Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-04-09
A VETERANS STORY.
The Adventureso Of a Corporal Who
Wouldn't Stay Killed.
HIS ReaPpearance After Every Battle
Aaron smiths Charmed Life, and
why He Became known as sCor.
poral SoIemnehoIy."
IN. Y. sun.1

IN. Y. SUM-
We had in our company q slab sided,
long-legged chap named Aaron Smith.
His face wore constant look of second
mourning, and his voice was enough to re-
mind the most careless hearer of erave-
stones and weeping willows. More as a
joke than for any good reason, the boys
elected Aaron a corporal, and ever after
that he went by the name OF Corporal
Soiemncholy.
Bull Run was our first fight. We were
In the nei2hborhood of the Henry House.
advancing upon a section of artillery,
waen l saw Corporal Schenectady take a
tumble TO the ground. roll over and kick.
aod 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 week after this,
while the company was encamped at
Arlington, the corporal walked in on us
one day and drawled:
'You are a purity lot of dod-gassed
pumpkin seeds to leave me dead on bat
tefield, and 1 shan't forgit i'll"
He had been struck in the stomach by
spent Lullet, and, after being captured,
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 a limb, when he suddenly rolled
over, and saw blood on his face as we
crowded further to the left for better COW
er. One-fifth of our company was wiped
nj thQlQ nd hoH H.tf
ing 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 in and left me there in the
woods, and that night a burial party flung
me into trench, and was covering me up
when come to, and told 'em what
thought of 'em and walked off. / 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 crawling out of our tents
when the enemy's wave rolled down on
Casey and drove him back. Our company
was badly demoralized, and Corporal Sol
emncholy was trying to rally three or four
o. us behind a fallen tree, when a shell ex-
ploded near US. 1 saw two or three men
go down, and among them was the COR
poral. I'd have taken my affidavit that
one side of his face was torn away. We
rallied after time and regained our
ground, but when night came we aban-
doned the field and fell back to make new
stand. Five men OF my company were re-
ported on the rolls as killed in action, and
among them was the corporal. A week
after the battle of Malvern Hill he walked
into camp after the Old fashion and began:
"Durn the hull lot of ye fur a pack of
towards! You went right off that day
without stopping to see whether I was
killed or not, and I'll dare any two OF you
TO knock chip off my shoulder~
After that Corporal Solemncholy was a
marked man. We looked upon him with
such awe and superstition that nobody
would be friendly. He became a sort of
outcast; indeed, we all argued that man
who wouldn't stay dead when fairly killed
had very mean streak in his compost
tion.
In due time came Pope's fights around
Manassas. We were fighting at Groveton,
and as the regiment was ordered to head
its brigade in a charge dozen of us had
our eyes on the corporal. He realized il.
and there was look of determination on
his face. We interpreted it to mean that
If he was killed again he would STAY killed.
The brigade was in a 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 can
Knocked of and my canteen cut away,
and was making a grab to recover the lat
ter when Corporal Solemncholy got his
dose again. | saw him leap two feet high
and fall in heap, and | knew by the way
he struck the ground that he was goner.
There was only twenty eight men in the
company after that fght. They had given
me the corporaPs place, and we had got
around to the opening of the fight at An
tietam without losing a man. We had
several times talked over the fate of Cor
poral Solemncholy, and had expressed re-
gret at the way we had used him. NV
brigade was under Hooker then, and on the
evening previous to the fight we had been
pushed across the Antietam on the right,
to be ready TO advance on Jackson at day-
hght. About eight o'clock, as we rested
on the lines in the darkness, heard a
voice saying: 81 tell you it's dog gone
mean to go and report feller dead and
give his place away until you are sure
about It'll"
1t was Corporal Solemncholy come back
TO US. A bullet had raked his head at
Groveton, and he had crawled to the rear
after dark and been sent to the hospital in
" ashington. He was hopping mad at
every man of us, and we gave him as good
as he sent. We told him that any man
VINO had played hockey on death as often
as ne had couldn't be trusted by the liv-
ing, and he was advised to go to the rear
and be surely and honorably killed by the
neeis OF some mule. just at day light he
cTept over 70 me and whispered:
Il can't blame the boys so very much.
Tell you what, If Pm not killed for sure in
this fight shan't come back to the conn
pany. couldn't have the face to. I,Il inst
desert and go home.n
He advanced with us, and we had vorkad
our way almost up to the corn-field. when
i saw him tumble. / bent over him. and
saw that he had bullet in his breast. He
looked up, smiled, and, as bent closer. he
whispered:
I've got 1t this time, and wish some Of
the boys would see me planted to stay:
didn't want to come around and make 'em
more tronblev'
The day after the fight we hunted MP the
body and helped to bury it. Corporal Sol
emncholy was dead enough this time, and
tnere was smile on his face as II he had
uon victory over rs.
pRoEfrA1t ,our.sx