The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1880-02-19

4
A 0sniaisssses q - - ~ Aya
loWa 9oo66oG.
Ex+ssldiss b Dsvespsu Castle.
One Of the greatest cfines known to
military law Il 10 sIeop On pickst duty
In time Of war. With the eu0my In
force In front. An accideat of this
kind came under my notice during the
late var which made an impgennion
that time viii never elEAce, and I am
satisoed thst the other parties to the
incident will ever remember the cie.
cumstance.
Itwas In the year lsea, whom cur
regiment vas Attached 70 what va
called the "ARmy az the FFonties.n
commanded By GenexA -. Our
duty seemed to he to guard the South
esn boundary Of Missouri, and prevent
the rebets making inrOsds into the
state. Hence our service wD made
of series Of natching and counter
marching. bvsak1ng I'M . rebsl camp
1t one point and then On the march
aeAin to another sebel camp, perhaps
dffxor . hundred miles distant. Bot
some Of our boys aAid that . gsaat
many Of our marches were fos the pug-
pose of finding out how far our little
army could march In day, mersly 70
gfaflfy the within -of sxuf commanding
general. But no matter, ne did the
marching all the same. 1t was on one
Of these long marches Of three days
and nights that We went into camp
about nine O'Clock on night In Octo.
Der, 1S63, and in front Of Us, and but Q
few miller distant, Was . rebel f0rce Of
twelve thousand men; Q force . great
deal larger in numben than our two
divisions. We had hardly got fixed In
camp, wllen an order came to me nom
division heaslquarters to report for
picket duty with seveDty-five men Of
our regiment directed By the olBcer Of
the day to our posts of duty xnd what
would TX expected Of Us that every
man should be prOmpt and efficient,
and every failure on our part should
lie visited with severe punishment;
and more especially should the fall
penalty VI military Law BE- inflicted
upon the nlan who should he found
slceping on his post, and that ,wss
death: Az number Of cases Of this
kind had lately been reported to the
general In command. he was deter,
mined to make an exsinpleo Of the next
violation Of duty IN this line. Fully
Impressed with the responsibility Of
the duty imposed upon me. wss par
ticular In my orders to the men. and
knowing that they were worn out and
tired with the hard marching, I told
them that II they felt that they could
not stand guard for two hours, ] would
relieve them every hour; but they
said they preferred to stand the two
hours. So ] made my Arrangements
for the night, pcsted my pickets ON
three roads. one being the main trav-
eled road to the rebel camp. This be-
ing the most particular point b. guard.
I doubled the pickets on It, and after
warning the men to be vigilsnt re-
turned to the point where I had fixed
my headquarters for our guard. I sat
down upon log with my army blank.
ct over my shoulder, and tried 70 rest
the best could. but not to sleep. ~ the
duties of the situation kept me sulIi-
clentiy wakefhl. No sleep for me that
night, as about every half hour I made
the rounds Of the pickets to see that
everyone was doing their duty. The
long, dreary hours Of the night passed
away without anything to disturb our
peace, except once, about midnight,
the report Of two nluskets on the main
road called for my presence there,
when found that the guard had fired
At an old horse that was straying past
them, and It being quite dark they
could not see what Il was, % they
thought it safe to nre. Nothing else
happened until about three O'Clock In
the morning, when I was making the
rounds and was approaching the pick
ct on the main road and no challenge
coming from them I thought e rather
strange. But % I walked towards
them saw that they were both mo-
tionless and still. One was graspiug
hiA rife In both hands o little below
the niuzEle, and the other leaning up
against tree, and both sound asleep;
90 that I he'd to walk mp and shake
them before they awoke. They opened
their eyes and saw me terror aud fear
was depicted on their faces, and the
exclamation came from their lips,
MY God, Lieutenant" l confess Il
was the most trying position / was
ever PLACED In, In my army experience.
To report them would be court martial
and death. to nil 70 DO my daty and
not report them would place me In .
position where / might be dismissed
the service in Disgrace If il should be
found out ut headquarters; and as
stood locking at the poor fellows, with
the sweet running OF their . -es.
and no doubt thinking Of home and
loved ones who were longing for their
return, and tlsen hooking intn my Ghce
to zee il they cwuid read in il what
course I would take-they knowing II
did reprt them the terrible fnfctiiat
/ awaited them. Al last | broke the A.
lenee by asking them Whist I should
do in the u stter, Tut not WORT did
they utter. Al last. after talking To
them upon the enorii,ity Of the oiltn>e,
] lnd them take Solemn oath that
never. while We were in the service Of
the Uaite,i Stafes. should the ,ustter
IT, spoken Of by either PARTY. . pledge
IL which, of course, they gladly ~
scented. aud ] did moi repsrt Them. II
they ARE stili alive aud sln,uiL see this
true sketch. they will re1,cmber that
night on picket yrani.
: % make the lest OF yNjNdS-