The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-02-21

confederates believed that be had ca.
capped altogether. They hoRever threw
line of videttes ACROSS rosh and fields
and it would not have been possible for
Jin Shanks to regsin the rlsd by which
We had come.
Had the rest Of The Command moved
i-up on hearing the Iow, there might
have been show to Telease both of us.
but they did not cone. By the time
the soldiers had given pp, lle search for
Jim our comrades were on-the back track
for the Potomac
! was retained at the ssicket-post be-
cause Mosby's lieutensn.e - there. and
because be hoped 10 bsiess Ssighten me
into giving information S. s.Iie. was,
therefore in position ID re result OF
Jim shank's work. sIf1 .5nded and
alone. When he broh ajss bled
ssS .ssssat ra1 = tls.S,s - !
his fight he killed one wounded
two others, wo1hded and dead were
brought to tb,Picket-post, and l saw
them. MosJy's men were terribly in
censed, ayd but for the ieaSsf an attack
by ouy force, whose strength they did
not know, l helieve they would have
hung me up in their first rage.
It WAS the guerrilla chieftain's last
dash into the beautiful valley. He was
gathering forage and hurrying it back to
Lees lines, and many farmers were
robbed of their last horse and their last
ear of corn. In three days more they
would have been out of the valley en-
tirely.
AT the first signs OF daylight, and when
the old church on the hill was visible
through the gray of morning, came
bullet which bored soldier through and
through and dropped him dead in his
tracks. 1t WAS from the carbine of Jim
Shanks. Hiding under the steps, he had
only waited for daylight TO open the fight
anew-not waiting to be hunted out
and captured. All was excitement in
an instant, and as soon as Jim's location
was betrayed the guerillas scattered and
formed skirmish line. The fire of this
line was concentrated on the steps, and
was as rapid as il opposed to line of
battle The firing had just begun when
one of the skirmishers fell away from q
stump with a bullet in his head. In
three minutes another was shot through
the chest. Jim Shanks had forty rounds
OF ammunition, and ne fired slowly and
with precision. l could see splinters fly
from the steps every time ball struck,
and ! knew that many of the bullets
were driving right through the boards
For long twenty minutes Jim held that
skirmish line of twenty-five men at bay,
killing three and wounding two. 1
ssaaesd@ his zl.etz. - ssas ;r,st
twenty-one times.
A reinforcement of about twenty
men finally came up, and
their horses under cover of the
hill the men took the skirmish line.
just as the firing began anew Jim Shanks
# his cover and ran for the
horses down the road. Every skirmisher
rose up, and there must have been at
least one hundred bullets fred at the
running man next minute. | saw them
plow up the earth all around him, and
one of them sent his cap sailing into the
air AS he got in line with the horses
the fire slackened while the men saw his
plan and rushed forward Jim was IN
no hurry. Resting his carbine over
saddle he wounded another of his pur-
suers, and it seemed full minute before
he mounted and rode of toward Lees
burg. There was rush for the horses,
and away they gslloped after the recruit,
firing as they rode.
The strange luck that had stood by
jim Shanks in this fight might have
aided him to escape had he selected
better horse. After gallop OF half an
hour he found his pursuers gaining, and
in trying to get into the fields his horse
fell, rolled over the poor fellow, and the
pursuers found him dead when they rode
up. His clothing was fairly riddled
with bullets, and yet his flesh had not
been scratched. The church steps were
As full of holes as a colander, and about
the same distance apart, and yet Jim was
not wounded. Mean spirited, obstinate
and dogged as a tent-mate, he had the
courage of lion and the gallantry of
knight, and the first and - grave ever
lug for union soldier by Mosby's men
was followed out for recruit who hsd
never been at the front. "A