Peninsular Sketches (continued) [pp. 398-414]

183..ein~ Sk-~~
every moment to see the Yankees bursting
out-of the woods. But it was only a humore of Col. Magruder's, to test the mettle
and promptness of raw troops in the event
of real attack. I believe the experiment
was regarded, at headquarters, as entirely
satisfactory. The imaginary enemy tnever
came e out of the bushes, and the line was
shortly recalled.
A hundred and fifty yards below the
tavern, or HalfWay House, on thie opl)osite side of the Hampton road, stood a
large, handsome white mansion, the residence of a Mr.. Russell. This was Col.
Magruder's headquarters. In a field above
this house, we spent the'night and a portioli of the next day, which was Saturday.
-Sonie of us had now been at Bethel aind
its vicinity for- four days, and had certainly
had opportunities enough to learn the whol e
surrounding country. Saturday afternoon
we were roused from our state of temporary inactivity by a courier with news that
Mator Randolph -was fi,lghting the Yai nkees
below Bethel,, and stat they were advancting in force. Every thing was started at
a double quick down the road. On reach-ing the cbihrch, we saw the Major and a
portion of the third Howitzers, undler Lieut.
West, coming down the hill from the
Elizabeth City side. The enemy were
-certainly advancing, but the advance consisted only of two prisoners, regular Neaw
Yorkers, who had worked in a mnachinie
shop, they said, and had come "downi
South," for the sole purpose of " seeing a
W little fun." Their power of seeing fin, or
anything-else, was somewhat restricted at
-the time they were brought i, for they
were both blindfolded; one of them beiing
led by Argyle,:a stalwart Howitzer,,-.who
had him by the wrist and shoulder; the
iother following in similar style, in the custody of another member of the same Ccompany, whose name has escaped my recollection. Why the prisoners were l)inlfolded, I have never been able fully to
comprehend. I have sometimes supposed
that it was an acTt of charity towards thera.
to prevent their being entirely overcome
by the effect of the first sight of the5 temendlous for o0f rebels gathered1 a(Bethel,
and-the awe-inspiring character-of the
works erected by Col. H~ills regimener.
Thi~s must have been the reason, for as
jects of MC on tazuma had of the cavaliers
of Cortez. That night, while seated around
a pine-knot fire, Capt. Werth arrived in our
midst, fresh from his adventure, of which
lie gave us a graphic and laughable account.
Ash and the mule cart were along. This
mule cart had become not only an indis pensable auxiliary in our expeditions, but
underneath the'bondy was my sleeping
plaee. The mos quitoes were not so tro u blesome here as they wer e at Bethel bridge,
but a fresh source of annoyance way not
wanting. Of all th e woods I have ever
faeen in, and I have roamed through m any,
iae h a s neve r been my misfortune to meet
with ticks, which ei ther in numb e rs or te rocity, could compare with those Bedouin
ti,eks of the Pocoson. My ankles-but
why parti'cule ize? Horresco referes! Bish millah! as the Mohamedans say. These
were t he only e nemy we enc ountered at
Hunt's Point.. The gun-boats ha d evidently b een driven off by t he t icks.
After breakfast, some of the party were
preparing to go a fishing, when who should
ride up but the distinguishict commandant
of the Department, Col. Magruder, with his.
staff. I don't mean by his staff, that he
was going fishing, too, and had brought
along his rod and reel-I refer, of course,
To his military family. Making some remarks in his peculiar and jocose style about
tile appropriateness of fishing. in general,
but its impracticability at present, he oralered a retrograde movement to the'HalfWay House. We had halted there but a
few minutes, when alarming orders were
communicatedlto the differen3t comman ders, to make their men fall in, in the quickest possible time.; One man, who was sit-ting on the railing of the porch of the tatern, instead of fatl-irig i*, let the butt of his
musket fall down on tlr bench, when bang
went the load through the roof above.
The olonel swore; the man apologized
and r.an to his place. A line of battle was
formed in the field back of the house and
facing a body of woods. The cavalry
gliarded one road,'and Capt. Brown's see*ion of artillery commanded- the other,
which was the one along which we had
just returned. To the men this was no
mimice warfare-they thought that they
were in actual li-ne of battle, and expected
I
1863.1
Peninmkr Slccle7tes.
I