so covered was at one time a 
 tobacco plantation. So that it will be seen that the cav- 
 aliers themselves first outraged the virgin soil of fair Vir- 
 ginia that has since been devastated by the tread of the 
 armies. 
 
 Slavery and tobacco were the greater curse. An old 
 soldier whom I met walking disconsolately over the 
 Stafford hills, looking around as if he were hunting some 
 landmarks or stakes, pointed to what looked as if it might 
 have once been a cellar under a log house, told this story 
 about it: "No, it's not a cellar, but it was once intended 
 as a powder magazine or a storehouse for ammunition for 
 the reserve artillery packed down there. 
 
 " It was a sort of dug-out on the hillside, lined with 
 logs and roofed with the same; over this was thrown about 
 a foot of dirt, then sodded; a little box pipe about four by
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 193 
 
 six, looking like a chimney, was run through as a ventila- 
 tor. At one gable was the entrance, protected by two 
 heavy doors, allowing a sort of vestibule between them. 
 These were, of course, strongly barred and locked. The 
 whole affair was as strong as logs and earthwork could make 
 it, not only fire-proof, but bomb-proof, and supposed to be 
 burglar-proof and soldier-proof, yet I can prove to you that 
 a couple of us gota barrel of whisky out of it one night with- 
 out opening the doors at all." This looks like an interesting 
 puzzle that I'd like the club to propound to any old soldier 
 who ever saw abomb-proof. "Well/' he continued, f 'they 
 found it was too damp for the storage of ammunition, so 
 permission was given to the head sutler to use it as a 
 storehouse for his supplies. You know the boys would 
 steal from the sutlers; in fact, they would openly raid 
 them for whisky, and it was thought this bomb-proof 
 would be an absolute protection, with its long roofs and 
 double doors and locks and bolts. Well, one day a couple of 
 us were helping the sutler to store his goods in here; 
 among the rest was a barrel of whisky, branded 'vinegar.' 
 We were wild for a chance at that 'vinegar' barrel; but, 
 of course, it seemed like barring us out forever to have it 
 rolled in to this cave; we knew the officers would soon use 
 it up. There being no light at all, except from the open 
 door, the little hole through the ventilator significantly 
 cast a ray of light, and at the same time of hope, by its 
 little reflection on the ground below. It gave me an idea. 
 Without even telling my chums that I had been struck by 
 an idea, I managed in the general handling of the stuff to 
 have that barrel of vinegar set on end over the spot where
 
 194 ON THE VVAR- 
 
 the light was shown and directly under the little ventila- 
 tor. When we finished our work, the doors were both 
 closed, locked and bolted, and the boss sutler put the key 
 in his pocket, went off with a feeling of perfect confidence 
 in the safety of his goods. 
 
 " The * idea/ however, began to work on me; and, at the 
 first opportunity, I explained my plan of attack to two or 
 three comrades. We got a piece of light rope, and stole 
 an elongated rifled eight-pound shell from the ammunition 
 chest. The rope was tied to it like a sinker, so that the 
 percussion cap faced up. 
 
 "After dark one of the boys was put on guard to pre- 
 vent a surprise, another climbed to the apex of the little 
 mound of a roof, knocked off the broad cap over the ven- 
 tilator, let down his shell as a feeler for the barrel and 
 being satisfied that it was plumb under him, it was drawn 
 to the top again and dropped onto the head of the barrel of 
 vinegar." 
 
 "Great Scott, "said I, "What if the percussion end 
 had gone down first?" 
 
 "Why, it was a bomb-proof, wasn't it? " 
 
 That was so. 
 
 " Well, we let that thing pound away till finally she 
 went through the head, into the vinecjar Then the shell 
 was withdrawn and in its place we substituted a big horse 
 sponge; to the bottom of this we loaded some small shot, 
 as sinkers; this was let down into the vinegar, drawn up 
 and squeezed out into a bucket, and so on till we got so 
 drunk that it was given away, and others got onto it; so 
 the whisky was extracted from that barrel without open-
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 195 
 
 ing the door. If the boys had not become so hilarious, 
 they.never would have found out how it was done, either." 
 
 It would be difficult to find in Virginia a more unin- 
 teresting and tiresome drive than that which we are 
 following, over what is termed the "hill-road," between 
 Falmouth and Manassas. The country is poor in every 
 respect, sparsely populated by a class of small farmers that 
 the traveler might imagine to be the remnants of what we 
 have heard the Southern people call, "Poor "Whites." 
 The few fences and buildings show a neglected, almost 
 abandoned, appearance; no attempt is made to keep the 
 roads in repair, as there is but little use of it, the people 
 seldom going away from their homes, as we judged by 
 their general ignorance as to where the roads that passed 
 their doors led. No correct idea of distance could be 
 gained by inquiries, as we soon learned by the contra- 
 dictory answers we received. We amused ourselves, how- 
 ever, by interviewing every person we came across, as to the 
 distance to Manassas, merely as a study of the effects such 
 isolation might show on the minds of the different types 
 of character we encountered. In not a single instance did 
 any two of a large number we questioned, agree, the 
 differences in most instances being so great as to stagger a 
 stranger not familiar with their primitive methods of 
 computing distances from other worlds they have heard of. 
 
 In bad weather the roads become almost impassable, so 
 that, in one sense, the length of a journey depended on the 
 time of the year it was begun. 
 
 The old soldiers who footed it along here during all 
 seasons and sleeping in pup-tents at night, and for days
 
 190 ON" THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 carrying in their haversacks an assortment of family 
 groceries in the shape of four days' rations, and on their 
 shoulders a gun that would get as heavy as a cannon, 
 retain a lively recollection of the cohesive tendency of this 
 sacred soil. Those were times that tried men's "soles." 
 
 The Virginia mud was as great a factor in the favor of 
 the Confederates as an army corps, they being on the 
 defensive remained comparatively passive, while we were 
 obliged to make all the movements. It is well-known 
 that many golden opportunities were lost because of the 
 mud that held us fast in its miry ' grip, or made the 
 attempted movement so difficult that they were easily in 
 position to check-mate it. 
 
 Not even the " Army of Observation " of Lee, com- 
 prising the numerous men, women and children, amongst 
 whom we lived and moved and had our being, were more 
 beneficial to the Confederates than the tenacious Virginia 
 mud. Burnside's stick-in-the-mud campaign is only one 
 instance of its efficiency. 
 
 My artist companion succeeded in "catching" on his 
 sketch-book several "types," but these represent your 
 guide as interlocutor in such ludicrous poses that they are 
 not offered for exhibition, though very funny. 
 
 Like most artists, Mr. Hazard sang well; after I dis- 
 covered this accomplishment, the remainder of the tire- 
 some journey was made pleasant. We sang not only " the 
 songs we used to sing," but I believe we tried everything 
 that we had ever heard. 
 
 Our repertoire was quite extensive; the free matinee 
 the country people along the road had that day no doubt
 
 O^T THE WAR-PATH. 197 
 
 astonished them. We made Rome howl sure enough, our 
 only audience the lonely trees and the old hills which 
 indeed applauded us to the very echo. 
 
 Probably there is nothing that will so quickly awaken 
 the bitter sweet memories of old soldiers, that now slum- 
 ber, as to hear some of the old songs at such a place. 
 I wish I might put the scene before you while the ladies 
 sing 
 
 " How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start 
 When memory plays an old tune on the heart." 
 
 In these latter days an immense deal of "war music" 
 is thrust upon an uudiscriminating public at the G. A. R. 
 gatherings and reunions, as if patriotic army songs" that we 
 used to sing. No person can appreciate music of all kinds 
 more than myself; but the insufferable "rot " dealt out to 
 veterans in the shape of war poetry set to music, is calcu- 
 lated to spoil even an appetite for the " army bean" song. 
 There are any number of so-called battle hymns, and the 
 " flag" is smeared all over with doggerel. I would like to 
 ask any genuine soldier if he ever heard a battle song at 
 the front. I am sure that I never did, though we listened 
 to a great deal of really fine music from gifted comrades in 
 camp or on the march. . 
 
 The recollected music of those unforgotten days was 
 not generally of the patriotic character one would imagine 
 from the slush we hear now-a-days. It was rather comic 
 than sad, and of a sentimental character not at all patri- 
 otic. The music most familiar to the old soldier was the 
 love songs of that day.
 
 198 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 " We sang of love, and not of fame. 
 
 Forgot our country's glory; 
 Each heart recalled a different name, 
 But we all sang ' Annie Laurie.' 
 
 " Voice after voice took up the strain, 
 
 Until its tender passion 
 Rolled like an anthem o'er the plain 
 Our battle-eve confession." 
 
 " Mother, is the Battle Over?" seems like a parody to 
 me, and I am sure the person who wrote "Let me Kiss 
 Him for his Mother" never saw a dead soldier, or he would 
 never have expressed any such desire in poetry and music. 
 
 "When this Cruel War is Over" was a popular song in 
 camp; while "John Brown's Body" was sung by the Zoo Zoo 
 regiments, as we used to call zouaves on their fancy parade, 
 when they first came out. 
 
 In camp, lying upon the frozen ground or snow, 
 wrapped in a blanket, looking through the leafless trees at 
 a clear sky and a Southern moon, knowing that an army of 
 Rebels were our bed-fellows, and not knowing what to-mor- 
 row would bring forth, is a realistic as well as an ellective 
 scene for a stage setting; a manly voice ringing out from a 
 blanket the air and words of that beautiful old song, 
 " Ever of thee fondly I'm dreaming." Many that listened 
 to it dreamed, perhaps, for the last time, of the "gentle 
 voice." The tones had scarcely died away, when the bass 
 voice of a soldier who, though some distance off, had heard 
 the other song broke the heavy stillness that followed by 
 responding with that other pretty old war song, "Xo one 
 to love, none to caress," another song, " Mary of Argyle," 
 and so on through the list of the old songs, that are yet 
 more sweet to the veteran than the new ones.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 199 
 
 I knew a staff officer to be shot from his horse by 
 guerillas, which infested this country during the war, 
 while riding along leisurely and in supposed security sing- 
 ing " Happy, happy be thy dreams." 
 
 We became so much infatuated with our own music 
 that we let the old horse have his own way, and followed 
 the "main road "until we "found" ourselves " lost " in 
 a pine woods. Because of our unsatisfactory experience 
 with the natives in getting directions, we had determined 
 not to ask another question, but,, hoping we were right, 
 we would go ahead and trust to luck and the horse's legs 
 to get us "some place" before night. We had serenaded 
 several houses as we passed along, without halting for the 
 usual quizzing. It was getting late in the afternoon when, 
 coming up to a house where I had espied a young lady, I 
 thought it advisable to jump out and make some inquiries 
 as to the road. Saying to my companion, "I'll bet a 
 dollar they send us off our road," I lifted my hat in the 
 most approved dudish style, smiled a seductive smile, and, 
 in a voice full of tenderness and beer, asked the distance 
 to Manassas. " It's about twenty miles from here, sah," 
 said she. It was but twenty-seven when we started, and 
 we had been going steadily nearly all day, but I thought 
 the Virginia miles awfully long, and made some observa- 
 tion to this effect; but, my companion being a famous 
 lady's man, discovering me in conversation with a lady, at 
 once jumped from the buggy to get a drink of water, as 
 he said. His black hair and pretty brown eyes so attracted 
 the attention of the lady, no reply was made to me. Just 
 then we were further embarrassed by the old horse walking
 
 200 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 off, and as it was Hazard's fault and his legs were the 
 longest, he hud the race, while we laughed. 
 
 The fun was spoiled, however, by the intelligence sub- 
 sequently gained that we had been singing along the wrong 
 road all afternoon, and were at that time nearer to Mount 
 Vernon on the Potomac than we were to Manassas. Instead 
 of keeping almost due north, we had veered over to the 
 right and left the Manassas road. 
 
 Hazard wanted to stop right there all night, but I was 
 determined to get to the battle-field. After some confus- 
 ing directions, we started back on a short-cut road through 
 pine woods, that had been made by men hauling ties out. 
 It was not intended for a top-buggy at all, and we were in 
 such a hurry to get on to the battle-field that we could not 
 prevent the overhanging limbs from tearing the top of the 
 buggy. 
 
 About sundown we came to an opening that gave us a 
 beautiful view in the distance of the Bull Run Mountains, 
 outlining Thoroughfare Gap, that I at once recognized. 
 Driving along rapidly we reached Catlitt's Station, which 
 will be remembered by the old soldiers; this was not the 
 poiiit we intended to reach, we were yet quite a ways from 
 Manassas, but we felt, in getting near a railroad track once 
 more, we were at least within the bounds of civilization. 
 
 We got a view of Catlitt's precisely as it looked during 
 the war, as also a sketch of the point where " Jeb " Stuart 
 captured John Pope's headquarters camp. It will' be 
 remembered his headquarters were supposed to be in the 
 saddle, yet the Rebs, soon after he issued this order, came 
 into posession of his real headquarters, tents, camp and 
 garrison equipage, as well as some important papers.
 
 ON TIIE WAR-PATH. 201 
 
 Through this neighborhood there are some fairly good 
 farming lands and our ears were made glad by the busy 
 hum of the mowing machines and the occasional whistle 
 of the locomotive. 
 
 General Grant advanced along this line to the Rapidan, 
 and here again the services of the railroaders were brought 
 into requisition, the railroads being operated by them 
 from Alexandria, along which were transported all the 
 supplies for Grant's immense army. 
 
 When it is remembered that this is the region infested 
 by Mosby's guerillas, the services will be more highly ap- 
 preciated. Of course military protection was offered, but 
 one who has gone into a country through which an army 
 has passed, will understand that this rear with its light 
 protection was more dangerous than the front, guerillas 
 being so very uncertain, both as to their first movements 
 and their subsequent methods. 
 
 We hugged the railroad tracks as closely in this drive 
 as we would have done when Mosby was around, passing 
 over much historic ground after dark, reaching the hotel 
 at Manassas about midnight. 
 
 When we had explained our route to the landlord, he 
 observed that we had traveled about 60 miles since morn- 
 ing and he thought the horse needed a rest; he didn't 
 express any sympathy for the two tired travelers. We 
 went to bed supperless and very hungry. 
 
 There is much of interest about this part of the coun- 
 try. The railroad leading from Alexandria through 
 IVIanassas, on to the valley of Virginia, over the Rapid an, 
 Brandy Station, etc., is, in a way, another and a distinct 
 war-track that crosses our war-path at right angles.
 
 202 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 I should love to take the club along its historic route 
 to Brandy Station the great cavalry battle-field of the 
 war or guide you over Stoneman's great cavalry raid to 
 the very gates of Richmond. Perhaps at another time we 
 may be able to make such a trip, following Grant's path 
 into Richmond, via Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Har- 
 bor and Petersburg to Apporaattox. 
 
 Manassas lias been so very thoroughly described that 
 we can mark it off as a back date, and hastily skim over 
 its historic plains by a fast Pullman vestibule train into 
 Washington City, to spend an evening and to get supplies 
 for the further trip necessary for the " more-out-of-the- 
 way " paths to Gettysburg that we shall follow. 
 
 While waiting for the train which will carry us to the 
 Capital in less than an hour for less than a dollar, we can 
 walk, promenade the long platform of the neat summer 
 hotel alongside the tracks. Just down the track on the 
 top of the little cut is the remains of the Ji rat earthwork 
 oft lie war, erected by Beauregard to protect some guns 
 bearing along the railroad tracks. 
 
 Fort Beauregard is on a hill on the other side of the 
 town and there are some earthworks back of the hotel. 
 During the war when I was in here on a Union scout, the 
 only "town" consisted of the tumble-down railway depot. 
 It has entirely disappeared. In the place of the army that 
 thickly populated the surrounding plains, there has grown 
 a neat little inland town, well supplied with churches, 
 schools, stores and railway conveniences. It more closely 
 resembles a western town, however, than a Virginia settle- 
 ment. Around the neat station-house are piled, ready for
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 203 
 
 the next coming trains, a jumble of ]arge tin milk-cans. 
 One of the industries of the place is supplying milk daily 
 to Washington City. 
 
 I was fortunate in meeting here a former army com- 
 rade, Capt. Geo. C. Bound, who married a most estimable 
 lady and has resided here since the war. They most kindly 
 entertained us at their comfortable home on the outskirts. 
 
 If any of the club should ever visit the place from 
 Washington, Captain Round will be a most competent 
 guide. He has made a study of the field and through his 
 assistance we were able to obtain a complete set of the best 
 views. 
 
 As previously mentioned, we have struck the trial of 
 Braddock, who passed through here guided by Washing- 
 ton on the war path to Fort Pitt. 
 
 We will return to this neighborhood from Washington 
 en route to Gettysburg. 
 
 In running into Washington from Manassas, we are 
 following literally in the war path of our troops; though 
 the trains make a little better time than our fellows did 
 from First Bull Bun. Subsequently, when the Army of 
 the Potomac passed through here from Fredericksburg, en 
 route to Gettysburg, as we are now traveling, I rode with 
 the staff. General Hooker, then commanding the army, 
 had established his temporary headquarters near here at 
 Fairfax Court-house, or " Coat-ous/' as they pronounce 
 it I was sent into the city by train as a bearer of dis- 
 patches, carrying along with me an immense mail for the 
 quartermaster and paymaster's office, which I was ordered 
 to deliver personally and procure receipts. You know in
 
 204: ON" THE AVAR- PATH. 
 
 army routine they both give receipts and take receipts in 
 triplicate for everything. While we are gliding along 
 comfortably seated in our parlor car, permit me to digress 
 a little in the interests of the telegraphers of the war. 
 The editor of the organ of the telegraphers says: 
 
 " A large number of gentlemen of more or less influence have 
 made it one of the objects of their lives to persuade the United 
 States Government to recognize the military telegraphers who gave 
 such efficient service to the country when it needed that peculiar 
 service. To them it has seemed criminal for the Government to 
 refuse this recognition. The trivial reasons assigned by those in 
 authority against the measure are unlike what should be the utter- 
 ances of a Republic to its faithful sons. But the question has been 
 often asked, why did not the military telegraphers, when actively 
 engaged in behalf of the Government, compel it to recognize them, 
 when their services were needed and praised by the people of the 
 entire country? We are in receipt of the following letter bearing 
 upon this point, which will be read and considered with much inter- 
 est by all telegraphers: 
 
 " WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 30, 1889. 
 
 " ,T. B. TALTAVAI.I,. My Dmr Sir: I did not notice in the Aye 
 until too late that the military telegraphers were to hold this year's 
 reunion in Philadelphia, or I should have been present. During the 
 war I went in as a scout, tapping Rebel wires, etc. For this service 
 I obtained a commission in the Signal Corps from President Lincoln. 
 General Eckert, who was then in the War Department, objected to 
 any of the operators being commissioned. He represented to Secre- 
 tary Stanton that all the force would join the Signal Corps, and to 
 prevent a strike General Eckert had Stanton issue an order prohibit- 
 ing any telegrapher from being commissioned. It so happened that 
 in my papers in the War Department in the descriptive, list, under 
 the haul of occupation, I was set down as an 'operator.' That one 
 word gave me a heap of trouble in those days. General Eckert 
 brought Secretary Stanton's clerk's attention to it, and, in obedience 
 to his order, a long red mark was made over my name in a word, I 
 was debarred and prevented, for the time being, from promotion for 
 'gallant and meritorious' services. My friends, J. W. Forney, 
 ex-President Johnson and others took the matter in hand. Repre- 
 sentations were made to Secretary Stanton that the subject would be
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 205 
 
 discussed in the Senate when the question of other confirmations 
 came up. Secretary Stanton was induced to make an exception, and 
 my name went in. I was commissioned second lieutenant in the 
 regular army, and President Lincoln had it dated back a year. I 
 served to the end in the field as a scout, etc. I am writing all this 
 to say that there is an inside history to the military telegraph corps 
 that needs ventilation. It will be hard on General Eckert, but the 
 truth must be told, and it will show that he is responsible for the 
 present anomalous position of telegraphers who served faithfully in 
 the army. What I desire now is to get all the boys interested in 
 working up the bill which died with Senator Logan. As I am an 
 old resident here, and in the newspaper business, I shall take delight 
 in looking after their interests. Yours very truly, 
 
 "J. O. KERBEY." 
 
 "Mr. Kerbey is a well-known ex -telegrapher, both in Washing- 
 ton and New York and in the West. He was a prominent tele- 
 graphic figure at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, in 1876, 
 since which time he has been more or less actively employed in the 
 newspaper field. For three years he operated the leased wire of the 
 Chicago Inter Ocean, and has recently written an interesting war 
 narrative of 500 pages, ' The Boy Spy,' in which he gives some 
 interesting war telegraph history, in connection with his own expe- 
 riences as a scout. We have conferred with several military telegraph- 
 ers on the point Mr. Kerbey brings out so prominently, and all 
 agreed that the inside history had better now be made public. It 
 would, they declare, lead to prompt and effective legislation, for the 
 average senator or congressman very properly concludes that, if the 
 telegraphers were worthy of being commissioned for the prominent 
 part they took in the Civil War, that honor and duty should have 
 been conferred upon them when the facts were fresh, and not delayed 
 until years afterward. General Eckert is a member of the military 
 telegraphers, but has never taken part in the deliberations of the 
 association to any extent. It is due his old comrades to now have 
 his position explained to them. Sept. 16, 1889. 
 
 In imagination I take hold of the once-familiar tele- 
 graph key to have a talk with the "boys." I "call up" 
 the thousands of offices along the railways all over the 
 country, and, as each answers, I give the signal for "copy" 
 or attention. I have not handled the key in some years,
 
 ^06 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 but have not forgotten the art nor lost interest in the art- 
 ists. When an Associated Press reporter, I had the repu- 
 tation of being a steady, long-distance sender whose 
 Morse got to the end of the line in large quantities. 
 
 (I am not sending from copy altogether, but drawing 
 from memory through my fingers' ends. I will ask you 
 not to " Bk." or send me back. So here goes " copy " for 
 the record.) 
 
 Without any desire to seek controversy with promi- 
 nent officials of the telegraph companies, or any dispo- 
 sition other than a sincere desire to put on record the 
 facts gained through a personal experience in the matter 
 of the official recognition of telegraphers, I submit the 
 following plain statement: 
 
 Being somewhat familiar with the process of legisla- 
 tion at Washington through my newspaper connection, I 
 was asked to give my attention to the interests of a bill 
 before Congress to give to the telegraph operators of the 
 war some official recognition by allowing them brevet rank 
 orcommission a? officers on the same line with Signal Corps 
 or Engineers. Xo pay was asked, and of course the commis- 
 sions were not to be in force, the primary object being to 
 g.et their names on record. I have cheerfully done all that 
 I could in furtherance of their desires, but suggested that 
 the military railroaders should be included in the list. 
 
 Objection was made to this, not because the railroaders 
 were not equally worthy of the same recognition, but it 
 was found by the manager of the telegraph bill that such an 
 addition would encumber the very few telegraphers asking 
 the relief. In other words, selfish interests prevailed.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 20* 
 
 The Veteran Signal Corps Association by a vote expressed 
 their opposition to having these telegraphers tacked on to 
 the signal corps now, as they had not only refused to unite 
 with these during the war, when commissions were offered 
 them in that branch, but the officers in charge of the mil- 
 itary telegraphers had taken advantage of their opportu- 
 nities by being close to the War Department to annoy 
 and embarrass the operators of the signal corps then work- 
 ing in the field. 
 
 The Veteran Signal officers do not offer any opposition 
 to a proper recognition of the civilian telegraphers, but 
 they do object in an official manner to the proposed 
 method, and for the reasons stated. 
 
 Through some personal relations with General Logan, 
 then chairman of the Senate military committee that had 
 the bill before them, I became somewhat interested in the 
 matter. 
 
 The prominent question that naturally arises, and will 
 not down, propounded to me by some Senators was, . if 
 these telegraphers are entitled to the rank and privileges 
 they now seek by legislation, were they not eligible to the 
 same during the war? 
 
 Why was it not conferred then? In reply to this ques- 
 tion I have given my experience, to the committee without 
 comment. They, like the operators who hear this, can 
 form their own conclusions. One naturally seeks for 
 motives in all matters of this character. Opinions and 
 surmises can be as easily made by the reader as the writer. 
 
 My statement has been made that General Eckert per- 
 sonally procured an order from Mr. Stanton prohibiting
 
 208 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 any operator from being commissioned in the Signal Corps. 
 This matter was tested over my commission so late as the 
 year 1864, which date it is important to keep in mind. 
 
 It is obviously impossible to procure from any of the 
 survivors of the military telegraphers any adverse testi- 
 mony against the gentleman who was then, as now, their 
 "general manager." A majority of them are yet in the 
 telegraph business, or whose interests are closely allied 
 with those of the great corporations. It is a question of 
 self-interest, or perhaps of daily bread and butter. Their 
 lips are sealed. I was for years under the same bondage, 
 and discreetly held my peace. Now, however, I am a 
 " free lance," and as I expect to die some day, I am simply 
 putting the truth on record, without fear or favor. 
 
 What was General Eckert's motive in quietly procur- 
 ing such an unjust, if not outrageous,, order? My per- 
 sonal opinion then, which has been strengthened by a 
 twenty-five years' association, was that he was prompted 
 wholly by a selfish and grasping disposition to elevate him- 
 self at the expense of the operators in his employ. 
 
 General Eckert's friends will no doubt attribute his 
 opposition to the rivalry then existing between the tele- 
 graph and the Signal Corps. Indirectly, that is correct, 
 but in antagonizing the Signal Corps at that time, he 
 knowingly worked against the interests of the telegraphers. 
 That this is true is established by the "inexorable logic 
 of events/' as the Signal Corps now have the record, the 
 rank, and the glory of their service in every field, while 
 the military telegraphers are begging Congress now for 
 that which was tendered to them in 1SG1-G2.
 
 OS THE WAR-PATH. 209 
 
 The Signal Corps is of prior organization to the tele- 
 graphers. In fact, it ante-dated the war several years. 
 The chiefs of the signal bureau were therefore entitled, 
 not only by seniority but in every other way, to the con- 
 trol of all the Government telegraphs during the war, in 
 greater sense than it has since in operating the Govern- 
 ment's military wires in connection with signals, etc. No 
 one doubts but that in future wars the telegraphers 
 and signalists under the present organization will control 
 all military communications. 
 
 The signal officers were dissatisfied with the imperfect 
 " Coffee Mill " induction or dial instruments they were 
 compelled to use on the field, and desired to improve the 
 telegraph branch of their service by adopting the Morse 
 method in its place. 
 
 Telegraphing was only one and a minor branch of the 
 duties of signal officers who are properly described as the 
 eyes and the ears of the army, the telegraph being the 
 tongue used to communicate their observations. 
 
 The present general manager of the telegraphs is known 
 as the " Executive " of Jay Gould in controlling the con- 
 solidated lines of numerous opposition companies that this 
 great "consolidator has caught in his net as little fishes, 
 that he feeds to the voracious big sucker fish." 
 
 During war times General Eckert was strongly opposed 
 to consolidation. He no doubt saw that in the event of 
 the Signal Corps obtaining the control of the telegraph, 
 he would lose his occupation as manager of the Wai- 
 Department office. Primarily, this was his motive in 
 antagonizing the Signal Corps. He was enabled by virtue
 
 210 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 of his necessarily close personal relations with the Secre- 
 tary of War, which were cunningly brought about by his 
 fawning services in personally delivering the import- 
 ant dispatches received by the operators from the hard- 
 working men in the front instead of using messengers. It 
 will be readily seen that in placing himself between the 
 telegraphers and the Secretary, he became a "vehicle," and 
 was, of course, in a sense in a confidential relation with the 
 Secretary. It was through such influences, and the mis- 
 representations to the Secretary, that he was enabled to 
 procure such an arbitrary order as previously indicated. 
 
 Mr. Stan ton's motive was to retain through this source 
 the control of and personal supervision of all telegraphic 
 communications of whatever character between the gen- 
 erals in the field and their friends in Washington or else- 
 where. 
 
 I assert of my own personal knowledge that every dis- 
 patch sent from the field in Virginia passed through his 
 hands, if he so desired or his friends thought advisable. 
 
 In the War Department the telegraph wires from all sec- 
 tions, whether North, East, West or South, were led into 
 separate little instruments which recorded, when necessary, 
 every single item telegraphed in any direction. 
 
 When General Hooker was out here at Fairfax the ques- 
 tion of his being relieved of the command was being dis- 
 cussed in Washington. 
 
 As is generally known, there were all sorts of intrigues 
 and plots being concocted, both in the army and at the 
 War Department in Washington. Hooker's friends were, 
 I believe, those of Secretary Chase, who was an aspirant
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 211 
 
 for Presidential honors to succeed Mr. Lincoln's first 
 term. 
 
 Stanton was, of course, interested for Mr. Lincoln's 
 succession. A II political matter passing our wires from any 
 direction referring to Chase, as well as criticism of Stanton 
 and Lincoln, was referred to Mr. Stanton. 
 
 Hooker and his friends in the field did not imagine 
 when filing matter at a railroad station out here that their 
 private and personal telegrams, addressed to friends, prob- 
 ably in New York or the "West, passed through the War 
 Department, were laid before Mr. Stanton and his friends; 
 but this really was true, and sad is the fact, that the same 
 secret espionage or censorship was extended over every other 
 prominent man's telegraphic communications. McClellan 
 and his friends suffered from this same cause. 
 
 In this way much, very much, of the true inwardness, 
 not to say cussedness, is explained, that came between 
 President Lincoln and his generals in the field. 
 
 It will readily be seen that in order to accomplish these 
 ends and each serve his own purpose, Mr. Stanton decided 
 it to be a "War Necessity" to keep the management of the 
 telegraph independent of military control. And for him 
 to give an order was equivalent to an act of Congress. 
 
 The records will show that in the judgement of nearly 
 all the prominent generals in the field of war it was more 
 of a " Military Necessity" to have the telegraphers under 
 the control of the generals. President Lincoln, Secretary 
 of War Cameron and Assistant Secretary Thomas A. 
 Scott, early favored the formation of the telegraphers into 
 a military organization, as the following official corre- 
 spondence indicates.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Col. Anson Stager was the general superintendent of 
 the Western Union Telegraph at the commencement of 
 the war. He represented the interests of such capitalists 
 as Amasa Stone, Ben Wade, Chase and others. 
 
 Upon the recommendation of these persons and none 
 other he was selected by Col. Thomas A. Scott to take 
 charge of military telegraphs for the Government. 
 
 Colonel Scott, as Assistant Secretary of War, directed 
 Mr. Stager to submit a plan of organization, notifying him 
 that the entire matter was in his hands and any recom- 
 mendation he would make would be confirmed by the 
 Government. 
 
 After consulting his telegraph interests it was decided 
 that to offer commissions to operators would result in 
 detaching from his Western Union lines the best men who 
 would be tempted to come to the front and serve as offi- 
 cers. Rather than the business interests of his company 
 should suffer commissions were not recommended. 
 
 A plan was submitted for a civil organization, restrict- 
 ing the pay of military operators for the same reason as 
 influenced their rank. 
 
 These papers with Mr. Stager's estimate are accessible, 
 in the War Department^ to any proper person. 
 
 There was not the remotest suggestion for military 
 rank. However, this question was forced upon these gen- 
 tlemen's attention by Gen. M. C. Meigs who was then 
 Quartermaster-General of the army, who declined to 
 recognize officially such an organization and refused to 
 issue supplies or money on the requisition of general 
 managers and foremen of construction gangs. He intimated
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 213 
 
 that he would be pleased to issue such supplies, etc., on the 
 orders of the Signal Corps, as it was legally entitled to 
 make such demand upon his department. 
 
 But this would not suit the " general managers." 
 
 Gen. Meigs is credited with helping them out of the 
 dilemma by suggesting that the manager and operators in 
 the field be commissioned as assistant quartermasters and 
 he would in that capacity be enabled by law to fill their 
 requisition and be empowered to deliver into their hands 
 Government property necessary for their equipment and 
 maintenance. 
 
 This suggestion was acted upon to the extent of issuing 
 commissions to the General Manager only. 
 
 To further establish the point, that it was the desire of 
 the Government to give the operators commissions, I submit 
 copies of some official correspondence. 
 
 [Copy.] 
 
 WAR DEPARTMENT, Oct. 28, 1861. 
 
 Respectfully Referred to the President : 
 
 The Secretary of War believes it to be a necessity to commission 
 telegraph operators as per Gen. Meigs' suggestion, but desires your 
 views. Mr. Stager is now in charge of Government lines and is well 
 calculated to perform the duties. His connection with all leading 
 lines will be of service. If you approve, arrangements icill be made at 
 once. 
 
 [Signed] Tnos. A. SCOTT, 
 
 Assistant Secretary of War. 
 
 Which Mr. Lincoln endorsed in his own handwriting, as 
 follows :
 
 214 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 I Lave not sufficient time to stud)' and mature an opinion on the 
 plan. If the Secretary of War has confidence in it and is satisfied to 
 adopt it, I have no objections. 
 
 [Signed.] A. LINCOLN. 
 
 This was further endorsed 
 
 Approved by Secretary of War. 
 
 SIMON CAMERON, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 In compliance with this, commissions were given to 
 Stager as Colonel and Brigade Quartermaster. 
 
 There was no more law for Stager's appointment than 
 for that of any operator. 
 
 In order to facilitate his business he soon found it 
 advisable to ask for commissions for a few of his friends. 
 
 Eckert, who was made manager as late as July, 1SG2, 
 and a few other Division superintendents, who were at 
 home, were made captains. 
 
 The operators in the front who did all the work, 
 remained mere civilian clerks to the quartermasters. 
 
 In most cases the operators were respected by the gen- 
 eral officers to whose headquarters they became attached; 
 but among the associates of the General's Staff he was 
 without rank or consideration. To be sure he was given 
 a seat alongside of an ambulance driver, but he suffered 
 keenly from the envy and misrepresentation his false posi- 
 tion gave him among the gentlemen at headquarters. 
 
 If these boys had been commissioned as Signal officers, 
 they would have enjoyed the privilege I had as such of 
 going as they pleased. 
 
 It is a fact that a second lieutenant on the staff of a 
 General has all the independence without any of the 
 responsibility of his General.
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 215 
 
 The specious plea of the general managers that the 
 object in not issuing their commissions was simply to pre- 
 vent "military control/' will not suffice in the face of the 
 well-known fact that Signal officers are of the General 
 Staff and like the Quartermaster and Adjutant-General are 
 essentially independent of Military Control except from 
 the headquarters. 
 
 The operators, as a rule, in those days were boys and 
 easily deceived by the plausible talk at Washington of an 
 attempt of the Signal Corps to absorb them; or perhaps 
 they were influenced by the promise of being kept "inde- 
 pendent " of everybody, but the Washington office. 
 
 It will be seen by the most casual observer that Mr. 
 Stanton, through channels practically kept a telephone at 
 Army Headquarters, through which every "vibration" 
 and they were numerous and heavy sometimes was trans- 
 mitted to his private ear. In more senses than one the 
 Army of the Potomac was tied to his office by a wire; when 
 he pulled the string the monkey had to dance. 
 
 . In war times there can be no such thing as being 
 " independent " of the Military, as General Eckert and 
 his operators, as well as Mr. Stanton, subsequently found 
 out when they undertook to tangle General Grant up by 
 their wire-pulling. 
 
 It will be remembered that the communications 
 of the Generals in the armies of the East to those in 
 the West necessarially passed through this War Depart- 
 ment "telegraph mill." 
 
 The attempt of Mr. Stanton to revise or oversee the 
 official correspondence from Grant in Virginia to Sherman 
 in the West has become a matter of historical mention.
 
 216 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Colonel Stager, at an early period, retired from the 
 actual control of telegraphy, though he remained in com- 
 mission and was nominally the head of the service till the 
 close of the war. All communications to the telegraph 
 department were addressed to him, though Major Eckert 
 was the manager at Washington War Department, and 
 handled all such matter. This fact should be borne in 
 mind in reading documentary evidence at War Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 As indicating General Grant's views in support of my 
 statement, I give herewith some characteristic correspond- 
 ence that, in his own words, indicates General Grant's 
 views of the " military necessity "of the telegraph being 
 independent of the General's commanding in the field. 
 
 [Copy of Telegram.] 
 U. S. Military Telegraph Blank. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 1862. 
 To U. S. GRANT, Major-General: 
 
 Some one signing himself "John Riggin, in charge of Military 
 telegraphs," is interfering with the management of the telegraphs in 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. This man is aeting without the authority 
 of Colonel Stager, General Superintendent of Military telegraphs, 
 and f* an imptwtor. Arrest him and send him north of your depart 
 ment before he does mischief by his interference. 
 By order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 P. II. WATSON, 
 
 Ass't Sec'y of War. 
 
 Imagine the indignation of General Grant upon being 
 handed such a dispatch by the operator at his own head- 
 quarters. It indicates that his headquarters' affairs had 
 been reported to Washington without his knowledge; the
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 217 
 
 telegraphers in his armies were acting as informers on his 
 own Staff officers. 
 
 His reply in vigorous United States language shows his 
 feelings. 
 
 [Telegram.] 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington. 
 
 John Riggin referred to in your dispatch as an impostor is my 
 aide. He has given but one order referring to telegraphing, and that 
 was dictated by me. It was that private dispatches might be sent 
 over the wires when it did not interfere with Military dispatches. 
 Colonel Riggin is assigned the duty of looking over telegraphs in this 
 department, a position which interferes with no present arrangement 
 and is intended solely for my relief. Your agent has misrepresented 
 the matter. 
 
 [Signed.] U. S. GRANT. 
 
 This correspondence probably caused General Grant 
 and his Staff officers to investigate and ferret out the tele- 
 graph spy in their camp who reported direct by wire to the 
 War Department, instead of through him. To be brief, 
 word was passed along the wires in that department one 
 ugly November day to the effect that a certain captain of 
 Western Union Telegraphs in that department had been 
 arrested and placed in a guard-house by orders of General 
 Grant. 
 
 An official message, not done up in cipher, but plain 
 so all operators could hear it, was sent to Washington 
 officials to this effect: 
 
 Captain of W. U. Telegraphs must go out of my department. 
 My orders must be obeyed. U. 8. GRANT. 
 
 He did go out, on the day following, under guard, and 
 
 if he had been sent back, Gen. Grant would have resigned. 
 
 Some of the operators along the lines were disposed to
 
 218 ON THE WAH-PATH. 
 
 resent this military interference with their ''indepen- 
 dence" and openly talked of striking or resigning. Grant 
 heard of this and without asking for any bill of particu- 
 lars or grievances issued an order to every commander in 
 his department to "Arrest every telegraph operator who 
 resigns or attempts to leave his post, or refuses to per- 
 form military duty." I think Mr. Somerville was arrested. 
 This raises the interesting question whether the Brother- 
 hood or Knights of Labor, of which the telegraphers are 
 an influential factor, would, in time of war, come in conflict 
 with the Military by an organized strike all along the line. 
 
 It will become apparent that the telegraph is as much 
 a "military necessity" as any other of the important 
 auxiliaries, all of which are essential to any complete 
 system of warfare. 
 
 The War Department cipher, which General Eckert 
 appropriates, as of his own and Col. Stager's invention, 
 which is based upon the route system, was used first by 
 Col. Myers, well known as "Old Probabilities" and first 
 chief signal officer. The military operators entrusted with 
 the key to this much vaunted cipher code were carefully 
 selected and trained at the War Office in Washington be- 
 fore being put in the field. Their instructions were of 
 the most positive character, not to reveal to any one under 
 any circumstances the key. In fact, no written keys were 
 permitted, each of the "cipher operators" was made so 
 familiar with the system that the carrying of any written 
 explanation was obviated. On one occasion Gen. Grant 
 happened to be some distance from his headquarters, when 
 he received a couple of long dispatches from Washington.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 219 
 
 They were in regulation cipher of course, and as he was 
 not accompanied by the cipher operator he could not 
 translate them. He inferred from the condition of affairs 
 that it was a most important communication one perhaps 
 involving the movement of armies, in which thousands of 
 lives may be at stake but he was helpless and mad. In 
 order to prevent future recurrence, he instructed his Chief 
 of Staff to inform himself as to this cipher. It is always 
 understood that the Chief of Staff as confidential aide of the 
 General always accompanies him. In making this demand 
 on the operator, he explained his orders from Washington, 
 but Grant insisted, and that operator being a detached sol- 
 dier, he obeyed Grant's orders and under protest gave up 
 the key to the Commauder-iu-Chief of all the armies. He 
 reported the circumstance to Washington and was at once 
 dismissed from the military telegraph. The key being im- 
 mediately changed, Grant was again helpless. He, how- 
 ever, nobly protected his soldier operator and demanded 
 his reinstatement, which was accorded, and Mr. Beckwith, 
 the soldier operator, remained with him to the end. In 
 communicating with Mr. Stanton, General Grant said: 
 " It occurred to him that Mr. Eckert had his operators so 
 trained that they were afraid to obey any instructions but 
 those that emanated from him, etc.'' My record at the 
 War Department will show that I was detailed at Cavalry 
 Corps Headquarters from May 3, 1863, to June, 1864, or 
 until acceptance of commission. At this headquarters, as 
 well as at those of Hooker, and at different points, were 
 detailed one or more of these "cipher operators," with 
 whom I came ,in contact. I did not let it become gen-
 
 220 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 erally known that I was an operator, because I knew that 
 as long as they were in ignorance of this acquirement, I 
 could unsuspectingly linger near the wires that run from 
 Headquarters along the railroad to the War Department 
 and could and did read the sounds of the instruments as 
 often as I chose, or whenever I thought a little attention 
 would result in any interesting developments. I trans- 
 lated the cipher and was familiar with its use, notwith- 
 standing General Eckert's statement recently printed in a 
 Philadelphia paper and copied largely, that his cipher had 
 never been revealed. 
 
 "Gen. Thomas T. Eckert, who is a guest of the Continental, 
 does not seem to have any particularly pressing business that calls 
 him at this moment from New York to Philadelphia. There is no 
 person in the world who has been more intimately associated than he 
 with the development of the telegraph system. He was an operator 
 in the early days of the MorsC invention, and he was the man chosen 
 under President Lincoln's administration to construct and conduct 
 the telegraph corps of the War Department that was everywhere 
 with the forces in the field. As an executive officer he was made an 
 Assistant Secretary of War he selected and commissioned the Gov- 
 ernment telegraphers and invented the cipher in which all important 
 messages were transmitted between the department and commanders 
 of armies, corps and divisions and between the respective command- 
 ers. The cipher was a marvel. No man who did not possess the 
 key ever interpreted it, and yet it did not appear at a first glance to 
 be exceedingly complex. There is a story which runs that when it 
 was first presented to Secretary Stanton, he was inclined to despise 
 it as a clumsy piece of work. " Look here, Eckert," he said, " any- 
 body can read that." Try it yourself, Mr. Secretary," responded 
 General Eckert, as he laid the carefully prepared sheets before his 
 superior officer. "Pshaw, that's no trouble," Stanton said, as he 
 cleared a space on his desk and went to work on them. After he 
 had covered a dozen sheets of manuscript with his guesses at the 
 meaning of the cipher, his persistent temper rose high. The per- 
 spiration came out on his face, lie ran his fingers through his mop of 
 iron-gray hair, he glared through his gold-bowed spectacles and
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 221 
 
 stroked his beard with extreme fervor. Meanwhile, General Eckert 
 sat by, calmly waiting and expectant. If he felt a sense of triumph 
 he permitted no symptom of it to escape him. Mr. Stanton was not 
 the man to abandon any task until he was sure that he was defeated; 
 but at the end of an hour he tore up his own papers, handed General 
 Eekert's manuscript back to its author, and said: "I give it up, 
 Eckert; and now you can tell me what all does it mean. General 
 Eckert gave him the explanation, and on the following day this 
 ingenious cipher was put into use The secret of it was never 
 betrayed, and it was of inestimable value during the war." 
 
 I will, for the benefit of this war club, give a brief 
 illustration which represents this much vaunted War De- 
 partment cipher. If you will notice the next telegram 
 you receive, most likely you will find precisely five words 
 on each line. It is the custom of expert telegraphers to 
 place five words on a line because it enables him at a 
 glance of the number of lines to tell exactly how many 
 words are in the entire dispatch. The " check " that 
 accompanies all dispatches and the operator's count must 
 agree. In this way he is sure of not having missed a word. 
 Of course it will be easier to count lines by five and the 
 fractional part being on the last line. Upon this basis 
 the "route cipher" of the War Department was built. 
 This system was devised because it was frequently neces- 
 sary to telegraph openly, as it were, the exigencies of the 
 war requiring an unlimited vocabulary, such as is barely 
 possible by the usual arbitrary methods. 
 
 Five 
 
 and 
 
 arbitraries 
 
 form 
 
 simplest 
 
 detection 
 
 the 
 
 of 
 
 of 
 
 the 
 
 of 
 
 insertion 
 
 use 
 
 the 
 
 of 
 
 difficult 
 
 of 
 
 the 
 
 much 
 
 illustration 
 
 quite 
 
 blind 
 
 by 
 
 vaunted 
 
 an 
 
 becomes 
 
 words 
 
 war 
 
 war 
 
 as 
 
 system 
 
 and 
 
 the 
 
 office 
 
 only 
 
 the 
 
 prescribing 
 
 during 
 
 cipher 
 
 given 
 
 routes 
 
 of 
 
 government 
 
 used 
 
 is 
 
 intricate 
 
 innumerable 
 
 our 
 
 by 
 
 this
 
 222 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 I have for brevity and convenience placed this in the 
 order of columns. In transmitting by wire, or by letter 
 or courier, there may be any number of words on eacli line. 
 The party who receives the cipher will afterward arrange 
 the col urns after the prescribed key. In order to simplify 
 it I have made the first word five, which we will say means 
 that the matter following it is to be placed in five columns, 
 as I have arranged it. The route to follow in reading has 
 been previously arranged in this case it is made almost 
 too plain. To interpret: Read up the last, down the 
 fourth, up the third, down the second and up the first 
 column. In the war ciphers numerous " arbitrages " 
 were used that made it more difficult; each general officer's 
 name and rank was expressed in one word. Armies, 
 cities, rivers, roads, etc., are also represented by arbitrary 
 words. Numerals are so arranged that they can not be 
 mistaken, a certain class of words being used exclusively 
 for this. The time of day in half hours is given by boys 1 
 names for the morning and girls' names for the afternoon. 
 Numerous changes in the routes may be made; some read 
 diagonally. 
 
 The Signal Code of our Army is practically the same 
 as that of the Morse or American telegraph system, which 
 is composed of two of the simplest known characters. It 
 may be recorded by a dot and a dash or received by ear by 
 a short or long sound. Visual signaling by the flag is 
 conducted on precisely the same principle, a motion to 
 the right or left signifying a dot or a dash. At night, 
 short or long flash or occultation. In rockets, by dis- 
 charging a white and a red ball.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 223 
 
 To form this now almost universal war alphabet it is 
 only necessary to use any combination of these elements to 
 form the Morse character by signals. 
 
 A. B ... C.. . D . . E. F . . G . H . . . . I . . 
 
 J . . K . L M - - 1ST . O . .P Q . . . 
 
 R . . . S . . . T U . . V . . . W . X . . . Y . . . . 
 
 Z... . 
 
 It may be applied to the most sensitive of galvano- 
 meters ; in fact, it has been for many years in use on the 
 Atlantic cables, the message received being read by the 
 right and left deflection of a needle, as the flags are read. 
 When I was out here on this very track on which was 
 standing a locomotive, / used to whistle to call in some 
 telegraphers by way of a practical joke. A bugle may 
 sound the alphabet by long and short blasts. Two signal 
 officers or expert telegraphers may converse with each 
 other by winking the right or left eyes, or, in the darkness, 
 if they can but touch each other with the feet or hands, 
 conversation may be carried on in absolute silence by the 
 sense of long and short or hard and soft pressure ; there- 
 fore when you play poker with a signal officer be sure that 
 his feet beneath the table are properly insulated. Much 
 of the phenomena of modern mind-reading or locating 
 may be accounted for in this way. The deaf and dumb 
 and blind may find in the invention brought out by our war 
 a more satisfactory method of communication than that of 
 their sign language. It is not, of course, to be expected that 
 words are always spelled out ; I have worked out a system 
 of signal shorthand that enables accomplished signalists 
 to talk at a distance as rapidly as if they were together.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 The possibilitiesare wonderful, and the fact that all the gov- 
 ernments of the earth have adopted the system of war sig- 
 naling our war developed, proves its utility; but of this, 
 more anon perhaps. We are now running into the 
 depot where Garfield was shot.
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 will not detain the club in Washington ; 
 having only run in from the front on a sort of 
 24-hours' furlough to secure some necessary 
 supplies, make a change in clothing, and to procure some 
 refreshments. 
 
 Everything of interest about Washington has been so 
 fully written up that there is but little to be added to the 
 volumes that have been printed about the Capitol. The 
 old boys of the war will miss many of the old landmarks, 
 such as the guard-houses and the once too-familiar foot- 
 steps of the patrol of the provost marshal that we all had 
 to dodge nightly when meandering through the dark ways 
 of Hooker's Division. The old "Canterbury " theatre has 
 disappeared, also its brass band accompaniment that 
 paraded the avenue every evening, followed by a mob of 
 contrabrands, its four pieces making more noise than Gil- 
 more's modern band. In its place there are a couple 
 of dime theatres, located on the flanks of the division, 
 which, by the way, continue to do business at their old 
 stands. 
 
 Judiciary Square, which is directly in the rear of 
 the City Hall, at the head of 4| street, was during 
 the war almost entirely' occupied with blocks of frame 
 barracks, then used as one of the general hospitals. Some 
 of these buildings remained after the close of the war, 
 
 225
 
 226 ON" THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 being used on one occasion as the place for holding an 
 inaugural ball. Where these long, narrow frame build- 
 ings once stood, is now a beautiful park, the cosy seats 
 and Avalks shaded by trees that have grown since the war 
 on this soil made rich by the blood of many poor boys. 
 On the northern side of this park and extending along its 
 entire length of two full squares, attracting attention by 
 its size, is a red brick structure, probably the largest public 
 building in Washington, except the Capitol. It is sup- 
 posed to be architecturally in the style of an Italian palace, 
 but it looks like an immense machine shop or factory. 
 This is the Pension oflice, in which the late inaugural balls 
 have been held. We will step inside for a moment only; 
 while we stand on one of the galleries and admire its beau- 
 tiful interior, permit me to give you a few facts and fig- 
 ures for future recollection, from which each may form 
 his own conclusions. 
 
 First offering a personal explanation, I was an employe 
 in this Department for about three days, during which I 
 had enough to satisfy me for the balance of my life. A 
 closer study of the institution since, has served to further 
 develop and confirm the first impressions. I should state 
 that I spent a considerable part of the three months imme- 
 diately following Mr. Harrison's inauguration about this 
 big building, endeavoring to secure the employment which 
 when found only lasted three days. Some of my friends 
 seemed to think that I was not fit for any other duty but 
 some sort of " Secret Service," and they imagined that 
 the most available place for me was to look after " pension 
 frauds."
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 227 
 
 On account of Civil Service rules. I was disbarred as a 
 clerk, though no one questioned my fitness for the duties. 
 Mr. Tanner yielding to the pressure of friends and desiring 
 to relieve my necessities, graciously notified me one day that 
 if I would accept a subordinate position temporarily he would 
 see that I was properly "assigned" and subsequently "placed" 
 where I could do most good.* I accepted and was at once 
 " assigned " as messenger. I did not mind the subordinate 
 position as long as there was any chance for advancement, 
 but I did object suddenly and emphatically to the servile 
 and menial duties required of messengers. I found that 
 the principal use in life of a messenger in the Pension 
 office was to wait upon a lot of young clerks veterans 
 asked to perform this service for school-boys. It was work 
 that could better have been done by boys. I drew the line the 
 first day at carrying water for a couple of airish old maids. 
 I don't object to handing a lady a drink of water ; but 
 when it came to supplying them with toilet water, I 
 kicked and appealed to the Chief ; unfortunately he was 
 a recent appointee from a New England State, who had 
 
 *"The Tribune's Washington correspondent, Maj. J. O. Kerbey, has been 
 notified by his personal friend, Corporal Jim, now Hon. James Tanner, 
 Commissioner of Pensions, that he will receive an appointment as a Special 
 Examiner when these changes are made. Colonel Quay, Mr. Scull, and 
 others of our State who knew Mr. Kerbey and endorsed him as a worker 
 who wielded a sword in war as vigorously as he has a pt n in peace, for the 
 party, think that the author of the "Boy Spy" is especially competent to 
 fill this position by reason of his familiarity with the " boys' "army meth- 
 ods in war and by a long 1 training- since as a searcher after " facts " for the 
 press. There is an extensive field in the Pension Service, and Mr. Tanner 
 is fortunate in having- in his department a comrade who will no doubt use 
 his abilities to help the soldier Commissioner to make a good record for the 
 Administration. We understand the Major preferred a Consulate in the 
 Pacific, but we are glad he -will remain nearer home, and his duties will not 
 be so onerous that the Tribune readers cannot occasionally hear from him. 
 The pay is $2,000 per year and $6 per day additional for traveling expenses."
 
 228 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 served the last six months of the "War as a guard at 
 Longbridge, and though the head of a division, he knew 
 absolutely nothing of the duties, and being under obliga- 
 tions to his clerks, and anxious to maintain his popularity 
 with the ladies, lie misrepresented me to the Commissioner. 
 I called on Mr. Tanner, and finding he had "shelved me" 
 and had no intention of promoting me, I handed in my 
 resignation in words more emphatic than elegant, but 
 subsequently made a more courteous explanation to Secre- 
 tary Noble. 
 
 There are employed in this building alone some 1,500 
 persons. If I were to venture an opinion here, it would 
 
 be to the effect that one-half this number, under the 
 
 * 
 
 management of a good business house, would accomplish 
 twice as much work and for one-half the pay. 
 
 Altogether there are over 4,000 employes in the Pension 
 service throughout the country. The expenses of the entire 
 Pension establishment in 1888 was 83,2C2,524.67, and in 
 1890 will aggregate in round numbers $4.000,000. The pen- 
 sions paid in 1888 were $82,038,386.59, or 31 per cent of the 
 entire expense of the government in that year. In 1890 
 the increase in pension list will exceed considerably $100,- 
 000,000, of course, also, with an increased ratio of expense. 
 Pensions already paid exceed one billion of dollars. Pen- 
 sions are now being granted to almost every applicant 
 who can show any service or disability, however short or 
 slight. In addition to this generous administration of the 
 bureau, there have been passed 3,380 special acts that were 
 not within the power of the commissioner to grant.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 229 
 
 These are a few of the facts and figures which an old 
 soldier of 1861 to 1865, who does not draw a pension 
 though fully entitled to it, asks the comrades to paste in 
 their hats and study over at leisure. The dependent pension 
 bill has passed and will undoubtedly become a law, which 
 adds limitless millions to the sum chargeable to old soldiers. 
 This pension business is delicate ground, but I cannot, as 
 a disinterested comrade, refrain from offering the sugges- 
 tion to the real veteran "boys" to call a halt on this pen- 
 sion army that is marching under the leadership of the 
 pension generals and guided by sharks, up the avenue bent 
 upon a raid upon the Treasury. Recall, boys, the memor- 
 able spectacle of the grand review which we saw swinging 
 up the avenue in 1865, without one thought of the treas- 
 ury, their eyes only strained towards the generals on the 
 reviewing stand. 
 
 Is it not degrading to us all to be called pension pau- 
 pers? Does this latter-day raid not take the bloom off our 
 glory and stain these once stainless flags? Don't let us 
 all join this army of raiders remember there is a here- 
 after, patriotism should not be so cheaply discounted and 
 future generations must not be taught to look upon the 
 old soldier as representing a mendicant statue, with a hat 
 in hand, but instead, an erect, noble, manly warrior with 
 a gun in hand. As a comrade I believe in the largest 
 measure of justice, recognition and generosity to the sol- 
 dier; to him every honor and every reward is due. These 
 pension bills and all this agitation are not in the interest 
 of the real soldier who enlisted early from patriotic motives 
 and stayed late from a sense of duty and not for bounty,
 
 230 ON THE WAK-1'ATH. 
 
 but in that of a remorseless, soulless lobby, who is using 
 the soldier's name to rob the very government lie fought 
 to save. The sentiment is general that the soldier who 
 helped to save the country is entitled to everything. But 
 reflect, there have been other wars and other soldiers and 
 other countries have been saved. Prussia's was created by 
 Frederick, yet this entire pension list did not amount to a 
 week of our expenditure. England fought Napoleon for 
 twenty years, making a debt of three thousand million and 
 her army did not demand extra thousands of millions for 
 pensions. Germany has fought three wars since ours, 
 yet her pension fund to-day is not quite nine millions 
 a year. We are paying to our pension survivors a greater 
 amount than is required to maintain a standing army in 
 Europe. We believe in justice to the soldier, but it is not 
 to be found in this rascally pension ring lobby. It is, in a 
 sense, as much of a job of the ring as that to pay the Con- 
 federate loan previously noted. Nearly all sensible men 
 concede that this money goes to pension agents, money 
 sharks and professional soldiers, the robbery is being done 
 by using the honored name of the soldier, because the 
 scamps realize too well, that such a name may even atone 
 for a crime. If the object is to disburse the surplus, the 
 soldier is undoubtedly entitled to the first grab, but the 
 objection to this argument is that it is sectional. The 
 money goes East, North and West, and not South, and 
 the South has been contributing her full share for years to 
 increase this surplus. The Confederates get along with- 
 out pensions and they returned to devastated homes and are 
 now thrifty. It is said there are more pension certificates
 
 OX TUK WAR-PATH. 231 
 
 mailed to foreign parts, principally Germany and Canada, 
 than go South of Mason and Dixon's line. In one regard 
 the pension list is a benefit and it will do more to prevent 
 future wars than Mr. Elaine's arbitration scheme. 
 
 These are a few abrupt facts for the consideration of 
 old soldiers. I can only suggest the general remedy to the 
 effect that all pension legislation should be made to deal 
 directly with the pensioner and do away with all inter- 
 mediaries. If the fees and emoluments that arise from 
 the business of the pension sharks were cut off, the agita- 
 tion would cease. I know there are laws and rules appar- 
 ently restricting the attorney to a certain small fee, but 
 we all understand fully that notwithstanding these guards 
 hat legislators think they put around their laws, the 
 agent reaps a richer harvest than the intended benefici- 
 aries. There are many Avays of evading these restrictions. 
 No law can be enacted that will prevent a pensioner doing 
 as he pleases with money after his warrant has been turned 
 into currency. If some sort of a general law could be 
 passed, paying pensions direct, monthly, through the 
 Postoffice and War Department and abolishing all the 
 present cumbersome machinery of the department, simply 
 requiring of the applicant a local surgeon's certificate of 
 disability, attested by the State or County official, where 
 he is known, it would save millions in expense and won- 
 derfully facilitate the payment of claims. In the aggre- 
 gate the expenditure would not exceed that paid to the 
 army of pension office clerks, but this will never be. This 
 inside ring which thrives by this system is all powerful at 
 Washington and they work in harmony with the outside
 
 232 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 ring or army of claim agents. It will be patent to the most 
 casual observer that the pension business "pays," else there 
 would not be so many engaged in it. It will also be apparent 
 that the small fees allowed each attorney do not of themselves 
 justify or account for so great an income in the financial 
 standing of the brokers, who have no other visible means 
 of support. The principal pension agents have silent 
 partners who are employed in the pension office. The 
 most careful management will fail to detect the general 
 collusion of prominent pension officials with the attorneys 
 outside. All dismissed pension employes immediately 
 engage in the pension business. The chiefs of each divis- 
 ion are appointed, and do not come under the Civil Ser- 
 vice rules. They are, as a rule, selected by political pref- 
 erment or from other influences. They know less of 'the 
 duties than the sub-chiefs, and are, of course, subject to 
 the policy of their " influence." In my very brief service 
 in the pension office, / detected a newly -appointed chief in 
 communication with the head of a prominent pension 
 attorney outside, on the business of his office and making 
 suggestions or giving official information. / have the proof 
 of it. The thought occurs: if that could be discovered 
 accidentally in so short a time, what a broad field there 
 might be for further investigation! If the claim agent's 
 profitable business could be taken away from him, there 
 would be no incentive to the political demagogue to make 
 trade and capital out of the business, nor for the old sol- 
 dier to worry himself into fevers of restlessness and dis- 
 content. These agents mail broadcast throughout the 
 laud, at low rates of postage, weekly, millions upon
 
 ON THE WAR PATH. 233 
 
 millions of circulars, urging the soldiers to apply for pen- 
 sions, offering him every possible inducement to do so, 
 specifying increases, and, by exaggerated terms, outline 
 the opportunities that these agencies afford all soldiers to 
 easily secure a share of the surplus. In this way thou- 
 sands of worthy soldiers have been induced to make appli- 
 cation for pensions on account of disabilities that most 
 probably result from their increased age, who would not 
 otherwise have thought of it. No great injustice is done, 
 perhaps, but once an old soldier gets his mind on a pen- 
 sion, it practically unfits him^for work. They are led by 
 these flowery circulars to believe that the Government owes 
 them a living the balance of their days, which they are 
 anxious to pay, and they put in their time waiting and 
 waiting. I know of one pension office annex, as it is 
 sometimes called, because of the private business being so 
 extensive, that publishes a weekly paper wholly devoted 
 to the agitation of the pension business of this one man. 
 It is said that this paper has been sent out to the extent of 
 250,000 weekly not as bona fide subscribers, but as "sam- 
 ple copies" to a "free list" of names obtained from the 
 records of the Government of all survivors now known. 
 To such an extent was this abuse of the sample copy law 
 carried that, to my certain knowledge, the postal authori- 
 ties felt compelled to take steps to prevent their service 
 being loaded down with such frve advertising. This 
 is simply using the Government facilities to incite or 
 encourage persons to file claims that may not be just 
 nor proper, and which creates discontent among the 
 people with the Government, where the promised relief is
 
 234 ON THE WAR- PATH. 
 
 not granted, as the recipient of these papers are led to 
 expect. This weekly trade paper for claim agents formerly 
 enjoyed quite a large circulation. The cost of subscription 
 being placed so low as to be within the reach of all. The 
 apparent policy of its management being to afford soldiers 
 an opportunity of "fighting their battles o'er" its col- 
 umns are opened to free contributions from all sections of 
 the country. In this way barrels of material are gathered, 
 from which selections may be made and printed without 
 expense. On account of its free circulation the advertis- 
 ing space is of course valuable and eagerly sought and used 
 by other unprincipled schemers. No advertisement, how- 
 ever, of a competing claim agent is admitted to its col- 
 umns, but that class of advertisers which are rejected by 
 all respectable publications find it a convenient medium to 
 expose their loathsome and villainous schemes. Prizes are 
 offered also, and in divers ways the management succeed 
 in obtaining many applications for pensions, which, when 
 granted, may come back to them through their variously 
 advertised schemes. 
 
 There are now some twenty local G. A. R. papers being 
 published throughout the United States. The ex-soldiers 
 are not now dependent upon any one "organ." Neither 
 are they under any obligations to the self-styled " soldiers' 
 papers." On the other hand the proprietors and claim 
 agents are indebted to bhe ex-soldier contributing of their 
 all; which amounts, perhaps, to millions. 
 
 These hordes of claim agents are, in no sense, friends of 
 the soldiers, except so far as it may promote their own 
 purely selfish ends. A poor soldier would fare sadly at
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH. 235 
 
 their hands if he appealed personally for enough to get a 
 cup of coffee. I know something of this by personal 
 observation; as serving to illustrate the point I mention 
 an actual occurrence. 
 
 A soldier who contributed some material for a certain 
 soldiers' paper enjoying a large circulation among veterans, 
 was having some hard luck for which he was in no sense 
 responsible, either from bad habits or management, ap- 
 pealed to the wealthy claim agent who was a director in a 
 bank in which a note for the small sum of $30 was due, 
 asking the favor of an endorsement for an extension, 
 explaining that unless it was granted he, the soldier, 
 would be legally notified to vacate his house, his family 
 being practically put upon the streets. Sufficient money to 
 secure the endorser would be due and in their agent's hands 
 in a few days. This "friend of soldiers" refused in most 
 ungentlemanly terms to even "consider " the matter. In 
 a few days following he generously and publicly contrib- 
 uted $100 to a Post charity as an advertisement. He did 
 not imagine the "poor soldier" would ever be able to give 
 him the benefit of this advertisement. 
 
 In my newspaper scouting through the late Confed- 
 eracy in late years, I have met in a business as well as in a 
 social way, quite a good many prominent ex-Confederates, 
 with whom I have talked freely about the war; more 
 especially in regard to the personalities of the leaders 
 of both sides. In discussing the death of '/ Stonewall " 
 Jackson I found there was a remarkable reticence in regard 
 to it and a disposition to quietly change the subject. 
 On several occasions, on referring to the rumors of his
 
 236 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 having courted death, I was met by the retort : " Didn't 
 your Secretary Stanton commit suicide?" While I have 
 always resented the imputation, it has occurred to me that 
 some one who knows should forever put to rest this im- 
 pression, which has become quite general throughout the 
 country, probably because of this appearance of mystery 
 and studied avoidance of any discussion of the manner of 
 Mr. Stanton's death, as in that of Jackson's. At the time 
 of the sad occurrence I was employed in a confidential 
 capacity in the telegraph office in Washington City. I 
 confess that, from some private telegraphic correspondence 
 that passed through my hands at the time, I gathered the 
 impression that Mr. Stanton had in a fit of mental aber- 
 ration done something that at least was an indirect cause 
 of his death. The rumor that was carefully suppressed 
 then was that he had cut his throat with a razor, the 
 wound being of such a dreadful character as to cause 
 almost instant death. The fact is significant. Xo one 
 was permitted to see Mr. Stanton after death, which 
 occurred in the double brick house on K street, opposite 
 Franklin Square, now owned by Senator John Sherman. 
 My purpose in referring to it is not to re-open any old 
 wounds, but to afford the proper person an opportunity to 
 dispel the cloud of mystery that hangs over our War Sec- 
 retary's death. He is buried at Oak Hill, Georgetown. 
 I would suggest that the G. A. R. do this great man the 
 honor of removing his bones to Arlington, where they 
 might appropriately rest under the shadow of the stone 
 columns that once stood as portals to the old War Depart- 
 ment building and that have recently been placed over the 
 gateway at Arlington.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 23? 
 
 It is well known that Mr. Stanton made many enemies 
 among his own people during the war, and subsequently 
 he had his trouble with President Johnson. Upon Gen- 
 eral Grant's ascendancy to the White House, the ex-Sec- 
 retary desired, and his friends expected, him to be made 
 one of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, 
 as a just reward for his services. That he was entitled to 
 the honor and fully capable of filling tne position was not 
 questioned by even his enemies; but for some reason Presi- 
 dent Grant hesitated in making the appointment, which 
 fact, it is supposed, bore heavily on the mind of the great 
 Secretary, as savoring of a country's ingratitude, and may 
 have, with other troubles, tended to unhinge the great 
 mind. The nomination was made, however, a short time 
 before his death, but it came too late, like the promotion 
 of many others of our war heroes. 
 
 It is sad to reflect that so many of our war generals' lives 
 after the war were made miserable by the seeming neglect 
 and indifference of the Government to their great services. 
 It is said General Meade died of a broken heart, and we all 
 know the gallant Warren suffered keenly from his degra- 
 dation by General Sheridan he requested that he should 
 not be buried in his uniform. 
 
 General Hancock's grave, in the corner of a little church- 
 yard in Norristown, Pa., is unmarked by even a simple head- 
 stone, and weeds almost conceal the low green tent under 
 which the great hero of Gettysburg sleeps. McClellan, 
 Hooker, Pope, McDowell and Burnside, who were com- 
 manders of the Army of the Potomac, are dead, but who 
 can tell where they sleep the sleep that knows no w&king?
 
 238 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Among the survivors are some who have suffered a living 
 death for a quarter of a century, like Patterson and Fitz- 
 John Porter. 
 
 In this connection permit me to call attention to a re- 
 markable instance of a country's ingratitude to a war hero, 
 who yet lives a slow-torturing death, right under the 
 shadow of the Capitol. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton my dear 
 old General, on whose staff the records of the AVar Depart- 
 ment will show I served until June .'50, ISG-i, or until pro- 
 moted walks the streets of Washington, a lonely, almost 
 forgotten poor old man, but retaining his old-time military 
 bearing and courteous manner. Though poverty-stricken 
 and almost in destitute circumstances, he remains the gen- 
 tleman one of those quiet, elderly, distinguished-looking 
 men who would attract attention in any crowd, whatever 
 may be his condition. He is always neatly dressed, his 
 face cleanly shaved, with the exception of a gray mustache. 
 No matter who may address him, whether a tramp, or a 
 newsboy, or a senator, he will rise to his feet and remain 
 standing at ''attention" while conversing; yet this great 
 old hero is to-day a beggar, almost an abandoned outcast, 
 disheartened, his life bitterly soured because of neglect. 
 
 It makes me sad whenever I see Major-General Alfred 
 Pleasonton about the hotel corridors that he haunts here, 
 for there is a grand memory of his war history that is fas- 
 cinating to any man who answered to " boots and saddles," 
 and drew rein and saber during those dreadful days of the 
 Rebellion. The sadness comes from the knowledge that 
 the man who, first of all Generals in the Eastern army, made 
 the 'cavalry a power, and accomplished the work that
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH, 239 
 
 mounted forces are supposed to be used for. Gen. Pleas- 
 onton "Cavalry Pleasonton" is so often confounded 
 with his brother, Gen. Augustus H. Pleasonton, that I 
 will explain here that the subject of my sketch has no 
 middle name just Alfred, a king of cavalrymen. 
 
 Alfred Pleasonton was born here in Washington nearly 
 sixty-five years ago, while his father was one of the treas- 
 ury auditors, and in 1840 went to West Point under an 
 appointment at large from President Van Buren. He duly 
 graduated in 1844 into the 2d Dragoons (now the 2d 
 Cavalry), and from that time until his resignation from 
 the army in 1866 his record was an important part of the 
 history of the mounted service. 
 
 The Rebellion had not progressed very far when Pleas- 
 onton, then promoted to major, was made a general officer, 
 and went to the Army of the Potomac as a Cavalry Divis- 
 ion commander, and in June, 1863, succeeded Stoneman 
 in command of all the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 At the fateful battle of Chancellorsville he was in the 
 right center of the field when " Stonewall " Jackson passed 
 close around our front to fall upon and drive the llth 
 Corps from the field, and it was he who discovered the 
 movement and held the Rebels in check for twenty min- 
 utes, until troops came to close the fatal gap on Sickles's 
 right that Hooker had left open. There was no infantry 
 available, but Pleasonton hastily gathered several batteries 
 and got them to work to check the well-conducted Rebel 
 advance, and then, when all seemed lost (to gain the 
 imperatively needed time), called the bravest major in all 
 his command and hurled him on the Rebel front with a
 
 240 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 battalion in as desperate a charge as that at Balaklava, 
 that is so fumed in song and story. The gallant boy-major, 
 a Pennsylvanian, and more than two-thirds of his gallant 
 officers and men lay in front of that fringe of pine saplings 
 when the help came that held the line, but the day was 
 saved for all that. I have heard that when the young 
 Major got his order he drew saber, rode up to Pleasonton 
 and, saluting, said: "Good-bye, General; I'll hold them 
 whether I come back or not." I have seen General Pleas- 
 onton's blue eyes very suspiciously moist when that has 
 been talked of in his presence, and I've heard him say: 
 " It had to be done, no matter at what cost, to save 10,000 
 lives, and the Major was the only man in all the command 
 I could depend upon thoroughly to do it." 
 
 When the cavalry was organized into a corps in June, 
 1863, he was placed in command with Buford, D. McM. 
 Gregg and Kilpatrick as his division commanders, and the 
 work done in less than a month made him a major-general 
 and changed the general opinion as to the value of cavalry 
 in field operations. The Gettysburg campaign showed how 
 far superior Pleasonton was to "Job." Stuart, the Eebel 
 commander, in the duties pertaining to cavalry service, for 
 he was outwitted and outfought through all that cam- 
 paign; but it remained for the famous cavalry duel at 
 Brandy Station, a month later, between those two leaders 
 to demonstrate the all-around superiority of the Union 
 over the Eebel cavalry. There Stuart held a knoll from 
 which the ground sloped easily away on every side, and the 
 broad surrounding fields were yet crossed by fences, 
 between which ran narrow lanes, through which, in one
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 241 
 
 instance, part of our force was obliged to charge in column 
 of fours for lack of time to throw down fences. Not a 
 piece of artillery was used on either side, but after a time 
 Pleasonton drove Stuart completely off the field, and the 
 Rebels never again won a general cavalry engagement in 
 the East. 
 
 Pleasonton in 1866 was offered the colonelcy of one of 
 the new infantry regiments, but with a cavalryman's dis- 
 dain for such service refused the offer and indignantly 
 resigned. When General Grant became President, he made 
 Pleasonton collector of internal revenue for that district in 
 New York City that included then Wall street and all the 
 down-town banks and brokers' offices, in which was col- 
 lected the largest revenue of any district in the whole 
 country. Later on Grant called him here to Washington 
 and made him Commissioner of Internal Revenue. No 
 matter what may be said otherwise of Alfred Pleasonton, 
 no man ever dared even hint at his dash as a soldier or his 
 unswerving integrity in official life. Commissioner Pleas- 
 onton found that a great railway corporation had been 
 evading its taxes, and he proceeded to make it pay a num- 
 ber of millions it owed. He began by grabbing every loco- 
 motive that ran into the chief central town on its line 
 (after he had exhausted every other means in his power to 
 compel payment), and within a few hours the road found 
 itself almost crippled, while the danger of total stoppage 
 was increasing. A wild appeal for compromise was made 
 to Pleasonton. "Pay up your dues to the United States." 
 Specious representations were made to President Grant, 
 and despite Pleasonton's protests, General Grant suspended
 
 243 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 the order so as to allow passenger traffic temporarily. 
 Pleasonton resigned the same day, and refused all further 
 offers of political preferment. The House passed a bill to 
 make him Colonel on the retired list, cutting him down to 
 Major the rank he held when the first volunteers were 
 sent to the field twenty-seven years ago. Men who have 
 been dismissed the service for various military offenses are 
 restored by almost every succeeding Congress, with the 
 rank they would have held had they remained continuously 
 in service, and it seems as if General Pleasonton might 
 have been granted that rank, notwithstanding his recent 
 mistakes and bitter speeches, resulting from his neglect. 
 Recently I met Gen. Pleasonton in the reading room of 
 Willard's Hotel, saluting in the old style, and introducing 
 my little boy Fred to him with the remark: "My boy, 
 this is my dear old army father, Gen. Pleasonton, the man 
 who told us what to do in war and we had to obey, if we 
 knew it killed us." He greeted my little boy so pleasantly 
 and talked so kindly of his father, that I confess to a few 
 silent tears over the interview. As he seemed to be in the 
 mood for talking over old times, I reminded him of a con- 
 versation I once heard between himself and General John 
 Buford, in which they were discussing the question of 
 Buford's promotion to be Major-General, with Custer, 
 Kilpatrick and Gregg. "Yes," said the General, "I 
 remember that talk distinctly; I kept telling Meade he had 
 better hurry his own promotion, because, you know, we 
 were all expecting the Western fellows would come in with 
 Grant, and as they were Stanton's favorites they would 
 rank us out of our old commands. Meade was an easy-
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 243 
 
 going fellow, you know; we used to call him an old woman, 
 and some of them nick-named him 'rabbit ears. 5 Well, 
 he always said that he had already made the recommend a- 
 tipns and done all he could in his official way to secure 
 the promotions; but you know Meade was not the man to 
 press such, matters, besides the War Department was always 
 working against us of the old Army of the Potomac. 
 Stanton was afraid of us Union Generals who happened to 
 be born South. I am a native of the District here and 
 Buford was born in Kentucky." 
 
 I interrupted here, saying: " Buford was as staunch a 
 loyalist as Thomas or any other Southern man. I belonged 
 in his brigade, and was attached to his headquarters long 
 enough to become satisfied of" this fact, and like everybody 
 else, became quite attached to the genial old Kentuckian." 
 
 " Well," said Pleasonton, " Buford died here in Wash- 
 ington of a broken heart. This is the way it happened," 
 said the General, as he drew up closer to me and began to 
 tell the story in an earnest and half-confidential manner: 
 " You know, of course, how dear to the old soldier of the 
 Regular Army is the question of rank. It is a subject 
 ever uppermost in his mind and heart. Whenever Buford 
 and I got together long enough to talk, we would get on 
 this subject of rank and promotion. I told him that I had 
 officially notified Meade that he was entitled to his two 
 stars for his Gettysburg fight, the first day alone, and said 
 Meade always agreed with me as to that. One day, when 
 talking together, I said, jokingly, ' Say, Buford, whenever 
 the Government at Washington hears that we are danger- 
 ously hurt and are sure to die, they will give us our rank.
 
 244 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 They are afraid to trust us Southern fellows too far.' 
 Buford laughed good-naturedly about this at the time, but 
 he never forgot it; and he got full of rheumatism down on 
 the Rapidan; kept brooding over the matter. So one day I 
 told him to go up to Washington and put himself under 
 the care of the doctors. 
 
 " My idea at the time/' said the General, " was to have 
 Buford in Washington, where we had arranged that our 
 friends in Congress would get to meet him personally. He 
 was too much of a soldier to hunt up political influence 
 himself, so Meade, Gregg and some more of us put up this 
 scheme; for we all knew if the President could but see and 
 talk with him it would overcome Stanton's suspicions, for 
 to know Buford personally wae to love him. 
 
 "Well, I had on my Staff a Surgeon who was one of 
 those good-hearted, earnest fellows, who wanted to do all 
 he could, but at times allowed zeal to override discretion. 
 I sent this doctor along with Buford because he had some 
 political acquaintance none of therest of us had. Buford 
 got to Washington, and, instead of hunting up his friends, 
 shut himself up in his room and was soon down sick in 
 bed. He was away from the army and lonely. There was 
 nothing serious the matter with him. The doctor attended 
 him occasionally, but put in most of his time at the Capi- 
 tol among his own friends, or getting up delegations to 
 call on the President in the interest of Buford's nomina- 
 tion. One day it occurred to this fool doctor to tell the 
 President that Buford was liable to die. Either the Pres- 
 ident or Stanton inquired particularly as to Buford's 
 chances of recovery, and also as to the prospect of his dying.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 245 
 
 The doctor had heard my joke to Buford, and his pleasant 
 way of taking it made the doctor think that to exaggerate 
 his illness would hasten his promotion. So one day, with 
 this purpose in view, he rushed to the War Department in 
 great distress and told the President and Secretary that 
 Buford would surely die. He told me subsequently that 
 he did not say he would die, or meant that it was likely to 
 occur soon. 
 
 "The President, after conversing with Stanton, author- 
 ized the Surgeon to say to Buford that he should have his 
 rank at once. Without any other thought than that he 
 was doing a kindness for his General, the energetic little 
 Surgeon rushed to Buford's house, unceremoniously en- 
 tered the sick man's room and blatantly announced the 
 good news to him. 
 
 "The doctor told me with some show of feeling when I 
 questioned him regarding this," said Pleasonton, "that 
 Buford looked at him from his bed in a dazed sort of way, 
 and without uttering a word of thanks, turned his face to 
 the wall. He imagined the General was so overcome by 
 the good news that he had simply turned his head to hide 
 his overflowing feelings of gratitude, and, therefore, did 
 not disturb him for a while. 
 
 " When he went to him a few moments afterward, he 
 found that General Buford had died a Major-General. 
 
 "I knew Buford intimately, and there never has been 
 any doubt in my mind that the thought occurred to him 
 at the time he was so depressed in spirits that the doctor 
 had satisfied himself and the President that his case was 
 hopeless, and the President had agreed to gratify his wish
 
 246 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 at the last hour. So he turned his face to the wall and 
 died without saying a word." 
 
 But we will have to hasten on to Gettysburg. As we 
 ride out toward Fairfax C. H., allow me to tell you a short 
 story, which has the unusual merit of being something 
 new about Gettysburg, bearing on the disputed historical 
 question of securing the position there, which it is con- 
 ceded was, in effect, making the victory possible. This 
 was recently told to me by General Pleasonton. 
 
 Everybody knows that Pleasonton commanded the cav- 
 alry of the Army of the Potomac during this campaign; 
 that he had for his subordinate division chiefs such gallant 
 men as Ouster, Kilpatrick and Buford, of the First, Sec- 
 ond and Third Divisions, which, by the way, gained for 
 that army much of the glory it achieved, for a great por- 
 tion of which General Sheridan gets the credit now. 
 
 Pleasonton says that he had the positive evidence that 
 Lee was making for Gettysburg during this Antietam cam- 
 paign of the previous year; that, in anticipation of this, 
 he sent a Prussian engineer officer, who was on his Staff, 
 whose name is entirely too long to recall, with a squadron 
 of cavalry up to Gettysburg in 1802, and that officer made 
 a topographical map of the country, which is on file to-day 
 among McClellan's papers. 
 
 Looking at the matter in the light of professional sol- 
 diers, Pleasonton and McClellan concluded that Lee had 
 wisely selected Gettysburg or some adjacent point for a 
 battle-ground, because all the roads to Washington, Balti- 
 more, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, as well as toward the 
 South, centered or crossed there. It was, on this account,
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 247 
 
 strategically a good point for rapid concentration, which 
 is one-half of every battle. Besides this, he could there 
 fight with the South Mountains like a great wall at his 
 back, the Potomac on one flank and the Susquehannah on 
 the other. In cases of disaster, the round passes of the 
 mountains would protect his retreat. 
 
 Now, Pleasonton asserts that, with this knowledge 
 obtained the year previous, he, as chief of cavalry, sent 
 Buford out to Gettysburg to secure the position outlined 
 on the topographical map, in anticipation of Lee's 
 intended concentration there. 
 
 However the statement may be disputed, we all know 
 that Buford did go out there with his cavalry, and, after a 
 careful and personal examination of the country, he took 
 the necessary precautions to hold the ground until the 
 Army of the Potomac should come up. 
 
 It is well known that it was Buford's cavalry that 
 brought on the engagement the first day, and, with the 
 assistance of Reynolds' Corps, the cavalry first drove and 
 then held in check the advance of General Lee's army of 
 veterans. 
 
 I said to Pleasonton: " Why do you never attend any 
 of the numerous army reunions and recite these things? 
 When Sickles mentioned your name at the Gettysburg 
 reunion, recently, as being as worthy of promotion as were 
 Napoleon's Field Marshals for your work, then it raised a 
 small tornado of applause among the old boys who lis- 
 tened." 
 
 "No," said Pleasonton, in his quiet and modest way; 
 " I never go to such places; they are only graveyards to
 
 '.MX ON TIIK W.VK-PATH. 
 
 inc. Some of my best friends on lx>th sides were killed 
 t hero. 
 
 "It's just us Sickles says about Gettysburg those 
 Penn.sylvania fellows who an- booming that town don't 
 want anybody but their own crowd to have anything to do 
 H jth Gettysburg." 
 
 Hut, General, you must remember that it was the 
 Pennsylvania generals, Reynolds. Hancock and Meade, 
 who fought that battle." 
 
 "It was lluford and Reynolds, my boy, who saved that 
 day and made the victory possible; " but they seem to 
 have overlooked a couple of other Pennsylvania men, two 
 of our cavalry boys, (Jregg and Rodciibough. 
 
 If we were not in so great a hurry to reach the battle- 
 field of Gettysburg, it would have been more agreeable 
 and entertaining to the Travel Club to have driven from 
 Washington via the upper Potomac road outpost, the 
 Chain Bridge. Great Falls and Cabin John bridge, enjoy- 
 ng the beautiful and romantic scenery of this historic 
 locality. 
 
 There are some interesting legends associated with this 
 river road. 
 
 On the southern side of the aqueduct bridge, curious, 
 if not supernatural, sounds are heard on quiet nights. 
 These resemble so nearly the roll of a drum that it has 
 given rise to the belief in the minds of some of the con- 
 trabands living near by that the noises there are produced 
 by the ghost of a Federal drummer boy who ran away 
 from his home and was drowned at this point while cross- 
 ing in the darkness. There id no doubt about the noises,
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 249 
 
 and their mysterious origin is a cause of wonderment to 
 intelligent people therabouts. 
 
 Immediately above the bridge will be seen a group of 
 three large rocks arising from the middle of the river, on 
 the surface of which grow some beautiful aquatic plants. 
 These are universally known as the " Three Sisters." The 
 story told to the crowds of young people who daily enjoy 
 the excursions up and down this lovely stream is that 
 General Braddock and his friends had captured or stolen 
 three beautiful Indian princesses which they held as hos- 
 tages. These high-toned young ladies, preferring death 
 to imprisonment and the society of these English gentle- 
 men, bound themselves together, after the manner of the 
 " Three Graces," each holding a stone in hand as a sinker 
 or anchor, plunged into the stream and were drowned at 
 this point. Their bodies were never recovered. The fol- 
 lowing morning those three rocks appeared above the 
 water to mark their watery graves. 
 
 There is no doubt about this story, as the rocks may 
 be seen by anyone who may be incredulous about it. 
 
 We will get off the train at Fairfax Station, where 
 conveyances meet-us, and as we drive the four rough miles 
 to General Hooker's headquarters at Fairfax Court-house, 
 permit me to tell you something funny about the Kebel 
 money. This was an actual occurrence and tends to illus- 
 trate the low estimation in which our soldiers in the field 
 held Confederate money. Perhaps not one of the boys 
 ever imagined a time would or could come when any value 
 could attach to Confederate bonds. 
 
 " I believe that I can honestly claim to have made the
 
 250 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 biggest bet on record in a poker game," said an early vet- 
 eran of the war, who was one of a recent group of com- 
 rades engaged in a social game of " draw " in Washington. 
 " How much was it?" asked another player who had 
 just thrown down his hand with the exclamation that it 
 was " Only nine high." " Two million dollars" said the 
 old soldier placidly. A series of "whews" came from the 
 rest of the party, but the Washington veteran in poker 
 was not in the least disconcerted. ' ' It's a fact, as sure as 
 you are living sinners," he exclaimed, " and if you will 
 listen I'll tell you how it- came about." For a minute or 
 more the game was suspended, while the veteran talked: 
 "We were in winter quarters, in 1862, near White Oak 
 Church, Virginia. Each regiment took its turn in doing 
 picket duty, and it was the good luck of the corps to which 
 I was attached to have captured a paymaster's wagon, con- 
 taining I can not say how many million of bills and bonds." 
 "Oh, I see," interrupted one of the group, "it was Con- 
 federate money." . "Your head is level, " replied the vet- 
 eran, " but still it was money, and gave the boys who made 
 the capture the opportunity for playing the heaviest game 
 of poker ever heard of. The ante was $100 and there was 
 no limit, hence you may conceive there was some lively 
 betting. 
 
 "In the fray something like $5,000,000 of the stuff 
 came into the possession of myself and my three tent mates, 
 and as soon as we got back to camp we started the game. 
 I had fairly good luck at the start, but after awhile the 
 paste boards went back on me and I rarely got a pair 
 bigger than deuces. This went on until my pile had
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 251 
 
 been brought down to about $2,000,000. There was a 
 $1,000 jack-pot and when I picked up my hand I found 
 I had the invariable deuces. 
 
 "The man next to me opened the pot for $1,000. The 
 next man and myself saw him and then we drew. Each 
 of the others took three cards, but I contented myself with 
 one. When it came my turn there was $2,000 to put up, 
 and without lifting my hand I raised the last better 
 $2,000,000. This drove the man next to me out and left 
 the field clear for myself and one opponent. He delib- 
 erated a long time, counted over his pile, which contained 
 just a little more than the amount of the bet, and then 
 threw up his hand. 
 
 " When I looked at my cards I found that I had not 
 bettered my two deuces. My opponent threw down a pair 
 of kings. 
 
 " I ascertained later that at that very time certain 
 Southern sympathizers in Washington and Baltimore were 
 paying 5 cents on the dollar for Confederate money, and I 
 wanted to kick myself for not having known it sooner. 
 
 " I have understood that agents have been quietly 
 gathering up the bonds for some years."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 C. H. and vicinity, once populated by 
 100,000 of the Army of the Potomac, would now 
 seem like a deserted village to any of the old 
 army boys who might revisit the place. We will only tarry 
 here long enough to take a photograph of the spot once 
 occupied by General Hooker as the headquarters of the 
 Army of the Potomac, from which so much intrigue relat- 
 ing to his removal from the command was concocted. 
 
 At this point we again take our horses and ride along 
 over the same old war-path we traveled with headquarters 
 in 1863. 
 
 On this occasion our path is a pleasant one, following 
 the old pike leading through Aldie and the gap through 
 the mountains to Winchester. 
 
 It was along here that I had the thrilling experience 
 with Mosby's guerillas. 
 
 On my return from Washington, I brought back with 
 me quite a heavy official mail for cavalry corps headquar- 
 ters. At that time Pleasonton happened to be at Aldie, 
 leaving quite a gap between there and Hooker's headquar- 
 ters at Fairfax. 
 
 I supposed, of course, this road leading to our front 
 was safe enough. Being well mounted, I dashed on ahead 
 of the ambulance, which was carrying the mail. 
 
 This old pike, as you will observe, is laid out on 
 straight lines. The early surveyors of roads worked on 
 
 252
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 253 
 
 the bee-line principle, going up hill and down dale, with- 
 out any regard to the theory that it might be the nearest, 
 as well as the best way, to go around a hill instead of 
 mounting it, thereby avoiding useless grades, and often 
 contending with obstacles in the path that might easily 
 have been flanked. 
 
 From the top of one hill the discouraged traveler sees 
 the long and narrow road ahead of him, stretching for 
 miles over other hills and through swaths of forest. 
 
 On galloping out here in that beautiful June evening, 
 I observed ahead of me some distance what I supposed to 
 be a wagon-train, turning off for evening camp. Riding 
 along leisurely until within gunshot, my attention being 
 attracted by some signs of activity, which is of so unusual 
 a character about packing wagon-trains that my curiosity 
 was aroused. Noticing a house off the road a short dis- 
 tance, I rode into the yard to make some inquiries. A 
 bareheaded woman with a baby in her sleeveless arms 
 kindly handed me a drink of water. I asked her in a 
 careless manner: "What is going on up there in the mid- 
 dle of the road ? " 
 
 "They done captured all them wagons." 
 
 "Who captured them?" 
 
 " Why, soldiers, of course." 
 
 "Yes, but what soldiers?" 
 
 " Why, Mosby's men, sah." 
 
 That was enough. I had run right into a gang of 
 mounted guerillas, and had in my possession a number of 
 important papers about our army. I pulled my little 
 fatigue cap over my face, took a short hold of my bridle
 
 ON THE AVAR-PATH. 
 
 reins, turned my horse's head into the road, and, instead 
 of turning up to walk into the trap, as they had expected, 
 I gave the poor horse an inch of spur at every jump as I 
 turned back. 
 
 As soon as my reverse movement was discovered, a vol- 
 ley was fired at me; guerillas came after me, not so well 
 mounted as I, yelling and firing at me on the run. It was 
 a pretty race for about two miles along this straight line. 
 I won. If I had not, this absolutely true story would 
 never have been told. When I got back to headquarters 
 and reported to the Chief-of-Staff, he at once sent out, 
 under rny guidance, the cavalry escort, composed, I think, 
 of Bush's Lancers, or " turkey-drivers," as we called 
 them. Before we reached the place we heard the sounds 
 of explosion, and soon saw rising above the treetops great 
 clouds of white smoke. The officer in charge of the 
 escort halted his men and observed to me: "Ko use in 
 going out there; those fellows have got more than they 
 bargained "for, if they set fire to those wagons supposing 
 they were destroying stores it's an ammunition train/' 
 So we waited till the clouds rolled by, and late in the even- 
 ing reached Aldie and reported to General Alexander, 
 Chief-of-Staff, to whom the recital of my adventure seemed 
 to be very amusing, as he laughed heartily. 
 
 One of the curious things to the young generation 
 about our war stories is the apparent indifference amongst 
 comrades to the fate of their companions. They look 
 upon death, perhaps, as a sort of blessed relief from some 
 of the horrors of army life. When I read nowadays of the 
 burial of a G. A. E. comrade with appropriate military
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 255 
 
 houers, the brass band accompaniments, the firing over 
 the grave by the "awkward squad/' and witness the ten- 
 derness with which the remains covered by the " Old 
 Glory " are handled, my mind unconsciously reverts to a 
 soldier's burial on the field. 
 
 It may not be a good thing to put in cold type, but it 
 did seem to me that in a great majority of cases there was 
 more eagerness to relieve the dying soldier of any valuables 
 he might have than to offer him physical comfort or relig- 
 ious consolation. Most of the dead soldiers would be 
 found with their pockets turned inside out. Of course, 
 it is understood that in every regiment there were a few 
 unprincipled wretches who stealthily pursued these ghoul- 
 ish practices. 
 
 The poor fellows of the cavalry advance, who died in 
 the very front, and sometimes beyond the front, in the 
 dangerous cavalry skirmish line, are sleeping in the lonely 
 almost lost graves scattered " on the advance line " all the 
 way from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg. There are hun- 
 dreds of these lost graves of forgotten heroes. In truth, 
 our "war path" might be appropriately marked by an 
 almost continuous line of monuments. One of the most 
 painful remembrances of the cavalry soldier's burial is the 
 sight of a dead comrade laid over a horse like a bag of 
 potatoes, a companion leading while another holds in place 
 the dead man. Ambulances could scarcely be used on 
 these mountain roads, and, besides this, the cavalry were 
 generally out of reach of them when needed. 
 
 The cavalrymen of the Army of the Potomac will 
 recognize all this country. It was their ground and right
 
 256 ON THE \VAR-PAT3. 
 
 nobly they earned their spurs here. It was Pleasanton's 
 Cavalry that reported to Hooker the daily movement of 
 Lee's army in its march to Gettysburg. The cavalry of 
 the Confederates, under command of J. E. B. Stuart, were 
 somewhere in our rear on a raid around our entire army. 
 But Pleasanton paid no attention to them, as he said "Oh, 
 I don't want any stern chase after Meb.' I have something 
 more important in my front here." 
 
 Stuart's raid was a failure and the movement a source 
 of much annoyance and embarrassment to General Lee. 
 It is seldom that a poor scout gets any credit for his dan- 
 gerous work, yet Generals Lee and Longstreet officially 
 report that to the individual effort of their scout Harrison 
 is due the entire credit of performing alone the service 
 that was expected of General Stuart and his cavalry corps. 
 It was the scout Harrison who first reported to General 
 Lee, when at Chambersburg, the important information 
 that Hooker was on his rear and had that day crossed the 
 Potomac. The intelligence caused General Lee to change 
 his advance movement, and probably saved the city of 
 Harrisburg, Pa. 
 
 The services of the scout are thankless but valuable. 
 His life is always in jeopardy, as I know by bitter experi- 
 ence. There is in some minds a vague impression that the 
 work of a spy, or a scout, is dishonorable, or that the ser- 
 vice necessarily implies treachery and deceit. This is so 
 only in the same degree that the strategy of a general is 
 treacherous. Strategem as an art of war is considered to 
 be honorable, yet it is seldom, if ever, applied without 
 resorting to the aid of the scout. A spy or scout, there-
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 fore, may be inspired by as patriotic motives as the general 
 and army whom he serves. It is the motive which should 
 give character to any service. With me, this secret service 
 was in no sense mercenary, and became in a manner 
 almost involuntary. I never received one cent for it, but 
 obtained that which is more lasting and which I value more 
 highly than gold as a reward, and that is a commission 
 signed by A. Lincoln and E. M. Stanton. As a special 
 reward this parchment was antedated a year, to March 3, 
 1863. So that in fact I was an officer in the regular arm)' 
 while wearing the uniform of an enlisted man. My service 
 was almost altogether of a special or detached character, as 
 a telegrapher, signalist and scout at headquarters. 
 
 On this ground, and not that I make any pretensions 
 to superior attainments, I base any claim for having ,had 
 the opportunity of having seen as much of the war as any 
 other person. I went as I pleased, enjoying all the privi- 
 leges of a headquarters man, and perhaps I was a keen 
 observer. 
 
 "We will ride leisurely over the good road from Aldie 
 through the beautiful pastoral scenery of Loudoun County 
 to Leesburg. We might halt a short time in this old Vir- 
 ginia town, deviating a little from our route to visit Ball's 
 Bluff, the scene of the battle or massacre at thai point. 
 It is not an agreeable affair to dwell upon. We hurriedl} 
 ride down to the Potomac, the beautiful Upper Potomac, 
 which has been to so many a Rubicon and a river of death 
 md oblivion. 
 
 We cross at Point-of- Rocks, a most picturesque place. 
 The ferryman with his overhead rope and current for
 
 ^58 ON THE W AH- PATH. 
 
 motive p<fc7er points out the piers of tho old bridge burned 
 by the armies which has never been rebuilt. . It would be 
 impossible for me to make a pen picture of the grandly 
 beautiful and historic spot. Nearly all the old boys will 
 remember the precipitous hills, the rocky cliffs under which 
 the canal and railroad curve. A little ways up the river 
 are the mountains about Harper's Ferry. I sat on the 
 edge of the boat as we slowly crossed the stream, taking it 
 all in again, perhaps for the last time. 
 
 For the boys and girls and those of the club who have 
 never seen this country, Willie Hazard and I secured, from 
 our own camera, a number of the most striking views. 
 
 From the Potomac river to Frederick, as it is called in 
 Washington and Braddock's Journal or "orderly book/' 
 is a half-day's uninteresting ride. The scenery, as viewed 
 from the top of the mountains over which the road leads 
 us, is grand, but the roads are so execrable that we can 
 not enjoy it, so we hu.-ry along in a sort of sullen silence 
 toward Frederick. 
 
 The near approach to this, one of the finest old towns p.; 
 Maryland, is suggested by the frequent appearance of toll- 
 gates, a feature we had not met in our previous weok's 
 travel. 
 
 The- roads, however, are improving, so that we cheer- 
 fully pay this Maryland protection tariff on Inter-state 
 commerce. Here we find farms in the most improved con- 
 dition, elegant homes are scattered along the great high- 
 way, giving us the pleasing impression that we have come 
 into a more cultivated civilization. 
 
 At Frederick we drive to the Gi'j Hotel, at which
 
 ON THE WAK-PATH, 259 
 
 headquarters were domiciled in June, 1863. This was an 
 old-fashioned country tavern, the best of its day, in the 
 rear of which was an immense yard with stables, where the 
 farmers were accustomed to keep their horses. It was a 
 hostelry that afforded, as the sign said, "Entertainment 
 for man and beast/' 
 
 The headquarters horses filled the yard and stables 
 while the officers filled the house and were in turn filled 
 by the landlord barkeeper. 
 
 It was the Sunday before the battle. Ouster was with 
 us. Eight over the street from the hotel was a drug store, 
 the name on the sign I remember distinctly as being 
 Schley. The family, as was usual in such country towns, 
 lived above the store. Daring the Sunday we stayed there, 
 Ouster, the handsome, dashing, boyish-looking general, 
 with long hair and short jacket, sat by the window of 
 the hotel parlor, which was also upstairs, and carried 
 on a flirtation with a couple of young ladies who 
 were at the windows opposite. He became so much 
 interested in this new-found delight, that he had appar- 
 ently quite forgotten all about his cavalry, which were 
 scouting around somewhere on the South Mountains. I 
 was quite interested too, but was not able to find out how 
 it all ended. So on the occasion of this, my first revisit, I 
 at once looked for that sign, almost expecting to see the 
 same pretty faces of the young girls, after twenty-five 
 years, again. But I was disappointed in this, but in the 
 innocence and guilelessness of an old boy heart, I began to 
 ask the hotel clerk about the whereabouts of the Misses 
 I supposed, of course, that Frederick hotel clerks
 
 260 ON THE WAR- PATH. 
 
 were like all the others of that class, and knew everything. 
 I related to him and the crowd about the desk, the story 
 of Ouster's flirtation, until my humorous recital was made 
 suddenly sad by the gentlemanly clerk's reply to a ques- 
 tion as to her present whereabouts coupled with the sug- 
 gestion that I'd like to make a call on the lady. 
 
 " Yes, sir, the Miss Schley that was is living in this 
 house now. She is my wife, sir."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "E are now on the war-path within sound of 
 the booming of BuforcTs guns that opened 
 the ball at Gettysburg. We will hurry the 
 club along over the roads from Frederick, via Emmetts- 
 burg, stopping long enough to take some striking views of 
 the points that every one who was " thai " will recognize, 
 such as the toll-houses near Frederick, the romantic points 
 on the mountain road beyond Emmettsburg. 
 
 Gettysburg has been done and overdone so thoroughly 
 that your guide will spare the club any infliction of his 
 own experience. Volumes, yes, libraries that maybe meas- 
 ured by the cubic foot, have been written about Gettys- 
 burg. Monuments have been erected, indicating the 
 location of almost every Federal regiment that was here 
 engaged, and at the dedication of each and every one the 
 orators, poets and glee clubs told the assembled survivors 
 many things that had not entered their minds before. 
 
 I admit that I have contributed my mite to the mass of 
 contemporaneous history that has been printed about this 
 great battle. 
 
 I have no desire to fight it over again with the club, and 
 refer to the innumerable guide-books, so-called histories, 
 and modestly suggest that the unpretending story of the 
 observations of the ' ' Boy Spy " be included in the study. 
 
 In all the war literature, I have yet to see discussed the 
 fundamental question, "What can a soldier see from the 
 ranks ? " 
 
 261
 
 262 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 The youth of to-day reading or studying war articles, 
 as published, without first knowing the rudiments of war, 
 the conception of space and numbers in a great battle is 
 confined to a very small limit, his general idea of a battle 
 such as Gettysburg is confined to the limits of the blocks 
 of the small village where all of it could be seen without 
 difficulty. 
 
 My definition of a line of battle to the Travel Club, in 
 as few words as I can express it, would be a continuous 
 double line of men, the length of the line depending upon 
 the number engaged. There are supporting lines in the 
 rear of this main line and these are shifted to the different 
 parts of the field where they can do the most good, as is 
 demonstrated as the battle progresses. 
 
 The main line is interspersed with the artillery, sup- 
 ported by infantry or dismounted cavalry. 
 
 A full regiment of infantry in line of battle will occupy, 
 say, a thousand feet. A brigade of five regiments will 
 cover about a mile in length. So it will be seen that an 
 army like that of the Federals, comprising a force of 100,- 
 000 men, will be in a crowded condition on a battle line of 
 ten miles. The area at Gettysburg during the three days' 
 manoeuvres was something less than twenty-five miles. 
 
 Waterloo was the shortest line in proportion to the 
 number engaged. Napoleon had two miles, Wellington a 
 mile and a half, 72,000 men on each side. 
 
 From this density came the carnage 60,000 dead, or 
 41 per cent. At Gettysburg the official reported casual- 
 ties aggregated 55,000. 
 
 I have only attempted in the "Boy Spy" papers to
 
 OX THE \VAR-PATII. 203 
 
 tell what I actually saw of Gettysburg. Being on detached 
 service at headquarters, I went as I pleased wherever it 
 was safe to go, and I think I saw as much of Gettysburg 
 as any other one person. 
 
 When you read or hear of any of our large battles writ- 
 ten by a soldier in the ranks, you can just put it down that 
 he is writing or talking about something of which he could 
 not possibly be cognizant from his own observation. Of 
 course, they can tell, in a general way, something of the 
 result, but they have only eyes 'for that which is imme- 
 diately in their front, and mighty little opportunity or 
 inclination to study the field, which is frequently covered 
 by smoke under which reigns confusion worse confounded. 
 
 I have been asked frequently, " What were your sensa- 
 tions in a battle? Were you frightened the first time you 
 got under fire?" 
 
 I always reply unhesitatingly that I was scared the first 
 time and every other time, too. I never heard a shell 
 screech in the air that I didn't want to go home, or a bul- 
 let ping, but that I wished with all my heart, I hadn't 
 come. The war always seemed to be a failure to me and I 
 wanted to quit after every fight. We seldom had the satis- 
 faction of seeing the Kebels run. 
 
 The "Boy Spy" observations at Gettysburg were pub.- 
 lished first in the war papers of the Philadelphia Press 
 and subsequently collected and edited and flavored to suit 
 the tastes of a trade pension paper, published weekly in 
 Washington. When this true story of the first days at 
 Gettysburg was submitted to them, it was rejected with the 
 observation of the editor: "It bears the ornate marks of
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 truthfulness; but we do not care to print any such reflec- 
 tions on General Howard, because, you know, he con- 
 tributes to our paper." 
 
 I may here state that these papers were " revised" to 
 suit certain selfish ends, the work being done by a cash- 
 iered army officer, now a newspaper hack who finds employ- 
 ment at this place. The Gettysburg matter subsequently 
 appeared, somewhat modified however, provoking no end 
 of controversy. 
 
 I beg to present to the club and to put on permanent 
 record the autograph letter of that fighting old hero, Gen- 
 eral Doubleday, which so completely and voluntarily sus- 
 tains my statements that Howard was "rattled," as at Chan- 
 cellorsville, and did not take any steps to stop the retreat 
 or secure the position until General Hancock came upon 
 the field. 
 
 Since the publication of the "Boy Spy's" experience 
 and observation at Gettysburg in July, 1803, referring more 
 particularly to the little personal fight, or battle, of the 
 first day between the two Union Generals, Howard and 
 Hancock, on Cemetery Hill, almost every issue of the 
 paper has contained some adverse criticism or defense of 
 General Howard. These contributions have come from 
 all sections of the country, but I observe that, without 
 exception, they emanate from the llth Corps soldiers. 
 This fact of itself will be sufficient in the minds of all the 
 old Army of the Potomac boys, but as the editor has so 
 generously appropriated column after column to the friends 
 of General Howard to fire back, I have thought it advisa-
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 265 
 
 ble to give them a cavalryman's parting salute. Perhaps 
 the following personal letter from General Doubleday, who 
 succeeded General Reynolds upon the latter's death, in 
 the command of the 1st Corps on the first day of the 
 battle, relating to the interview between Howard and 
 Hancock, will be more satisfactory and conclusive than 
 could be supplied by any other authority, living or dead. 
 The letter of itself is a most interesting criticism of Gen- 
 eral Howard's conduct as the commanding officer on the 
 field. 
 
 A diagram in the old General's handwriting shows 
 the contrast between the arrangements ordered by Howard 
 and Hancock. This contribution to the "Boy Spy" 
 papers not only fully establishes the position I take, but 
 is an important historical paper, bearing on the much- 
 discussed question as to ' ' Who was the hero of Gettys- 
 burg? " It proves conclusively that Hancock, not Howard, 
 saved the position and saved the day, the Army of the 
 Potomac, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and the 
 Nation. Hancock's ride to Gettysburg, though not done 
 np in song, poetry and painting, as was Sheridan's, yet in 
 its results was far more important than Sheridan's at Cedar 
 Creek. 
 
 MENIIAM, MORRIS COUNTY, K J., August 11, 1889. 
 CAPTAIN J. 0. KERBY. 
 
 My Dear Sir: I received your article yesterday and read it with 
 much interest. I thank you for the kindly feeling it manifested 
 towards myself, and it doubtless is a true picture of what you saw and 
 heard. I did not know that I had italicized my language in passing 
 through Gettysburg to the extent you indicate, but I must have 
 expressed myself in forcible terms.
 
 2GO 
 
 ox Tin: WAR-PATH. 
 
 Gettysburg 
 
 - 
 
 As you say, General Howard was unwilling to recognize Hancock 
 in any other light than that of a volun- 
 
 teer aid to himself, and Hancock did 
 ride over and confer with me. I was 
 only too glad to have something done 
 . that would tend to preserve the posi- 
 
 O -U ill 
 
 tion. The only order Howard had issued 
 was for the 1st Corps to form on the 
 left of the main gate of the cemetery 
 and the llth Corps on the right. Let 
 me illustrate by a diagram. If this 
 idea had been carried out. nothing, in 
 my opinion, could Uave saved us from 
 capture. Now, compare this arrange- 
 ment with what Hancock did. I sent 
 Wadsworth to the right and Buford 
 was directed to make the appearance 
 
 of a long line on the left by moving up 
 
 and down. This induced the enemy to 
 
 think that we had been reinforced and 
 
 that he occupied the whole ridge. 
 
 I always wondered why Devens" 
 
 brigade of cavalry, which was on the 
 
 right, did not make greater effort to 
 
 keep the enemy out of the town, as 
 
 they were following up the retreat 
 
 of the llth Corps in that direction, 
 
 but Devcns' report, which has only 
 
 recently been published, explains it. 
 
 He Bays he could have driven the enemy 
 
 out, ct at least have stopped their 
 
 advance, but just as he was about to do 
 
 so Howard's guns on Cemetery Hill 
 
 opened a severe tire against him, and he concluded that the enemy 
 
 had taken the hill and were assailing him on both sides, so he gave 
 
 up the town and retreated. This was the second t'ime that day that 
 
 the cavalry suffered from the fire of our own guns.
 
 ON" THE AVAR-PATH. 267 
 
 I have told the truth about Gettysburg, but not the 
 whole truth. 
 
 In a subsequent letter from Gen. Doubleday, not for 
 publication, he says : ' ' You appear to have been the only 
 witness to that scene who was not either a Staff officer of 
 Howard's or Hancock's, and you have, no doubt, told a 
 straight story. You know Staff officers will lie for their 
 chiefs." 
 
 I have no reply to make to the personal abuse of the 
 numerous llth Corps contributors. There is but one 
 word to be said to these comrades, and that is : Howard 
 said in defense of his conduct that he could not trust his 
 men out there. Now, put that in your pipes and smoke it. 
 
 I have often thought that Darwin's theory of the " sur- 
 vival of the fittest " was controverted by army experience. 
 The best soldiers were killed, or have died. It seems that 
 a majority of the llth Corps are still alive, judging 
 from the newspaper fights of survivors. I can afford to 
 say this : I was not an 1865 soldier, nor a substitute not 
 even a bounty man. I went in as early as April 10, 1861, 
 and was at Montgomery, Ala., and at Fort Pickens, Fla., 
 in active service before a man was enlisted; therefore, the 
 ' ' Boy Spy " claims to be the first soldier. 1 stayed till the 
 last, and I do not now get a pension, though I am entitled 
 to it, but I shall never ask it ; and I've been about as close 
 to the enemy as almost any soldier could get and come 
 away again. 
 
 In this connection, I may show to the club also the 
 private autograph letter from the widow of the dead hero, 
 bordered in deep mourning. His words were prophetic in 
 the light of subsequent events.
 
 2G8 ON THE \VAH-PATH. 
 
 NEW YORK, 9 West 31st Street, "Nov. 20, 1889. 
 
 MA.TOK J. O. KKKKEY. 
 
 Dear Kir: Two days since your very kind note with enclosures 
 was forwarded to me here from Washington City, for which I thank 
 you very much. To-day your interesting book, "The Boy Spy," 
 reached me safely. It is needless to add with how much eagerness 
 I turned to the pages containing your observation of men and events 
 as they appeared to you upon that famous battle-field of Gettysburg 
 during those memorable three days in July, 1863. Words are inade- 
 quate to convey to you the gratitude that filled my heart as I read of 
 the well-merited praise which you have kindly bestowed upon my 
 brave, good husband for the service he rendered his country on that 
 battle-field. A day or two before my husband left us for his "eter- 
 nal home beyond the skies," an officer requested a paper from him. in 
 order that he might reply authoritatively to an article which had ap- 
 peared from the pen of General Howard upon the same subject. 
 Said he: " Those gentlemen are not writing my history but their own 
 to-day. The time must come when the truth will be told." His 
 words were prophetic. Each year brings him nearer to the people, and 
 they seem to understand him better strange to say. I hope most 
 earnestly your delightful book will have untold success, as it so well 
 deserves. The frank, bright style of the narrative is truly very 
 taking. Believe me, most cordially yours, 
 
 MRS. WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 
 
 I have no personal feeling or interest in the matter, 
 except to record the facts as observed by myself. 
 
 Politically, I am a Republican, and voted in my State 
 against Hancock for President, but I can tell the truth 
 about a Democrat sometimes, if I am a newspaper fiend. 
 
 Lest my Republicanism should be questioned and a 
 partisan bias be attributed to some historical facts men- 
 tioned in this brochure, I beg to establish my political pref- 
 erences by references from " away back." 
 
 HE APPRECIATES THE VETERANS. 
 Gen. Harrison's Pleasant Letter to Maj. J. O. Kerby, of Johnstown- 
 
 Special to the Commercial Oazctte : 
 
 JOIINSTOWX, PA., Nov. 5. A pleasant letter from Gen. Harrison, 
 which will be of special interest to all the old Harrison voters, was
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 269 
 
 received by Maj. Kerbey, the Washington correspondent and well 
 known to G. A. R. men as the author of the " Boy Spy." A few 
 days ago, Gen. Harrison was sent the following items clipped from 
 the Johnstown Tribune : 
 
 "Mr. G. W. Kerbey, the veteran agent of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road Company at Wilmore for the past thirty-eight years, cast his 
 first vote for Harrison in 1836, and in those early days, when Mr. 
 Harrison and his Presidential party were driving Westward over the 
 old stage pike, Mr. Kerbey acted as one of the mounted escort tha 
 accompanied the party from St. Thomas to Loudon, Pa., as far as 
 the foot of the mountain, where he, with others, shook hands with the 
 grandfather of the present candidate. Since then, Mr. Kerbey has 
 consistently voted the Whig and Republican tickets. He now has 
 three sons and one grandson living, all of whom will vote for the 
 present grandson of the elder Harrison, namely: Joseph O. Kerbey, 
 Thomas S. Kerbey and Edgar T. Kerbey. The grandson is Mr. George 
 N. Kerbey, a chemist of Pittsburgh. Mr. Kerbey is also a great- 
 grandfather. George N., the son of J. O., though quite a young man, 
 is the father of a baby-boy, who will perpetuate the proud distinc- 
 tion of this truly Republican household. Agent Kerbey is, therefore, 
 the father of quite an extensive Republican district. Mr. Kerbey enjoys 
 the distinction of being the oldest agent of the Pennsylvania railroad, 
 and perhaps, one of the oldest employes of the entire system, being 
 appointed by his schoolmate and friend, Mr. Thomas A. Scott, when 
 he was assistant superintendent at Pittsburgh." 
 
 A LETTER FROM GEN. HARRISON. 
 His Appreciation of the Old Tippecanoe Voters in Cambria County. 
 
 The following autograph letter from Gen. Benjamin Harrison, the 
 Republican nominee for President, was written to Mr. J. O. Kerbey, 
 of Washington, who is in the State campaign using his pen to the 
 interests of the party. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Nov. 1, 1888. 
 J. 0. Kerbey, Correspondent Press Gallery, Senate, Washington, D. C. 
 
 MY DEAR MAJOR : Your favor of the 28th with the Johnstown 
 Tribune, has been received. I have read both with interest. I wish 
 you would say to your good father that I appreciate very highly 
 both his kind recollection of my ancestor and his friendly disposition 
 toward me. The respect of these venerable men, who have not only 
 witnessed, but of themselves done so much to promote the develop- 
 ment of our country, is very highly prized by me. 
 
 I shall be glad to have the pleasure at some time of meeting your 
 father. Very truly yours, 
 
 [Signed] BENJ. HARRISON.
 
 270 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 Though General Harrison had been a very busy man those last 
 campaign days, he found time, amid all the bustle and excitement 
 consequent upon the reception of hundredsof delegations and bushels 
 of mail, to sit down and write the above very pleasant letter, which 
 applies to all old Cambria County Harrison voters equally as well as 
 to Mr. Kerbey ; and Mr. Harrison did not write for effect, either, for 
 lie knew that good old Pennsylvania was safe enough for him. 
 
 This is enough for one day at Gettysburg. 
 
 Of the second day, I can only record that as a news- 
 paper man, I accompanied. President Cleveland on his first 
 visit to the field and subsequently attended in the same 
 capacity the grand reunion on the twenty-fifth anniversary; 
 also, when Gen. Sickles labored to explain how he won the 
 battle at Gettysburg by being defeated on the second day. 
 
 The impression I had gained about headquarters at the 
 time when there was always so much intrigue among the 
 comrades, was that Gen. Sickles had played a risky game 
 in the hopes of achieving some glory that would give him 
 the command. It was the general talk about headquarters 
 that he had made a serious blunder, and if lie hud not lost 
 his leg, he would have lost his commission. This com- 
 prises our story of the several battles of the second day. 
 
 To most students of war history, the impression is 
 imparted that the principal fighting at Gettysburg was 
 that known as Pickett's Charge, which was, in fact, simply 
 the fire-works closing a series of battles during the pre- 
 ceding days. 
 
 As the Northern and Federal side of this event has 
 already been so well told, I have thought it might add 
 interest to the subject to present some new facts from the 
 Confederate side.
 
 OX THE WAR-PATH. 271 
 
 A short time ago, through some newspaper connection, 
 I was accidentally put in communication with a gallant 
 Confederate newspaper comrade whom I beg leave to 
 introduce to the Travel Club, as my friend, Capt. W. E. 
 Bond, of Scotland Neck, North Carolina, editor of Roancke 
 News, a clever Kebel, and, of course, a courteous Southern 
 gentleman, some time an officer of the Brigade Staff of 
 the Army of Northern Virginia, who will speak to you for 
 himself and his tar-heel comrades. 
 
 I will now relate a Rebel's story of Gettysburg. 
 
 " Longstreet's assault, or what is generally, but very 
 incorrectly, known as ' Picket's Charge,' has not only 
 had its proper place in books treating of the war, but has 
 been more written about in newspapers and magazines 
 than any other event in American history. Some of these 
 accounts are simply silly, some are false in statement, some 
 are false in inference, all in some respects are untrue. 
 
 " Nine brigades, formed in three divisions, were selected 
 for the assaulting column. One of these was worthless, 
 five had been reduced to skeletons by the hard battles of 
 the two preceding days. Three only were fresh. The field 
 over which they were ordered to march slowly and deliber- 
 ately was about 1,000 yards wide, swept by the fire of 100 
 cannons and 20,000 muskets. The smoke from the pre- 
 ceding cannonade was their only cover. 
 
 "We all knew, when the order to go forward was given, 
 that Cemetery Ridge was not defended by Mexicans or 
 Indians, but by an army, which in large part, if not for the 
 greater part, was composed of native Americans. An 
 army, which, if it had never done so before, had shown in
 
 272 ON THE WAR-PATH:. 
 
 the first and second days' battles not only that it could 
 tight, but that it could fight desperately. 
 
 "As a rather extreme sample of the thousand and one 
 foolish things which have been written of this affair, I 
 refer our youth to the article in the St. Nicholas some time 
 
 
 
 ago, in which, in comparison, language something like the 
 following was used: 'Those on the left faltered and fled. 
 The right behaved gloriously. Each body acted accord- 
 ing to its nature, for they were made of different stuff, the 
 one of common earth, the other of finest clay. Petti- 
 grew's men were North Carolinians; Pickett's were superb 
 Virginians/ 
 
 "To those people who do not know how the trash passing 
 for Southern history was manufactured, the motives which 
 actuated the writers, and how greedily everything written 
 about the war was read, it is not so astonishing that a libel 
 containing so much ignorance, meanness and prejudice as 
 this could be printed in the Century papers, and believed 
 by the Northern readers to be either entirely or partially 
 true. It looks like an almost hopeless task to attempt to 
 combat errors which have lived so long and flourished so 
 extensively. But truth is a trap-gun before which false- 
 hood's armour, however thick, can not stand. One shot, 
 or two, or three, may accomplish nothing, but keep on 
 firing and it will be pierced at last, and its builders and 
 defenders will be covered with confusion. 
 
 "It will scarcely be disputed that the Confederate Army 
 of Northern Virginia shed more blood than all the other 
 armies of the Confederacy combined, and I reckon your 
 gallant Army of the Potomac, which confronted us so tena- 
 ciously for years, can say the same of your side.
 
 ON" THE WAfl-PATH. 273 
 
 " Of the twenty-seven regiments which had the most 
 men killed in any battle of the war, all but five belonged 
 to our army; of these, three were from Tennessee and two 
 from Mississippi. 
 
 "Again, of the twenty-seven of those whose percentage 
 of loss was greatest, a very different thing, all but five 
 belonged to our army; of these Tennessee had four and 
 Texas one. Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia each 
 had about the same number engaged at Gettysburg, and 
 here soldiers of the old North State met with a greater 
 loss of killed and wounded for North Carolina troops did 
 not attempt to rival certain Virginia brigades in the men 
 captured than did those from any other State, and nearly 
 as great as that from any two States. 
 
 "The first Confederate soldier killed was a tar-heel, who 
 fell at Bethel. The last blood was shed by Cox's North 
 Carolina brigade at Appomattox. Why the troops which 
 shed the first blood, the last blood, and the most blood, 
 should be selected by the Northern writers as of inferior or 
 common clay seems like a problem hard to solve, but I 
 will attempt to explain it. 
 
 " The world at large gets its ideas of the late war from 
 Northern sources. Northern historians, when this subject- 
 is peculiarly Southern, get their ideas from such histories as 
 Pollard's, Cook's and McCabe's, and these merely reflected 
 the opinions of the Richmond newspapers. These news- 
 papers, in turn, got their supposed facts from their army 
 correspondents, and they were very careful to have only 
 such correspondents as would write what their patrons 
 cared most to read.
 
 274 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 " During the war, Richmond, judged by its newspapers, 
 was the most provincial town in the world. Though the 
 capital city of a gallant young nation, and though the 
 troops from every State thereof were shedding their blood 
 in her defense, she was wonderfully narrow and selfish. 
 While the citizens of Virginia were filling nearly one-half 
 of the positions of honor and trust, civil and military, Rich- 
 mond thought that all should be thus filled. No soldier, 
 no sailor, no jurist, no statesman, who did not hail from 
 their State was ever admired or spoken well of. No army 
 but General Lee's and no troops in that army other than 
 Virginians, unless they happened to be few in number, as 
 was the case of the Louisianians and Texans, was ever 
 praised. 
 
 "A skirmish in which a Virginia brigade was engaged 
 was magnified into a fight, an action in which a few were 
 killed was a severe battle, and if by chance they were 
 called upon to bleed freely, then, according to the Rich- 
 mond papers, troops from some other State were to blame 
 for it, and no such appalling slaughter had ever been wit- 
 nessed before. 
 
 " This indiscriminate praise had a very demoralizing 
 effect upon the Virginia troops. They were soon taught 
 that they could make a reputation and save their skins by 
 being always provided with an able corps of correspond- 
 ents. 
 
 " The favoritism displayed by several superior officers 
 in General Lee's army was unbounded. But then we know 
 that the slaps and bangs of a harsh step-mother may have 
 a less injurious effect upon the characters of some children 
 than the excessive indulgence of a silly parent.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 275 
 
 " The war histories teach that in Longstreet's- assault, 
 his right division (Pickett's) displayed more gallantry and 
 shed more blood in proportion to the number engaged, 
 than any other troops on any occasion ever had. Now if 
 gallantry can be measured by the number and percentage 
 of deaths and wounds and by the fortitude with which the 
 casualties are borne, then there were commands engaged 
 in this assault which displayed more gallantry than 
 Pickett's. 
 
 "Who knows anything of this battle to whom the 
 name of Virginia is not familiar? 
 
 " To how many does the name of Gettysburg suggest the 
 name of Tennessee, Mississippi and North Carolina, who 
 suffered terribly and their courage remained unimpaired? 
 There were two Mississippi regiments engaged, which had 
 between them 109 men killed on the field. Picket's dead 
 numbered not quite fifteen to the regiment. The five 
 North Carolina regiments of Pettigrew's Division bore 
 with fortitude a loss of 229 killed. Pickett's fifteen Virginia 
 regiments were fearfully demoralized by a loss of 224 killed. 
 Virginia and North Carolina had each about the same num- 
 ber of Infantry engaged in this battle. There was 375 
 Virginians and G96 North Carolinians killed. 
 
 "In some commands of our army the habit of ' playing 
 possum ' prevailed. When a charge was being made, if a 
 fellow became badly frightened, all he had to do was to 
 fall flat and play dead until his regiment passed. After- 
 wards, he could say that the concussion from' a shell 
 stunned him. Troops addicted to this habit stood highe r 
 at home and abroad, if their correspondent could use his 
 pen well, than they did in the army.
 
 2*6 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 "Was it arrogance or was it ignorance which always 
 caused Pickett's men to speak of the troops which marched 
 to the front on their left as supports? 
 
 "An order was issued that they should be supported by 
 a part of Hill's Corps, and these troops were actually 
 formed in their rear but subsequently placed on their left 
 before the charge was made. 
 
 "Our army could fight; could and did fight and conquer 
 without their assistance. They and their whole corps did 
 comparatively little fighting at Second Manassas. Neither 
 they nor any part of their corps fired a shot at Chancellors- 
 ville, and it is no exaggeration to say here, that Pickett's 
 men did not kill twenty of the enemy at Gettysburg. 
 
 "The front line of troops which does the fighting is 
 always known as 'the line.' The troops in the rear to 
 give moral support and practical assistance, when neces- 
 sary, is in every known body of troops called the support- 
 ting line or simply ' supports.' 
 
 "Pickett's division had Kemper's on the right and Gar- 
 nett's on the left with Armisted's marching in the rear of 
 Garnett's. 
 
 " Pettigrew's formed one line with Lane's and Scale's 
 brigades of Pender's Division under Trimble marching in 
 the rear of its right as supports. 
 
 " How many supports did Pickett's people want? 
 
 " The Federals are said to have occasionally used three. 
 Even one with us was the exception. Ordinarily, one 
 brigade of each division was held in reserve while the 
 others were fighting in order to repair any disaster. 
 
 " To show bow a falsehood can be fortified by art, I saw
 
 Otf THE WAR-PATH. 277 
 
 at the Philadelphia Centennial a very large and really fine 
 painting representing some desperate fighting at the so- 
 called " Bloody Angle." Clubbing with muskets, jabbing 
 with bayonets and firing off cannon at mighty short range 
 as the order of the day. Of course, I knew that the sub- 
 ject of this "historical picture" was founded upon a 
 myth. I had always been under the general impression 
 that while many of Pickett's and a few of Pettigrew's men 
 were extracting the extremities of certain under garments 
 to be used there as white flags, not a small part of them 
 were keeping up a scattering fire. 
 
 " While before this picture, a gentleman standing near 
 me, exclaimed: ' Tut! I'll agree to eat all the Yankees 
 Pickett killed.' 
 
 " Entering into a conversation with him, I learned that 
 he had been at Gettysburg, and had fought in Gordon's 
 Georgia Brigade, and that he did not have a very exalted 
 opinion of Pickett's men. As our Georgia friend was 
 neither remarkably large nor hungry-looking, several per- 
 sons stared at him on hearing his remark. That he did 
 exaggerate to some extent is possible, for I have since 
 heard that among the dead men in blue, near where 
 Armisted fell, there were six who had actually been killed 
 by musket balls. 
 
 " Pettigrew's North Carolina Brigade carried into 
 action on the first day, 2,200 officers and men and lost in 
 killed and wounded 660, or thirty per cent. 
 
 " After every sharp fight, when another is expected, a 
 certain number straggle or play sick, even among the best 
 troops. Say that fifteen to the regiment or sixty for the
 
 278 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 brigade were absent from these causes, then there were 
 carried into the buttle of the third day 1,480 and their loss 
 was 445, or again thirty per cent. 
 
 "In Colonel Fox's ' Chances of Being Hit in the Battle ' 
 lie gives a list of twenty-seven Confederate regiments which 
 had the most killed and wounded in any battle of the war. 
 
 " The 2Gth North Carolina (the common clay) heads 
 this list at Gettysburg with 588. Not one regiment from 
 Virginia, of the liner material, is named in this list of 
 twenty-seven. North Carolina comes first in the list with 
 six of these regiments and Mississippi next with five, arid 
 two of those five met with their loss with Pettigrew at 
 Gettysburg. The North Carolina Brigade had, in killed 
 and wounded, 1,105, which is an average to the regiment 
 of 27G. This North Carolina Brigade met, on the first day, 
 the famous 'Iron' Brigade, which was coiisidered the 
 flower of its corps, and many old soldiers say that your 
 1st Corps did the fiercest fighting on that day that they 
 ever experienced. These two brigades, fairly matched as 
 they were in the war, like two game-cocks in the pit, did 
 the bloodiest fighting in the war. The records show this, 
 and yet with the records accessible to all men, Swinton, a 
 Northern historian, in the brilliant description that he 
 gives of the assault of the third day, says: 'That this 
 grand Heth's Division, commanded by Pettigrew, were all 
 raw troops, who were only induced to make the charge by 
 being told that they had militia to fight, and that when the 
 fire was opened upon them they raised the shout " The 
 Army of the Potomac," and broke and fled.' 
 
 " Are Pickett's stragglers responsible for this state- 
 ment?
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 279 
 
 " Pickett's left and Pettigrew's and Trimble's right 
 reached the crest. Men from five brigades entered the 
 lines, but, in the nature of things, not a brigade on the 
 field was in condition to repel a determined attack. 
 When two regiments of Stannard's Vermont Brigade moved 
 out to attack our right and enfilade our whole line, 
 Kemper's Virginia regiment did not chance to meet them. 
 
 "Pettigrew and Trimble suffered most because longer 
 under fire and having to march farther. 
 
 "Both Northern and Southern historians have, without 
 exception, perhaps, down to the present time given not 
 only most conspicuous prominence to General Pickett's 
 Division, but, generally, by the language used, have 
 created the impression among those not personally ac- 
 quainted with the events of that day, that Pickett's did all 
 the hard fighting, suffered the most severely, and failed in 
 their charge because not duly and vigorously supported by 
 the troops on their right and left. It might with as much 
 truth be said that Pettigrew and Trimble failed in their 
 charge because unsupported by Pickett, who had been 
 driven back in the crisis of their charge and was no aid to 
 them. With equal truth it may be termed Pettigrew's 
 charge instead of Pickett's. 
 
 "I have always thought that Pickett's Division was the 
 most indifferent body of troops in General Lee's army. 
 
 " The fifteen regiments, according to Longstreet, car- 
 ried into the charge officers and men, 4,900. It is most 
 probable that they numbered over 5,500. 
 
 " The 'brave and magnificent,' when they experienced 
 a loss of fifteen to the regiment, became sick of fighting, 
 as their number surrendered shows.
 
 280 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 "One regiment of the 42nd Mississippi 'Cowards/ 
 after it had met with a loss of sixty killed and a propor- 
 tionate number wounded, concluded that it was about time 
 to rejoin their friends. Another regiment of ' Cowards/ 
 the 2Gth North Carolina, after it had suffered there a 
 greater loss than any of the 2,700 Federal and Confederate 
 regiments ever had, came to the same conclusion. The 
 five North Carolina regiments had more men killed here 
 than Pickett's fifteen regiments had. 
 
 " The surrender of soldiers in battle is often unavoid- 
 able, but I never knew a body of troops, other than Fick- 
 ett's, who prided themselves on that misfortune. Nearly 
 2,000 of the 'brave little division' ran away from Get- 
 tysburg. They were demoralized and ready to run, and 
 ran and kept running till the high waters of the Potomac 
 stopped them. As they ran, they shouted that they were 
 all dead men, that Pettigrew had failed to support them 
 and that their noble division had been swept away. The 
 outcry they made was heard in all Virginia and its echo is 
 still heard in the North. 
 
 " After we recrossed the Potomac, it was ascertained 
 that Pickett's 'dead men' had drawn more rations than 
 any division in the army. Their subsequent behavior up 
 to their defeat and rout at Five Forks, showed that they 
 never got over their experience at Gettysburg. 
 
 " Of course there were exceptions, but the general rule 
 was that troops who suffered most, themselves inflicted the 
 greatest loss on the enemy and were consequently the most 
 efficient. It was the custom in some commands to report 
 every scratch as a wound and in others to report no man
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH, 281 
 
 as wounded who was fit for duty. The most accurate test 
 for courage and efficience is in the number killed. 
 
 " Now, I would not have it inferred from anything I 
 have said that I intend to reflect upon all the Virginia In- 
 fantry. The fact, that from Fredericksburg to the close 
 of the war, among the dead upon the various battle-fields, 
 excepting that of Gettysburg, comparatively few repre- 
 sentatives from the Virginia Infantry were to be found, is 
 not always necessarily against their credit. It was not for 
 them to say whether they were to advance or be held back. 
 Their duty was to obey orders. 
 
 " Not long ago a New York magazine contained an 
 elaborately illustrated article descriptive of the Gettysburg 
 battle-field. As long as the writer confines himself to 
 natural scenery, he acquits himself creditably ; but in at- 
 tempting to describe events he flounders fearfully. Of 
 course, Pickett's men advance ' alone.' 'There was a ter- 
 rible hand-to-hand battle at the Bloody Angle. Double- 
 day's troops lost twenty-five to forty per cent., and the 
 slaughter of the Confederates was fearful,Garnett's Brigade 
 alone having over 3,000 killed and captured.' This 
 is Northern history. The facts are, as I have endeavored 
 to show, Pickett's men did not advance * alone ;' there 
 was no terrible battle inside the enemies works ; Double- 
 day's troops did not lose their twenty-five to forty per 
 cent. Not one regiment in Doubleday's or Gibbons' after 
 the shelling lost one-fourth of one per cent. Gar- 
 nett's Brigade carried into the fight less than 2,000 
 and brought out a very considerable fragment. It did 
 have 78 killed and 324 wounded. With singular
 
 282 ON THE W A II- PATH. 
 
 inappropriateness, Webb's Philadelphia Brigade and several 
 other Federal organizations have erected monuments to com- 
 memorate their gallantry upon the third day's battle-field. 
 It would appear that they should have been erected upon the 
 spot where this gallantry was displayed. Itdoes not require 
 much courage to lie behind a stone wall and shoot down 
 on the enemy in an open field and then to run away as it 
 and other troops in its vicinity did when that enemy 
 continued to approach. But while it does not add 
 to their fame, it is not to their discredit that they did 
 give way, for, however much discipline and inherent 
 qualities may extend it, there is a limit to human en- 
 durance, and they had suffered severely. Webb's Brigade 
 in the three days having lost forty-nine per cent. 
 
 " If there ever haveb een troops serving in a long 
 war, who never on any occasion gave way till they had lost 
 as heavily, they were superior to any in Napoleon's or 
 Wellington's armies. 
 
 " The loss in the British Infantry at Salamanca was only 
 twelve per cent. That of the Light Brigade at Balaklava 
 was only thirty-seven per cent.; that of Pickett's only 
 twenty-six, and they were ruined forever. It is true that 
 the North Carolina Brigade of Pettigrew's Division, both 
 on the first and third day, lost thirty, or, in all, sixty, per 
 cent, in the battle of Gettysburg, and a Mississippi bri- 
 gade nearly as much; but both of these organizations were 
 exceptionally fine troops, and it is almost certain that even 
 their spirits would have been appalled had their loss 
 reached seventy-five or eighty per cent. And yet one of 
 these brigades had a regiment, the Twenty-sixth North
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 283 
 
 Carolina, which, with morals unimpaired, met with a loss 
 of eighty-five per cent. Governor Vance, now the hon- 
 ored senator from the' old North State, was its first colo- 
 nel. Whether any other regiment in our army could have 
 done this, I know not; but this I do know, that if there 
 was such another in either army, or in all the armies, 
 Northern or Southern, it did not equal the ' common 
 clay' of the old North State." 
 
 "They digged a pit, 
 They digged it deep; 
 
 They digged it for their brothers. 
 But it so fell out that they fell in 
 
 The pit that was digged for th' others." 
 
 And now, thanking our Rebel friend for his interesting 
 and instructive story, we will take' the Club away from 
 Gettysburg. 
 
 Practically, the war closed at Gettysburg, July 4, 1863, 
 with General Grant's capture of Vicksburg and Pember- 
 ton's army on the same day. 
 
 Here the anaconda of secession met with its death-wound.. 
 The backbone of the serpent was here broken. Its head 
 and tail lived for over a year after; and, though dangerous 
 if approached too closely, it was, in a manner, altogether 
 helpless and at the mercy of the great crowds that had 
 been gathered about to witness its death-throes. Generals 
 Grant and Sheridan stoned and hammered it to death as 
 it tried to escape through the wilderness of Spottsylvania, 
 Mine Run, Five Forks, Petersburg to Appomattox; but, 
 practically the continuance of the war after Gettysburg 
 and Vicksburg was in the nature of a crime. It is said 
 General Lee would have been glad to have made terms at 
 this time.
 
 284 ON THE WAU-1'ATII. 
 
 I have frequently heard 18G4 and 18G5 soldiers criti- 
 cise General Meade and the Army of the Potomac for not 
 following up General Lee after Gettysburg, with the state- 
 ment that if Grant hud been there, Lee never would have 
 gotten away. To this I reply, why did not General Grant 
 follow up General Lee at once when he took command? 
 He waited almost a year before following him, until his 
 army was recruited and he had three to Lee's one and 
 everything he desired in the way of support before he 
 moved on Lee at the Wilderness. 
 
 We will escort our Travel Club over a line of Lee's 
 retreat from Gettysburg, driving along the old pike, 
 through the mountains to Chambersburg, Pa., thence to 
 Hagerstown and the Potomac at Falling Waters. At this 
 point we again strike General Braddock's war trail over 
 which he was guided by Washington along the route since 
 known as the National Pike, leading westward through 
 Cumberland, Maryland, to Fort Necessity and Fort Du- 
 quesne, or Pitt, at the confluence of the Alleghany and 
 Monongahela, which form the Ohio river, where now 
 stands Pittsburg. Within a circle of say one hundred miles 
 nronnd Washington City, may be found pretty nearly all 
 the important historical places of the nation. 
 
 Beginning with the early settlement at Jamestown, we 
 have the Colonial period, as well as the Revolutionary, 
 from the signing of the Declaration at Philadelphia to the 
 final surrender at Yorktown. Also the birth-place, home 
 and tomb of Washington and of many other prominent 
 leaders in the debates of Congress; the duelling-grounds 
 at Bladensburgh ; the sacking of the Capitol by the
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 285 
 
 British in 1812 ; Fort McHenry in Baltimore ; and later, 
 the principal events of the "War of the Kebellion were 
 enacted between Richmond and Gettysburg, nearly all 
 within the radius of 100 miles. In coming years, the stu- 
 dents of history will visit the bloody war trail that we have 
 been traveling over, the Peninsula, Richmond, Freder- 
 icksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Ap- 
 pomattox, Manassas, Antietam and Gettysburg. 
 
 As we drive over South Mountains we see, in the dis- 
 tance, the Heights at Harper's Ferry, which, by the way, 
 is another of the many historic points about here. It was 
 the scene of John Brown's raid, the first of the war. The 
 fact that General Lee, then a colonel in the U. S. cavalry, 
 was the officer in the command of the Government troops 
 there is generally lost sight of. 
 
 All the Army of the Potomac will recognize the pic- 
 tures of this picturesque place. Most of us have been here 
 several times. When General Banks was in command 
 here, his army was so often advanced down the valley 
 and compelled to fall back again to this base that the boys 
 called it ''Harper's Weekly" instead of Harper's Ferry. 
 
 My mother was born on what subsequently became the 
 Antietam battle-field, while your guide first saw the light 
 close by on the north side of Mason and Dixon's line in 
 Pennsylvania, almost within sight of the historic ground 
 hereabouts, and is, therefore, somewhat familiar with the 
 country from which he has wandered far; but his mind 
 returns to the old ground, led, perhaps, by some trace of 
 that instinct which the lower animals, even fishes of the 
 sea, follow, the philosophy of which has not been clearly 
 established.
 
 286 ON THE W A 11- PATH. 
 
 I was a scout through this country during the first of 
 the war, when Patterson's army of three months' men was 
 encamped here, confronting Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. I 
 recall, as if it were but yesterday, my hunt for head- 
 quarters, to which I had been ordered to report. Soldiers, 
 gay and happy boys of 1861, apparently out for a holi- 
 day, were to be seen everywhere, strolling about the 
 roads in squads, or lounging under the shade of trees, or 
 filling arm-chairs on the neighboring house porches. 
 Toward sundown the great attraction to the many lady 
 visitors that crowded the camps was the dress parades. 
 Seemingly, the adjacent swards became alive with march- 
 ing troops forming for the parade, each preceded by a 
 band. It appeared, from the noise, as if every company 
 had a bass drum in those early days. A Eebel officer once 
 told me that they were able to make a close estimate of 
 our force by the number of bass drums they heard. 
 
 One of the most impressive scenes which I have wit- 
 nessed was that of the chaplain's prayer at dress parade 
 during those early days. 
 
 Imagine a regiment of a thousand men in line, fully 
 equipped, standing at "parade rest" alongside of this 
 Rubicon, or river of death, under the shadow of the great 
 mountains about Harper's Ferry ; their uncovered heads 
 reverently bowed, their jaunty little fatigue caps hung on 
 the muzzle of their guns ; the band plays "Old Hundred" 
 or the "Doxology," and, perhaps, hundreds of voices 
 involuntarily join in the singing of this grand old hymn 
 that is sung in Heaven. In the field the chaplains did not 
 make so much of a show, though they were sometimes quite
 
 OK THE WAR-PATH. 287 
 
 useful otherwise. They were entitled to a horse, and on 
 this account were generally appreciated on the march by 
 some lazy or tired line officer, who affected sickness that 
 he might operate on the parson's sympathy and borrow his 
 horse. In camp their greatest labor was spent in efforts 
 to prevent falling from grace in the wicked society of their 
 mess. 
 
 The chaplain was the regimental postmaster. In addi- 
 tion to this handling of the mail, he was supposed, also, to 
 be a sort of professional letter-writer for those who could 
 not write their own letters to fathers and sweethearts. 
 
 In those days our letters came in gaily illuminated 
 envelopes. Flags and mottos almost covered them. A 
 popular style of envelope, in the early days, showed a 
 cannon, in the northeast corner, belching forth fire, the 
 cannon ball in sight, while the cannoneers, with remarka- 
 ble indifference, stood at attention. They were always 
 addressed to Company, Regiment, Brigade, Division and 
 Corps, so that wherever we went the letters, like Mary's 
 lamb, were sure to follow. On one occasion, while execu- 
 ting a rapid change of base, our mail facilities became 
 demoralized, and for some days we did not get a letter. 
 At every opportunity the boys, who had become quite 
 nervous over the prolonged delay, would appeal to the 
 good chaplain for a letter from home. Failing to get it, 
 they invariably began to fire questions as to the cause of 
 the failure or endeavor to get some explanation. It was, 
 of course, part of the business of the parson to comfort 
 and encourage the men. He did all he could in this 
 direction, but, in the army, patience soon ceases to be a
 
 288 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 virtue, even with preachers. The chaplain became tired 
 of answering so many questions. The same stereotyped 
 reply, day after day, "I do not know anything about the 
 mails," finally irritated him so that he shut himself up 
 in his tent and refused to see anyone. He was advised to 
 place a printed notice on his quarters to the same effect, so 
 that all anxious inquirers could see for themselves and not 
 annoy him. He finally procured the board top of a cracker 
 box and, with a piece of charcoal from his camp fire, wrote 
 in plain letters the following notice, and nailed it to a tree 
 in a conspicuous place. 
 
 "The chftjilain don't knoiv any tiling about the mails." 
 
 A wag coming along, observing the sign and also the 
 piece of charcoal, which he picked up and dryly added 
 this amendment right under the chaplain's words : 
 
 "And don't care a damn." 
 
 As I previously explained, the narrative of some of the 
 actual experiences of a boy during the war was published, 
 generally at the time of their occurrence, notably in the 
 New York Tribune, Philadelphia Press and the paper of 
 my home at Pittsburg. Subsequently, these were collected 
 and, with some additions, appeared in a weekly trade paper 
 in Washington City, devoted to the pension business of a 
 claim agent. They paid liberally for the weekly, instal- 
 ments, the oral agreement being that the story should be 
 printed in book form, and that I was to be paid a royalty 
 per copy. The matter became popular among the .old boy 
 readers, who, no doubt, realized that the writer was "thar 
 or tharabouts." They declined to publish it in book form 
 and with the usual dog-in-the-manger policy attempted to
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 289 
 
 * 
 
 prevent others from doing so. I was not at all ambitious 
 to have my name appear in the matter; in fact, it was my 
 especial request, for business reasons, that the boy should 
 remain "incog." and only be known by his nom de plume 
 of "0. K." 
 
 To my surprise, after he had obtained nearly all the 
 copy and the first instalment appeared, the editor declined 
 for " business reasons," to permit even my nom de plume 
 to appear at the head of my own articles. He did not, as 
 he said to me, claim any rights as author, and I do not wish 
 to be understood as charging so brilliant a writer as that 
 editor with an attempt to rob a poor soldier boy of the little 
 glory attaching to the original of the story; but the facts 
 are indisputable that a majority of persons were, by infer- 
 ence, at least, led to believe that the story originated in 
 that office. Of course, this claim could not be openly estab- 
 lished and was subsequently abandoned, when the testi- 
 monials and corroborations began to come to the office by 
 thousands from influential sources. I was in no way 
 recognized by the editor or the proprietor of the paper ; 
 in fact, a systematic effort was made to ignore me, even to 
 misrepresenting me personally to some old friend who 
 called at the office of publication. I was generally informed 
 by influential comrades that the same course had been pur- 
 sued towards Si Klegg, Pittinger and others. 
 
 The matter supplied was hastily prepared amidst the 
 duties of a newspaper worker, and, in the nature of things, 
 were quite crude and imperfect. I was, in fact, indifferent 
 and careless as to results. In the mercenary revision of 
 such matter the editor took unusual liberties with my 
 manuscript, to which I strenuously objected. And it has
 
 i>90 OK THE \VAK-PATH. 
 
 
 
 IMJCII my desire to correct, in " On the War-path," some of 
 these revisions. 
 
 In this connection I beg to present the following from 
 the G. A. U. Record, of Boston, as well as the letters of 
 (Jen. Fitz-John Porter and Col. Carswell McClellan, which 
 explain and speak for themselves, without in any way 
 affecting the truthfulness of the facts as originally stated: 
 
 G8 WEST SIXTY EIGHTH STREET. 
 
 XK\V YORK, Jan. 30, 1*S9. 
 MAJ. .1. (). KKKBKY, Washington, I). ('. 
 
 Dear Sir: I am obliged for your letter. I can appreciate the 
 situation in which you stood, when preparing your " Hoy Spy," and 
 the unfortunate influences you may have been under connected with 
 the press. 
 
 I am not sorry for your work, so far a.s an injury to me you 
 injured yourself more than me, even in the minds of many of my 
 enemies. I shall l>e glad to see your other work. I hope it will 
 come before I pass to another sphere. 
 
 Your letter has been forwarded to Long Island. 
 
 Undoubtedly, as a telegraph operator, through whom, during 
 the war, many important messages must have passed, you must have 
 many points of interest ; but you will have to be sure that your 
 memory is correct when referring to authorities. Wishing you suc- 
 cess, I am, Yours respectful!}', 
 
 F. J. POUTER. 
 
 218 VIRGINIA AVENUE, 
 
 ST. PAUL, Jan. 29, 1890. 
 MAJ. .1. O. KEKIJEY. WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 My Ikfir Sir: Yours of the 23d has been duly received, and I 
 must thank you for having taken my criticism of the " Boy " in such 
 good part. 
 
 I have not overlooked the fact that the blue pencil which " pre- 
 pared and seasoned " your work "for a certain trade," is very evi- 
 dent. In truth, it is tliat very fact against which I would protest. 
 To it is due most of the wrong done gallant men who gave their 
 best days to the service of the country, and have, in return, received 
 only censure from the " ignorant, intolerant judgment" (see Charles 
 Sumner) of a public fed by a certain trade with food " prepared and
 
 Off THE WAR-PATH. 291 
 
 seasoned " to suit the trade ambitions. ( I refer, of course, to the 
 trade politicians, and have no intention of being personal.) 
 
 That you appreciate this fact is evident from the pages of the 
 " Boy," and I have already congratulated you thereon. Perhaps my 
 studies of late years have made me somewhat sensitive as to injustice 
 done to General Porter, but I need not to enlighten an old newspaper 
 correspondent as to the avidity of the public for shams and preju- 
 dices, or repeat any of the trite expressions in regard to truth over- 
 taking falsehood. The sale of a book is not always the best measure 
 of its worth, especially as historic. Witness Grant's " Memoirs." 
 
 I take it, "The Boy," while not unmindful of the immediate 
 returns received for his work, hopes in his work to outlive the mere 
 present, and would not object to being received by future readers in 
 
 company with and . Therefore I have ventured on my 
 
 criticism of his work. 
 
 The original charge which Senator Logan attempted to revive 
 against General Porter, in connection with the Patterson campaign, 
 was based on the testimony of Col. R. Butler Price (Report Comm. 
 on Cond. of War, 37th Cong., 3d Sess., Part 2, p. 187, et seq.) and 
 the testimony of Col. Craig Biddle (same vol.), both of whom were 
 aides on General Patterson's Staff, and neither of whom give any 
 occasion for the charge their testimony has been distorted to sustain. 
 The facts in the matter are all clearly stated by general Patterson him- 
 self, in a narrative of the campaign in the valley of the Shenan- 
 doah, in 1861 
 
 If you have not seen this, I have no doubt Mr. Fitzgerald can 
 supply you, or tell you where you can find a copy. A brief outline 
 of the whole matter is, that General Johnston, at Winchester, was, 
 as he says in his report, "in position to oppose either McClellan from 
 the West, or Patterson from the Northeast, and to form a, junction with 
 General Beauregard wJien necessary." He could stay at Winchester 
 until lie wisJied to leave, and then unite with Beauregard, tearing up 
 the railroad behind him and laughing at pursuit. 
 
 To order General Patterson to cross into Virginia and detain 
 Johnston in Winchester to prevent his uniting with Beauregard, was, 
 as General Porter once expressed it to me, like ordering a man to hold 
 a dog by the tail when the dog was a long distance off, and running 
 away. A glance at the map shows this. 
 
 General Patterson appreciated the position, and wished to cross 
 the Potomac at Point of Rocks and take position at Leesburg, where 
 he would be in position to support, co-operate or unite with McDowell,
 
 292 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 as circumstances might require. Instead, he was ordered to cross 
 above, and advance on the Martinsburg and Winchester line, lie 
 was cautioned by the General-in-Chief to " take his measures there- 
 for circumspectly; make good use of his engineers and other experi- 
 enced Staff officers and Generals, and attempt nothing without a clear 
 prospect of success." 
 
 At Martinsburg, July 9, 1861, a council of war, composed of 
 Colonel Grossman, Captain Beckwith, Captain Simpson, Captain New- 
 ton, Colonel Stone, General Neglcy, Colonel Thomas, Colonel Aber- 
 crombie, General Keene and General Cadwalader, unanimously 
 opposed a furtlier advance on Winchester, but, instead, advised the 
 flank movement to Charleston, which had been approved by Oeneral 
 Scott. 
 
 Captain Porter was not present at this council, and though the 
 opinion of the members of the council was well known at the time, 
 five of the number were soon after made general officers. Is it not then 
 rather ungenerous to ascribe sinister designs upon General Porter's 
 part, to a merely supposititious influence held by him over General 
 Patterson ? 
 
 From Charleston, three days befoi'e the battle of Bull Run, twelve 
 hours before Johnston commenced to leave WincJieste)\ General Patter- 
 son reported his condition to the General-in-Chief and asked, " Shall 
 I attack ?" No answer was returned. Two days later (July 20th), he 
 telegraphed, " With a portion of his force, Johnston left Winchester 
 by the road to Millwood, on the afternoon of the ISth, his whole force, 
 32,500. 
 
 With this information in hand, McDowell pushed out to Bull 
 Run, and Oeneral Patterson was allowed to receive his first news of the 
 battle, which he supposed, from General Scott's dispatches, to have 
 taken place on the 18th, through tlie newspapers on Monday, July 22d. 
 Thisisahasty and rather jumbled sketch, hinting some points 
 well worth your looking up. The implication of responsibility 
 resting upon Gen. Porter for malign influence upon the Antietam 
 field rests on similar bald suppositions. The pages of Messrs. Nicho- 
 lay and Hay's so-called history will not hold their own against the 
 evidence of the Record and of notorious facts. I commend to your 
 serious consideration the works alluded to by Gen. Porter in the 
 printed letters to Nicholay and Hay enclosed in my last; and after 
 you have carefully examined Gen. Patterson's side of the story of 
 the first Shenandoah campaign, I think you will be willing to modify 
 the views you have expressed through the "Boy."
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 293 
 
 T return Gen. Porter's note, as you may wish to keep it. I trust 
 you will pardon the candor of my criticism for the sake of the inten- 
 tion. Very truly yours, 
 
 CAESWELL MCCLELLAN. 
 
 The critical letters of Gen. Fitz-John Porter and 
 Col. Cars well McClellan, a ^relative of the Commander- 
 in-Chief and a distinguished Staff officer. of the Army 
 of the Potomac, explain themselves and require no 
 comment, except, that in presenting them to the club 
 readers, it does not necessarily imply that they reflect my 
 own opinions. Neither disputes my facts. It will be appa- 
 rent to all that the only object is that prompted by an unself- 
 ish desire to afford to both sides a fair hearing. Readers 
 may form their own conclusions from the facts stated. 
 " I beg to take you all along on the flying trip I recently 
 enjoyed in a Pullman palace car, from the Potomac 
 through the historic, picturesque and once devastated, 
 but now rich, Shenandoah valley. We will not have time 
 to stop at Winchester, the Luray Caverns, the Natural 
 Bridge, or to visit the graves .of Lee and Jackson at Lexing- 
 ton, but hasten along through the thriving city of Roan- 
 oke, where we take the East Tennessee road, leading still 
 on the ' ' war-path," to the western armies. 
 
 At Knoxville, Tenn., I spent a couple of delightful 
 weeks, revisiting scenes that were at once pleasantly and 
 at the same time sorrowfully familiar to me. It may be 
 remembered, that it was here, when this country was 
 occupied by the Confederates, that the " boy " scout was 
 kindly cared for, while sick, in the family of Col. Craig, 
 then the prothonotary of the county. In this cultivated 
 family, I was fortunate in meeting the charming young
 
 294 ON TITE WAR-PATH. 
 
 ladies mentioned in the story of the adventures of the 
 "boy;" Miss Maggie, MiaS Mary and the pert little 
 Laura. They had only heard of me once, through " Belle 
 Boyd," since my escape from Cumberland Gap. At this 
 revisit after 2G years, it was my pleasure to meet all three 
 of these ladies and a right royal meeting it was. All 
 were married. "Our Maggie" to an ex-Confederate and 
 a most genial gentleman. They have no children and 
 travel considerably for their healths, spending the winters 
 in Florida where they own an extensive orange grove and 
 beautiful lake which has been named "Geno "in honor 
 of the boy's heroine. 
 
 " Lake Geno " (so named by the owner in honor of the 
 "Boy Spy's" war heroine, Geuo Wells), is a beautiful 
 sheet of pure, clear water, about thirty acres in extent, is 
 the Spring Lake, or head of a chain of similar lakes dot- 
 ting this entire region, varying in size from thirty acres to 
 seven miles, which empty into the St. Johns. 
 
 Mary, the Rebel of the family is the wife of a Tennessee 
 judge who was an ex-Federal officer and always a Unionist. 
 They have quite an interesting family. 
 
 Laura, the little dark-haired beauty is the wife of a fine 
 gentleman and now lives at Atlanta, Ga. Their only 
 daughter Josie, a sweet girl of fifteen, resembles her 
 mother as I once knew her. 
 
 The many pleasant days spent in this vicinity with 
 Maggie by my side, driving in her own buggy, viewing the 
 once-familiar scenes, will make some interesting chapters 
 to be told in the sequel " Geno." The story could not be 
 told under these covers.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 295 
 
 This lady's poor health has somewhat injured her gay 
 spirits. She, too, like Geno, lived between the lines and 
 can a wondrous story tell of the war in the West that may 
 equal "Geno" in the East. Though her wavy hair is 
 slightly gray in front, she still retains the same pretty 
 brown eyes and sweet Southern accented voice and manner. 
 
 We sang together the old songs, not forgetting " When 
 you and I were young, Maggie." 
 
 I also visited the Brownlow house. Mrs. Brownlow 
 still lives there. 
 
 My visit to Knoxville occurred during the glorious fall 
 weather of 1889, about the time of the reunion at Chat- 
 tanooga and Kenesaw which organized the Chiekamauga 
 association. It will be remembered that on this occasion 
 the speech of Col. Will Henderson, an able lawyer of 
 Knoxville, was delivered, in which he used the compari- 
 son since so widely quoted relating to the results of the 
 war: " The war was of greater benefit to us than to you 
 folks up north as it rid us of slavery and started our 
 growth of manufactures." Or as the nigger, who had a 
 law-suit about the ownership of a mule, which was decided 
 against him, said: " You gained the law-suit, but I done 
 got the mule yit." 
 
 Colonel Henderson was a gallant ex-Confederate. One 
 of Miss Maggie's early friends and admirers. 
 
 It is proposed by the Chiekamauga Association to ask 
 Congress to appropriate $250,000 to purchase of the States 
 of Tennessee and Georgia, 7,600 acres of land, embracing 
 the battle-field, to be formed into a national military park 
 to remain under control of the Secretary of War. It is
 
 296 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 hoped that the people of the East, notably of the Army of 
 the Potomac, may be induced to emulate this worthy 
 example of the Western army and ask Congress to add a 
 little to the acreage of the Marye Cemetery at Fredericks- 
 burg, and, perhaps, purchase the strip of bloody ground 
 thereabout, upon which not only the most blood of the war 
 was shed, but that over which "was shown the greatest 
 heroism of the Anglo-Saxon race. This might be made to 
 include the home and grave of the mother of Washington 
 and become a shrine convenient to the Capital. 
 
 In this connection I beg leave to introduce to the club 
 a Western Rebel who replies to some statements made by 
 General Boynton, a newspaper warrior of Washington, 
 I). C. 
 
 The Battle of Chickamauga Without Taffy, as told by an 
 old Confederate, Capt. R. F. Powell^ of Georgia. 
 
 I reproduce it simply for the sake of the historic inci- 
 dents it mentions, and as a Rebel's conception of what he 
 terms "an exposition of the wanton and base falsehoods 
 that invariably characterize the Yankee historian's writings 
 on these events." Captain Powell is a loyal citizen of the 
 United States, but he thinks the time for apologizing and 
 regretting things that can not be helped has passed, and his 
 letter is written along that line. He says, among other 
 things- 
 
 "General Boynton, a very pretty writer, has a very 
 nice romance, which he calls facts, published in the 
 Washington army paper, claiming the battle of Chicka- 
 mauga as a great 'Union victory/' says the objective point 
 was Chattanooga, and Rosecrans got there first.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 297 
 
 "That reminds me of the little boy who ran home 
 with another boy after him, his face scratched, his clothes 
 torn, his hair standing on end, and, in fact, bearing all 
 the marks of a boy who had been soundly thrashed. 
 
 ''His brother said to him, 'Why, Ned, what is the 
 matter ? What are you running for ?' Says Ned : ' Now, 
 Bud, do you reckon I'm goin* to let that Jones boy hit me 
 the last lick and beat me to the house, too ? No, I aint/' : 
 
 After quoting from General Boynton, Captain Powell 
 says : 
 
 "The first and most striking feature of the battle, as 
 General Boynton represents it, is, that in every assault, 
 in every death-grapple in all parts of the field, the Feder- 
 als were always successful, and whenever there was a colli- 
 sion the Confederates outnumbered the Federals at least 
 two to one ; the Confederates were always fresh and the 
 Federals always tired and this is the case with every bat- 
 tle described by Northern writers that I have ever read. 
 They may admit at the outset that their army is as large 
 as, and possibly a little, just a very little, larger than ours, 
 but where the battle rages fiercest, and deeds of heroism 
 are performed, either by individuals or corps, it is always 
 the same story the single 'Yank' drives off three or four 
 ambushed 'Johnnies/ one company of 'our boys' holds 
 the position against a regiment of ' Eebs/ a regiment 
 (always somebody's celebrated regiment) dashed at a 
 brigade of Confederates and after a brave resistance on 
 the part of the Rebs they broke and fled in the wildest 
 confusion and so on up to division and corps. 
 
 " Some of their most candid writers throw in a good deal
 
 298 ON THE WAR-PATH 
 
 of 'taffy/ and speak of 'the splendid troops of Cheat- 
 ham/ or 'Hood's brave veterans,' and others even admit 
 that we had occasional spurts of ' dash/ and made some 
 magnificent assaults, but such are never described without 
 a sequel, and that sequel is always" the same a grand 
 counter-move of the Federals ending in the total discom- 
 fiture of the brave, but unfortunate Southerners. 
 
 "The second prominent feature of Gen. Boynton's 
 Chickamauga is his powerful effort to reconcile his state- 
 ments. Crittenden's Corps occupied Chattanooga on the 
 9th of September and left a brigade to hold it, and yet it 
 was not occupied by the Federals on the 20th, although 
 the brigade was still there and no Confederate troops had 
 been there since Crittenden took possession. But the 
 weakest point in the article is his attempt to have Bragg 
 outnumber Rosecrans all day Saturday by the arrival of 
 Buckner's and Longstreet's troops, and yet he has Long- 
 street's fresh troops pouring in all day Sunday, and finally, 
 he and Col. Duflfield both agreed that Bragg's whole army 
 of 65,000 men, half of them fresh troops, says Duflield, 
 attacked Thomas's single corps late Sunday evening and 
 utterly failed in the attack, and that Thomas held his 
 position until dark. Now, if both armies had about or 
 nearly the same number of men as they say, about 
 65,000 each and one-half of Bragg's army was fresh 
 Sunday evening, late, then he had surely been fighting 
 65,000 men for nearly two days with 32,500 men, and 
 during all that long and terrible struggle, Gen. Bragg was 
 so fortunate as not to lose a single man, and had his entire 
 army intact Sunday evening when he struck Gen. Thomas' 
 Corps.
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 299 
 
 "The fact is, Bragg had fewer men than Rosecrans, and 
 one-half of Longstreet's Corps was not in the fight at all, 
 having arrived too late. 
 
 " The battle of the 19th was indeed a draw battle, but 
 on the morning of the 20th the Federals seemed to have 
 lost spirit, and were driven by the Confederates from the 
 start, and we were only checked by the massing, on a high, 
 double ridge, of Thomas' Corps and other troops that had 
 not run away, to the number of 25,000 in all, says Colonel 
 Duffield, a Northern writer of considerable prominence. 
 
 " It is true that several assaults on Thomas at this point 
 were repulsed with considerable loss to the Confederates. 
 
 "I think the battle was ended about 5 o'clock p. M., by 
 the breaking of Thomas' Corps and the surrender of 1,500 
 Yankees upon the summit of the ridge that Thomas had 
 so bravely held. 
 
 " It is perfect bosh to talk about Thomas holding his 
 position until dark, and then 'withdrawing' to Rossville. 
 His corps was broken into atoms long before dark, and 
 fled, totally demoralized. 
 
 " I can't remember the exact time, but I know it was 
 long before dark, because I ordered my company to stack 
 arms on the very ground occupied by Thomas' Corps, and 
 exchange their Belgian guns for Enfield rifles. 
 
 " I remember, also, picking up a fine Colt's repeating 
 rifle on the very summit of the ridge held by Thomas' 
 Corps, inside their temporary works; also talking to the 
 prisoners, and they were certainly very despondent, saying 
 that Chickamauga was. a dark day for the Union, etc., and 
 this was long before sundown. There wasn't a Yankee
 
 300 OX THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 soldier within ten miles of the battle-field at dark, except 
 the dead, wounded and prisoners. We captured 30,000 
 rifles, sixty-eight cannon, and 10,000 prisoners. Great 
 'Union victory'! 
 
 " The fact is, this ' old soldier' has told and read so 
 many big tales of his own prowess and his daring attacks 
 on 'great masses' and 'overwhelming numbers' of 
 ' Rebs,' in which he was always victorious, that he has 
 made his children believe them all, and he believes about 
 half of them himself. Our side has been silent for a long 
 time, and the witnesses are thinning out year by year, and 
 it is time our people were putting in their testimony and 
 placing on record for our children and children's children 
 to read when we are gone. The 'Yanks' know, and we 
 know, that we won four-fifths of the pitched battles of the 
 war, and that in point of numbers their soldiers were three 
 and four to one, their railroad facilities as twenty to one, 
 their rations as twenty to one, their clothing as five to one. 
 
 "We had only one force to oppose to such fearful odds, 
 and that was pluck, indomitable, unwavering pluck, and 
 it took four years of steady fight for us to wear ourselves 
 out whipping them." 
 
 It will be again understood that in thus presenting a 
 Confederate to the club, I do not endorse the statements 
 that he makes. It is simply a disposition to offer some 
 new light on an old subject from the other side. As I 
 have taken opportunity to introduce the same element in 
 the East, I thought it advisable to stir up the Western 
 boys a little. 
 
 Our own story of the war has been told and retold
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 301 
 
 thoroughly. No harm can come from a friendly discus- 
 sion of the war with ex-Confederates, and much more good 
 may result " fighting " them over with our former antago- 
 nists than in fighting them over among ourselves. The 
 agitation will serve to bring out the true story from both 
 sides. 
 
 We have nothing to fear, nothing to regret, nothing to 
 be ashamed of. 
 
 And now we have reached our journey's end, and your 
 guide, with hat in hand and a cordial hand-shake to each 
 individual member of the Travel Club, reluctantly says 
 goodbye, with many thanks for your kind attention and 
 forbearance. I hope we may all meet around the winter's 
 fireside, and, perhaps, hear the wonderful story of " Geno," 
 a romance of secret service and secret love, during the war, 
 that is, indeed, stranger than fiction. 
 
 NOTE. I should be glad to meet in Washington any visiting member of 
 the club, or to reply to any interrogation. A letter addressed to Washing- 
 ton will always reach me, wherever I may be. J. O. KERBEY.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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