The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-12-08
SENTENCED AND SHOT.
BY E. 8. SHEPPARD.

ldeath ;;-otherwise | should not hav
this story to tell.
| Shreveport, 1866 made amends fo
Sumpter 1861
braggart could have fred the frs
| gun-none but hero the last and while
the first battle was lost by recruits, the
last was won by veterans.
1t was simply brave and generous to
fall in the first charge,-but it was purely
noble and heroic to die in the last The
first fresh rush of patriotic blood from the
heart to the head could have easily car
ried the recruit up to the cannon's mouth ;
but it was quite another thing that
carried him through four years war,
and flung him into the thickest of the
last charge, to die as the enemy sounded
the final retreat.
Life becomes very dear when you have
fought your way from Bull Run to
Petersburg from Belmont to Mobile
To be shot by a rebel at Alexandria,
Virginia, in 1861, is not at all like being
shot by your friends at Alexandria,
Lou ana, In 1865. C Eko
/ returned from Shreveport to New
Orleans after the surrender of Kirby
Smiths aImyLall that was left of it
just in time to be ordered by Sheridan
to report to Custer for duty with the
second cavalry Division of the Military
department of the Gulf. The orders
were to- rendezvous at Alexandria,
Louisiana, and after due preparation, to
march across the country into Texas, for
the purpose of re-establshing the authori-
ty of'the Government-to follow up vic
tory with occupation. lm
! 4 Among ithei regiments ordered to report
to the General there, was the Inflated
Second Cavalry. 1t had suffered some
from Indifferent field officers, but more
| from that bad fortune which overlook so
hmany Western regiments in the shape of
garrison duty in small squads or squad
IRONS, SO scattered as to make each sort
of independent command, which in the
end resulted in loss of discipline and
the ruin of those bonds of sympathy that
bound most regiments firmly together.
TO lead such a regiment into holly con
tested fight would be blessing, aud
would effectually set at rest all such
trouble; but their fighting had been
altogether of the guerrilla kind, and
there Was no reglmental pride of charac-
ter, simply because there had been no
kregimental deed of valor b
! "a Two colonies had resigned-one to
accept promotion, and the other to return
h"me,--and .ieutenant-colcnelh had fail
ed to succeed t their spread eagles and
| he majority OF the regiment would have
lrejuiced if, in his wrathful dieappoint-
ment, he had thrown away his silver
leaves and gone home too But he never
dreamed of IT. Whether justly or un-
justly, he was despised by his command f;
and only held his place by sheer force OF
will, backed by the authorities above
him..
Such was the condition of the regiment
when it reported Tor duty. Tired out
with the long service, weary with an
uncomfortable journey by the river from
his,-swelterlng under Gulfco
sun, under orders to go father from home
when the war was over and the one desire
ABOVE all others was to be mustered out
and released from service that became
irksome and baleful when a prospect of
crushing the enemy no longer existed
all these, added to the disafection among
/ he officers, rendered the situation truly
deplorable. In fact the men of the
whole division were more or less dlscOn.
tented, and would have been troublesome
under any commander and any circum-
stances that kept them IN the service
but to be thoroughly organized and sub
jected to the maintenance good order,
and to be forced to treat with considera-
ton the very people whose country they
had acquired a chronic habit of devas.
tatlng-and that, too, by a man whom
they cal led a "yellow haired circus rider
from the Shenandoah" this seemed to
them to be almost beyond the limit of
human endurance. ~
The command had hardly pitched their
tents and klndled their bonfires before
the spirit OF reckless disregard of
authority began to manifest itself. The
men hated the Commanding General and
staff 8 on principle" without regard to
what they did. No Ettstern man can
put on style over us!' Bright buttons
and spurs don't make soldier /" g It's
too late to teach us Army of the Potomac
notions !" The war is oyer,-why don t
they send US home, instead of sending
this upstart Major General, with his first
mustacne, to lord it over us % These are
such speeches as one could hear at almost
any hour OF the day or evening, when
wandering through the camp; and they
were delivered with such emphasis and
i'll suppressed bitterness that the effect
was exceedingly ugly.
immediately the men, singly and in
squads, began to go on extemporaneous
ralds through the adjoining country, ro0-
olng and plandering indiscriml uately
u every direction. g They're ali ID
rebs, let's go for them !'-and they did il
with an evident relish. They seemed &c
have no idea that conquered and sub
dued people could possibly have any