SOLDIERS' DREAMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 208, 25 October 1880, Page 4

SOLDIERS' DREAMS.

'[" Detroit Free Press ."] A woek previous to the battle of Fair Oaks b Now York volunteer, who pßPßfld tho nipht in r tent of n member of the Third Michigan Infantry, got up in the rooming looking very glum nud down hearted, and when rallied about hh fancied home-sicfeness, he replied — " T have only r wepk to live ! I had & dream last night which has settled the bupiness for me nnd lota of others. A week from to.day 0 battle will be fought, nnd thousands of men will be ©loin. My regiment will lose over a hundred men, and I shall be killed while charging ncrosa n field." The rren laughed nt his moody spirit, but ho turned upon them Rmi said : — "T?our regiment will r,ho he in the fight, and when the roll is colled after the tattle, yon will hr,ve nothing to to merry over. The two sergeants rcbo were in here laof. nigM will bo killed among the tree?. I saw them lyingdead rs plainly rs I now see you. One will be shot in the breast and one in the groin, nnd dead men will be thick rcin^ them." Tin brittle took place a week after. The dreamer was killed in full Bight of every man in the Third, before the fight was an hour old, and within twenty minutes after, the two sergeants end six of their comrades were dead in the woods, hit exactly where the dreamer said they would be. More than fifty men will bear witness to the tru'h of this statement. Just before the battle of Cedar Creek & camp sentry, who was off duty temporarily, and trying to put in a little sleep, dreamed tint he went out on a scout. A mile from the camp he came upon a log barn, and as it began to rain just then, sought shelter, or was about to, when he heard voices, and discovered that the place was already occupied. After a little investigation he ascertained that three confederate scouts had taken up their quarters for tbe night in the place, and he therefore moved away. Tbe sentinel awoke with such ft vivid remembrance of details, that he asked permission to go over and confer with one of hie scouts. When tbe log barn was described to this man be located it at onoe, having passed it a dozen tlmee. Tbe dreamer described tbe highway exactly as it was, giving every hill and turn, and the scout put such faith in the remainder of the dream, that he took four soldiere, one of whom was the dreamer, and Bet out for tbe place. Three confederate scouts were asleep in the straw, and were taken without a shot being fired. Tbe dream and its results were known to bundreds of Sheridan's cavalry, and has been alluded to at reunions. The night before the cavalry fight at Brandy Station, a trooper who slept as his horee jogged along in column, dreamed that a certain captain in his regiment would be unhorsed in a fight next day, and while rising from his fall would be wounded in the left knee. Everything was so clear to the dreamer that he took the opportunity to find the captain and relate his dream. " Go to Texas with your croaking !" was all the thanks he received, but he bad his revenge. In the very firßt charge, next day, tbe captain was unhorsed by the breaking of the girth, and was pitched head over heels into a patch of briars. As he struggled out, a shell killed his horse and two men, and one of the flying pieces of iron smashed Ihe captain's left leg to a

bloody pulp- He is now a resident of Ohio,' and his wooden leg is indisputable evidence that dreams sometimes come to pass. Three days before the affair at Kelley's Ford, a corporal in the sixth Michigan Cavalry dreamed that a brother of hip, who waa a sergeant in another company, would have his horse killed in action, and would almost immediately mount a dark-bay horse with a white nose. "Within five minutes both horse and rider would be killed by a shell. This dream was related to more than a score of comrades fully two days before the fight. Early in the action the sergeant's horse was struck scmare in tbe forehead by a bullet and dropped dead in bis tracks. It was scarcely three minutes before a whitenosed horse, carrying a blood-stained saddlo, galloped up to the sergeant and hailed. He remembered the dream nnd refused to mount ihe animal, nnd soon after picked up a black horse. The white-nosed animal was mounted by a second corporal in another regiment, and horse and rider were torn to fragments by a shell in full sight of four companies of tbe sixtb. These things may seem foolish now, but there was a time when a soldier's dream saved General Kilpatrick's life 5 when a dreAtn changed Ouster's plans for three days ; when a dream prevented General Tolbert's camp from a surprise and capture; and when a dream gave Sheridan more accurate knowledge of Early's forces than all the scouts could gather.