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THE REBEL GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.
the hills of old Otsego,
By her brightly gleaming lake, Where the sound of horn and hunter
Sylvan echoes love to wake,
Where the wreaths of twining verdure
Clamber to the saplings' tops,
sat beside sweet Minnie Wilder,
In the great field picking hops.
Then the clusters green and golden Binding in her sunny hair,
Half afraid, yet very earnest,
Looking in her face so fair; Speaking low, while Squire Von Lager
Talked of past and coming crops, Said I, "Minnie, should a
Stay at home here picking hops?
the country, torn asunder,
Calls for men like me to fight, And the voice of patriots
Asks for hands to guard the right
While from hearts of heroes slaughtered
Still the life-blood slowly drops, Can I—shall I stay beside you,
Minnie darling, picking hops?"
Very pale the cheek was growing,
And the hand I held was cold;
But the eye was bright and glowing.
While my troubled thought was told ; Yet her voice was clear and
Without sighs, or tears, or stops,
When she answered, speaking quickly,
women's work, this picking hops.
" Men should be where duty calls them, Women stay at home and
pray For the gallant absent soldier,
Proud to know he would not stay."
"Bravely spoken, darling Minnie!"
Then I kissed her golden locks,
Breathed anew a soldier's promise,
As we sat there picking hops.
Now I go away to-morrow, And I'll dare to do or die,
Win a leader's straps and sword, love, Or 'mid fallen heroes lie.
Then when all of earth is fading, And the fluttering life-pulse
steps, Still 'mid thoughts of home and heaven, I'll remember picking hops.
RICHFIELD SPRINGS. E. B.
REBEL GENERAL JOSEPH
WE published in our last number a
portrait of the Rebel
General ALBERT S. JOHNSTON, who commands the
rebel forces on the Mississippi : we now give the other JOHNSTON, JOSEPH E.,
Beauregard, commands the rebel army on
JOSEPH ECCLESTON JOHNSTON was
born in Virginia about the year 1804, and is, consequently, some fifty-seven
years of age at present. After the usual school education, young Johnston was
adopted by the United States, and was brought up in their Military Academy at
West Point, at their cost, and under their flag. On leaving West Point he was
appointed to the Fourth Artillery, and served in that capacity till 1836, when
he became First Lieutenant and Assistant Commissary
of Subsistence—a very desirable
berth. In 1838 he was appointed First Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, and
served in that capacity through the Florida War, obtaining for his services the
brevet of Captain. In 1846 he became full Captain, and served first with the
Engineers, and next with a regiment of Voltigeurs, throughout the
receiving two brevets for distinguished conduct. At the close of the war he was
retained in the Topographical Engineers, and enjoyed a life of agreeable ease in
the Government service, until last year, when he was placed at the head of the
Quarter-master's department, with the rank of Brigadier-General. The appointment
was made in June, 1860, when
General Scott foresaw the trouble looming in
the future: it is to be presumed that, in placing General Johnston in the
responsible position of Quarter-master-General, he placed implicit reliance upon
his loyalty. How that faith
was requited may be inferred from
the fact that, early in 1861, Joseph E. Johnston forswore his allegiance,
deserted his flag, and made war against his country at the head of the Virginia
rebels. General Johnston is second in command in Virginia, with the rank of full
THE WAR IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.
ONE of our artists has
illustrated the following incident of the war in Western Virginia, described in
the letter of a correspondent who writes from mouth of Twenty Mile Creek, August
On the 24th, Companies B and H of
the Ohio 12th Regiment, under command of Major Hines, started up New River, for
Hawk's Nest, which we reached about three o'clock. Hawk's Nest is a rocky cliff,
1000 feet from the water's edge in New River. Here we took supper end cooked one
day's rations, put them into our haversacks, and started up Gauley Mountain. We
had to ascend single file, sometimes crawling and sometimes rolling. About ten
o'clock we reached the Back Bone, or top of Galley Mountain, where we slept
soundly. We got up at four, walked a mile, took breakfast, waited an hour for
the fog to get off, marched four miles and took dinner.
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SHARP-SHOOTERS.
WE publish on
several illustrations of the NEW HAMPSHIRE COMPANY OF
SHARP-SHOOTERS REGIMENT, including a portrait of Captain Jones. The
Tribune said of this Company:
Thee New Hampshire marksmen are
all men of excellent moral character, more than ordinary intelligence, and of
good social position. Quite one-third are farmers, the remainder being composed
of mechanics and artisans who earn their $2 a day the year round. They are led
by Captain A. B. Jones, a stalwart, handsome young man, who was offered the
commission by the Governor on his graduation-day at college, and who sprang with
alacrity from the study of Euclid and Herodotus to that of Hardee end Scott.
He is a wonderful rifle-shot
himself, having made a ten-shot string of seven inches from a rest in a recent
public trial of the men. This almost equals the marvelous exploit of Colonel
Berdan himself at the Weehawken exhibition, and is actually better than the
champion-string made in '48 in Kentucky. Let the Colonel look to his laurels!
The next best shot in the company is one Brown, from Bow, New Hampshire, whose
string measured fifteen inches; but the average of the whole hundred men is
under thirty inches. Captain Jones, in recruiting the New Hampshire Company,
advertised for candidates to come to head-quarters at Concord, bringing with
them satisfactory certificates of good character and habits as their second
qualification for admission. The result was that over 250 applications were
made, nearly all of them by men who could "pass the string test." So that the
100 taken being deducted, there is material for another company of riflemen from
the Old Granite State. New Hampshire has done well in this war in a good many
ways, but she has nothing to be prouder of than the 100 whom she has sent to
operate on the wings of an army under young Captain Jones. If they don't give a
good account of themselves, we shall hereafter have no faith in strong arms,
steady nerves, clear sight, or 40-pound rifles.
THE ASCENT OF GAULEY MOUNTAIN, IN WESTERN VIRGINIA,
BY THE TWELFTH OHIO REGIMENT