He held his position till the twenty-six pieces of artillery were pulled off the field. He then marched his command back in good order and rallied the rest of the brigade. He was incapacitated for a year and a half from active service by ill health, and was then commissioned a Colonel in General Hancock's Veteran Corps. He is now a successful business man in Fostoria, Ohio.

66

"Captain! how large a force does Gen. Payne command?" Fifty thousand Sons of Veterans; and the number increasing with great rapidity."

"What would you say about their usefulness and value to the country?"

"I would say strongly that this brilliant union of the best elements of young manhood for upholding the flag and elevating humanity, serves the nation in a matchless way. And the simple fact that these scores of thousands of earnest men, brave by birthright, are supplied with military knowledge and discipline, conveys a sense of security to the loyal millions that has value beyond all price. They are a vademecum of safety and comfort. The old veterans are dropping away; but when their numbers can be more than filled by heroic sons, let not the timid take counsel of fear. The example to the world is ennobling for this immense organization to maintain such a mighty tribute to American valor, and to hold extended so many hands and purses for the relief of the needy soldiers and their dependent ones. When, with earnest, manly strength, aided by lovely woman, they honor the departed heroes; not alone with the choicest flowers on Memorial Day but by constant incense of gratitude; they are lifting the thoughts of humanity to something better than self or mere financial accretion.

And woman is aiding them. The mothers, wives and sisters of the Sons of Veterans organized in June, 1884, at Danville, Pa., the Ladies Aid Society of the Sons of Veterans, Miss

Estella Baus was chosen the first President. Her successor was Miss Laura F. Martin of Lancaster, Pa., who was unanimously re-elected and is the present efficient National President of the order. Her efforts have been very great and successful in advancing this charming association. Her administration has, from a handful of societies two years ago in Pennsylvania, with about two hundred members, extended the order into fifteen States, with a membership of nearly two thousand.

The Ladies Aid Societies have been warmly endorsed by vote of the Commadery-in-Chief; also in General Orders by Gen. Payne and Division Commanders; by Camps and by prominent men in the order. The homage of commemorating and honoring deeds of courage and chivalry has always, the world over, been best graced by woman's sympathy and love. Let her pure devotion sanctify the ennobling realm the Sons of Veterans are privileged to hold. Practically they have proved of great assistance. Their good works furnish the reason of the rapid increase of their societies. They draw membership, like the ladies of the G. A. R., from mothers, wives and daughters of veteran soldiers and sailors; to which they add the wives and daughters of Sons of Veterans. A glorious career is before them.

The Sons of Veterans are giving great attention to military drill. Sometimes they are mustered into the State militia. At St. Paul, Minn., the drill of Camp No. 1. is hardly equaled in the United States.

There are several Sons of Veterans' newspapers, supported by the order; the National Reveille, Chicago, the Camp Fire, Portsmouth, Ohio, and the Boy in Blue, Grand Rapids, Mich. Capt. Gerry, of the G. A. R. Comrade, Chicago, has a Sons of Veterans page. Also the Veteran Advocate, Concord, N. H., the Veterans Review, Indianapolis, the Grand Advocate, Des Moines, Iowa, and the Arsenel, Minneapolis.

TWO

CAMP-FIRE XXXII.

OF MOSBY'S MEN PERSONATE UNION OFFICERS-A SUCCESSFUL MILITARY MANEUVER--CHARACTER MAINTAINED NOTWITHSTANDING THE DEMORALIZING INFLUENCES OF ARMY LIFE.

MEMBER of Mosby's band in the East appeared before this camp-fire and desired to relate an adventure which occurred within the Federal lines. He was permitted, and spoke:

"After the winter's campaign in the mountains our band settled down for a time in the beginning of March, and during the latter part of that month the boys spent their time in individual and private enterprises.

"Mosby could trust his men. They were all devotedly attached to him, and were therefore allowed all the liberty they wished. They would organize private excursions into the enemy's country. By private excursions are meant those in which two or three of the boys would, without advice or attention from any officer, put their heads together, and lay plans for adventures within the territory of the enemy.

"One of these escapades is too good to be longer unrecorded. Sam Underwood was known among the boys as a mischievous, prank-playing, quick-witted, dare-devil-sort-of-afellow, not without a high sense of honor. He had been educated at the University of Virginia, and had both the culture and the powers of mind to have made a high mark in the world, but alas! like thousands of others he had no tenacity of purpose, and when the war broke out the life of a

partisan was too enchanting for him. After that he could not hold himself to any one thing long enough to achieve substantial results. But he was a fountain of humor, and his place under Mosby was just suited to his tastes-a freedom from responsibility, with all the liberty he wanted.

"He disclosed one of his plans to Bowie, and together they started to work it out.

"They found themselves after a day's and night's travel so far inside the Union picket lines that their identity was never suspected. They were loud-mouthed Union soldiers. They had clothed themselves in the captured garments of the officers who had been taken at the Dranesville fight. Mosby had possessed himself of certain papers which had thoroughly posted him in the names and numbers of the regiments of the enemy. These papers were captured with the Dranesville officers, and after Mosby had used all he wanted from them they fell into the hands of Underwood.

"The two daring guerillas were at least forty miles inside the Union lines, and stopping in one of the strongest neighborhoods of Shenandoah Valley, shook themselves in humorous gratification at having avoided suspicion. They gave out that they were quietly engaged in procuring information for the government at Washington as to how the soldiers of its armies were behaving themselves in Virginia. Their familiarity with all the operations of the Federal forces, the names of well-known officers, their commands and subordi nates, begot confidence at once. They were secret agents, and this they gave out as the reason they did not stop in the towns they could get more reliable information at a little distance, where their mission would not be suspected by the

army.

"They had been in the neighborhood but three days when they received an invitation to a party to be held at the house of Daniel Maxwell, a celebrated Unionist of that coun