The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-01-12
heard the bullets, but infested he had

4 &SAN saS oohOscs Sus hurAcS<N Ho A~>
not seen them yet, and he mnst 90
until he did 90. He, however, yield.
ed to my earnest solicitations, and de.
ployed portion of the command as
skirmishers and then continued the
advance. A mile or 90 further on We
struck q somewhat dense growth of
huckleberry bushes, and We had not
advanced far into il when / discovered
. few hundred yards ahead of US a
dense line of the enemy lying down
just at the apex of a hill. Again |
called the attention of the major to
the fact but bis only reply was:
"You forward up der poys, Inot see
some dings and vas 90 till l see dot
rebel line"
There was nothing for it bat to
obey and all l could do was to silently
signal the deployed men to make ready
and be on the alert. In silence we
advanced, but the men had discovered
the enemy also and showed
signs of uueasiness, and hesitancy,
"You vas forward up dot liue," was
the 'ntinued order of the major at
each protest / made, and slowly We
continued to advance until well up the
rise and not thirty yards from the am
bush, when the rebels rose TO their feet
and poured into US one of the most
deadly volleys / ever witnessed. utter
ly demoralzing and hurting back all
who were Tot injured. One ball
struck the near-sigh,ed majors nose.
carrying away the TIP of il,
"Mine Got in himmel, was shot
and vas killed" he exclaimed, clap
ing his hand 20 his bleeding face.
Fall back, ] was see dose rebels too
quick enough much" 1t is needless
to say the order was obeyed almost
without a return shot, our greatest
anxiety being to get out of range of a
force fully ten times our own strength.
but We had not gone far when the
majors horse fell dead from a bullet
wound. To save him from capture i
was forced to mount him behind me
and our race for the rear then became
rapid one. Fortunately the enemy
encountered were infantry and We
we're not followed, and soon got be-
yond their deadly range, though at
the cost of about one fourth of our
party in killed and wounded. Of
course was indignant over the affair
and made a supplemental report of
my own to nv colonel, while the
major reported To brigade headquar-
ters. But such report, it was too
good 10 keep and became camp talk
for the next few months to a degree
caused the major to carry out his
threat TO resign and g home, which
he did to the relief Of every soldier
who heard Of his mad exploits. AS
near rs can remember, his report
read as follows:
To Brigadier-General s. Com
mandiug Seventeen Brigade, Army
of Kentucky.
. Sir hsf de HOMER 20 report lat
in compliance init your orders, |
makes one reconnaissance onder road
leading south Of dis camp for about
six mile and 60 till | see dose rebels
und find dot icy vas very unfair
und know notiings about der courtesy
of war. When find dem dey vas so
close To me dot | did not know
until dey commence 10 shoot NIT
me and drive back ter poys.
der captain wbo vas init me see dem
und told me dey be dere for some
time but | vas not so dink und |
forward der line till gets most TO
dem, ven dey rBise up and NIT out
saying Something's. yust commenced to
shoot like de debbil, und | saw rebels
behind der,irees und der bushes ind on
der ground everywhere, so many dat
my men have no chance at all l tink
it vas dissraceful der way ter rebels
bahsve und give Us no showing at all,
II Lo,o ror, xy,li coll lar aftantiap