Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-01-06
A TRYING ORDEAL.
An Incident o. the Battle Of Dead
Angle.
an rE.sou.cderatc Omcerss Experl.
euc, while on q Ntyht Inspec.
Ton Bour-AssIus a Nus.
ket Nuzxle-y,.~--rr
[Southen Bivop~,

ISouthern Bivor-c
! Tn the night Of the Bird eli .J:;. 1854 W.
were ordered back from the line al the Deal
angle, and, - luck would have it, the
wrinr OF this vas detailed with twelve
men rs a vilette TO crawl ON our hands and
Knees out about ten yards in front of the
works through the ahatfis and other obstruc-
tons TO watch the enemy while the line was
| gradually falling back. First went the line
| OF cattle and tlen tie skirmishers, and then
70 our great joy we left our posts and fell
back too In crawling out to our posts that
night We ran great risk. for If We shook a
! bush or made the least noise, we would hear
the unwelcome firing of mimic bullet at
once and they came pretty close, too, if they
were fired in tie dark We hal orders no.
to IRE our guns under any circumstances, ;,
we could not reply to the calls We had 1t
vas our province u watch and listen. ana. IL
crowded, To lump and run.
" ell, the men were paced one by one II,
ziszag line as well IL they could be in the.
dark b. the writer be having to crawl ONT
and post one and then cone back after
another until they were all arranged. Then
It was the iu,y Of the officer T. 20 alor.. the
line and see if they were all doing Their duty
that l., lynn !u':n and kcepiIs awak--not
much irJub'e 20 keep awake tina. night. As
sure you. Well, on oHe os the to,irs Of IL:
srecupn thc officer 20; little of the l:ic
and II being cro1iie |. rJo. lie got clear out
side of the line and g5i tarn Il around ~
that he could not tell Whether he was goin.
To his own men or not While cr,.piI,.,
along IN fliS Tram. of mind ] ran I'D against
ne mazz-c OF u musket right against NV
bosom, and lhcr h,ari the click. click Of tn.
eek hv.l. ih' la>; i;.e u. the writer came.
up Lei"rc hi;n. Ill tn :.ican Things he ever
"a were PAS I'd, IA To-; .-" IA "A few second,
ier II was ualy a --ort ijaic that tool. To-
pass Through Iii, tI'yin. ,rIeal
tie VA afraid T. "a, cn the gun. for i;
wouid make tie man ~ tire other end of il
pull tie trigger. anal th'n sori-b.e X, h.
asked, WHO i that NJ an,we TI.n
he said, If You are Feisrals. am Your
meat stu Hp ,.uswcr III YOU ar. re-. :.
! an yoLr 'Ili,cr No answer vet Tie |
sweat Was rouriI : DOWN Iry face abort til. !
tir, tell You The soldier took Ii. gun |
down then. / don't know whv. for he took |
me for a Federal soldier as my clothes wer,. |
DARK ami lad on black hat. However.
the gun was down and the writer va. down.
700. ylI- he on the ground 10y the
soldier and he saw who il was thar he'll the
gun II happened IT, lie a nan in the reei-
hient mat va considered a little of about
the head, IA fac, --oT-trr queer AMI the,
the scare came on good, Tor he had no mere
seii'e than 10 shoot ar; how; if he had been |
one OF the otter men they would not lave
cooke their gun'. and would have tried L.
md out VINO II Vas creeping along there.
Wen, III: reac'icn cane to my nervous
system and WAS n weak as water; if the
enemy had come IN us tlel. could have
I-een taken il sure. a i would have been im-
possibie TO get mp on the grouni Well, the
poor fellow was frightened, too, when he saw
how near he had come to sending me to my
one home. At given signal. which was
'bout Il o'clock. we moved back to the
works, and then We lost no time in catching
~ with the rear guard. which we found
'bout two miles ahead OF u should add
hat the videt;e line right along there did
not get Inspected any more that night