The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 1Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
History
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 1
Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
"'Here shall the Press the People's rights maintain,
Unawed by affluence and inspired by gain.'
"I'm the best advertising medium in the country, and have reptile
cotemporaries. I won't be suppressed. No, sir!--no, sir!--I refuse to
be suppressed."
"You're a giant intellek," says Villiam, looking at him through the
bottom of a tumbler; "but I can't stand the press. Speaker of the
House, remove him to the bath and send for a barber. Now, gentlemen, I
will say a few words to the troops, and then we will march according to
Hardee."
The section of the Mackerel Brigade being mustered in line against a
rail fence, my boy, Captain Villiam Brown shut one eye, balanced
himself on one foot, and thus addressed them.
"FELLOW-SOLDATS! (which is French.) It was originally intended to
present you with a stand of colors; but the fellow-citizen who was
to present it has only got as far as the hundred and fifty-second
page of the few remarks he intended to make on the occasion, and it
is a military necessity not to wait for him. (See Scott's Tactics,
Vol. III., pp. 24.) I have but few words to say, and these are
them: Should any of you happen to be killed in the coming battle,
let me implore you to _Die without a groan_. It sounds better in
history, as well as in the great, heart-stirring romances of the
weekly palladiums of freedom. How well it reads, that 'Private
Muggins received a shot in the neck and _died without a groan_.'
Soldats! bullets have been known to pass clean through the thickest
trees, and so I may be shot myself. Should such a calamity befall
our distracted country, I shall _die without a groan_, even though
I am a grown person. Therefore, fear nothing. The eyes of the whole
civilized world are upon you, and History and Domestic Romance
expect to write that you _died without a groan_."
At the conclusion of this touching and appropriate speech, my boy, all
the men exclaimed: "We will!" except a young person from New York, who
said that he'd rather "Groan without a die;" for which he was sentenced
to read Seward's next letter.
The Army being formed into a Great Quadrilateral (See Raymond's
Tactics), moved forward at a double-quick, and reached Accomac just as
the impatient sun was rushing down. With the exception of a mule, the
only Virginian to be seen was a solitary Chivalry, who had strained
himself trying to raise some interest from a Confederate Treasury Note,
and couldn't get away.
Observing that only one man was in sight, Captain Villiam Brown, who
had stopped to tie his shoe behind a large tree on the left, made a
flank movement on the Chivalry.
"Is these the borders of Accomac?" says he, pleasantly.
"Why!" says the Chivalry, giving a start, "you must be Lord Lyons."
"What makes you think that?" asked Villiam.
"Oh, nothing--only your grammar," says Chivalry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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