WAS IT A DREAM?

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3187, 15 September 1881, Page 4

WAS IT A DREAM?

A PERSONAL BEMINISOENOB. On the 29th of August, 1862, I was in the Union army, and the regiment to which I belonged was deployed as skirmishers in front of Longstreet's (Confederate) corps, not far from Gainesville, Va. During the day there was some desultory filing on the part of the opposing forces, but no sustained engagement, although we continued to press upon the enemy un'il darkness 3ettled down and put an end to further mancsuvres. At nightfall I, with four or five companies of my command, remained in the position occupied during; the day, while the rest of the regiment detailed for picket duty, advanced some distance to the front. I was in excellent health and spirits, but bein? e''"'iflv rVicued, fell asleep almost immedititplv •>'■• •* Uif arrangements for the Tii.r'-f '■■, ' ', ■••♦Pγ?. «-ion •• dream. ■1 ■ . ' « if ( 'V 'If 1111 •'' '■ ''■•»* -,v j• i '•■ ■ γ-i-..■ ]'<:n\ >in 1 w!iii-!\ 'in •• awik I'ing I t iin'l no difficulty in l^eatinsr After a while, however, I wanrlered into a dreamland where all seemed strange. T fancied myself in line of battle with my comrades, in a piece of timber fringing an open field oi some considerable extent, the father side of which sloped gently upward, forming a ridge parallel to our front. "Upon this ridge I could plainly distinguish something like a dozen cannon, and could see the Confederate artillerymen resting upon the earth or louneing in little groups about their guns, a3 distinctly as I could have done with my natural vision. I could also perceive the puffs of smoke from the rifles of the enemy's sharpshooters and hear the reports oE their fire arms, and the ping and thud of the bullets. I might here mention, as a further description of the field, that the wood in which we lay was quite clear of underbrush ; that we occupied the edge nearest the foe, with, a rail fence between us and the cleared space of which T have spoken, and that this fence some 700 yards, more or less, to our right turned off at a ri»ht angle and ran quite up to the confederate lines. 4 s was the case where we lay, so it was on onr right. The fence sepnrntpd the clearer! field frorr. the timber, vv'iich lnf.ter constituted two sides of a T)ar-!i!lp?o.qriini, the single being, as alrcadv o'i :""-"1. not far from the rk-ht wing of my regiment. \V :uie I whs taking in these details, and experiencing meanwhile the peculiar sensations which sometimes annoy even old campaisners when compelled to remain inactive under a dropping fire, I thought an order came for us to charge the batteries before us. The regiment arose, formed line, started out from [the timber, and instantaneously the guns upon the heights beyond opened fire As we passod on I saw men fall a? though killed or wounded, and heard all the various sounds and din of battle. About midway the field, running parallel with our line, 1 noticed a depression commonly called by farmers a "dead furrow" —it being the " finishing-off," place in a ploughed field. We passed over this and continued our charge across the open space and up the slope nlmost to the very muzzles of the cannon —comrades falling by scores at every step —and then, all at once, we seemed to be enveloped in impenetrable darkness. My senses were left blank. The next moment, however, light returned, and I was lying upon the ground, fight still going on about me, but whether wounded or not, my dream, or whatever it was, did not inform me. While thus prostrate and helpless, I gazed about me aud saw, a short distance in rear of the guns, a small cabin, and its gable, which was toward me, a window. About the building was grouped many wounded men, some standing, others lying down. In the immediate vicinity of myself there seemed to be hundreds who had fallen in the contest. Casting my eyes in the direction from whence we had nome, I beheld the remnants of my command in full retreat. I also noticed the sun, which was shining brightly, and uppcarod to be in the vicinity of an hour sp.i.tins. v t'ii« point F was awakened from slnml i>'!- ;v,-\ Tcri.i'riorl the time tr> be about 2 •«.■!; .nf ujjn-it 20. Having my dream a~ I r< itT-rl.-i-'vi ]v, :n mind, I made inqnirieiuk! UM.-ertiiiru'd that durim: my nap everything had reir'lined unusually quiet, only a few shots ha"l.ig been exchanged on the picket line.

An hour afterwards we were on the march for Mannsse3 and the battle-field of Groveton.

I must confess that the realistic character of my excogitations during sleep affected me considerably ; and all the more because the scjnery depicted was altogether strange. My memory, though questioned to the uttermost. Tailed to recall any locality through which I had ever passed at all resembling it. Consequently I felt unusually gloomy and depressed in spirits) and all the morning carrying in my heart a presentment, the nature of which can scarcely bo described of approaching evil. The old bafcfle-fiftkl of Bull Run was reached early in the forenoon, and about 12m. we advanced a mile or so to the northward, where we were assigned our position in the line of battle then forming.

The station occupied by my regiment happened ho be in a piece of timber skirting an open field, which terminated at the distance of some 500 or 600 yards in front of us in a ridge crowned with several Confederate batteries, the guns in plain sight. The enemy's sharpshooters lay in front of their artillery, concealed from view, but the puffs of smoke from their muskets sufficiently indicated their locality, and disclosed the fact tliat; our opposite lines were parallel. On our left the country was open, but in the opposite direction, beginning at a distance of some 800 yards from cmr right, the timber extended up to unci beyond the ridge already described. The excitement consequent upon the fighting going on about me and the shirmish firing drove my dreams temporarily out of mind, although its impressions were allowed to remain. About 5 o'clock in the afternoon, as I should jurlge, we were ordered to change the posii ion in our front ; and the various regiments of the brigade, my own occupying the second place from the left, advanced to the dangerous undertaking. Moving from our place of shelter, we were greeted with a terrific shower of grape, cannistci' and shell, the first discharge of which encountered us as we were climbing or in some manner getting over or past a worm fence of some five or six rails high, and which bad intervened between ourselves and the cleared field beyond. When about half the distance to the ridge had been traversed, one of the men nearest to me fell ; and although we were going at the double quick, I noticed as I hastily glanced do - «m at him, than lie had fallen in a " dead furrow," which the regiment was ju3t crossing. I might here observe that, while lying in the timber, it, the field, the ridge, everything, in fact, about me, seemed strangely familiar, and so did the " dead furrow ;" but yet the events of the night previous did not recur to me. I was thinking of something else about that time. We charged ahead and reached the hill. The enemy's gunners fled. Tho crest was almost gained, as we (or at least I) thought, when suddenly I was enveloped in total darkness, A pressure upon my throat, a ringing in my ears as though my head was plunged into a stream of running water ; a sensation of dizziness, numbne-ss, suffocation and of falling, and then a shock as 1 struck the ground ; how well I remember it all now. The concussion of the fall seemed to restore my sight (consciousness had never left me) and to this day the incidents then transpiring are as fresh as though they had occurred within the year. For instance : While I was momentarily reeling, just at. the time of being hit, preparatory to a fall over backward, I heard a com-

rade remark: " There goes " (mentioning my name), and I remember thinking, even while on my way down to kiss Mother Earth with the back of my head, that I was " gone," instead of going. But to continue : So soon after fulling as possible, I constituted myself a board of survey to ascertain and assess the damages sustained, and forthwith entered upon the investigation. I found that, as a personal matter, the injuries were quite serious—a minnie ball having penetrated my throat, passed between the jugular and windpipe, and found an exit at the back of my neck, quite low down, and close by the spine, which it slightly fractured. After making up and sending in this report, and doing what T I'ould to staunch the flow of blood by forcing info the wound snrtv lint and a handkerchief T fortunately •sH with me. T crawled >is '■<•** cnM. in my paralysed condition tri a inure «hel-'f.rf.,-1 pnxit-j.in. vvhi'-h, howei" i>. w•.,■ s '- : n;.'lv diflicult to find. It wa? the hottest place I was :>vpr in :md hotter than any I hope For in the future. The losses were terrible, more than half my comrades being either killed or wounded, the other regiments of the brigade suffering in proportion. Speaking of hot places in battle, one does not—cannot—understand fully what they are until he is struck down on the field, there to lie, utterly helpless, while bullets are singing and humming, lit ten hundred thousand swarms of bees, pattering upon the ground, and easting up little puffs of dust or dirt, as the rain drops during a heavy shower do the waters of a lake, or crushing into the bone or striking with a dull thud the quivering flesh —while grape and canister shot and shell are howling, hissing, screaming over and about his prostrate form —I say one must needs experience all these things in order to fully understand the meaning of the term ' a hot place. . Then, if he think at all, he will decline to the belief that the cauldron of hell, with the cover off, is but an ice cavern when comparer! with the particular locality fate has fated him to occupy. The fighting continued only a short time after I fell; but before if. was fairly over, still in search of a place of safety,'l dragged myself into the cut of an abandoned railroad, which ran ■ilong the hillside almost at its summit, and where the Confederate army had lain. As I did this I caught a glimpse of a small cabin standine just beyond the batteries we had •io vainly attempted to capture. I could perceUe the roof, and as low down as the eaves. The gable stood facing me, and in it a small window. At this moment I remembered my vieions of the previous night. Instinctively I turned and looked in the direction of my comrades. They were in full retreat, followed up by the victorious foe. The sun was low down in the heavens, just as I had seen it in my sleep. Soon afterwards the Confederates carried me back to the cabin. Hundreds of our wounded were there as well as many of the enemy's, besides a large number of men who had died. Everything corresponded with what I had gaxed upon hours before. The vision was verified. Now comes the curious feature of the case. The nearest I had ever been to the locality described, previous to the day upon which I was wounded, was upon the old Bulls Run battle field, some two miles distant, and from which it was absolutely impossible to get a limited view of the field upon which I lay. I had never seen a sketch or a photograph of the country, nor read a description of it or heard it described. These are facts beyond controversy. How, then, is the matter to be explained ? Was it simply a remarkable coincidence, or is the circumstance to be properly classed among these strange cases of "second sight," of which we read. I can understand an ordinary dream, for the visions which it baings to view are almost invariably based upon some incident of the past. The visions may be grotesque or distorted, but yet, if we search long and carefully enough, we can reasonably account for them. As heat will often restore the date upon a coin, otherwise undistinguishable, so sleep will frequently restore, through Hie agency of dreams, scenes and events long since forgotten and gone from the recollection during waking hours. But if 'he coin never bore a date, then nothing •exists to be restored. And if there be no foundation in fact, how can a simple dream bring to view scenes through which the dreamer {subsequently passes that are verified in every important particular by his actual experience ?

It is a knotty problem, and one I have again and again endeavored to solve, but without success.

The fates are submitted as they actually presented them 3 in my case, and let him who can, or thinks he can, furnish the key that shall explain thorn more satisfactorily—Prairie Farmer.