"The Irish Ninth in Bivouac and Battle"
by Michael H. Macnamara
CHAPTER XXV.
Culpepper. -- Insinuating Females. -- Picket Duty. -- Drummed Out. -- Speculations. -- Guerrillas. -- "De ole Man's a grazing eber since." -- A "What is it?" -- A Negro Gymnast. == A crazy Professor. -- Uncle Jolly and his good kind Sisters.
FROM the Rappahannock we moved forward, and marched through the town of Culpepper. Like the rest of the towns and cities of Virginia, Culpepper is greatly depopulated by the war, and from the fresh, bright, and cleanly appearance it seemed formerly to have presented, had merged into a dingy, dirty-looking place. When we saw it, its principal buildings, having been used as hospitals and barracks, were rapidly tumbling to pieces. The place boasted of many stores, the majority were closed; and we noticed some very handsome private dwellings. When we arrived, the sutlers who had preceded us were driving a very profitable traffic in disposing of preserved fruits, meat, and vegetables, tobacco and cigars, soda and other articles comparatively useless to the soldier, but done up in such tempting packages that it was nearly impossible to resist the purchase.
The female portion of the inhabitants watched our progress with some interest, but did not scruple to inform us that we should soon leave with the redoubtable "rebs" behind us. We marched along, however, intending to stop as long as necessary, and to leave only when General Meade should order us; and we felt in no wise hurt at the covert insinuations of these thoughtless ladies. When we had marched some two miles outside the town we halted in a small wood on the south side of the main road, and there pitched our camp. Being so close to the depots, supplies were plentiful; and therefore many important messing elements were at our command. One great luxury to the soldier was here in abundance -- "soft bread." This was brought by rail from Washington, was very often supplied, and, after having been confined to "hard tack," the change was most welcome.
Our regiment here, with others, performed picket duty, and passed the time away very comfortably.
One day, while here, they were treated to the exhibition of a deserter being drummed out, which was looked upon as a good joke by our boys. The culprit, a poor half-witted looking fellow, after being marched in front of all the brigade, had the hair cut off one side of his head, quite close, making him look like a mountebank; then, being branded with the letter D, with a great deal of drumming of the tune known as the "Rogue's March," he was allowed to go on his way. Beyond this nothing of interest transpired at this camp out of the ordinary routine of military life. We strolled about the fields, patronized the "settlers" to the extent of our currency, smoked their abominably bad cigars, and visited, as often as circumstances would allow, the commissary of our brigade, who, in certain matters, was nearly omnipotent. We entertained our friends, and they entertained us, both parties ventilating old and new stories, and, when not employed in this way, anathematizing the weather, or speculating on the kind of reception we should meet when we arrived at Richmond. We paid an attentive ear to the news from the North; and when the "draft was commenced," we fervently wished we were at home to help enforce it. When we learned of the disgraceful New York riots, how heartily we wished for a chance to give those fellows a taste of our quality, and show them how the Irish Ninth could charge; but, as none of these gratifying duties were vouchsafed us, we would drop the discussion of the subject with maledictions of the copperheads, who were considered infinitely more contemptible than the crawling viper -- the thing from which they had received their name.
The guerrillas, hovering about the flanks of our army, would sometimes cause a little excitement, by gobbling up quartermasters and staff officers, or seizing ambulances containing our sick and wounded; but these little ventures were speedily stopped by our cavalry, who were now in a fine state of discipline, and exhibiting more dash every day.
One day, while here, we came upon a negro family, who were living near what had once been almost a palatial mansion; the cabin was of log, the interstices being filled with clay, covered with a roof of thatch, browned by the action of the atmosphere. A broken rail fence, which enclosed the hut, and a dilapidated pigsty, within which four young "grunters" and their maternal "parient" were industriously rooting up the mud, comprised the limited domain of the venerable darky who was the presiding genius. We engaged him in conversation, who was nothing loath to converse with any one, leaning on his stick, apparently about eighty years of age, bent nearly double. As he stood beside his hut, we asked him, after a while, if he was a slave. He said, "No, dey kep de ole man as long as dere was any good in him, and worked him like a beast; and now they've turned him out to graze, and de ole man's a-grazing eber since."
There was much pathos in the mournful tone of the old man as he said this, and he shook his head and moved slowly away. We thought, as we stood musing, what a terrible thing to have to pass eighty long years in slavery; and, when the sap and vigor of manhood's usefulness had been wrung from him, like the withered trunk of the once stalwart tree, become useless, then, and only then, in the expressive words of the poor old darky, to be turned out, like a broken-down horse, "to graze" and die. Such was the idea that crossed our crude, free, northern mind, and we felt, more tan ever, in heart and principle, an uncompromising enmity to human slavery.
Of this family was one of the queerest specimens of negro boys we ever saw. He was slimly built, from ten to twelve years old, with a huge misshapen head loosely set on his shoulders, and a countenance of the drollest description it is possible to conceive. As we first saw him, he was partly concealed by some logs of timber, with his head thrust forward, and his large eyes rolling at us with a peculiar expression of drollery. One of "ours" seized him by the scalp and drew him forth from his hiding-place; he stood for a moment on his feet, and then bounded away on all fours, with uncommon rapidity. On reaching the foot of a large tree, he scrambled up with the agility of a monkey, and ran out far on a branch at a dizzy height above us, and sat there, seeming to enjoy our amazement. After a while, he came down; at a bound leaped upon the back of our horse; but before we could catch him, he was gone, and had cleared the fence, and was out of sight. The next time we saw him he was perched upon the branch of a tree, squatting upon his haunches, eating some corn-cake, which he dexterously extracted from his pocket while in that position. When he came down, he remained seated at the bottom for a moment, and then, with an extraordinary effort, sprang from the ground, and clutching a branch more than twelve feet above him, adroitly swung himself up into the tree. When we saw the old man, we said, --
"That's a smart boy of yours."
"Smart? yes, he's smart ! too smart ! too smart !" was the old man's reply, at the same time directing our attention to a heap of some ten or twelve corn cobs which the youngster had just polished off for his lunch, not exactly to the old man's satisfaction. We stuck a greenback high up on a pine, close by, for the boy, and rode away. On looking round, ere we had gone far, to our surprise he was on our horse's haunches, examining the note attentively; upon seeing our astonished look, he sprang to the ground and bounded away. Many of the officers saw much more of his gymnastic feats, and expressed their astonishment at the drollery of his antics. That boy reminded us very much of Barnum's "What is it," only he was "more so."
We turned our horse's head in the direction of a large slate-colored house, about a quarter of a mile distant. Arriving there, we asked a colored man we met at the gate if we could get a drink of milk. "Yas," he answered; and, opening the gate, we passed in. Going up the gravel pathway, we came upon a fine-looking, stout old gentleman, who bowed to us with the stately courtesy of the old school. Learning our wishes, he preceded us to a wing of the mansion, and, putting his face to an open window, shouted, "Sally, milk for the gentleman." In a moment, Sally -- a very comely-looking young colored woman -- appeared with the milk, which we took and drank, and were about to return the mug, when, behind the pleasant face of Sally, at the open window, we saw the faces of three ladies, who seemed to gaze upon us with much complacency, -- or else 'twas our conceit that led us to think so. We bowed politely, when the old gentleman bawled out, "My sisters, sir ! my sisters !." Again we bowed, somewhat astonished at the gruffness of the old gentleman. The ladies asked us to dismount -- a request we were not slow in obeying; for a vision of warm rolls, bright yellow butter, and new milk, passed before us, completely eclipsing the frugal fare of camp. The old gentleman seemed highly pleased when we dismounted, and, rubbing his hands gleefully, ushered us into a neat, cool, and comfortable parlor, tastefully arranged. We found the ladies very well informed, and, without flattery, very pretty -- we won't say beautiful. They seemed to regard the old gentleman with peculiar affection, intermingled with considerable anxiety, the reason of which for some time we could not ascertain. After some conversation, he introduced the subject of the present rebellion. We had always made it a point never to discuss the subject with a rebel, or resident in any evacuated country; and in this case scarcely replied to him, making every possible effort to divert the conversation into some other channel; happening, unwittingly, to quote a line from Shakespeare, the old man started from his seat, throwing back the scanty hair from his forehead, and assuming an erect, defiant attitude, began, --
"Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance,We gazed at him with astonishment, nor could scarcely understand the meaning of his declamation. Finally, having run through a variety of quotations from Richard, he paused; his eyes filled with a strange light, and wiping his brow with his handkerchief, he sat down and looked towards us as though waiting our approval. Scarcely knowing what to do, we turned to the ladies. One of them made a scarcely perceptible motion, and moved from the room. In a few moments we followed, and from her we learned that the old gentlemen was demented. He was formerly a professor in a college in Virginia, and possessed extraordinary abilities; but by over-application, his mind gave was, and now he was only fit --
Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror,
Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish,
And never look upon thy face again.
Therefore, take with thee my most heavy curse,
Which, in the day of battle, tire thee more
Than all the complete armor that thou wearest !
My prayers on the adverse party fight;
And then the little souls of Edward's children
Whip the spirit of their enemies,
And promise them success and victory.
Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
Shame serves thy life, and will thy death attend !""For secret seclusion . . .All this we learned with solemn surprise, and turning, beheld the unfortunate subject of our conversation standing at the parlor door, gazing at us with an expression of distrust and suspicion. He was a most noble-looking man, with a brow broad, thoughtful, and indicative of the fine intellect which now lay dormant within. He was in the habit of strolling around the neighborhood, being known as Uncle Jollie, and was freed from any annoyance in consequence. We staid to tea; and when we took our departure, left the poor gentleman greatly grieved and disappointed, as we had become great friends. He shook hands with us, and begged that we would visit him again. To this we assented, if convenient, and came away. Though circumstances have prevented our repeating the visit, yet shall we look back with pleasure to the pleasant evening spent with this family, and feel grateful for the kind attention shown us by those ladies -- a course so unusual with the fair sex of Virginia.
For calm, uninterrupted solitude."
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