The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-11-17
sharpshooters at Petersburg.

SndrpSnOOtSrS at fSISFSOGFSs
The narrowest escape I ever had,
said a weli-knowu lieutenant Of police in
Baltimore. was in front Of Petersburg.
Ny regiment Wa in Pickett's division
7 Of Loncstreet's corps, and another fellow
/ and ! were..ins trench together We were
at the front 0f the line The other fei-
lows name was Dick The trench was
about SIX feet deep, and there was a
groove cut in the top ofthe front. rough
which We did our shooting al the Yam
KEGS When We wanted to pop away we'd
lay the gun-barrel along that groove, get
quick sight on the enemy, pull the tris-
ger, and then jump down. Dick was
pig-hesded sort Of . chap I told him a
dozen times he didn't have sens enough
% hold his head on his shoulders.
There wasa lot q Yankee sharTshoot-
en- in front Of u. and cautioned Dick To
look out how he exposed himself / tell
you it was dangerous for even - much a.
a mans ear 10 get in sight Of those tsl-
lows heard the bullets whistling live
" over our trench, and | knew BY the
sound that they were forced balls. \
forced bah. you know. i bullet from
breech-losder Il Is little larger than
the diameter of the gun-barrel, and con
sequently it goes out with greater force
than the Uall from a muzzle-loader. The
way We could distinguish between the
two kind Of guns was, that il il WAS
bTeech-loader the bullet got To sou be-
fore the report. but fit was a muzzle load
er the reporf got 70 you before the bali
Most al Of the Yanks used the breech-
loader. and YOU can just BET your boots
We were mighty careful now We get in
their way.
As ! was saying, the bullets were
whistling pretty lively over our trench.
wa loaded. and was about 70 put ny
gun In the groove and pick of a blue
coat. Dick was standing in front of the
groove putting in charge He had hi-
eye st the breeeh of the gun examining
it. and the side Of his head vas turned to-
ward the groove.
While standing there III was not more /
than half a minute altogether -one ofthe
forced balls came singing through the
groove and bored q hole clear through
his head a. big a. walnut. He fell dead .
! stepped across to him, and in doing %
passed in front Of the groove. Just a. /
got on the other side of the trench anoth- f
er bullet passed through the groove and
buried itself in the rear wall ofthe trench. .
Two other balls followed it. ana buried
themselves in the identical hole made BY
the frst bullet. The sharp-shooter
that did that neat Job was half mile
away
Pretty good shooting suggested one
OF the listeners
should say 50. said the lieutenant.
with an expressive shrug Of his shoulders.
some Of those Yankee sharpsho0ters
were marvellous. They had little tele-
scopes on their rifles that would fetch a
man up close, until he seemed to be only
about one hundred yarlS away from the
muzzle. I've seen them pick a man of
who Was q mile away. They could hit 20
far you couldn't hear the report ofthe gun.
You wouldn't have an idea that anybody
was in sight Of you. and all Of a sudden,
with everything a. silent a. the grave and
not the sound Of gun. here would ONE
skipping along one Of those forced balls
and cut a hole clear through YOU.
How Ee u-.,d % lay for these sharp
shooter ;aourh.- he said. chuekling az
the remembrance Wed keep look
out for every little puff Of smoke. The
sharTshooters, YOU know. mostly climbed
tree and hid themselves in the branch .
- - every time they'd shoot there'd I
be a teIl-tale Of smoke come out Of the /
tree. Just a. soon a. we'd see one ofthose {
little pufs Of smoke the entire battery
would rain shot and shell into that tree. !
and we'd make II - hot for the sharp 1
shooter that he'd either tumble or crawl +
out. dead or alive The best shooters were t
in the Union army. Most Of them came Z
from the west. and many of them had .
been scouts IN the Indian ountry. They
rarely missed a man At the distance Of a F.
mile Indeed, they could bit any object
a. big a pie-plate that far away y-"-Chi- .
o1g0 Ledgr.