UNDER THE STARS AND BARS
OR,
Memories of Four Years Service
WITH THE
OGLETHORPES, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.
BY
WALTER A. CLARK,
Orderly Sergeant.
Augusta, Ga
Chronicle Printing Company.
1900.
For the gratification of my old comrades and in gratefulmemory of their constant kindness during all ouryears of comradeship these records have been written.The writer claims no special qualification for the tasksave as it may lie in the fact that no other survivor of theCompany has so large a fund of material from which todraw for such a purpose. In addition to a war journal,whose entries cover all my four years service, nearly everyletter written by me from camp in those eventful yearshas been preserved. Whatever lack, therefore, these pagesmay possess on other lines, they furnish at least a truthfulportrait of what I saw and felt as a soldier. It hasbeen my purpose to picture the lights rather than theshadows of our soldier life. War is a terribly serious businessand yet camp life has its humor as well as itspathos, its comedy as well as its tragedy, its sunshine aswell as its shadows.
As Co. B, of the Oglethorpes was an outgrowth of theoriginal organization, its muster roll before and afterreorganization, with a condensed sketch of its war servicehas been given. For this information I am indebtedto the kindness of Mr. Frank H. Miller and Mr. Brad[Pg 6]Merry, as I am to the former also for data pertaining tothe early history of the Oglethorpes.
Aside from the motive already named, there is anotherwhich has had some influence in inducing me to publishthese memories. In the generation that has grown upsince the '60's, there is a disposition to undervalue themerits of the "Old South" and to discount the patriotismand the courage, the sacrifice and the suffering ofthose, who wore the grey. If these pages shall recall tomy old comrades with any degree of pleasure, the lightsand shadows of our soldier life, or shall bring to theyounger generation, to whom the Old South is not evena memory, a truer conception of "the tender grace of aday that is dead" I shall be more than repaid for thelabor involved in their preparation.