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Show iients were reduced to a mere hand-ul hand-ul of Mien. Many of the companies vere practically wiped out of exist-nee. exist-nee. Imagine- the most fatal rail-o.nl rail-o.nl wreck, when scarcely any one nieceeds 111 escaping from the cars, ind you will have some Idea of thn qipearance of our regiments. I went ihrough the three days unhurt, but ot ihe last of the third day a bullet fausht nie lu the leg. I carried that liullet for forty years until a bad fal iiade It necessary to extract It." AT the battle of Ixnikout Mountain a New York regiment was In the front ranks and contributed .tly In determining the Issue. The work of the 215th New York In this famous engagement Is by no means as familiar as It should be. James Schmldllng, who fought In this regiment, regi-ment, now the commander of J. L. Hiker Post, and who Incidentally fought In seventeen pitched battles, In recalling the light above the clouds, said: "Our regiment was early on the scene, and this promptness had an Important effect on the fortunes of the day. The battle. It will be remetn-b remetn-b red. was fought above the clouds. Now In fighting, the position of th troops at the beginning often decldei the battle In advance. Since this bat tie was fought practically on a tnoiin tain top, on very high ground, the troops holding an elevated position naturally had an Immense advantage Our regiment held an Important vnn cage point, but we were ahead of thi main army aud faced a force vast!) superior in numbers. It was a que Hon of hours before our reinforce ments could come up. I think ever man realizid what depended upon us We lost heavily, but we held ou ground until the main army arrived and the position we had maintains at such sacrifice proved to be of tbi utmost 1 in j w i r t inne ." Til 15 South Atlantic ldo kade sqna ron was largely recruited fror New York city. The survivors this famous fleet are to be found toda scattered throughout many of th posts. Practically all of these old sal ors have seen particularly active seri Ice. Matthew Jennings of s. O. Fan ham Post, In recalling these siltrln da)s, said: T was on the Saratoga, and a goo deal of the time we were in the thlc of It. The hottest fight we had. vhoiild say, was In the expedition I I burn the railroad bridge rc;nnectln Clarlestown and Savannsh. "We were ashore three days on tl expedition. I don't recall what oi loss was. but It was very heavy. Tl attack was fiually made with a co siderable laud fori e assisted by a fli from the boats. To cut this partlc lar artery In the )stem of conimui cation among the Confederates wi considered well worth Ihe price hundred of lives. I'ndcr cover of tl firing from the ships the land fore advanced on the bridge. "The enemy was forced back to by foot across the structure, lcavt the bridge littered with their dej When It was possible to live In t tone slHJut the i nd ot the bridge. ; the firing was terrific, we dashed fi wardtd and succeeded In setting afire. When we again reached c ship after a three days' absence I I was a sadly diminished but tria J phaiif par'y ." j n ; Personal I Exploits in the ; Great Civil ! War, Told by Veterans $ ' courage under arms &u ELVaV are ut,ua"y tnoli! ,JlH' LAi ployed In some des- fT p!virt f I" rntc "'"t or ",me 6TWF very spirited. If brief. fSA'JrJMAA action. The courage demanded to face Imminent danger for ', days or weeks without faltering. ! though less celebrated. Is certnlnly of as high an order. It was courage such as this which made possible the long, tedious siege of Petersburg, perhaps per-haps the most trying campaign In Its way of the entire war. The life behind be-hind the bombproofs Is vividly re-, re-, called by J. H. Campbell. "We were for three months under . continuous lire. Our position was well 1 within range of the enemy, who kept i up their fire almost without crssu-i crssu-i tlon. One never could tell when a lucky shot from the enemy would be dropped In among us. "There are a number of bombproofs and a series of slieltired roads con-j con-j tied lug them, so that wo could pass , from one to another. It Is one thing t to make a charge or meet one, but qultrt another to work day after day, . night after night, and not know what . Instant will be your last. One gets , accustomed to anything, and curiously t enough one of the greatest dangers r was that we would grow so familiar with our danger that we would Ignore It. Familiarity breeds contempt for bursting shells and sharpshooters, as (. for anything else, hut to nlax for a I moment and step fur an Instant be-yond be-yond the shelter might cost one his I. ,lf" r . .npHU most deadly battle of the en-il en-il I I tire war. Pickett's famous charge, s I Is recalled by scores of soldiers, i- One of these veterans, who was o wounded on the third day at Celtys-d Celtys-d burg. J. n. Hlock. of the Sumner Post, d New York, carried the bullet be reft re-ft celved until very recently, a I "We stood behind Pickett's charge," , sal. I he. "It Is a matter of history, d of course, how frightful the lost was. a l.aUr. when we came to count the d cost, we fonmd as all the world knows 15, that some of our regiments had lost u- seventy five per rent, of all the men - who went Into the fight. I am told i that there It no such los recorded t elsewhere In mi'.ltary history. b "The fighting at 'Woody Angle' beg gars description. Iu any ordinary battle, bat-tle, even a lively one. you may see a man drop from time to time, and In a desperate charge the ground may be. as the saying Is. covered with the h dead and wounded. Itut that Is an exaggeration. After a hard battle I have seen bodies sratterid prfty thickly, but the ground was not 1U ot eraily covered. Hut after Woody A' it gle It would have been Impossible to exaggerate the awful loss. Rome ?tg. |
