Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 19.djvu/259

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The Confederate A) my. 253

in the unwilling effort. It may be, I thought, they will see my pre- dicament and let me through; it may be they will not fire; but how could they know that my horse was running away.

THE HORSE KILLED.

They must have thought the devil was coming, for up went at least a hundred carbines, a crash, a cloud of smoke, and with one terrible plunge and a groan my furious steed fell in the woods, pierced by several balls. How I escaped God only knows. In a few moments I heard our boys come thundering down the road. A volley from the Federal line, but onward they went, and I mounting a horse belonging to a lieutenant of Company H, who was killed here, joined in. We broke this regiment, the Eighth New York, Lieutenant Owen Allen killing its brave commander, Colonel Davis. Then came the English Illinois, and quicker than some of us came we went.

THE DASH.

That night after the battle was over for it lasted all day the boys overwhelmed me with compliments. Never saw such dash ! such courage! Charles O'Malley, Murat ! and so on. But what was the laughter and merriment when I innocently observed, confound it, boys, my horse ran away with me.

JOHN N. OPIE.

[From the Richmond Dispatch, September 13, 1891.]

THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.

Its Number Troops Furnished by States Its Losses by States, and Contrasted with Grant's Forces in 1865.

To the Editor of the Dispatch :

Will you please answer the following questions in your Sunday's issue:

1. What State furnished most troops to the cause, on a basis of population and irrespective of population ?

2. Did any one State furnish one hundred and twenty-eight thou- sand to the Southern Confederacy; if so, what State ?

3. What was the total number of the Confederate forces ?

4. Which State lost most in killed and wounded during the war? An answer to the above will be very much appreciated by an

OLD SUBSCRIBER.