Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1889-09-14

though twas salvation, an inspected
them within an inch of their lives, and
called that discipline; and p'rhaps it
was.
But he done worse. he KEEP settin'
traps for to kctch the men nappin.'
He'd travel outside of the videttes and
pickets SOS to see if they was awake
and alert; and if they wasn't then they
had to take it.
There we was, a parcel of volunteers,
doing nothing but drill, in a new, lazy,
sloppy kind OF a climate. with nothing
but meat victuals and hard bread
tell ye We pinned after onions and sech
truck worse'n them old lsr'elites in
the hymn-book did!
| well remember how one day Char
ley Bliss vas roarin' out that old hymn:
"The way is all new, AS it opens to view,
An behind is the toamin' Red Sea,
So none now need to speak of the onions and
leekS,
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.
I'm nigh about ready to j'ino the
C~onfcdcracy for n head o cabbage, and
| can't bear to hear onions made light
Of"
Well, as | way sayin', we were new
to the business, and to be spied on and
roarcd at and kctched nappin' made us
all pretty snappish, and Cool himself,
who was ordinarily as clever as could
be, was stirred up.
I'm 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 he was
on vidctto duty, and he heerd a noise
in the bushes. Up went his musket.
"Who goes thcrV?3 he roared.
"Ohicor of the day" says the Col
onel.
Il know no officer Of the day
outside the lines; throw up your hands,
dismount and surrender" yelled Cool.
Il tell You I'm officer of the day"
says the Colonel, madder'n Il yeller
hornet.
II know no officer of the day outside
the lines; dismount or | fire" repeated
Cool. Well, the Colonel r'ared and
sputtered, but Cool never lowered his
gun. and finally the Colonel had to dis
mount and come along towards Cool.
II tell you, you blockhead, I'm Col
onel Blank, officer of the day"
Cool cooked his gun and leveled it at
the feller's head, sayin' agin:
II know no officer of the day out
side the lines; give up your side-arms
or | shall shoot you through the
head"
Well, the Colonel RELY b'lieved
Cool didn'treco'nize him, so he handed
over his sidc-arms, and Cool marched
him in clear through the camp to
headquarters, an handed him over to
the General.
tell you Mister Blank got a charge
O cold shot in the line O tongue-lash-
in that time, for the General was full
o steel; but Cool got promoted for
bravery,
When we got to Port Hudson, one
night before the battle we was lyin'
round on the ground, and Cool he was
stretched out on his back, sort OF tilted
up against a little stump, fast asleep.
| lay about twenty feet off, and we had
n fire goin', so't | could see him lyin'
there like II big log, mouth wide opor
and lig feet turned toes up jest as
though the want nothin' goin' or.
Pretty soon | heard zip" and 9
mimic bullet just took off the toe o
one of those great army shoes, ant
then buried itself in the stump close
to his ear; just shaved it! He riz up ,
little.
whats goin' on?" says he.
why" says |, there's some bullet:
a-fyin' round hero and one nigh abou
shot off your car. You'll find it il
that stump"
He looked round, as quiet as Sun
I day.
well. I'll get a leetlc out O. theii
way" says he. and with that rolled
over about a foot to the left, shut hi
} eyes. and was snorin' inside of tire,
minutes.
After the battle was over we had t,
stay on the field pretty much all night
When we begun to fall back mex
morning there wasn't any way to &c
to camp but through a ravine that tn,
enemy's guns raked-and they KEEP
rakin' Of us into another world prett,
spry as we went through that gulley
We couldn't take along the wounded
I so they crept into the bushes the hes
they could, and there they had to Ii
all day before we could go after 'er
, and fetch 'em out, 1t was hard, bu
that's war.
y But we couldn't let 'em lie there al
through that hot day, with no waite
and nothin' to stanch their wounds. S
about noon we got leave to call for
volunteer to 60 over to 'em.
Now betwixt us and that ravin
, there was about forty rod of old field
as bare as u brick, right in the enemy
range. 1t vas a pretty smart risk t
run to cross that field with water an
cotton. and we all knew it; but tn
word for n volunteer wasn't out of tn
Cap'en's mouth before old Cool jumpe
up.
IN go. sir" says he. II haven
: got no membranes to home, and h
grinned, So he started out with tie
canteens full of water slung onto hir
, and "a budnle of cotton under his arm
!. All of us we're watchin' him, and prof.
: ably all of us were thinkin' 'twould b
the last time we should see that great
honest, smilin' face; | know | though
so.
, "Cool," says l. tryin' to act q
! though | believed he was cert'in sur
: to get there, ''you be real econ omict
about distributin' that water becaus
it's got to last 'em all day."