Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1866-10-12
A sHARPSHOOTER DIsLODGED.
tNrERGsr1NG 1NcIDgNT or THE BATTLE OF
GKrIYsBURG.
tf. IA


fFrom the Boston Journsl
The late Joshua II Giddidgs, Of blessed
memory, was dead shot, not only oratorically
considered, bat with IA rife. There was not
a man in the county of Ashtabula (And that
county was celebrated for fine marksmen) that
could excel him either at squirrel hudting or
at target shot. His son Gfotius x. Is
veritable chip Of the old block. On these
hunting excursions OF the elder Gddings he
was invariably accompanied by Gfotius, and
t was during these NImrodan seasons that
the yo0ngster received those lessons in poli-
tics and wood craft which so we'll fitted him
for the career which the shadowy future had
in store for him. o. these occasions the
elder would say to him, " Grosh, my boy,
never be guilty of an act or a word which
will give aid counsel or comfort to the insti-
tuition OF slavery aud its attendant iutquiies.
or close your door or neart against the hunted
fugtiyes from oppression, or bring home
squirrel unless shot through the head"
Each OF these maxims harmonic COM
pletely with the natural beat Of the young
ster's mind he treasured them accordingly.
His returning at the age Of fourteen from
match squirrel hunt of two days duration,
and bringinging him Que hundred aud eighty
Of the small deer with their heads OFF
proved that the wood craft part was well
learned, and his subsequent career, both IN
field aud office, showed that the political
portions of the fathers teachings were we'll
stored by his son. But l started to tell you
an incident of the battle OF Gettysburg. BE
patient: | am coming to that. | must reach
the point by regular approaches At the
breaking out of the war, "Oid Father Gid
dings was Consul General of Canada, sta
toned at Montreal. Grotius r. was in his
office as Vice Consul General. When the
first news Of the struggle was received, young
Glddings became restless. His father notice
ing the TACT, remarked to him one day,
"drosh, what's the matter with you;" " Fa-
ther," replied the Vice Consul, s." think |
want to go home" Well" said the elder,
I've been thinking it was the best thing you
could do; and the soone' the better
" Wnen cal you get ready;' By the
next tram" answered The junior.
% the next train he started for the Buck
eye State. Passing through Columbus, ne
called on Gov. Denson, who was then ia the
governors chair, obtained a commission, and
left for his home in Ashtabula County. In
shree and one-haIf days from the tims he left
Montreal he had his company full and sworn
into the United States service. Tina. compa-
ny he commanded in person until the battle
of Philhppi when he was promoted to
Major of the l4th Regulars, which regiment
be led at the battle OF Gettysburg. The l4gh
was close to the front, and lying under the
tire of the enemy. The Major was standing
behind his command Behind him was a
large rock aud behind the rock sharpshoot-
er Of rebel persuasion whom the Confederate
General Wilcox kept upon his staff to pluck
off our officers. a large rock on the rebel
right of Round Top afforded safe cover for
the Alaban nien, VINO, by the way, was consd
cred one of their crack marksmeu. He would
road his rife behind the rock, then jump on
,he latter and take deliberate aim at any
officer he could see on our line, then drop
behind the rock again aud reload This he
continued with fearful rapidity aud precision.
Major Giddings. being rather cons nspcuous,
came 10 for share Of the rebels attention.
At last sick Of the annoyance, he turned to
he sharpshooter in his rear.
Here, you mau with the telescope rih9
can't you bring down that rebel rigeman
Well, Major m trying to fetch hun but is
long range" d" II is no longer for ou
han tie for him and if you don't shoot him
ne will shoot me, said the Major. " II it il
al the same to you I'd rather you would
snoot him" "But," answered the soldier,
the Johnny has one of those long range
English Whitworth rifles, and they can beat
1urs in bearing up this distance" "Well,"
remarked the Major, " il you cannot hit him
top trying, for you only draw his attention
this way, and if you don't stop it Ill shoot
nim myself"
The soldiers and others 10 hearing, smiled
At what they deemed the boasting speech of
he Major. just then, whz came a shot from
the rebel sharpshooter, which completely
shaved off one-half Of the Ma jor's moustache.
Now this hursute ornament was particular
pet of the Major in fact, his moustache was
as PRIDE Feeling something sting rather
SHARPLY in close proximity to his nose, he
quickly clapped his hand to the spot. and be-
nold. .one-half of his upper lip was shorn of its
glory. To say that the Major was mad
would be drawing it rather mild.
a Quickly snatching up Springfield rife
rom one Of his men, he dropped behind a
rotten stump and literally laid low for the
rebel. In few moments the game appeared,
and quickly drawing his piece to his shoulder
he sent his ball crashing through the skull
Of the color corporal, within three feet of the
Major. But it was his last shot, for before
he could gain his covert the Major let drive,
and the rebel was seen to toss his arms Wild
y,throw his rife in the air, and fall headlong
from his rocky pearch, dead ab Julius
Caesar. A stunning cheer from the entire
line in sight of the rock greeted the Majors
feat while he coOlly proceeded to reload his
rifle. Just at that moment the rebel color
guard came up to the rock close by where
the dead sharpshooter lay, and planted their
eolors beside it. The Major again dropped
behind the rotten stump, he sends that color
sergeant one, and the rebel flag was brought
to the dust. Again cheers broke from our
line. Aud by this time the enemies attention
was attracted to this point, and a squad of
sharpshooters was brought up an near our
line as their cover would allow. They had
evidently sighted the Majors position. Capt.
Coppinger, of the 18th, who had been watch
ing the movement on the part of the gray
coats, suddenly called out:
Major, you had better move off from that
stump, for the enemy have got range and
mean mischief" TheMajor moved some ten or
twelve feet to the right, when whiz came a
vorley and some eight BULLETS passed through
the rotten stump directly in range of where
the Majors head was few seconds before.
He coolly remarked; "a miss is good as