The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-10-17

To pleCpS), Lon 1fleSl, GAb Wallace, IUil
Price, Tom Clarke, Bill Bartholomew, Bish-
op, Murphy, Frank Blair Though but boy
of 10 or 2O), and as many more like them.
Some of these men were old Regulars, others
Wisconsin lumbermen. At all events, it is
easy to see what an effect such au atmOs-
phere of combat and courage would have on
the temperament of boy by no means dis
inclined that way himself
My family was fighting stock. My great
grandfather on one side had served five
years in Van Courtlandt's Cd N. Y. regiment
of the Continental Line, and had lived long
enough to hold me on his knee and tell me
the battle legends ofthe Revolution. Another
great-grandiather, old Capt. Gardner, of
Nantucket, had been with Paul Jones in the
Bon Homme Richard when she took the
Scraps. My paternal grandfather carried
n scar in his shoulder from Chippewa in
1914. My youngest uncle had been killed
in the charge on the Castle of Cherubusco,
Corporal in the I'd N. Y. Volunteers. Right
from our camp could look over and see the
spot where my cousin Tom had been killed
in New York regiment in the first charge
on Marye's lIights. Another first cousin |
had in the 5th Wis. had already been pro-
NOTED for gallantry.
II was my nature to glory in these things,
would fash through my mind of old Grandpa
Gardner at his gun in the old Richard when
she was on fire and sinking, and Paul Jones
telling the British Captain (PearsOnl with
an oath that he had Just begun to fght!"
So really the seed of Davison's suggestion
fell on fertile soil.
The veterans used to say that the horses
of our battery were as game as the men.
They had story, which they never tired OF
telling, about an old horse which Stewart
rode Mt Gainesville (second Bull Run). This
horse was hit by solid shot, which cut
him right across the hams cutting his tail
off close up TO the body.
THE BLOW OF COURSE KNOCKED HORSE
AND RIDER DOWN TOGETHER,
and the severed tail itself flew with great
force and hit someone in the battery, knock
ing him down, too Stewart hated to shoot
this old horse to put him out of his misery,
and so, after shifting his saddle to another
one, he abandoned the poor animal, and, as
the army retreated, they saw no more OF him
for several days, and of course supposed he
had died. But some days afterward, when
they were on the way to Antietam, this old
horse rej0ined the battery, somewhat the
worse for wear, but head up and doubt
less would have heen tail up" too, if he had
had any. Well, he recovered and remained
with the battery long time, tailless and
with furrow across his hams that you could
hide your arm in. So they used to say,
Everybody is game in this battery, horses
and allin
Speaking about no man ever being known
to finch" etc, in our battery, perhaps, in
order TO he perfectly fair and TO avoid the
imputation OF invidious distinction in favor
u. ~xfA A Iat,n
| explain little. Now, in infantry or cav
airy the duties of every enlisted man are
| exactly the same So that if one man de-
sires to finch or skulk he can do so, and in
| the heat of action may not be noticed. Bat
| in q battery it is different. There every
man in action is unit by himself He has
certain fixed duties TO perform. Each man
has his number" and each number il as
| distinctly known to every other number as
| If he were a cogwheel in "A machine. Be
sides, a battery IN close action is always more
| Immediately and closely under the eyes of
| it's officers than q company or regiment OF
cavalry or infantry weuld be. As a rule, if
the officers of a battery are what they ought
| To be-that is, such men as Stewart, Dawson
| or Mitchell-they will be moving about
/ among the guns, talking To the men and
! prasing and cheering them in the very hot
| test part of the work So that a eannoneer
| really can't finch without his eowardice
being instantly perceived by every other
/ man on that gun and by the Chief of Section
or commander of the battery. So if per-
chance weakkneed man had got into Bat
! terry (Which was not the case-he would
/ have soon found his knees stiffened by the
example that his superiors set him,
/ FROM CAPT. STEWART DOWN To THE COR
| PoRALs.
The fact is that "a man in that battery de-
served no particular credit for standing
byi" Because the fate OF a skulker or
flneher there would have been so much
more horrible than death that you might
say it would have been slow torture,
In every respect of esprit du corps, of man.
illness in dealing with each other, of faithful
ness 10 duty, and of courage and devotion
| when trying hour came, Stewards battery
was at this time IA perfect an organiza-
ton as the world ever saw. 1t could have
had no superior, and never saw its equal
officers or men.
The camp of light battery is much
more picturesque and imposing than that OF
n company of cavalry or infantry. There
. were two different plans of encampment in
vogue AT the time of the civil war, each OF
which had certain advantages, according to
the lay of the ground. One was known as
the half-battery" plan of camp; the other
as the section plan. AS a rule, the men
preferred the section plan, "a ii preserved the
individuality of the section, and brought the
horses all on one picket-line, which, in Win
ter quarters, required the building of only
one stable, whereas the half-battery plan
separated the horses into two lines, and in
Winter necessitated the building OF two sta
hles. The following diagrams will show
roughly the different plans of battery en-
campment:
~
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