The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-09-15

Bull Run was our first fight. We were
in the neighborhood of the Henry
house, advancing upon a section of ar
tillery, when / saw Corporal Solemn
choly take tumble to the ground,
roll over and kick, and had no doubt
that he was done for We were driven
back, and by-and-by the panic followed,
and away we went for Washington.
About a week after this, while the COM
pany was encamped at Arlington, the
corporal walked in on us one day, and
drawled: " You are purity lot of dod-
gasted pumpkin seeds to leave me
dead on battlefield, and / shan't for
get it ~ He had been struck in the
stomach by spent bullet, and, after
being captured by the rebels, had
made his escape. He was mad at the
whole company, and wouldn't give any
of us civil word for weeks. Our
next brush was at Williamsburg. The
regiment was ordered into some fallen
timber, and the position was soon red
hot. The corporal was sighting his
musket across limb when suddenly
he rolled over, and / saw blood on his
face as we crowded further to the left
for better cover. One-ffth of our
company was wiped out there, and we
hadn't got over mourning for them
when Corporal SCHENECTADY suddenly
appeared in our midst. This was two
weeks after the fight and his face was
tied up with bandages. We rushed to
greet him, but he waved us off and
said: Don't nobody come near mel
You wretches went and left me there
in the woods, and that night burial
party flung me into a trench, and was
covering me up when | came to, and l
told 'em what | thought of 'em and
walked off. l kin lick any man in this
company ~ He had been shot in the
mouth, and the bullet tore out three
teeth and left hole in his cheek as big
as a walnut. On the morning of the
battle of Fair Oaks we were Just crawl
ing out of our tents when the rebel
wave rolled down on Casey and drove
him back Our company was badly
demoralized. and Corporal Solemn
choly was trying to rally three or four
of us behind fallen tree when shell
exploded near us. | saw two or three
men 90 down, and among them was
the corporal. I'd have taken my affi-
davit that one side of his face was torn
away. We rallied after a time and re-
SdlhCi Jul SlOuLIN, buI NhCh hlSlG
came we abandoned the field and fell
back to make new stand. Five men
Of my company were reported on the
rolls as killed in action, and among
them the corporal. A week after the
battle of Malvern Hill he walked into the
camp after the old fashion and began
"Durn the hull lot of we for pack of
cowards You went off that day with
ct1 10, How, I Isl
or not, and III dare any two of you to
knock a chip off my shouldern' The
shell have mentioned did not hurt
him, but he was splashed by the blood
of an unfortunate, and received a
whack over the head from a club or a
limb. During the night he exchanged
clothing with a confederate, and after
many adventures came back to report
for duty. After that Corporal Solemn
choly was marked man. We looked
upon him with such awe and supersti-
ton that nobody would be friendly. He
became sort of outcast; indeed, we
all argued that man who wouldn't
stay dead when fairly killed had very
mean streak in his composition. In
due time came Pope's fights around
Manassas. We were fighting at Grove
ton, and as the regiment was ordered
to head its brigade in a charge, a dozen
of us had our eyes on the corporal. He
realized it, and there was a look of de-
, termination on his face. We inter-
preted it to mean that if he was killed
again he would stay killed. The brig
ade was hot-boX. The enemy gave
us every sort of missile known to war,
and we couldn't close up the lanes
plowed through our ranks. | had my
cap knocked off and my canteen cut
away, and was making a grab to recover
+ the latter when Corporal SCHENECTADY
got his dose again. | saw him leap two
feet high and fall in heap, and knew
from the way he struck the ground that
, he was a goner. There were only
! twenty-eight men in the company after
! that fight. They had given me the
: corporal's place, and we had got around
I to the opening without losing another
man. We had several times talked
Y over the fate of Corporal SCHENECTADY
!. and had expressed regret at the way we
had used him. My brigade was under
{ Hooker then, and on the evening pre-
! vious to the fight we had been pushed
} across the Antietam on the right
, About eight o'clock, as we rested on
! the lines in the darkness, heard a
E voice, saying: g l tell you it's dog-gone
E mean to go and report Teller dead
t and give his place away until you are
: sure about itP' 1t was Corporal Sol
{ emncholy come back to us! A bullet
: had raked his head at Groveton, and he
had crawled to the rear after dark and
t had been sent to the hospital in Wash
e ington. He was hopping mad at every
t man of us, and we gave him as good as
| he sent. We told him that any one
1 who had played hoky on death as often
/ as he had couldn't be trusted by the
f living, and he was advised to 90 to the
: rear and be surely and honorably killed
: by the heels of some mule. Just at
daylight he crept over to me and whis-
pered: " | can't blame the boys so very
much. Tell you what, if l am not
f killed for sure in this fight, l shan't
) come back to the company l couldn't
, have the face to; I'll just desert and go
home" He advanced with us and we had
worked our way almost up to the corn
field when / saw him tumble. | bent
, over him and saw that he had a bullet
in the breast. He looked up, smiled,
and | hppt ploSar ha uhiSOaraJ