Some anecdotes17 of Gen. Jackson, and the manner in which he was regarded by his men, and the enemy too, were current in the army during this campaign, and were true in idea if not in detail. Before leaving camp at Mount Meridian18, an order was issued instructing the men not to tell what or whose troops they were, and to answer all questions on the subject with Gen. Ewell’s abomination, "don’t know," as a precaution against the enemy getting a knowledge of Jackson’s movement from the Valley. One day the General saw 73a soldier crossing a field towards some cherry trees, and as the great abundance of cherries along the route had caused any amount of straggling, he resolved to make an example of this man. So riding up to him he inquired, “What division do you belong to?” "Don’t know," said the soldier. “What brigade?” asked the General; and again the soldier replied, "don’t know." “Well,” asked Jackson, “what regiment19 do you belong to?” thinking he had now found an answerable question; but again the man replied, "don’t know," and with some asperity20 of tone the General exclaimed, “What do you know, sir?” when the cute “gray jacket” answered—"I know that old Stonewall ordered me not to know anything, and damned if I ain’t going to stick to it."
The General turned and rode away without a word, smiling at the extremely literal construction of orders which had saved the soldier from the punishment he had meditated21 for him.
Gen. Jackson got aboard the cars at Louisa C. H., to go to Richmond, and took a seat in the same car in which a Yankee Major, who had been captured among some of the raiding parties on the Rail Road, was being carried also to Richmond.
The Major entered into conversation with the quiet officer, not knowing, of course, who he was talking to, and began explaining to him the absolute certainty of McClellan’s capture of the Confederate 74capital. After listening for some time to the manner in which each division of Lee’s army was tied up by a stronger force from the other side, “Stonewall” ventured the remark, "But suppose Jackson’s army should move from the Valley and strike McClellan in flank and rear while he is engaging Lee in front." “Oh,” said the Major, "there’s no danger of that, Jackson has been badly crippled in his engagements in the Valley, and is now hemmed22 in closely by Fremont’s army, so that he can’t move." “But,” persisted the Confederate, “suppose he should getaway and come to Richmond.” "No, I say it’s no use to talk about that," said the Major, "for he can’t get away, it is impossible." “Yes,” said the other, “and I say it is possible, for he has already whipped Fremont, and his army will be in front of Richmond in less than twenty-four hours.” The Yankee looked at him a moment, and with an anxious expression asked, “Who are you, sir?” “I am Gen. Jackson,” replied the hero; upon which the Major smacked23 his hands together exclaiming, “Whipped again, by God!” and at once subsided24 into silence.
When the army of Jackson reached its position and it was plain to everybody that the time had come for the great battle, the men who had followed “Stonewall” all over the Valley, and had seen his banner wave in triumph on every field, were rendered still more proud of their great 75leader by seeing, about noon on the day of “Cold Harbour,” the men whose names were already encircled with a halo of glorious deeds performed during the war, ride up and report to Gen. Jackson for instruction.
Longstreet, A. P. Hill, Magruder, and Stuart, all acknowledged the solemn soldier as their superior, and took his orders for the day’s work.
That day’s work too was a sad and bloody25 one, and when night ended the conflict, many were the corpses26 strewn over the carnage-stained ground, and terrible arose the groans28 and shrieks29 of mangled30 men; but the enemy still held the front and all thought the morning sun must look down on a repetition of the same unchristian work.
Gen. Ewell was found about midnight by the men who were sent to him to relieve the couriers who had passed with him through "Cold Harbour’s" baleful death-fires, lying along his lines, which were drawn31 close up to the enemy, waiting for some sign to commence anew the work of slaughter32; but when daylight broke over the battle lines the men in blue had disappeared, and soon after, Gen. Lee found one of White’s boys and sent him to find Gen. Stuart and take him to the Commander-in-chief.
This conference ended in Stuart posting off to see what had become of the enemy, and it wasn’t long until that enterprising cavalier had found out all about him.
76In the operations which followed, Gen. Ewell moved with his division to Despatch33 Station, on the York River Rail Road; and as a matter of course White’s cavalry went with him. On their way to that place they passed Yankee camps where the fires were still burning, the camp-kettles of old ham and vegetables, and the coffee, still boiling; while at many of them there were wagon34 loads, in some instances houses full, of supplies of all kinds on fire; but what created the greatest excitement of all, was a report that the Yankees had poisoned the wells all around their camps by throwing into them the supplies of medicines which their surgeons could not carry away in their hasty retreat.
These rumors35 grew out of the fact that large quantities of powder and cartridges36 had been tumbled into some of the wells, and those who drank the water readily imagined it to be poisoned, not only from the taste, but also that several of them were made sick by it; and all threatened summary vengeance37 on the prisoners, but the true state of the case was soon discovered and the excitement quelled38.
On arriving at the Station Gen. Ewell caused the railroad bridge over the Chickahominy to be destroyed and a part of the track torn up, and being now between McClellan and the White House, waited for whatever force might come down the road.
77About 4 o’clock in the afternoon a sound as of an enormous train of cars was heard on the railroad, and every man was on the lookout39 for something interesting to occur, supposing that the Yankees did not know the road was cut and were attempting to run some trains through, and knowing that if this should be the case they would certainly meet a bloody overthrow40 at the bridge. The 13th Virginia infantry41 was lying on the railroad, and White’s boys gathered on the bank of the river, when soon, in the distance, appeared the most singular looking affair any of them had ever seen on a railroad track. It was a train of cars certainly, but high up over the locomotive was built an affair that looked very much like a barn, being made of plank42 and very long.
The general impression of the men at first sight was that it was a contrivance from which the Yankees could fire at any rebels they might discover, and thus keep the track clear; but there was very little time to think much about it, for the iron-horse, under a full head of steam, was carrying it at a rapid rate towards them, and pretty soon the infernal machine leaped from the track into the Chickahominy, and at the same moment a blaze of fire went up from it that seemed to meet and melt into the blue of the sky, while an explosion, so terrible that men lying on the ground a hundred yards distant were lifted bodily, and in some cases had the blood forced 78from ears and nostrils43, broke out on the evening air. Just as soon as they got their senses together White’s boys walked quietly off to their horses, which had been feeding in an oat field a quarter of a mile distant, and concluded they didn’t want to be around when McClellan run his trains to the White House. This curiously44 contrived45 affair must have contained three or four tons of powder and artillery ammunition46, for shells were exploding constantly from the time the machine blew up until dark, but fortunately did no damage.
The next day Col. Bradley T. Johnson, of the 1st Maryland, (afterward Brigadier General of the Maryland Line,) and Capt. White were prospecting47 along the river for the enemy, the Colonel having with him a rifle cannon48 with which he occasionally “felt the woods” on the opposite side, and in the evening elicited49 a reply from several batteries, whose smoke rolled lazily up through the trees in white, foggy-looking masses, and showed that the “Young Napoleon” still had a line of battle there. During the firing Gen. Ewell, accompanied by White’s company, rode out to Col. Johnson, who showed him the Yankee positions, remarking, at the same time, “and by the way, General, I think I heard the long roll.” By this time the Colonel’s one iron gun was attracting considerable attention from the Yankee artillery, and their shells were flying very 79plentifully around him, when Gen. Ewell turned his horse, and remarking to his escort "we’ll go back now, boys," rode over the hill towards Despatch Station, and in so doing passed in full view of the enemy’s line, who now opened warmly upon him, and just before reaching the woods a heavy shot passed between the General’s head and his horse’s neck, causing the old fellow to make a very sudden backward motion, but he instantly righted up, and noticing that the shot had struck a large pine tree about twenty feet from the ground, and cut it off so clear and sudden that the upper part of it came down perpendicularly51 and stuck in the ground beside the stump52, he exclaimed "wasn’t that beautiful; wasn’t that well done!" but some of the boys remarked afterwards that they didn’t know exactly whether he had reference to his dodge53 or to the cutting of the tree, and they were afraid to ask him.
On the 30th of June Gen. Jackson’s corps27 crossed the Chickahominy at Grapevine bridge, and pushing on after the retreating Yankees came up with them at White Oak Swamp, where he had to fight them several hours with his artillery before his army could get over. During the arrangement for this fight Capt. White marched his company along the battle-line with “Old Stonewall,” and after the latter had gotten his seventy guns in position, we halted to watch the result. The enemy was firing constantly, but 80Gen. Jackson made no reply until he had everything arranged to his notion, when he gave the signal to commence firing, and it was soon evident that he was more than a match for the Yankees. While the roar of the guns was waking the echoes of swamp and forest, Gen. Jackson rode along the line, where the shells from the enemy’s batteries were flying the thickest, and, greatly to our wonder, held one hand up as high as his shoulder nearly all the time, but wonder turned to reverence54 when found that our hero was praying to the God of battles to spare the lives of his men and crown their arms with victory. Before long the bridge over the swamp was uncovered, and Jackson’s infantry went across, capturing several of the enemy’s guns and many prisoners. Here White’s men got into a snap with some of the Pennsylvania Bucktail riflemen, but the Captain led them in a charge, in which they captured a whole set of German-silver wind instruments for a band, and several prisoners, killing55 and wounding some of the “Bucktails.” They also got a splendid suit of armor belonging to a Colonel, over which they had a great deal of amusement, but in their experiments with the breastplate they learned that it was bullet-proof against Colt’s army revolvers and all the guns they could find, with one exception, and that was the Maynard rifle, which tore a hole in it large enough for a hen’s egg to pass through.
81On the 1st of July we went to Malvern Hill, and the company was busy enough during all of that long and bloody afternoon, carrying dispatches for the several Generals operating in connection with Ewell, and acting50 as provost guard to stop the soldiers from straggling.
At the close of the battle, which continued until dark, Capt. White took a detail of his men to Gen. Ewell, who had sent for him, and found that officer, in company with Gen. Whiting, lying on the ground to the left of the road, and with the advanced vedettes of the army, conversing56 in whispers, the enemy being so close that they could not talk in an ordinary tone without being heard by them; and when White and his boys had crawled up to the General, finding him with great difficulty, he sent them back, saying he was going to advance his infantry line pretty soon, and had no scouting to do, as he had found the enemy and they were in his front—so close that he could throw a stone over their line.
White and his men crept back in the same noiseless manner to their horses, where they waited anxiously for the opening fire of the intended advance; but it was not made, or, if made, the Yankees had gone, and the ever-memorable campaign of seven days’ battle around Richmond was at an end; while with it ended the Northern policy of conducting the war according to the established rules of humanity recognized by civilized57 82nations, for now McClellan, who had treated the citizens inside of his military lines humanely58, and had respected their rights and protected their property, as far as possible, from the usual pillaging59 that attends the movements of every large army, was to give place to another who had nothing but his brutality60 to recommend him to the favor of the “greatest and best government the world ever saw,” which was now represented in Washington City by a crew of foul61 birds of the devil’s own hatching, whose names will make the cheeks of Americans crimson62 with shame as long as American history is read; and Gen. Pope, from his “headquarters in the saddle,” announced that henceforth the business of his army should be to investigate the color of the coat tails of the rebels, and that the time had arrived when a new era in military tactics should dawn upon the astonished world through the transcendent genius of “John the Pope,” and that under him the battles of Abolitiondom should be fought with fire and sword, according to the most approved rules laid down by the aborigines of North America, with all the improvements which the Spanish greasers of Mexico had been enabled to add from the familiarity of their fathers with the horrible scenes of the infernal inquisition; all of which had been revised and corrected within the sound of Mr. Seward’s little tinkling63 bell for special use in the Grand Army of “John the Pope,” and the 83world was assured that the war had commenced in earnest; while those whose attention had heretofore been called, by accident, to the career of Mr. Pope, and had formed their opinion therefrom, predicted that women and children would suffer now, for the chosen Sachem of the little-souled Yankee Nation was on the war-path, and the influence of the Northern people in whose hearts the God-given principle of chivalric64 forbearance towards the weak and helpless had an abiding65 place, was literally66 smothered67 to death in the smoky vengeance which the nigger crusaders had manufactured for crushing the rebellion—“vide” Brownlow, Stevens & Co.
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1
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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2
beleaguered
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| adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰 | |
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3
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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4
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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5
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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7
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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9
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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10
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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11
authorizing
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| 授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 ) | |
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12
premiums
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| n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价 | |
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13
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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14
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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15
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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16
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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17
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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18
meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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19
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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20
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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21
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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22
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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23
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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25
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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26
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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28
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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29
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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32
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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33
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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34
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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35
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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36
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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37
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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38
quelled
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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40
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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41
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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42
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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43
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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44
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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45
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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46
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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47
prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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48
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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49
elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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51
perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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52
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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53
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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54
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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55
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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56
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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57
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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58
humanely
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| adv.仁慈地；人道地；富人情地；慈悲地 | |
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59
pillaging
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的现在分词 ) | |
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60
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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61
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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62
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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63
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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64
chivalric
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| 有武士气概的，有武士风范的 | |
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65
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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66
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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67
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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