Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-15
MY TINT NATE
How lin Sharks Come Out Very Strong
AT last.

VS. MkAAAN ~ N4N
saying. A comrade might be known
as a jolly good-natured fellow at home,
but his whole nature would change in
a week when you had him where the
real manhood and worth of a man
come to the surface, or where a miser-
bly, mean spirit took the place of it,
and disguised you with him. A com
rade who shared his last cracker, per-
formed his full share Of camp and
field work. stood by you in sickness
and divided clothing with you in
health-such a man was more TO you
than all the brothers at home, and If
he lived to come out OF the war has
not been forgotten. The army is the
place where q man can be meaner
than dirt and uglier than a wolf, and
yet retain his place in the ranks, or
he can be a white man all through
and receive no reward except the graf
itude Of his tent mate.
Now, | never saw a meaner private
soldier or a more suky aud morOse
tent mate than luck gave me in the
winter Of 1S64-5. He came down in
the fall to us a recruit, having enlisted
for the big bounty, and at the time the
old vets who had faced shot and shell
for several years had an edgewise feel
ing against these fresh fish, who had
pocketed FIVE or six hundred dollars
and came down to spend the winter in
a warm hut. Some Of the recruits
realized this, and by their good nature
and pleasant ways soon banished the
feeling so far as they were concerned.
Others we're nettled and indignant,
and were not inclined that the old
vets should get relieved of one single
camp duty because of the arrival of
new men.
Fate or luck sent me Jim Shanks'
for a tent mate. He was Jim some
one else, but the nickname was very
appropriate. He was logged and sui
len from the first, and we hadn't.
known each other more than two hours
before we had a quarrel. Next day
we fought again, and after that we did
not exchange a word for four weeks.
When | found how mean he was, and
that kind words, kind wishes, and
friendly interests would not touch him,
| let him alone as far as | could, and
contented myself with knowing that
every other member of Company u
hated him as much as | did.
One night a band of twenty-five
men moved out of our camp for a
scout across the London valley, then
held by Mosby, and luck placed Jim
Shanks alongside of me. He was
selected by accident, it being the in
tention to take q better man, but he
was there just the same, silent, sullen,
and ready to elbow or bayonet any
one who accidentally brushed him.
That night, as we fled along the
muddy highway, speaking only in
whispers, / saw jim in front Of me,
and | whispered to myself:
Jim Shanks, if you don't get killed
down here, you'll be hung for murder
before you arc out Of the army a
yearl"
Just in the gray of the morning,
and when within a mile Of Uniontown,
Jim Shanks and | went forward to
reconnoiter. | would sooner have
gone alone and ten times sooner have
had the company of any one else, but
luck decided it. Wesaid not a word.
| watched Jim and saw that he was
as cool as an old soldier. He knew
as well as | did that we were advance
ing on MOsby's headquarters, but he
stepped out boldly and with no
change in his demeanor. When we
had nearly reached the church, stand
ing on the hill above the town and
facing the road leading away to Lewis
burg, | halted, not knowing that a
picket must be near. | had not ex-
changed a word with Jim for days, but
now | whispered TO him that we must
proceed with caution.
If you are tired, sit down in the
mud" he growled, striding along, and
after a minute | followed him, both of
us walking on the side of the highway.
| knew he would soon strike the
picket, but twas either follow jim or
turn back. Suddenly, and without a
word, FIVE or six men rose up in our
path. | had barely discerned them
when one seized my carbine, and an
other tripped me down, while a third
grOwled out:
IF you make any fuss, you'll get a
bullet mighty quick"
didn't propose to make my fuss,
but Jim Shanks did. The two mon
who grabbed at him were brushed of
like flies, and, whirling his oarbine
around his head, he cleared a path for
himself and was lost in the darkness.
More than a dozen shots were fred
after him, and being intercepted on
his retreat down the road be made for
the church on the hill. Before he
reached it there were a score of enc.
mics about him, and the reports of
tho carbines sounded more like q brisk
skirmish than a conflict with a single
soldier, and a raw recruit at that. I
think he meant to get into the church,
though he could not tell whether Il
was a church or other building in
the darkness. Failing to get in, no
found a retreat under the front stops.
and in the darkness the Confederates
believed that he had escaped alto
gether, They, however, threw a line
of videttes across roads and fields, and
it would not have been possible for
Jim Shanks 70 regain the road by
which he had come.
Had the rest Of the command moved
up on hearing the row, there might
have been a show TO release both Of
Us, but they did NOT come. BY tho
time tho soldiers had given up the
search for Jim our eomrads were on
the back track for the Potomac. l
was retained at the picket post because
Mosby's lieutenant was there, and DO.
cause he hoped to bride or frighten
ma into frpntohino hfr. ircorr,at,or r.