The National tribune., 1882-05-27
SAVED BY A BULLET.

You will have some duty on board,
enough to keep you from laziness," old
Colonel Loomis said to me. II have had
forty-seven men from the Department of
the Gulf here under guard for some weeks,
waiting for just such chance. They are
desperate fellows, most of them-deserters
| from Bankss army. The enemy treated
them as prisoners of war, and exchanged
them down at the fortress; but, it seems,
| their real character was reported ahead of
them, and we are sending them back to be
dealt with. You'll need to keep sharp
eye on them"
| If was surprised to hear that SO many
men could desert from one of our armies to
the enemy, [ understood the matter per-
fectly when L took charge of them aboard
the tug that carried us over to the Matanzas.
They were the lowest oifscourings of military
life, penitentiary birds, bounty-jumpers,
| blacklegs-the siftings, in short, of whole
! department. Most of them claimed member
ship with a notorious cavalry regiment raised
in New Orleans, into which swarmed the fel-
ons of the city who were allowed to enlist;
others came indifferently from dozen regi-
ments, which were, for the time being, happily
rid of them l spotted q few bold villainOus-
| looking customers, whom 1 mentally pro-
nounced fit for any outrage; and on them
resolved to keep a careful eye. | think the
| Union cause would have been substantially
benefited by keeping the crew at Governors
Island till the close of the war; but as my
own business was simply to obey ORDERS
took charge Of them, and the MatanzaS
went out of the harbor. We had a large
number Of passengers aboard-a distin-
guished major general, late of the Potomac
Army, going to Louisiana with his staff, to
report to Banks; several schoOl-ma'ams,
| bound for New Orleans and wide sphere
of duty among the freedmen; three cotton
| speculstors; several suffers, and some dozens
of officers returning from sick leaves.
The weather held pleasant, and the days
passed away delightfully."- in such little
| occupations as people beguile themselves
with at sea. No serious thought Of trouble
with the descrters had entered my brain;
| knowing their character, | watched them
| discovered nothing amiss. Their comfort
was as well attended to as possible; their
| ratiOns were regularly dealt out, and [ had
given orders that they should have the liberty
of the forehold during the day. l had heard
nothing from them, thus far, but an occa-
siOnal oath or sullen muttering, which
seemed to mean nothing more than an
| escape-valye for their general malignity.
| A sergeant Of the guard, in whom [ put
some confidence pointed out to me two of
| them who he said were in the habit of spend
ing hours out by the foot Of the bowsprit,
talking earnestly together, and that more
than once he had seen one of them pointing
at me, and making motions, as he talked,
toward different parts Of the steamer; but
it hardly seemed to me that the fellow
could intend any mischief Certainly I
did not look for it to come in the way at
did.
Our voyage drew near its close. We had
passed the bar outside Southwest Pass
where we learned from the pilot that Port
Hudson had succumbed ten days before;
and when the cabin passengers came on
deck after dinner, we were steaming up
between the reedy marshes which line the
lower Mississippi. The prisoners were
gathered in knots about the wheel-house
and taffrail forward; the guard lounging
negligently among them. walked forward
to take nearer inspection; and the thought
occurred TO me that it could not be safe to
Ill Ia
the deck. There were very likely expert
swimmers among them who could easily
gain the shore after nightfall, without
observation; and as we neared the city, we
should have small boats swarming about u.s.
So gave the order to the sergeant to fall in
both guard and prisoners, and that the
latter go below at the roll-call.
The order was obeyed slowly, reluctantly,
and with scowls. More than one muttered
curse reached me- coupled with my name,
and more than one glance of devilish pas
sion was shot from that line to where I was
standing, by the forward ladder. But there
was no open disobedience. The sergeant
called the role, and as each man answered
he went down into the hold. l watched the
proceedings in silence, resolved not to in
terfere except in case of absolute necessity
When about three-fourths of the names
had been answered, that of Henry Rolan
was called. The man who came forward
was the same whom the sergeant had
suspected. He came up promptly, gave me
an impudent stare, and placed his foot on
the first round of the ladder.
damn himl" were his words, as he
turned his head towards the men. Damn
him, / say he's no more feeling for US than
brute. Damn the upstart strappern
The words were spoken, as they were
intended to be- in the hearing of all the
prisoners, and the chuckle that came up from
below told me that the arrow had hit the
mark. had one impulse, which 1 could no
more resist than | could have suspended my
breath for the next hour-the impulse to
detain and punish him. Nobody knew
better than myself the consequences of
overlooking such a fragrant and deliberate
breach of discipline; the next hour might
have witnessed an open and successful
mutiny. Therefore [ reached out my
hand, and grasping him by the collar, jerked
him back of where I stood.
"Stand there" said, until / can attend