Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1917 — SLEE{?} AS THEY MARCH ALONG [ARTICLE]

SLEE{?} AS THEY MARCH ALONG

Soldiers and Horses in Civil War Slumber as They Tramp Along Road. Soldiers remember how they and their horses used to sleep as they marched along, Erasmus Wilson writes In the Pittsburgh GazetteTimes. Strange as it may seem this was often the case. There seemed to be no trouble in performing the mechanical part of walking, but there was a tendency to wander off the road. For this reason sleepers had to be guided or led by someone who was awake. The time Kirby Smith chased General Nelson and his men from Lexington, Ky., to Louisville, he didn’t allow them a moment for rest, and what sleep they got was snatched as they marched. The men were mostly new to the business, but even the old fallows had to succumb about the third night. At times it seemed that the whole Une was asleep, but it moved right along. When General Jackson and his cavalry joined the retreating forces his men were nearly all asleep In the saddle, and not a few of the horses were snoozing as they went leisurely to the front. They seldom stumbled on a smooth road, but If there happened to be a halt they would go head foremost into the crowd, and waken up scared and confused. As soon as the first rays of dawn began streaking the horizon the sleepy, tired feeling that possessed the weary walkers would begin to disappear, and by the time the dawn had faded into day the men were stepping out quicker and stronger, the horses holding their heads up and all hands looking out for something to eat. The effect was magical.