"Before closing," said the last speaker, "I wish to call your attention to some effects of army life on character, and how these effects were overcome by the counter influences of peace and civilization. "In glowing periods Lord Macaulay describes the facility with which Cromwell's soldiers gave up the profession of arms and devoted themselves to avocations of civil life, so that they were noted for their diligence, sobriety and prosperity; but never in the history of the world has such a mighty army been suddenly disbanded as in the spring of 1865 at the close of the rebellion; yet men accustomed for years to live by foraging, or taking by force whatever they needed or desired, quietly sank back into the ranks of civil life, and soon became distinguished for their energy, integrity and success in business, and no less so for their fidelity and zeal in support of the civil government of the country. "Among thousands of instances that might be cited I wil refer to a boy who enlisted as a private when between seventeen and eighteen years of age, from Tazewell county, Illinois. He was a mere stripling, slight of build, but rather tall. The hardships and exposure incident to the winter. campaign under General Pope, around New Madrid and Island No. 10, in March, 1862, gave him the camp diarrhœa. His appetite failed, and his captain, thinking he would die if kept in the ranks, gave him permission to remain with the company wagon for two or three months, by which means he recovered his health, rejoined his company, and proved a faithful soldier, though he became an inveterate gambler. Whenever off duty he could be found playing poker or some other game for money, and such was his nerve and self-control that, though he lost or won hundreds of dollars, nothing more could be told of his feelings by looking at his face than at a board. His winnings, in time, became large, and he sent home several thousand dollars; and on the march from Atlanta to the sea he won until his bundle of bank bills became so large he had to carry it in a rubber blanket. He, of course, at other times, had great losses; but when the army started north through the Carolinas, Jan. 31, 1865, he was left at Port Royal Inlet (because his time was out), nine miles from any Union troops, with over three thousand dollars about his person. He bade his comrades good-bye because refused permission to go along with them, went back to the coast, was mustered out of service, and came home by the way of New York. He invested all his money in land, and began farming and dealing in grain and cattle in his native county. He sold out all his property in Illinois a few years ago, went to Nebraska, entered some land and bought other tracts adjoining, located at the county seat, and is to-day worth a large amount of money; but above all, is a respected and exemplary citizen. This, however, should be said of him, that when he left the army he entirely abandoned gambling, and he most faithfully kept his resolution then formed, to do so. He is everywhere noted for his integrity, and his word once given is to him a bond." CAMP-FIRE XXXIII. REMINISCENCES OF THE BATTLE OF CORINTH-A BRAVE BOY IN GRAY-THE OLD CANTEEN. can tell some facts," said Mr. J. W. Evarts, "of a detachment from the 15th Illinois Cavalry, "which I have never yet seen in print. They came under my direct observation, and will be recognized as true by many a comrade. "I was with Stanley and Rosecrans at the battle of Corinth, which lasted three days, the heaviest fighting being done on the 4th of October, 1862. On the evening of the 3d, near sunset, Rosecrans left me to watch a road two miles west of the town, on which the rebels were expected to approach in force, and invest the place that night. Price had sent Rosecrans word that he would take dinner the next day at the Tishemingo hotel, or in h―l!' I rode a fleet horse, and planted myself behind a large tree on the north and south road, at the junction of the road leading eastward into Corinth. Our entire army had gone into camp behind the forts and earthworks. I was probably the only Union soldier outside of our lines. A half hour's watching, and I saw a dust rising up the road to the north. A moment later, and a long column of rebels were in full view; in the scattering timber for some distance the rebel skirmishers were deployed, and approaching in line. I waited motionless till I could identify the personages riding in front, the descriptions answering for Generals Van Dorn and Lyttle. On reaching within fifty yards, realizing my safety had reached its limitation, I put 339 spurs to my horse and darted toward Corinth under a shower of bullets. Reaching the tent of General Rosecrans, I made my report, and the battle of the next day verified the identity of those rebel commanders. "The most tragic scene of the battle of Corinth was the charge on Fort Williams by the Rebel Forlorn Hope,' in which four hundred volunteered under Colonel Rodgers to capture the fort or die in the undertaking. The fight commenced at daybreak, and had raged hot till about noon, with terrible slaughter on both sides. Our troops numbered 27,ooo, and an area of five or six square miles around Corinth was thoroughly fortified, and long-range guns were so planted as to rake the rebel columns lengthwise wherever they formed. A deep ravine, stretching along the west of town, was covered with fallen trees, making a tangled abattis so great that it was difficult to cross; but the rebel legions climbed from limb to limb over tree-tops, and jumped from log to log across a dangerous bayou, all under a raking fire of musketry and artillery, many dropping dead or wounded among the brush; and to the number of several thousand they charged through line after line of our bristling bayonets and the slashing sabers of three thousand of our cavalry, reaching their goal, the Tishemingo hotel. Our cavalry rallied in force, and charged them back; but their onslaught grew more desperate, and they repeated the charge the second time, and were a second time routed, retreating over a thousand acres strewn with the dead and wounded of both armies. weakened the spirit of the rebel commanders, and they called for the fated four hundred to capture our greatest stronghold, Fort Williams, whose guns were pouring a steady stream of destruction into their decimated ranks. It was but a moment after Colonel Rodgers responded to lead, that the four hundred daring men were in line, and at a little after noon they rushed like mad demons upon the fort, crossing the ditch and This scaling the walls, as if by superhuman dexterity. Many were killed at the first charge by the hundreds of rifles that were blazing at them from every direction. The charge was repeated with more dauntless heroism, if possible, than before, and the rebel flag was no sooner raised than its brave bearer fell, a corpse. One by one this heroic band fell dead in the ditch or in the parapet, when, last of all, Colonel Rodgers himself grasped the broken and shivered standard, waved it above his head, shouted victory, and the next moment he, too, fell, pierced through the heart. Perhaps there was never a more exciting scene in the annals of modern warfare. Those who witnessed that terrible charge, could not feel any but the deepest admiration for such unparalleled bravery. "Colonel Rodgers was probably the largest man engaged in the war on either side, standing six feet and seven inches, grandly proportioned, and weighing about three hundred pounds. He was a lawyer by profession, and resided at Holly Springs, where he was highly esteemed for his nobility of character, and was regarded as one of the ablest and most scholarly attorneys in Mississippi; and though a confederate soldier, we can do no less than reverence his wonderful bravery." "We are all ready to pay our devotion to true courage wherever we find it," said the presiding office, and now will offer a tribute to The Old Canteen,' that staunch friend of true courage and all other virtues, by inviting Lieutenant Page to recite some beautiful lines on the subject, from an author who, though unknown, makes us feel that he has tested its friendship. In response, the following was rendered in the most ciative manner: THE OLD CANTEEN. Send it up to the garret? Well, no; what's the harm appre |