rderly for while in
Martinsburg--for they made orderlies of corporals thim days--tell a
richly-dressed old lady, 'That it was our policy to teach our misguided
Southern brethren, by an imposing show of strength, how hopeless it
would be to fight against the Government.' The lady said, 'That would
save much bloodshed, would become a Christian nation, and would return
them as friends to their old way of thinking. 'Yes, madam!' said the
Gineral, 'there is no bitter feeling in our breasts,' clasping his
breast. 'The masses south will soon see their country surrounded by
volunteers in great numbers, and that the war, if protracted, must
involve them all in ruin. When the war is over, madam, fanatics on both
sides can be hung.'

"'That was a dreadful affair at Falling Waters, General,' said the lady,
with a strange twinkle in her eyes.

"'Yes, madam,' replied the General, coloring up to his ears, 'a blunder
of some of our volunteer officers. Ordinary military prudence made us
send forward some force to reconnoitre before crossing the main army.
These troops were to fall back if the enemy appeared in force. Not
understanding their orders, or carried away by the excitement of the
moment, they engaged the enemy with the unfortunate results to which you
allude.'

"Av it would have been proper for a corporal, I would have asked the
Gineral what Johnny Reb would do while we were taching him all that.
Thim's the Gineral's exact words, for I paid particular attention. I put
them thegither with what I had heard from a Wisconsin boy, and I got the
whole history of that fight."

"Let's have it," shouted the crowd, now considerably increased, "at
once!"

"Well, you see, they were sent forward to reconnoitre, as the Gineral
said, and there was a Wisconsin regiment of bear hunters and the like,
and a Pennsylvania regiment of deer hunters and Susquehannah raftsmen
pretty well forward. These Wisconsin chaps, in dead earnest, brought
their rifles along all the way from Wisconsin, and, like the
Susquehannah fellows, they couldn't kape hands off the trigger if there
was any game about.

"Well, they got to Falling Waters without stirring up anything; you
recollect, Lieutenant, where that rebel officer's house was burned down,
and then the battery that was along with them, seeing some
suspicious-looking Grey Backs dodging in and out of a wood, let them
have a few round of shells just to see whether they were in force or
not, according to