Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 19.djvu/295

 The Battle of Fisher's Hill. 289

REPORT OF LIEUTENANT- COLONEL WM. S. PIERSON, COMMAND- ANT OF JOHNSON'S ISLAND.

For two years ending January i, 1864:

The whole number of prisoners has been 6,410

Of which there have been exchanged 2,983

Discharged on oath, allegiance, parole, etc 302

Transferred to other prisons 363

Deaths 149

Shot by sentinel i

Report at this time 2,612

6,410

WM. S. PIERSON, Lieutenant- Colonel Hoffman Battalion, Commanding.

[From the Richmond Dispatch, June 14, 1891.]

THE BATTLE OF FISHER'S HILL.

Thrilling Incidents of, by a Private Soldier "I Say, Men! for God's Sake

Let Us Stop and Fight Them Right Here "The Song that

Saved an Army.

The Confederate soldier gave four of the best years of his life to a cause that was too poor to pay him and did not live long enough to honor him. Often clothed in rags and frequently suffering the pangs of hunger he was pushed on in the discharge of his duty by patriotism^ a fickle and uncertain master, whose very name was changed by defeat into that of a crime, for which, if he has been for- given, he has also been forgotten. If we take into consideration the fact that all he has, or ever had, as the fruits ^>f his privations and hard-fought battles, is stored up, not in this world's goods or even in the gratitude of his fellow-man, but in his memory alone, surely he may be indulged in the weakness an old soldier has for boring other people by fighting his battles over again. And this is my excuse for attempting to scribble my recollection of some of the incidents connected with the battle of Fisher's Hill. I hope this may meet the eye of some of my old comrades in arms, whom I am sure will recognize the picture.

THE POSITION.

The morning of September 22, 1864, two days after our defeat at Winchester, found General Early' s little army occupying the posi-

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