Litchfield enquirer., 1862-10-23
tfTisfcllal.D.
THE WHITE HAT.
AN INc,D DsNr OF THi PRESENT WAR.

l AN INCIDENT OE THi RESEST W AR.
 You see,' said the serg ant. the redoubt nearest to us was on the hill to the right, and in front of Fort i,onelson. 1t was only an ear h. work, but pretty well built. and protected by some tolerable heavy guns on that side of the fort. .rr.
 My regiment held very good position in g sort of corner made by hill and small wood We could hide among the trees somewhat. and pick of the artillerymen in the redoubt whenev CT they showed themselves. That's why We were stationed there; we were sharp shooters you know, and had 6rst-sate rifles.
 There was some pretty sharp shots on 10th sr side too. Some of those Mississippi ard Arkansas fellows are regular devils at shooting straight. and it wasn't safe for us to cut any ca pers in plain sight of them.
 My captain was killed by one of them He was hare brained chap. was Morrison, and seemed to put himself in the way of danger, rather than not. The gold stripes on his trow- sers and cap made him good mark. and when he Went down the hull to little clump of bush. es to see about posting our two howitzers there so We could shell the redoqbt judged likely he wouldn't come back.
 He didn't. Our first Lieutenant and five men went down and brought his body in when the enemy let up bit ; and I noticed he was hit in the head. It Was good shooting. sir, ut long range. There arn't many wLo can hit a man at all a quarter of a mile off much less hit his head and don't doubt the fellow aimed just where he hit.
 We held that position through nearly the whole if ht. The sor.ie hat drove McClprnand back and took Schwartzs battery, was not in our direction. That was on the other s le along the road, to our left. When the reinfcrcements came and helped McClernand, We joined in. and foil wed the rebels as they retreated. till We took the redoubt.
 Fighting so long rom one positon,w Eve go ! pretty we'll acquainted with the enemy. There was only few who dared show themselves much on the outside of the outwork towards us i ihey wsre the crack shots, and only showed their heads long enough to lake aim and fire 1 The best among them was u man with a i white hat-oIe Of those tall white felt hats. you know, that the country fellows wear. He had q red riUbon tied round ii, and it made tip-top mark. But he was cunning as q weasel. He'd set the hat np on his rimrod, just over the edge of the breaslwofk, anl go off 3 few yards from i, tc. fire, ii ole fl vui .;,.iuws went out to shoot the hat augpostny the hat lad j. head in it. an,l bullet would c,sna ~h sting mighty close'c'ose i enDn. 10 make d hole sometimes land old white hat Would jani, Wave his ar,ns and yell sn you could have heurd I,;m mile. There were about twenty of Us who were called the best riAeneD of the regiment. hope You wonl think am bFagslng, sll, when l say ! was one of them. I've done some deer and turkey shooting in my time. down oil the Miss issippi have hantlled a rife ever since l Was big enough to lift one.
 Well, we all had crack at this fellow with the white hat, over and over again, but somehow l saw hls hat come up above the parapet, and knew It Was on the ramrod aguiu so says to Janers. one of my men, "Janeis. you shoot at that, but keep covered, and then when he rises I'll fetch him.
 So Janers blazed away at the tile, but like d fool he went right out on the hill to do it. We could see little whiff of smoke about a rod from the hat, and up jumped the rascal, yelling and dancing like mad. let drive at him. but just as Was getting my sight co Janers stag gered Lack, shot through the stomach, and fell over. right at my feet. That unsteadird my aim little. and missed but I reckon the pill must have come mighty close. fer white hat didu show himself 50 mucE afterward
 suppose he killed many eight of our crack shots at one time and another. l. ma,lt us mad, l can tell you; but he seemed to be hewtched. somehow. that We couldn't hi, him i Al last une of our lieutena.ts came along and asked what we were doing. all EuideG to- gether that way. l told him, and he laughed.
 '' Cant hit hlm hey.' says he = wei, don't think much of your shootiny.n Just then whit hat showed himselfa second. |. There P says th. lieutenant. why didn't you fix him then ?- You've got to be spry that's all.h
 |" It's pretty long range" said I. I was little nettled at the way he spoke. for thought Id made some very fair shots and then again l never had liked hi'n much. He Was dandi- fed fellow, with curly hair, and always had his chin shaved clean, and his moustaches waxed and new uaforn, and patent leather boots and clean gloves, no matter how ragged and dir l ty the men were. He was only a second lieu t'nant but Was rich, and always thought he wanted to put on airs
 ' Yes" said he, " it is good looking shot but some of you ought to make it out. Now suppose l try it myself? Who'll lend me his gun ?" "-e'.
 Ipicked up poor Japers' rife and handed it to him. c. You can have that keep,' says L. .. if you want it. The owner'll never call for it Sir" .
 l He smiled but looked sort of sorrowful, and examined the sights like man who'd seen rife before. anyway.
 .i Shall load it for you, sir s'' says I little Iimpqdenty you Il soil your gloves"
 lie didn't answer ne, but dld better. He pulled oil his gloves-nice washed leather ones white and clean as they could be-and handed them to me to hold, like I'd been his servant,