over on me, and in looking up to see where the summit was, my eyes would rest on Miss Harriet's smiling face and a glass of egg-nog, and the barbaric music would change into a gentle command to "take it, 't will do you good." And I took it. CHAPTER XVI. THE BATTLE OF IUKA. Our bugles sang truce, for the night cloud had lowered, * THE * * "Rest thus, thou weary and worn, For sorrow shall return with the dawning of morn." -[Campbell. HE oriental dreams that had floated like an aroma of the imagination over the couch of my pleasant sick ness were rudely dispelled on the morning of the 10th of September, 1862, by a courier, who came to tell me that Generals Bragg and Beauregar had gone to Chattanooga, leaving General Price in command, who had just ordered a movement on Iuka, a little place twenty-two miles east of Corinth, which was a depository of a large amount of Federal stores and munitions, and was heavily garrisoned. I mounted my horse, and with affectionate adieux was on my way in the footsteps of the army. By slow stages and frequent rests, and an occasional noon-day nap under a scrubby oak, I overtook them in two days. After an all-night march, under a moonless sky and beneath the twinkling stars, with just enough skirmishing with the enemy's videttes to keep us lively, we halted for a cold breakfast three miles from Iuka. About ten o'clock in the morning we entered the place with a rush, capturing quite a number of belated stragglers, and what to us was a perfect Eldorado of supplies. I was ordered to place a guard over one depot, which had formerly been a large hotel and watering-place resort, but now "with its banquet halls deserted;" every room was filled with cheese and crackers, hams and hominy and molasses and whisky. found infinite difficulty in protecting my treasure. True to I the "old soldier's" motto, every guard would provide for his own mess and jealously protect from all others; my feelings, however, were somewhat molified when I found that my cook, John, had amply provided for my own larder, and, as a sick man should, I ate in silence and asked no questions. The Federals hastened their troops towards us from every direction, and we were kept in a constant state of alarm and activity, moving night and day, more exhaustingly than if we had been on a regular march. At last, on the 19th, just as the sable mantle of night was settling down, my command was moved through the town towards the east, with the sharp rattle of musketry awakening the echoes, and soon we met all the concomitants of the "bloody battlefield," men staggering to the rear pierced with every conceivable kind of missile, ambulances carrying off the dead and wounded, and breathless staff officers hurrying to and fro. The mortal remains of Brigadier-General Henry Little were sadly borne to the rear. He had been with us in the Missouri State Guard, and was our immediate commander in the Confederate service. A quiet, unassuming, affable man, a thorough soldier and an excellent disciplinarian; to him alone the First Missouri Brigade owed its efficiency and unequaled discipline. Bravely and nobly fighting at the head of his men, his short but glorious career was ended on the field of Iuka. In him we lost an able leader and a true friend, and Missouri one of her best generals. Price wept over him as he would for a son; the whole army mourned him as a father lost, and we buried him at midnight in solemn silence and beneath the pitying stars, "with his martial cloak around him." Many a heartfelt prayer went up for his wife and little one in a distant State, and we murmured, with bated breath, our requiescat in pace as we left him "alone in his glory." The terrible crash of musketry broke more and more fiercely on our ears, but by the time we got near enough for the bullets to whistle through our ranks it was dark as pitch. I was directed to move my command in a certain direction until ordered to halt. I did so, and soon our men stepped carefully over the dead and wounded of the Fortieth Mississippi infantry, whose former position we crossed, and a little beyond that we could hear the commands of the enemy's officers in forming their lines. I thought this * * * * * * * * was getting close enough in the dark; and as no one sent me orders to halt, I halted and waited instructions, which soon came, informing me that I was right in thus doing wrong. We were occupying the position of Hebert's brigade, whom we relieved, and whose poor fellows were lying all around us. We were getting into place rapidly, when the Federals opened fire, to my great personal inconvenience; for I happened to be between the two lines, and my men, in their eagerness, shot under my horse and over him, and made a rest of both ends of him, and I must say that we— my horse and I-made a pretty good bulwark. Throwing out our skirmishers, our line pushed through a swamp, literally feeling our way, it being too dark to see anything, until we arrived at what seemed an open glade, not one hundred yards wide, on the edge of which we bivouacked, the enemy occupying the opposite woods. Here we passed one of the most thrilling nights of my experience. The heavy dew fell cold and cheerless,-not a soul was allowed to stir, as the breaking of a twig might cause a fire. The bayonets of our foes we could once in a while see gleaming by the starlight in the opposite thicket, and occasionally some luckless skirmisher, by the rattling of his canteen or sabre, would draw a heavy fire, every bullet of which, so correct was their range, would fall into our ranks, and the base of the opposite woods on the borders of the glade would be illuminated with fitful flashes running along the ground for a mile or so to the right and left, like the lightning in a summer sky playing on the western horizon. We needed water sorely, and our only chance for a supply was in the little brook half-way between the two lines. Lieutenant Lippincott concluded he could obtain the desired fluid, and, gathering up fifteen or twenty canteens, he cautiously moved out. He had nearly reached the creek when he stumbled into an unlucky hole, which drew a scattering shot or two that would have amounted to nothing if he had kept still, but he precipitately commenced a disorderly retreat, causing his canteens to make the most infernal clatter ever made by canteens before or since. The enemy supposed our whole army was charging upon them, and opened a most terrific discharge. Lippincott, with his usual judgment, made for the headquarters of the regiment, tumbled over three or four of his superior officers and landed full length on me, nearly knocking the breath out of me, and centering all the fire on our devoted heads. We escaped with a few scratches; and, with such pleasant interludes as this, "wore the uneasy night away," anxiously looking for the dawn, although we expected it would be the signal for another desperate fight, such as the evening had witnessed with Hebert's brigade. The wounded of both armies were still lying on the ground, and by their low moans and louder shrieks, which we were compelled to hear without being able to assist them, rendered the night more dismal still, and us more melancholy to see our poor comrades suffering while powerless to relieve. About three o'clock we received orders, and by the left flank moved away silently, leaving the groans of the wounded behind us, and marching towards the bright sunrise. Our wagons detained us some time, but were finally straightened out. In the council of war it had been warmly urged on General Price to burn our train, but he stoutly resisted, and sure enough the "Old Tycoon" brought everything away safe. I was in charge of the rear guard; and about sunrise was sitting on my horse in rear of our skirmishing line waiting for Lieutenant Salmon, "of the wrong tooth," who was watching for the advance of the enemy, when I heard him say in a low but emphatic tone: "Come here, ye divil." And the click of his pistol enforced the command. A man, covered with a military cloak, came to him unwillingly, evidently surprised at not having seen him in time to defend himself. "What are ye, and what are ye doing here?" said Salmon, peremptorily. "Major Cornline, of the -st Illinois infantry, commanding the scouts," was the answer. The Major had gotten too far ahead of his men; he looked back for help; none appearing, and Salmon's fingers looking rather nervous on the trigger, he had nothing to do but obey his order to "come along and be quick about it." He was a very gentlemanly fellow, and in one of our best ambulances followed our army much more comfortably than he could have done on foot. As we passed through the town the Yankee howitzers opened furiously on us, and the shrill screaming of women, the rattling of wagons and the rush of an army presented a scene of apparent confusion which, however, shortly sub sided into an orderly march. We soon decoyed our pursuers into a long lane, where we enfiladed them with a welldirected fire of grape and canister, after which they left us to pursue our journey in peace. A light-haired, blue-eyed, handsome young fellow I had often noticed in the ranks as being the lightest-hearted and gayest among the gay. On the order to march, after a short rest at noon, word was brought to me that one of the men was dead. The fatigues of the last few days had overwhelmed him, and there he lay, pale and rigid, but beautiful in death. His spirit had passed away so quietly that none had noticed it, and his white face, with a smile still resting upon it, was turned towards heaven. Many a sincere tear was dropped on his obscure grave. As we laid him tenderly to rest, I thought of the distant mother, whose prayers for her absent darling would meet his soul above. "No kind domestic tear Pleased thy pale ghost, or graced thy humble bier; By strangers honored and by strangers mourned." MOR CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE OF CORINTH. Now front to front the marching armies shine, ORE than double our numbers, and in almost impregnable fortifications we fought them at Corinth. From their secure position behind their big guns, they beheld our approach with contempt; with their breastworks knocked down about their ears, several of their cannons spiked, half their men disabled and some of their quarters in flames, they drew a long breath and sang the Yankee Te Deum when we left. |