The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-10-24

| ment ~ camp along Of o. VINO xW inc
greatest hand TO nag the men you ever
see. He was asvpcrnickity - - old
maid. and as notional as An old bach
/ elQE He ksp' the men W 70 drill =
tlpugk 'tvAs saltattoh - inspecte1
item vithinen itch Of thetr i've. an1
csiled tha discit lins; and p'sheps =
| but Il donc uorse. be koy scitis
| traps for 10 ketch The men nappls.
He'd travel outside OF the videttes and
| pickets SOS to see IL they was awake
and alert; and II they wWn't then they
had to take it. I'll
There We was. q parcel Of yolnnteers.
doing nothing but drill, In a new, lazy.
sloppy kind 81 a climate. with nothing
but meat yictuals and hard bread-I
tell ye we pined after onions and sech
truck worse'n them old Isr'elites in
the hymn-book did! = = -
j well remember how ono day Char
ley Bliss was roarin' out that old hymn:
The way is all new, AS 1t opens 70 view, 3 !.
An behind ID the foarnia Red Sea, 3
So none now need TO speak Of the onions and
L And don't talk about garlic to me.
Chaplin stepped up, as solemn as q
clam. and threatened to punch his
head.
Stop that blarsted tune!" says he.
fs'f'm nigh about ready to inc the
Confedcracy for head O. cabbage. and
| can't bear to hear onions made light
/ Off
Well, as way sayin'. We were new
to the business and TO be spied on and
roarcd Il and ketched pappin' made us
all pretty snappish, and Cool himself,
whoswas ordinar ily as clever as could
be, was stirred up.
"I'u fix him!'' says he one night,
when we was talking it over by the
fire. Wait till my turn comes.
Sure enough. the next night dc was
on videtto duty, and he heerd q noise
in the bushes. Up went his musket.
who goes thcreP" he roared.
'Officer Of the day." says the Col
oneL s s
II know no officer Of the day
outside thelines; throw up your hands.
dismount and surrendcrm relied Cool.
i tell YOU I'm officer Of the day."
says the Colonel. madder'n a yeller
hornet. N
II know no officer OF thee day outside
the lines; dismount or fire. repeated
Cool. Well, the Colonel r'ared and
sputtered. hut Cool never lowered hts
gun. and finally the Colonel had to dis
mount and come along towards Cool.
TT tell you, yon biockhead. fm Cob
onel Blank, officer Of the day
7 Cool cooked his gun and feve1ed It at
the fellcr's head, sayin' agin:
4 ~ lsnew~ne officer OF the. day OUT
side the lines; givesup your side-arms
or shall shoot you through the
head"
. Well. tho Colonel RELY b'iieved
Cool didn'treco'nize him. so he handed
over his side-arms, and Cool marched
him in clear through the camp to
headquarters, an handed him over to
the General.
| tell you Mister Blank got charge
o cold shot in the line O. tongue-lash-
in that time, for the General was=fuil
O. steel; but Cool got promoted for
bravery.
When we got to Port Hudson, one
night before the battle we was lynn
round on the ground. and Cool he was
stretched out on his back. sort of tilted
up against little stump, fast asleep
lay about twenty feet off, and we had
a FIRE goin,, so,t could see him lynn
there like a big log, mouth wide open
and lig feet turned toes up jest as
though the want nothin' goin' on.
i Pretty soon l heard ..z-zip!" and a
mimic bullet just took off the toe OF
one of those great army shoes. and
Then buried itself in the stump close
to his ear; just shaved it! He riz up a
little.
hats goin' onpn says he.
Why" says I. '.there's some bullets
a-fyin' round hero and one nigh about
shot off your ear. You'll find it In
that stump - Z
's He looked round. as quiet as, Sun
day. ..]
well. I'll get a leetle out o%their
way. says he, and with that rolled
over about foot to the left, shut his
eyes. and was snorin inside OF three
minutes.
After the battle was over we had to
stay on the field pretty much allnight.
When We begun to fall back next
morning there wasn't any way TO get
to camp but through ravine that the
enemy's guns raked-and they kept
rakin' Of us into another world pretty
spry as We went through that gulley.
We couldn't take along the wounded,
so they crept into the bushes the best
they could, and there they had to lie
all day before we could go after EN-
and fetch 'em out. 1t was hard, but
that's war.
But we couldn't let 'em lie there all
through that hot day, with no water
and nothin' to stanch their wounds. Sc
about noon we got leave to call for Q
volunteer to go over to 'em.
Now betwixt us and that ravint
! there was about forty rod Of old field
as bare as brick, right in the enemy''s
range. 1t was a pretty smart risk to
run to cross that field with water and
cotton. and we all knew It; but the
word for a volunteer wasn't out OF thu
Cap'en's mouth before old Cool jumped
up.
III go. ,sirr' says he. Il haven't
got no incum ORANGES TO home. and h
, 1 grinned. So he Started out with ter
, canteens full of water sfung onto hin
, and a budnle OF cotton under his arm
-All of us were watchin' him. and prob
!, ably all OF us were thinkin' 'twould b,
the last time we should see that great
honest, smilin' face; know I though
so. -