Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-05-25
CONFEDERATE STRAITS
How CrlppIes and Damaged weapons
were C'ilizcd

| lnIom tno aIhhisdW lTaNtlcr.l
Il never will forgive the Confederate
Government, said Colonel Wurtick, when
asked to relate n war reminiscencc. 81
started out with ripe determination of
doing everything ir my power for the
cause. but men who had more authority
than had pulled against me, and conse-
quently l stepped aside. They even
went so far as to court-martial me. Now,
If there is anything in military life that
takes mans appetite it is to be court
martialed. 1t is pretty bad in civil life to
he tried before justice Of the peace, but
that isn't anything to compare with II
court-martial and especially when hs
knows full well that he has done nothing
to merit such severe handling"
''Wny were you court-mnrtialed. Col
oLel p asked one of the company.
"For the simple discharge of my duty.
just about the time it behooved the Con
federacy to make every edge cut that
could, | was sent into..a community to
press guns, and to draft and arm every
available man. Well, | went to work
and discharged the duty in accordance
with my construction Of the order. AT
one place we seized large number of
double-barrclled shot-guns. In examin-
ing them we found many that were dam
aged SO greatly flat only ono borrel could
be used. / told NV men not tothrow them
aside. but to keen them that thev wouId
come in handy. Tn tbis scommunitv there
were n great many sow-m,lls AMI family
feuds, and consequently there were n
great many one-legged men. One day |
ISSUED an order that all the one-legged
men to be found within a radius of twon-
ty-tiye miles shoulJ he hroupbt info
camp. The order was strictly obeyod
and within two weeks we hal seventy.
five criunles Fnrmino them !, limo ono
lov 7 nrderad tba J;.o,lo1 shntn,,n, r.,
he brouoht out When t,al ,r n orn
whose rigbt barre, was ussloss woniI
give if tn a man who hal Inst tho 'se nf
Els RIGHT leg and sn On mil tbe seventv.
five men wer,. nr,noJ Th;s u,ao st,.;nti,,
appropriate for We had mo other msa sor
the crippled gnns onI the conntrv Ger.
tninlv Ind mo nther ne. fnr tho cr;,,nlo1
men I took grn,t nr;lo !, ih;s cr;rp,,jod
company W,nted il :, make n npme
wanted each man IN fool nro,,J of h;msaIf
They elected MS cnntoi, n taiI falIow who
lost his left leo wl,iIn rnft;no logs W.
presented him attended, hv IisobIrd cere.
mony. wifi a broken sw,nrl ond donhIe.
bnrreiled n;stol Will nmo bommer conc
1t wonld have tickled Won 70 death to
have seen them ON dress naraie and their
i",Sh-.@,,Ie im @ "o"iu nave ihauS NaPoleoh
M p"i. pii ii'' nav anu Srin. Men, PrG,.y
ooon i"u ooo"Sioh 10 use tneIn. Inc
enemy came up me unexpectedly, ahu III
tne hurry ihciuent upon such occasions l
placed the one.iegged company in the
wafmest part OF the field. The battle
lastei several hours and was draw fight.
My one-legged company suffered greatly.
The captains peg was shattered by n bail.
and during the fight he sent an orderly
into the woods to make him another leg.
Other members of the comnonv were sim.
ilarly served and sir the omonnt of
snl;nters on tbo hot,learonnJ roS S'n,,,i,,
ostnnishinn Tbo ona,', Ial t'ai apy ~
onJ tLraa e., - ~ - NV,
MsaI,Ia1 Uaf,na ga - "o.n i.b' W.T.
hn - 49,, 80 uoi'io iop"n' 'ouiu
oo niuuo, ny ueher'i e"iie niohS' ahu'
,io' peils upi9 70 uiuoIS'ahu why 30 much
hintiins Wooo bhouio pe scattered over
oattie neio' Il ked the reason. explain
eu, expecting nm to compliment me on
my ingenuity, but the unappreciative fell
low had me court-martialed. / left the
service, and during the remaining time of
the war l aided the cause by capturing
mules from the Union men nnd burninG
cotton that might have fallen info the nos
session of the enemy
An American Duchess.
1t was recently announced that King
lIumbert of Italy was anxious to sell A little
island on the Sandman coast. with IKE lille