The Portland daily press., 1883-05-11
Military Ingenuity.
A confederate's Effort to Utfize Lame
Men and Crippled Guns.


lafkalsfW IfaVstef-l
Il viii never forgive the Confederate Gov
eminent, said Colonel Wartiek, when asked
10 relate a war "Reminiscences. II star Ell
out with ripe determination cf doing every
thing in my power for the cause, hut men
who had more authority than had pulled
against ME, aud consequently | stepped
aside. They even went SO far as TO court
martial me- Now, il there IS anything in
military life that takes away mans appe-
tite it is to be court-martialed. lis pretty
bad in civil life to be tried before justice
of the peace, but that isn's anything to cem-
pare with a court martial. .anA especially
when be knows full well that he las done
nothing to merit such severe handling.
sWhy We're you conrtmart aled, Cul
onel?'' asked one Of the company.
.sFor the simple discharge of my aaiy.
just about the time i behoeyed The Cor iesi-
eraey to make every edge cut tina could,
was sent into a community ie press guns aud
to draft and arm every available man. Well.
| Went to work and discharged my duty in
accordance with my construction Of the or
der All one place we seized a large number
of double barfeled shUt-Suas. Ia examining
them we found many that We're damaged sa
greatly that only one barrel could be used.
| told my men not to throw them aside, but
10 keep them, that they would come in
handy. In this community there were a
great many saw mills and family tends. and
consequently there ere a great many one
legged men. One day / issneA an order that
ali the one-leggsd men 10 be found within
radius Of Is miles should be brought ial0
camp. The order was ssieily obeysd, and
within two weeks We had Is erippies. Foim
ing them in line one DAY | ordered the dis
abled shot-gans to be brought cut. When
took up gun whose right barrel was use
less, would give it to q man no had lost
the use Of his right leg and 50 Oh until the
IS men were armed. This was strictly APP
propriate, for we had 10 other nse for the
crippled guns aud the country certainly had
no other use for The crippled men. took
great pride in This crippled company. I
wanted i TO make a name: wanted eachinan
20 feel proud Of himself. They elected j
Captain, tall fellow who lost his left leg
while rafting logs. sfe presented him, at
tended by disabled ceremony, with a broken
sword and double-baiTelsd pistol. With enc
hammer gene. Ii would have tiekled you to
death TO have seen Them on dress parade,
and their quick time would have made N2p5-
leon pull eff his hat and grin. Well. pretty
soon had occasion to use them. flle ere
my came upon me Unexpectedly, aud in the
hurry incident upon such occasions, placed
the enc legged company is The warfnesf part
of the field The hattie tasted several houis,
and was a draw fi9hs II Que legged COM
pany suffered greatly. The Captains pc
was shattered BY ball, aad during the fight
he sent al orderly into he woods e make
him another leg. Other members If the COM
pany were similarly served, and, SIR. The
amount ef spiinters on the battle ground
was simply astonishing. The enemy had
fired low, and three out of six wooden legs
we're disabled. Before complete repairs
could be made, my General came along, and
not being able 10 understand Nhy so much
kindling wood should be scattered over a
battlefield, asked the reason. | explained,
expecting him to compliment me on my
ingenuity, but the unappfeciatlye fellow Lad
me contaminated. ] left the service. and
during the remaining time Of the war aid
ed the canse by capturing mules from The
Union men and burning cotton that might
have fallen into possession Of the enemy"