West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-11-18
sHARessooreRs AT PETERSBURG.

An Es-Conrdcratc Tells or SOmo h,Np..
rIcnccS While in tho trenches.
The narrowcst escape ever bad" said
a well-known lieutenant of police I'm Bal
umorc, "was in front OF pctorshuryn
"My regiment was In piCkett'S division
OF Longstrcot'S corps. and another fellow
and were in a trench together We were
nt the mont or the ltnC. The uthCr fellows
name was Dick Tho trsuch was Ebuu,
six feet deep, and thoro was groove cut
In the cop ot the front, through which we
did our shooting Ot tho Yankees. when
we wanted To pop away we'd lay the gun
barrel along that groove. yet quick sight
on the enemy, pull the trigger and then
jump down Dick was = pig headed sort
OF chap. told him dozen times no
didn't have sCnsc cuouish to hold his head
on his shoulders
There was u lot uf Yankee sharpshoot-
era In front OF us, and cautioned Dick TO
look out how hc exposed himself I tell
you IL was dangerous for even SO much rs
aman 3 onr TO get I'm sight Of those fellows.
Iheard the bullets whistling liVcly over
our trench, and knew by the
sound that they were forced
balls. forced ball, you know Is
bullet from a bree ch-loadcr. IL is
little bigger than tho diameter OF the pun-
barrel, and consoquntly II goes out with
greater force than the ball from muz-
zle loader Tho way we could distinguish
between the two kinds OF guns was that if
II was u brccch loader tho bullet got TO
you before the report but IL II was u
muzzle loader the report got 90 you be
tore the ball Most all or the YanIs used
the brceeh-lo0dcr, and you can Just bet
your boots We were mighty careful how
we got In their way
"As | was saying, tho bullets wero
whistling pretty lively over our trench.
wns loaded, and was about TO put my gun
In the groove and pick Off n blue coat
Dick was standing la front OF tho groove
putting I'm charge. lie had his eye at
the breech OF his gun examining It, ana
the side of his hcad was turned toward
the groove. While no was standing there
1t was not moro than half minute al
togother-onc OF tho forced balls came
singing through the groove and bored
hole clear through HIS head as big, ,as u
wulnnt lie fell dead I stepped across
to him, and dn doing 20 passed in'froA tiof
the groove. Just as | got on tho other
side OF the trench another bullet passed
through the groove aud buried itself In
the rear wall OF the TRENCH. Two other
balls followed IL, and buried themselves
In tho Identical hole made by the first
bullet. The sh0rp-shooter who did that
neat job was half-ntlo away.
pretty good shooting" suggested one
OF tho listeners
IL should say So said the lieutenant,
with an expressive shrug OF the shoulders.
Some OF those Yankee sharpshooters
were marvellous. They had little telo-
scopes on their rifles that would fetch q
man up close until he seemed Co be about
only 100 yards away from the muzale.
I've seen them pick a man of who was II
mile away, They could hit 40 far you
couldn't hear the report OF the gun. You
wouldn't have any idea that anybody was
In sight of you, and all of sudden, with
everything as silent as the grave and not
n sound of n gun, here would come skip
ping along one of those forced balls and
cut hole clear through you.
allow we used to lay for these sharp.
shooters, though he said, chuckling at
the remembrance. "We'd keep lookout
for every little pun of smoke The sharp.
shooters, you know, mostly climbed trees
and hid themselves i'm tho branches. So,
every time they'd shoot thered be "a tell
tale pun OF smoke come out OF the tree.
just as soon as we'd see one Of those little
puffs of smoke the entire battery would
rain shot and shell into that tree, and
we'd make it so hot for the shartistt0oter
that he'd either tumble or crawl out,
d cad or alive The best shooters were in
the Union army Most of them came
from the west, and many of them had
been scouts In the Indian country. They
rarely missed a man at the distance OF
II mile. Indeed, they could hit any object
~ big as "A pie plate that far away" Chit
cago Ledger