Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/333

 First ( 'inn />'iii'/ of Itlr/tiitoinl //oin'fzers.

superior officers already in our hands; the concentrated and mur- derous fire of six batteries of our artillery within effective range, brought tluin promptly to a surrender."

Well might he be astonished, and his surprise be extreme. But tin- spirit that animated that desperate countercharge is largely the explanation of the fact, and solution of the problem, of Lee's army ever reaching Appomattox. We are not, however, writing the his- tory of the campaign nor describing the strategy and movements of the armies; our present concern is with the experience and fate ot one company of artillery, a single unit of Lee's army, whose proud- est memory is that they shared the glory oi that army. The First Company of Richmond Howitzers, attached to Cabell's artillery bat- talion, had since July, 1864, been posted in the works at Dunn's Farm, about half way between Richmond and Petersburg. The artillery on this part of the lines had an easy time, the enemy on their front being so little troublesome that the battery did not fire a shot during the fall and winter of 1864-' 65. Well housed and shel- tered, the command passed the winter in comparative comfort as contrasted with the severe trials of other parts of the lines, while the nearness to Richmond, the home of many of the company, enabled them to supplement the scant commissary rations. The battery had always been well manned, and at the opening of the campaign it numbered over one hundred and twenty present for duty.

With these full ranks, it had also been fortunate in maintaining generally the character of its personnel, despite the changes and chances of four years' war service. The genial, not to say jovial, memories of that winter at the Dunn House will always remain as a glowing illustration of the degree of happiness that men can make for themselves under adverse circumstances. There was material in that company to stock half a dozen of the average theatrical or con- cert troupes. In history, science and literature, some groups could have given elementary lessons to half the societies devoted to those cults. While the " Presbyterian Board " was luminous in theology, and might have instructed many half-fledged doctors of divinity, the Agnostics of another mess could give points to Darwin, at least in the humorous treatment of science. There was not wanting even the study of ancient and modern languages, while the Company Glee Club was a delight to themselves and to everybody who ever heard them sing, from major-generals down, or rather, perhaps, from privates up, for many of those privates had a way of thinking of themselves as rather better than some major-generals, though always