Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/382

 374 Southern Historical Society Papers.

form of the Confederate soldier told in language too plain the suffer- ings he was then undergoing for the want of proper sustenance. And now, before closing this letter, let me say that Grant had cer- tainly played the last card known in the art of warfare

ATTRITION

for all it was worth. For he confessed to a loss before reaching the south side of the James of more than the Army of Northern Virginia had in the field. After pontooning the James, the army of Grant was now where it might have been at any time without the loss of a single man. But here he is near Bermuda Hundred, and is soon to lay siege to Petersburg, it having been proven to his satisfaction that the " Cockade City " could not be captured by an attack in front, and that our southern connections were safe, at least for the present. But here I stop.

[From the Richmond, Va., Dispatch, January 30, 1894.]

WAR'S BRAVEST DEEDS.

The Heroism of Private Chew Coleman, of Crenshaw's

Battery,

At Spotsylvania Courthouse, May, 1864.

In the desperate battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, in May, 1864, when Grant and Lee were approaching Richmond on parallel lines, the Crenshaw Battery, of Pegram's Battalion, Army of Northern Virginia, was ordered by General Harry Heth to change its position to another part of the field. While the guns were being limbered up, General Jubal Early rode up and asked the captain of the com- pany where he was going. The captain pointed to the position assigned him, when General Early asked him who had ordered him to go there. The captain replied, " General Heth." " Well," says Gene- ral Early, " if he has ordered you there, you would better go, but I don't see how you will ever get there." 'Twas a pretty warm place to have called forth such a remark from General Early.